And I Have Reemerged

Okay, after a longer than intended hiatus, I am back. I think. I have managed to pull myself away from the time suck of Facebook and the various fun games there. I have managed to get my Bloglines down to under 500 unread posts. I have also cleaned up my lists of blogs that I read too.

So what have I been doing the past few months? Some knitting, some spinning, and tons of reading. Oh yeah, shoveling snow a lot too. ANd I managed to get sick as well right before Christmas. I think I would have preferred to have had bronchitis rather than the cold I had. Bronchitis doesn’t take as long to get over as a cold. Okay maybe not for me.

Um, I am still wondering if Alaska and Canada are missing their snow this year? For some reaso, the mid-Atlantic seems to have gotten it all. I mean over 50 inches so far this winter. And we still have a few more weeks of winter to go yet. But at least the bulk of the snow came back to back. The piles are melting slowly and I can actually see some grass peeking out.

I am back at my spinning wheel spinning. And I am knitting with handspun too. I managed to get some things finished during the hiatus. But unfortunately I can’t show them off since they are going to be a surprise gift for some one. One project that I can kind of show off is the Traveling Woman shawl I knit. It needs severe blocking though so it looks like a giant blob. But for once I have been able to get an accurate color shot of the yarn.

The story behind this yarn is really fun. The fiber was dyed by Scout out in New Mexico. It was spun by Amanda in Baton Rouge. I knit it up in Maryland. And it will be heading out to Ohio for blocking. And where it will end up after Ohio is still a mystery. But it definitely is a traveling piece of knit wear.

The shawl I am currently knitting out of handspun is Wandering the Moor. (Ravelry link.) The colors are a soft heathered purple. The yarn is spun from some top I bought at Md&W last year. The fibre is a super soft blend of merino and seacell. The fibre never really had a chance to age in the stash. So I will be hopefully buying more of this blend this year at MDS&W from the same dyer. But this time, I will be buying at least 16 ounces. I am just starting the lace portion of this shawl.

I have also been spinning a fair bit over the last several weeks. I have been clearing off bobbins And this is resulting in new yarns. I am now spinning fingering weight yarns pretty much all of the time now on the one wheel. And It is a good thing that I like knitting with skinny yarns.

I have to send a special thank you out to the lovely Jodi of A Caffeinated Yarn. She sent me a really special birthday present that included not only books and teas but a lovely knit shawl. She knit me one of Ysolda‘s lovely little shawls. It is perfect in that it adds just the right amount of warmth and the color is lovely. I wore it over a black dress recently to a memorial service and quite a few people came up to me and asked about it. The older ladies were impressed that knitting is till gong strong.

I have also started back to the gym. I am not happy with the trainer I had been working with and am waiting to hear back form one of the other trainers. But I have been going every other day and at least spending 35 to 40 minutes on the treadmill on the hill setting. But I really need to get back into lifting weights.

And I did mention that there would be a contest of sorts for my returning to the world of blogging. I am gong to make it really simple. Post a comment and tell me if you are a spinner or a knitter. Spinners will get a lovely soft luscious batt and knitters will get a skein of handspun yarn. You will get enough yarn to make a project. I need to spread of the love of knitting with handspun after all. And yes, I will mail international so do not hesitate to post a comment. So since I am posting this late on Tuesday afternoon, I will pick a few names out of everyone who posts Saturday afternoon. That should give everyone a chance to post a comment.