greylukiknitting

spinning, knitting, and...

2007-02-05T21:07:00.000-08:00

I love this stuff. It was a bit slow to spin, but is amazing to touch... It's half merino and half silk from Crown Mountain Farms. It's one ply in Chantefleur and one ply in Primrose. It's going to be big wrappish scarf thing...

I finally finished a sweater! Its' Fleece Artist Mohair garter stitch jacket, colour Nova Scotia. It was very easy and fun to knit... (the model is Virginia and she's lived with me 22 years. I haven't been able to get her to look for a job and move out on her own...)

This is a ball of alpaca/merino/silk from Susan's Spinning Bunny. It's ridiculously luscious and soft...

This is an earflap hat with some Targhee also from Susan's Spinning Bunny. This stuff is fiber-crack! and they ought to be ashamed of themselves for talking my money and feeding my addiction. I am powerless.

And this lovely hunk of yarn is the Make Waves Stole from Fleece Artist by way of Tidal Brook Yarns. Super soft, it's mohair and alpaca and yummy and snuggly and I must hide it from the doggies...

peace, and happy spinning, knitting, or whatever,
m.

kiln unloaded, spinning and knitting

2006-11-28T23:25:00.000-08:00

the kiln spit these out this morning, there are 21 of them! they're about 3 inches across and will be given out at the next scc hunt as prizes... The clay is new for me and I am really in love with it. It's the yummiest black I've ever seen. The dog is Druid, I made a stamp and then mishima-ed the design on the black discs in an orange clay.

a detail of my koigu sock in the Child's First Sock pattern

the sock.

This is the latest off the wheel. It's the Crown Mountain Superwash in colourway Moondance. I might use this for a pair of mittens, or maybe a big cabled scarf...

And really, how far is too far??? Yes, I knit my ipod a sock... I think I need help...

cheers, and happy knitting!

spinning barberpoles is addicting...

2006-11-19T17:18:00.000-08:00

spinning this fiber is really addicting...
it's superwash merino crack.

finished Wild Thing sock above.

and this is Beat Goes On. The fiber is a bit lighter and more pastel than
I expected, but very yummy nonetheless. I spun the singles
with less twist than previously and the yarn is much, much softer.

I was worried that if I didn't put loads of twist into the singles
the yarn wouldn't hold together, but I didn't need to worry.

happy knitting,
m.

sneak peak!

2006-11-08T21:52:00.000-08:00

here's a peak at sunday's bob prizes...

peace,

I'm in barberpole heaven!

2006-11-01T19:05:00.000-08:00

fleece artist wavy scarf detail
this is silk and cashmere and very yummy!!!
it might go to my mum for xmas
the colours aregorgeous!

Love Me Tender superwash merino fleece
spun into groovy barberpole sock yarn!
I'll start a cabled knee-hi sock tonight.

"Hey! Can you help me with this spot on my tongue? It

gets in the way when I eat!"
(this is the lovely kismet. she's hanging out with us
while Druid is in california)

the toe of the Wild Thing sock

A hat I'm trying with Claudia's Handpaints Yarn...
I'm using the shell pattern from nancy bush's vintage
sock book, so far I really like it!

peace, and
happy knitting

sock hopping...

2006-10-25T23:21:00.000-07:00

I decided to try to spin my own Sock Hop yarn from Crown Mountain Superwash Merino... My old Louet isn't famous for spinning anything fine and the idea of trying superwash merino was quite intimidating, but it was much easier than I feared and I got some yummy sock yarn!!! The ball of roving on the right is Wild thing and the left is Love Me Tender

and this is the Wild Thing Sock!
I was able to get about 22 wpi, which amazes me, so I knit the sock on size 2 needles. I wanted a simple, bold pattern so I did 4 giant cables on a bed of stocking stitch. It's very soft and I can't wait to wear it...

peace,
and happy knitting, spinning, and pottering

My rabbit dawg!

2006-08-31T01:11:00.000-07:00

My big bad huntin' dawg with his bunny...

Pit-fire grooviness

2006-08-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, a beautiful summer morning found about 30 of us gathered ay Jill's house to bury our pottery in giant metal containers filled with wood, horse dung, charcoal, rock salt, copper sulfate, and anything else that would burn. We let them burn for a few hours while some of us swam, some of us knitted, and we all ate great food and played with the dogs, Duke and Frank.

