Sad and lonely....

Sad and lonely. One sad and lonely cupcake. Zoe has been asking to make cupcakes every time she spies the mixes in the pantry (I like mixes, BTW...I think they are a great alternative). We made 48 or so mini-cupcakes early on Sunday. I then laid out an array of crap to put on said cupcakes: smarties, sprinkles, coconut, frostings, etc. - and she got busy.

This one, by far, is my favorite.

ON THE NEEDLES: Baby Daddy has Cold Feet and Hanami
ON THE iPOD: KnitPicks podcast
ON THE BOOKSHELF: The Graveyard Book by Gaiman
ON THE TABLE: Crockpot Turkey Breast for the family

Rainbow Tricorn

I purchased an amazing fiber set from Sugarbee of Politically Incorrect Fibers last year. The batts were absolutely breathtaking - a wide rainbow of color in a wool mix with some Angelina tossed in for good measure.

I prepped the fiber into thin strips of color and spun the prepped fiber in random order. Some barberpoling occurred but I really like this effect in these singles.

Because I was/am a fairly new spinner (one year under my belt), I still have somewhat of a disconnect going. I see the batts and I can visualize the end product yarn I want but I have not mastered the steps the flowchart of steps to get from "batt" to "my vision."

I plied the first singles and created a yarn - but I was not crazy about it. I didn't like the barberpole effect in the plied yarn, although I loved it in the singles. To be honest, I was disappointed. It was the first tangible reckoning that I lacked some serious knowledge.

I didn't love the yarn but still wanted to knit SOMETHING with it. I made it and I wanted to use it. I remembered a hat pattern that I have wanted to use forever (from an old book for Cascade 220 book which is out of print - sorry, guys!). The handspun was the perfect yarn for the hat.

As you can tell, my daughter looks awesome in it and the hat is not bad either (although she complains about it being itchy which we don't take seriously - she complains a lot about odd things....)



Moving back to the singles, though...

A lovely friend, MamaKnitter, taught us how to Navajo ply. I plied up some of the singles I had left and created a lovely yarn (albeit a bit overspun) but still...it was more of my vision that the plied singles.

Here are examples of the yarns:

(plied)

(Navajo plied)

(singles)

I am considering using these three in some sort of project - scarf, something - which will show off the diffent end products and showcase them all.

ON THE NEEDLES: Betty Bangs Jaywalkers (made with more Sugarbee sock club yarn!) and Hanami
ON THE iPOD: Living La Vida Low Carb podcast
ON THE BOOKSHELF: Organize Your Corpses
ON THE TABLE: Wheaty Rolls for the family

Our friend Ric took this picture of Zoe a while back and it continues to be one of my favorite pictures of her. Ric really harnessed the strength of photography and captured her depth - almost a glimpse of who she will be as a grown-up. Somewhere, in this picture, I can see a bit of me in Zoe. (Finally.)

ON THE NEEDLES: Give a Hoot Mittens and Hanami
ON THE iPOD: Living La Vida Low Carb podcast
ON THE BOOKSHELF: Organize Your Corpses
ON THE TABLE: Kielbasa, applesauce and Crash Hot Potatoes