Burning Man, Christmas Knits and Other crafting Chaos

It's been a while since I posted an update. Life has been almost too hectic to bear. The Boy and I are leaving for the annual pilgrimage to Burning Man in 9 days and we're still working franticly to get everything ready to go. theres costuming to be sewn, shopping to be done and gear to be collected, not to mention shelter to be constructed.

Last year our sleeping quarters were a moderate sized dome, sheltered under the shade structure of the Foxy Kokonauts. This year we've gone rogue! We've built the skeleton for a 16' diameter dome and are nearly done with the fitted cover. take a look at the work-in-progress pic. The door is 9'+ tall!



In addition I am sewing some costume pieces(pics to come) including a Bedouin robe and a Turkish tassel-belt, both in warm earth tones. These are as much for the hell of it as they are for Burning Man and I'm really excited to have some nifty, durable costume pieces that aren't Renaissance Faire related.

As if these were not enough, I am still sticking to my Christmas knitting. One scarf down! I am now 4 reps into the Swallowtail Shawl which I mentioned wanting to do before. Dear gods that's a lot of counting! I'm not even 1/4 of the way through and I've muddled my pattern a handful of times. It didn't look too complex and I knew all the stitches it took, but this is certainly not a project for the undetermined or easily frustrated. A while back Riastiltskein tried her hand at it and I know she gave up 6 reps in. I however am determined not to be discouraged by its complexity and not to criticize myself too much for the practically invisible flaws I've knit into the pattern. Its complex enough that it hides my mis-knits pretty well. My grandmother will never notice, right?

My camera is still on haiatus, guys. I'm very sorry. The charger has disappeared but I'll be tearing apart my room before my trip to Burning Man becasue I will decidedly be taking lots of photos this year.

Well... Crap

I was part way through knitting a hooded blanket for my baby cousin and then I got photos from my grandmother... That little tyke ain't too little anymore! By the time Christmas rolls around she'll be trundling along on her own and that blanket will be far too small for anything she might need it for. I think I need to make a sweater... change of plans then... damn...

An Eventful and Ambitious Weekend!

This weekend was one full of craftalicious eventfulness.

Boy and I spent all day yesterday wandering around San Francisco on our first sunny, warm (ish) day of the spring. Aaaaand spent too much money. The yarn fumes got me and I couldn't help myself! I spent $100 on beautiful luxurious yarns to make into a big throw. It's going to be amazing!

And this is why blogging is a little sad. You can't feel the sleek Misti Alpaca (in Spring) or drool over the the color of the Malabrigo Indiecita (a color-weigh discontinued in the bulky but similar to the Indy) or giggle over the dead muppet texture of the Fiesta Flirt. The Boy posted the project on Ravelry and pictures will be up soon.

Okay, the yarn was awesome and all, but seriously the best part of the weekend was traipsing through the Castro in search of the perfect tiny swim trunks for the Boy. And he found some. Oh how tiny they are! I can't post pics because they are definitely not SFW or for family. Maybe I'll convince him to model later. LOL.

Phase two!

Phase two, the spinning begins.  I sat down and got a 2 ply skein of light fingering weight yarn spun up today.   

 Here is the first bobbin of it spun before plying. 

We have a buttload more of roving to spin.  Freya dyed an entire pound. It is superwash though, so it is spinning up slightly differently. I am really enjoying it.  In addition to the pound of dragon that I am working on that is slowly taking over my life and room, I have a few updates on personal projects.  I went to Maker Faire about a month ago and bought a oz braid of roving that was solar dyed, a process that we are thinking of exploring here at Wildwoodyarn.  I didn't get around to getting Freya to take a picture of it before I spun it, since she is far better about pictures and the blogging, but here is it all spun up.  

  

I am not sure what I want to do with it yet.  I think I want to make something for my friend that took me to Maker Faire, but I'm not sure what.  However, it will have to take the back burner while I get our new color-ways spun up.