Don’t you love when you find long lost and forgotten projects?  Often they’re put to the side after getting old and boring or something new comes along that grabs your attention and they fall to the bottom of the old WIP pile.  Months (possibly years) go by and it’s like seeing an old friend again and the fire is rekindled once more.

For those who don’t remember (don’t worry, I certainly didn’t), I spun this yarn from roving I received as a gift from Karen over a year ago.  It stands to this day the best yarn I have ever spun.  When I found my goknit bag with a half finished sock in it I thought to myself “Hey, this yarn is lovely, where did I buy it?” before it dawned on me that this is my very own handspun.  It baffles me why I didn’t finish knitting these socks, though I do suffer quite badly from second sock syndrome, but I have fallen in love again.  The yarn is soft but surprisingly strong and I adore the colours: grassy greens, muted purples and toffee yellows and browns.  It’s thicker than 4 ply weight, more like DK, which is making them whiz along.  I’ve turned the heel and it’ll only be a matter of a few evenings before I can slip my feet into a pair of handspun socks.

This last Sunday we went over to Karen’s place for her big Wildcraft spin-in weekend.  It’s been ages since we’ve seen each other and I’ve totally forgotten to take any photos, but it was an exciting day meeting new fibre lovers, dyeing adventures and catching up.  It was also when me and my Ashford Joy parted ways.  Since last year (when I spun up that beautiful hay yarn) it has been sitting sadly by itself gathering dust and cobwebs.  As much as I love using it, between being a mama, cooking and knitting I don’t get as much time as I’d like to sit down and spin.  So she’s gone to a new home where she’ll get a lot of use with Karen and her traditional Ashford and Majacraft Rose.  Karen was planning on selling her Kromski travel wheel and getting a Joy, so when the opportunity came up she snatched it!  They have gotten on splendidly and I’m pleased to it getting some real use.  The weekend did give me a bit of a case of the spinning bug, but I wasn’t totally without means.

This is a resin spindle Karen made me with little stones embedded in the whorl.  It is light and balanced and so quick and easy to use, I pull it out when making the morning cup of tea and spin a few yards.  I’m spinning up some beautiful roving she had given me for Christmas with muted purples and greys.  I can imagine some beautiful socks made with this but am thinking maybe a shawlette would show it off even better.  Whereas with knitting I so often get bogged down with the technical details: gauge, following patterns, finishing, etc, the joy of spinning is that you just pick it up and spin.  Become one with the fibre and find your inner Rupunzel.

It seems that the British summer is over before it’s even begun.  Since June we’ve had only a couple of weeks to bask in warmth and sunshine.  July was a complete washout and even though August has been very promising I can already feel the crisp air of autumn around the corner.  No matter.  Summer (not that it exists in this country anymore) is overrated.  I say bring on the apples, bonfires, blackberries, falling leaves and wooly knits.

The cooler air has given us an early opportunity to photograph the modeled Pebble vest.  It is a bit long in the body, giving a bit of room to grow.  And grow he certainly will.  My little model is now 9 months old and I almost want to shed a tear when I see his tiny newborn clothes.

Every day I get to know this boy a little better and am so excited to see who he becomes in another 9 months.  I know he’ll continue to give us a bit of joy every day and I hope he’ll still give me a bit of time to do some knitting.

It’s funny how when you become a mother time really does just fly by.  For example, one day I went to sleep with a tiny baby and woke up to this.

A big, beautiful, happily cruising 8 month old boy who looks more and more like his daddy every day.  I don’t know what he’s done to my tiny gurgling baby (perhaps he ate him) but this upgraded model actually lets me knit from time to time.  As his reward I made him a very big boy sort of vest.

Thrifty Knitter’s Pebble baby vest knit up in lovely Rowan Summer Tweed.  This was my first project since my mother’s scarf and it was a wonderful knit.  Made in one piece the garter stitch was a nice reintroduction to knitting and it seemed to fly off the needles.  I loved everything about this; the yarn, the colour, and the pattern.  Finding and sewing on the colourful buttons felt like a moment of triumph.  When you take such a long hiatus from a hobby like this you almost forget how much you loved it in the first place.

