Knitting, Spinning and Kitten....

I am back, yes it has been a while - I have been spending time cleaning and sprucing up the outside and the inside of our home.  The inside to me is a constant process because I love to paint!  I cannot paint a picture for the life of me or even draw - not even a stick figure - but I can paint walls till no tomorrow and I love it.  I have been in my home for 10 years and have painted the whole house over 3 times already and some already their 4th time - and still painting.  Love the fresh smell and new color - I love color and I love a new look - maybe too much  !  Good thing hubby doesn't mind - he comes home and never knows what color a room will be.  Works for me.
Another thing that has been keeping me busy is this little guy:

This is Junior - He is 8 weeks old now - it all started when my daughter went to the APF (animal protective foundation) and picked up a gorgeous kitten - his name is Jasper - and he is adorable - playful and full of personality - I just love him.  I was jealous and two weeks later had to come home with my little one - of course he was 6 weeks old when he came home with us - neutered and has his shots - but boy was he tiny.  I could hold him in the palm of my hand.  He was so quiet and not playful at all.  Then two weeks went by and now he is into all his toys and playing and just loves to cuddle - I think that is his favorite thing to do.  He purrs forever and ever.  Sweet little boy.
Here is a picture of my daughters kitten - he is now 4 months old - I really think he is a Bengal tiger mix cat - the vet thinks so as well.

Is he not gorgeous!  Here he is 3 months old.

Okay so now on to some fibery goodness:  I have been spinning some coopworth fiber that I purchased last year.  It is a pound of fiber .  I split the batch in half and dyed in two different dye baths.  One with more black in it and the other a little lighter - , black, yellow and a purplish color - then I put each batch in a separate bag- carded them with my hand carders (doing this as I go)  and spun a ply of each batch and then plied them together.
Here is the photo of the before and after dye process:

The top photo shows the original Coopworth off the sheep and the bottom shows the darker of the dye baths.  This is 8 oz in this bowl.

Here is the fiber all spun up and plied.  The Larger skein has 160 yards, and the smaller skein is 75 yards , it is between a sport weight and dk weight yarn

I was unsure how the yellow would do in this skein but I actually like the way it turned out.!  Now to keep on spinning and plying.  I have a way to go!  

Yesterday our family spent the day in Saratoga NY just walking around and looking at all the little shops .

One of the indoor mini malls has a new soap shop with hand made soaps.  Just opened two weeks ago.  What a nice surprise - someday I will make my own but for now this is what I purchased at McGillycuddy's

So on the left is Complexion Oatmeal, the middle is Lavender Vanilla Oatmeal

on the right is Tea Tree Dermal.  

All good for the skin. Cannot wait to try these.  

The large Celtic round soap is Rosemary Mint made with Schoharie County Milk Soap.  Smells divine!

Next up went to Common Threads - yarn shop in Saratoga.  I have not been to the shop in a long time.  I went straight to the section where the sock yarn is and found this:

Malabrigo

I just adore this yarn , I have to say it is one of my favorites to work with.  I have a pair of socks on the needle right now from a previous skein I purchased that is a darker green colorway .  So soft and cushy.

I plan to make something very pretty with this yarn.  A shawl or something - this really needs to be shown off - I love making socks but I think this deserves a better showing! I love green and the golden rod color and all the orange (which is brighter in person) and all the different shadings of color makes this a fantastic colorway! 

Wish I could take a better photo of this .  I tried several times and this was the best I could get.  It has 440 yards and if my shawl is larger then I will add a yarn to it that I had spun myself for the edging that should compliment this yarn nicely.