Good things come to those who wait. . .

Ana (sadly blogless) waited until the end of the challenge to turn in her hats (she knitted 10 of them), and she's getting the second prize! There is a copy of Knitty Gritty Knits and a pair of bamboo needles working its way through a handful of knitters to her. Ana has to wait for her prize, but it'll get there!

When Ana dropped her hats off at my new office, Mamie (one of my co-workers) asked what they were for and asked if I'd take crocheted ones. I said of course I would; those babies need hats! Since she's going "above and beyond" by making 10 hats, I rustled up a copy of Crocheted Hats and a crochet hook case for her. Mamie has to wait for her "not a prize" until after she produces the hats.

I had to wait for ToolMan to finish my winding station. But what a great payoff in the end! Here's a picture once he got it finished:



It has pegs on the bottom for cones of yarn (I popped the spool of string I use for drive bands and leaders on one), two metal rods for spools, a vertical reel (which makes a 2-yard skein) on one side, and plenty of room on top for my ball winder and swift to clamp on. He's going to add a couple hooks on one side for hanging my orifice hook and WIP tool, and a pocket or basket on the other side to hold a bottle of oil, rag, etc. If you're interested in having him build a winding station for you, either like mine or to your specifications, leave me a comment with an email address and ToolMan will contact you directly.

To give you some idea of the size, here's a picture next to my spinning wheel.



This is where I spent the better part of Saturday afternoon; next to the big sliding door enjoying the sunshine, soft jazz on the radio, a dog lying in the sunspot on the carpet, and spinning.

Here's a picture of the tag ToolMan put on the winding station. I'll overlook that he spelled the name wrong; actually I think I'm going to leave it on forever.



Today, I had brunch with the girls from my old office. We did potluck: quiche, chicken salad, fruit, cheeses, crusty bread, chocolate cake, Mimosas and coffee. This is the first time we've all gotten together since the office closed in July.

We got to talk about what we've each been up to and got to hear about weddings, children and grandchildren, kids getting driver's licenses, kids going off to college, job searches, and how each of us is doing. It was like no time had passed at all; we picked up just where we left off.



I am so glad I know these women. We are, for each other, the sisters we wish we had.




These are women for whom I would go to the ends of the earth and once there, walk through fire to help them. And the best part is, I know they would do the same for me.

My head is spinning . . . .

First, from all the premie hats that were gathered (and they're still coming in!) and handed over to Duffy yesterday. ToolMan and I braved the beginning of Pacific Northwet (no, that's NOT misspelled) rainy season by MAX and Streetcar to the Pearl District, where we met up with Duffy, and Melissa, for a couple hours. Aimee came across town with her daughter, Emily, to lay claim to the Booty Bag. And MonicaPDX braved the daylight hours to come knit in public, too. Although, considering the small amount of knitting she actually did, I'm not sure if it was the knitting or the frappucinos that lured her out. Go look at their blogs for pictures, I completely space out bringing my camera. We all sat at tables together and laughed and chatted and knitted, and well, you know by now how we are when a whack of us get together. ToolMan, being the intelligent guy he is, found a nice comfy overstuffed chair across the way to enjoy his newspaper, but he did eventually come over to meet everybody. He proved his identity by showing them his socks:



I've been spinning my little fingers to the bone this week. I may turn out like Barbara, who says she learned to knit only to have something to do with all the yarn she makes. By the way, go look at her blog; she has a post about something I consider absolutely horrific and we ALL need to go sign that petition. I can't say here what I'd like to do to that so-called "artist" but let's just say it involves tender parts, rope, and flagpoles.