When I started out knitting this I decided not to concern myself with the sizing.  This was not the time for pressure and deadlines, I only wanted the relaxing, unwinding, therapy that knitting can provide.  As it turns out it fits my little man perfectly and as soon as cooler weather hits we will do a modeled photo shoot (if he hasn’t outgrown it by then).

He seems to approve.

You know it’s winter when everyone in the house gets a cold, and all three of us have been suffering for a couple of weeks now. Of course it had to come just when the weather warmed up and we finally recover when the cold hits again.  We’ve experienced the heaviest snows in 18 years, and to see a snowy Dorset is a wonderful sight.  Makes me wish we could have  Christmas all over again.  I did have this lovely knit to keep me company during my recovery.

It is the Wabi Sabi Shawl pattern from Yarned knit with Noro Silk Garden Lite. The yarn I received as a present from my mother in law and I had been itching to use it for months. With only two skeins I managed to do 7 pattern repeats, making a fairly narrow scarf, though I could have squeezed one more out of the last skein. This is a present for my mother who could truly use a nice scarf in the nasty Wisconsin winter.

I loved knitting this, mostly because Noro is soo lovely but the pattern was great. With almost 200 stitches per row I was worried it was going to be a real slog, but the garter stitch was peacefully mindless and the extended stitches kept my interest.  I love how the special stitches look like crochet shells, and the texture is wonderfully squishy.  I’ve even warmed up to fringed edgings.  I only wish I had a ton more yarn to make a beautiful textured throw to snuggle under as the snow falls.

I don’t dare check when the last time I updated was. It seems like years ago, particularly now that my time is completely monopolised by a very beautiful and very demanding little man. 2008 was a very poor year for knitting for me, but I don’t mind since I have the best finished project anyone could hope for.

2009 is a year of new beginnings, new baby, new president and new knitting. I am very slowly getting back to my feet with my hobbies. I’m enjoying knitting more than ever now, perhaps because I only have little pockets of time that I really have to relish when I get them. These days just getting out of my pajamas before noon seems like an accomplishment, and going grocery shopping is a downright adventure. I have managed to finish a hat for my bub to wear in this particularly chilly winter.

It is the Thorpe hat from Through the Loops modified for a baby’s head. Basically I just increased until it looked like it’d fit and then winged the earflaps. The yarn is a some leftover Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran and Jaeger Shetland Aran. I loved knitting this and it was so quick that I finished it a day of on and off knitting. If only cardigans could be so easy to finish.

I’m trying to keep to one project at a time now as that’s probably my only hope of finishing anything.  Currently it’s something rather special for someone’s birthday, which is nearly finished and hopefully can be sent off this week if I don’t slack off.  A new knitting group has been started in my little village and that will at least give me a couple hours of knitting a week.

I everyone had a wonderful holiday and new year and here’s hoping 2009 is as exciting as 2008.

I’m so sorry, I never intended to be away from the blog this long. To be honest, there has been no knitting going on since I last wrote. Instead I was busy experiencing all of the typical first trimester symptoms, particularly fatigue and queasiness. My morning sickness wasn’t too bad and I’m sure a lot of women have it way worse, but the sensation was like being motion sick all the time. Every time I picked up the needles my stomach would turn. Even baking and cooking has been left to the wayside as I ate too many cracker based dinners. I’ve also had to learn to give up all of my favourite foods: cold cuts, unpastuerized milk, soft cheese, not to begin the list the stuff that made me feel ill. Finally, at about 10 weeks, I’m finding it easing away. I’ve had my first real meals in what seems like years, and don’t even need to take an hour (okay two hour) nap in the afternoon. I’ve started cooking again and it looks like maybe even knitting will be back on the books.

This is extremely good news because I had an exceptionally nice stash enhancement experience at Wonderwool Wales at the end of April. Yes, I went to one of the largest fibre festivals in the UK and did not blog about it. That is how bad I am. A big Wonderwool update is coming very soon!

Finally, Karen, tagged me ages ago and I’m now going to post my six non-important facts about myself. I’m going to cheat a little because I have no idea who to tag next, but the thought is still there.

Here are the rules:

1) Link to the person who tagged you.
2) Post the rules.
3) Share six non-important things / habits / quirks about yourself.
4) Tag at least three people.
5) Be sure the people you tagged KNOW you tagged them by commenting what you did.

