so here it is, ladies and gents.  the first lace/fingering weight yarn i've spun on the wheel.  something went really wrong and i had to completely respin it to add more twist, but now that i've done that, i'm pretty happy with it.  it's about 160 yards (47 grams), so i've got no idea what i'll do with it.  ideas are welcome!

on the knitting front, i'm working on a cascading hearts shawl from heartstrings fiberarts... i'm using some hot pink red heart lustersheen i had in my stash.  it's going pretty well so far.  i'll get pics up soon.

so yeah, not much is new. which is sad, because it's been a longass time since last post.

i did get a spinning wheel, so that's pretty awesome. it's a fricke 160DT (double treadle for maximum coolness). i got it used on the ebay, but it's in really good condition and works great. eventually, i think i'd like to refinish it and maybe fancy paint it up a little, but for now it's good.

that's a pic of the first real yarn i spun on the wheel..... it was some plain grey wool roving that i spun up then dyed with koolaid.  i've spun up a bunch of other stuff since then, and i'll get more pics up sooner or later.

so that's about it for now.  i'll try to be better about posting and such (we'll see how that goes).

what's this, you ask?  a package from miss monkeeliscious.  she is good.

1. a stretchy book cover that's now living around my copy of shel silverstein's falling up


2. a cd with all sorts of random songs, most of which i probably never would have listened to on my own, but rather enjoy them now that i have listened


3. a package of "T" pins for blocking lace that i make


4. half a package of purple pens (only one is shown)


5. a movie-sized box of "mike & ike"s


6. a nice little card with birds on it


7. aminal crackers


8. a wee tiny flower pot


9. (not shown) a roll of scotch tape that i suspect was thrown in just incase everything else got smashed up and needed fixing

yay for packages of randomness

apparently i am not a good blogger.

not a whole ton has happened worth writing though.

i did take up spinning... with a drop spindle, and i have a pic of my first ever yarns.

birthday tomorrow.  will be 24.  huzzah.

so i wake up this morning, try to put my glasses on, when i find that they have decided to become 2 pieces instead of the usual one whole pair of glasses thing that i rather prefer.  i call the place where i originally got them 2 yrs ago and they tell me it's 40 bucks for new frames.  the entire pair of glasses - frames AND lenses - only cost me 55 bucks to begin with.  so whatever, i check my bank account and make sure i have enough (there was an issue with me not being paid last pay-period) and i suck it up and make dad drive me across town to the stupid glasses place to get my stupid frames replaced.

and that was when the optical gods decided to shine down their mercy upon me and i found out that while my exact frames weren't available, they did have my frames in a different color - the color i was originally going to buy 2 yrs ago until a last-minute change of mind had me grab the ones with green.  so about 2 yrs, 10 minutes of "wow this NEVER happens, we NEVER have the same frames after 2 yrs" from the glasses guy, and $40.40 later, i now have the very same frames i tried on during the first go-round.

this purse is still for sale on the eBay.  do check it out if you please.  i made it all by myself. 

BONUS... if you see this post and you win the auction for the purse, let me know and there will be a little surprise top secret bonus sent with it.

i just wrote a whole big-ass thing about the monkey bag and progress on it and how i found my "muppets from space" soundtrack cd, but then tblog ate the post, so now you get this substantially lamer abridged version.

here's the monkey bag being blocked after washing it.  it twists like hell, so i stabbed in some double point needles to try to hold it straight.  yes, that is a john mayer cd case... room for squares, to be exact.

i'm honestly not thrilled with the way this project is turning out so far.  i made the bag a little shorter than i probably should have, mostly because my hands just can't deal with the evil devil hemp any longer.  it's one of those really-great-in-theory sort of projects, though i'm sure it will be cute once it's all done.  just really small, but that's ok now that i have a new phone that takes up about half the purse space that my other one did.  more to come on the phone and inevitable phone-related crafty-type items.

