Round Robin

I posted a while back about how I like to handle multiple projects on the needles at one time. And if I were with it, I would know exactly where I posted that and would link back to it. But I'm not so with it - how many days till Christmas? Maybe then I'll be back to normal-crazy instead of insane-crazy.

Regardless, I like to knit while watching DVD's. I have a little set up in my office with a comfy leather chair and a TV that I call my knitting corner. I don't get cable, so I watch lots and lots of DVD's - usually seasons of my favorite TV shows that have long since bit the dust - Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc - and a few more current ones - True Blood and Smallville, to name a couple. Occasionally I throw in some Netflix-rented movies or some tried-and-true favorite girly movies, like Ever After, Kate & Leopold, Chocolat, etc.

When I have lots of projects going that I either (a) want to finish up or (b) want to knit on equally because flavor is the spice of life, I turn to an old favorite TV show and go to town. This works well for four projects at a time, because each disc usually has four episodes. I knit on each project for an episode, then switch to the next one.

I took the (rare, as of late) opportunity of a semi-slow holiday weekend to settle down with Season 2 and 3 of Buffy and work on some projects:


1. Tangled Yoke Cardigan - I finished up the second sleeve and attached the sleeves to the body to start working the yoke. I've knit a little over an inch on the yoke so far. I have another couple inches before I can start working the cable pattern.


2. Lichen Ribbed Sock (Vintage Knitted Socks by Nancy Bush) - this is the second pair of simple ribbed socks I'm working from this book. Lichen Ribbed Sock has a star toe and a Dutch or Horseshoe heel. I'm not uber-crazy about the heel, but I'm digging the toe. The yarn is handspun - I started this on my drop spindle in March, and then finished it up on my wheel in May. Because of the way I plied it, trying to keep the integrity of the colors, but not doing a 3-ply Navaho plied (which I don't know how to do yet), the first sock turned out with the leg entirely purple, with a burst of orange for the heel, and then slight striping for the foot. I didn't love it as I knit and knit (and knit and knit) for 8 inches of purple, but once it was done I loved it - and was entirely convinced that I would never come close to matching the second sock. But I actually did come pretty close! I've got another 1/2 inch to go before starting the heel flap, and I've got about an inch of orange on there. The heel will probably be purple, and then a very striped foot. We'll see how they "go" (I can't say match) when the second sock is done.


3. I still have about 60 grams of fiber left to spin for the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. After spinning this on and off for months, I have to say that, while I love what I've created, I'm REALLY ready to dive into my plentiful stash of other-colored fiber to get a new, and SMALL, project on the wheel. Given where I'm at on the sweater and how much yarn I have left in my last ball, I can't imagine I will need all of the yarn that I've spun/will spin in this last batch. We'll see how it goes, but I'm thinking I'll list the leftovers in my shop, along with some carded batts with the leftover roving I have.


4. The Project that Shall Not Be Named - this is Adam's Christmas present. I couldn't take it out of the project bag to photograph, because he was lurking in the hallway (vacuuming) and I didn't want to risk him seeing it. I've had a couple close calls already. He now knows I'm knitting him something, but doesn't know what it is (so he says). I do an okay job at hiding it when he bursts into my office and I happen to be working on it, and most of the time he knocks and gives me a chance to hide it under the quilt.

So that's what's actively on the needles right now! There are many more projects cocooning in the project bag, not to mention the cardigan for Adam's mom that's still awaiting yarn from Knitpicks. It's going to be tight, trying to get that one done before we leave on the 23rd!

FO: Yarrow Ribbed Socks

Pattern: Yarrow Ribbed Socks
Designer: Nancy Bush (Knitting Vintage Socks)
Yarn: Knitpicks Imagination - Wicked Stepmother
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony DPN US1
Mods: None

These socks were a very quick knit - even though they took me months to finish. I started them as lunchtime knitting in the summer, but didn't work more than a couple rounds per day. I took them with me to Tennessee and finished them in 3 days. We do a lot of sitting around when we visit Adam's family, and it's perfect knitting time.



