Strings & Yarn

I splurged.  Well, it actually wasn’t a big splurge because it was an amazing price.  See, the thing about selling on Etsy, is you constantly see wonderful beautiful things that want to come home with you.  I couldn’t resist.

Could you?

I carefully pre-drafted because I wanted to get as close to lace weight as possible.

Something about this fiber demanded being documented.  I carefully took pictures at each step.  Here my singles are all wound up, and about to be plyed on itself, so none of it is wasted.

I ended up with about 250 yards of fingering/sock weight yarn.  Not quite as thin as I wanted, but the thinnest I’ve spun yet.  I got the fiber at Spincerely Yours.  I’ve been reading Tamara’s blog for awhile.  Go check it out.  Thanks for the wonderful fiber Tamara.

Last weekend we spent some time in Hood River, Oregon. If you live in Oregon or Washington and haven’t been to the Gorge yet, you must go. It’s incredibly beautiful. I was lucky enough that the Columbia River Gorge was some of the first parts of Oregon I had seen.

This is why we traveled that way.

Anthony wants to get a Ural bike, but decided taking a class on riding them would be wise. He wanted to make sure it was really for him. Can you tell? He looks miserable in the photo, doesn’t he? The goal is that I can knit in the sidecar. However, that will probably only happen when it’s parked.

While Anthony is was playing on bikes, I went to play in the fiber.

If you want any Alpaca yarn, it is here! They have a whole wall just of alpaca yarns. It was awesome. It made me wish I needed some yarn. Even though I didn’t need yarn, I still could use some fiber. I ended up getting some Alpaca fleece which most of it will make it’s way into the Strings and Yarn shop. I also got a pound of superwash roving for a killer price. I also sat down at a Kromski wheel and it was the first time I could imagine buying another wheel. I’m doomed!

I saw the alpacas. These are the alpacas that are about to have a babies. The little one is six weeks old. I always think alpacas look like they have funny 80’s hairdos. I especially love the golden one closest to the front.

We ate good camping food. The foil has potatoes, peas and mushrooms in it. We also grilled up two salmon fillets. The corn was perfect for a summer evening.

And of course I can’t go the whole trip without a puppy picture. Fifty percent of our pictures from the trip were of Ella.

We had lunch in a park during Anthony’s lunch break. Ella has her camping clothes on!*

*I am fully aware that camping clothes on the dog is pretty ridiculous, but this is something I must have inherited from my Mom. I could not leave the house without getting Ella’s camping bandanna.

It’s been one of those weeks where so much is happening, and I can’t seem to get to blogging! I blame it on Harry Potter (which I finished last night) and I was avoiding the internet for awhile. Didn’t want to read any spoilers.

So to do a quick catch up, this will be a list of random stuff from the past weekend.

• We went to Powell’s in Portland (the one on Hawthorn) for the Harry Potter release. It was awesome, a great time for all!
• Anthony took a class on riding sidecar motorcycles in Hood River, Oregon which meant that we got to spend a great weekend in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge. We took Ella on her first camping trip and she was great.
• I met some Alpacas while roaming Hood River. I even got some alpaca fleece to dye for my etsy shop.
• I have been working on my Mystery Stole. I realized my beads are bigger than what the pattern calls for, but I really like how it’s turning out.
• My garden is growing like crazy! I will soon have lots of great stuff to eat.

Thank you all so much for supporting me so much with the Etsy Shop, Strings and Yarn! I will be doing my next update on Monday 7/30 with some new colorways. However, if you saw something you liked, and couldn’t get it, now would be the time to let me know so I can get it dyed up for you. Thanks again for looking, purchasing and linking to the shop. It means a lot to me.

I have finished some socks!  Unfortunately these don’t count toward Summer of Socks because I started them before June 21st.  However, it’s nice to have another pair off the needles.  I found the pattern via Ravelry, and bought yarn in San Jose at Commuknitty.

Pattern: Boyfriend Socks by Alice Bell 

Yarn: Claudia Handpaint in Argyle Socks - 2 skeins

I know this picture doesn’t showcase them very well, but they fit great.  I love the cable pattern, and Anthony has been thrilled with his new socks.  He even did a little sock dance for me. 

Actually Anthony has been so thrilled with the sock making that he bought me yarn for 3 pairs of socks at Black Sheep.  One for him and two for me!  Nothing like having a boyfriend support your habit.

I have been a very busy knitter this last weekend.  I’ve opened an Etsy Shop!

Welcome to Strings and Yarn!  I had decided a while ago that I would do some dying and sell it at least over the summer.  If it went well, I would consider doing it during the school year as well.  When deciding how I was going to name my colorways, I couldn’t resist naming them after pieces that I had played and that I enjoyed listening to.  Hopefully the names will set some inspiration into the spinners/knitters.

If you like what you see, but can’t buy anything, please link to my shop on your blog!  I could use all the help I can get!

