On the Wheel and the Needles

Not great at posting - and I think the goal eventually will be 3 posts per week. If I could do 1-2 posts per week in the near future I think that would be great. Today we'll take a look at recent spinning.

Just off the wheel - superwash merino in Wanderlust from Sweet Georgia yarns - September 2012 fiber club shipment. I love this club - always ships near the start of the month and because she's based in Vancouver BC I get my yarn fast. If I had my act together I'd be the one posting the first spoiler photo! And she seems like good people.

I had issues with breakage while skeining the yarn - I think I'm under spinning and/or under plying my yarn. I got about 450 yards from 4 oz of fiber. Oh and it is a 2 ply

Previously on the wheel - Merino, bamboo nylon blend from Gnome Acres in Southwest Zombie. It goes through the 3 colours 3 times - it is an n-ply. Amanda's good people too.

I got just under 230 yards from 4 oz.

And before that was Swirl BFL in Beryl from the Unwind Yarn Company - Dana's good people too - I'm saying that a lot this post but it's true - these dyers take their businesses seriously, are nice and have a great product. I'll be buying from all of them again.

I got about 400yds from 4.3 oz - no wonder it took so long to spin and ply...

New to the stash and soon on the wheel (after what I've got on there is done - might be a bit because it is spinning very very fine - I've got the first of 2 plies done)...

This is the October 2012 shipment of the Sweet Georgia Fiber club in Turning Leaf on BFL (not superwash). LOVE IT!

And in other news, winter was here for a brief visit and has left the building temporarily. First transit disruption of the season - buses were having issues with the black ice this past Thursday:

It looks worse than it was, I think the temperature that morning was only -4C (25F) so it isn't that cold. It felt cold-ish but it is self preservation to say that it wasn't cold because it will get much much colder.

On the needles:

Jedi Mind Trick socks - Cookie A sock club August shipment

This is an old photo but it gives you an idea. I'm now well into the foot of the second sock - and am doing the foot plain so that they are more comfortable in shoes.

I also need to knit 2+ more of these hats for friends and coworkers - I've knit 3 so far - resounding success

The pattern is the Umbilical Cord Hat from Stitch 'n Bitch

I went to add labels and thought I'd lost my post - but blogger now auto-saves. I was ready to say I hated blogger and then noticed the auto save thing on the new post - right now I'm feeling some Blogger love... Then I noticed that the photos I'd linked from Flickr weren't showing up - less pleased but still happier than if I'd had to re-write this post...

Autumn has Arrived

 Posts on back to back days?! Yeah, don't get used to it - I'm just tired and procrastinating...

Autumn has arrived in Calgary - the trees are changing quickly and the leaves are already falling. I love this time of year - the air is crisp and cool (handknit sock weather for the win) but it isn't so cold that you need to bundle up a lot.

A bit blurry but this photo was taken this morning as I walked in to school. As you can see the leaves are really dry and are already being ground into a fine powder. I think it looks really neat.

And finally - this is from this weekend - along the route I run there are 1-2 houses with cat paw prints on the driveways. I always think of how cute it looks and how upset that kitty must have been when it happened.

Life got in the way... again...

So that was a false alarm wasn't it - but I keep listening to podcasts and thinking how great it would be to share what I'm thinking and my opinions and what I'm knitting/spinning but then I realize that there is NO WAY I have time for that - I can't even post to my blog. So we'll see if I can get what I desire by sharing on this space.

Needless to say, life is busy. The summer flew by in a flurry of data collection and I don't know what else. Now I'm testing, doing data entry and teaching advanced research methods and design (statistics) once a week. 3 hour class, and about 75 minutes driving each direction. Lots of podcast listening.

Fall is in full swing here - the leaves are changing and falling - crunching under my feet on my run yesterday.

Blogger is completely different than the last time I posted - if you don't count that little teaser in July - which I don't. I've been knitting - and that's likely what a lot of you are interested in. Here's my most recent FO's

 Daphne

Horseshoe Fern Neckwarmer - this one knit up fast, just 2 days.

And an apple hat using the Umbilical Cord Hat from the Stitch 'n Bitch book - love this one - the leaf is Just a Leaf (a free pattern). This is the first of at least 5 that need to be knit for expectant coworkers.

I hope to share more details on future posts for future knits - right now I have to make this quick because I teach in 17 minutes!

Back?

I was just looking for an old blog post about green smoothies in order to figure out where/when I should look in my iPhoto library when I rediscovered a post about a wonderful awesome pizza I made back in 2010 that I'd completely forgotten about. It makes me want to blog again - sort of - not sure how this will go but perhaps I'm back. We'll see. No promises k?

Oh and the pizza that inspired my return - the photos make my mouth water and have reminded me of how yummy it was:

http://www.graduateknits.blogspot.ca/2010/05/kale-garlic-tomato-pizza.html

August 22, 2011

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/9018472@N07/6071306217/" title="IMG_1849 by catie_phillips, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6088/6071306217_c94559707b.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="IMG_1849"></a>

She likes to "help" me work...

August 3, 2011

Brought cake to work for a celebration - I really enjoy feeding people.

Note - the veggies and potato recipe is in Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home - Roasted Vegetable Salad with Garlic and Rosemary

August 1, 2011

Yarn: Dancing Dog Dyeworks in Tropical Twist
Pattern: Tropicana
Ravelry project page: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/CatieCat/tropicana