OK, mini-rant over. Here are the yarns I spun and plied last week:



These are all from that big wad of Dragon Waste I bought at OFFF. I love being able to play with mixing colors by combining the colors either in singles or by plying. From right to left, they are: fuscia single and brown single plied together; yellow and brown mixed singles plied together (remember that banana chocolate roving, yeah, that's it); alternating yellow and white in each single and then plying together; and small amounts of each color spun in sequence in singles and then plied together. With all this color and combinations and techniques to play with, I'm like a kid in a candy shop. Here's what I did this week, all plied and skeined and ready to be plunged into the hot water to set the twist:



More of that Dragon Waste. I decided to knit a Faroese-style shawl from the neck down out of my learning yarns since they're all superwash and complementary colors, and I kept thinking I needed to spin that whole lot before I started on my shawl. Then I remembered that I bought TWO POUNDS of this stuff. Since it's all coming out about like fingering yarn, that would be one humongous shawl! Kind of like Judy's big mobius. So, as soon as I finish the warm scrunchy shawl I'm working on, I'll start one with my own hand-spun. Here's the one I'm working on now:


A mix of left-twist cables, coin lace, and right-twist cables on a background of purl stitch, with garter stitch edges to prevent rolling. This is yarn reclaimed from a Goodwill sweater; the tag said handknit alpaca and silk, but I'm thinking probably not, unless it was really abused because this yarn has almost no twist or springiness left. But it's natural color and is really defining the stitches nicely. I wanted something neutral and warm for the office, and since I only paid $3 for the sweater, it fits the bill nicely.

ToolMan's been in the garage most of the day, working on the winding station he's designing and building for me.



Today's our anniversary; 19 years ago today we walked into the courthouse in Huntsville, Alabama and were married by a judge. We passed a milestone several years ago: our marriage has lasted longer than both our first ones combined. I'm not sure, but I think as of this year, our marriage has lasted longer than all of our ex's marriages, combined. After 21 year together, would I do it again? YOU BETCHA!

My apologies . . . .

I know I promised to get the results up on Monday and I didn't get it done. So flog me. To quote Cindy, "My 'give-a-damn' is broke", or AimeeInLegal, "I have a big WAY and everyone's in it!" This hasn't been the most productive week for me. In fact, it's been downright aggravating and frustrating. To make a long whine short, I'm still gathering numbers from delinquint hat knitters. And I have seen on some blogs that people are knitting hats and haven't emailed their numbers to me. And my cohort in crime, Duffy, and I have had a hard time coordinating our calendars for a rendevous. Then, I had problems (boy, do I have problems!) posting the info on here.

SO, at long last . . . .

A bunch of the PDX Knit Bloggers will be meeting up at Starbucks at NW 23rd and Overton on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. I'll be gathering premie hats (and relating the new job escapades) for the challenge I issued on my blog; Duffe (FiberQat) will bring along the Booty Bag (AimeeInLegal better show up to collect her prize!); Melissa (Days of Tea and Knitting) needs to be pampered; hopefully MonicaPDX (Animorphia) will be joining us (I know it's early, but hopefully she's had time to recuperate from OFFF). And ToolMan has decided to come hang out with us. Come join us; I promise that hats will be gathered, prizes will be handed out, laughs will be had, knitting will probably not be done, and kawfee (or frappicinos) will be supped.

Just one more thing . . . .

That's a favorite saying of the attorney I'm working for this week. We've told her that should be her epitaph, "Just one more thing . . . "

Well, here's my "one more thing" for the Booty Bag:

A pair of Clover bamboo needles, US size 5, 3.75 mm, 8 inches long, in a black silk brocade case.

And now, for details on how this Premie Hat Challenge ends:

The challenge goes to midnight on Saturday, October 13, 2007, so on SUNDAY (and not a minute before midnight) send me an EMAIL telling me how many hats you've knitted, and include a picture if you want. My email address is: bobbie_wallace AT comcast DOT net. Then, I'll compile a list of who knit how many, who wins the Booty Bag, and who gets Honorable Mention.

Honorable Mention???? Oh, I didn't tell you about that before? Well, there the 2nd and 3rd place winners get prizes, too!

