Spring is starting to show its face here in Michigan. Well… at least the snow is melting . Soon it will be time to brave the great outdoors again. I am really looking forward to that.

Last night, Ron and I started discussing Ipods again. His Ipod touch broke about 6 months ago, and he really misses the connectivity that it offered him. We started looking into getting him a Droid, but our contract with Verizon is not up until November. Anyway, while searching for prices on an Ipod touch, I came across one of the auction websites. I figured, lets try it. I should know better. Twenty-five dollars later, and I still don’t have an Ipod touch. However, I have a brand new understanding on how people can make good livings off of selling things soooo cheap.

I have been knitting socks like mad for the kids, and have decided that the pattern that I made for Rachels socks I will actually post once I have the socks knitted. The pattern works well with colorful yarns, and is easily memorized and adjusted to different sizes. Look for it.

On the spinning front, I have been spinning some merino from The Spinning Loft. I usually do not like spinning merino, however, this is spinning up beautifully! I am spinning it to knit into the Printed Silk Cardigan from Interweave Knits Spring 2008 issue. Yes, I know it is not silk. However, do I really want a silk cardigan? Don’t answer that.

A few months back I picked up a fiber sampler from The Spinning Loft. At the time I had decided that I really needed to expand my fiber addiction from processed fiber to raw wool.

I guess I really didn’t know what I was doing. When I bought the sampler, I bought a flicker too, with the intention of spinning from the lock. The first fiber I washed was some merino. All went well, and other than overspinning the yarn. So it was time to try some more.

I totally felted the corridale while washing it, and decided for Christmas that handcards were in order. I successfully carded and spun the Polworth (my favorite wool so far) and Border Leicester (which would be good for a rug but not for close to skin stuff). I am in the process of spinning up some Finn. It is great practice on the backward long draw, and really, it has been a lot of fun.

My only frustration was with the Blue Faced Leicester wool I received. There was so much VM in the fiber that I ended up just throwing it away. I was disappointed, since I absolutely love BFL. I guess it a good thing that I have 6 oz of handdyed BFL that are wanting to be made into socks

Well, needless to say, last year was a little hectic. It seams that everything that went wrong did for us as a family. On the crafting side though, I have finally gotten more confident in both my knitting and spinning.

The interesting thing for me this Christmas was that all of my kids requested handknit socks. I was able to complete them all, although I am still working on Rons Christmas socks. Oh well. I also finished a hat and mittens for Rachel. Here is a pic:

Well, one of my new year resolutions will be to post more often. I have to thank the ladies at knitting night for asking about my website. Hopefully, I will be posting so patterns here in the future, and maybe some tips on spinning and what not. Too much to do, so little time.