1. I can poach the perfect egg everytime. I always say that if Gordon Ramsay was going to come over to my house for lunch I would make him a salad lyonnaise, complete with poached egg.
2. I met my husband 7 years ago in a chatroom online.
3. I still don’t have my driving license because I have horrible driving anxiety. Basically, every time I get behind the wheel I get visions of crashing and killing everyone. I’m fine as a passenger though.
4. I’m 50% Korean and even though I used to speak it fluently as a child all I can remember are baby words and words for food.
5. I have an incredibly poor sense of direction and get lost really easily. I lived in York for 4 years and it took me over a year to get to grips with the layout of the centre. When I take walks around here if we go a slightly different way I get confused and don’t recognise anything.
6. The thing I miss most about the U.S. (besides friends and family) is the snack food, the variety is staggering. We have nothing in comparison. My favourites used to be any sort of fair food, Cheetohs, and Taco Bell.

Next post will be a knitty one, I promise!

Back before I went to Cornwall I gave you a sneak peek at a project that I had just finished but hadn’t modeled.  I now can present the Tilted Duster.

I love this cardigan probably more than any of my other knits.  It is warm and fashionable and I have the satisfaction of reusing a great yarn.  I frogged my second sweater, Rogue, made out of Rowan Magpie Aran to make this.  I never really wore Rogue, it was a challenging knit and I learned a lot and did wear it a bit, but it was baggy and heavy and got tossed to the side.  The yarn is a really sturdy yarn and I had just enough to finish this project.  It probably took me a couple of months altogether but it did go in hibernation for a while.  The sleeves and top half went very quickly but man, that skirt took ages.  I finally took it out of hibernation and finished it over a few bad movies and episodes of Voyager.  I’ve not blocked it because I was so keen to wear it, so I think it’ll look a bit smoother and flatter once I do.  I don’t know when that’ll be because I never take it off.

The only thing I maybe don’t like about it is the collar, it is just a bit too big, but seems to roll over pretty well.  I did knit the smallest size and everyone was complaining about the sleeves being so tight so I knit them the next size up and a bit longer and I’d say they’re pretty perfect.

Now for the surprise.  Did you  happen to notice anything different about me in those photos?  No?  I’ll give you a little hint.

I am pregnant!  Big cookies for those who may have guessed it!  I am about 6 weeks along and am so pleased, we have wanted children for a while now and was a bit surprised myself when my test came out positive while we were in Cornwall (in a cafe, of all places to pee on a stick).   I am due about December 1st which means I have seven months to knit a whole arsenal of baby clothes.  I have even started on a tiny guernsey and I can’t believe that there’ll be someone small enough to wear it.  I’m sure I’ll be a baby bore over the next months (and years) but I promise there’ll still be some knitting.  Thank goodness the Tilted Duster is the perfect cardigan for my future bump.

So I’m finally back in lovely green Dorset and it feels just so good to be home.  Sometimes you don’t realise how much you love where you live until you go somewhere else.  We did have a nice time and there were some really great highlights to the trip.

The Eden Project is pretty amazing, particularly if you love plants.  The biomes are very impressive and certainly make you feel as if you were in the mediterranean or rainforest.  Thankfully we went at a time when it wasn’t too busy but I can imagine it positively heaves with people in the summer.

The Trebah gardens is nestled in a valley at the mouth of the Helford estuary.  It was beautiful this time of year with all of the camillias out.  A really nice peaceful place with a fantastic little cafe to boot.  One of my favourite spots was the bamboo area.

There are so many different varieties, and walking through them reminds me of walking through the mountain temples around Kyoto last spring.  But even that wasn’t my favourite part of the trip.

This is the start of the National Trust’s Penrose Estate near Helston.  We had spent a frustrating day driving around the Lizard peninsula only to find everywhere covered in fog.  Talk about a disappointment, about five miles inland it was a clear beautiful day.  Just before we went home I suggested we stop here for a little walk.  It started out with beautiful woodland full of bluebells.  

Then you start walking around Loe Pool, a tranquil lake with areas of marsh and reed beds full of wildlife.

