Spinning for Totoros

I got to try out Jill's wheel once and also tried my hand at drop spindle after reading a book and visiting online sites such as Interweave Knits . After trying out the beginning Spinning class at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival, I decided I on another drop spindle kit. I also purchased a niddy noddy. (I have some notion I will skein some Paton's cotton I have in my stash and dye it...but then that's another story)

Spinning was fun and I will probably keep trying. Using the wheel involved too many things at once for me to pick up quickly, rather like playing the piano.
I finally finished the rest of my roving from the class, then soaked and dried it.
According to the instructions, the yarn may "bloom" some in the bath. Well it sure did!. I have thicknesses from extra super bulky to cobweb, all in one ball. So what can a girl do? I was reassured at Aloha Knitters, that "thick and thin" is in! So I present, Thick and Thin Totoros.


I finally picked up Rogue and I'm working on the hood. Socktober starts today. I'm thinking Conway from Knitting on the Road in Koigu.

Waah, I have to go back to work tomorrow. What is it I used to do for a living? I have had so much fun this vacation, I want to be on vacation permanently;)

Thursday's Sky, and Two scarfs

I actually did finish another project on the road...Trinity, traveling vine scarf is done. The pattern looks good on both sides, imo.

When I ordered the STR on impulse, I didn't ask about the difference between medium and light weight, and ordered the medium weight which was way too thick for socks. I started the Here and There Cables scarf from Wrap Style, but cast on 18 stitches less then recommended on size 6 needles, ending up with a very narrow, thick and somewhat stiff "neck sock". It somehow does not seem appropriate for a scarf, but between the color and the wonderful pleasure of the yarns feel, smell and and color (County Clare), I just can't stop knitting this.

Today's sky at dusk made into a mosaic with Flickr Toys, just because it's so much fun. The moon shot was "enhanced" with automatic photo fix. It is amazing how all this sky action goes on simultaneouly!

Thursday's Sky
Originally uploaded by acornbud.

I had a fun night with the Aloha Knitters stitchin' and bitchin'. Knitting is way better the booze, heh. No hangover and we still are witty, philosophical and funny:) but we plan to try both booze and knitting soon!

Vacation, how sweet it is!

Being at home and still on vacation is the best! I started a new book, "Where the Heart Is" by Billie Letts, recommended by my sister, I have cleaned out two closets and worked a little on the mildew solution, and I get to reflect on my trip and enjoy all the pictures I took. I am posting most of it on my other blog Not Another Hareball starting with the 9/23/06 post, and there is more to come.


I did succumb to the Amy Butler brouhaha. It was purely to support the Coupeville quilt shop, The Sundown Quilt Shop I swear! Now I have to think about getting the sewing machine out, sigh.


I made the Kureyon Kozy from the silk garden left over from Klarlund. My only teapot has a handle 90 degree from the spout so it is modeled here by a pitcher. It's kind of tiny, and I haven't figured out the closure. It was a fun quick knit even with the unmatched sides.


I actually took time to shop and cook since I am off and made Gypsy Soup from Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook. I used kale, butternut squash and tomatoes. It is quite hearty and sweet.

A Fantastic Knit Coat

I met a creative and beautiful self proclaimed "free form knitter" on my trip and she modelled her fantastic creation. This coat is knit of multiple yarns and is soft and luxurious to touch and just the ticket for a cool almost fall day. The collar is alpaca and just sets the whole thing off. She looked amazing in it. This woman is talented!

Believe it or not, I actually read two whole books on the trip. I also got introduced to Sudoku and burned up a lot of erasers:). I found a copy of Knitting on the Road, on my last walk through the Barnes and Nobles Knitting section, so I figured it was karma and bought it. I visited Prairie Lights , a cool independent book store in Iowa City.

Pink in Wildefoote Elderberry

Pink in Wildefoote Elderberry
Originally uploaded by acornbud.

All very nice you say, but what about the knitting? The Knitting Tree is under new ownership. There was no wall of Koigu and no Trekking, but they had a pile of Malabrigo that I lusted after. In the end again, I could not decide on a colorway, but I did take away some lovely Koigu. Since I know everyone is here for the yarn porn and not the travelogue, here they are, along with the Koigu from Weaving Works in Seattle, on the second leg of my trip.