I didn't make any modifications to this pattern. It's just a simple ribbed pattern - k3, p1, k1, p1. The differences (from any sock I've knit) come in the construction of the toe and heel, which is why I wanted to knit these in the first place.

The heel is a German heel - knit a little wider than the more common forms of heel flaps, and it also includes a purl border that adds a detail that I just love, but can't explain why. There's also a purl seam stitch down the back of the heel stitch. The picture below isn't the best to show the minute detail, but you can get the idea.



The toe wasn't quite so successful, in my opinion. I love the way it fits on top, but there's a row of decreases down the middle of the bottom of the foot, and that's not quite so comfortable. Again with the fuzzy details in the picture - not sure if you can see it very well.



The yarn is a fabulous blend of alpaca and wool. It's fuzzy and warm - perfect for socks. However, the skeins come in 50g lots. Even though my two skeins were the same dyelot, there was a lot of inconsistencies between the two. One sock has much more light purple and red, and the other has lots of dark purple. The red also shows up as much more pink when knit up than it did in the skein. I'm happy with the colors, don't get me wrong, I just noticed these things and wanted to pass it on!



All in all - I'm a very happy camper!

Can't wait to cast on for my next Vintage ribbed sock in some handspun. But first I have some serious Christmas knitting and WIP finishing...

P.S. - I grew that pumpkin in my garden! Isn't it cool?

Color!

I think I got myself in over my head this year with the Christmas knitting. It wouldn't have been too bad if I had started in September like I had originally planned when plotting with Adam for this gift for his mom. But like the good little procrastinator I am, I started swatching just this week.

Note: This picture is from the Knitpicks website.

Normally I love winding up cakes of yarn for a new project. But yesterday I wound 19 cakes of yarn. That takes a long time, folks! Not only that, but the skeins I was winding from were positively annoying! The yarn loved to come out of the skein in clumps, causing the need to stop, unclump, and proceed.

After about 14 skeins were done, I enlisted Adam's help. He scoffed at my annoyance and said, "I can do it." I showed him with one skein, and off he went. And soon found out why I was so frustrated.

But, two hours later, all the skeins were wound, and I found myself in the midst of a sea of color.



I wasn't quite sure how I would keep all of those yarns straight, since many of the colors are so similar, and the chart doesn't go a long way in helping distinguish them. All of the color blocks look so similar that it's hard to figure out which color is which without the help of symbols within the color blocks. On the side of the chart, the author has helpfully noted the name of the two colors next to the part of the chart where those colors are used. However, this is only helpful if you know the name of each color you're working with. This fact usually gets lost after winding cakes, so I came up with (what I think is) a clever means of keeping everything in order.



I cut out the portion of the label with the color name, folded it in half, and fastened it like a little flag around the ends of the yarn that I wound around the cake. I wound a little more around than I normally would, to give a better base to tape the flag on, but it worked out quite well.

Since this is a Knitpicks pattern, I simply downloaded all of the required yarn (Pallette) into an order and purchased. Unfortunately, I got all the way through winding 19 balls of yarn and started swatching before realizing that I was missing a few colors! The pattern calls for 22 colors. I called Knitpicks, and it seems their ordering system (for this type of order) isn't too good at telling customers when a yarn is backordered. The other three colors aren't available until next week, so it seems I will be cooling my heels for just a bit longer, causing the Christmas knitting rush to be even more of a crunch.

The first missing color appears in row 15, so I figured I would get a head start on the pattern. With 8 sts per inch, knitting a size 52, it's not like I was getting to row 15 anytime soon!

And so next, I proceeded to find out what's worse than winding 19 balls of yarn - casting on 426 stitches on 3mm (US2) needles. Twice. Because the first time, despite my careful measuring - wrapping the yarn around the needle 10 times, then doubling that length for 20 sts, then doubling again for 40, again for 80, etc, etc, and leaving a 6" tail and a little more for "just in case" - I ran out of yarn after the first 400 sts cast on. And so I measured again, added about two feet onto the measurement, and finished all 426 sts with about a foot to spare.

