Go Hogs Go!

Although, knowingly writing this post, I may have to eat my words to my dear friend's husband...I still must write on. I am a DIE HARD Razorback Fan. It's true. I am a knitter, spinner, and a huge football fan. These three things go together quite nicely in my world. Being the mother of three boys, I best like sports or I will be bored for many years to come. (below is a picture of a boars head on my dad's game room wall)

This weekend, Arkansas plays Alabama. All of my family is from Arkansas and we moved here about a year and a half ago. I have always dressed my boys in Razorback gear, and raised them the right way. Arkansas Razorback fans are amazing. Most states have numerous teams to get behind and Arkansas only has one team that is nationally known, so the whole state is behind them.
I attended the University of Arkansas and it will always be extremely near and dear to my heart. My friend, Jeanetta's husband, Ben, is a die hard Alabama fan. I am one of those who yell and scream and pace and curse (a lot) and tend to have too many beers during a game. How nice to find out, so does Ben! Which is loads of fun to be together during game time, but not this Saturday. I want to continue to be friends with him, therefore, he is not allowed in my home during the game and I will not be answering my phone when I see him on the caller ID.

I will maintain the higher ground and not rub it in too badly, if the wins comes our way, maybe just in a passive aggressive way, as Jeanetta describes in her blog about this same subject.

Dear Ben! Yes, yes, Alabama may have more national titles but Arkansas has it's bragging rights. We now have three rookie starters in the NFL from just last year. Our own Casey Dick has back to back 300 yard games.

The Razorbacks have home field advantage, which has proven itself successful the last two times with us beating Alabama at home. We call those hogs loud!

Don't be too confident...Arkansas has proven itself to be a strong second half team. Out of the 16 SEC meetings between the teams, 7 of them have come down to the final score of the game. 5 times that winning score actually happened on the last snap of the game. Two of the games have gone into double overtime. Needless to say, this should be a very dramatic and exciting game. Did you know, even your own senior center, Caldwell was quoted saying "It usually takes more than a day or two to recover from an Arkansas game."

As always, positive outlooks bring positive outcomes, so I will continue to say "Go HOGS Go!" until the final snap and the clocked ticks zero. Good luck to all you Alabama fans!

Still Knitting

I had to take a picture.  I knew you wouldn't believe it unless you saw it.  Here, look:

This is the blanket I started last week.  Yes, last week.  It's hard to tell from this picture, but it is actually as tall as me already.

 

There, for a bit of perspective, I put one of my shoes on top of the blanket.  Really, I know, you're shocked.  I have one more skein of yarn to go and then I will be casting off my first blanket.  Finishing my first blanket!  Not a scarf, or a wash cloth, or a hat, but a blanket.  Come on, that's commitment.

New listed items are in my Etsy Shop too.  It's like I am actually becoming a responsible person again.  Believe me, the storms of my life have not calmed entirely, and most likely will not for a long time, but the winds are slowing enough for me to get a few things done.  Yay!

OK...so, I am queen of really lame jokes.  So here goes...What's black and white and red all over? 

CLICK HERE

Have a wonderful day!

Handspun Sunny Day

The sun is shining and it is a gorgeous day.  I got out with my camera and snapped some shots of my most recent handspun yarn.

The above yarn was a blended colored roving.  The variations on this is fantastic.  You will find gray, brown, blue, and green.  Knitting with this yarn will be a pleasure for sure.

 

Mud and Moss is the name of this below yarn.  A blend of merino and tencel to make a super soft and silk like appearance.   Yum.

 

Above is a red and black spun yarn.  Not my Red Door Painted Black yarn....but it's coming.

Below is my Snow Owl.  It's strips of two different fabrics.  One fleece and the other was a green dress.  Spun up it looks like a snow owl sitting in a tree.

 

Now, I have the pictures, I best get off my butt and get some of this listed on Etsy.  Have a great day!

Save the Bonobos...Save the World

Totally non-fiber related, but still a good cause, and you could win a sweet sounding book.

Check out Susan's Blog:

Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm: Save the Bonobos! Book Giveaway

After doing a little wikipedia research on the Bonobos, just for my own curiosity, I found out they are dirty little monkeys, in a really funny way. They certainly are loving little critters. I'm not saying anymore, you can just do the research for yourself. Go read about them & register to win a book.

Can I be a Finisher?

Watching my son lay around and pondering the universe made me start thinking about my knitting universe.

Since I started spinning, I have not picked up the needles. I began to get the itch. The feel of the fiber sliding over my fingers as magically thread turns into something of value. Yup, I must knit.

I had balls of left over spun yarn from various bobbins that I had been winding and tossing into a basket. Before I knew it, the needles were back in my hands and I was knitting away all the worries of the world.