Uncovering was very exciting, I had no idea what to expect...

I fired a bowl and a vase, and this is what they looked like after cleaning off in the lake... The vase was wrapped in seaweed and banana peel, then newspaper, with lots of copper wire holding it all on. I'm really happy with the colours I got, lots of red and silver, and a flash or two of creamy yellow...

The bowl was painted in blue slip and I didn't think I'd get so much red, but I'm very pleasantly surprised. It cracked when I dunked it in the lake, but I don't care...

Peace, and happy knitting, pottery-ing and spinning,

I love unloading the kiln!

2006-08-03T17:08:00.000-07:00

The kiln spit out lots o' pots this morning...
(all pottery is fired at cone 10) scgraffito bowl and vase. (teal porcelain slip and green ice glaze)

this is my celedaon blue glaze over a cobalt slip. it's not perfect yet, but getting close to the colour I want. Right vase is mishima and left one is scgraffito.

2 more mishima vases with teal porcelain slip and green ice glaze.

Left vase scgraffito, right vase mishima, both done with a cobalt slip and green ice glaze.

finished modified jaywalker in Covelite STR

I think this colour is Olive Garden(?) STR and the pattern is Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. (and yes, it's modified, I can't seem to stop myself from messing with patterns...)

happy knitting, spinning, and potting,
me

some handspun and STR

2006-07-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

The amazing beauty of anything Blue Moon!!!!

This is STR, colour Covelite, and I love it so much I ordered enough of the heavyweight STR to make a sweater... ;-)

The purples and coppers are unbelievable...

this is Blue Moon's Blue Faced Leicester in colour Carbon Dating. It's about 200 yards and I have more to spin up, so I think it's going to be a poncho in the convertible lace stitch from knitty.com.

And this is some merino painted by Heike, plied with a green romeldale cross fibre from Reflection Farm. Both are very yummy and I'm tickled with them together... don't know what it'll be, but I think I have enough for a shawl.

peace, and happy knitting and spinning!

And good luck to our friend Cindi who's taking the bar exam!

Chapman Springs STR

2006-07-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

here's STR's Chapman Springs colourway. The sock has a jaywalker
top and a plain foot... I think this is my favourite colourway yet!

When did my Anna get so gray???

And Druid, trying to absorb some sun in the morning

peace, and happy knitting,

finally an update!

2006-06-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated because I haven't been doing any knitting! But, here's a bit of stuff from may and june... All the pottery were pieces that were
part of my finals. I made myself a set of porcelain dishes, using both stained slip to decorate and to wedge into the clay body. I also did a bunch of little porcelain dolls using stained slip, and a pocelain teapot for my mum, painted with little slip flowers... I also tried raku for the first time and the blue vase is the result. The blue and white vase is one of a pair, I stained porcelain with blue mason stain, wedged it with white and threw it. I also had a big bowl but broke it...

I've worked a bit on my mum's wrap and my mohair sweater from Fleece Artist, but finals left me not much time the first couple weeks of June, and now it's too hot to knit with wool. If the saluki is panting, you know it's bloody HOT!

and because it's a blog about dogs too, here's Druid at 19 months, looking pretty handsome to me!

peace,
m

Fiber and yarn, oh dear!

2006-04-28T23:02:00.000-07:00

Here's the new sock yarn and fiber... the STR is (from L to R) Chapman Springs, Carbon Dating, and Covelite. I don't have enough needles to start them all, so I think I'll knit the Chapman Springs first...
The fiber is blue-faced leicester from Blue Moon Fibers in Delta Blues and Graphite.

This is some merino I found last weekend...

This is some lovely romeldale cross, it spins like a dream and is going to be a lace wrap for my mum for mum's day. If I can get enough spun in time. The green will be a shawl for me...

peace, and happy knitting,
m.

I'm a spinning FOOL!

2006-03-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

So you guys can see, this is Lorna's Laces fiber in Icehouse. It's a mix of wools, super soft, and very easy to spin...
and the second is from Pacific Wool and Fiber. It's a Romney and not as soft as the LL, but lovely colours. Also very fast and easy to spin...

peace,
m.

Well, that was odd...

2006-03-02T22:14:00.000-08:00

I'll try again. This is what I do when I'm not knitting...

