more to dye for

In preparation for Sock Summit, where hopefully I’ll be participating on a consignment basis I’ve been dyeing up some yarns. I’m hoping eventually to create repeatable colorways and am getting a little closer. In the mean time, there’s been some older dye solution that needed using up. This resulted in the kettle dyed yarns below. These are “Moirae’s Limited Edition,” which is the name I’m giving to the new 100% merino superwash yarn base I obtained. It’s a every so slightly heavier than the Kona Fingering Weight I was using before for Fatalist Sock and has a tigher twist. I used it to dye my Twilight inspired yarn. I may continue to dye the Fatalist Sock, but am still not sure about it. I’ll be winding this yarn up soon and then it will go into the shop. Some of it might go for samples at Sock Summit.

Below are some more. The first grouping is some kettle dyed yarn where I’ve experimented with Hot Fuschia and Burgundy and have layered in black and brown (in different skeins). I’ve got three more paler one’s in the basement in which I’m layering browns and pumpkin on top. In the middle chair, there’s green, cream and pink and a black white, fuschia and pink yarn. The latter is for Mia. I’m not sure I matched her wild pink crocs. In keeping with the shoe theme, the first two skeins of the  third chair match my own Teva’s. The one’s on the far right represent a darker version, without the teal.

So here’s a question. I’ve got to have some knit samples at Sock Summit. What socks should I make? I’m making Viper Pilots out of my bamboo. I will need to do socks in a semi-solid and in a multi-color yarn. I will probably let the person decide, but any ideas? How about Nebula by Cookie A for the wine colored yarn?

shop updates

There are a few new items at the shop including some more stitch markers. The first set of turquoise bears went fast. I made myself a banner. There is some eco-friendly yarn that is all dyed up and drying in my basement. Of course, I can’t skein it until we fix my swift!

This is the accidentally self-striping sock yarn I dyed. Can you believe I didn’t plan the stripes? I think it looks pretty good.

a few pics

You have until Friday to enter the brilliant crafters contest. In the meantime, I will work hard not to buy something from all the great people you mentioned so far.

Here are some more pictures. I divided them into a couple of posts because this was getting very long. I had a very negligent blogging sumer and I’m still catching up.  SPOILER ALERT: If you click on the more link, you will see what I got from Scout’s Swag for the sock yarn club for October.

Happy late Halloween. This is what my husband’s first-year class did.

This is the best picture I have of the Ostritch Plume scarf. I’m knitting it in Ella Rae’s laceweight merino, which is a fingering weight yarn. Basically, it’s sock yarn without the nylon. It’s beautiful and I will enjoy blocking it.

The Coriolis socks are back on track. Once I get the heels done, they will go really fast.

In the category of yarn that I haven’t shown you, when my inlaws were here in July, they bought some yarn for me to make hats for them. My father-in-law has a 24″ head and hats don’t fit him. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do just yet, but I’d better get going!

Here’s some Wollmeise I got from the Loopy Ewe Sock Club. I never photographed it. It was a busy summer. The color is called PIllars of Fire and there is a very generous 540 yards.

preview

Here it is, nearly the end of Socktoberfest and what do I have to show it?

Yes, I’m knitting. I have no knitting photographs. Worse, I have no complete pairs of socks. I’m rotating through my WIPS though, a few rows here and a few rows there. Pretty dull really. I’ve done a few rows of the left front of the Katherine Hepburn Sweater from Lace Style, fixed the Ostrich Plume Scarf so I actually know what row I’m on, cast-on for the Bird In Hand Mittens by Kate Gilbert, bought the Pacific Island Shawl pattern from Fiber Dreams, worked on a pair of plain (striped) socks made from one of my own yarns, untangled a few skeins of yarn, bought another skein of yarn for the EZ February Baby Sweater and knit most of a panel for a Lizard Ridge Afghan.

What I do have to show for it are these. I’m pretty pleased overall.

shop update

I added a lot more of the yarn to the shop. There are about 5 skeins left to go.

I’ve put one line called test sock. These are varying yarn bases and I’m really experimenting with colors here. It’s a lot of work – when I’m feeling like a pro, I will probably develop some actual colorways. In the meantime, benefit from the learning process and get some great yarn at a great price!

I will always be wiling to send your yarn via first-class mail. Just let me know that that’s what you want and I’ll make sure you get the difference in purchase price. The trouble is that it costs another .75 or so for the mailer, so most of the time you might as well have it sent via priority mail.

after shots

Lime Getaway

Sunset Confusion

Acid Pop

some pretties

On Monday I started dyeing the yarn I picked up over the weekend, so of course my real yarn base arrived, so I set to work making skeins on my new Niddy Noddy and dyeing up a cone. Whee. Both my arms hurt. There’s another purple skein from the weekend around and I have yet to take the after-shots. I had to rinse all the bamboo again; too much of a vinegar smell. It’s a bit tangly at the moment, so I’m going to have to tie my skeins better. I’m excited though to see how it looks all finished. As soon as I get a chance I’m doing to dye up some laceweight. I’ve got three hanks at 880 yards a piece. Hopefully that’s sufficient. Solids? Semi-solids? What would you prefer?

