The Wheel Keeps On Turning

Ever have one of those Autumns? I had big plans for this Autumn and for the most part I had to abandon and/or switch directions and just go with the flow. It's been a little while since my last post which was partly because we had another little round of illness in the Dreams in Fiber household - little man picked up this lovely little virus at school which turned into Croup and Pneumonia which was then passed on to little miss and myself though mine was just a head cold. That was a fun couple of weeks complete with an ER visit and everything! Good times. I'm happy to report that all is well now though and hopefully it will stay that way for a while.

My hands have not been idle during these past few weeks. My muse was VERY into crochet there for a while... I have worked on a few crocheted Holiday items when can't be posted yet and even made myself a little project bag inspired by the one made by Attic 24.

If you haven't popped over to her sight yet, please do! She does such fun and inspirational things using color and crochet. This one is a bit smaller than the one I really want to make but it will tide me over for a while. I also finished up my Nephew T's Holiday blanket. I figure it's alright to post this one seeing how he's not quite 2 yet and wont know the difference :)
A while back now, my Aunt K asked for an earflap hat. I ended up CO for a couple different ones and wasn't feeling them so I finally just made one up as I went.
Nothing too fancy, a few purl ridges here and there for some interest... Then I got the grand idea to make a matching pair of mittens that weren't too matchy and set about knitting them during our family's viral haze. Not a good idea. I haven't taken any pictures of that mitten yet so maybe I can post that mitten along with a completed different pair next post. The original mitten was modeled after a picture I saw in a book once and structurally it works out, but I wasn't paying close enough attention with it (little details overlooked and what-have-you which is terribly vexing) and although it looked like it would be too big for my hand (perfect when knitting for someone else) it ended up being a bit snug for me after I seamed up the top and it fit little man rather nicely. I've not blocked it out yet, so we'll see if it grows much in size.

I was intending to work on those mittens this week but my muse had other ideas. It was time to get back to Ingrid (new-to-me Ashford Traditional spinning wheel). The November shipment for the I Love the 80's Club was sent out by the lovely Gherkin. Her theme was Michael Jackson and I give you, The Funk of 40,000 Years.
She gave the option of receiving one of her handspun skeins or 2 40z braids of fiber. My initial thought when I opened my package was to spin one thick for a hat or mittens (for me) and to then spin the other thin for socks (for me 'cause I'm greedy like that sometimes). Little man also noticed the fiber... sitting there ever-so-innocently on the table...

Mom, as he brings me over one of the braids, Don't you think this would be great as a hat for me? Why don't you start spinning it now so I can have my hat? How can you argue with that?

I ended up with a bit over 200 yds worsted/heavy worsted 2 ply. I've not started knitting yet because the spinning wheel is still calling.

I finished up a green skein for a friend of mine, J, who incidentally, is doing the December shipment of the I Love the 80's Club so stay tuned for that, and had another 8 oz to spin up for her in a different fiber. To make sure I could get the desired weight, I started in on one of my hand dyed rovings that was similar in fiber to the ones I would be spinning for her.
After looking at the singles of the first bobbin, I named this skein Christmas Barf, but it does look a bit better after plying said Barf singles with the singles on the second bobbin which contained a good deal of brown. Now it's the Patchwork Skein because Gherkin said I couldn't call it Christmas Barf any more. This skein is half (2.35 oz) of my original roving, 2 ply, around 175 yds. I've started in on J's 8 oz and when I'm finished with that, I will finish up the Christmas Barf, I mean, Patchwork roving. I'll admit, I'm curious to see if the second skein looks like this one did.

I don't really have any new photos of the minions, the weather's been crummy and they've been ill... I'm hoping for some sun this upcoming weekend. I've also finished up some other sooper sekret projects that I can't show yet.

As usual, I had big plans for this upcoming Holiday Season. And as usual, other stuff has come up (friends, family, illness, people's jobs, drama, you name it) and it's gotten me thinking. It'll be an interesting Season. It's time to get back to basics. Ideally, I would love to show up to Holiday Gatherings with armfuls of handmade goodness but my arms aren't going to be as full as I would like them to be. The last few years I've skimped on some of the baking and decorating and other things that I remember being really fun as a child and I don't want to cut things out for my minions by being stressed about getting everything done and thinking I should be doing this or that instead of being present in the moment. I would hope that my friends and family know by now that they all have things coming to them, eventually. So I'm guessing I will feel like a heel when I don't have some of the gifts done that I want to have done, but knitting and crocheting and spinning and creating is really something to be enjoyed and I would rather take my time and do the best job possible than try to frantically whip something out.

Okay, off my soap box there. I'll have some pictures of some of the sekret patterns I've been working on through the year next post along with (hopefully) some pictures of the minions. Enjoy your weekend!

The Socktoberfest That Wasn't

One of my favorite months of the year is October. I love the colors, the cooler temperatures, the bonfires, and of course, Soctoberfest. This might be the first Soctoberfest that I have participated in that I don't make an actual pair of socks. I have a couple on the needles right now, but I don't forsee a finished pair. Perhaps I'll just have to continue the celebration into November and have my own Novemberfest! Perahps not ;)

I have started creating my own little crochet bag, however. I'm using some of my own hand dyed yarns along with the scraps of some of my past projects and have even gotten some help from my Thursday Night Knitting Group ladies. I ended up starting this bag earlier than I had originally planned because I burnt my left index finger. Not sure how, but it wasn't too fun to knit. BUT, I could crochet. I'm a little farther along with my hexagons since this photo was taken, but it gives you an idea. It will be a little slower going now that my finger is all healed up though!

