Spun

Margene challenged us to spin and spin in the month of February. So I did.

It snowed and it snowed and I spun and I spun.

By Saturday morning, the sun was shining on my wheel, a good sign.

And yesterday I plied my last bobbin of Opus 2007 Opus 2007-2008, my first sheep-to-sweater project ever. Behold:

That's 2 pounds, 14 ounces of bulky yarn, spun from the fleeces of an unnamed brown sheep and our very own J.J. I had a few ounces left over but they were too bulky or whatever, and I will use them for experimenting with overdyeing. One or two people would like me to keep this yarn as is, but I find it kind of busy. So I'll swatch natural and overdyed and let my husband choose whichever he prefers. It's his sweater, after all.

My final opinion: As weary as I got spinning the same wool for weeks on end, this has been really fun and relaxing and I hate to admit it but I've already started thinking about spinning a sweater's worth for myself. Maybe not starting with raw fleece, but still...

Which brings me to this:

Next, a mere 4 ounces of Real Vermonter roving to be spun for socks. I need to get back to knitting my February socks, but I couldn't resist putting this on the wheel last night. It's soooo gorgeous! Yay, color.

Speaking of color, I painted my stepson's room (aka the spare room, as he's only been home from college 3 times since we moved in 2006). I couldn't take the glossy green and blue paint anymore, so I turned this:



into this:

Photos don't do the transformation justice. I plan on adding a lot of color eventually. (Confession: I bought this paint in June 2007. I don't act fast.)

We had a sweet Valentine's Day. My husband surprised my daughter and me with a nice dinner out, and flowers and balloons waiting for us when we arrived at the restaurant. I made him a video slideshow of family pictures, which I tried to put on a DVD but all of a sudden my computer cannot see its own DVD burner anywhere. Must investigate. He watched it on the computer, at least.

We've had a pileated woodpecker at the black-bear-mauled suet feeder just about every day. The wind gave him a nice mohawk (3rd photo):

February is long and dull and did I mention long? For the shortest month of the year, it drags on. Yesterday we had a major warm front come through, melting the snow and turning everything brown and muddy. Mud season in Vermont is on its way (after a few more snowstorms, of course). Sigh.

A blurry Fudd and Sassy getting a scritching:

Dave heading to bed: 

Boy with toy:

And last, let's play Where's Milo?

Can you see him now?

You might understand what a daredevil he is if you knew there was no upper floor in this barn. He was seriously trying to swipe pigeons as they flew past. That cat is so weird.

Comments

[Carrie]

Weird cats are more fun to blog than boring ones. :-)
That sweater is going to be great! Do you have a pattern in mind? I signed up for the spinning in January thing and never touched my wheel, but I have a class on spinning-to-knit coming up and I'm super excited. Gotta do something with that fleece...and the llama... and all that roving I've bought...

[Marcia Cooke]

Great pictures! That Milo is something else. As for the yarn, try knitting a small sample before you overdye...it might end up a tweed that isn't quite so busy.

[margene]

That cat is crazy!
The yarn you spun is so fab! It should make a wonderful sweater. You're inspiring me to do more than spin 4 oz and get busy on something "REAL".

[Carol]

Your yarn is awesome! So are the pics as always :) Milo is one baaaadass! I wouldn't mess with him on a dare.

[Cynthia]

Beautiful yarn -- and what a feeling of accomplishment! I have been planning a sweater for myself for a couple of years, fooling around with sample yarns & ways of processing, but THIS IS THE YEAR! (Probably.)

[Sonya]

That Milo is a nut. I thought it was impressive when one of our cats balances on top of the shower stall, but we've got nothing on Milo. And coming from a former farm girl: Nice tractor.

[trek]

Love the barber pole effect.

And Milo seems not to have developed a sensible kitty's appreciation for gravity...

[janna]

Milo isn't crazy -- he's brave! Well, until gravity sets in....

I like looking a barber-pole yarn in the skein, but don't usually like the way it knits up. It will be interested to see what he decides.

[Jane]

Yikes! And I worry about my cat on top of the fridge. Pretty yarn. That was an ambitious project, and I'm looking forward to seeing the sweater you knit.

[Heide]

Congratulations on the spinning, that is quite an accomplishment. It looks very lovely and squishy too. Milo is a hoot... I feel almost like he's my far-away kitty.

[Teyani]

Milo wins the daring-devil award of the week.
Your sheep to sweater is wonderful. I think it will knit up into an amazing heathered sweater (no matter what color you overdye it) Bravo on such an enormous completion (it's a LOT of spinning for a man's sweater)

[Bea]

That yarn is lovely! I can't wait to see what it looks like once you start overdyeing it. I remember when you first got that bag of brown fleece, it's so cool to see how far you've come since then :) The roving for socks looks so pretty, and I love the new paint color in your stepson's room! Milo cracks me up, he is one brave cat, for sure.

[lisa]

How does Milo like scampering on the ice?

[Samantha]

Wow, can't wait to see that yarn overdyed!

[Laura]

Wow - the yarn is gorgeous and overdyed will be VERY WOW! Can't wait to see your overdye swatching and color choices!

It's all wonderful as usual but this cat in the barn window is REALLY cracking me up! Some cats are just That Way. Like people I guess. heh

[Mia]

Milo has no fear is all. And February drags out when it is dark and gloomy.

[Ruth]

Oh your yarn looks so great! I was "attempting to spin" yesterday and well something is off and I need to investigate. Anyway, I think that spinning the color will perk up your February! I am still working on Twist. The paint job looks great!

[donna lee]

The room looks great. I've seen photos of rooms with darker colors and they always look small and cave like. I like light colors on walls. I like big bright looking rooms. We got our first little bit of snow and it was beautiful until the rain came and made it slush. I guess you must be tired of it by now.

[JessaLu]

Congrats on finishing the spinning portion of your Opus!

That picture of Milo has me all lightheaded...

[sahara]

Wow, your yarn is beautiful. It's nice to take a break to look at beautiful yarn, instead of the Knoll Red (yes, that's the color name) walls of this office; ugh.

A daredevil cat that loves snow! That's exciting. All Mr. Felix does is sleep; ugh.