I participated in a Birthday Swap with some of the other Ravelry Helpers and I got somebunnyslove! She happens to be my birthday twin, so I was thrilled. So, I made her several items, here is one:

Pattern: Amigurami Bunny (Ravelry Link)
Hook: G
Yarn: Galway Highland Heather in Gray and Cascade 220 leftovers in pink
Notes: This was my first amigurami and one of my first crochet projects and it was super easy to follow! And I made this out of stash yarn (and that is all of that pink I had, so it all got used!)!

Next FO up - an item I made her from my handspun!

I actually have some WIPs that aren’t sekrit!

Eiffel - body up to the sleeves and the sleeves up to there …

And I started Babette on Saturday night.

And tomorrow I will have a FO for you.

I am participating in a little Handspun swap - and I am really excited about it. So, here is my questionnaire - if you aren’t participating or aren’t interested … skip ahead

1. How long have you been spinning? What skill level do you consider yourself? Since May of 2007 - so just over a year

2. What kinds of yarn do you create (singles/2-ply/3-ply/art yarn)? I usually 2-ply my yarns

3. What do you spin with (spindle/wheel/both)? I have a Lendrum DT and a couple of spindles, though I prefer my wheel, I will be using my Bosworth spindle while traveling in July since I will be participating in the Tour de Fleece again this year.

4. What are your favorite fibers to spin with? Anything you don’t like? I really haven’t branched past wool or wool blends - right now I am really into merino/tussah silk blends.

5. Who are your favorite crack dealers fiber sources (etsy or otherwise)? The Loopy Ewe - there are others, but she has a great selection and well, other than MDS&W has been the only fiber I have purchased this year

6. What kind of fiber do you want to try? Bamboo, really anything - I have silk here and haven’t gotten up the courage to try it.

7. Is there any techniques you would like to learn? Navajo plying

8. Do you dye fiber? If not, would you like to learn? A little - I have all the stuff for acid dyeing but haven’t really played yet!

9. Do you have fiber prep tools (and like to use them) or would you prefer ready to spin fiber? I won’t lie - I like to just sit down and spin it - however - I do have cards and will card fibers together for different combinations.

10. What do you do with your handspun? What projects have you completed? I look at it and pet it. No really. OK - I did just make a little headband out of some of my handspun, but that’s it - I think it is beautiful and I want to knit with it, but I never seem to settle on anything.

11. Are you in need of any spinning gadgets (WPI Gauge, threading hook, etc)? I am pretty set, however pretty gadgets are always welcome, mine are more functional than pretty.

12. What colors “fall into your shopping basket”? Any colors you just can’t stand? pink. I have a little tiny problem with pink. Pink mixed with anything. I am not a big fan or orange or neons.

13. What is on your wheel/spindle right now? a merino/tussah silk blend in a colorway called Sandstone (pink, green, natural mix) which is just beautiful!

14. What other crafts/hobbies do you have? I do a little sewing, sometimes some paper crafts, make stitch markers.

15. Other than crafts, what are you passionate about? reading. my cats. ummm…napping.

16. Do you have an online wishlist? I do - at Amazon.

17. Is there anything that you collect? yarn. and roving. other than that, not really.

18. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What magazine subscriptions do you have? I have subscriptions to Interweave Knits and Spin Off. I love books, love them, so I am always picking some up - I updated my wishlist a bit so that those are on there.

19. When is your birthday? November 25

20. What book or movie character do you most resemble in personality? hmmm. I don’t know. I try not to compare myself in that way so I haven’t really thought about it.

21. What is the climate like where you live around this time (need to know for careful shipments of anything meltable)? it’s hot. and humid.

22. Tell us one weird fact about yourself! Since it is almost the 4th of July and it is fireworks season I will share that I don’t like fireworks. As a kid, I was TERRIFIED of them. I still don’t like them, but I don’t cry if I am forced to watch a fireworks display. The only way I like fireworks really is on tv. Or VERY far away.

Favorites
favorite painting/picture(link): I don’t know that I have one - I will have to think about this and update it if I come up with one.

