Ollie's Skater Sweater

So, I'm supposed to find out about the job today.  We'll see.  I had a second interview yesterday.

And I was going to show this baby sweater I made.  I have been crap at photographing finished projects lately.  I've actually been cranking out lots of fun stuff, but not taking pictures.

John's great-niece had a baby about two weeks before Thanksgiving.  He is absolutely darling and his name is Oliver (which i love).  Anyway, she is young (17) and the baby daddy is a skater, so I thought the typical baby sweater I would make might be too cutesy.  Instead, I grabbed some schematics and designed him this little guy.





I had to put the buttons on in the car and weave in ends. I had blocked the evening before and it was barely even dry. Didn't it turn out cute? They actually loved it and the Zach (baby daddy) thanked me like three times. Kinda makes you think they might be ok even if Ollie wasn't planned.



Been dying and washing around here. Maybe I'll take pics soon (but don't hold your breath or anything).

I've Always Thought Cookie Was Magic

Because I have a second interview Monday morning!  And, apparently they are down to two candidates.

One interesting thing that happens to me is that every time I think I'm going to get a job offer, the job I have starts going swimmingly.  Until I have an option, it sucks.  It's a little bit like the haircut appointment phenomenon.  You know the one:  you schedule a haircut and day of the appointment, you wake up and your hair is perfect.  Then comes the big question, cancel?  Or keep the appointment?  And we all know what your hair looks like the next day if you decide to cancel.

It does make it hard to make decisions though.

Hey guess what I did yesterday!

I went to visit a sheeplady.  I bought three BEAUTIFUL (but small to those who think my stash is way too large) fleeces.  In fact one is already washed.  She had lots more.

And, when I was driving to work yesterday, this is what I saw.



It's tough to be pissed off about driving to work when you get to do it under that.  But I managed.

But I just got used to 2011!!

So I've been knitting a ton lately, but not taking pictures. Maybe I'm too wrapped up in my life to blog anymore? If only I could decide.

I finished that huge spinning project I was working on!




Sort of. After the 18th bobbin of singles (and that's not an exaggeration like bajillionth), I weighed what was left and it was just a teeny bit more than 4 ounces. Since I have lots of stuff in my stash that was bought purely to blend with wool, I figured I'd save that four ounce batch. You'll see them later.

Anyway, then I plied those 18 bobbins of singles into a nice 4-ply. Something like 2349 yards or something. Just today, finally washed and thwacked (finished plying 10 days ago).




It actually looks a little better now that it's washed and all, but whatever.







I also had a job interview for a position I really wanted. They took my references and acted like it was gonna be me. They haven't called any of my references yet (one week today) and I haven't heard, so I guess it's a no-go. Should I be disappointed? I can't quite muster up disappointment. Maybe tomorrow!

Tomorrow is THE BIG DAY!!!

Ah yes, the opening of firearm season here in Michigan. I married a deer hunter (not like the one in the movie). He grew up hunting with his uncles, Dad and brothers and it really is a part of him. I know when he goes, he feels like he's connected to all those people and happy years at deer camp. And now, he's passing it along and taking my son and my third bonus son. Do I think it's barbaric to shoot and eat an animal? I guess kinda, but then again. I'm not all that sure that it's more barbaric than what we do to domestic animals that we eat. Am I gonna give you all the ecological arguments which actually have a lot of validity in our area of the country? Nope. BUT, would I kill an animal if it was really necessary to feed my family? Hell yea! Anywho, this was all a convoluted prologue to TRIGGER MITTENS Now these are designed so you don't have to remove your mittens to shoot a deer, but you mostly still get the warmth of a mitten. (You know, like where your fingers can all huddle together and share body heat in a non-Broke Back Mountain style). They are made from handspun jacob lamb yarn and he says they're perfect. That's what counts.

Turns out Perception is NOT Reality (at least not for me)

Don't know why I don't post more often. I've been doing a ton of stuff. I'm working on spinning some Shetland right now. I took the photo below on 11/3. .



So far, I've spun 7 bobbins of singles. I showed John the bag and he was like "wow, you've spun a ton already!" meanwhile I was thinking, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh this bag is growing right in front of my eyes!"


This actually explains a TON about our relationship and why it was a good idea for me to marry someone who is actually grounded in reality. Draw your own conclusions.

I also washed a ton of fleece and dyed a batch of CVM. It turned out PERFECT. It used to be this:

but OMG I am so tired of spinning and knitting with gray! That was just NOT going to work for me, so I got out the big galvanized tub I wash and dye fleece in, mixed up a big batch of blue/black/red dyed (mostly blue of course)

and ended up with this:

(those little white spots are just water droplets reflecting flash. It's exactly what I was going for and the roving is still nice and fluffy. Must finish the tan Shetland so I can spin it!

It's like Personality Doppelganger

Every single time I read this blog, I think, "holy crap! that is so me and St. John." I have to allow that her cockamamie schemes have slightly more "cock" in them, but STILL. Well, and I guess it is different that every once in awhile, St. John will actually allow that some of my ideas are actually good and they WORK (which is to him is way more important since he is an engineer and they mostly care about how to make things work).

I wish she was my neighbor.

LOVE

Hey!

Who missed St. John?



This sweater is not quite complete, but doesn't it look nice on him? I still have to put in the zipper and block, but it's almost done!

I got the lamb fleece from here: Sweetgrass Farms

The shepherdess is a super fantastic lady I met at the Michigan Fibre Fest a few years ago when I bought my very first fleece. I liked it so much, I emailed her last year and asked her to pick out two lamb fleeces, and a yearling ewe. Her fleeces are uncoated, and absolutely wonderful to work with. If you ever want a jacob fleece to spin, I can't recommend her highly enough.

Anywho, it's been washed, carded, blended to try to get the color variation as even as possible while still maintaining my normal level of lazy. (that means no more than four times through the carder). Then it was spun into a sport weight three ply. The pattern is a plain old seamless raglan (using EZ's seamless method).

The second picture makes him look totally drunk. I love it. He's still cute though.



I know I'm boring today, but still I thought some of you might be missing The Boss. Trying to get more regular on blogging again. Promise I'll make more of an effort.