I smite thee, blogger

You know, I've always been pro-Blogger because of the sheer simplicity of authoring blogger templates. If you can manage basic CSS, a few tags and a smidge of HTML, you're golden. Or at least you were, until the new freaking beta from hell took over, and the entire system changed.

Yes, I'm a web person. Yes, I could learn this whole new way of coding templates if I wanted to. But you know what? If I'm going to have to learn something new from the ground up, I think I'm much better off learning WordPress. A much better investment of my time, given all of the trouble I've had with google-related sites as of late.

So here we go: http://heyjulie.wordpress.com

It's not fully customized 'cause I'm on the free server, but it works. Everything's there. I'll keep the free patterns up here for a while too, but they're over there as well.

Change your bookmarks! Come on over and say hello!

in the works

I've had this half-spun tussah silk sitting around for a while...and imagine my delight when I pulled it out and realized that it matches the Spunky BFL I got for Christmas. I'm going to ply them together.

Lately I'm all about plying different fibers together to get the most yardage possible. I liken it to how, you know when you first start buying yarn you grab single skeins of gobs of different things, and then one day you realize that if you actually want to make stuff, you really need more? I'm finding the same thing with handspun...sure, handspun hats and fingerless gloves are great, but I'd like the option of making something more substantial.

Who knows what kind of yardage I'll end up with on this one...but it sure is gonna be beautiful.

I've said it before,

and I'll say it again...my DH is such a keeper. :)



I ask for the geekiest things (like those, and these), and he always comes through... *swoon*

bad bad blogger

Anyone still out there?

Due to a rash of sickness I was unable to knit or spin for about two weeks. The horror! But I'm back at it! When I was finally feeling well enough to do something other than stare at the computer screen or lie on the couch, I started spinning my lovely alpaca...and what a delight it is. This fiber requires no predrafting at all -- it's so well prepared and spins up so quickly.



The single (above) looks like it's plied but it's not. I decided to spin the natural colored fiber and ply it with that...good call.



It's just lovely. It's heavy worsted, about 130 yards per 100g so far.

And the knitting...you would think that two months was enough time to knit a freaking pair of socks! Well, I mean, it is -- but I just kept getting sidetracked. I finally frogged the lace I had started and decided to go with Jaywalkers, so I could take them anywhere and work on them in my spare moments. Good call.



They only took about 6 days from start to finish.



FO #109: Jaywalker Socks, in merino/tencel from Yarn Ahoy. For my Sockentine Swap partner...they're in the mail!

Taking care of a weepy sick kid (pre-8 p.m.) and catching up on 24 (post-8 p.m.) aren't really conductive to knitting or spinning...but I do have a little bit to show...



More merino from HPY. Very thick and thin -- this was the first time I was trying to spin a thicker single, not intending to ply it. I'm still not sure what I should do...ply it, or steam it? Here's what it looks like plied:



Also, aaaaaaahhhhhhh, my alpaca came in the mail on Saturday from the lovely Hooch:



Another decision....ply the colors with themselves, or ply the brown and white together? Hmm.

FOs #107 & 108

107: earflap hats in handspun cormo (see below, too lazy to link) and 108: can't talk about it. Secret FO. I'll fill in the details here later.

proof

Okay Jenn, here you go. I can't talk about this stuff, but I can show you pictures. ;) Amongst the projects on my (many) needles....

Something lacy, on very tiny needles....



...something cable-y, on bigger needles...



...and something mindless:



...although the mindless thing isn't entirely mindless...I managed to screw it up and have to spend too much time tinking. This was a week ago and I haven't touched it since...but I need to.

you guessed it, more spinning

Really, I do still knit. I have five things on the needles. But this is what captured my attention this past week:



I thought I might spin it a little bulkier than usual, but it had other ideas.



The pictures really don't do it justice. I was so taken by the colors the whole time I was spinning it. Look, we match:



The colors are just so amazing. Deep violets, berry-winey colors that I can't describe...I decided to navajo ply it to kind of keep the colors together, but I'm second guessing myself. I'd love to see what it would have looked like as a 2-ply. This photo makes it look ore purpley than it really is.



100g, 150 yds, 11wpi.