Maia Spins

Blogiversary & Yarnival!

My Toe-up Gusseted Heel Tutorial is in the August issue of Yarnival!  Hop on over to January One, the host for this month.

A bit of eye candy for you before we get to blogiversary talk.

Roger's iPhone cozy complete with a ear bud pocket.  We turned the fuzzy side in so it would help to keep the iPhone clean.  The irony of a sleek and sophisticated piece of equipment in a funky bit of fluffy fabric is quite satisfying.  Plus, it is easily found when reaching into his murse.

I am still working on my handspun sweater.  This is 350 grams (about 3/4 of a pound) of lac dyed fleece after one pass through the drum carder.  In its fluffed up state it looks bigger than a cardboard filing box.  I'll do the same with the madder-dyed fleece before I start blending them with the silk.

My little helper.  I was sorting some fiber that I was about to mordant and putting it into mesh garment bags.  I turned my back for a moment and Sammie decided to test it for its cushioning qualities.  He is so helpful!

My first blogiversary is just around the corner.  To commemorate the event I'm having a contest.

Here is how to enter:
Comment on this post or
Email me or
Solve the puzzle below and let me know the answer or
Create an alternate puzzle and send it to me

Basically, anything that puts you on my radar.  Don't be shy, first time commenters are welcome, nay encouraged.

I guarantee at least four or five prizes will be awarded.  Not bad odds.  The prizes will be my handspun or my hand-dyed sock yarn or some other cool knitting or spinning related trinket.  All winners will have some say in what prize they get.

My Puzzle:
There are three clues that will tell you the date of my first blog post.  Of course you could go through my archives and look it up, but where's the challenge in that?
Clue 1: Goodbye to Coretta Scott King, Wilson Pickett, Betty Friedan, Buck Owens, Ann Richards, Buck O'Neil, and James Brown.
Clue 2: Part of the date is related to sphenic numbers (math IS cool!).
Clue 3: Janis Ian or Winger or Frank Sinatra

Winners will be drawn on Monday August 20th, probably in the morning (Pacific time). 

Spinning A Good Day

It has been a great day so far.  The weather is gorgeous!  I am out and about in slacks, a T-shirt, and flip-flops and quite comfortable.  Roger and I are puttering in the back yard.  We also went to Annie's Annuals, a local nursery with a great native plant selection.  Those are for the front yard. 

When we got home, I learned that my Yarn Recipe is in the April edition of Yarnival!  Yippee!  It is hosted at Mega(K)nits this month.  It looks like a good edition.  I am so excited, I am telling you before I read it myself.

Two Surf or Not Two Surf
My apologies to William Shakespeare for the bad pun.  Here is all of the Surf roving spun up.  The second skein (at the top of the pile artfully displayed yarn) is slightly lighter weight than the original, but not enough to be an issue.  I am satisfied.  And, I have over 500 yards!  Whoot!

Swatching begins tonight.  I am thinking about a surf themed pattern.  We shall see what the yarn has to say.

When I finished spinning Surf, the pink and yellow roving called to me.  There is only 4 ounces of this colorway, so I am spinning it finer than Surf.  Wensleydale is a very heavy wool an it never seems to have the kind of yardage that finer wools have for the same amount of wool.  I am aiming for a true fingering weight. 

And, as Lauren pointed out, it is in Project Spectrum colors for April and May (as is Surf).   Thank you Lauren.  Since I am always behind on these things; I really appreciate the reminder.

Here is half of it spun up (as always, you can click for a bigger picture).  Posing the bobbin on the roving is inspired by a recent post by Margene.  It is really nice to see the before and after together.

I am calling it Peach for now.  Yes, I do suck at naming things.  Please feel free to suggest a better name.