Lisa Kay Knits... and Quilts!

Hi, I finished spinning using a "batt" for the first time, as opposed to combed top or roving. It spun up fluffier, as many resources mentioned it would. I ordered Uther from The Loopy Ewe , and it looked very gold and luxurious in the picture on-line. I was unable to capture an image that was as complimentary, and it seems to look a bit mustardy in my pictures. It is an interesting mix. It makes me want to card my own fibers. I asked my husband for carders for Christmas. Here are the strips, ready to spin. I pulled the batt into strips, lengthwise, and I ran them through a dizz (a piece of wood with a hole in it, sanded smooth so as not to snag). The dizz step was recommended in a forum on Ravelry, and it really did seem to make a difference in taming the strips. In the picture below, you can see the "un-dizzed" side on the right. I had two 3-oz packs, and it spun up to about 155 yards. It is dyed/carded by The Sanguine Gryphon . I have another of the colors, N...

Hi, We had all the grandparents and my brother and sister-in-law over for lunch. Yummy goodness! We have very much for which to be thankful. Here's our handsome little man... And a quick shot of us, outside. It was a relatively pretty day, for late November. Happy Knitting! Lisa Kay

Hi, We put up the Christmas tree on Saturday. We were up to midnight getting it done. Mitchell had a five hour nap in the afternoon, so we would have been up late, anyway. We're having Thanksgiving at our house, and I like to have the Christmas tree up for that. It just seems more festive that way. I have so many ornaments that I could decorate about four trees. Last year, I put up all the purple decorative ornaments. This year, I got out some of the collectable ones, mostly airplanes and frogs. Here are a few Christmas Tree Frog pictures. And the one on top, which is sort of star-shaped... Happy Knitting! Lisa Kay

Hi, I finished plying the Enchanted Knoll Farm "Spruce Woods." Here is another picture of the roving (posted long ago when purchased). Here is the roving, split into blue and brown sections. I spun them separately and then plied together. I had more blue than brown. To make the singles take half the roving, I took blue bits out of the blue pile until it was even. I split them into little pieces so that I could add them to the brown singles here and there. Here are the singles. Note the the brown singles have little blue spots. That is not such a bad thing... In fact, I really liked the singles, and I considered keeping them as two yarns, but I decided to stick with the original plan. I did a pretty good job of either separating the rovings in half, or spinning more or less evenly, or both. Or maybe beginner's luck? Here is all the "leftover" single I had after plying... not much! Here is the plied yarn on the bobbin. That is a full bobbin! This is half of the ...

Hi, As part of our regular Friday excursion, we were at the mall, and we ran into Santa. Mitchell wanted to see him, and he wanted to tell him what he wanted for Christmas, but he didn't want to get near him. This is as near as we managed to get, and he wasn't too happy about it. After we finally wrangled him up there, he wanted to know why Santa didn't give him his caimans . After all, he had gotten up there and been very clear about what he wanted. Where were the caimans? I guess I hadn't fully explained the request *for Christmas* concept. Hmmm. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Hi, Here's Mitchell in his dinosaur pajamas, watching TV from "the Ring." The Ring is a toy Daddy had from when he was a kid. You can take it apart and re-assemble it in a slide shape, or a wave. Two pieces make a sort of rocker shape. It is usually set up as a ring in our living room, and Mitchell likes to sit in the middle. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Hi, Belatedly, I am posting my treasures from the annual St. Louis Weaver's Guild show in Brentwood, from Halloween. (Busy day.) Mitchell picked out this little hedgehog. He calls it a mole. It's name is Pi. Well, I suppose that Mitchell meant, "Pie," but you know how moms are... I also picked up these rovings from Carol Hagen of PennyRoyal Farm . She also happens to be my spinning instructor. The green one is "Tree Frog" (4 oz, x4) Wool, and the blue one is "Gypsy" (4 oz, x6), Wool and Silk. Neato! Happy Knitting! Lisa Kay

Hi, Anything wooly, at our house... Seriously, we found this wooly worm wandering in the street. I stopped the car to "rescue" it. We took it home and played with it for a while. Mitchell ran over it with his dump truck a couple of times before I could stop him, but the wooly worm seemed to keep right on ticking. We kept him (her?) overnight in a jar with some foliage, and then returned it to the wild the next day. It was still pretty active, so I don't think we did it any harm. It certainly seemed furry. Isn't that supposed to mean a cold winter? Or is it when the fur is black? Either way, I think we're in for it, this year... Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Hi, Here is the Rainbow yarn I spun, knitted into a hat. It is supposed to be for Mitchell, but I couldn't get him to try it on, not even for a picture... I guess he isn't quite as much of a ham as I thought! I used the "Shaker Hat" pattern from the book, "100 hats." I modified it to knit in the round. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Hi, Mitchell had a great time trick-or-treating last night. He really got into it, this year, and he didn't want to stop. He kept saying his bag wasn't full. There were only a couple of houses where they had spooky displays where he was scared. He was also very interested in all the dogs at the various houses. He kept asking if they could come out. Grandma and Grandpa E walked with us. They dressed up... When they first got to the house, Mitchell was very freaked out. You can see him climbing on Daddy in the background. Happy Halloween! Lisa Kay