Bamboo 2 - Before

Lime Getaway - Before

Before

Acid Pop - Before (I spent an eternity untangling this.) Rule #1 - don't drop half the skein!

Cold Fusion

Hidden Depths

more hand dyed sock yarn

So I bought a couple more commercial sock yarn blanks over the weekend and am continuing to dye anything not nailed down. These are 430 yards / 100 grams of 75% superwash merino, 25% nylon fingering weight yarn. The nylon on them ought to make any pair of socks knit with them darn durable. I put them up over on Etsy for $23, not including shipping. These are non-repeatable colorways, since I’m still in the learning phase. During my last run, I thought I would learn more about pink since I spent so much time on red and blue during my previous attempts.

Here are the pictures.

Peacenik

 

Sugar and Spice

I still own house cats and while I have not yet found a good place to skein and reskein yarn away from them, I will before I’m out of this learning phase. Therefore, I ask those of you who are allergic, to please be patient with me.

overdyeing

Ever since my first encounter with hand dyeing last week, I’ve been hunting around for my place undyed yarns that I could dye. Why on earth did I trade away the cream colored Mountain Mohair I have? Couldn’t I break into my Cascade 220 that I bought for the Masters Program? (No.) Who sells cream colored / unbleached sock yarns at a reasonable price?

When I was at TKGA I was surrounded by wonderful blank yarns, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy any of them with a huge order on the way. I haven’t really found much nearby either. I suspect a trip to Abundant Dyeworks could work out once in a while, given a recent conversation I had with the owner. (They can always order it for you too.) And if I really wanted to trek, I could always go to Knot Another Hat in Hood River; however, at that point you might as well go to the place in Washington where I’m ordering my unddyed yarn and do a pick up.

This is just to tide me over until my order shows up in a couple of weeks. There was some Happy Feet at the Purl District nearby but it was $18.75. Just knowing though what a wholesale price I could be paying has put me off buying anything for now.They are having one of their quarterly knitting dinners tomorrow night, which won’t work out since I’ve got other things going on. In addition, I’ve bought too much stuff recently and Oregon Flock and Fiber is coming up next week. And then I thought about overdyeing. Hooray! I have some Nature’s Palette yarn that is too pale a color for me. I fell in love with one of their rich purples yesterday and boy was I jealous.

dyeing to see?

I hope you are interested in seeing what I dyed last week. Not very much really, since I only had three skeins of undyed sock yarn lying around and a skein of worsted.

Initially I decided to take one of the sock yarn skeins and make mini skeins to see if I could make up colors. I ended up dyeing it all though. I’m afraid results aren’t particularly reproduceable…yet. When I made the initial stock solutions, I did so without a funnel and as a result some of the dye powder ended up in the sink rather than in the bottle. Next time I’m going to use a paper coffee filter or a plastic baggie with a triangle cut out of it to make sure the dye ends up in the bottle. That way I’ll be able to reproduce my results. I hope. I’ve got some base yarn on the way in October, so that should be really fun! Maybe it will even be saleable. That’s my long-term hope. I also hope to have enough money to open an account with Louet or find another yarn base that I like.

I am also going to plan on dyeing deeper richer colors. Hooray. The baby skeins are Knit Picks 100% Sperwash Merino – Fingering Weight.

i am the merry master of the teeny wittle skein

It’s so cute it’s disgusting. I took a skein of Knit Picks super wash and started tying it into little hanks so as to make some sample colors. I’ve got about 50 of them and I plan to try 2 to three dyes on each one so I can get a good idea of what the bleeding what will look like. I also placed a larger order for some undyed sock yarn (not Knit Picks). My plan is to just a couple of those and I should have a good idea of what the relative color difference would look like. At least I hope I would.

On the work front I am finishing up the final details of my document; presentation to be given Sept 22nd. And I got a letter from a state agency telling me that I qualified as an applicant for a job I applied for on July 21st.

simply socks yarn contest – your favorite sock yarn

The Simply Socks Yarn Company is holding a contest. They want to know what your favorite sock yarn is and why. Here are some of my favorites. The deadline is June

1. Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight (Bouncy yarn, pleasurable to knit with, gorgeous colorways and locally dyed).
2. Colinette Jitterbug (Bouncy yarn. Very full feeling. Pleasurable to knit with.)
3. I can’t believe I didn’t tell them Koigu. What the heck was I thinking? It’s KOIGU.
4. And I forgot about Shibui. (Also locally dyed and a lot like Koigu and Louet).
   
5. Lorna’s Laces (Gorgeous dyes, hard wearing)
6. Louet (great stand bye)
7. Scout’s Swag. Yummy colors. Some day I will finish a pair of socks with this.

Anyway, knock yourself out!

blue moon and stephanie pearl mcphee

I am painfully aware that I never posted my pictures from seeing Stephanie Pearl McPhee speak at the Oregon World Forestry Center on Earth Day. So here is a link to the set. Most of the pictures are from the Inexplicable Knitting Behavior scavenger hunt. I am not delinquent, I was preventing a colorway spoiler. (To which I say, I am a big liar.)

This colorway is called Knitters Without Borders.

It’s pretty. Yum. Mine!