so check out the loot i got at the hobby lobby yesterday.  yes, my friends, what you see here is the makings for a monkey bag.  note the 5 damn dollars barrel of monkeys from toys-r-us because kaybee is the lamest toy store ever.  the jungle fabric was on clearance though.  and the hemp (which really isn't suitable for use with knitting unless you kind of like rope burn on your fingers) was on sale.  so that's my project of the day.... a monkey bag.

dear mary maxim brand "titan" yarn,

i hate you pretty hard.  the only reason i continue to even bother with you, is that you were free to me and i was asked to make warm things for kids that don't have them.  charity is saving your ass, otherwise, you would so be in the bad yarn time-out pile.

dear really pretty silk yarn i wrote a whole blog post about,

i wish you would start to behave and help me find a good pattern for you so you can get out of the bad yarn time-out pile.

 dear lead singing guy from weezer,

i think that you are hot.

which means i can't actually disclose what it is, because apparently when i tell people what i'm making, those things never get made.  but i took a (moderately crappy) pic because my blog is naked for pictures lately.

when i get through a skein or two more, perhaps i'll unveil it.

knit stuff updates:

i finally sat down and finished the "mimi verylong" scarf and i've dubbed it the best scarf ever... pics to come eventually.

i'm making an attempt to finish the evil demon frill monster (yes i know... scary to even mention it)

i have a million things i want to make eventually

modest mouse is part of my newly created knitting team... music makes my fingers move faster... i think it's science or something

so i know it's been way too long since i last posted.... but now i have pretty pictures to share so that makes up for it, right?

first, the felted purse i made from the kool-aid yarn in my last post and some fluffy-type yarn i got at hobby lobby just because i liked the color, not realizing it matched my kool-aid colored yarn perfectly....

the pattern is from a website that seems to have self-destructed or something otherwise i'd link to it.

and second, there's the other yarn i dyed a few days ago... this time with kool-aid's line of "aguas frescas".... i used jamaica(hibiscus flower), pina(pineapple), and tamarind(some kind of weird pod fruit thing that to me kind of tastes like sour raisins on its own, but the kool-aid version tastes kind of like iced tea).  so here it is, in cake form...

the picture is crap, because apparently i'm really good at taking crap pictures.  if you look verly closely though, in the background you can see the printed version of the knitty clapotis pattern , and in the sideground you can see the tiny beginnings of my very own tiny clapotis.  the real one calls for 600some yards of worsted weight wool/silk blend.  mine is being made with around 400 yards of fingering weight merino wool.  so, as with many of my adventures, we'll see how that goes.

lookee what i did to the two skeins of (natural off-white color)&nbs p;worsted wool i got from knit picks...

the light one is pink lemonade kool-aid (3 packets) and the dark is black cherry (also 3 packets).  i used a mix of instructions i've read on various sites around the interweb, but mostly the ones from knitty. i think for a first attempt, they turned out perfectly.  the picture doesn't show it too well, but both colors have a really nice variegation throughout (unintentional, but i'm pretty sure i prefer it this way instead of solid colors).  my original plan was to make a felted bag with the two colors, but i like the variegation a lot and i think it might get lost in the felting.  so once again, i dunno.

and in lamer news, i've decided to make a version of the fry-up bag.  why?  because i don't have one.  also because i have plenty of yarn with which to make it.  mine will be less complex though.  and it will not have a matching beret. 

so, inspired by one of monkee's recent posts and the feeling that my house has turned into one giantass tangle of random yarn, i decided to buy a yarn winder.  it is the coolest thing ever.  not so much because of its technology... it's really pretty simple... it's mostly cool because it turns wild yarn into neat orderly stout little yarn cakes that can also double as building blocks for those of us that like things that double as other things.  plans for a yarn fortress of knititude are in the works.

along with my ball winder, i got some yarn for dyeing.  it's from knit picks, and it's crazy cheap and way softer than i was expecting for the price.  i got 2 hanks of the plain "wool of the andes" worsted, and one hank of the "color your own" merino fingering weight stuff. i was planning to use the worsted stuff for a felted bag kind of like the orange one i made for a christmas gift, but now that i've fondled the yarn a bit, i'm not sure.  i have even less of an idea what i will make with the merino.

