Organization: a small step forward

Since we moved last April and I wound up with an entire room for myself, I've been trying to find the best way to organize my craft supplies.

It's been difficult because while I would love to have things in the perfect place, labeled, and in attractive containers, I'm paralyzed by my fear of putting something in the 'wrong' place. And what if I put it in the wrong place, and because it's in the wrong place I never find the 'right' place?

I know. Crazy.

So I have been living with things still in boxes. Not very inspiring. After watching hours of craft room tours on YouTube and browsing IKEA and office supply stores for ideas, I present my first bit of organization:





I put each of my knitting wips in it's own bag and tied a label on listing what the project is. It's a small step forward. Eventually I do want to sew matching project bags and find a better storage container for them. I look forward to the day when I can photograph my area to show you!

Halloween, take 2

I have been asked if I really was able to put a costume on my cat and how long he tolerated it for.

Well, the headband lasted all of 15 seconds (too bad, since that made him look awesome) but he really didn't seem to mind the jacket. Here are a few more photos of Reggie sitting in his favorite position on the stairs in it as proof:





And a short, badly lit video of him playing with it on:




Now, I know what you want to ask. And yes. I am totally going to knit him a sweater for the winter.

The Big Huge Finished Objects Post

So I finished a number of smaller projects in September, but got so far behind in writing about them that I finally gave up. I'm going to put photos and basic information on all of them here now so at least there will be some record of them.

Please feel free to ask questions if you'd like to know anything more about something. They can all be found on my Ravelry page as well.

Cabled Waves Scarf


my own design


Perdita Cuff Bracelet


from Knitty Summer '06


Bacteria!


Clockwise from top right: Salmonella, e.coli, Shigella
based on Bacteria!


Bead Soup Bracelet


from an Earth Faire kit



Hermione's Cable & Eyelet Hat


from this pattern; based on the hat Hermione wears in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Key Chain Sock Blocker

I bought this adorable little sock blocker keychain from The Loopy Ewe a few months ago, and just got around to knitting a little sock for it.




(I realize that I forgot to put anything in for scale - it's about 2.5 inches tall)

The yarn for this little sock was leftover from yarn I spun for my mom. (I still need to take some decent photos of her yarn.) I had some thin singles left on one of the bobbins and chain plyed it just to clear the bobbin for the Neapolitan yarn I wrote about yesterday. It turned out very soft and squishy, and looked a whole lot like sock yarn. I was very excited since while I've seen a lot of gorgeous handspun sock yarn, I didn't think I'd be capable of it for a long time. Maybe I will give it a try sooner.

I have been home sick from work for the last two afternoons. (I've gone in for the mornings since some work just had to get done.) I hate missing work; I haven't had to take sick time in over a year because I don't usually get sick. I am feeling pretty bad and am just hoping I don't have the pig flu. Ugh.

Finished Yarn: Neapolitan

I've been itching to do some spinning since I purchased the alpaca fiber last week. I have a growing stash of nice fiber, but haven't had the nerve to spin much of it for fear of 'ruining' it.

In my defense, it's not like knitting - if I mess up, I can't just un-spin it. (Would that be nips? Like tink?)

Anyway, my desire to make yarn took over and I got out some Neapolitan Blue Faced Leicester fiber from Spunky Eclectic. I tried spinning from the fold for the first time, in an attempt to get a little softer, loftier yarn than those I have previously spun.






It worked so well. Much easier than I anticipated, and it seemed to go quickly too. I ended up with around 114 yarns of semi bulky yarn from 4oz of fiber. I haven't measured the wraps per inch yet, but I'm guessing it's around 7 wpi.

I think I am going to make a cowl or short cabled scarf from it.

Alpacas

Last Sunday was one of those days where I had nothing to do, but the weather was nice and I felt like I should be out enjoying it. It was one of the few non-rainy days last week, and I was afraid it was going to be one of the last nice days of the season. (Although today is looking decent so far.)

My mom had found a little ad in the paper about an "Alpaca Extravaganza!" at my county fairgrounds. (Why the ad was in her paper when she lives in a different county and I didn't even hear about it... I'm not sure.) So we stopped by.

I just love their sweet little faces. And so soft!







There were some alpacas for sale there. Steve is lucky they didn't fit into the backseat of my car. Of course I had to get a little fiber: