Knitty update

I have officially sent my pattern to Knitty. It was nerve-wracking, and weird to write a bio for myself. Wish me luck!!

Cake Decorating

My summer pullart I did yesterday is above.

So, now that I have been promoted to official Cake Decorator (only I would be that excited), I have not had any time to play with my new talent at home. This is the first job I have ever had where I got to be paid for being creative, and that makes it exciting and a good fit. I got the Wilton Masters Cake decorating kit for at home. And today I made cupcakes for the kids. But they ate them like a bunch of locusts. I could barely move my arms to make them because they were all over it. Thus, no pictures. Thursday is my mom's Birthday and I want to make her a cake for it. So, pictures then. There are still things I don't know how to do, but I am learning and I have come a long way.

I have to finish my knitting patterns today. My procrastination continues.

Knitting your Handspun

I have been attempting to write some patterns for Knitty these days, including my sock pattern, which I must finish by tonight to get it in under the deadline. I am also working on a pattern with my own handspun for KnittySpin. It is going to be awesome. It is a simple hat pattern, that I think will highlight the unique qualities of your handspun yarn. I cannot post a picture thus far, in case Knitty likes it, but I can post a close-up of my handspun knit up. Very exciting stuff.

Are there any aspiring pattern designers reading this? If you are, I would like to start a sock club on etsy and I am interested in unique sock patterns for the club, so, send me an e-mail. I am also getting business cards for the Phat Fiber box in July, if anyone knows a good site for that.

Round and Round

Spinning my own roving has been awesome. I am almost done. Then, I will need to decide whether or not I want to ply it. The colors are gorgeous and I am so pleased. I hadn't really seen how my own roving would spin up. I like seeing how the colors will play off eachother, and seeing it happen will help me dye better in the future. Part of the problem with hand-painting roving can be the whites, but sometimes that can create an effect that you desire, and there are ways around it if you do not wish to have any white.

My wheel is a Travelling Lendrum(recommended via e-mail by Pluckyfluff), and I love it. The orifice hook is stuck though, and I don't know how it happened (possibly kid-related). It spins a variety of yarns very well. I have never spun on a spindle, though. And I wish to learn how.

If I ply this one, it may lose some of its charm, and the colors which are so subtle already may lose their effect, but I prefer to knit with plied yarns. So we will see..

Let's See What This Spring Chicken Can Do

So, today for my day off I decided to delist and finally spin one of my own rovings! I have just started and my little girl came by to help, so I needed to take a break. We spin together alot of the time, but some day it just does not work. Anyway, it is so soft. I picked Spring Chicken - a very pastel, SW Merino/SeaCell. Yum. It is spinning up fast and has a gorgeous sheen I have not decided if I will ply it with thread, or use it as a single. Hmm..

Work sucked so bad last night. This guy from another department left instead of covering his co-worker's break because he "didn't feel like" doing it. Craziness. You are there getting paid, shut up and work. Have we become that entitled as a society that we now find the simplest tasks to be beneath us! I was shocked! So, I had to go cover that lunch and it put me way behind on my work and it sucked. I have never heard of anyone doing something like that at a job. Terrible. I am ashamed for us all if that is acceptable behavior. Sloth is a sin, get over yourself.

Experiments in dyeing

After much experimenting, and dyeing, and oh my, redyeing. I have discovered some trends.

If you are dyeing for a deeper toned, semi solid, kettle-dyed is definitely the way to go. You can layer other colors in the kettle with the main color for a more tonal semi-solid.

I have also done alot of the Rainbow dyeing. That is where you have 3 colors in the pot (each color being a third) they have have to be colors that can mix into eachother where the colors meet. After many trials, I have decided this is my least favorite method, while it is much less effort than hand-painting, the look that hand-painting creates is much more unique and interesting.

I have done alot of dyeing over the weekend (my work weekend anyway), and I think the results are pretty awesome. It was my first time dyeing a really nice SW Merino roving, and they are definitely more delicate than I am used to, but the colors turned out stunning! I am thrilled!

I am an official cake decorator now. Yeah, I got a promotion in 40 days, so "just a housewife" that! Sorry to boast, I have had a rough few months, and succeeding just feels really good.

I saw some things on Etsy and I think it is Nuno felting. I must learn it. I have to make one of these gorgeous scarves. Please comment if you know anything about it at all!