And away I went!



As you can see, there isn't much progress to show. With 2x2 ribbing using two colors, and 52", it's slow-going. I'm currently finishing about 2 rows per episode of Buffy. This is disturbing indeed, as at this rate there's no way I will finish before December 23rd, which is when we leave for TN. I'm counting on the knitting to speed up considerably when the ribbing is past, as all projects tend to do. But even then, it's going to be tight. Especially with my increasing work hours as Christmas draws nearer - toy stores need inventory for Christmas, lots and lots of inventory!

But as I start to panic, I figure I'll just look at my wall of color, blocking out the bleak winter scene behind it, and hopefully it will make me happy.




Stay tuned for an in-depth review of all WIP's and UFO's - despite the rush of Christmas knitting, it's time to clean out the knitting basket to start afresh in the New Year! And, for your viewing pleasure, I even have some FO's that have been hiding from the blog for quite some time.

I'm alive...

and knitting occasionally too. I hope to have another big "state of the knitting" update soon. Things here have been nuts...some good and some bad.

We're headed to Tennessee tomorrow for Adam's grandma's funeral. She passed away at the hospital, in her sleep, on Sunday night after a long, wonderful 85 years. She will be dearly missed.

Harvest Swap

I woke up on Friday to the most awesome package for the HARVEST swap I am participating in. Technically it arrived on Thursday, but I didn't see it until I was up in the wee hours of Friday morning. Gotta love jet lag!

The idea behind the swap was to give something for each letter in "harvest".



H - Halloween - The little pumpkin
A - Aroma - Chai tea
R - Recipes - sweet strawberries and turkey!
V - Veteran's Day - Faded Glory hat
E - Eats - Halloween Oreos, Football-shaped chocolates and truffles in a reusable tin
S - Squoosy - A skein of the squishiest, yummiest sock yarn ever
T - Tacky - a pair of goblets with skeleton hands!

This package is awesome in so many ways. I made the exact same pumpkin for my swapee and fell in love with it! Also, I went grocery shopping on Tuesday and came home and told DH, "It was sooooo hard not to buy those Halloween Oreos - they're so pretty and orange!" And mmmm chai tea.

And yeah...that yarn couldn't be MORE perfect for me. Let's have a closer look, shall we?

Change?

We've been in the UK for 5 days now, and it's been the most fantastic time so far. There were cities we absolutely loved:

York


Leeds


Obnoxious red flags not withstanding, is this not the epitome of Diagon Alley?


As with any trip like this, there were some towns that we weren't so crazy about but had something cool none-the-less - the copious amount of restaurants in Birmingham (not pictured) and Nottingham Castle (even if Sherwood Forest looked like it has been demolished and suburbanized.)


But driving through the Lake District was stunning and majestic (do you see the sheep!?!)


On a knitting note, behold Tangled Yoke so far - lots and lots of stockinette. (Ignore the very badly hotel-room lit photo)

I'm about one inch from finishing the body, ready to start on the sleeves. I should have enough yarn to almost finish the sleeves, and am about 1/3 of the way through spinning the last 700 yards or so of singles for the yoke and finishing. Think I can finish by Rhinebeck in 10 days?

I've had a lot of time to think on this trip...about a lot of different things. Related to knitting - where am I going? How do I let my knitting past affect my knitting future? Am I happy with the direction I'm taking my dyeing? If this (designing and dyeing) is something I really want to try to make a living at, is my vision broad enough for that? I've definitely noticed that vision changing lately, and I think it's going in the right direction. My company's name, Enchanted Hues, has never quite made me happy, and I'm afraid that it not only pigeonholes me into a very narrow focus, but that it is far too common in the knitting world.

When Tina was holding a contest to name her new dyeing company, I came up with the name, Forbidden. And I immediately became attached, silently praying, "Please don't pick that one!" after I posted the comment on her blog. Luckily for me, she didn't.