I had to make it back to work the next day, so I had to leave without having spoken with her Harlotness in person, but its nice when your friends can get your book (Things I Learned from Knitting…whether I wanted to or not) signed for you. I know I had a really good time and I got my cool pin for free. I heard Duffy sing A Traveling Sock. Not only is she brave, but she has a great voice too. I’m sure you’ve already seen the video on You Tube, but here it is just in case you missed it.

earth day yarn swap

I was gifted some amazing stuff in the Earth Day Yarn Swap. Unfortunately, I’ve been swamped and haven’t had time to post about it! The photographs have been on flickr since April 23rd. I haven’t posted the Yarn Harlot event stuff either, if that gives you an idea. I just got back from a conference in Las Vegas and boy do I have some blogging to catch up on. I was supposed to be back at 1AM but got in instead at 10AM due to a flight cancellation. So I got 5 hrs of sleep and then got up to head to Portland. Finally!

Anyway, Owlette (Maria) sent me a great package from Canada for Earth Day. It included lovely yarn from Indigo Moon, dried pineapple (which I broke my diet to eat and it was good…), beeswax candles, and a pen and mechanic pencil set made from corn, soap nuts and Denman Island chocolate! The chocolate is all gone of course and now I’m going to have to figure out how to get more. The mint was my favorite, but I think I ate the espresso flavored one pretty quickly too. I don’t own nearly enough solid sock yarn and I’m totally into the green Tanis Fiber Arts yarn she sent me. (I love the blue-purple too.) The Indigo Moon yarn was bought from Trish Moon, a spinner and weaver from Gabriola Island off Vancouver Island. She uses natural dyes and was the only locally available yarn. It’s Canadian sourced wool too. Beat that! The goodies were local too.

more yarn and birthday stuff

My birthday was in January and it included 2 gift certificates to the Loopy Ewe. And I had another one in my account already, so I’d been saving them for just the right moment. That moment was last week and the yarn came on Friday.

I’m sure you want to see the Casbah in Paris by Handmaiden,

the Mermaid Sock by Lime and Violet in Myrna Loy

and the Bellisma by Zen String.

All in all there has been a lot of slippage lately. I’m only allowed to buy 1000 yards more this year right now and that doesn’t include last weeks’ moment of weakness at Sweet Georgia Yarns, the Earth Day Yarn swap package I’m expecting, 2 shipments of Loopy Ewe Sock Club, 3 shipments of Scout’s Swag’s Sock Club, yarn at two festivals, or yarn at the Yarn Harlot’s Book Signing. Hmm, do I have anything on order? I’d better get knitting!

And the Salem Area Ravelers wonder why I keep avoiding the yarn crawls.

up and down

On the downside, I’m home sick. I hate having a sore throat. I think tomorrow I’m just going to take whatever sudafed crud I can find (I’m NOT supposed to take this stuff for a variety of reasons) and go back to work. I’m movied out, bored and probably just have another sinus infection. Of course, my doctor is located near my job anyway.

maw of the zombie

I finished the heel flap of my Zombie Sock for Sock Madness 2 last night and now am staring directly into the maw of the foot.

These are surfer zombies by the way. As in, “Dude, I’m totally dead.”

hypnosis

I’m finding the Zombie pattern that I’m knitting as part of Sock Madness completely hypnotic. I guess the zombie state that one gets into after knitting for several hours straight is a lot like being hypnotized. Or maybe it’s the yarn. Or how it looks in this pattern. Of course my socks look more like rippling waves than a zombie, unless the zombie is pretty fresh and just bruised. I tinked out 8 rows, so I feel that way myself. Maybe the pattern will turn me into a knitting zombie.

After 3 1/2 hrs of knitting and tinking, I just finished pattern repeat #2, row 8. More tomorrow night after work most likely. Though maybe tomorrow lunch will be one of those longer lunch breaks. Good thing I’m being sent home early on a delivery mission!

mad knitting

Yep, Sock Madness started this afternoon. So I’m knitting as much as I can in between work and commuting home, which means I’ve done all of 7 rows of ribbing. Here’s a pic.

The yarn is Blue Brick Wall by Blue Moon Fiber Arts. My husband bought it for me this weekend at Twisted. That makes two shops in Oregon (other than the company itself and for that you have to place an online order) that I know of that carry Blue Moon. The other is the Farmhouse Knit Shop, which is in a Portland suburb (Beaverton). So I guess Twisted can claim that they are the only shop in Portland that carries Blue Moon. Regardless, they have a lot of it in right now and they’ve had it in for two weeks. I can only imagine what they must have gotten initially.

I know I owe you posts. They are coming . Now back to knitting those socks! I really want to make it out of Round 1 again this year and I musn’t let the fact that the new Knitty is up distract me. Nor that I want to tell you that I got into the 3-month version of Scout’s Swag Sock Club, which will start in October.

the accidental knitter

the accidental knitterOriginally uploaded by moiraeknitting.