I have to confess, I only finished one project on the road, Pink in Wildefoote, Elderberry. I wore these before washing and blocking as it was chilly for this Hawaiian up north.



Yikes I messed around with flicker and now all the comments are gone! Waaah.

If they shear those sheep, don't they get cold in the winter?

My creation
Originally uploaded by acornbud.

There is no place like home, but visiting friends and family while on vacation is pretty durn close! I had a great time visiting, eating, shopping, sightseeing and did I mention eating?

Fist stop was Wisconsin to visit my sister and her husband in Madison.

The Wisconsin Sheep Breeder Co-op has a fall festival and my sister and I took the beginning spinning class. We were in Denise Curry's Saturday morning class (I don't see us in the picture but I think there are two of the afternoon class, and none of ours, so no sense looking:) We used a PVC, two treadle wheel made by Nels Wiberg. Read his story in the May/June 2006 issue of Sheep Magazine . It was tough trying to pedal and draft at the same time. I got a better feel of how the wool drafts out, but made another curly ball of yarn. I didn't have much time to go around to see the vendors, but I got my niddy noddy and a drop spindle starting kit from a pretty lady in a bonnet at the Mielkes Farm booth. I found some Trekking but only a few colors color so I had to pass. I hovered over some lovely cobweb lace yarn, but again couldn't decide on a color, alas. We went around the and saw the sheep, llama and alpaca. I somehow thought sheep were much smaller then they were in person. Back home I tried out the drop spindle and the yarn looks a bit more like yarn now, but the skein is not growing very fast. If I was responsible for clothing my family for the winter, they'd all freeze. We'd have to sleep with the sheep in the barn! They look pretty warm and cuddlly except for the naked ones that had been shorn. I hope they get to spend winter in a warm barn because the canvas sweaters they had one didn't look too warm. I'll have to go back another year and learn more about these sheep since I'm getting a bit worried about them running around out there without their coats!
I resisted the temptation to take up needle felting, but I saw some very cute critters made by that technique. Hmm and there were classes, too!
My sister is an exercise devotee. I packed my gym clothes in case of rain, but the first day it was was balmy in Madison so we walked around the Pheasant Branch Conservatory That afternoon the temperature dropped about 20 degrees and it was cool and cloudy when we drove to Iowa City to visit my niece and also when we drove to Chicago to see King Tut. I am sorry to say mapquest didn't help us in our drive through the Windy City! Since my other niece was on call we decided to drive back and experienced the gridlock around Ohare Airport. But, we made it back alive!

Wisconsin, here I come!

As I get ready for this trip, the things on my mind are, what knitting to take, what size needles, and what patterns.
Do I take minimal stuff and just buy as I go? Shall I take Rogue, bulky project that it is? How many fingerless gloves do I really need to knit? They just seem the perfect size project for the road.
I wound the STR into a ball, so that is definitely going and I have the Pink restarted on size 1s to go. I have a few patterns in a folder ready to travel with me. And what about Omiyage ?...my sister said not to bring her anything, but if I don't will I be riddled with guilt? (she already has fingerless gloves;)

My other thoughts involve my gadgets. The trusy Neuros mp3 player is charged. Do I need the Ipod Shuffle, too? My spanking new Palm TX has two movies and it's one month of free T-mobile wi-fi. My camera battery is charged, but do I need the charger? And my phone, too.Then of course there is the electric toothbrush. Do I take it or not. Do I hand carry all my chargers or pack them in the bag? Decisions, decisions.

I never left this rock until I went off to college. My parents did not take me off to school to get me started. Just my mom and friends saw me off to Iowa at the airport. My big sister and her husband were in school in Iowa, and drove me down to Kansas and got me settled. Getting prepared to travel didn't seem like such a big thing back then. Oh for those carefree days of youth!