The simple word has many meanings in my knitting world, ones that I couldn't even begin to explain here. Somehow, it just seems right to me. It allows for a broader scope, and just makes me happy in a way that Enchanted Hues never did. I created a colorway during a swap called "Poisoned Apple", and it's easily my most favorite colorway I've ever made - A deep, dark, blood red that turns out differently each time I dye it, and with each fiber I use.

Poisoned Apple -> Forbidden?

It works on many levels for me (both mythical-y and religiously), and I thought that an apple with a bite out of it would make a killer logo. I even found a beautiful Swarovski apple pendant in York, displayed with a whole set of crystal figurines of Snow White and each of the Seven Dwarves, that started the wheels turning in my head.

So, what do you think? Should I make the change? Forbidden Yarn? Forbidden Fiber? Forbidden Woolery?

Just a quick note...

to say that I'm headed on vacation. We're celebrating our 4th anniversary with a drive through the English countryside.

We leave Friday night and will arrive in London Saturday morning. We'll visit Windsor and St. Albans (where Adam spent much time while he worked on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, then drive to Leeds and York, then to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to visit Hadrian's Wall, then down to Birmingham via the Lake District (and Beatrix Potter!) where we'll have a heavenly spa day, take a quick peek at Wales, then back to London via Stonehenge (Adam's first visit, my second) for a trip to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, our favorite London pub, and back home again.

Phew!

I'm taking along my Tangled Yoke Cardigan, which grows every day but I don't have the yarn spun up to finish while we're gone, so it might not be done for me to wear to Rhinebeck, which is just a few days after we get home. But who knows, maybe I'll have it ready by Stitches East!

I'm also taking along the next round of squares for my blanket swap, which are due to be mailed the same day as Rhinebeck.

Stay tuned for pictures of knitting and England (and hopefully a combination of the two!) If anyone has any LYS recommendations, please share! I'm not above yarnie detours...

In Which She Attempts the Longest Blog Post Ever...

I haven't given a "State of the Knitting" update in a long time. As a result (oooh, there's my ex-auditorness coming through), there has been much going on that I haven't even mentioned in the smallest way.

Let's start with the non-knitting news. In July, I got a promotion!!! It couldn't have come at a better time, which I won't go into publicly here. I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to transfer into our Logistics Department as Manager of Distribution Operations, an opportunity I had given up on in June. I officially started on August 17th and it's been amazing. I have been learning so much, and every day brings something new and interesting. It is such a big change from the near stagnant learning curve and huge amounts of boredom I had been experiencing after 7 years in audit.

August saw the W.O.O.L retreat that I posted about here. What I didn't get around to posting was all the stash enhancing I did. I know, I know, I was on a yarn diet. To be fair, I didn't buy any yarn! I did buy a lot of fiber though.

The first was 1 lb of this beautiful green merino wool from Little Barn. The depth is extraordinary and Kim was destashing the entire pound for just $10. I have no clue what I will make with it once it's spun up, but I'm looking forward to whatever it may be!


The fiber below was technically a post-W.O.O.L. stash enhancement. It's 64's Merino Wool in colorway Poseidon by Cris at Into the Whirled. I had a very encouraging conversation with Cris at W.O.O.L., in which she convinced me to vend at Clermont Sheep & Wool next April and to send in some samples for the Phat Fiber Sampler Box, which I did in September and plan to again for October. W.O.O.L. was my first vending experience, and it was wonderful. I had never actually seen people interact with my yarns and fiber before, and it gave a whole new depth to what I'm trying to do. One of the aspects of W.O.O.L. was a silent auction, in which Cris offered up 4 oz of this Poseidon colorway. I bid a couple times, but didn't win. So I ordered up 8 oz. from Cris, since I just couldn't get it out of my head. Again - no idea what I'll make with this, but the stormy combination of blues was too beautiful to pass up, especially because I haven't knit with a lot of blue, and I do so love blue!


With this beautiful fiber, she also sent a couple of samples that blew me away:


Last, but not least, I purchased this too-cute-for-words sock monkey project bag from JessaLu. In the picture, you can see my lunchtime knitting, the beginnings of a Yarrow Ribbed Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks in Knitpicks Imagination, Evil Stepmother colorway.