i got a bunch of kool-aid packets to use for dyeing, and i think i understand what i need to do to make it work, but i'm not entirely sure how to go about painting the yarn with the color so it looks good and not lame, so maybe this time around i'll just do solid colors.  black cherry and pink lemonade seem to be the weapons of choice for now.

oh - and i finished the other sock.  they still feel kinda big, but for my first grown-up size socks ever, i think they don't suck.  i'm still diggin the left/right toe thing.

so i finished a sock and here is what it looks like when my foot is in it

yay me!  i've already got the toe done for the left sock now.

damned disconnections all the time.  third time i'm typing this because i've been disconnected direcly after hitting the "publish this post" button twice now.

so in summation, monkee sent me a chain letter type dealie.  i thought since i don't know many bloggers in person, i might avoid chain letter type dealies.  monkee had other plans, apparently.  so here it is....

1. Total amount of music files on your computer?

approximately a buttload or two.  most aren't mine though.

2. The CD you last bought is:

for myself, i really can't remember. it's been probably a year or more.

3. What is the song you last listened to before reading this message?

Everyday - Dave Mattews Band

4. Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.

All at Sea - Jamie Cullum
Steady Pull - Jonatha Brooke
What I Got - Sublime
When the World Ends - DMB
Float On - Modest Mouse

5. Who are you going to pass this stick to? (3 persons) and why?

i'm not sure, but i'll let you know.

anyone?....anyone?....bueller?

it's not just a poorly executed blury photo with bad color.... it's a real live grown-up size sock toe.  and i made it!

the pattern makes a right sock and a left sock.. so my toe is lopsided on purpose.  i'm using size 4 needles and some sort of acrylic sock yarn i got at hobby lobby over a year ago (bernat "hot sox" maybe?) and i have no idea why i chose this color, other than maybe it was the only one with pink in it.  the needles are probably too big for the yarn, but i know i knit pretty tight, especially in the round.  and i also know my feet are wider than most sock patterns so a bigger sock wouldn't be terrible.  a third thing i know is i should have done a gauge swatch, but swatches be damned, i'm making me a sock... ill-fitting as it may be.

.... and we'll all go broke together.

i taught my brother's girlfriend how to crochet... and she made a whole scarf in like 2 days... in single crochet!  you know how long that would take me?  forever.  not so much because i'm not a speedy stitcher, more because i would be bored out of my mind with an entire scarf full of single crochets.  she did really well, though i didn't think to get a picture of her with it.

a new crocheter... perhaps someone i can foist my ginormous acrylic stash on... so i can get new stuff!  but shh, don't divulge my evil plans.  muahahaha.

as far as my work goes, i started a cabley scarf inspired by the one that ladybean was making, but cables get boring so i stopped it and started one of those multi-directional triangle scarf dealies and boy's girlfriend harassed me until i finished it.  it was easy, and looks alright.  i might be interested in making another one with a finer yarn and maybe some beads... i think i saw one somewhere on the interweb with beads and eyelets.  that would be cool.

other than that, not a whole ton on the project front.. knitting and otherwise.  i think i'm going to try my hand at some jewelry making... with wire... i've made other sorts of jewelry but wire is an unconquered horizon thus far.  so we'll see how much i can lame that up.  huzzah!

hey another new year.  woo-freakin-hoo.  call me pessimistic, but i can not imagine this one being much better than the last.  and the last sucked pretty hard.

so now that i've said that, on to the knitting.

i didn't get the scarf for mom or the fuzzy dice for boy done in time, but i did make a wine cozy for my aunt and uncle and a poncho for my great-aunt.

and now that it's after christmas, i can say that the top secret silly cat hat and almost matching felted orange bag for my bestest friend were well-received.  at least she seemed to receive them well.

now that i think of it, i'm not sure that anyone is even reading this since it's been a long-ass time since my last post, and the one person i know that had my blog linked apparently no longer does.  ah well.  words to no one.  that's about right.