My Son The Soldier

My son Shlomie had to report to the army today. He knew this was in the cards when he decided to become an Israeli citizen. Originally he had to report in December but the date was pushed up. It's tough because he got married at the end of June and being apart from his wife will be difficult for both of them. Me, I'm a mom who will worry but because of his age (he's 25) I'm hoping he won't be in any sort of danger. Right now he's off to boot camp. I'm going to try not to worry and even though the time change can make calling Israel difficult, I want to be there to help support my DIL. We'll see how it goes. I know I'm a little bias but I think he looks great in his uniform.

Tonight is Snb night and I brought my Bosworth book charkha with me to play. Just realized I forgot the camera at home so I can't take pictures. I haven't forgotten about the picture I was supposed to post. I just haven't had the time to actually get the picture taken. One of these days I will do it.

I'm in the process of knitting a pair of socks for my BIL. I got sick of his asking but knitting these socks reminds me of why I don't like knitting socks for men. The feet are too bloody long. I'm not really liking it. I love the yarn. I am using some Brunswick Nylamb that I had it my stash and all I can say is SOFT!!! The yarn is a dark brown and that doesn't make it easy on my eyes but the first sock is almost done.

I'm also working on a scarf that someone asked me to knit as a store sample. The yarn is Mirasol Sulka in colour red onion. The yarn is a very lightly spun yarn that's 60% merino, 20% alpaca and 20% silk. This yarn is yummy. Because the yarn is so lightly twisted I'd sure love to try to spin with it. I'm using my Addi Clicks to try and keep the yarn from splitting and it seems to be working. I'm not having a difficulty knitting with it. The spinner in me keeps wishing it was fibre I could spin.

Where does the time go? My newest grandchild will be 7 weeks on Friday. Henny received the Baby Surprise Jacket I did for him. Now to find or spin yarn so I can make him another one. Still waiting for pictures of him wearing it. Will blog once I have it.

Creative And Knit Night

Friday I went to the Creative Festival. I was surprised by the amount of fibre arts they had this year. The overall show was cut in size by half. They only used one hall where in previous years they used two. However, there were yarn shops and local businesses that I haven't seen at the show in many many years. It was great to see. Now I hope the amount of fibre arts will continue to increase year over year. I was pleased this year where last year, even with the free ticket, I thought it was a waste of my time.

I didn't buy much but after going through my fibre and yarn stash the previous weekend I really didn't plan to. I bought buttons for my grandson's Baby Surprise jacket. I bought an 8 oz. bag of Ashford merino fibre from Romni Wools in a lovely purple colour.

Last year at the festival The Black Sheep and Ewe had these lovely ceramic sheep figurines from Ewe and Me. I'd been looking for this one ever since I saw it at The Purple Purl. When I saw that Black Sheep and Ewe had it I bought the only one they had with them.
This year they had this little guy and I felt it would be a perfect companion to Grandma's Present. I just love them. It's a shame he didn't have more of the small ones. I want to get a family of them. With the two medium/large sizes I have now I want to get some of the small ones and have a sheep family. Tom said it isn't easy for him to get them so I'll have to just get them as I see any I like.

The last thing I bought was a skein of Clestial Merino sock yarn from British Yarn. The colours were such fall colours I couldn't resist. Now to find the time to actually knit socks with it.

Tuesday night I went to The Purple Purl for their knit night. Look who came to visit! It's Cookie A. I wish I had known she was going to be there. I totally would have brought my Sock Innovation book for her to sign. Yeah I know I'm a complete geek but I don't care.
Speaking of socks, I am in the Tri Wizard Tournament group on Ravelry. One of the three tasks we had for October was to knit something blue or with waves. I decided to use this as an opportunity to knit some Regia sock yarn that I had in my stash. I couldn't find a pattern with waves that I thought worked with the yarn so I designed these. Miko from The Purple Purl came up with the name Shells in the Waves and I like it so I think I'll keep it. I still have to block the socks get better pictures and work up the pattern but I will do it eventually.

Schacht Contest

I found out on Sunday that I won Honourable Mention in the Schacht contest. Since I honestly didn't expect to win anything this is such a great thing. It has given me much more confidence in my spinning. I won one of their Dizzy Yarn gauges. I had to enter as an expert because I learned to spin in November 2006 and for their contest 2 years and more is considered expert. I, personally, don't consider myself an expert at all. There was time in there that I didn't spin at all or very little. I do see considerable progress in my spinning and I'm happy with that.

And speaking of spinning, I finished the Louet merino/silk fibre I've been working on. This was spun on my Schacht Ladybug. The fibre is the Louet Merino/Silk blend in Glacial Green. I'm not totally sure of the yardage but it's 220 grams and I think it's about 1300 yards total. There are two skeins. One is 137 grams and the second is 83 grams. I think it's lighter than fingering but not as fine as some lace yarn you can get. I still have to check the WPI as well. When I wind it into a centre pull ball I'll check with the yarn meter so I know the exact yardage I have. This way I can decide what the yarn wants to become. Right now I don't have a clue.

I've also been working on another sock design. The stitch pattern is from a Japanese stitch pattern book I have. The yarn is a Regia sock yarn. I am happy with the first sock but want to try something different in the heel for the second sock. I just have to figure out how I am going to do it. I've never tried it before. I'll have more details once it's finished.

Giuseppe, I haven't forgotten about your request for the picture. The skein I did at that time is very tiny. I haven't really done another skein because I haven't been very happy with the singles so I have been playing and taking it off the spindle and tossing it in the garbage. I will set up the charkha tonight, I hope, and take a picture of the spindle so you can see what I've done.

I WON SOMETHING!!!!!

My name is among the winners in the spinning catagory for the I Made It On My Schacht Contest. I don't know what I won and the grand prize winner hasn't been announced yet. They will be announcing that winner later tonight. I am in shock. I can't believe how far my spinning has come since I changed my drafting technique and Maggie helped me figure out I was underplying my yarn. Thank you Maggie. I couldn't have won anything without you.