So many hobbies!

I love productive weekends

I finally finished the tote bags I started a couple months ago.  The pattern is from Bijou Lovely and is the market tote pattern.  I finished this one on Saturday.

And this one I put together today.  I've been in need of some tote bags which gave me the perfect excuse to make some.  Always better than buying them ready made, especially when the pattern is free and the fabric is on sale.  I started another project today but it's a surprise for a friend so I have to keep it quiet.  As soon as it's gifted, I'll post about it.

This was a really good weekend.  There was crafting, movies on DVD, lunch out with friends and chocolate.  What could be better?

Switching cables

Since I was switching to a bigger cable, I thought it was a perfect time to take a picture.

Chosen Path Shawl

I'm so very happy to have another project to work on.  I found the Chosen Path Shawl on Ravelry this week and instantly bought the pattern.  It looks like a fun knit and I'm enjoying it so far.

I've finished the first stockinette section and the first lace section, after much tinking and ripping back.  It took me a while to figure out the repeats within each lace row.  There are both asterisks and brackets within each row and the two together were confusing.  But, I've finally got the hang of it so things should cruise along nicely.

Most of my weekend was spent cleaning and picking up my condo.  My parents finally came by to see my nice, new bathroom.  Between jobs I worked on the new shawl.  I can't work all day on Saturday, especially after working all week.

Oh, and Tyr likes the bathroom, too:

Finished yarn

I finished plyng Monday night. This yarn is finer than what I spun for heels and toes.

There's a little difference between the two colorwise.  Not quite as much as I was looking for, though.  I'm still toying with the idea of dyeing 6 oz. of roving for socks.  Perhaps dyeing the 2 ounces for the heels/toes a solid color instead of more concentrated drops of the green/turquoise/purple, or whatever colors I chose in the future.  I'm a bit disappointed I didn't hear from more of you.  I really do want to know what you think of my idea.

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary stamps

I want them!  I tried to order them from the British post office but they won't ship them outside of the UK.  Do I have any British blog friends that could help me out here?  Anyone?  Doctor Who stamps are totally up my geeky alley hitting both SciFi and stamp collecting at the same time.  Do I have any British readers?  I need my geek fix!

Plying

The rest of the sock

As I thought, this yarn is coming out lighter than the yarn for the heels and toes.  I'm almost done with the first 2 ounces on this bobbin.  I'm going to ply from two bobbins instead of from a center-pull ball like I usually do.  Four ounces of sock-weight singles in a center-pull ball would take ages to ply and it would be harder to put it down and take a break.

My guild has its monthly meeting on Saturday.  The same day as the spring Fiber Expo.  The girls and I, as soon as the guild meeting is over, will be heading off to the Expo.  None of us needs anything but we've all been cooped up over the winter and anything that gets us out and about is not to be missed.

Thanks to Gayle and Helen for leaving me comments on my roving idea.  I really could use all of your opinions and ideas.  

I'm starting to get excited about the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in May.  My friend Sheri has introduced me to Freezer Bag Cooking and I've printed a number of recipes that sound good.  What is Freezer Bag Cooking you ask?  You take your freeze-dried or dehydrated ingredients and add them to a quart-size freezer bag.  Then, at your campsite, you add boiling water and wait 10 minutes or so for the food to rehydrate/cook.  Mostly, these recipes were developed for backpackers who want their packs to be as light as they can get them.  I'm interested in good food that doesn't take a lot of work.  After a long day at a fiber festival, I'm hot, I'm tired and I don't want to work for my food.  The hard part for me will be picking just a few recipes to take with me.  I plan on trying them out before we leave for Maryland.  I don't want to get out there and find my dinner is terrible.  Personally, I'd rather eat out, in nice, clean air-conditioned restaurants but my camping partner would rather save that money for more fiber.  I can see her point which is why I'll be picking some recipes to try between now and May.  I can hardly wait!

Heels and toes

This is the result of my weekend's efforts.  This is two ounces of Merino/bamboo yarn and is destined to be the toes, heels and cuffs of a pair of socks.  As I expected, the finished yarn is much more beautiful than the dyed roving.  It never ceases to amaze me how much it changes from roving to yarn.  I have yet to find a dyed roving that wasn't more beautiful after it was spun.

I'm currently spinning the yarn for the rest of the socks.  It will be much lighter, by design, than the yarn for the heels and toes.  The socks will be gorgeous. 

Speaking of hand-knit socks, I'm still trying to perfect something to store my handknits that will be, hopefully, safe from wool moths.  I've got several pairs of handknit socks with holes in them due to moths.  I don't know how to darn socks so the only solution I've come up with is to put tufts of wool front and back of the hole and needlefelt the two sides together.  The yarn I used is superwash so I can't just needlefelt the yarn around the hole to itself.  I'll have to create a wool sandwich first.  I would appreciate any suggestions for wool handknit storage.

I'm working on an idea for adding items to my long-empty store on Etsy.  Personally, I've found 4 ounces of roving to be insufficient to spin and knit into a pair of socks.  Dyeing up roving in 6 ounce bundles seems like something that might go over well.  Dyeing the roving like I did last weekend, or was it two weekends ago...  anyway, dyeing 2 ounces heavily for the heels and toes and 4 ounces a little lighter for the rest of the socks.  I'd also considered dyeing up large lengths of yarn sufficient to knit one shawl of a decent size.  Personally, I have no use for the shawlettes or neck scarves that seem to be big right now.  Give me a shawl that's big enough to actually keep my body warm and I'm a happy girl.  So tell me, do either of those ideas have merit?  Please leave me a comment with your opinion.  Especially you lurkers who read and don't comment.  All comments are needed.  Really.

Snow

We got a ton of snow last week.  It was beautiful!

I'm not sure why, but I find this shot of the street rather pretty: