So what did everyone do for WWKIP Day?  I’d planned to go to the event being held in Centennial Park in downtown Nashville, but when I got up and saw how dreary it looked outside, I just didn’t feel like going.  My local yarn shop came up with a great alternative though: we all got together at 9 a.m. at our local Barnes and Noble to knit together.

Starbuck’s coffee, lots of books and knitting?  Count me in!  There were also door prizes involved, and I won one!  I got a nice tote bag (I think it’s from SWTC), a Starbucks gift card (woo!), and a cute nail file that has the Neighborhood Knit Shop’s logo on it.  It was fun to get out and knit someplace outside my house or the knit shop, and I hope to get the opportunity to do it more often.

After the morning WWKIP event, I went home and checked on the animals and did a little house work… Friday night I had come home to a flooded apartment.  Water had come in under our font door and soaked our throw-rugs and carpeting around there, and it had also come up through a foundation leak that’s apparently somewhere between the kitchen and utility room.  The kitchen actually had standing water and there were soaked towels and laundry in our utility room because I’d left them on the floor when I was sorting laundry.  Ugh!  So needless to say I had a mess on my hands and worked quite a bit on Friday and Saturday to get things back to normal.  The joys of apartment-living, I tell you.  At least they have to pay to fix it.

Anyway, I went back to the knit shop after lunch time and spent most of the afternoon there visiting with my friends and knitting.

I’ve been working diligently on my Clapotis…

Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in “Emerald”
- - -

See?  I took it up onto the plaza to photograph it by the fountain during my lunch hour today.  I’m fairly certain I probably scared a few tourists.  (”Why is the crazy lady over there taking pictures of her knitting?” … “Why is the crazy lady knitting heavy wool in 90-degree heat?” …)

I’ve gotten to drop the stitches on two rows so far.  I love watching it unravel down, down, down.  Unfortunately, my one and only complaint about the Malabrigo: it sticks to itself.  So sometimes you have to help the stitches drop.  That’s also why my skein is rolled into a regular ball rather than a center-pull.  When I had it in a center pull ball, it kept sticking and getting tangled.  I think when I join the next skein, I may roll it into a center-pull ball, but pull the working yarn from the outside rather than the middle.

I’m also knitting socks, as always.  I’m finishing up a couple pairs before Summer of Socks ‘08 begins.

I still have a pair of socks for my husband on the needles…

Pattern: 7 Stitches Per Inch Sock by Ann Budd (from Getting Started Knitting Socks)
Yarn: Rio de la Plata in “Teal Black Too”
- - -

I’m discovering that plain stockinette socks really don’t hold my interest as much as they used to, despite using interesting yarns to try and compensate.  So I’m really suffering to finish these.  Not to mention that the husband has BIG feet, so I still have lots of knitting ahead of me.  ::sigh::

My Swirls socks have been getting more attention because it’s a really fun pattern to knit up: challenging enough to keep my attention, but not so challenging that it becomes frustrating.

Pattern: Swirls by Monica Jines
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome in “Wind in the Willows”
- - -

These socks (pattern and yarn) were from the first month’s shipment of the Loopy Ewe sock club.  I’m finally finishing them up!

And speaking of sock clubs… I managed to finally get signed up for Yarn Pirate’s Booty Club!  I’m psyched.  I’ve always missed sign ups in the past.

I’ve also been lusting after some of the new(-ish) colorways from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  Specifically I’m eyeballing Kaw Kaw and Grimm’s Willow-Wren.

But ya know… all I need right now is more sock yarn.  ::ahem::

First, there are a couple fun knitting/fiber-related events coming up in the middle Tennessee area and I wanted to share them with you:

• Worldwide Knit in Public Day will be celebrated in Nashville on June 14th at Centennial Park, beginning at 11 a.m.  You can find more details about the event here.  I’m really hoping to make it, providing the weather is nice.  If you come, be sure to look for me and say “hello”!
• The Middle Tennessee Sheep, Wool and Fiber Festival is coming up on May 23rd & 24th.  It’s taking place in Dickson, TN at the Dickson County fair grounds.  More information can be found at their site.  I was lucky enough to get a spot in their Beginning Spinning workshop on Saturday afternoon, and I can’t wait!  (Not to mention, I can’t wait to go ogle all the lovely roving the vendors will be selling…)

Speaking of spinning, I know several people have asked me how my spinning is coming along.  Truthfully I haven’t had the opportunity to do nearly as much as I’d like to.  In the short bits of free time I have here and there, it’s easy to pick up my knitting projects, but I really have to devote bigger blocks of time if I’m going to drag out my wheel.  It seems that I need to make time for spinning.

I did pick up some new roving last week from The Loopy Ewe:

This particular fiber comes from black Blue-Faced Leicester sheep, and then is overdyed with color.  It gives a really neat effect and I can’t wait to see how it spins up.

I also placed another order from The Woolery (where I purchased my wheel) today.  I got 2 more bobbins, a niddy-noddy, and the Ashford maintenance kit.  And I placed an order from Sakina Needles for some lovely Corriedale and BFL (TLE hasn’t had either of those fibers in stock reccently).

So, what have I actually spun…?  Not much.  Yet.

In a previous post, I showed the first singles I’d spun.  Here’s some more shots of the singles and 2-ply I made from that:

Then tonight I finished spinning my second single, a merino/colonial blend from CJ Kopec Creations:

Finally, here’s what I have on my wheel now.  I just started spinning this merino/tencel blend (also from CJ Kopec Creations) tonight:

This merino/tencel is by far the most challenging fiber I’ve spun so far.  The tencel just wants to separate from the merino.  It’s a real challenge!

I’m very glad I decided to order mostly BFL and corriedale (”easy” fibers) to spin next.  I think I need a lot more practice!