Candy: Take 5 maybe - I don’t know, I stopped eating candy this year. I love love love good chocolate, and I do still eat it, but not like I used to (I have lost 30+ lbs with 40 more to go)

Food: French Fries. I miss them.

Drink: Wine, Vodka and water - yeah - I only drink water daily unless it is an adult beverage.

Movie(s): the Nightmare Before Christmas - there are a lot of movies I love - The BBC version of Pride and Prejudice

TV Show(s): I watch a lot of TV. a lot. I met many of my friends in the LOST or Buffy fandoms. I enjoy SciFi - Dr Who, Torchwood, etc.

Book(s): I love to read. I will read anything. P&P is my all time fav book and I can pick it up and read it any time.

Guilty Pleasure(s): oh - this is hard. hmmm…shoes. I have a lot of them and I love them all.

I bet you thought I forget my promise of a FO today.

I am going to a wedding later this month and while the wedding is inside, the reception is outside (and is being catered by an AMAZING Mexican place!) So I needed a little head covering since I don’t do the sun that well.

Pattern: Fun in the Sun Hat by Annette Petavy (Ravelry Link)
Yarn: Tahki Cotton Classic - 2 skeins Pink, One mint green
Crochet hook: G
Mods: None - ok - that is a tiny lie - I didn’t carry the yarn behind all the way around like it calls for and I literally only needed half a round of pink skein #2.

It wasn’t until AFTER I finished it that Danielle told me that Emily’s wedding colors are pink and green - and here I was just going with what I love - I mean I don’t have a dress yet - but I figured I would wear something that matched my new hat!

I really love this hat!

OK - I admit it - I would be quite happy living in the middle of nowhere baking pies and stuff - well as long as I had internet and plumbing - the idea of stoking the fire every day for heat, not so much. . The whole working the land, maybe not, but having a couple of sheep or alpacas, I could totally do it. Now, that said, I am a totally girlie girl and would rather be knitting, sewing, baking, crafting than mowing a lawn, but tending a small garden - oh yeah. Poor Tattoo Boyfriend, he has no clue! (Ok, he does, but I think he is living in denial! Especially since I told him that I don’t DO yard work - but I would like a container garden.)

So, I joined the Plurkette’s Hencircle shortly after joining Plurk and I am excited. I spend a great deal of time knitting, crocheting and sewing. I love to bake and cook. I really would have made a great 50s housewife - except for that whole being submissive and having a spotless house thing!

As a kid, my great-grandparents owned a small farm in Ohio, so I learned how to (badly) milk a cow when I was probably 5. My uncle tried to get me to shoot the milk into his pants pocket (to learn aim) and I am pretty sure I hit him in the eye instead. I got pecked in the forehead by a mean and nasty chicken while collecting eggs when I was about 3 (and this is why I say chickens are only good for eating!). While I have issues with the sun, I do love to be outside in the fresh air. But most of what the inner-farmgirl movement isn’t about being out in the sun, but rather building a supportive community of amazing people who share like minds.

Finding the knitting community, for me, was amazing in that I found people who liked to knit, but this is more than that. The Hencircle, the inner-farmgirl, is more then just knitting - it is a life style and it happens to fall into where I am at these days - feeling very much like I have too much stuff, too many obligations and I want to simplify down to the way I live. To unplug a little more and worry a little less while enriching my life through the things I enjoy. Now, I am not giving up the internets by any means - life without Ravelry would suck - but I do want to concentrate on some other things.

I am excited about this whole thing. And now off to do some knitting on some of these sekrit projects. Tomorrow I have a FO for you - one that I can show you and everything cause it is for ME!

This coming weekend is the Charlotte Yarn customer appreciation event and on Saturday SUNDAY I will be teaching solar dyeing with kool-aid.

Why solar dye and why kool-aid? because they are fast, fun and easy!

Plus, you can do it with things you really have in your house already.

Stop by the shop to see these 2 skeins up close and personal, or call the shop if you would like to take the class - I am teaching it several times throughout the day - the cost is $15 and includes your yarn and all supplies!

I did a little experimenting with 2 color dyeing, but it is a little tricker than the single color and unless you really are adventerous we will be sticking to single color this weekend.