This is a prorcelain platter. I used the stamps from a block print to press into the clay. I really like it and am going to make some more I think...

this is a big bowl and some vases in porcelain with little stained slip forget-me-nots...

and this is the beginning of a very fun sock, It's STR's yosemite and 3x3 cables. I keep thinking I'm going to happy happy feet when I wear these!

That doesn't look like knittin'!

2006-03-02T22:10:00.000-08:00

This is what I do when I'm not knitting...

branching out scarves and more socks!

2006-02-27T21:59:00.000-08:00

New stuff all over the place! Of course not much gets done on any one thing, I'm too busy working on 8 different things...

The Branching Out scarf is my first adventure in lacey type knitting and it's really quite fun. I love how fast it goes and watching the pattern emerge is very rewarding!

The first pic is in alpaca and so luscious I can hardly keep my hands off it...

The second pic is a detail of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in River, and I love this one.

And my newest sock is a jaywalker in STR Olive Garden. I tried a garter stitch edge and like it, but am having a hard time not unknitting it and doing cables or a scarf!

peaceful knitting,
megan

a pair of jaywalkers!

2006-02-20T22:16:00.000-08:00

Not in time for the knit-along, but nonetheless, here they are. The red is Lorna's Laces Valentine and the yellow is STR Fluorite... Both have a picot edge and I quite like it, but am trying a 4 row garter stitch top on my STR Olive Garden jaywalker. Pics to follow... peace.

One down, 17 to go!

2006-01-18T09:39:00.000-08:00

Well, maybe not 17 more socks, but I think I have enough sock yarn here for another 11...

The Valentine jaywalker is done and the Fluorite STR is on it's way. Do I have to knit a pair for the jaywalker KAL or can it be two unmatching sox??? A matching pair usually takes me months, I get distracted by new colours very easily and tend to take awhile to get back to the yarn that matches a finished sock...

peace,
m.

jaywalkers started!

2006-01-09T22:57:00.000-08:00

I love this pattern! I used the picot edge (thanks to Bridget for pointing me to it and Amelia for putting it on a jaywalker) because I really can't stand ribbing of any kind and use it as little as possible...

The yarn is Lorna's Laces and the colour is Valentine. It touches my soul. I found it a couple of days after I lost my Valentino so it is much more than just some pretty reds and purples. Here's both, Valentino and the valentine jaywalker.

This is the first jaywalker. STR, colour fluorite, and way too big on size 2's. Now that the valentine jaywalkers are on the only set of 1's that haven't been eaten by Druid I'll have to wait to start it over till I can get another set. This is the first time I've used STR and really like it.

happy knitting,

some sock pics

2005-11-23T22:59:00.000-08:00

This is my Valentino. After a brave fight with lymphoma he's gone to run with the gods. We miss him more than we have words for...

This is my sock made by my friend Bridget. The yarn is Lorna's Laces, the colour is "River", and the pattern is cascading leaves. I can't wait to wear it!

This is some Trekking yarn that Bridget gave me. I really like the yarn, it's very soft after washing and I love the colours in the ply of the yarn...

This is Opal's Rodeo, one of my favourites from Opal.

This is Opal's Lollipop (i think). I like how this yarn wears, it's not awfully soft, but it's quite tough!

And Opal's Magic...

This is a detail of my Lorna's Laces sock in "Lakeview". It's a 3x3 cable pattern that I keep promising to write up for some students and can't seem to get around to. This colourway has got to be one of the most beautiful on the planet...

This is a yarn by Meilenweit. I don't love the yarn, (it's not very soft) but couldn't resist the colours. I think my feet will be very happy in these...

and this is Lorna's Laces Icehouse, another very groovy colourway and a fantastic yarn....

I started this blog to have a spot to show my progress on my Jaywalker sox (in Socks that Rock, colour Fluorite) so as soon as I finish Bridget's Purple Iris sock I'll get started on them!

peaceful knitting to all,
megan, annapurna, and druid...

what in the world am I doing with a blog???

2005-11-21T21:06:00.000-08:00

It seemed like such a good idea...

These are the 2 most perfect creatures on the planet, druid saluki and annapurna greyhound... they share my kntting life by eating my needles and unknitting anything I'm stupid enough leave laying about...