Shetland Triangle, my first completed knit lace shawl, modelled here by yellow Teletubbie. Not the best photo, but finding the right light to show off the pattern in this dark yarn was a real challenge and blogger flipped it sideways again. I tried the photo in the mirror trick as my photographer was "too busy".(Bah) but that didn't work out. I made it too small. I expected it to stretch a lot more, but it was an encouraging project in the end, and who knows what lovely lace weight I will find on the road? And, of course there is the lovely Jaggerspun Zephyr calling me from The Knitter.com in many lucious colors.



The coffee beans across the road are turning red.

The cloudy days continue to produce spectacular sunsets and as the sun sinks slowly in the West, (tee hee), I mean as the sun sinks slowing in the West!!!
the Acornbud is leaving the desktop. Happy knitting to all you wonderful bloggers and commenters! See you in a couple of weeks.

The Shetland Triangle

Barbara Walker says the fir cone pattern is prone to pucker, and puckers I have! The yarn is Alpaca, Alpaquita Superfina, "Finest Quality Andean Yarn", 100% alpaca from Peru given to me by my sister. There is no information about this yarn's weight, but I would guess fingering. This yarn has had many trials but I think it's found its groove in the Shetland Triangle. The pattern starts with a little 2 stitch garter st, and is growing by the fir cone! It's taking longer and longer to finish a row. In the meantime, Totoro and friends decided to rehearse their version of Mirrormask on the cushy, but somewhat hairy surface.

I know one type of yarn I'm going to search for on my trip...lace weight yarn in a cheery color! I think I was going through some sort of Stevie Nicks black lace phase when I bought that black Zephyr.

I hope Alpaca blocks or I'm in big trouble.

As the Sun Sinks Slowly in the West

Everytime I hear someone say "as the sun sinks slowly in the West", I flash on an old cartoon, no doubt a Looney Toon, and chuckle. I was getting all smug about being the most West, but realized I live on a globe and west-ness in all relative. The more I think about that, the dizzier I get, so I'm going to cut it out now.

I attempted to translate Pink into English so I could knit the socks up in the much abused and crunchy blue Wildefoote. I managed the pattern but will just have to wing the gusset and toe.

Chris , enabler that she is, has talked me into starting Shetland Triangle, and so far I haven't thrown this lace probject down in disgust. Her pink Jaggerspun Zephyr example was so lovely, I couldn't help it. The little Fir Cones pucker up, so I hope my alpaca version blocks out as nice.

That makes 4 projects on the needles, a new record for this former serial knitter!

Trudging Along through August

Here is another Fat Bottom Bag, in blue, with a sunflower. I'm not sure if I'll keep the sunflower or try some other decoration. I used to get obsessed with certain projects and make piles of them...there was the book cover stage, the rabbit stage, the baby quilt stage, the bean bag stage, the pin cushion stage and so forth. Luckily my kids were in school during the book cover stage as I was able to use them for teacher gifts. Now I have two Fat Bottom Bags and I am content with just the two. I don't feel driven to make any more. Maybe it's my age, or maybe it's the doldrums of summer, but I not driven to do much of anything other then dream about what flavor Ben and Jerry's I want to try next. Okay who am I trying to kid, I only get Cherry Garcia.


But then it could be this green monster that I'm working on. It's the lovely green Jaeger Trinity from SomebunnysLove. It's just a scarf, with the Vine Lace pattern and garter stitch edge. I love the yarn and its silky smell. The lace is a one row repeat, but I have had to frog it back so many times. I'm afraid I have developed a psychological syndrome that prevents me from knitting lace. It started with the black Zephyr and was compounded by knitting in dim light at Mocha Java with not pointy enough needles. Could it be the darn floaters or yikes! Is it a cataract? See? I'm on the verge... I'm going to finish this scarf if it kills me! Then on to Cherry IF I can decide on a yarn.


I am posting this picture of my brown orchids in honor of Project Spectrum neutral month as the he Quivit cries out for lace, so I'm not sure it will happen this month.
Why does blogger flip my picture? Please rotate your head left 90 degrees.

It just dawned on me that I'm on vacation most of September. No wonder I can't get going on much!

