D'oh

I had a most excellent time this weekend visiting a sheep farm, learning to dye yarn using a one-pot method, snorgling baby goats, and touring a wool mill. Whew. Lots of stuff to see. Now I can fully appreciate how much effort goes into making a single ball of yarn!

Album of pics available for your viewing pleasure here.

Now, once you soak it, dye it and cook the yarn, it takes a LONG TIME to dry. When I got home Saturday evening my yarn was still in fairly soggy hanks. I hung it up in the bathroom over the showerhead and left it alone. But this afternoon I had too much time on my hands and decided to help speed it along.

So I took two of the four hanks and put them in the dryer. Now, lest you panic, please know that it was superwash wool. So that part was fine. I only put them in for 10 minutes.

However, one of the hanks managed to untie itself and became a 454 yard of giant knottedness. Seriously. One ginormously huge knot. Ugh.

I spent the next three hours untangling said knot, supervised by Monkey of course.



The good news is that I am liking this yarn more in a ball than I did in the hank. I can't wait to see how it knits up. Look for a swatch in the near future!

Summer in the City

After almost a week straight of hot weather it seemed like we were actually going to have "summer" in San Francisco. Alas, today when we walked to our local library I required a wool scarf and winter coat. Brrr. Now that's the SF summer I know.

In other news:
• I did find one more flea on Mabel but I haven't yet forcibly bathed her
• I'm working on multiple knitting projects - I keep casting on new WIPs
• I'm working on some swatches for Marin Fiber Arts
• I'm studying Spanish - not crafty but a fact nonetheless - and have decided that seeking out Spanish yarn sites equates to studying. Well, doesn't it? I have to translate them...

Callng all C.S.I.s

Enquiring minds (namely me) would like to know which cat made these kitty prints on the bathroom mirror. They appear to be litter based with thin strands of hair trapped between the litter particles. Seriously, are there any CSI students out there who would like to come and test the prints for particulates and kitty DNA? And just how accurate are paw print comparison tests anyway?

In other cat news, yesterday I saw a flea on Mabel and so we had to pull out the big guns.



Last night I was able to extract two fleas from her furry little self. She actually loves being combed (see evidence below).



Afterward she slept and purred for hours, and so far I haven't seen her scratch her head. (Note: if she scratches again she's getting a bath.)

Monkey is a different story. For no particular reason he is deathly afraid of the flea comb and the potential torture it could inflict upon him. So he yowls, howls, hisses and then he hides. I guess we'll just keep our fingers crossed and hope that he doesn't have any fleas...

The best part about a city hike is...

...no poison oak.

(Please note: this does not include Golden Gate Park. I'm guessing that the wildly overgrown areas are chock full of it, although I'm not going to actually rummage around in there to find out. Any volunteers?)

Happy Day After World Wide Knit in Public Day

I had the good fortune of being able to go and knit yesterday at Marin Fiber Arts in San Rafael. The weather was beautiful, the falafel was delicious, and amazing knitting projects were in abundance! Yay.

I've been browsing photos on Flickr and there are some really great WWKIP Day photos from around the world! Go knitting!

Cat News

This is how the first two sides of the box now look. Yep, they're almost completely gone.


We couldn't figure out why he would only chewing those two sides. Even last week he was still trying to chew the tiniest nubs of the sideless area...and then we turned the box around, and he got right to work.

I wonder how long this box will last...

Finally Able to Knit Again

I'm happy to report that I'm finally able to knit again, and thus will be venturing forth to knit night tonight. Yay! Hope to see everyone there.

Yarn Giveaway

I'm slowly healing (SO SLOWLY). The worst is mostly over, although I'm currently facing a poison oak relapse. Ugh.

This just in: my favorite Fiber CSA, Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm's owner is giving away some Malabrigo yarn. There's a great story to go along with it, and it's not just for shareholders, so enter away. Info here.

I love love love this farm and its blog. So cute to see pics of the baby sheep and goats as they are born. The abundance of cuteness takes my mind off of itching...just for a minute...