Until, slightly exhausted, you reach the sea at Loe Bar.  Made up of shingle and sand it was a dramatic change from the woodland that we walked through, and there were lots of little plants growing right on the sand.  Dandelions and daisies toward the lakeside and sea beets and kale towards the sea.  The fog had lifted and we were finally able to see the fantastic view out to sea, I couldn’t believe how secluded and quiet it was, a real gem.

It was nice to see family again and the weather was fair pretty much the whole week.  I did get a little bit of knitting done but I did get distracted by views like this.

Stay tuned for tomorrow when I talk about knitting and make a big (very big) announcement.

The lack of knitting means that I’ve had an unusual amount of time available for spinning.  Which is perfect when you have delicious roving that is just begging to be spun up.  Over the course of 3 or 4 days I finished a yarn that just seems to epitomise spring.

I had so much fun spinning this up, I loved seeing the colour changes emerge, sometimes very muted, othertimes quite strong.  I navajo plied it into a sock yarn, which was quite an adventure.  I’ve never navajo plied and it felt more like a battle than plying when I first started out.  By the end I really got into the rhythm.  I’m still battling my problem of underspinning/underplying and there are points at the navajo chains where my plies are coming apart a little.  Seems like I need to set my wheel at an even higher ratio.  No matter, I still love it.  A huge thanks to Karen for enabling me to make such a fantastic yarn!  Colourways like this are worth their weight in gold.

I’m glad I’ve finished this because I really needed something to keep me occupied over the next week in Cornwall.  I can’t guarantee that the weather will be cooperative so a nice pair of spring handknit socks seems to be in order.

I hope everyone’s had a nice Easter break, I know we have.  As far as actual Easter celebrations go all I did was make a batch of hot crossed buns.  It’s a bit hard to get in the Easter spirit when it’s still cold enough to snow.  Most of our time was spent at a pottery exhibition David was showing at.  He was able to go down and do some throwing as a bit of a demonstration to visitors.  Both of the items he had for sale sold so it was a good start for him.  I stuck around to watch him get messy with clay and watch a rather scary bit of inferno known as a raku firing.  The rest of the time was spent relaxing and getting down to the needles.

I spent one of my evenings going through all of my handknits and frogging those poor neglected knits.  One was a blue and cream striped scarf of Rowan Polar that I had made David about 5 years ago when I started knitting.  I don’t think he wore it once.  No matter, they make lovely loafers.  The pattern calls for two strands of Malabrigo worsted held together, and I can only imagine how lovely they must be, but one strand of Polar feels beautifully soft and cushy.

I finished them in two sittings over two evenings.  They are easy, quick and wonderfully warm.  He even wears them as “welly warmers”, keeping his toes warm as we splash through the spring mud.  I am so knitting myself a pair out of some purple Lamb’s Pride Bulky I’ve had in the stash forever.

As if knitting loafers wasn’t enough excitement, Karen came over yesterday for a fantastic  day of fiber chat and hanging out at the beach.  She has been dyeing like crazy recently and have made some absolutely lovely colourways based on photos.  I am always stunned by the richness and accuracy of her colours and can’t wait for her online store to open officially.  I doubt she will need much publicity since I am very willing to make myself poor with rovings such as this.

This is a beautiful roving based on a photo of hay (can you imagine?  Hay!), and I love the subtle colours and mix of greens, purples, oranges, and creams.  It is blue faced leicester so we know it will spin up nicely but I just feel  my spinning isn’t even worthy of such loveliness.  But how yummy would navajo plied sock yarn be in this?  And if that is not enough to be madly jealous about I also got a lovely set of stitch markers.

They are even nicer in person, believe me.  I had been using flimsy little markers I had gotten for free and was even resorting to tying rings of yarn so something had to be done.  These rose quartz stitch markers are beautifully made and have a great weight to them, you just know they will last for years.  I am only too lucky to have such a generous and talented friend, but don’t worry, I’ll be paying her back with plenty of dyeing (and cake making) labour quite soon.

I’ll give you a sneak peak at something big that I have finished but still need to model.  It’s been on the needles for a long time and I am glad that it’s finally over with.  The end result is fabulous though, and I hope I’ll get a chance to take photos before we go on holiday to Cornwall next week.  And for the record, I actually don’t have anything on the needles at the moment!  This is definitely a moment to remember, and no, I have no idea what to make next.