first non-practice skein!

54 yards of beautiful wooly goodness! Hooray! And there is a lot more fiber where this came from. I expect at least 250 yards from the whole batch...

I call it... "mixed berries"...

first skein of handspun!

Well, it has been in the 80's and clear outside, with a reasonable breeze... so you know where to find me! Out sailing (and swimming)! I have been remiss with the fiber projects lately, but I swear I have a good excuse... Lake Washington was calling to me...

But look! My first handspun! The red mini-skein (18 whole yards) is two-ply wool of mixed type, spun and plied on the drop-spindle. Erin is a wonderful, sweet, fantastic friend and she brought me back some goodies from Oregon (Black Sheep Gathering) since I couldn't make it. I will post those pictures soon, but for now just the pretty roving that I am actually using is in the picture. On the drop spindle is some beautiful Blue Faced Licester from Baa Bette's Fleece that I am spinning up right now.


My friend Beth also came over to play, and today was her first time spinning! She used Erin's Lendrum to spin the fiber, and here is a picture of her plying with the drop spindle... Way to go Beth!

long walk

This weekend was a wild one, dring which several of us took care of our friends' twins. Each time I borrow someone's kids, it reminds me why it will be a while before I am prepared to have any of my own! They were great kids, though, and I got a bit of time to work on some baby stuff for my classmate. We went to the zoo on Saturday, and got to see some fabulous creatures -- I love the zoo, and it is a place that I tend not to go to unless I have kids with me...

Yesterday, Rebecca and I set out from Lynnwood on the Interurban Trail to take a long walk, in training for walking a half-marathon at the SeaFair Marathon in July. We walked through 5 different municipalities, including Lynnwood, Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace, Shoreline, and finally Seattle. Unfortunately, one aspect of the trail is that it tends to have random gaps between stops and starts of sections, and we managed to get a bit lost after a while. We ended up losing the trail entirely (when we took some other trail by accident), and heading mostly south and east to get to my house. The question of the day is if we will be able to walk at work!

Dye-o-rama swap goodies!!

I know it's been a while. I had to spend the last week sitting on the couch and sleeping, so I was much too busy to write... *grin*

Anyway, look! MY NEW SWAP YARN ARRIVED!


Huge thanks to Kimberly for creating such lovely yarn. I feel so spoiled for the gift of not one, but TWO stunning skeins of sock yarn! Check out the beautiful weaving on her blog, too.

In the meantime, I finished two single socks featured previously in the incomplete state:


Now I have to get cracking on baby stuff before the baby beats the knitting projects in the race to completion!

We went on a sailing trip this past weekend, to Port Orchard. This is the best marina facility that I have EVER been to. It is reasonably priced (the fuel price is very fair!), and the restrooms with FREE SHOWERS are clean and well-stocked. There are some restaurants and a supermarket within easy walking distance, and even a store that sells yarn (or so I am told). We had sunny weather both days, and enough wind to get a lot of sailing in! We also found a fantastic used bookstore that was just opened by a brilliant fellow with great taste in books. I will definately be back.

In the real world, I started back in the research lab this past Monday. It is a nice change from school, working 9-5 with no homework! Things are going well so far, and I expect to actually get some experiments underway by the end of the week. I am also teaching a Communications class for a group of high school students this summer, and I need to finish up my lesson plan before classes start next week.

frolicking in fibers!

Now that I have had a chance to sleep enough to recover from school, I can show off some of my recent activities! First, my "garden":


So far so good... Perhaps I have grown out of my "brown thumb" afterall! Leann and Lois passed the pansies my way, and they were perfect for my little deck box...

I have had knitting party after knitting party the last couple of days. I am almost done with blue socks for my aunt (just a bit of redoing the toes left), I finished the first of my pair of pink socks (BMFA Sock Candy), and got a few more inches done on the sweater that will take forever. More exciting, however, is that Erin came over on Saturday night and taught me how to spin! She gave me a spindle and some fiber, and once I spin through it all, she will teach me how to ply!

I also started a Crusoe sock with my "Azalea" yarn, and it looks fantastic so far! I love how the stranding in the pattern brings out the pink in the yarn. Love it!

I hope I can keep up this pace for a while... then I might be able to justify some new fibers at the Black Sheep Gathering this month!

HOORAY!! Life goes on!

Guess what, friends? I have officially passed my final exams, and I am now a second-year med student! I am so relieved that I don't have to retake any exams. Whew!

Now I can start the fiber-arts binge!

Thank you to all my friends that work hard to keep me from losing my mind. You guys rock!