Hi!

I know I've been gone wayyy too long. I've been spinning, knitting, crocheting and learning about becoming a speech-pathologist. I'm SO busy its hard to find time to update, I'm hoping to show off what I've been spinning very soon as I'm starting to get better at it and less ashamed of my finished products :)

This is what I'm getting ready to dive into. It is 4 pounds of awesome from the Sheep Shed Studio in Encampment, Wyoming.

I have never really done serious colorwork on a sweater. I saw this pattern hanging up at hobby lobby from Bernat Studio. It was cute. I needed it.  So I grabbed some super soft cotton (I love this cotton! is the brand) and got to work. I had also never made a sweater before. OR altered a pattern before.

As you may be assuming...this was quite a conquest for me. Sweater + colorwork + scaling 4T pattern down to newborn size=

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Sorry for the shoddy photo. My camera is on the fritz from being left in the rain last summer. Its never been the same :sigh:  I'm hoping that hat season will provide me with a new one!

I also want to show you guys my first ad purchase! I purchased ad space on this blog http://www.froggyandthemouse.com/  and I think it looks absolutely great!  My good friend over at Ruby Dorcas Designs did the work for me. She's great. Super great. She does my son's birthday invites every year and she did the graphics package for my etsy shop.

Next on my agenda is finishing my ripple scrapghan and perhaps starting a shawl for this fall. (shawl for fall....that rhymes!)

I'll be out of commission for a bit July 1-10th ish as we'll be camping in beautiful Wyoming. I am SO craving that mountain air!

I am a Harry Potter fanatic.



I made this and will be taking it with me to the midnight showing of Harry Potter!
I would love to make more http://www.etsy.com/listing/76079395/golden-snitch-amigurumi

I am also going to be stocked up on gear from my good friend at Quirk Shop

Mainly this:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/74915427/the-weird-sisters-tee-love-for-tonks

I'm so excited and yet sad that it is all going to be over soon.

Sorry I've been spacey lately--my little guy broke his arm yesterday and I've been applying for day jobs and getting ready for our big move next month (that is the move that will give me enough room for a spinning wheel!). Writing cover letters takes a lot of time. Time that I'd rather spend knitting/crocheting. Hope you're all having a great summer!  Vacay for me in a couple of weeks!

I finally FINALLY finished these socks this weekend.

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The yarn is serenity sock weight yarn--I got it at Hobby Lobby and this colorway was on sale. Being a child who loves all things vintage--this colorway of gold, olive green and rust orange was right up my alley.

The pattern is easy to do if you are a learning knitter such as myself and I highly recommend it if you're still waiting to get your feet wet in knitting. (no pun intended)

I had made some simple socks before, but I used worsted weight yarn and it was a very simple pattern so the lace weight sock yarn was a challenge for me but well worth it. These socks will actually fit in my shoes!

Now it just needs to stop being 96 degrees outside....

Here is the link to the free pattern on ravelry. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/november-socks

 If you are not on ravelry.com, I highly recommend it if you are a fiber artist :) Its a website just for us!

What are you all doing for the summer? Big trips?  Projects?

We have a lot going on this summer. Over the 4th of July we are going up to see my inlaws in historic Fort Laramie

    

Although you may have seen it like this:



At the fort, we walk around and look at all the historic re-enacters, the Calvary, they cook bread in this giant stone oven that you can taste and you can go to the bar to get old timey drinks like Sarsaparilla and Root Beer and stick candy.

On the fourth, they have games for kids including a greased pole climb (hilarious to watch), a potato sack race for all ages (also hilarious), and a penny find where they dump a bunch of pennies on the ground and all the little kids run around like hooligans looking for pennies. Its a good time. The first time I went three or so years ago, I was majorly pregnant with my son (like 37 weeks) and it was HOT.



Then last two years it has been COLD! (yes we were roasting marshmallows on the 4th of July)

And stormy!



This year we are extending our stay and are going to bop up to Yellowstone National Park for some camping.  I have my sights set on a campground near Mammoth in Yellowstone:



Isn't it beautiful?  So needless to say, I will be in the car a lot. It is about 10 hours to the inlaws, and then maybe another 6-8 hours to Yellowstone.  I will be doing a lot of knitting and crocheting. I am going to start with a scrapghan for my new niece or nephew coming at the very beginning of August. If I get that done... I have some other things in mind that I will share in a new post :)

The scrapghan I'm thinking of doing is a ripple afghan like this http://crochetme.com/media/p/89937.aspx



But I will rotate offwhite with other colors in my stash. It is the time of year that I need to stash bust in preparation for my busy season this fall!

Sooo what are your plans for the summer?

So here at KU its finals week. Yay......um not. I have been a graduate student for three years and am finally graduating with my master's degree. Now, that is an accomplishment and I'm thrilled, BUT as a graduate student, finals week usually consists of turning in papers and projects that you've been working on the whole semester. Not one big exam that determines your whole semester's performance.

This semester, however, I started taking classes in Speech-Language and Hearing so I can pursue a second master's and a career in that field. All the courses are undergraduate courses and EVERY class has a final. I have FOUR finals. I haven't taken four finals in probably...ohhh....hmmm maybe 5 years when I was a sophomore in undergrad!

So with that said, wish me luck and then get ready for some super awesome new projects! I may even post some cooking stuff and some yarn reviews and stuff. I have lots of plans for the summer :) But first! Tackling exams.

I decided to try my hand at dyeing wool roving for spinning. You can really come up with endless color combinations when you're dyeing and spinning your own yarn. My husband chose the colors for this go round. Half the roving is purple and orange and it will be plied with yellow. I used Kool-aid to dye the yarn because it works, the color is bright and it is safe to have in the house around my son and I can use the same pots that I use for cooking.

Here we go, lots of pics!

So this was the final product, the splotches are unexpected, but appreciated. I call it In the Koi Pond

The first thing I had to set up was my music. I chose Ben Folds for this particular project








For my second round, I decided to tie the yarn off. so it wasn't as hard to remove from the pot. It turned out much better.

• Dye smaller amounts at a time
• I want to try dyeing premade yarn, because I'm not sure how well the purple and yellow will hold once they are spun
• Different colors!
• Buy more kool-aid. I thought I was being generous, but apparently not!  Use lots and lots and turn the yarn lots.
• I want to try this in the crockpot as well. 
• Basically, I want to do more and more and more! :)

Even if you don't knit or crochet, I recommend giving this a shot! There are great tutorials out there and its just fun to mess with! You could even dye your own yarn and I will knit something out of it for you :)