where am I?

Okay, the super good news is that Adele has been okay. I didn't realize I hadn't posted since the middle of her crisis. For now we're working with the "she's weird and had a strange series of viruses and somehow got the one-in-a-million case of toddler viral tenosynovitis" theory until proven otherwise.

I was supposed to head out to Israel on last Wednesday. Here it is Sunday and I'm still here thanks to the mid-Atlantic blizzards. Hopefully we'll be able to fly out today! So I'll leave you with an extensive gallery of all the knitting I've been doing and not posting, including the projects that were supposed to be for my trip!

crocheted (!) scarf for Tirtze

kappa socks for my HP OWL project set

600 yards of laceweight CVM yarn

my flower garden vest

a vest for The Yarn Spot in Glisten yarn

this and the following hat are my own designs, both hats destined for the Larkin Center for Homeless Teens' annual hat drive

This is a my "where's the sheep" hat; the yarns are yak, alpaca and mohair, and the only wool is some white CVM lamb plied with the mohair.

Hippo Gnu Year!

It's 2010 and I'm still catching up on 2009.

Gilad is now officially 5 years old (the cake is evidence that it's all official and everything):

Adele just keeps getting cuter and goofier:

Jeffrey just keeps getting more wonderful:

And I keep getting crazier, as evidenced by the fact that I'm proposing to do two OWLs for this new Term over in the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup game, for the glory of team Hufflepuff:

The one above is actually 4 different projects representing 4 different magical creatures: 2 pairs of socks (blast-ended scroots and kappas); a lace shawl (dragons); and a hat and mitts (bowtruckles).

This one is a Fair Isle steeked vest, to be knit in some of my hand spun (natural colored or natural dyed) yarns as shown above.

All done yakking!

The border is red alpaca and white CVM lamb; the background is grey CVM lamb and the yaks are of course yak! This is one of my favorite of the charts because the yaks are just so very cute. Now I'm going to work white sheep at the top, and then the body will be done. I have to stop first though because I've gotten so much done I can take a break for a couple of days to knit Addie a bumblebee hat for a House Cup game homework assignment.

Let it be known...

That having spun 3 ply Dorset sock yarn and some 2 ply too,

(both photos are of the 3 ply)

and having dyed some yarn in carrot tops and plantain leaves, and some more in black bean water (photos to come soon) and mordanted up a storm for some dyeing this weekend.

And having cast on the first of Tirtze's long-promised slippers

I have also swatched

and cast on (with a proper tubular cast on no less) my sweater!

All this amidst the joy and chaos which have been the start of the Fall 2009 term for the Ravelry Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup, in which I am now Hufflepuff Head of House and Herbology Assistant Professor. Plus a secret project in progress for someone.

I'm so very proud

This morning I got Addie ready to leave, headed for the door, and Gilad called out with perfect timing, "Have fun storming the castle!"  Now we just have to teach him to say, "I am not left handed!"  which would be particularly ironic given that he is left handed.

Meanwhile, I've finished my OWL Titania sweater:

Complete with proper mattress stitch finally,

and cast on socks for Kayla.

I also finished spinning about 360 yards of fingering weight Corriedale sock yarn and dyed it in tea this evening, but it's drying and I don't have photos of that yet.

I have to save it to proper format to share here on the blog, but Gilad's teacher also sent me a video of him and one of his friends in gym class; they're supposed to be having a snake race, wriggling forward on the ground, when all of a sudden these two get up on their feet and run to the finish line.

Some more fiber

I knit mom a hat (from the pattern, Labyrinth Duo, in Knitter's mag):

She had complained that I had knit her several lacy hats which left her ears cold, so this one should give somewhat better coverage.  It also serves as Arithmancy homework in the Harry Potter House Cup knitting game, since this month's assignment related to labyrinths.

And I spun some sock yarn (about 350 yards):

And named it Captain Carrot in honor of the Discworld books character.

I seem to have been gone from cyberspace for a week.  Sorry, I've been busy getting ready for my trip to the John C. Campbell Folk School (yay) and then I was really depressed for a couple of days (no reason, just me).

But today I came home to find my first month's fiber and pattern from Susan's Spinning Bunny's Fondle This fiber club:

And I've been working on my OWL projects; here's some of the fiber spun up (somehow I only had 3 oz of blues and greens when I was done.  And I don't want to see any more angora for a long, long time):

And here's the front of my Titania sweater:

Family news to come.

Stash Busting

As a Potions OWL project over at our Harry Potter game on Ravelry, I'm going to try to spin up some of the bits and bobs of fiber rapidly accumulating in my fiber stash.  I'm going to do a 3 ply; one blues/greens, one pinks/purples, one natural.  I have more than 3.5 ounces of each just in the little bits from various samples, class leftovers, and prep practice, so I have plenty!

Like Magic!

Well, thanks to the Harry Potter game over on Ravelry, I've cleaned up my knitting and spinning stuff.  A bit.

Jeffrey moved a book case and we cleaned it up:

I've mostly caught up on filing my patterns in their binders:

My spinning fiber is a little more organized, or at least neatened up:

And my yarns are put away in an old dresser:

I've also knit a cowl for Charms homework and proposed an O.W.L. level project (a lacy, cabled, fitted sweater).  And I've almost finished plying my Corriedale (though that's not for Harry Potter knitting, that's just for joy).

Meanwhile, the two big girls are at their first karate/jujitsu class.  Don't try to imagine it.

5 bottles, no eating

At meal times, Addie wants a bowl and a fork to be like everyone else.  The way she is not like everyone else, though, is that she won't actually eat.  Well, I tell a lie; today she ate one Froot Loop and perhaps 5 peas (plus the one she got half up her nose).  She did drink about 36 ounces of toddler formula.  We absolutely have to get her off the bottle, I think.

For your amusement, meanwhile, here is a photo of Gilad not-quite-touching-Mommy's spindles

And what was on the spindles (110 yards of 2 ply laceweight yarn all spindle spun for a change; the fiber is wool scraps from someone else's scrap box I carded on her drum carder).

And I am 2 rolags away from finishing spinning the singles of the 8 ounces of Corriedale I washed and carded myself.  Then on to plying (a 3 ply medium weight yarn is what I'm aiming for) and possibly dyeing if the plying doesn't even out the color differences.  Oh, and I finished knitting my Charms homework for the month for the Harry Potter-themed group, but I'll try to get a decent photo tomorrow when it's dry and off the blocking board.

A Noble Project

I've joined a Harry Potter-themed game over at Ravelry.  This month one "class" assignment is to get out fiber and yarn stashes under control, which is very apropos for my basement.  Here's what (in part) I'm starting with.  I'll update as things progress.