Wyvern in Lemongrass

Pattern: Wyvern by Marnie Maclean
Yarn: Socks that Rock, lemongrass, medium weight on size 1s
Technique: two, toe up, magic loop, finished on 5 Knit Picks DPs.
Comment: The back and sole are 2x2 rib which snugs up the sock. I think size two needles would have worked better for me. The socks fit but I have to work a bit to get them around the heel. The yarn is great.


Pattern: Hammered Wire Earrings, by Steve James. Online project from Beadstyle
Materials: sterling silver and Swarovski crystals.
Comments: I love hammering wire and I got to use my fused rings to attach all the dangles. Fusing involes a creme brulee torch and "pure" silver wire. Pure silver will fuse without requiring "pickling" and solder, which sounds way too dangerous to me.(Pot made by my Uncle Victor)

So now what? Do I work on Rogue? I can't decide on a pattern to use my Quivit with for Neutral Project Spectrum. I'm on a yarn diet but have a lot of cotton yarn I am thinking about dyeing. My second Fat bottom bag is drying. Time to dig through the stash to see if anything grabs me, or sit in the closet and scan the books and mags for inspiration, or hey, go outside, cuz its one of those "lucky live Hawaii" kind of days, and of course there is always housecleaning to do, ho hum or studying for next years recertification exam. I am soo not into that!

Pay It Forward

The mail guy came to the door with a nice surprise from Kimberly . Incuded were some cute happy penquins and a great card explaining the whole Pay It Forward movement started by Mama-E

There were also two skeins of Jaeger Trinity in a light green, and some cute cards and magnet proclaiming "Love Makes the World Go Round".


Thank you Kimberly for picking me:) You made my day!

Now the challenge is on for me to Pay It Forward.

Fetching Klaralund

Here is Klaralund . It was a fun knit in Noro, color 244. It is too hot here to wear it. Truth is it's a bit snug on me. Perhaps I should have blocked it before sewing it together. That would definitely be more doable them me getting smaller, although I haven't totally given up that idea yet. Could happen!









Here also is Fetching in Cascade Heathers. I got this yarn for purple month, and was going to make a one skein wonder, but think these definitely were a better choice for that yarn. I have quite a bit left, too. It is a bit tricky to take a picture of both hands! This is a very cool pattern...the thumbs and picot cast-off, especially. The cable cast-on was tedious, imo, but mercifully short.



And, last but not least, here is the back side of Diamond Head today. It's a little tiny, but I liked the clouds.

Fat Bottom Bag, FO

Fat Bottom Bag from Stitch and Bitch, The Happy Hooker, by Debbie Stoller

Yarn: stash, Bernat Gloucester cotton
Handles: plastic bamboo look rings
Decor: silk ribbon flowers

This was a very fast project and I love how it turned out. When loaded up with my big fat wallet (fat with all those store cards, heh, not $$) it hangs down. Sarah from Aloha Knitters who got me obsessing on this bag mentioned that a lining would be a good thing as small objects and needles can fall through the crochet.


Hmm, I got me some blue Gloucester cotton left over too!

The Last Days of Purple

Project Spectrum purple month is almost over. There were no purple flowers in my yard, only periwinkle ones...Blue Daze, Agapanthus and some daisy-like weed. Periwinkle-a purplish blue, a type of snail and a type of flower, used medicinally for menstrual disorders. I never knit my pinkish-purple yarns, Cascade Pastaza and Heathers. I blame the heat and being wooed by Noro and Socks that Rock., not to mention the wander to the dark side of hooking.

I managed a few earrings and a couple of bracelets in the air conditioning of my friends home. Nothing fancy, just trying to use up some stash, hopefully to sell at a craft fair in November.

On the knitting front, I am in the final garter rows of Klaralund. Wyvern socks are approaching the heel turn, and Rogue is resting.

More WIP

Fat Bottom Bag using stash Cotton. The band is white white and the bag, off-white. Not sure if I'll leave it as is or overdye the whole thing. Most likely it will remain as is and I'll sew in the handles.
Wyvern in STR medium weight lemongrass, magic-loop two at once toe up. This project has varied from 5 needles, two circulars and one circular. I'm thinking I should move up to a slight larger needle then the ones as this is turning out to be a very warm, thick sock.