This is a skein of yarn dyed by the Accidental Knitter, I won at the beginning of 2008 from Rachel of Cattywampus for donating money to Heifer International. I give my Mom part of a knitting basket for Christmas every year. I saw the contest on Stumbling Over Chaos.The yarn is a bit pastel but I am sure I will find a good use for it. It is so soft.

in knitting news

I just saw a bit on Ravelry about Sweet Georgia Yarns. She’ll be reopening in 2008! Hooray. And she’s having a contest, so go check it out. I’m still knitting all the things I stashed last year. Good thing the US dollar was stronger against the Canadian at the time. (Sigh.)

arrrgh there be spoilers ahead

I got my Loopy Ewe Seasonal Sock club last Saturday and I love it. I love all the things inside. I love that it ’s my fifth purchase and that I’m being goaded into making a sixth just to become a Loopy Groopie, despite the last purchase of 2007 being slated for this coming weekend. (Souvenir yarn is quite important and I went to San Francisco last summer and all I bought was a really kickin’ pair of bunny scissors.) This time I’m coming home with more. I’ve had a really fun time with the Sock Club this year, although I’m not sure I’ll do it again. I love the yarn. I adore all of Sheri’s little extras, but I’m not a huge fan of the patterns I’ve gotten. And unfortunately, I haven’t knit with a single skein of the three I’ve gotten! (I was a late addition.) I’ve received All Things Heather, Claudia’s Hand paints and now………

photography upgrades

Thursday, I stayed home in order to get the timing belt on my car replaced. It needs doing every 100,000 miles or so and I wanted it done before we go to San Francisco for Thanksgiving. The car has 196,000 miles on it right now. Although it’s only a 1200 mile round trip to San Francisco, I think there probably won’t be much time left to get it done once I start being busier at work. It will also be the holiday season soon and it’s so easy to put off this kind of thing! I can’t let my engine fall out. That would be…bad.

I got off to being semi-productive rather late in the day. I left the camera in the car at the auto repair shop, but I got to thinking about the weather (i.e. all dark gray skies with lots of intermittent water falling out of the sky) conditions and how it has been interfering with my knitting photography. I therefore decided it was time to build a better light box than my previously jury rigged milk carton. I disassembled the milk carton rig over the summer and haven’t reassembled it since moving.

There are a lot of resources on the internet for making your own light box. I used the $10 cardboard model, but there are also some great directions for building a PVC pipe model. Anyway, I’ve already seen significant improvements and I am only using household lamps with no bulbs brighter than 150 watts (one 150 watt bulb and one 120 watt bulb).

must… not… buy

Noro Kureyon Sock. $18.95 per skein, unless otherwise noted. 70% Wool, 30% Nylon, 462 yards. 7.5 stitches to the inch on #2 needles. Here’s a photo of the pure wool prototype, which they’ve improved on by adding nylon to the yarn.

• at the Yarn and Fiber Company Windham, NH. Dearie me. Shipping free shipping to all US destinations and Canada with no restrictions. Does not ship until the first week of December.
• at Bartlett Bulky in Bath, ME. $18.95 per skein, but less if you buy in bulk. Oh my. (8 or more $16.95) (20 or more $15.00). Shipping is going to start at $6.95
• at Main Street Yarn and Fibers in Watkinsville, Georgia. Shipping is $4.50 to $7.00
• at the Yarn Market. $6.49 shipping for each pre-order. Not to be shipped until December.
• at Nestucca Bay Yarns in Lincoln City, Oregon. $18.95 per skein. Crudders, this one is basically local to me. They also sell Simply Shetland kits, including one designed by Eunny Jang. It looks great on the model anyway. I think mine would cost $95.50 including the book. Shipping is $8.00

Why list all these stores? So you can shop locally of course! Think of all the Carbon Dioxide you can prevent by at least getting it from a store nearer you or waiting until your LYS has it. It’s only a matter of time after all. Nestucca Bay is only an hour from my home, so I’ll probably head over there sometime, visit my friend Alex and eat at the Otis Cafe on the way!

twisted stich gauntlets and Monkey Swap Three

I really want to make the Twisted Stitch Gauntlets from Interweave Holiday Knits 2007. Probably just the thing for the two skeins of Louet Gems Merino that I’ve obtained from Ben Franklin. That is, if I don’t save them up for making the Katharine Hepburn sweater from Lace Style.

My other favorite project from that issue are the Teddy Bear and the Fireside Stocking.
I could definitely see the Fireside Stocking in a kind of pink, red, cream and green colorway. Do you think that’s too weird for snowflakes?

I’m also making some headway on my monkey socks for Monkey Swap Three. I knit the most of the entire foot on Monday and Wednesday nights and am just throwing in one more repeat before I get down to the toe. I’m using smaller needles for the toes and the heels in the hopes that they will wear well. Who knows why this particular heel took me four tries; this is my fourth pair of monkeys! My swap partner knows I’m a bit behind again, so all is okay. She’s behind too. (I’m in a direct exchange with the hostess in fact.) It’s going to be great. I can’t stop myself picking up additional monkey items to throw into the package.

I still want to know how it is my life went from -60 to 100 in the space of a month. It’s true that my job is very intense but it’s quite a change from unemployment and under employment. Now I can’t stop long enough around the trainings and the extensive commuting to knit a pair of socks? It’s not so bad.

she sells yarn by the seashore

I’m still catching up on my blogging. Just a quick word to my No Sheep for You swap pal in Virginia though. Thank you so much for the Tofutsies! I know it has a little wool in it, but I wanted it anyway, so it’s great to have it. It’s really pretty and I can’t wait to try it (although my queue is huge)! If you have a blog, will you drop me a note with the link, so I can put it here?

