I tried to resist this roving. I've got the Lorna's Laces roving pre-drafted and halfway spun up and I kind of feel like I should finish it before starting on another spinning project...but...the colors in this roving are irresistible. So, what the heck. I'm going to predraft for the sheer fibery enjoyment of it!

You can see in the picture where I started pre-drafting the roving a bit (on the left). This was done about 20 seconds after I pulled it out of the box and when I should have been packing to leave on my trip. The delivery included two rovings. This one has a wider variety of colors in it. The other has more green in it, but we'll save that picture for another day.

(this roving is from the ebay seller dudleyspinner)

Booksquare

I started to put together a list of blogs where people post book reviews. Please leave me a comment if you have a blog that you would like to recommend.

The Happy Booker

GirlReaction - Readin'

BW & Read All Over

Bookslut

Tomestones

The yarn above is spun from the roving below. The roving is wool/mohair from Persimmon Tree Farm. I had about 3.6 ounces, from which I spun 190 yards of singles. There were a couple of dramatic color transitions, so I decided to make a two-ply. The final skein is 95 yards of a nice worsted/aran weight yarn. The colors are rich and well dispersed throughout the skein. A close-up picture of the yarn.

I used Leigh's microwave drying technique! It was kind of fun to "cook" yarn in the microwave.

And some answers about the Shedir hat knit with alpaca yarn:

1. Yes, I added a few extra rows of ribbing. The cuff folds back and covers some of the pattern (the transition between ribbing in pattern makes a natural fold line). One of the reasons that I have to fold it up is that (of course) it's knit a bit more loosely than specified in the pattern. So, the hat is rather large - but comfy large, not fall in my eyes large.

2. There was a question from Ann about the lack of elasticity in alpaca yarn. This is the first thing that I've completed with alpaca yarn, so it remains to be seen how the hat will hold it's shape over time and during use. The material is very stretchy, but the yarn itself was not very elastic - I think that was one reason why the stitches held their distorted shapes.

3. Mary Beth - I think the wool/cotton would make a really nice version of this hat. I was considering it myself. I think I bought some for a "Miss Bea" sweater that I may never make - perhaps it will find a home in one of these hats!

Thanks for all of the compliments! Again, my compliments to Jenna. It's a great pattern.

Diana has posted more than once about the guy who signs all kinds of crazy things in place of his signature on credit card receipts. That link led me to another funny "prank" where this guy decides to taste test "all-natural" products. The story made me laugh.

A mingling of threads - Reads

Brenda Reads

The Shedir Hat from the Knitty Fall 04 Surprise supplement.

If you've knit Rogue or this hat, then you know that Jenna is a pattern designer extraordinnaire. The chart and instructions for this hat are flawless.

The yarn is Frog Tree Alpaca. Very soft but not very springy. I hope it snows at least one more time so that I can wear it!

Yes, Lisa, they are are traveling stitches - my favorite!

Here's a sneak peek at my finished Shedir hat. It's knit in creamy alpaca and is very comfy. The yarn doesn't knit up with the pretty stitch definition that I would have gotten with Calmer, but the overall effect is kind of fuzzy and nice.

I'll post a full-size picture later...

Attention Crock-Pot Shoppers
Tired of dyeing in one of those little 5-quart crock pots? Pure chance had someone leave a Kohl's sale flyer on our table at lunch yesterday. I noticed that this Rival 18-quart roaster is on sale today for $30. I've been planning on buying this roaster. Looks like today is the day!

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

This book was highly recommended and so I've moved on to it in place of The Known World. I can't wait to get started on it!

Unabridged recorded book version from audible.com.

I was going to post a picture of Ellie with a big, ol' frozen beef rib in her mouth, but yesterday's post was probably enough to keep everyone's imagination busy for a while (oh, maybe it was only Sandy who was lucky enough to hear the story about the head!). Ellie did look very cute and serious about the delicious bone that she enjoyed this evening but the batteries in my camera were dead and I was unable to capture the moment.

The last time that I spun Persimmon Tree roving, I over-manipulated it and ended up with two very large and uninspired looking gray skeins of yarn. I'm trying to use a very light touch with this roving - hoping to keep the colors more distinct and interesting. What I did was pre-draft the roving to the point where there is almost no drafting to do during the spinning process. I'm mostly just adding twist. So far, so good!