September 5th was my 29th birthday, and Adam spoiled me beyond belief. At W.O.O.L., Tina of Rows Red demonstrated her Strauch Petite drum carder. It was awesome! I had been thinking about one for a while, wanting to experiment with colors and batts for my shop, but drum carders were pretty far out of my budget. After all the swooning I did over Tina's drum carder after I came home, Adam decided to get me my very own Strauch Petite:

You can see the leftovers from all the orange superwash BFL I've been carding up for my Tangled Yoke Cardigan.

But that, apparently, wasn't enough spoiling for Adam, because he also completely blew me away with a new computer! He got me a Gateway Netbook, which is just too cute for words. Check out my new (messy) setup:

You can even see the air conditioner that Adam installed for me early in the summer so that I don't sit and bake in the Pumpkinarium all summer long! It's been heaven - I can't even begin to explain.

September also saw the New Jersey Sheep Shearer's Festival, in which many of the women I met at W.O.O.L. were vending. Adam and I drove down to pet the sheep, and ended up chasing a runaway llama, doing some stash enhancement, buying a partial fleece of a NEW crossbreed that I can't wait to wash, dye, and card up, and getting very, very wet.

This is Little Dude from Zarzuelas Fibers, 6 ounces of superwash merino, dotted with beautiful blues and browns.


Apparently I had a thing for blue and brown that day, because check out what I got from See Kay Craft, 3 ounces of Falklands wool, one of my new obsessions. The color is a little washed out in this photo.


Since I have twice as much of "Little Dude" as "Black & Blue", I'm considering doing another 3-ply - two of "Little Dude" and one of "Black & Blue" - for something special. Not sure yet. When am I ever, though?

And finally, Dapplewood sock yarn, from Bittersweet Woolery, aka Tina. She scrambled to dye up enough stock to show at the festival, and I was blown away by everything that she did. The depth of color on every single skein of yarn/braid of fiber was beyond amazing and this photo cannot begin to do it justice. I can only aspire to be half as good as Tina some day! I absolutely cannot wait to get a sock on the needles with this gem and can't believe I managed to get away from there with just one skein:


I have been spinning my heart out, can I just tell you? I've pretty much been spinning non-stop, actually, in order to get enough yarn spun up to knit my Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I'm up to ~1,000 yards, all between 13 and 14 wpi, of soft, squishy superwash BFL in a very heathered orange. The drum carder has significantly sped up the front-end of the process, but I can only spin so fast! My goal is to get all the spinning done (~700 yards to go) and to cast on for the cardigan before we leave for England on October 2nd. If I can speed knit my way through the endless stockinette in the airport and the long flight, I should be in good shape to finish it up before Rhinebeck, which is the Saturday after we get home. I'm not 100% sure I can get it done, but I'm sure going to try!


On the knitting front, I have an unsung FO from January, my first FO of 2009 as a matter of fact, that I finally manager to snap a photo of:

Finally, my own pair of Endpaper Mitts! I wear them all the time at work - they're wonderful! Hopefully I'll be able to put up a full FO post at some point.

I talked at length about this pair of mitts in a previous post, but never posted a photo because my intention was to submit for the spring 2010 Knitty. The deadline came and went and I just couldn't get my ducks in a row, so I plan to self-publish the pattern when it's done. I call them "No Place Like Home", because the twisted-stitch pattern on the top of the hand reminds me so much of a hot air balloon, which immediately makes me think of the Wizard of Oz. The pattern is much muddled by the odd pooling of the Araucania yarn I chose,

so I've been doing double duty with my test knit - testing out the smaller size to give correct dimensions in the pattern diagram, and to show what the pattern looks like in a solid yarn. I have only one mitt knit up in this leftover Cascade Heritage:

What's the Cascade Heritage leftover from, you ask? Well, that would be my Tidepool Vest, which I submitted to the fall 2010 Knitty and was summarily (but very nicely) rejected. This pattern helped me get over a big hump in my knitting, and it's important to me to get it out into the knitting world.

