A Few Sheep Shy of a Farm

UPDATES!

The Trekking socks are off the needles! I finished the bindoff at lunch and now there are just a few more loose ends . . . .

Also, I finally figured out how to add buttons to the page so I’ve started adding peoples buttons . . . and I updated a few other links . . .

Can’t wait for HP to come out tomorrow!!! I’ll be at the local Barnes & Noble at 9 am to get my copy! OPPS! Scratch that, I just called my local B & N and all, every last copy, of the HP they have are on reserve!!! They don’t have a single one left for me!!!!! Bummer!!!! I’ll have to call Monday to see if someone didn’t come for it, if they have any left behind they are putting them out on Monday!!!! Total bummer I was really looking forward to starting that this weekend!!!! Very, very disappointed!

T.G.I.F.!!!!

Okay, so this has been a long and tedious week and now it is over!!!!

I did get some knitting done in bewteen other things this week. I finished the Purple Tank Top and actually wore it to work on Wednesday! That is the first non-hat, scarf, sock, baby item I have finished! Speaking of socks, the first of the Trekking socks is off the needles and waiting for the ends to be woven in, and I hope to bind-off the second one at lunch today . . . Then I just have a few ends to finish off and I can wear my new socks! Such fun!

I’m hoping to finish the socks for my niece over the weekend since I’m taking care of her on Wednesday. That way I can actually see them on her, oh and if I remember the camera, I’ll snap a few shots of her little toes in their new home . . . baby toes are such a cute thing!

Last night I decided on the yarn for secret project, part 2, finally. I have promised myself that I would finish the Trekking socks completely before I cast on anything new, so if I get them done today I can start the new project tonight! I have so many projects that I want to get done now that I just don’t know which direction to turn in! I have several spinning projects going that I would like to work on this weekend as well so we’ll see what happens!

Oh, the worms are really starting to spin. I’m removing the cocoons from the tank as soon as they are solid enough to handle in order to make room for more spinners. I have 21 in the basket of worms that will be allowed to hatch and breed and 24 in the other basket at the moment. As of this morning it looked like there are at least two dozen more working on spinning right now! I haven’t decided yet what I’m going to do with the silk, I may wait to see how much I really have before trying to decide . . .

I am hoping to reduce my yarn/fiber shopping for the next few months since we are planning a trip to Italy in October!

Here is a picture of one of the places we went last time and are likely to go to again.

isn’t it beautiful? This museum, The Villa Borghese, is at the top of the Via Veneto in Rome and while it is off the beaten path and you have to make reservations to go there but it is very much worth the trip! Click on the picture for more info!

Well off to work! Have a great weekend everyone!

Okay, sorry, no pictures yet . . . my life kinda interrupted my ability to get anything done last night . . .

The worms are spinning more. There are now 4 formed cocoons and at least and other 5 or 6 that I could see taking shape when I left this morning! And hundreds more worms to go!!!! Actually, picking enough leaves for them has become enough work that I’ll be glad to have it finished. Not that I won’t likely do it again next year, but I’ve been averaging an hour a day picking leaves and that doesn’t count the 1 - 2x a day that Dom feeds them as well! Perhaps if we plant more bush size mulberries it will be easier for next year?

The yarn I orded from Elann arrived today. Three bags of Tahki Ravello in Black! I’m planning to do a twin set with a metalic carrying thread in the shell to dress it up a bit. That is if I can find one I like, otherwise I’ll just do it plain . . . I did buy a pattern for a shell and sweater but I’m not entirely sure it is the right one for this yarn so I may have to keep looking around some . . .

I didn’t get to work on the purple tank top last night but I brought it with me to work on at lunch and hope to finish it tonight, we’ll see. Guess thats about all for today, if things go well there will be worm picture and knitting update pictures tomorrow.

THEY ARE SPINNING!!!!

The silk worms have started to spin their cocoons!!!! I noticed the first one yesterday morning. Actually it is really neat to watch. They start off making a little hammock which they climb into the middle of. Then they make a figure-eight motion with their mouths as they continue to spin, moving around and around until they have an egg shaped container. From what I read they spin for about 3 days, so even after the cocoon looks solid from the outside, they are really continuing to spin in their. Actually I took one down from where it was hanging and held a flashlight up to it and you can actually watch the worm continue to spin inside the cocoon. I took a few pictures yesterday and will take some more tonight so I should have them loaded tomorrow.

In other news, I didn’t get as much spinning or knitting done this weekend as I had hoped to (now there is something new but we had a friend come over on Saturday who is a fabulous interior decorator and we spent the day (totally unplanned) rearranging the house! I feel like I moved into a whole new apartment! I absolutely love what she did, our little rooms feel much roomier the way she arranged things and she even helped get me to get rid of some of the extra clutter!

The knitting I did get done was all on the Purple Tank Top. I finished knitting the bottom portion of it, I had chosen to knit in the round until I reached the underarm decreases, then changed to flat to do the front and back seperately. I finished the front last night and hope to work on the back this evening. The pattern basing my shaping on says to bind off the stitches at the top of the straps, but I’m leaving them on a stitch holder and plan to use a kitchener’s stitch to join them together so there should be no visible seams. Again, planning to add updated pictures tomorrow.

I did go to spinning last Thursday after dinner and I worked on the blue portion of that yarn, I did about 80% of the blue and need to spend another 30 min or so to finish it off. Then I just have the green to go and I’ll have 2 full skeins of this yarn! Of course, I have no immediate plans for what to make from it, but I’m sure once it has finished aging in my stash basket I’ll think of something! Maybe I need to spin a complimentary color to put with it and make a hat and scarf set or something . . . perhaps even for the holiday gift pile?

I’m also in the planning stages for secret project part 2 and part 3 but haven’t quite settled on how to do them yet. Once I can disclose more I will . . . . thats all for now. Back tomorrow with new photos!

UPDATES!!!

More new photos added today!

Here is a new picture of the silkworms, taken last night. They are growing so fast now that they are noticibly bigger when I get home at night than they were in the morning when I left! And they are eating so much that I have spent a whole hour each of the past couple of nights filling a plastic grocery bag with leaves . . . Its a good thing the moths have lost the ability to fly because if they got loose they could destroy every Mulberry tree for miles at the rate they eat! I can’t wait to see how the silk turns out! Oh and I found out that each female moth lays between 200 - 500 eggs, so it won’t take many to resupply for next year . . .

We had a function at work yesterday and I didn’t get home until much later than ususal, then I spent an hour picking leaves, 45 min. brushing out Blossom, and some time doing some other cleaning projects . . . and then time taking photos and transferring them to CD and then it was pretty much time for bed, so I only got about 2 rows done on the tank top yesterday.

Tonight I hope to go home for dinner with my husband (haven’t seen him for a few days due to our opposite schedules) and then head over to the Spinning group. I think I’ll bring the rest of the blue tweedy merino and see if I can get that spun tonight . . . .

This is what I have done so far of it

Of course if I’m still as tired by tonight as I’m feeling right now there is always the chance that I won’t make it there at all . . . though I really do want to go . . . .we shall have to wait and see.