Cupcakes & Oops!

So the last few days have had a few knitting needle catastrophes. Sunday night I was working with my size 6 Harmony interchangeable needles when I started noticing I was having difficulty with one of the needles. As first I thought I had a tension issue of being too tight, then I figured out that it was the needle. One of the layers of lamination had separated and was catching the yarn. I'm using them because they are the only pair of size 6 that I have. I'm using them to work on Kaisha's Pasha Penguin. So that project is on 'hold' until my replacements come in.

I started late Sunday Kaisha's Birthday Cupcake with my size 7 dpns, also Harmony Wood. It wasn't until Monday afternoon though while working the 'frosting' on Bailey's that I had my second catastrophe - one of the tips chipped off/broke off. Nice jagged edge. These things don't sand down well.

Here are the finished cupcakes though:

I spent an hour last night and a couple hours today at the Louet spinning the Schoppel Wolle pencil roving. So my other 'oops' - I've run out of roving. ;^) I'll have to see if Bobbie or Duffy can teach me how to Navajo ply it Wednesday night. So I'll have to either pick up some roving from Sharon to play with tomorrow night, or use 'Spicy' the merino/silk roving I have. I would like to spin it on the wheel, but I think I'd like more wheel time before spinning it up.

Here is what I have:


I did go down the bobbin and realized I had more at one end and then brought it back. May not have been the best idea, but I'll have to deal with it at plying I imagine.

Spinning is fun! I hope I can have my own wheel sometime soon. Need a 'name' for the new yarn though. Any suggestions?

Spinning & Fish

I've done a few short stints at the wheel since getting it on Wednesday and after Bobbie's tutorial on how to use it. Today I backed pretty much all of that off the bobbin and started over. I'd noticed that it was pretty loose on the bobbin and you could see that in the yarn. I then spent about an hour with the Schoppel Wolle pencil roving I picked up at Knit/Purl. Since it is pencil roving it's almost pre-drafted. I still did a little bit more. There's some thick and thin going on but I think when plied it might end up being a fingering weight.

Here's what I have right now:


Brandon and I picked up the pond fish on Friday after work. Four came home with us that night and it was a bit of work just to get them. I think the longest orange one is about six inches long. Mary also sent us home with some 'lettuce' and 'hibiscus' plants. I put them in quotes because those are what my memory came up with and I'm not sure if that's the 'real' name for them. Saturday she gave a call to Brandon, but he's down in Lincoln City helping with the roof, so Norbert and I ran over to pick up two more fish and a palm and iris that she thinned out of her pond. I really should have taken the camera to get a shot of her pond - very pretty. These are the shots I have of the first four fish in the pond:



The fish are pretty skittish still. The two new fish - one red, smaller than the others and a white with yellow headed one that she thinks is female so that we too can have babies next year. The dogs are curious about the what's in the pond, right now anytime anything comes near it they dart for hiding under the plants.

Nessa is stressed by Cedi. Cedi has a nasty habit of resource guarding the kitchen and since she's taller than Nessa, she just finds it easier to hide out in the bedroom. I did take her out and got her a doggie cone at Dairy Queen last night that she did enjoy and shared with Norbert. I'm sure she would be counting the minutes until both dogs are gone if she could do that. ;^) Norbert is much more relaxed about them and hanging out on the back of the couch.

In case you were wondering, I've taken the Beach Glass Basket Rib Handtowel out of my projects. When you dread knitting something, you shouldn't. So it will get frogged once again and become a Seafoam Hand Towel I have in my queue. Damn boucle.

I also discovered I can't count. I have five nephews, I had four fish. So I whipped up another one yesterday while watching TV:

I've also started work on Kaisha's Pasha Penguin. The feet are knitted as well as the wings. Cast-on for the body, it's two pieces. I foresee this as a quick knit, it's going to be all the seaming up that will take some time, of course.

I'm going to check with Knit/Purl to find out if they have more of the pencil roving so that I can either ply it with the same colorway, or a complementing one. Question is, drive or MAX? May have William practice the drive down before his drive test on Tuesday. I'll have to get in touch with Kim to see if I can get the third bobbin for her so that I can ply.

Things that came home with me....

I had mentioned in the Knitting Bee forum about the new classes and asking about wheel rental. Someone read it and sent a post saying that I could borrow her unused Louet S51 wheel. I took Kim up on her offer and met her tonight there for the knit night.

Here's the wheel:


The Knitting Bee also had their Malabrigo show up today and we were told that we would be able to get it tonight. So I did a quick queue check and came up with projects that wanted Malabrigo, or I could use it. ;^) It also means that I broke out the Christmas Gift spreadsheet, so I could start planning gifts out to match recipients. I had three skeins of worsted and one of lace come home with me:



After sharing finished projects with Trish and moving the wheel to my car with Kim and then ogling more yarn for a bit and watch a pirate sweater in the making, I headed out. My thought - to see if Bobbie was at Haggen's so I could pick her brain on how to spin with a wheel.

Bobbie and group were there and she did kindly spend time showing me how to treadle and how to work everything on the wheel. I need to get some duct tape and its glue off of one of the bobbins and thoroughly dust it off. She has set me the task of getting my treadling down and then have some yarn to show next Wednesday. ;^) I only have the two bobbins so plying may be interesting. I think I could do up one bobbin and then try Navajo plying to the second. I'm also supposed to bring it with me to OFFF and also to try out the wheels there. With the Louet and a couple of weeks practice with it, I'll be better prepared to try theirs out.