the Akamai Knitter

I have been remiss. I have been a bad blogger. So here’s me trying to catch up.

Here are another couple of skeins of handspun that have been yearning for attention.

Azurite

2-ply

200yds
12 WPI – 4.15oz
100% Merino

Fibrer Credit: Forest Fiber Works “Tidal Pool”

This is the first time I’ve tried Forest Fiber works and I gotta say it was so much fun to spin. It practically spun itself.

Only I hadn’t been at the wheel for awhile when I spun this one up so it isn’t as consistent as I would have liked it to be.

Next up, is a single.

Calypso

260 yards
18 WPI – 3.8oz
100% Finn

Fiber Credit: Zarzuela’s Fiber “Pigment”

I love Jessica and her fiber! I love Finn! I love this colorway! (Pigment.) I just don’t love how I spin singles. There are spots that are just a little too overspun for my liking.

Ah well. I’ll keep practicing. Practice makes perfect right?

Speaking of practice. I started doing something new.

I’ve been wanting to play with resin for awhile now. When I hit the last bead show there was a vendor doing a demo. That sealed my fate. I came home with some basic supplies.  Next thing you know I’m ordering more from Etsy.  I finally ended up with the above!

That was my first try.  I gotta admit. I was afraid of trying something new. The resin intimidated me. Luckily I had Tough Love Megan on the line and she gave me the support I needed to just go for it.

I’m so glad she did!

Although, there’s an air bubble on the bottom right corner. o.O

My mantra? Practice makes perfect.

Happy Thursday everyone! Friday is right around the corner!

Yesterday I got together with my friend Chiye and taught her how to knit. It went amazingly well. She was a really fast learner and before you know it she was reading stitches and zooming along.

Unfortunately I was a really bad blogger and I failed to get a photo of her doing it. :(

Although it might have been because she blinded me with the pretties. Lookie!

That beautifully soft skein is made out of sugar cane! Can you believe it? Sadly, I was too busy fondling the yarn to bother taking down who manufactured it.  Truly, I suck.

To make up for my failings, I’ve got some handspun to share.

First up is a skein that has been marinating forever. I dyed the fiber way back when I was in Pennsylvania. I think I finally finished chain plying the single two or three months ago too.

The stats:

Caribbean Blue

235 yards
18WPI
2.7oz/76.54oz

Corriedale/hand dyed by me

And another one!

The stats:

Elektra!

Corriedale and Silk Throwster’s Waste

145 yards
12 WPI
4.3 oz/121.9g

fiber from Laughing Rat Studios

I’m over spinning my singles so I discounted this skein. It’s hard for me to transition from spinning laceweight to fat singles. My feet want to go go go! With fat singles they need to mellow out and take it slow. I suppose I need to keep practicing and concentrate better.

Anyway, I see Chiye again on Saturday. Hopefully she’ll bring her knitting and hopefully I’ll remember to bring my camera.  So hopefully that will  mean photos of my star pupil and her beautiful knitting. Fingers crossed that my brain doesn’t fail me!

Also, thanks for all the well wishes. I’m feeling much better. I was able to get a lot of knitting done yesterday and my thumb did well. I also seem to be over the flu. In fact I’m so much better Lady Insomnia has returned to plague me.

Things are definitely back to normal.

Yay! :P

Look who else is awake!

Happy Tuesday everyone! Have a good one!

First I was going to make this ball of yarn into the Damson.  When that didn’t work out, I attempted the Travelling Woman. Only I was defeated by the sheer simplicity of achieving a certain amount of stitches after knitting a certain number of plain stockinette rows.

How much of an idiot am I? :P

So this sad ball of yarn,

is trying very hard to become the Sunbird (Ravelry link).

It hasn’t been easy as not only has my thumb still slowly healing, but I’ve also had the stomach flu since this past Thursday.  I’m much better now and since there are no plain stockinette rows to confuse me, the shawl is taking shape.

Hopefully the third time’s the charm. :)

Now revel in the cuteness, but excuse the late night crappy photo.

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

I’ve been positively lazy the past few days. There’s been attempts at knitting, crocheting, and some wireworking.  All of which have resulted in the realization that my thumb still needs more rest.  So I continue with activities that are less taxing on my injured digit, like spinning and seed beading.

I don’t have much handspun to show yet, but I finally finished a leaf component in black and sewed one of the Trillium Flowers to it.

I like this much more then I do the white. I’ve always been more partial to black then white though.

I can finally show off some knitting I did before the thumb injury. Here are my first pair of Fetchings that I made for my friend Lisa.

I used Malabrigo Merino Worsted and boy was it a pleasure to work with such a nice yarn.  More details are on my Ravelry project page if you’re interestesd.

Another gift I can now share is a pair of earrings I whipped up for my friend Blogless Barbara. The project idea came from the magazine Easy Wire and it’s one of those things that made me want to slap my forehead and say “why didn’t I think of that?!”

Quincy is just ecstatic over all the jewelry fun.

Happy Tuesday, everyone.  Thanks for all the well wishes. They’re truly appreciated. :)

I was a little hesitant about blogging today as I’m in a funky mood. My thumb is still not happy and I’m still not able to knit. I’m also not able to crochet which I really need to do as I still have gifts to make.

I really thought I could do it too. So I worked hard to switch gears to crochet mode, but after just one row I knew that it was a bust.

Hopefully a week of doubling my anti-inflammatory will beat that thumb back into submission. Fingers crossed, mmmkay?

The thing of it is, I’m having a hard time switching gears back to beading. I think I’ve lost the bead love.

First, let me reassure you the beading doesn’t hurt my thumb. I don’t move my thumb when I bead. Thus it doesn’t hurt my thumb.

Moving on. Or backward. Or whatever.

I met up with a bunch of friends at The Whole Bead Show on Saturday. I was a good girl too! I was under budget by the time we went to lunch.

Here’s the majority of the beads I bought. (The rest of what I got will have to be revealed at a later date for a special unveiling. I like to be all mysterious and stuff.)

I have plans for maybe half the beads there, but the icy blue beads? They were just too pretty to pass up. :)

As for losing the bead love? I think it’s because of this.

In my mind, the white is just all wrong. It makes the piece look anemic. I think I’m going to go to the other extreme and use black.

The problem is that flower is already sewn securely onto the “petal” piece. So I’m going to have to make another flower. That has me a little frustrated.

Also, what am I going to do with that? Maybe I’ll make a pin and do a give away. Maybe someone will like it.

Now I’m just rambling.

Here’s Sammy looking none too happy himself.

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I hope your holiday celebrations were wonderful and that you’re all recovering nicely. :)