Post Holiday Recovery...

I think it's going well! I'm back posting, anyway :) I totally burned out on holiday knitting and didn't even pick up my needles until last night. The list of stuff I did for Christmas is really pretty impressive, but the burn out is NOT! I made: 4 earflap hats (5 if you count the really huge one I made and had to do over...I didn't rip it out either, I was too disgusted!), one beret, 3.5 scarves, spun and knit one shawl, a pair of socks and a half, one sweater for the hubby, 3 sets of fingerless mitts and one embellished blue jean bag. I think I started the sweater before Thanksgiving but I didn't start anything else until after, so it was kind of a lot, eh? I am a much faster knitter since I opened the shop.

The one thing I actually knit on last night is totally weird and I'm oddly fascinated by and in love with it! First of all, it's ACRYLIC (gasp!) and it's totally huge and strange. One of my dear friends and customers' husbands comes into the shop with her all the time and is a great guy. We always chat about sci fi channel shows and one of those is Dr. Who. Well, I came across this weird Dr. Who scarf site and I thought...ahHA...I'm going to knit that for him. Well...even though mine is super modified, it's a massive thing! Mind you, I never saw the 80's show, and am not a totally rabid fan of the new show although I watch it cuz it's cheesy but not in a bad way and it's on before Battlestar Gallactica, of which I *am* a rabid fan. (not the old ones...just the new series).

So, that's it, in the pic! The original scarves were really long...like from 15-22 feet! And wider than mine. I'm working it in Red Heart 4 ply "Soft Yarn" which is much nicer than the old, regular Red Heart and it's on size 8 needles. I've no idea how long it'll be, but it already hangs to the ground. T Baker wore it to the ground while still being able to make a loop that hung down to his waist. It's very soft, and I just think it's cool for some odd reason. It's kind of a huge, impractical thing for the friend's hubby so I showed it to him and he chose homemade bread for a gift instead (wonder why ~ ha!) so I'm keeping it.

I decided on the Season 15 scarf, and then went by the list of row numbers but only worked half the rows called for. I don't think the scarf will be half the size, since the patterns call for sport weight and I'm using worsted. The ends are the worst part, weaving them in, but I do it as I go along and then glue them down ~ really! I use this clear fabric glue that's washable and use a dab to secure the woven in ends. I use it all the time...my Mom sews down her ends but NOT ME. It works really well :) My husband thinks I'm a nut case and he's probably right. I actually will probably use this left over acrylic to knit some pillows...I normally hate acrylic but this stuff is kind of OK. I like how all the colors in the scarf work together.

The only other selfish thing I've been doing is spinning up some spindle crack ;> This is some of the weird partially spun stuff that I pull out of the wool/silk laps I sell. Some of it's wonderful and some of it's too impossible to spin. I call it "spindle crack" because once I start with this stuff, I can't put it down! If I'm lucky, the pieces are loose enough so that I can draft them out and then they spin with almost no effort. Some of the pieces are too tightly spun and can't be drafted so they don't qualify as "crack". I dye some of the laps I sort out of the stuff I sell, then grade it for the website and sell it. But not the crack...oh no! I keep it! I keep it ALL! It's mine and I'm totally selfish about it. Not all the pieces are long, either...some are but there are shorter pieces. It would be a drag on the wheel cuz you'd have to join all the time, which isn't such a drag on a spindle spinning lace weight :)

I played with the idea of selling it, cuz right now I have a lot but that ain't gonna happen. This is being spun on my Bosworth featherweight and actually, I'm done with that spindle full and it has other colors on it too. There's never a lot of it so I just spin it all together and one day I'll ply it all together and have some totally wild yarn to knit with. This will probably end up being about a light fingering weight. The stuff is just soooo soft and silky...sigh...

I've started a UFO knit club too...right now it's just a yahoo group but I'm going to work up a team blog for it. And that's about it for me for the moment. We're in the middle of remodeling our master bed/bath and our home is a construction zone and it's making me pretty crazy. And the bunnies need plucking, and the house needs cleaning and the shop needs tending and the website needs updating...sigh. But I'm not working all day, every day on my days off! Nope.

BTW...I did upgrade to the google blogger thing and I'm pretty pleased with it so far.