For some reason I have been obsessing on making a Rosary, and lo and behold a woman I know wants one. I was going to do moss agates but didn't have enough beads so settled for aventurine and chrysopase. Turns out green is her favorite color. I have to find a center medallion but hooked it together with a wire heart for now. Hope I have all the parts right.

One FO, One WIP

Cameron's Hat
Pattern by Sarah Peasley.
After finding two knots in the first 2 inches of knitting, there were no more knots. I knit the band up instead of sewing it up at the end, left off the i-cord top knot, and it seemed to work out just fine. Lana Grossa Cool Wool Big on size 6 needles worked out perfect for the hat. It is very cushy, and superwash. I used about 1.25 balls of black and a fractions of the rust. I haven't washed it yet.


Klaralund in Noro Silk Garden color 244 progress-two backs done and 13 inches of sleeves (on the left). As always, the color changes are surprises! I'm not sure how long to make the sleeves.

Rogue is in a holding patten. Just too hot here to get inspired.
I'm still trying to figure out what pattern to use for my medium weight STR Lemongrass.

At the Aloha Knitter's the other night Sarah was crocheting a purse and also had another one she was using that was too cute. I don't know if she has picture of her's up anywhere, but I found this one: Fat-Bottom Bag from Debbie Stoller's Happy Hooker. Makes me want to whip out a crochet hook!

Blended Sky

This morning sky had these blended colors that reminded me of the way Noro Silk Garden blends into the next color, unless there is knot. My Klaralund torso pieces are done (sorry no pictures yet) and I cast two sleeves on and have almost knit one skein each. I started with the same colors and then one skein had a knot and the abrupt color change is a straight line. Somehow it works. (BTW, the view out my patio faces west)

I also cast on Cameron's Hat in my closeout Lana Grossa Cool Wool Big. I cast on 110 stitches and knit along, finding the yarn very soft. When it got to the part about placing markers, lo and behold I discovered 110 does not divide by 4 equally. Hah! Read the directions wrong. Needed 112. Sigh. Luckily I only knit a 14 rows. In those 14 rows I found two knots already! No wonder it was on closeout.

My goal is to have several projects going at once. I just find it's hard not to have favorites and the other lanquish and I suspect Wildefoote socks are destined to be frogged. No sense fighting my true nature. I'm a serial knitter, what can I say!

Bead It! Had one of their very frequent Trunk Shows. I went for eye pins, somehow having become obsessed with making a rosary. Of course they had no eye pins only head pins, so I'll have to make my own, sigh, but I managed to find some cute toggles , beadcaps and dangles.

Watermelon Socks

Watermelon socks
Dublin Bay Pattern , on 64 stitches

I just have ends to weave in then they are done. A really nice simple pattern. The Sunshine yarn is very substantial and cuddly. I love the colors and the random patterning.

Sunday, Sweet Sunday

One Skein Wonder in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran dusty pink. Actually a two skein wonder. Very wonderful nice soft yarn. The sizing on this pattern is tricky. I made the smallest size for my niece, but well, I had to move it up 3 sizes and it's still pretty tiny. I'm counting on the stretchability. I think I'll make a few more of these babies. They really fill that immediate gratification need.

I talked my self out of going out shopping for more things I don't need. (I really want a George Foreman Grill since I heard it can go in the dishwasher!) Okay well I confess, I shopped on line for some Berocco Chincilla, closing out at Kyarns to make a bunny and a bear. And oh well, I added on a couple skeins of the Lana Grossa Cool Wool always aspiring to make a hat that an actual boy/man will wear.
But other then that I had a productive day in the jewelry-making department.


A little late, there are some Stars and Stripes stitch markers, some earrings and bracelet from the ruby beads a friend gave me, and a bunch of purple bracelets, stash-busting and to celebrate The Fabulous and Inspiring Miz Lolly's Project Spectrum Purple Month
Alas the purple did not scan well.

I frogged my Watermelon Dublin Bay sock and have turned the heel on the redo on 60 stitches instead of 72. The colors are lined up in a whole new way with some very interesting pooling. I'll take a picture when more of it is done.