So over the last year and a half, my yarn production has been low and my excuse making skills have been off the chart.  I have been knitting, spinning, and generally fibre-arting, but in a much lower quantity than before.

What else have I been up to?  I’m glad that you asked.

Over the course of 2011 I ran in my first half marathon, first 30 km race, and first full marathon.  I threw in a couple of other half marathons just for good measure and fun.

I also read a couple dozen books (I loves me some Christopher Moore books).

I moved the Yarn Shop of Manliness HERE.

I enrolled in a creative writing course, the results of which are HERE.

So yeah, not an unproductive year by any stretch of the means.  Add to that the fact that I’ve got a pile of new yarn assembled and weighed and photographed and you’ve got the triumphant return of manliness to the world of knitting.

The “Rocking” switch has been set in the “ON” position.  Even if there is Wiener Dog Interference.

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

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

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:

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.

• 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!

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?

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.

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.

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.

check it oot!