In my two weeks in Oregon, I’ve been to three yarn shops in three cities. None of them we’re in Salem. No, it’s not the beginning of a logic problem. The first was in Portland. During the Harry Potter wait, I realized I’d left my size 1 needle behind in the car, but I knew that Knit Purl was nearby, so I used the needles as an excuse to check out the shop. I really liked the variety of yarns they carried. There were several things there that I’d never seen all in one shop, or I’d only seen online, as well as some unique items.

my post blew up

My post blew up and I’m none too happy about it. Seeing as how I spent this afternoon, working on my machine, only to discover that all it needed was a new battery, I’m in no mood to rewrite it. So more expect more delays, while I’m in Walla Walla, Washington this weekend visiting friends. In the meantime, here’s a sock. I have to say, I love how the Colinette Jitterbug knits up. It’s so nice! I just hope it wears well. I’m saving the second one for my knit along, Knit Your Second Sock September.
That way, you can start Socktoberfest with a clean plate.

A Beached Cat or Monkey See, Monkey Too

My second pair of Monkey Socks.
Yarn: Koigu
Yarn Source: Needleworks Unlimited
Needles: Size 1 1/2 Addi Turbo DPN
Pattern: Monkey Socks by Cookie A (available from Knitty)
Finished: June 14, 2007

my blogiversary

I’ve decided that my blogiversary is going to be May 5th. There’s a party at my place. If you are in the area and want an evite, just e-mail me at moiraeknitting at gmail dot com.

There’s also an online contest. I’ve been working on improving both my knitting and my writing over the past year. Leave me a comment letting me know if there’s a particular blog entry from this blog that you enjoyed. (Please give me the link!) My favorites are these and they are probably the only real candidates, but I’d love to see if there’s another one.

• On My Digital Camera and Human Behavior
• Escapes With Kitchen Appliances
• Pro-Knitting
• Corrupting Today’s Youth
• How Not to Put on Buttons, a Primer

If you really can’t find a blog entry you like, you can still enter. Just tell me what your favorite project was. The winner will receive some kind of good sock yarn (most likely). It might even be one skein of Sweet Georgia. I have to see what the postman brings.

Enter by midnight Central (CDT) on Monday May 6, 2007.

done with sock yarn purchases for 2007

This is my new sock that I’m working on. It’s just a basic sock, only I’m knitting it all continental style. I’m wondering if anyone wants to do a continental along. You could join if you were new to continental style and trying to switch or if you were a new knitter, learning continental knitting. Isn’t the Sweet Georgia heavenly? This is Afterglow and only one of many skeins that I will show you in this post. I’m adoring it’s utter lack of pooling.

eating your way through your fridge (project spectrum)

Warning: skip to the next page for actual knitting content.

Honestly, I’m trying to lose weight. But through exercise, not through dieting. Although, today I’m skipping my walk in favor of cleaning the bathroom and other similar activities.

Also, this is the time of year where one tries to eat the contents of their refrigerator. I don’t mean all in one go. I’m not Joey! Crud. Just listen to me. This is the time of year… What’s really going on is that this is the time of year where my husband I move. Even though we managed to stop in Colorado for four whole years, we still had three residences. No one wants to pack that can of beans you’ve been carrying around for the last four years. Or the prepackaged soup mix you were given for Christmas in 2001. It’s still good. You’d think we’d have picked up better shopping habits by now. But it’s no good. We enable each other through the Asian foods section. Ah well.

Wonder when I’m going to make the Beignets. My husband brought back a mix from New Orleans a few years ago from THE Beignet place. Someone remind me the name of it and I’ll post a picture. It’s the one on the corner in the French Quarter and I believe it’s still there.

Anyway, I’m getting plenty of exercise cleaning and moving stuff around to take Project Spectrum Photos. There are pink, yellow and green books. And then there are green books.

 

 

 

a project spectrum 2.0 update (April/May)

Well, when we took Sparty to the vet to have her teeth cleaned, one of her blood tests was slightly abnormal. So, we’ll just work on the assumption that she does have CRF. It’s not from contaminated pet food, but thanks for asking. She eats Newman’s Own Organic normally. Thank goodness for small favors. Now she’s on a special diet, which she loves. I would bet she’s going to gain a pound.

Here’s an update on my Project Spectrum 2.0 projects.

Some more socks coming up.

the confessional

I wasn’t very good last month. I might have dropped in at Michael’s and who can resist Sugar N’ Cream, even when just looking for some
point protectors.

In fact, I bought so much yarn, that I ran out of time to post about it. I was too busy opening packages.

Here is some pretty stuff from Hello Yarn that I bought for Project Spectrum.

in which I meet the harlot (again) and my sweater twin

Yarn Purchase #1: I decided to head out a little early because I’d found out that Knitter’s Palette had gotten in a new shipment of Lorna’s Laces and I wanted to check it out. I ended up with this pretty Cherry Tree Hill instead.

Then, I headed over to Pad Thai where I met up with a monster pile of knitters. Thank goodness Chris already labeled her photo, because I really didn’t know who everyone was.

From the left, Chris of Stumbling Over Chaos, CursingMama, flat Vicki Knitorious (the photo), Beadslut, Jess of Mikknit, Connie, Cynthia, and Amy. I had a great Green Curry. Tasty.

