Trying New Things....

Hello, it's been a while. What's new? Not too much. I'm at the point in the winter where I'm looking for something, anything to keep myself from going too deeply in to that spiral of funk that seems to come every February. It seems like Spring is a long way off although I'm sure I'll be slogging through the muck and wiping off muddy paws soon enough. The good news is that I have a few things lining up on my social calender so there will be lots of events to look forward to. Some knitting related and some not.

Oh yeah...this is a knitting blog, sort of. Speaking of which. I decided to try and challenge myself for the Ravelympics this year by taking on a color work project. I've not attempted any 2 color knitting and this seemed like a good way to get started. I've been eying the "pirate mittens" for ages and decided that it would be a good place to start. However, being my usual dyslexic self, I worked the colors opposite of the pattern so my first finished mitten is a "photo negative" of how the pattern is supposed to look. I like the way it worked up though and actually I like the skulls in black better.


Of course I've been working on some spinning. I've spun up and dyed some merino. I like the softness and bounce of merino though I think it's rather tricky to spin. I guess the short staple length requires one to pay a little more attention while spinning. Of course I neglected to loosen the ties where I tied the skein together and there are white and lighter spots underneath. I think though that they could work to my advantage when eventually knitted up. If not I can always over dye the finished work. I think that the color really turned out gorgeous though. A true rusty copper color. Dye used? Cake icing dyes from Michael's. A little copper, brown and red. Currently drying on my "yarn hooks" in the basement.


Given the success of how my merino turned out with the cake dyes, I decided to try and dye some roving using the microwave. I have to say that this was more of a challenge and I had no flippin' clue as to what I was doing. However again, I was pleased with the result. I was trying to go with a primarily black, turquoise and copper coloring. It seems that some of the dyes when diluted change their color or their "base" color becomes more dominant. So I ended up with more of a mish mash but I still like the way it turned out and I cant WAIT to spin it and see what happens!

As for other stuff...nothing really too exciting. Let's see...we had 8" of snow dumped on us overnight so I played hooky and took a snow day. Got lots of knitting and a little spinning done.

I'm still having issues with my elbow tendinitis. I've decided to simply be in denial and eventually it will go away.
Mr. Larj is slow at work and has had a few days off. This does not make either one of us happy but, at least he is officially working.
My mom has joined the digital age and has decided to learn to use a net book and digital camera. I love the way she still has a desire to learn new things. She should be computer savvy in no time as she's a fearless button pusher.
I have a couple of concerts coming up and would love to make a road trip in May to attend this since Apocalyptica will be playing. That might take a little scheming. I've already got a couple of road trips in the works as it is. At least having that to look forward to makes the winter doldrums a little more bearable.
Oh yes and we attended the "Dirty Show". It's an erotic art exhibit that happens every year. Wouldn't miss it. Here we are in a hand carved mirror (plus cuffs).
Well....I'm afraid it's back to business as usual tomorrow. That's OK, actually work really hasn't been too bad lately.
Everyone have a great week or month or whatever!