Speaking of Finishing

I seem to be on a roll now that I finished those two pairs of socks. I think it just kinda broke my stall and on Tuesday at Crochet Night I managed to finish this:

It's the doily I've been crocheting out of the Bamboo Crochet thread I found.


I think it turned out really really well and I have it blocking now. So, here we go.

The specs:
The Yarn: Aunt Lydia's Bamboo Crochet Thread (Size 10)
The Hook: Steel Size 7 hook (1.65mm)
The Pattern: Peacock Pride from Leisure Arts book Absolutely Gorgeous Doilies
The Recipient: I'm thinking I will give it to my mom for Mother's Day but I'm not sure yet.
Notes: The Bamboo thread behaved really well and despite the fact that at some points I could see the individual strands, I didn't really have any problem with splitting. I would DEFINITELY use it again and I think that I would love to try it in some bold colors although they pretty much just carry pastels right now.

Well, I'm off to find something else to finish. Probably not in time to post tomorrow though.

Yarning

Lately I've been setting aside the knitting to do a little spinning. I had this wonderful tweedy sort of fiber from the friend who gave me the spindle (which I stupidly didn't take a picture of while it was still fiber) and I spun it up and navajo-plied it giving me this:

It's about 36 yards of a pretty darn even worsted weight and I love it a lot. It isn't really enough to do much but it's something and it makes me pretty happy.

Well, this same lovely friend was going away for awhile to get married and go on a honeymoon so she loaned me her wheel. Yeah, I know, this is a GREAT friend!

While I was over at her place picking it up, I bought a little more fiber since I don't have a lot of it and I kinda needed something to play with. A beautiful coil of yellowy roving. So pretty. I have a picture of the roving somewhere but I don't know where. So I'll just show you what I made with it.

I split the roving down the middle before doing anything and then I spun half of the first half on one bobbin and half of the second half on the second bobbin and plied it. It was a bit thicker than I expected. Somewhere between a sport-weight and a worsted weight with just a few extremely thin sort of overspun bits. (Its more difficult than you think to get used to a wheel.)

I got this beautiful yarn. I think it looks pretty good but I might be biased. It's about 100 yards so it's something that I could maybe do a little something with it. Plus, I still have the other half to finish spinning.


I may have actually cast on something with it but I'm pleading the fifth.

Finishing

This weekend was busy but I did manage to get a whole bunch done.
On Saturday I had to attend the bridal shower for my soon-to-be Sister-in-law. I still managed to finish a pair of socks:

These are the socks for our family friend Judy. They are knit out of a new to me yarn. Plymouth Sockin' Sox.

The specs:
The Yarn: Plymouth Sockin' Sox 60% Superwash Wool, 25% Bamboo, 15% Nylon, Color: 006
The Needles: US Size 2 dpns
The Pattern: Basic Sock Recipe
The Size: Ladies Size 7
The Recipient: Family Friend Judy E.
Notes: I knit these socks fairly short so her feet won't get too warm since she is always overwarm. Plus, she has pretty short feet so the feet of the sock are fairly short too.

Then, since we have been so busy lately, we decided to just spend Sunday at home.
I found a nice long marathon on the Sci Fi channel of all 3 parts of Stephen King's Rose Red so I watched that and knit.

It worked GREAT! Don't look at the scary part, knit.
I managed to finish these Monkey Socks. They are another gift pair.


These are intended for a friend of ours in California so they will get shipped off shortly.

The specs:
The Yarn: Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Soy in color 2102 Hazelnuts. 49% Bamboo, 33% Soy, 18% Elastic Nylon
The Needles: US Size 2 dpns
The Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A. On Knitty.com
The Size: Ladies Size 8ish
The Recipient: Friend in California Sneha
Notes: Since these are for someone in California, I didn't want them to be knit of wool because they would be too warm. I think this yarn worked out well. The color is absolutely beautiful. The only issue I had was that it tended to be a little splitty. I think the act of knitting it tended to untwist it. It still worked very well though.

I had been feeling like I wasn't able to finish anything lately and I think it was (gasp) because I had started so many pairs of socks at the start of the Lime & Violet Sock Marathon 2009 that I was working a little on this one and a little on that one and wasn't actually getting anywhere on any of them. Finishing these two pairs makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere so maybe that will help. But, now I'm all prepped for Sock Wars so I'll be starting those soon.