Glimpses of spring, and a pictures of my most recent projects.

Hello again!!!

Time seems to have gotten away from me! I cant believe it has been almost a month or a little longer since I last blogged!! I have been busy working and knitting and spinning!

Spring is blossoming all around us right now and I love seeing all the plants and trees come to life after laying dormant all winter. Its fun to wake up in the morning to the sounds of birds happily chirping away as the set about making their nests. I love waking up in the morning in the spring with my window open and the fresh air blowing in. Recently our weather has turned a bit cooler than it had been we had a week of 80 degree weather so now 50s and 60s feel a bit chilly. :) But it is still lovely weather for April!! :) :)

Here are some pictures I snapped today after I was done mowing the lawn. :)

This is a purple sand cherry.

Pink daffodil

This one just started opening today.

Such a bright cheerful shade of yellow!!!

The sky is a very bright blue today. :)

These tulips are purple but they aren't quite ready to bloom yet.

I also thought that you might want to see the projects that I am currently working on and the ones that I have finished in the past few months.

I have not had as much time for knitting as I would like but I still have managed to get quite a bit squeezed in. I finished my socks I was working on as well and a pair of mitts and a pair of leg warmers.

I recently started knitting another juneberry triangle this one is for my mom. It is in a lovely shade of gray with tan undertones the yarn is a merino cashmere blend that purchased from knitpicks. I am almost done with chart B but I still have 2 more charts before the body of the shawl is complete and then there is a edging chart. It is a beautiful shawl and I really enjoy knitting the pattern.
I have also started knitting one of the kits that I received for Christmas. It is called the Cozy Cacoon Shrug the yarn color for the kit I have is purple. I am loving the pattern so far although it is a little different switching between a worsted weight yarn and a lace weight yarn.

Well here are pictures of all my projects that I mentioned and an updated picture of my counted cross stitch that I have been working on.

On the spinning front I have plied all of my merino that is in the green and blue teal color way. I am almost done plying the last of the  merino silk blend that I am spinning up for my  mom it is going to be a lovely lace weight yarn when I am done plying it. I will be sure to take pictures of them when I have taken them off the spindles and put them into skanes.

Well that's all for now hope you all have a Blessed Easter!!!

Hello again!

Sorry I have been so remiss in blogging lately. I started a full time Nanny position last fall and it is keeping very busy, but I am enjoying taking care of the baby. :)

I have been busy finishing up projects that I have started and left off to knit on new things. Some of the things I have finished are the leg warmers I was knitting for my mom and I also finished my sweet fern mitts. :)

I recently started and finished knitting my first pair of socks. I was very excited about knitting my first pair of socks, I started them and couldn't seem to put them down!!! I finished the first sock in about a week and then I left off on the other on for a bit but it didn't take me long to start and finish it. This was my first time wearing hand knit socks and it was extra special with the fact that I had made them!! :)

I also have been working away on my cross stitch I am now on the last page and I have the first three pages back stitched. It is looking quite lovely and I am thinking of adding a verse to the top of it once I have finished it. I am planning on framing my cross stitch when I am done with it and hanging it somewhere in our house. :) My family is looking forward to seeing it finished.

I don't have any pictures uploaded yet because the batteries in the camera are currently charging, but when the batteries are finished charging I will upload pictures to the bottom of this post.

I have also finished spinning the black merino silk that I bought last may. I took a break from spinning it to work on spinning some thicker yarns. I started spinning it again this week and it didn't take me long to finish it up. :) I am looking forward to plying it and seeing what the weight and yardage is. :) :) I also have finished spinning and plying the green, blue, and teal merino wool that I hand dyed. the colors aren't quite as vibrant as I would have liked but all in all I am happy with the end product. It is all plied and I just need to set the twist.

I have been enjoying the past few days of warm spring weather. I am looking forward to when its warm enough to take the baby out in the stroller for walks. :) I love fresh air and I am looking forward to when it is warm enough to go out and weed in the garden and get the spring cleaning done in the flower beds.

I am waiting for a recent yarn order to arrive so I can knit up 2 pairs of mitts that a lady ordered from me and I also ordered some more yarn to make myself another juneberry shawl! :) I have started a juneberry  shawl for my mom that is made with a cashmere, merino wool blend. I have finished chart a and I am blazing through chart b. It is such a fun pattern to knit and now that I have made it once already I find that I can sit back and enjoy knitting it more now that I don't have to concentrate so much on making sure I know what all the symbols mean. :) I cannot wait to knit myself another juneberry shawl.