I also have a finished pair of socks (unfortunately they don’t count towards summer of socks, but they do count towards project spectrum), an almost finished sweater, some finished spinning and progress on my MS3.

I’ve started my stole!  I ended up going to Soft Horizons and just getting some Merino Lace for the project.  It’s cheap, and quick.  I didn’t have to wait for shipping or anything, so I got some instant gratification.

This is somewhere in the middle of Chart B.  I’m using very light pink beads in two slightly different colors.  Although, it’s very hard to tell the difference in color, so they all look like little shiny pearly bits.

How often do I get to take pictures of shiny pretty beads for the blog?  I’ve really enjoyed putting the beads in, and I’m nuts about the crochet hook method.  When I had tried to do beading before I had mixed results with getting the bead to stay in place well, but now it’s working really well.

I think I’m going to use this shawl for attending Symphony concerts, and maybe for performances.  We’ll see.

Thanks for all the wonderful comments on Ella and the bedroom.  We have been enjoying moving things around the house and finally feeling like we can completely unpack.  Plus we’ve been planning an IKEA raid for the new one in Portland.  We’ve got a closet to organize after all.

Is Done!  (Almost…is anything ever really done with a house?)   At least it’s done enough that we can sleep in it.

We did the carpet this weekend and it’s so wonderful.  We used Tesserae that you install yourself.  They were very easy, plus they look and feel great.  Although, anything would look and feel great compared to yucky cement.

We also built the IKEA dresser we bought a year ago.  Our garage has some more empty space and I’ll finally be able to unpack all of my clothes.  Our closet still needs it’s shelves and hanging bars, but that hasn’t stopped us from finally moving into the rest of our house.

We got a puppy!  Her name is Ella and she has been a great addition to our house.  We can probably officially get rid of our television, because between Jasmine and Ella our house is non-stop entertainment.

You get to see both our babies in this picture.  Undoubtedly Anthony took this pic after telling her to leave Jasmine alone.  So far we’ve had a two high speed chases, lots of hissing, and some swats, but no damage.  Jasmine is curious about the Ella to, but definitely likes her own space.  Since we are kennel training Ella, Jasmine gets free time around the house at night, when we’re away, and on occasional spurts during the day.

She is five months and 33 pounds, so she’s going to be a big dogie when she grows up.  She is so mellow and has a great temperament.  We sat with her for about an hour at Greenhill, and she was so calm.  A little nervous, but we could tell she would fit in with us just right.

She went with us to a BBQ for the 4th yesterday, and did fine.  She was able to hang out with lots of people, didn’t get bothered by fireworks, and didn’t beg for table scraps!  Just this morning, she is figuring out how to play fetch and actually bring the ball back.  So far she hasn’t tried to get into the yarn basket or chew on my spinning wheel, which makes this mommy very happy.

I have so much stuff to blog about, but have had no time, so I’m just going to do a quick catch up.

• We got a puppy!  I convinced Anthony to go to Greenhill on Saturday, and sure enough, we found a wonderful dog.  Her name is Ella (as in Fitzgerald) and she is so cute.  I’m sure there will be tons of pictures eventually, but I haven’t gotten any loaded onto the computer yet.
• My Ipod is frizzing out on me.  :(  I recently got the Ipod sad face.  Every time it happens I knock it around a little, and it starts back up.  I know this isn’t a permanent fix, I’m just hoping it lasts through the summer.
• I went to Oregon Suzuki Institute for some teacher training and it was awesome.  I had a wonderful teacher, and watched lots of great lessons.  I’ll be posting some pictures soon, so that everyone can get a glimpse of what being a Suzuki teacher means.
• I got tons of great stuff at Black Sheep!  I still haven’t posted everything about Black Sheep even though it was over a week ago.

Speaking of Black Sheep I wanted to post some pictures of some great bloggers that I met there.  Of course I saw the wonderful Kim.

I’m so lucky to be able to have an occasional coffee and knitting date with Kim.  Unfortunately she caught me when I was in the middle of Sheep to Shawl, so we didn’t get to do much together.

I also met Martha from Flying Poodle, but forgot to get a picture.  I think I was too distracted by the beautiful wool she was carrying.  I blame it on the wool.

Then on day two I met Tammi (blogless) who will be participating in the Charity Blanket Swap.  I personally feel that all us Eugene Charity Blanketiers should have a meet up when the blanket is done.

I also met Nichole from the Seattle area.  I can’t seem to find her blog anywhere though, so Nichole, if you stop by give me you’re blog address!  I’m definitely planning on trying to get in touch with her for a meet up if I’m in the Seattle area or at Oregon Flock and Fiber.

I hung out with the local knitting ladies too.  Anthony even spent time at the potluck, and at bought some yarn.  I think in a few years he may be ready to pick out a fleece.  Of course, so far he still refuses to try knitting.  He wants to leave it to me, which is fine for me.  Means I don’t have to guard my stash.