Teresa

"Fire your gun at that target again, maggot! You missed it by THAT MUCH!"

You can make granola without any nuts - just use seeds like pepitas (pumpkin seeds), sesame, and chia.

Gorgeous colors!!!

Finished yarn in shades of brown and cream, wound into a "cake"

Cake of yarn labeled. Sloppily.

Hit the finish line! #tourdefleece2025 project. 4.9 ounces, 140 grams, about 250 yards of sock weight yarn. 80% alpaca, 20% silk. Caked and ready for whenever I need more docks on my needles! I'm calling it "Affogato" after the Italian dessert coffee.

#handspun
#yarn

Plied singles of alpaca and silk mix fiber yarn in shades of brown and cream.

Newly plied yarn in shades of brown and cream being "skeined" on a small niddy noddy.

New yarn in shades of brown and cream washed to set the twist, drying on the back of a rocker on the porch.

Finished with my #tourdefleece2025 spin. Plied, skeined on my teeny tiny niddy noddy, washed to set the twists, and now drying. About 250 yards, and 4.7 ounces. I'll give it a day or so to dry, then wind it into a cake and make a final decision on what it is going to be used for.

#handspun
#yarn

Bodies (and especially brains) are weird.

We liked it, too! Neither of us have ever been impressed with Superman movies in the past, but we enjoyed this one.

Bobbin of hand spun alpaca and silk single in various shades of brown.

Week 2 update for #tourdefleece2025

I am about three-quarters of the way through spinning the second bobbin of single for the yarn, and hope to finish that by tomorrow. Then I need to ply, set, dry, and skein! Looking forward to seeing what it looks like finished.

Purple bobbing with 70 grams of sock-weight singles in shades of fancy coffee browns!

Half of the alpaca and silk batt spun up. Seventy grams of single waiting for the other half to join it for plying into sock yarn. Looks like a fancy coffee! Note: pre-drafting and extra care while spinning are a MUST because silk and alpaca draft quite differently.

#tourdefleece2025
#handspun

Several shades of brown alpaca roving, along with the silk roving they are being combined with.

Partially spun batt of multicolored alpaca and silk fiber on the drum carder.

Batt torn into strips and wound into mini-bumps for spinning.

Spinning progress so far on the EEW spinner bobbin.

#TourdeFleece2025 week one progress... Carded shades of brown alpaca roving together with some silk, tore batt into roving for spinning into sock yarn. Began spinning yesterday. My singles are a bit uneven as this is only the second time I've used my new spinner, but should even out in plying.

I love mine! Looking forward to seeing what you make with yours!

Multiple brown and tan shades of alpaca roving with some silk roving in the foreground.

Partially completed alpaca roving batt on the drum carder.

Completed batt in shades of tan and brown draped on the back of a dining chair.

Working on my #TourDeFleece project today. I'm carding five different shades of alpaca roving, along with about 20% silk, to make a more durable and lustrous sock yarn. Going to start spinning this tomorrow!

Swatch square in broken rib stitch that is the right size to be repurposed as a pocket on my future cardigan.

Rustic yarn from Chile swatched up in "broken rib" stitch. I made it the right size and shape for a cardigan pocket, so I wouldn't waste the yarn or the time.

#yarn
#handspun
#fiber

Double Mahoi banana flower!

Looking a bit rough after the winter, my Double Mahoi banana and its two offshoots are filling its large half-barrel pot.

One of my Double Mahoi bananas is blooming!!!! I've had it for four years, it's grown to fill it's half-barrel pot (and then some, it has two significant offshoots now) and is about 9 feet tall. I thought I saw a flag leaf today, and I was right!

#gardening
#greenhouse
#tropical
#banana

Four large balls of grey and brown tone rustic hand-spun wool.

Closeup of the brown wool.

Closeup of the grey wool.

Three and a half pounds of lovely, rustic, hand-spun, natural colored, bulky Chilean wool! All wound into balls and ready to use. Planning a rustic bulky cardigan and some slippers, and the rest will likely be made into something woven. I can't wait to knit this up!

#wool
#Chile
#handspun

Purple, blue and pink variegated simple sock with its mate still on the needles. Submission for purple week on #showmeyourknits.

#showmeyourknits purple week post! Still working on these, but I have one done. 🧶

#knitting
#socks

A very sad Travel Taco, realizing that our seat is over a wing and there will be no great views for us on this trip...

I have a Travel Taco, too! My niece made it for me. Here it is, sad that our airplane seat is over a wing. No pretty flight views for us, unfortunately...

Lots of gorgeous yarn there!

Powder minty blue chert.

Chert with one light polished face.

Just a little translucent. Not much

Interesting rock found while on a bike ride the other day... Powdery minty-blue chert. Unusual color for this type of rock!

#rockhounding
#rocks

It helps that I'm using sport-weight yarn! I like thicker socks, and it does work up a lot faster.

Three pairs of "three day socks" in green, purples, and grey that I now know take 8 hours per sock.

More information on my "three day socks." I timed the next pair I made and found it took me 8 hours per sock. Shorter socks could probably be done in 6, but I like cuffs. I knit English and "throw" so I'm not the fastest knitter. You may be a lot faster. 🧶

#showmeyourknits
#knitting
#socks

A finished pair of grey crew length socks in a soft sport weight alpaca yarn.

Grey Alpaca socks! While this picture shows them without the ends woven in, these are now actually finished, washed, and tucked away in my special sock drawer. They are SO soft and squishy - I love them a lot! 🧶

Posted for #showmeyourknits Grey Knits Week.

#knitting
#handknitting

Reposting for #showmeyourknits Grey Knits edition this week. I will also be posting something new after this - another pair of the simple cuffed socks I've been knitting.

V-neck cowl scarf, finished.

Cowl scarf with matching ear warmer head band.

I harnessed some of that "Oh my gawd, I am getting SO sick of this project!" energy and got 'er done tonight. V-neck cowl scarf has been completed. Second pic shows the set, ready for our next bike ride!

#knitting
#handknitting
#showmeyourknits

Original color of the skein lot - kind of a "meh" light pink.

New, much brighter skeins in colors of pink, gold, golden orange, peach, plum, and raspberry.

Finished over-dyeing these nine light pink skeins. I tried several new dyeing techniques to mix it up a bit. Bottom to top - hot tropical, speckles over light pink, shades of plum self-striping, black raspberry, and summer roses. Probably all destined for knitted socks. 🧶

#fiber
#knitting
#socks

Two skeins of sock yarn, one pale pink and the other a mix of purples in a self-striping pattern.

First attempt at over-dyeing a self-striping sport-weight sock yarn - the contrasting part came out a bit more "subtle" than I planned (used too much dye and it ran) but I think it will work. I'll know more when I knit it up. Original color skein for reference.🧶

#yarn
#fiberarts
#socks
#knitting

Three skeins of dyed sport weight wool. Two are over-dyed in spring colors (shades of violet, rose, and gold) and the original skein in pale pink is at the bottom of the pic.

Here are the finished skeins, with an original one thrown in for reference.

It's a great way to jazz up less interesting wool yarns!

Finished new colorway in shades of violet, rose, peach and gold!

Newly dyed yarn alongside the original light pink color.

Bought some rather insipid light pink yarn from someone's de-stashing project, with the intent of over-dyeing it in more vivid colors - in this case, shades of violet, rose, peach and gold. I have enough for up to three more projects! I may try a self-striping pattern next.

#fiber
#knitting

Visiting family, so there is a lot of sitting and chatting going on. My guess is I have been knitting 6-8 hours a day? I am not using a pattern per se as these are pretty simple socks... but I will post some info as soon as I am sure I have the details right.