On Monday, I'll post the winners, the list with pictures, and details of a get-together to collect hats and hand out the Booty Bag and Honorable Mention Prizes.

Now, what are you waiting for, the contest doesn't end until midnight Saturday? GO KNIT PREMIE HATS!

So here's the deal . . . .

There is now one week left in the Premie Hat Challenge, so I'm going to give everybody a fighting chance to snag the Booty Bag.

Lots of people said there was no way they could catch up to the number of hats I already had knit. So here's the deal: Whoever knits the most hats wins the Booty Bag, as long as it isn't me. I issued the challenge to get people to knit for a very worthy charity. It's hard to get a new charity started, and this one seemed to need a jump start.

So, in case you haven't heard, what's in the Booty Bag, here's a picture, as it is right now:



That's two skeins of Socks That Rock, a pink and red ceramic mug filled with various Stash Teas and Chais, and two Moonstruck chocolate bars all stashed in that cute retro bag on the right (which would make a great knitting or lunch bag, by the way).

In order to get the needles clickin' for this project, I'm going to add goodies periodically over the next few days until the deadline on October 13th. And here's what I'm adding tonight:



Ten (I thought there were 12, but I was wrong) antique black mother of pearl buttons. They're about the size of a penny, which I forgot to add for proportion. Word on the street is that at least one pair of Clover bamboo needles in a silk needle case may be added before the end of the week.

People came by my house on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to pick up yarn and patterns and were just getting started then. So even if you haven't started yet, and you're a pretty fast knitter, you probably have a pretty good chance of capturing the Booty Bag.

Now, what are you waiting for? Go knit Premie Caps!

Busy, busy, busy . . . .

Yessiree, been pretty busy around here lately. I been doing some spinning almost every night.



I pulled out all the green rovings from the Dragon Waste I bought at OFFF. I bought it intending to use it for learning purposes, but I do like all the colors.


"Yo, mom, remember me?"

Then I practiced plying. I definitely need a lesson on Navajo plying, I made a ginormous mess of that and had to just it off and throw it away. I did a lot better at Andean plying, see?



The more I spin, the more even my singles are, both in diameter and in the amount of twist. But even if this is as fine as my singles ever get, I'll be happy. I can two-ply them into something akin to sock yarn, a three ply is pretty close to sports yarn, and my four-ply is like worsted.



Maybe I'll save all my learning yarns and knit them into a shawl. Even though I separated the colors, there are little bits of the other colors in each roving; I like how each of the yarns has come out with little blings of the other color fibers. These first handspuns would make a nice everyday shawl since they're all superwash; it would be nice to have one that can just be thrown in the washer and dryer without blocking every time.


"Don't bother getting up, mom. I'll get my own dinner."

I got a call from one of the legal assistants from the old office earlier this week. She went with one of the attorneys to open a private practice after the office closed. Now, she's going back east for her son's wedding next week and needs me to cover for her while she's gone. I'm looking forward to it; I like working for that attorney occasionally, plus she's a knitter.

Then, on the same day, I got a call from one of the attorneys I had interviewed for a couple weeks ago. Last time, I travelled into downtown to meet him. This time, he came out to the west side, so we met at Starbucks. We talked for almost 2 hours, and reached an agreement for employment. I'll start at his office the day after I finish temping for my friend.

By way of celebration, I bought a slick new coffee/tea set and new place mats for the dining room. I'm a real big spender, huh?

Yes, they're upside down, drying on a towel. I've had my eye on this for awhile. Brushed stainless steel and borosilicate glass. And the pot has a french press for coffee.

The newly spun yarn loves reclining on the placemats and snuggling up next to the new cups. See that little brown ball there next to the yarn? That was the icing on the cake. It's called "blossoming tea". It's a little ball made of tea leaves and flowers and fruit rind, hand stitched with silk thread in china. Which, when put in a clear pot and covered with hot water, does this:

Now, that's a way to celebrate! Beats a Starbucks in a paper cup any day!