What do you say to a family who lost their father last year, lost their best friend last month and at the same time found out one of them (my sister in law) has MS? I am at a total loss for words. Saying “I’m so sorry” sounds ridiculous. I want to call them and hug them, but I’m sure they are getting a million calls right now and explaining everything over and over. It is devastating. I want to write an email…but what to write??? Argh!

Yesterday we went to the Theatinerkirche (church) to show my mother in law the beautiful interior. I am not a religious person, but I can appreciate churches and their beauty. They have this table where you can buy a small candle and light it, so I lit two for my brother and sister in law.

All I can do is knit and spin. So I decided to knit her a candle flame shawl out of wollmeise laceweight so that she can be wrapped up in love whenever she wears it. I want to finish it before Christmas, so will you all please keep me honest and if I’m spinning too much and not knitting, give me a kick in the pants, please. Thanks.

So I spent the last 90 minutes on writing a super long post about my Darmstadt weekend, I press the SAVE button and it’s gone. WTF? I don’t have the energy to type it again… :( Sorry, folks.

I’ll just post a pretty picture of the rovings that I did. I named them all after movie quotes. I think this batch is mostly from Tommy Boy. I could’ve gone on and on. From l-r, top-bottom:
“Chotchkie’s”, “Your brain has the shell on it”, “Fat guy in a Little Coat”

“The Shaggin’ Wagon”, “10 in the morning”, “My pretty little pet”

“Me want wingey”, “As you wish”, unnamed yarns

I also wanted to ask those who have dyed roving before:
1. How do you keep the roving “nice” after rinsing? We had a lot of dye runoff so the rinsing process was long and because we had to squish some of that dye out of there, it created a bunch of neps, especially in the superwash. Is there a way to avoid it?

2. Is there supposed to be a lot of dye runoff? Ok, we were lazy and didn’t blot away the excess, but didn’t think there was THAT much excess. Maybe the dye just didn’t take?

3. What makes a dye not take? I think it was either - not enough vinegar and/or not hot enough steam. Is that right? We had inconsistent results, but we got carried away and didn’t write anything down, so it’s just guesses. Is there anything we can do after steaming that will help set the dye?

4. Is there any way to get rovings to dry faster??? :) We are also worried because we are planning our next session in November and it will be a lot colder then.

For more info and pictures, visit Linnea’s post about our weekend here. Thank you so much Linnea for being a great friend and hostess and letting me play with all of your toys! I had a ton of fun!!!

Oh, and I just cleared off some bobbins, so I started spinning up some of this roving tonight!!! Stay tuned for the progress.

We are the Champions

Hello Yarn Falkland in Hive

Handspun baby hat

Hi folks, this is just a drive by posting as I’m off to Darmstadt today! I haven’t really traveled around Germany, so this will be a great vacation (without the family)! What am I going to do you ask? Well, we’re going to dye, spin, knit, chat, and everything in between. We have been planning for a spin-in for a long time, and sadly, because I don’t want my wheel to get damaged and because I don’t want to drive, I decided to keep my Seamus at home. BUT my friend Linnea has two wheels you see, so we *can* spin together! And one of them has a wollee winder for me to try out! YAY!

Anyhooz, I have been busy spinning up some CMF for peaknit. She has been oogling over handspun and while spinning this up for her, she bought herself a wheel (does this story sound familiar?)! We have been sending fast and furious emails back and forth about spinning, fiber, yarn, etc. She was supposed to wait until the fiber festival to get a wheel, but with all this spinning talk, it has motivated her to get one sooner. Too funny! I did manage so finish her 8+oz of “We are the Champions” and they came out very nice, if I do say so myself!

I also finished up my Hello Yarn. It was a fun spin, but I’m not a fan of falkland. It’s too hairy and coarse - I am a merino gal, through and through.

I have also knitted a whole bunch of handspun baby hats because I decided that baby hats are much easier to make than booties. And also, a friend of mine told me that she used the booties for maybe a month. At least with the hat it will last one season!

I also started spinning up a traditional 3-ply out of my All Spun Up fiber club fiber. The merino/silk is divine!!! Even though I will sacrifice some yardage, I’ve always wanted to try a true 3ply. We’ll see how it goes.

Anyways, that’s all the news fit to print. More pics whenever I get back!