I've written up the pattern and am almost ready to self-publish. First, I need to figure out how to print to a pdf (my new computer is being finicky), and then I need to find the right place to host it for free. I originally thought of Patternfish, but they only host for-sale patterns and I want to offer this one for free. I know there's another place to offer it for free, I just haven't done the research.

I do believe that wraps up this State of the Knitting address. There is definitely more on the horizon, though! We're heading into "season" at work, though, and as I'm now responsible for the flow of product from our distribution centers into the stores, my hours will probably get longer until after Christmas. Just think of me any time you walk into a Toys "R" Us (or Babies "R" Us or even FAO Schwartz) store, and know that I had a (small) hand in delivering what you see before you!

And the winner is...

Clumsy Knitter!!!

You can pick out anything from my shop. Convo me on Etsy with what you want, and your shipping info and I'll have it on the way lickety-split!



I have much to update on...my blog has been dormant though my knitting/carding/spinning/dyeing has definitely not been!!! I just wanted to get this posted since the contest officially ended two days ago.

Why?

A fellow knitter friend of mine, Tammy, posed the question this week of, "Why do you knit?" This question sent me to pondering.

Here was my response:

All of the above. I knit for the art of it. For the warm sweaters in the cold Jersey winters. For the creativity. As a meditative outlet. Because I can't stop my mind from inspecting every knit garment I see and wondering how it was made and how it would look as a handknit and what would I do to change it up? For the comfort of warm wool socks on cold hardwood floors. Because I just can't seem to sit still. Because there's nothing better for a knitter's ego than someone's eyes lighting up and the expression, "You MADE that?" For the frustration of frogging and the ultimate satisfaction of finally getting right what you frogged 5 times before. For the puzzle of complicated cables and other stitch patterns. For the sheer genius in some designers' construction. Because I see beautiful color everywhere I go and it inspires me....

It's been a hard week for this knitter. I'm struggling with an ailing hand after a weekend of hard spinning for my Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I finished one beautiful skein of pretty-close-to-perfect-if-I-do-say-so-myself yarn. I can't remember how many yards - probably 150-200 or so. A long way to go, and I get sharp pains when I tweak my hand just so, and I'm afraid to sit down at the wheel, if that was, in fact, the cause, and do more damage.

The procrastinator in me waited until the very last minute to submit a handwarmer pattern to Knitty that I've been slaving over for the past couple months. I finally gave up in the eleventh hour. Adam surprised me with a beautiful new computer (a Gateway Netbook, for those who are so inclined!) last night when I got home from work, and I just couldn't put all the elements together in time to get the pattern and photos ready for submission. I'd purchased a new knitting font because the free one I was using wasn't quite up to snuff. I couldn't figure out how to make the new font space correctly and I finally gave up at 9pm and went to bed. Perhaps the design will wait for a future issue of Knitty (or other), or perhaps I will self-publish the pattern along with my submission from the fall issue that didn't make it in.

I have a whole box full of fiber that's calling my name to be dyed into deep semi-solids and stocked in my Etsy shop, awaiting the September Phat Fiber boxes, some of which will contain some samples of my "Poisoned Apple" colorway. I really love to dye...I wouldn't be spending such a large percentage of my limited, highly coveted free time doing it if I didn't. But I've been completely engrossed in a new (to me) series of books that haven't left much time for anything other than settling down on the couch or in bed and traveling back to 18th century Scotland, France, and America. And I feel rather guilty about neglecting the dyeing, let alone the knitting and spinning.

I've been swatching like mad, trying to come up with the perfect stitch pattern for my next project, and nothing is coming out right. I broke my yarn diet to buy a cone of cherry red fingering weight wool, dreaming of a beautiful red cardigan. It was too good a deal to pass up - 2,400 yards of fingering weight wool (enough for said cardigan with generous swatching, plus a matching pair of socks. Or two. For $25.) Only the yarn wasn't quite what I expected. It's a lot thinner than I woul normally want, and isn't very fluffy. So all of my swatching has been pretty fruitless - the resulting fabric just isn't quite right. I like it in stockinette okay, but I'm craving texture and interest in this red cardigan of mine. I'm , hoping for some blocking magic - that the wool will soften and bloom and I'll fall in love with it.

