No house, new yarn

We have yet to move in to a house. When this was all brought up to me I told my husband I didn't want to move to a new state and end up not having a house to move into right away. What do you know? I was right. Joy.

I did get a bunch of new stuff though. I got to go to a pretty decent sized yarn store here in town and blew quite a bit of money. My absolute favorite thing(s) out of it all so far is my Schacht hi-lo Spindle and a 10 ounce ball of merino roving. Yes I have a spindle and yes I have roving but I wanted something better. When I first got my spindle (the one I ordered offline) I knew it was different. It was a low whorl spindle but it was built oddly. It had a flat bottom with no shaft sticking out. No biggie since it was my first one. I thought it was heaven. Since using my Schacht though....oh boy! I am in heaven! This thing glides through the air like it was made of nothing. The basic balance of it beats my other one by leaps and bounds. The first one, I think I need a name for it, wobbled...the balance was off...something weighed more and it was centered. I couldn't figure it out but I made do. The Schacht has incredible balance. It's like an orgasm for my hands. :)

The roving I got to go with it is beautiful merino. Reds and blues and golds. Looking at the ball you'd think it would mainly turn out red but after spinning a bit of it the color is very much tweedy...it reminds me of my Salt Lake Donegal Tweed. The spindle holds about 1.1 ounces so I made up a two ply with a total weight of about 2.2 ounces. What a difference when you have good quality roving! My first stuff was hairy. I wasn't a fan of it. It looked like it had split ends after it was spun. Very unimpressed. This new stuff though is smooth and slick. I've already started knitting a bracelet with a design based off a sock pattern. This stuff is gorgeous! I'm pretty impressed with myself too. It was my first time actually "washing" it to neutralize the twist in it. Oddly enough I had my Spinning the Old Way book in my knitting bag. So last night I pulled it out after I finished plying and read through it all, got it washed up, and hung to dry. There is a reason they recommend doing that! It relaxed my yarn so much and made it more useable...less rigid. It was pretty amazing to see it all turn out. I am in love with that stuff! I just wish it didn't take so long. Reading through the book I realized I could make it easier on myself in regards to how I work with the roving. As it stands right now I just seperate my strips and lay them out. Then I join a new piece when I need to. Not a big deal since it's effcient and I have optimum control over how much gets drafted in. The book though shows how to wrap it around you wrist and go from there. I want to try it but I am a snob and very particular to how my yarn turns out. I'm not a fan of the whole thick and thin thing and I hate novelty. I want uniform, consistent, even yarn all throughout. I blame my OCD.

I bought some more Manos for the sole purpose of longies. These colors are beautiful! I got two different colors and then some solid Cascade 220 to use for the waist and cuffs. I'm thinking of maybe do leg "patches" too to add some personality to them. :) I just tried to add in pictures and Blogger isn't letting me. I'll try in a new post. :)

I also bought four skeins of sock yarn. The husband has been complaining I have yet to make him anything so I grabbed some Cascade 220 in blues for him. He picked out the color and was pretty appaled to see how much a pair of socks would cost. lol He just doens't get it. ;) I got some sock yarn for me in a GORGEOUS color. The yarn is Mountain Colors sock yarn in Gold Rush. Very pretty. I do have the online picture of it and it does not do it justice. Makes it look very...primary colorish. In real life the colors are more earthy. I bought (on a different day) Knit Socks as well. I want to make some out of there but I'm knid of irritated with the book. Her numbers are off big time. For instance for my 18 month old daughter I cast on 40 stitches with size 3 needles. In this book there are multiple patterns that say to cast on 48 stitches on size 1-3 needles for a WOMAN'S medium. I wear a medium. I need at least 60-64 for a sock to fit. Most of the patterns require numbe specific patterns as well. There is one I want to make that uses a chveron lace dealio. It's in a 9 stitch pattern which is fine. I can figure it out but it's the entire pattern that needs refiguring. Why buy the book if I need to do the pattern writing myself you know? I have made the munchkin a few pairs of socks and ended up frogging them a few times. Irritating to say the least but luckily it's jsut toddler socks. Nothing huge.

I also bought two pairs of needles. Size 1 and 2. Holy smallness batman! I ended up buying Brittany brand needles since they didn't have both sizes in Clover. Thank god I did. I ended up snapping two of my size 1's in half the first day I sued them. I was pretty upset about it all and mad that I had done it. I went to put them back in the box they came in and noticed yet again that the company has a 5 year replacement on them. Woo hoo! No need to buy a whole new set. :)

I have been knitting. Not nearly as much as I had hoped since it's hard to find motivation when you're in a hotel room all day. I decided to do the wraps one at a time as opposed to the three at once. It was taking too long and I was tired of getting yarns all tangled up. I am almost done with one and halfway done with the two. They are turning out way cute. Although I ended up casting on for a size small. I thought I had done the newborn but when I recounted all the wraps I had made the size small. They are a hybrid of small and newborn but that might be divine intervention there. Who knows? Maybe they will be the best fit for the babes. I need to finish them up and get them sent. I realize they aren't going to suddenly gain 100 pounds but I feel bad that they have taken this long.

I feel even worse over this latest Magic Ball swap on Mothering. When I signed up we were told we would move here and get into the house that day. Since then every possible thing has gone wrong and they have bounced us from hotel to hotel. My swapee has since sent my yarn to the address I gave her. I have no way of checking the mail there because they are apartment style mailboxes. Plus we aren't officially in there yet so it's kind of a in the air thing in regards to having mail there for us period. It's a mess. To top it off I haven't been able to send out my yarn. I have had the mama's address for three weeks now and I have yet to send it. I have talked to her and she's happy to wait but I feel horrible. I shoulnd't have signed up for this. :( I am tempted to send her a gift certificate to a store so that she at least can get herself something. Someone can only be patient for so long before they get irritated you know? This whole situation sucks and the longer it goes on the more I feel like it's one big joke.