I have the yarn to make myself 3 more pairs of socks and a pair of beaded knee socks for my mom. I cannot wait to start on the beaded knee socks. I have not done a pattern with beads in it yet so it will be a fun experience for me.

Well that's all I have for now I will make sure to add pictures soon.

Making apple sauce.

Hello again!!                                                                                                                                             

Well I have been busy with fall preserving apple for applesauce. I love how the apples look when they are in the sink with all the water drops on them. Here are some pictures of the process, I have it a little easier than most because the gadget I use for making applesauce doesn't require any peeling or coring. I simply have to quarter the apples and cook them until they are soft. It is a much simpler process but it still takes up a lot of the day. I enjoy making applesauce to it doesn't bother me that it is a long process.              

The knife looks quite fierce doesn't it?

I use a combination of Macintosh and Golden Delicious apples.

These were all ready to go in the pan for cooking.

You put the cooked apples in the top and they come through and the peelings come out the side and the sauce comes out through the bottom.

And here is the finished apple sauce!! I added Cinnamon after this was taken so it changed the color a little bit.

I don't have anything to show on the spinning or knitting front as most of what I'm working on is Christmas presents right now but I do have a few pictures of the cross stitch I gave to my mom today for her birthday. :) And of  course a picture of Keyla.  

This is called a rose progression and I decided to add a few extra touches like the verse and the border.

She decided she loves this pizza box.

Knitting,spinning and future projects.

Hello!!

 I know I am not very regular in blogging but I hope to remedy that this year. I recently went to a fiber festival with my mom and we had a good time. This was my moms first fiber festival and I am glad it was on the small side as she got overwhelmed by all the fiber,yarn and animals. I am glad she enjoyed it and she was able to purchase some things. We bought 4 oz of Merino wool blended with Tussah silk. It is a gorgeous black with silver spread though out it.



This is the Tussah Silk Merino Wool blend.



I love the colors if this. I am hoping to spin it a lace weight.

And this is some Mohair I also was able to get at the Fiber festival. I have worked with Mohair before but it was a black and grey color this is the more common natural color.

Here is some Angora that i purchased last year in august the color is called broken torte. It is a white color with some cream and tan spread though out it. I am not sure yet what i am going to use this for but i am enjoying spinning it up, Angora is one of the harder fibers to spin because it comes is locks in stead of a roving.

Here is a partially made reversible from the Itty Bitty Toys book.I am making the sisters reversible. The pink part is the dress for one side of the doll and the periwinkle color is the other side of the dress. I am making this pair of sisters for a lady at my church she is giving it to her granddaughter and I am trying to make it look like the girl and her sister.  I will make sure to post some pictures of the finished project.

These 2 balls of yarn are part of an order i put into Knit Picks. The one on the right is Knit Picks Capra Cashmere Yarn in the Platinum color and the one on the left is Swish Worsted Yarn in the Tidepool heather. The Cashmere blend I will be making the Juneberry Triangle, and the Swish worsted I will be making a pair of leg warmers for my mom for this winter.

Some of you might remember the cross stitch I had talked about a few posts back?? Well it has come along nicely the last couple of months. I finished the first page of the pattern and started on the second. I am very happy with the way it is turning out and I cannot wait to see the finished product! I love cross stitching but back stitching is not my favorite part and the thought of having this huge project done but still have to back stitch it was a little intimidating to I decided that as I finished each page of the pattern I would go through and back stitch as much of that page as I could so that I could save my self time and headaches down the road.

I still have alot to do but I am very happy with the way it looks so far.

And here is my Juneberry Triangle!! I am very excited with my progress. This is a charted knitting pattern and I have never worked a charted pattern before so it was a little intimidating at first but I have a friend who is an experienced knitter and she got me started on this pattern. I have completed the first chart and I am about half way through the second. This pattern has a lot of stitches that I'm not familiar with so it will be a very big learning experience for me. But I am so looking forward to the finished project!

Here is another shot of my angora.

And last but certainly not least here is a picture of the 100% alpaca that was given to me by a friend. I have a little over a pound of it and I plan to leave it the natural color because i think it is beautiful! I am spinning it as thin as I can in hopes of getting a 2 ply lace weight. I am hoping to make a long sleeved shrug for my grandma.

Well that's all I have for now but hope fully I will not allow myself to go so long between posts!