Where Have I Been, and What have I Been Doing?

     So Blogger says that the last time I published anything was on May 29, 2015. Therefore, it's been a year, 4 months, and one day. A lot can happen, and has, in this amount of time. I had just started working at Sonic around the time I last posted, and I am no longer working there. It is a Blessing, let me tell you. I have been able to stay up late reading, well, I've gotten to read period. I've knit SO much more, and I really enjoy being able to work at my own schedule.

     Knitting, let's talk. I do believe that the last thing that I had talked about on here was the black Featherweight, which has been finished for what seems like forever. it was knit in In the Loop yarn
(some yarn that my mom picked up at our Dollar General and honestly, wasn't/isn't awful to work with and wear) and I wear it pretty regularly.
Socks are a staple in my knitting "schedule." They make great purse projects and my mom loves her handknit socks. Lucky for her, it's officially the season for wearing them.

     I have knit a few (five or six) pairs for myself, but I'm still not sure how I feel about wearing handknit socks... I swear I can feel the stitches on the bottom of my feet.


     I've recently, within the last year, started buying patterns more regularly. I have decided that Joji Locatelli is one of my absolute favorite designers. Stephen West, Mel Ski, and Martina Behm also being a few. I am currently knitting my second Exploration Station by Stephen West (left) with a third ready for section two (right) and plans for a Doodler Shawl en route. The Christmassy one is for Grace (from One Girl, One Life, One God, and also my best friend.) and the blue, gray and white one is mine that I actually traded Grace. She got my pink, black, violet, and gray one (below) and I got this one. It was a great trade considering this one suits me more.
 

I've started countless projects since we last spoke, but I will put all of those at the end of this post so that you can see them all together. Yes, I will caption them with what the pattern is!

Spinning? Yes! I've been spinning, more so in the last six months than any other time, but spinning nonetheless. Remember the "Sulley" fiber i dyed up a while (year? 2 years?) ago? Well, I finally finished spinning and plying it. I got a whopping 230 yards of a navajo ply. I also spun up some samples from The Joyful Sheep, but they were only around 20 yards each of a 2-ply, so not really worth showing. What is worth showing is my current spinning projects. I bought some fiber from Wild Hare Fiber Studios and Woolgatherings back in July and MY, OH MY are they gorgeous. The Wild Hare Fiber is the "Grateful Dyed" colorway and it is simply 100% wool of probably merino or something. (Still not able to identify breed just by touch...yet.) The braid looked like this... (above) and the singles that I spun up, one half of the braid split vertically lengthwise look like this. (right) *SWOON* It's gorgeous, and it's going to

be a shawl if I can manage to stop starting new fiber. Because that's what
happened. I started this lovely (left) from Woolgatherings. It is 50/25/25 Merino, Bamboo, and silk, a blend that I've never spun before. It's spinning up extremely fine (photo left) and will most definitely be a shawl. (Can you tell I'm on a shawl kick right now?)

     Okay, what else do we talk about on this blog... let me see... Oh! Yes! Books! And boy, have I been reading. I just finished books 1 & 2 of the Caster Chronicles series by Kami Garcia, recommendation of a good friend. Thank you, good friend. I plan to start the third one soon, but am currently reading 1984 by George Orwell, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare is my reading for school, but the other two are being read willingly. I bought a ton (probably literally weightwise) of books before Hastings went out of business at 90% off. I need to work my way through those as well. Of course, I still visit the library regularly and usually come home with at least ten books that there's no way I will finish in three weeks alongside my kindle books and books I own. I will say though, I do tend to read on my kindle a lot, It's just easy to set down and read the screen while doing things like eating, cooking, grocery shopping, and knitting. With physical books, if they don't lay flat, I can't eat, cook, shop, or knit while reading. Which is a total bummer in my opinion.
     I am going to try and start back up with the book reviews, because I do have a lot to say about what I've been reading lately... I will probably draft up a few posts tonight and post them sporadically to entertain you guys. Warning, I am very picky and opinionated when it comes to my reading and I will tell you exactly what I think and why. For now, you can check out previous reviews here.
     I will leave you all here with photos of my many finished and in progress knitting photos (not already shown), and probably a couple of cute pictures of my dogs and cat because who doesn't love pets?

Color Affection by Veera Valimaki
in Woolike "White" "Red" and
(eventually)  "Olive"

Downeast by Alicia Plummer in
Knit Picks Brava Bulky "Cream"

Vanilla Socks in Patons Kroy
"Blue Striped Ragg"

Boxy by Joji Locatelli in
Woolike "Purple"

Bello by Joji Locatelli in
Woolike "Charcoal"

Cozy Neighborhood by Joji Locatelli
in In the Loop yarn

Azel Pullover by the Velvet Acorn

Miss Winkle by Martina Behm in FiberQuirks "Blueberry
Pie and Coffee Ice Cream" handspun

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And if you've stuck around this long, meet our (new to you) Yorkie, Ellie Mae, who does cute things like make forts, literally by herself. Also, she loves having multiple toys around to play with.

And of course, we still have Molly and Abigail.