The Known World by Edward P. Jones

Unabridged book-on-tape.

I'm having trouble with this book. It's not keeping my attention. This may be one of those books that is much better being read on paper. There are so many characters and the story leaps between them so quickly and intermittently that I'm not really getting it through the book-on-tape version.

Not sure if I'll even finish it...

My Sister's Keeper by Jody Picoult

Like most people I had a similar reaction to the book's ending. Kind of wraps everything up a bit too neatly. And after there was so much development of the story throughout the rest of the book.

I did like the book. My only other complaint would be that the kids seemed a bit too adult for their age. Not in the sense of their maturity - since it would be logical that after all their family has been through, they would show more maturity. But Anna made references to things like mixed drinks and other topics that didn't seem realistic for a young teenager.

An Unpardonable Crime by Andrew Taylor

Listened to the book on tape. A very good mystery.

Lord John and the Private Manner by Diana Gabaldon

Definitely better than some of her other books. If not just because of the abbreviated length. I gave up on the last Claire and Jamie novel (on tape) because it just kept going on and on and on...

This one was fun. I've listened to three books recently that have all been set in the late 1700s to early 1800s. This one was probably my favorite of the three. Though they were all pretty good. (You can see why I don't make my living as a book reviewer!)

The Broker by John Grisham

listened to book on tape. Typical John Grisham - the story keeps you going.

No knitting today. This entry is about dogs and raw meat, so you may want to skip the next couple of paragraphs.

I've started to move my dogs over to a raw diet. They've been eating really good dog food up until now, but the more I read about raw feeding, the more sense it seems to make.

There are some people who are extremely militant about the whole raw feeding trend. They believe that the dog food industry is trying to kill our dogs and make veterinarians rich. I can do without that part of the raw crowd - I'm just trying to keep my dogs healthy and happy.

And happy they are. You should see Katy with a raw chicken wing in her mouth - don't blink - it's usually gone in a flash after a few healthy crunches.

I've been thinking about this for awhile, and may have not made the switch except that I know a real live person who feeds her dogs raw. She has two beautiful, healthy dogs (here's the older one) - so she gave me the confidence to move forward with the switchover. The book, Raw Dog Food, was also helpful in illustrating that it doesn't have to be time-consuming to prepare.

They still get supplemental kibble. I feed Katy Wellness in the green bag mixed in with a little bit of Innova Evo and Ellie has been eating California Naturals Puppy. Both also work well as training treats. Though diced canadian bacon is much preferred!

If you've made it this far, here is the payoff. Some fiber that I'm spinning up. I'm about halfway through the whole batch. It's mohair from Persimmon Tree Farm - picked up at one of the fiber shows that I attended in the last year or so.

I'm also knitting the Shedir hat from the special knitty.com breast cancer supplement. The yarn that I'm using is Frog Tree Alpaca. I'm finding that while I love alpaca's softness, I'm not thrilled with it's lack of elasticity. Plus little furry pieces of fuzz escape from the yarn and make me sneeze. achoo.

From the twinkletoes yarn:

To the Conwy Sock:

Yarn from Over the Rainbow Yarns on ebay.
Pattern is Conwy Socks from Nancy Bush, Knitting on the Road.
Knit for the Sockapalooza knitalong and trade!

My friend Reda (who doesn't have a blog) just finished two felted purse projects. I don't have anything interesting in the knitting department, so I'm extremely pleased that she has some wonderful projects to share.

A neat french market bag.

And one of the cover purses from the book Pursenalities. The buttons are missing because she will be making her own custom glass buttons to match the purse. (cool!)

note: Reda knits, crochets, makes hand-made glass beads, collects vintage sewing machines...until she gets her own site up and running, I'm lucky to be able to share some of her projects.

Also - last weekend I had the pleasure of spending a fibery afternoon and evening with the adorable Rachel. She just started spinning on a drop spindle and quickly learned how to use the wheel as well. She spun up some beautiful, slubby green and blue yarn - and from what I hear she's got more spinning project progress to report. Now I'm trying to learn how to spin like she does!