Correction: Limedragon was NOT at dinner. Phew.

fatigue and heel stitches

Author’s Note: I started to write this post on Saturday, had a poor internet connection, and decided to take a nap instead of finishing it and posting it.

I feel like death warmed over. I’m just plain beat. I think I’ve got a fever and I’m exhausted. Fun huh? I spent the last two days of the work week at home. Tomorrow I’m going to go to work and I am feeling better, so I hope it will be okay. It’s only for a few hours. Since there don’t seem to be any visible symptoms other than a mild fever and exhaustion, I’m guessing the antibiotic the doctor gave me on Tuesday for my sinus infection knocked me for a loop. You take three pills and get hit for a week drugs. But I’ll have to go back to work. I can’t afford to be out any longer. I’ll just keep getting extra sleep. I seriously hope it isn’t the antibiotics; at least then I’d stand a chance of getting better prior to my trip.

In the mean time, my couch bound self was knitting up a sock madness storm with the new madtini socks. Didn’t go so well. I missed Rounds 3-7 of the directions for the pattern and knit something completely different. It was okay looking, but strangely, not what the pattern described (an oblique spiral). Then I looked at some of the other madtinis inprogress and started to realize something was wrong.

I felt like a bonehead, but I ripped out the heel and the leg and am now back to the beginning of the second repeat of the pattern. Anyway, you can look at my wonderful technique of picking up heel stitches.

knitters in my backyard

I’m moving. I’ve been reluctant to say anything about it, because no one at my job knows this and I’m writing from work! My husband received a tenure track position at Willamette Unversity in Salem, Oregon and will start teaching there this fall. I’m not quite sure when we’ll be going yet, but we started packing this weekend. I would love to be there in time for Black Sheep, but I doubt I’ll be able to convince my husband of that unless there’s an apartment we have to have or if I get a job out there early. We’re going out there next week to have a look around and so I can do a little networking.

I’m definitely going to miss the warmth of the knitting community here. I got a warm welcome. People were so friendly and willing to travel with a complete stranger to see the Yarn Harlot. I met people at the knitter’s picnic and was invited to a S&B right away. I checked out what now is my LYS and where I work part time. It made what was likely to be a short term move much more fun and bearable!

catching up

This is what I’ve been up to.

These are some squares made from Noro Kureyon inspired by Amy Swenson, the designer behind indiknits‘. The pattern I’d been eyeing was the Saratoga Sunburst, felted handbag. I saw one someone else had made and had to have something like it! It’s slow because I can’t count to 100 and I keep losing the 5th needle. Seriously, I can find my size 0 needles more easily than one 11. What’s with that?

fustration nearly saved by yarn pr0n

After messing around with yet another sleeve on the Huntington Castle pullover yesterday, I realized some more things about sweater design, sleeve changes and whatnot and decided I really hate the entire thing. I sewed the shoulder seams first and tried it out. I’m not happy with the length. I’m not happy with the width. I hate the dang sleeves and I’m going to redesign the whole thing…..someday. I’m going back to my Pearl Buck sweater for now. I still have high hopes of finishing it by my birthday next month, so I have to pack it for my Christmas vacation.

slow socks

For what it’s worth, I finished my Conwy socks. Aren’t they gorgeous? They are also the best fitting socks I’ve made to date. I want to thank Stephen at the Yarn Garage, who helped me master the stitch back in July. I have a couple of other completed pairs, so don’t be surprised if more finished objects surface before the end of the week. After that I should be able to get started on the speed knitting, that I so want to do. I wonder, would the RPM sock work as speed knitting? Can you believe the amount of left-over yarn? Anyone got more or need some of the Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Wildflower?

sunday update

I took a picture of a hat I made for my husband in 1997 (after he lost the orginal). It’s chenille of all ridiculous things and made on Size 2 needles. I’m at a loss for fiber for him. The chenille works because it’s knit at a tight gauge and it’s more or less meant to keep heat from escaping his head, although generally it goes on my head when we’re out because I haven’t got a hat made yet for me. In a way it’s the only pattern I ever wrote or adapted. I think I actually measured his head when I did it.

a few notes on Lizard Ridge squares and other KAL updates

Lizard Ridge Notes
I’m on my third lizard ridge square and have a few notes for you all.

Please consider taking a picture of yourself with your squares or knitting your squares and posting it on your blog or other downloadable spot like our flickr group – I could send some pictures along with the completed Afghan.

I’m also accepting Kureyon scraps, though you would have to send a lot of scrap Kureyonto get a ticket in the raffle.

The official blocking size is 10.5″ by 10.5″. Block it however you want, just don’t iron the wool.

If you are going to slip the first stitch of every row, you probably don’t want to do it on a color change row, because it won’t have the right color and may detract from the overall design (probably not), even if that stitch is part of the sewing.

If working with only one skein of Kureyon at a time it may be good to designate the inside strand as rows 1-6 and the outside strand as rows 7-12 (or vice versa) and do it consistently so you always know which set of six rows you are doing. Sometimes the colors are very close to one another; and I’ve never been great at counting rows, even though I know how.

