Off the needles, wheel, and body

This has been a highly productive couple of weeks in terms of knitting & spinning! First, I'll post some knitting projects, since I haven't really done that.


I finally finished the Fetching Mitts and Scarf for Rita at work. They came out beautiful, and she loved them, but I had no motivation for this project after the first couple of weeks. The mitts were easy and fast, but the scarf was slow, slow, slow! It was mostly 4x2 ribbing with a little bit of cabling at the ends. Rita is 6 feet tall, so yeah...that was a LONG scarf, and ribbing is SLOW. Ahh well, it's done! And, I can do my little foray into selfish knitting for the rest of 2009. Yippee!!

I finished these cute and funky socks (Opal Yarn) finally. I have second sock syndrome in the worst way. I make one sock and feel like I'm done with the project. Then, I have to wait until I'm no longer bored with the pattern to start the second one. There was at least 6 months between the 1st and 2nd socks here. Oh well...they're cute and fun!

I wasn't able to really get a great picture of this scarf, but here it is anyway. This is a scarf I made back in January but just got around to blocking this week. It's long and fat with fat yarn, lots of fringe and was made with US Size 19 needles. I felt like I was playing with the big crayons when I knit using those needles. I love how long and big and squishy this scarf is, and I can't wait to wear it this coming winter for some cozy warmth. The yarn is from Tochay's Farm Fibers and Yarn Emporium, but I bought it at a yarn store in Indianapolis after falling madly in love with it. It's a hand-dyed, handspun, super bulky yarn. Normally, I wouldn't pay what I did for 1 skein of yarn to make a scarf, but I just couldn't pass it up. I'm already thinking of getting another skein of this yarn next time I'm in Indianapolis.

And on to what's off the wheel! I have been busy spinning the fibers up for my handspun shawl. These are all Funky Carolina fibers and they are either merino/silk or merino. They are lovely! The first picture shows all of the fibers together, and the next three are the skeins I've already spun. After all of the skeins are spun, I will take another picture of all of them together and post it prior to knitting.
And now onto what's off the body. I have been on a weight loss kick since February. From the start, I had just under 45 lbs. to lose. I am happy to report that this week I hit a new milestone. I have a very large cat named Moose. He weighs 15 lbs. And, I can now officially say that I've lost a Moose! Only 2 Mooses to go! :) When I phrase it like that, it doesn't seem like the goal is that far away. And, it took me about 10 weeks to do it. I seem to be hitting my stride with weight loss though in the last couple of weeks, so I'm hoping the second 2 Mooses go a little faster. Yay! :)

Ok, off to work on dinner and start on some new socks!!