I did get a little bit of knitting done last week though :) I might have mentioned that little man is really enjoying going to school and wanted me to make him a hat featuring his school colors. I had a moment of inspiration last Wednesday and CO for it - to hell with the outrageous number of WIP's I have going... I was then informed that last Friday was School Pride Day and he wanted to wear a finished hat to show his teachers. I finished up the finishing portion of the hat about an hour before we left to go to school on Friday. Talk about cutting it close! I was able to give it a wash and a block though and here's the finished hat.


The family and I headed down for a little mini trip to the in-laws' lake house this past weekend and it didn't take little man long to notice the remains of the trees my FIL took down the weekend before that.
It also didn't take him long to figure out how fun it is to jump off!
Little miss got in on the action too but she preferred the tree trunk that was laying all along the ground. She was more interested in batting practice.
This particular photo was taken just before I took a shot to the head - I think she might have known what was going to happen given that smile...

The minions were also a big help in the garden; it is bulb planting season :)

Here are a few other photos taken this past weekend.
I'm off to try to get some WIP's taken care of, wish me luck!

Changing Plans

A new addition to the family arrived via my SIL K on the 9th of October. The family and I were supposed to be heading out to the Pacific Northwest to see "Big Z" but the minions caught whatever it is that's going around little man's school at the moment and they've passed it along to me. So, we're sending the hubby and MIL instead. If you'd like to see pictures of the little guy, you can see them here.

Since it's been a little while since I have shown any handmade goodies, I thought I would do a little bit of catching up and show some of the sooper seekret things I was working on.

First up, J (Squibstitcher on Ravelry) and I did another birthday swap this year. I knew I wanted to make her gift out of her own hand dyed yarns and I also knew I didn't have enough of her colorways so I sent out a few messages to some ladies on Ravelry that had completed projects using some of her colorways that I didn't already have, and voila!

A crocheted handbag, complete with lining though I don't have any photos to prove that. Actually I don't have any completed project photos at all, these were taken prior to the addition of the second handle and a wash/block, but that's alright. Here's the other side.
She liked it :)

Here's what I got in MY birthday package :)

I can't tell you how good this soap smells - you'll just have to trust me!

An embroidered dumpling bag complete with hidden treasures...

Some of J's Vamp Club Colorways

Thank you Squib!!!

My spinning has been almost nonexistent lately given my TO DO knitting list, but I couldn't help myself a while back and spun up this little lovely.

It started off as a pencil roving dyed by Gherkin and I must say, though it was my first experience spinning pencil rovings, it will not be my last! I've also made it through 2oz of 4 for a friend of mine so hopefully I'll have pictures of that one soon.

I'm pretty sure I haven't blogged about this next project either.... If I did, you can just look at it again. This was a handspun hand knit cowl for my Mom's birthday (also last August).


I've also succumbed to a new addiction as of late...


Crocheted scrubbies! Love these little things - they take less yarn than my normal garter stitch washcloths and they're quicker to make. Don't get me wrong, I still like my washcloths, but you (and by 'you' I mean family) might be seeing more of these too :)

The last two months or so have been rather busy for me. I took part in an I LOVE the 80's CLUB along with two other dyers (Squibstitcher and Gherkin on Ravelry) and October was my month. I whipped up a few patterns:


Dyed up all the yarn and shipped them out. It's a nice relief to have it all done. I've never done a club or anything this size and it was rather fun!

As we all know, October = SOCKTOBERFEST. I love Socktoberfest. What a perfect excuse to make socks. I finally got around to finishing up my other Hermione's Everyday Socks sock so that pair and my Strut pair will be finding their way over to Aunt M's house shortly - once we're all over this lovely sick crap. I've also got a few other socks going at the moment. I'm not sure how many I'll actually get done before November, but we're going to give it the 'ol college try anyway.

I think I mentioned that little miss picked out some lovely tweed yarn at the LYS a few weeks ago now. She picked the yarn, the colors, AND the hat pattern. We went with the House Hats beret pattern from Alison Hansel's book Charmed Knits. It's a nice quick little project - especially nice when you need an I-want-to-start-and-finish-something-now project. Since little miss was modeling her hat (really it was more playing with the leaves, but you can see the hat so all is well), I took the opportunity to get a few shots of my FIL's Holiday Cousteau Hat. He's already seen it so it's not a surprise for him but he told me that he would act surprised anyway when he opened his gift so that's covered. I've made this hat a few times now and it's a great ribbed hat. My issue with this one was gauge. I really dislike gauge sometimes, you know? I used one of my hand dyed worsted skeins and my gauge was in between. I fought with myself during the CO - if I CO the smaller number of sts it would be too small but if I CO the larger size it would be too big and I really didn't feel like dissecting the pattern right then and there so I went with the larger size. Then I fought with myself as I knit the main ribbing portion contemplating ripping it out and going with the smaller size because I just knew it was going to be too big....

But I kept at it and finally just made him try the damn thing on so I could avoid fighting with myself over the next few months. It fit. It's a tad big but it's wearable so we're leaving it at that!

The hubby and I went to little man's school conference today. He is doing well and excelling in many things. There are a few areas that need a bit of polishing but it sounds like the rest of the class needs a bit of polishing in those areas too so we're right on point.

I'm working on a few projects/patterns at the moment that can't be shown yet, so as always, stay tuned! I'm also dyeing up some Autumn Inspired skeins for the shop which I'll post in a week or two. The Holidays might be semi-homemade this year instead of homemade but we'll see what I can get done. Christmas in April has a nice ring to it!