It's Finally Done

David's blanket is leaving for Korea tomorrow. He'll follow it in a few weeks.

I carried this blanket through a lot of mosquito-infested campgrounds and it smells a little like insect repellant. I don't even have time to wash and block it. I finished weaving in the ends just a few minutes ago.

It's airy (you can see the print of the sofa through the stitches), machine washable, and made with lots of love.

I'm so sad to see it go. I've been working on it a long time.

Here is a random picture from our vacation. If a sneak in one at a time, maybe I won't bore you all at once.

Confusing the neighbors again

Here is my big skein.

I wound it around the trampoline. I tied the individual skeins in one color of yarn and the whole mess together as one skein with another color to keep it organized when it's time to wind. I dyed it in big buckets and rinsed it in the bathtub. I should finally get the long stripes I've been looking for!

This is my favorite color combination of all time. It's so serene.

Bison in Sheep's Clothing

I finished the 50/50 wool/bison yarn. It's lovely.

I have 215 yards of worsted weight yarn. I'm not sure what I'll do with it. Because I picked the down myself, there are a few guard hairs left here and there, but they don't seem irritating like alpaca guard hairs are.

If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Izzy had to have a buffalo of her own. His name is Spike and I'm not allowed to
knit with him.

Catching Up

Honey, we're home!

I finished these Endpaper Mitts right before we left. I had no idea that I really could have used them. It was cold!

The color is difficult to photograph. The pink/red is Jitterbug sock yarn and the purple is Louet Gems Sport. The Jitterbug has dark bits of brown that smear into the purple and make the fair isle pattern look blurry.

This mitts are really cute and useful. I wish I'd made a pair much earlier.

Words

This is a Wordle creation of my Zen and the Art of Sweater Maintenance post. Go make your own. They're fun.

Buffalo Yarn

I've started carding and spinning the buffalo fiber.

I washed and carded the buffalo/bison fiber and ended up with 2 ounces. I mixed that with 2 ounces of brown wool. Because the bison and wool are so different in micron count, the blending with carders looks like cat yak until I reach the 10th pass or so.

The rolags resemble the nasty brown hair clots my biological mother used to pick out of her hairbrush and leave in the toilet.

Fortunately they are lovely, shiny, soft, and lofty when spun.

Plying should soften the yarn even more.

Collecting Wild Bison Fluff

I thought I should post some quick pictures of my fluff collecting. Some of it was found while hiking. Some was just lying on the ground next to the road. Some was sticking to tree bark and fence posts.

The animal in the Capri pants is me, not a strange colored buffalo.

Ba donka donk. I'll have to thank my husband for that.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Three bags full...

We made a trip to Brown Sheep Co in Nebraska. I bought some wool.

I got 18 lbs of roving mill ends for my spinning pleasure. The roving they had on top of the mill waste was a candy cane striped chocolate brown and creme-colored swirly dream that my husband insisted that I buy. I can't wait to spin it into something tweedy and fun.

I also got some sock yarns, some Prairie Silk (for a gift for my BFF) and some Lamb's Pride Bulky that I plan to make a Juliet with.

I have a dyeing scheme planned for the Bulky. It involves using the family trampoline for a niddy noddy. Hmm.... we shall see.

By the way, nights in Yellowstone get down to 38 degrees Fahrenheit. Mosquitoes get really frisky when the evenings are cool.

Still on vacation

I am still camping. I've been camping for 10 days. I've been through snow, winds, hail, rain, heat, insects, and sunburn and I'm super happy. I've been collecting specimens of wild bison down from trees and fences along the way and I have enough to spin a souvenir yarn when I get home.

Big Summer Plans

more cat pictures

Through a series of unavoidable events, I have never met my mother-in-law in person. I'm going to drop my stepchildren off for a few weeks with her and this will be our first meeting.

Some of my anxiety about meeting her is the result of Cindi (my stepdaughter) complaining about me to her grandmother constantly. Also, David's mom was mad at my husband for marrying me. I am David's third wife (and best wife--I have to add that) and she was really upset that he was getting married (again) to someone she's never met. Oops!

Fortunately, I am coming bearing gifts! I knit a pair of socks with Maizy. I knit one from the top down and one from the toe up. I actually do that a lot if I'm knitting stockinette socks because I get bored. The yarn was a complete pain in the rear, though. It split constantly. My short row heels have little holes where the wrapped stitches are because the yarn lost its elasticity. I am in the process of sewing every little hole closed. Still, they are summery and cool. The corn fiber really breathes.

I also knit her a small scarf/neckwarmer out of some handspun Merino/Tencel blend in peachy/yellow colors that David swears she will love. Isabel doesn't mind being photographed with bedhead and jelly-face, so she volunteered to model.

I saw a bandwagon and jumped on it.

I saw this post and decided to join in.

Flickr Game

the rules:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker).

the questions:

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. Favorite drink?

7. Dream vacation?

8. Favorite dessert?

9. What you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. One Word to describe you.

12. Your flickr name.

Photographer credits:
1. Alexandra Fountain, 2. eye candy!, 3. Tawni2006MT.jpg, 4. Chronicles of Primate Fantasies, 5. welcome to our living room, ira glass., 6. Why, Yes...I Do Have Shoes To Match, 7. Star light, Star Bright, 8. ice cream sandwich, 9. I used to have Super Human Powers, 10. We are choosing hope over fear., 11. first impressions, 12. Alex

Plugging Along

I'm working on some big projects. I've got some embroidery work going that is deeply meaningful and cathartic.

I am using leftover sock yarn for needlepoint canvas. The piece measures 8.5 inches by 7.5 inches, yet I've only used a tiny bit of sock leftovers.

I'm hoping that using scraps of the yarns that warm our feet will tie this piece of military wife therapy together.

I will post photos of the final vision when I finish.

I'm also finishing a quick pair of Endpaper Mitts. I am using even more sock yarn. My yarn stash may be whittled down a bit before I go to England.