Skein one done!

I took the rest of Thursday off of spinning (it was bedtime anyway) and most of Friday was spent retaking photo's of my for sale items in my Etsy shop. I got the yarns done and today I hope to get the rest reshot. The difference is amazing for example:

before and after:

and another before and after:

And finally last night before bed I finished plying the first skein of my sweater yarn:

Obviously this was just a quick snap of it...I will take better looking pictures after I get the yarn set and dry and have the light box set up again.

Challenge Met!

Look LOOK! I got my spinning done!I am so excited to have finished the singles I have been spinning for I don't remember exactly how long now...A while back Brian brought me home some of this: and I decided that it was destined to become my very first adult size sweater, made for me (ok so maybe I am not adult sized, but still I am bigger than a 4year old). I had to spin the yarn first though. Then Janel over at Spindlicity posted her destash challenge and I decided to participate. For the purpose of the challenge I only entered what I had not spun yet (duh) - the above unspun roving and this picture here of that very roving all done:

The five other bobbins were full before the challenge. So now I have met my challenge and I am ready to start plying (maybe tomorrow cuz I spun for like 3 hours today and my back is killing me). I am so excited about this yarn (can you tell? no? ur not paying attention...) and I am very excited to start the sweater...Here is a picture:

The patterin is in the Winter 2009 issue of Spin Off Magazine by Interweave Press. I am sure they have back issues.
But...first the plying, then setting, then swatching...maybe. If I am in the mood.

Vikings ahoy!

I finally finished the hat I have been working on for my brother in law. I can't wait to give it to him! Thank you so much to my reluctant model. He must love me a lot to let me post a pic of him wearing it on the internet for everyone to see.

Quiet

It's all quite in the house today...My babies are up for a visit with Grandma and Grandpa. It was so nice to sleep in! I have been doing a bit of housework and today I am going to do some crafting until I go to a grown up birthday party this afternoon. I might even stay up past my bedtime again since I have no children to wake me up in the morning.
I should probably be using this time to get organized, and maybe I will a little but for now I am going to sit down with my tea and my knitting and try to get some uninterrupted television watching done...oh, there goes the tea kettle whistling. I hope you all enjoy your Saturday as much as I intend to enjoy mine.

Starting

Starting the year off with a few things.

First is a new haircut...The before pic here did not come out all that great and you can't really see how long my hair was - she had already started cutting by the time I remembered to take a pic but here it is just the same:
and the after:

Overall she took off about 8 inches and I was really happy with it...If only it looked this nice every day...I have yet to duplicate the smooth look I left the salon with as my hair curls when it is wet and my attempts to tame it just give me frizzy head.

Second is that Brian and I are trying to eat better. Not necessarily diet or have a resolution, but just trying to eat better overall. Maybe take a cue from Jacob - On our way to the store the other day I had to get gas and the gas station happens to be right next to McDonald's. The conversation went something like this:
Jacob: "Can I have a snack?"
Me: "We can get a snack when we get to the store."
Jacob: "Well, maybe we can have a snack at McDonald's!"
Me: "No, I said we can get a snack at the store, besides, McDonald's is not a healthy snack, and I want you to have a healthy snack."
Jacob: "I don't want a healthy snack - maybe I could just have some broccoli instead."
Me: "Weeelll, I guess so, if you are good."
And I'll be damned if he didn't carry that 'little tree' around the store with him, hold it in the car seat on the way home, and eat some of it the second it was washed when we got home. Who wants healthy snacks anyway?

And thirdly I am starting my spinning challenge. The challenge is to spin one project from my stash each month. My January goal is to finish the singles for my sweater. Here is the remaining wool left to be spun:

That is already split out into equal amounts so as to have three skeins of three ply yarn. I have already spun 5.25 bobbins full and have this 3.75 left - just under 7 ounces left to spin. I would ideally like to spin all of the singles as well as get all of the plying done, but I am trying to be realistic about what I am likely to be able to accomplish...I suppose if I was spinning now instead of posting or making breakfast or doing laundry I could do it...then there are all of the damn free games available on my new Android phone and they just keep me so busy ;)

On that note I think I will go start a load of laundry, then make breakfast for the kids and perhaps sit down to spin.