Eucalyptus wool wash seems to keep my cats off the wet wool. I know this because the main culprit (depicted here) has a chronically dry nose. At one point we took the vet’s advice and attempted to help out his poor nose by painting it with Eucalyptus balm. From the first minute he saw us open up the balm, he hated the smell and he still hates it. I’m not even sure if I’ve ever got it on his nose. Yesterday, after soaking the wool in wool wash I got a little on me. Elmo came over to say hi, took one sniff and ran for his kitty life. I picked it out because the lady at the shop thought that there was some anecdotal evidence that suggests that it repels moths, but apparently it also repels cats!

Sock Wars and Socktober Fest

roughing it

The Widdershins socks are made with a very interesting heel. I’m not sure exactly what I was supposed to do with the wrapped stitches, but I tried to follow the directions and I appear to have a rather nice looking sock heel. I think the Widdershins pattern looks great with the Trekking XXL, don’t you? (Spartacus included for scale. No animals were harmed in the taking of this photograph.)

Knitting in the new apartment is done on the floor, in a folding table, or on the air mattress. Our furniture is still with the movers in Denver and hopefully it will be here Tuesday or Wednesday. We only had an air mattress to sit on for a few days, until some of my husband Josh’s colleagues graciously lent us a few chairs and a folding table. Practically, this has translated into two chairs for the cats and two chairs for us. I suppose we could have people over and put the cats on the bed, but we’re not really set up for entertaining at the moment.

We’ve bought a number of survival items that we were unable to pack in the car. This included a new toaster oven (which we needed anyway), some cheap silverware and dishes from Ikea, dishtowels and potholder. The cups were $0.50 each, the silverware was $1.99 for a four pack, the steak knivers were $1.99 for a six pack and two plates and two bowls totaled $6.00. The one thing I did pack in our gear was the wireless router. After all, the router is smaller than a toaster oven and not covered with rust and grease.
We’ve been cooking in our toaster oven and microwave. We’d use the stove, but we haven’t got any pans! So we’ve had a lot of packaged food (microwavable Mac N’ Cheese and some packaged Indian), sandwiches and a bunch of fruit. One thing we made in the toaster oven was sausages with green peppers and onions. What do we care if we can’t roast a chicken? It’s brutal outside and we’re not accustomed to humidiy

In the meantime, it’s pretty hard to keep entertained and that’s why I’m knitting socks like mad. I’ve got lots of sock yarn, a couple of books and occasionally I get to login to the web and hunt for a job. My main job search will begin in August after we get back from London and I’m determined to find a good job It’s either that or give up buying yarn.

trekking widdershins & toe-up sock strategems

I started on the Widdershins socks from Knitty last night using the new Trekking XXL I bought at digs in Northfield, MN. It took a few tries to get a smooth cast-on and to get the right needle size, but I learned how to do the toe-up cast on using Judy’s Magic Cast-on for Toe-Up socks.

As Judy points out in her article, the toe-up cast on is great because you can try on the sock as you go. It seems to be that the toe-up cast-on is especially amazing when you using cables and lace in your patterns. Assuming that you do what I do and use your sock as your gauge, swatch the toe-up sock is your best friend.

This method is faster because you don’t have to do with the ribbing before you get to the pattern on your sock and because once you get to the pattern, you presumably are only going to be using pattern stitches on the top of the foot. The number of stitches in your sock depends on more on your foot than the yarn. Doing the toe-up sock allows you to be completely indecesive about what your sock is going to look like until you get the number of stitches that are appropriate for your sock. And I guess I should mention that you don’t have to bother with the kitchener stitch. Consider it mentioned.

So I’ve decided to knit my next pair of socks as I go without a set pattern in mind. It’s not as if I have no idea what I’m going to do. I’m planning a lace or cable pattern with a repeat of 8 stitches. So I’ll start with a cast-on of 8 stitches, increase every round until I get to my pinky toe and then alternate increase and knit rounds until I get to the width of my foot. Then I’ll check the gauge and pick out a lace or cable pattern that suits and go forth from there.

But first I have to finish the Conwy socks.

welcome to dundas, mn

Obviously we finally got internet access. It’s speedy and I love it.

Dundas, MN

In July of 2004, the estimated population of Dundas was 748 people, which represented a 36.7% increase over the population in 2000. This means we can call Dundas a rapidly growing community. They are going to have to change the stickers on the sign to add my husband and me to bring the population up to a nice 750. Actually the sign coming into town says something completely different.

It’s a small town. We have two bars, a restaurant and a post office downtown. We have a couple of businesses in a strip mall that starts in Northfield. I think we have the KMart and the Menards, while Northfield has Target, Cub and McDonald’s. (No envy here.) The city even delivers the mail and pick up the trash. We were able to get cable and wifi installed with no difficulty at all. So we’re sophisticated and hi-tech. We have to go three miles to the nearest coffee shop in Northfield, but there are lots of coffee shops over in Northfield.