I have admitted many times to many people, I am not a finisher. I have more projects started and not finished than I would ever admit. But, I am not a finisher. That is the beauty of being a fiber artist, I can paint and spin the yarn, and you can finish the project.

When this recent knitting itch hit, I had to keep in mind my finishing problem and keep my projects simple, mindless, and timeless. I began knitting various size squares out of various weight fibers, some hand painted, some hand spun, some commercially produced (oh the horrors!). I can cast on as much as I like, knit or purl as many rows as I'd like, and then just cast off when I get bored (or when the small ball is nearing it's end). Perfect for a non-finisher!

Here are a couple pictures of different squares I have finished:

I have actually finished 14 squares/strips/rectangles. Yes, I said finished. It's a miracle. They all look really cool, and super funky when laid side by side, so whenever I have enough squares, I am going to put them all together into a blanket. There is no timeline on this project, so hopefully I finish by the time I am 50 (at least that's a long way off).

The newfound ability to finish has got me inspired to start another project. Not to discourage myself, I should start a scarf or a wash cloth right? Of course not! I have started a blanket...yes, a blanket. I don't know what my deal is with blankets, I guess it's the longing for security. Nothing is better than a soft, warm blanket.

I am knitting it on size 35 needles, in the hopes that it moves along fast enough for me to not abandon it. Here it is in it's infancy. I do love the feel of it, so here's to sticking with it to the end.

So that's what I'm working on, what about you?

The Day After The Game

           

The football game was a bunch of fun!  The Broncos B team beat the Packers, sorry David.  The A teams tied.  Drew didn't play as much as we would have liked, but all in all the game was a blast.

The boys were both all smiles after the game, I told them they should put on their game faces, but that picture didn't turn out so well.  I don't really think either of them have learned what a game face should look like.

Lastly, there is a new member to The Twisted Purl family, no not a sheep.  My new nephew:

                   

My sister got a pure bred Golden Retriever.  His name is Marley.  She is only 21, so I am glad this is my first nephew! 

          

He is absolutely adorable.  I promise to keep him away from the yarn.

Later this week, I am planning a big dye day.  I will be doing some of your favorites in bulk.  By bulk I mean 5 pounds of each colorway.  I will have some of the roving for sale on Etsy and also be spinning it and selling it as well.  Planned colorways to be produced is Sanjaya, Americana, and Over the Rainbow.  I'll be sure to snap a few shots of the dyeing, 5 pounds at a time will be a sight.

Now I'm Back

After quite a ridiculously long break, I'm back!  My Etsy Shop has new listings.  The summer was long and hot and full of life changing moments, but I'm back. 

The handspun yarn below, once set, will be listed on Etsy for sale.  It is a blend of tencel, and merino.  The shades are purples, greens, and some tans.  The merino roving I painted was called Mud and Moss.  The spinning of the one bobbin was done during The Great Escape.  The second bobbin, was spun due to the persistence of a friend's desire to watch me spin. 

              

Jeanetta is having an amazing giveaway on her blog, Splendid Things.  She won a gorgeous handmade removable covers for composition books.  She got to keep one and was asked to giveaway the other.  It's a blue on blue Molly print.  I would love to win it, but I bet you would too...so go over there and post a comment and you may win.

With the mention of Jeanetta, it leads me to the upcoming football game.  Last night, poor Drew was out practicing in the pouring rain.  Arkansas has been hit with the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav.  It has really been something else.  Gusts of  crazy winds and big heavy rain drops.

                   

Of course, the skies were nice and blue on Saturday's scrimmage game, where I snapped the above picture.  Drew was in the game for a bit and I was introduced to football for kids in the south.  Man, the parents don't mess around.  It was actually a bit scary.  The team we played against was twice the size of our team.   I felt like the parents/thugs from the other team needed reminders that we were watching kids play a game...thankfully, I can write checks with my mouth my husband can cash.  But no check cashing needed to be done...thankfully.  I actually maintained myself fairly nicely, just when people are yelling at their kids to hurt other kids, your mama instincts tend to kick in.

           

Lastly, I will leave you with a Peacock colored Boucle.  The loops are small and it would be a dream to knit up.  I have been debating listing this one for a bit, I just see it being a gorgeous scarf.  So it may or may not be on Etsy...but we shall see.  It's silk too, yummy.

With all this crazy rain, First Thursday may be rained out.  I hope not, but the forecast doesn't look too promising.   I'll keep you posted.

September Calendar

Happy Labor Day!  Here's this months wallpaper for your computer background.  This week look for lots of new fibers to be posted.  Also, The Twisted Purl will be spinning during First Thursday in Little Rock's Hillcrest District.  I will post the map on Wednesday.  Don't labor too hard today.