July 29th, 2010 | Tags: , ,
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for anyone curious about current yarn assemlby and progress, i shall introduce you to what i’ve been working on.

from a soft but manly roving from sprouty25.etsy.com:

pure awesome

the colours flowed brilliantly into each other and the result was a yarn that desperately wants to become a toque for ma head.

yeah, teddy bear

this was made from a bag of Louet roving i picked up at The Fibre Garden in Jordan Village, ON.  the colourway is Teddy Bear although i’m thinking more along the lines of Kodiak or Grizzly.

and here’s a glance of what’s on the bobbin and will hopefully be done before the weekend:

kaboom!

July 26th, 2010 | Tags:
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what?  a yarn shop update COMING SOON???  how is that even possible?

it’s entirely true.  i actually have a few finished handspun yarns ready to be photographed and plopped into the yarn shop of manliness.  sadly, i must report that there’s no new sock yarn YET.  apparently the merino/cashmere/nylon sock yarn i get has been on backorder for a while so i need to be patient.

speaking of patience, i’ve gotten back the spinning and knitting mojo, but unfortunately have very little patience for actually completing things.  i’ve got the urge to start about 50 projects right now (including a bunch of ManSpun Toques for upcoming winter yarn/craft shows).

time to work on the zillion projects in mind is coming though.  it’s knit-night tonight at Panera Bread in mississauga – come on by if you’re in the area – and Stitch ‘N Pitch is tomorrow at Skydome Rogers Center.

well, more excuses i reckon.  sure it’s been a couple of months, but it’s also been summertime!  my spinning production has been sadly low for the last while, but other accomplishments over the last couple of months include:

  • a 160 km bicycle trip with my family from Brockville, ON to Picton, ON (my hometown!)
  • knit 2/3 of a sock
  • cast on another sock
  • recorded an episode of MustStashYo
  • grown really huge sideburns

also, i’ll be heading out to Stitch N’ Pitch on tuesday to see the Blue Jays battle with the Baltimore Orioles – there’s even a skein of my Heavy Metal Single Ply yarn as a prize.

hope to see you all there!

May 23rd, 2010 | Tags: , , , , ,
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i’ve finally completed assembly of the Unpossibly Awesome Socks:

Unpossibly Awesome!

and to celebrate, i’m drinking Rickard’s White and casting on a new pair of socks.  in a few moments, i’ll be casting on the Hannah Socks pattern from Patti’s Patterns.  it’ll be my first attempt at cables, but being a man – i have plenty experience with cables attached to electronic devices.  this can’t be much different, right?

photobombed by the dog!

May 22nd, 2010 | Tags:
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wow, did i really go a whole month without posting something?

so yes, i have been spinning yarn.  not on an overly productive pace, but i have been assembling some of the finest yarns mankind has ever known.

however, i have not been photographing them like i should be.  tomorrow should be sunny, and i should be off the couch by then.

today i started off the long weekend (happy birthday queen victoria!) with a trip to Port Hope:

tomorrow i’m going to finish off my super awesome merino roving from thechickswithsticks, finish my unpossibly awesome sock and hopefully photograph some yarn.

OH, and hopefully we’ll be recording episode 10 of the MustStashYo podcast.

possibly because of the power of a moustache and an awesome toque, i am proud to announce that i have been chosen as the new singer of Van Halen.

the tour starts today.  we’ll be playing shows at Madison Square Gardens in New York, the Air Canada Center in Toronto and the Sydney Opera House – all today!  i’m a little worried we might not make it to the New York show on time after doing Toronto and Sydney, but the pilot swears we’ll make it.

that being said, i’ve actually spent some time spinning yarn and should have some new yarny manliness posted into the shop this weekend once i get a chance to photograph it.

AND (fingers crossed) we should be recording the new episode of muststashyo tonight (between gigs of course!).  i’ll be sure to elaborate on some of the excuses as to why we haven’t recorded yet.

February 19th, 2010 | Tags: , , , ,

there’s two things i’ve got to do this weekend.  one is laundry, the other is spin a massive pile of yarn.  my intention is to go through at least one pound, but preferable two pounds of fibre (mostly 80/20 merino/silk).  i’ve been preparing an arsenal of movies to watch but again am calling for the input of the interwebs.  i’m looking for funny and i’m starting with The Hangover.  what’s next on the list eh?

February 15th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , ,
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yes, i’m actually making good on one of my promises… photos of the unpossibly awesome sock.

one down, one more to go.

** edit – do you realize how difficult it is to get both your foot AND your face in focus in the same shot in a poorly lit room?  everyone is welcome to post their foot-face-focus attempts in the comments.

February 14th, 2010 | Tags: , , , ,
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even though i haven’t been spinning as much as i’d like to, i have been knitting quite a bit.  i finished a sock (pictures to come), and i completely rocked out in my newly finished sock-head hat!

check it oot!

February 5th, 2010 | Tags:
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first thing is the good news – Muststashyo Episode 7 has been posted!

january’s been a busy month.  my attempt at getting massive amounts of spinning have failed.  i think i have three yarns to photograph and post.  hardly the progress i was hoping for after a few weeks.

i had the day off from day-job yesterday and today though.  why you ask?  well, there was a fire on the third floor of the building (i work on the 6th floor).  the good is that nobody was hurt.  the bad is that my company on the 5th and 6th floor were trapped inside until the firefighters got things under control.  i’d have to say that i have nothing but respect for the mississauga fire department though.  they quickly got things out of control and got us out of the building as soon as things were safe.

currently my office has some broken windows which are being fixed and the building management are doing some air quality tests.  in theory i should be back on monday… unless someone sets another fire.  i’m not saying that anyone SHOULD do that, just that if that happens, it would be very convenient.  for me.