Part of what I love about this is the suble variations of the color that came onto the yarn.

That and it smells like grape kool-aid!

I used KnitPicks Superwash Sock Yarn for my experimenting, though we will be using a worsted weight yarn in class!

Hope to see you on this weekend for the fun and festivities - and it isn’t too late to sign up for my class or any of the FREE classes!

I am sitting in a hotel in VA waiting for, I don’t know what. I can’t sleep. I originally logged out hours ago. I am going to try again in a few minutes, but since I was sitting here I figured I would give a non-update on the knitting - I finished a bunch of sekrit knitting this week, so I allowed myself to work on Eiffel. I even took a pic this morning with plenty of time to blog it. Then I realized that my stupid cord was at home because I didn’t think I would actually work on the damn thing while I was gone.

This week has been rather trying for me. I got here on Tuesday and I am leaving tomorrow after full days of meetings which means that I haven’t gotten anything done. And I am feeling a little off. Monday at the gym I almost passed out after over-heating. This hasn’t been an issue for me in the past - well, last week, but I thought that was due to dehydration. This week I made sure I was well hydrated and had a snack and went to meet Super Trainer Aaron. STA is FREAKING AMAZING and I felt well enough after a few rather embarrassing moments to finish up my workout. I have not, however, done a lick of exercise since. I haven’t felt up to it - I drove up here yesterday and was in bed and asleep at 8. I haven’t even really knit anything since Monday night when I allowed myself to work a few rounds of Eiffel. I had no issues on Wednesday or Friday last week when I went to the gym - or Tuesday - I was at the gym a lot last week.

I am happy to report that my med adjustment is going well. I am feeling a little better these days. Other than the stupid phantom kidney pain that makes no medical sense. I had a rather nasty infection in my right kidney something like 5 years ago and the stupid thing still hurts. Like fire. I go have it checked on occassion, but they can’t seem to figure out why it hurts, so I just drink a lot of water and deal. I don’t take pain meds as a general rule because once I start, well, I don’t think I will stop what with the stupid lupus.

That reminds me that I need to decide if I am going to do the walk this year or take this year off. With school and work, I am just not sure that I have the time to really fundraise the way I would like, but on the other hand, damn it, I need a cure! I am too tired to not have one.

ok - I have to be at a training at 7:30 AFTER stopping at the main office for a couple things I left - it is semi on the way and def more on the way then if I go back after when I want to be heading home. I am tired. I am freaking beat. I can’t wait to have a couple weeks mostly at home before I start this again - looks like I will be back here on the 10th and then I head out on the 17th for a week in CA. Anyone in SanFran want to hang out - I will be there from the 21st-23rd.

One of the women I work with sent me an email and asked if I would be willing to knit a hat for her SIL who is going through Chemo. I said yes.

Pattern: Shedir from Knitty
Yarn: Rowan Calmer
Needles: Addi size 3
Mods: None
Notes: I cabled without a cable needle.

I have included this so you can see the great pattern from the top…

…pay no attention to the fact that I am still in my jammies. Or that my hair is a mess.

Well, I finished 4 things this weekend. 3 of them are gifts, but one of them I will show you tomorrow since it is going to the giver of the gift tomorrow and she nor the receiver read the blog.

Pattern: Bicycle Spokes
Yarn: Lily Sugar n Creme
Hook Size: G
time - umm…not much

The thing I like about this pattern is the “spoke that is formed - that ridge. It;s interesting. I of course, can’t read so I didn’t add a second set of those in, but hey, it happens and it is a dishcloth, right?

WIP:
April Sweater (uh, it’s done now)
Twee
Pi
Eiffel

FO:
Marina
Tribble
PacMan Fever

As always pics of all spinning and knitting are in the blog and on Ravelry!

Spinning:
Royal Flush
Strawbery Shortcake
Pearly Gates

Yarn Review:
Noro Taiyo

Interview at Maryland Sheep and Wool:
Mary Heather of Ravelry!

Book Review:

Sachets - uh - more info coming, I swear. As soon as I have time to deal with the website.

Next Time:

Belated Spring Fling episode with Interview with Wendy Johnson

A special thank you to Kim at Knitch!!