Spinalcat's Crafty Adventures

Yum Yum Through Screen , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . She was inside being cute when I was outside taking pictures.

From the Royale Hare booth at Stitches West (right across from Margit's Fiber Fiend booth). I decided to buy only fiber at Stitches and limited myself to preparations (or fibers) I haven't used before. It turns out that most fibers I haven't used before are too expensive. :) So here's a new prep- silk hankies.  2 oz "February in Tacoma" batt from the Tactile booth.  53% Alpaca, 25% Merino/Bamboo, 11% BFL, 3% Tussah silk, 3% yak down, 3% silk noil, and 2% angora. Not sure how much the minor components actually cont ribute, but it is super  fluffy and soft. I was happy to find batts, as I aim to learn woolen spinning. Crosspatch Creations batts from  Carolina Homespun .  Wool blend + various silk and silk noil. These are "Pastel Parfait" in the Stone Soup collection- one of a kind blends of her leftovers from other color runs.  So pretty!  I did notice a little bit of vegetable matter after I got it home and opened it up.  I'd really prefer the

Fiber Fiend Merino/Bamboo Roving Singles , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . Merino/bamboo blend from Fiber Fiend, colorway Mars. Picked this up at the Fiber Fiend trunk show at Purlescence a while back, but didn't feel the urge to spin until after Stitches. I love, love, love spinning this!! I already knew I was a sucker for merino/silk blends, but merino/bamboo is just as wonderful. I finally figured out how to set up my (double drive) wheel as Irish tension/German tension/ bobbin led/whatever to get the highest available ratio. Will probably do chained plying. Fiber Fiend is my fellow BobaKnitter Margit.  I haven't been able to make the meetings lately (volunteer stuff) but I'll be back someday!  She hooked me up with a vendor badge at Stitches and I stamped Ravelry passports at her booth for a couple of hours last Friday.

Curved Shawl WIP: Border , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . Finally!! I like the diamond border a lot so far. It's a relief to get to a chart that's only patterned on one side.

Lady Eleanor Finished! , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . More details later. I've got a cold (thanks to Bryan). Well, after sick/friends in town/Stitches/migraine/mysterious mild headaches I'm back to blogging! Ravelry details on Lady Eleanor  here . Lady Eleanor Stole from Scarf Style, 9 skeins Noro Silk Garden (color 205), size 8US needle.  I just kept knitting until I ran out of yarn (allowing about 60% of a skein for fringe). The original called for bulky yarn and size 10.5 needles, but with aggressive blocking I got the stated measurements.  The fringe isn't as scary as it looks, and if you mess up you can untie and redo it.

Knit on the bias with an eyelet border, this mid-length scarf can be worn in multiple stylish ways. I was looking for something classy but a little rustic & funky for a small skein of handspun yarn. I was well into knitting this scarf wh en, thanks to Cecil B. Demented , I realized how the eyelet border reminded me of perforations on movie film. Ravelry details here Finished Measurements 3.5" wide, 42" long Materials 84 yards handspun merino (on the light side of worsted) Size 7 US needles (4.5mm) Crochet hook (I happened to use a K, but H is more commonly used for worsted yarn) Tapestry needle Gauge 10 sts per 2", 14 rows per 2" Exact gauge is not important, so feel free to experiment with different yarn weights and needles. Pattern CO 19 sts using long tail method. (WS): K2, P to last 3 sts, K3 (RS): K2tog, YO, K2tog, [YO, K2tog] to last st, YO, K1 Scarf body- Row 1 (WS): K2, P to last 3 sts, K3 Row 2 (RS): K2tog, YO, K2tog, K to last st, YO, K1

Lady Eleanor WIP , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . I've been knitting quite a bit, though I haven't been posting much of it lately. I tried to wait for a break in the rain to do some photography, but I ended up giving up and just using fill-in flash. Plus I've been really busy. Yay busy! I'm well into the 4th skein of Silk Garden for my Lady Eleanor. Entrelac is really addictive. I'm glad I taught myself to knit backwards in preparation for Lizard Ridge. It's almost essential in order to do this project without going crazy.  I'm also close to being done with the body of the Curved Shawl, and finished swatching for handspun socks.  My felted Siamese cat has been reknit as a blue point, felted, and stuffed. The hard part for me is cutting out the facial features in felt and sewing them on. There's almost no way mine will be as cute as the pattern picture (though mine will have authentically blue eyes.)  The pattern for the handspun scarf

Bertie , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . For those of you that don't follow my flickr page, our friend Shyam's adoption application was approved and Bertie and Spot moved in with him a week ago! Here's Bertie with one of his favorite toys, a Baja Fresh bag. The kittens are so adorable and so horrible! Bertie chews on shoes, Spot growls if you try to take his toys away, and Bertie loves to jump on Spot and start a fight.