The nearest yarn shop is digs in Northfield, which sells a lot of things besides yarn. They have tea towels, furniture, fabric and assorted knicknacks. The yarn is very nice and they carry a lot of hip and trendy yarns that the stores back in Colorado didn’t have. This includes: Trekking sock yarn, Crystal Palace and some absolutely insane Japanese fiber. I’ve forgotten what it is called, but it comes on little grey bobbins and I’ve only ever seen it before on the web. I don’t think they have the best selection of sock yarn, but for that I can go off to the Yarn Garage. They do have lots of Brown Sheep Nature Spun, so I won’t be lacking for yarn.
The Yarn Garage place is crazy, but in a good way. They must have 11′ ceilings there and the yarn goes all the way to the ceiling and hangs from it too! They had lots of of great yarns and I can’t wait to go back again and see more of them. I got some solid color Lorna’s Laces there. I’d been looking for solids for a while because of my earlier trouble with the lace knee highs.

After several false starts on different socks that I tried on the trip here, I began a pair of Conwy socks (not mine) from Nancy Bush’s Knitting on the Road. I’m using the Bearfoot from Mountain Colors in the Wildflower Colorway. I think it’s coming along nicely, but it’s slow going. These are size 0 needles!

The summer issue of Knitty is here! I am going to have to make either (or both) the Baudelaire socks or the Widdershins socks. Do you suppose the Baudelaire socks are named for Lemony Snicket’s characters? Nope, they are named for a decadent poet. I might make the Baudelaire socks in violet anyway. Tee hee.

socks, socks, socks, socks, socks

What would be a vacation without some sheep? These are Mountain School sheep. The school was selling some yarn, but in somehow in all the confusion, what with the dark (the power kept going out) and the talking with old classmates I forgot to ask whether the yarn they were selling was made from Mountain School wool. (Note: none if it was sock yarn.)

The completed Potomatomus Socks. Note that the colors are much better in real life; they are more red and blue. I hate to say it but they are almost Spidey like.

Finished on June 12th. Knit on Size 1 12″ Addi Turbo needles using Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted. The pattern comes from Knitty. That was the most challenging pattern I’ve worked on in a long time.

I bought some more Lorna’s Laces last week sometime in the Watercolor colorway. I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do with it yet. I could do the Straight-Laced pattern, but then I’d have to buy another circular needle. I like the pattern though. We’ll see.

Have you ever started on something that you think is just awful? I’m not sure how I feel about the Lace Knee High pattern from the Interweave Knits Winter 2004 issue inthe Cherry Tree Hill Green Mountain Madness. There’s something very loose about the entire thing and I’m not sure I think it’s appealing. Maybe this is something that shouldn’t be done in variegated colors.

Here is the picture of the Koigu I bought in Exeter at Charlotte’s Web. I’ve been playing around with the Magic Loop Method for the piquant Falling Leaves Socks (pattern available at Knitty). It’s kind of neat, although the Koigu is so dense that I find doing “p3togtbl” a bit tough. The question is will it pay off after I finish the toe?

Can you say addicted to socks? Who’d ever have thunk? I don’t wear socks very often. Socks are for the gym, really snowy days, padding around the house and going to work in (if I can’t get away without them). Maybe I will want to wear them in Minnesota though. I’ve got small feet so these are speedy projects I should probably enter the Knitty 2007 calendar contest with my socks (assuming I finish the Knitty ones). Only…doing what?

The finished iPod holder will have to wait until tomorrow for display.

hello from new england

I am on vacation, so you aren’t going to get another post for a couple of days. I went to the 15th reunion of a program known as The Mountain School over the weekend and am now visiting my family in Raymond, NH. It rained A LOT and the power went out every time we sat down to eat, but I had a really really good time. I worked on a hiking trail, ate a lot of good food, watched the sheep graze and reminisced with my semester mates.

While I have my digital camera, I don’t have the cable that connects it to a computer, so I can’t show you what I’ve bought or what I knit. I bought some Koigu at Charlotte’s Web in Exeter, New Hampshire.

I finished the Pomatomus Socks and my iPod holder, both of which I will photograph and dutifully post when I get home on Friday. I’m now about to start a new pair of Lace Knee-Highs from the Winter 2004 issue of Interweave Knits using Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in Green Mountain Madness.

I also had a brain storm about left over sock yarn. I’ve put this on the web in the form of the North American Sock Yarn Exchange (NASYE). Please send in your comments about this on this page for now. It will take some time for me to set up the other page.

backyard leaves scarf

Here is the first completed Pomatomus sock. I will get to the second sock soon, but I needed a break to work on something a little less challenging.

 

 

The Backyard Leaves pattern isn’t exactly simple, but since I had finished the first piece already (the scarf is knit in two equal length pieces so that your leaves are the same when wearing your scarf) I knew I could manage the pattern. This is definitely one of those cases, where blocking seriously improves the overall look of the finished project. It also significantly increased the length. I probably should have blocked the first piece – I would have shortened the second piece somewhat. However, it will look terrific doubled up and will keep my neck warm in Minnesota. Or my sister’s neck if she wants the scarf.

Backyard Leaves was completed 6/2/2006 on U.S. size 8 Needles (5.0MM) and rendered in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in “Pea Green.” I think it took between 13 and 23 hours. I started it a long long time ago, but finished the second half of it this week in about 8 hours.

As a a reward, I got myself more sock yarn. Am I a glutton for punishment or what? Maybe just a glutton. This is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Green Mtn. Madness. Apparently I got 470 yards for $22.05 (US) and I have little feet. Not bad. It’s 100% Merino.