happy spring

it seems that i totally missed the month of february. can't even use the usual excuse that it's a 'short'month given that it is leap year and there was an extra day. i even celebrated the 'pay-it-forward' concept of the day. what did it look like in fiber you ask?

i was a weaving maniac. amythefibergoddess decided that silk was missing from her fiber line-up. she acquired 10 skeins for us to play with. they dyed into stunning works of art and i wove 4 of them into scarves. it was a bit trickier than i'm used to. not much leeway for mishaps. i was able to calculate (and i use that term very loosely) it so the entire skein, all 400 yards, became a scarf.

i also jumped into the 'miss babs' weave-a-long. i have several skeins buried stored in the stash and i chose ~celebration~ in a lovely lace weight. i couldn't be happier with how it turned out and will brave the masses to hit her booth in may.

yes, another poncho. this was a birthday gift and the recipient was very specific about the design. purple and exactly like the first ones that i had done. the purple was easy, i had a bunch left over from a would-be sweater. i warped up the new kromski loom only to discover that i really needed to use a larger heddle. i pulled it off and it was draped over the living room chairs for several days. when i finally got past my mad, i discovered that there would probably not be enough to do the entire project. amythefibergoddess to the rescue. we tried overdying some of my yarn with poor success, so we used a skein of her corriedale farm yarn. it was genius! just enough difference in texture to add to the design and the color was spot-on. i had big plans to add knitted elements and fancy it all up.... but the birthday girl was firm. so it is just what she asked for.

amy also had some yarn that she had woven into a table runner and tossed the left overs my way. i was pretty darn sure that i wouldn't have enough, so i taught myself a new stitch. the leno.

i must admit it really came out well and looks great on the table. i've got another wrap on the loom and have finally gotten around to completing my spinning project. i was gifted with polwarth/silk roving in the stunning ~hemlock reserve colorway. it's spun, plied and washed. i have 330 yards of a dk weight yarn. i'm working on the complementary color for the noro-shawl.

i've also been helping a friend learn to knit. she has taken to it like a duck to water and wanted to knit a poncho. so..... we're doing it as a knit-a-long. side 1 is done and we completed the lace part of side 2 today. she is going out of town for spring break and wanted to get to the mindless part of the knitting. with the way she is going, i need to pick up my pace to be ready to put this baby together.

whew..... that's it for now.