With all of the above chaos in my knitting life, it's no wonder that I've been a little off, so to speak. Tammy's question allowed me to really remember why I knit, and why I love it so.

Saturday is my birthday - the big 29. I don't plan on getting any older. If you ask me next year, I will be turning 29 all over again. Yes, I know everyone says that your 30's are your best years...but there is still something big I wanted to do before 30, and the chances of that happening are getting slimmer by the day, which saddens me.

So, since I missed my blogiversary in July, I'm celebrating my birthday with a giveaway. Tell me why you knit. Inspire me! I'll pick a name at random from the comments and the lucky winner will get any item of their choice from my shop. Contest closes September 10th, 12 midnight EDT.

FO: Elijah v.2

Pattern: Elijah by Ysolda
Yarn: Enchanted Hues Merino DK,Gummy Beary Juice, 155 yards/62 grams
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony DPN's, US2
Modifications: I knit the arms and legs in the reverse order so that I could have more room to maneuver. And I knit the ears first, instead of last, for the same reason.

There isn't much to say about Elijah that I didn't already say here. This Elijah was a gift to my little niece, Sarika. Sadly, I have no pictures to show, so you'll just have to believe me!!!



I dyed up this yarn specifically for little miss Sarika. My mom told me that my brother and his wife were decorating the nursery in deep pinks and fuschia. I immediately pictured this yarn in my head, and started mixing away. Can you imagine how happy I was to get it on the first shot? I started with a deep pink, and then overdyed that with a berry color of my own mixing. The product was this purple-y pink goodness that I've dubbed "Gummy Beary Juice" in honor of the cartoon my brother and I used to watch every day after school. I totally still hear the song in my head. "Gummy Bears...bouncing here and there and everywhere...High adventure that's beyond compare...They are the Gummy Bears!" Yes, I know I'm a nerd.



I made some modifications from the last Elijah I knit. I figured out how to do the actual invisible cast on called for, instead of giving up and using long tail. As I mentioned above, I knit the arms and legs in the reverse order so that I would have more room to maneuver. Since you stuff as you go, it can get a little tight as you're adding on arms and legs that flop everywhere...especially after all said arms and legs are on and you're squeezing in two ears on the head. Switching the order helped a lot, but it was still a little awkward.

Look! Elijah and Venom are friends!

I really love this pattern. As long as friends/family continue to have babies, I will continue to knit little Elijahs for all!

Sewing FO: Venom

I'm not a huge sewer, but I know how. And every once in a while, a project jumps out at me and I pull out the little sewing machine my mom gave me for Christmas a while back.

I don't know if I've mentioned before what my husband does. Without getting into too many nerdy details, he's a digital sculptor. He started out in the movie industry, creating models used for special effects. His company also used these models to create collectibles for those movies. For our first Christmas, he took a 3-D scan of my head that he had done on our first date (which was an entire Thanksgiving weekend) when he was showing me where he worked, and made me my very own 12 inch statue, using the body of one of my favorite characters of all time. I won't say who/show a picture, because I'm not sure of copyright issues. Needless to say, it's awesome. Anyways...about 5 years and a couple jobs later, he's still working in the collectibles industry, but he focuses more on 18-ish inch detailed statues.

So, Comic Con is a *huge* part of his year every July. It takes place in San Diego, which also happens to be my hometown. (Well, home county, since I'm actually from a small town in the mountains in north-eastern San Diego.) This is the first year I've gone with him, though I did go once upon a time when I was a wee lassie of 15. My, how it has changed! Aside from the crazy masses of people dressed up like their favorite comic book heroes, there were tons of forums on everything imaginable - from breaking into the industry as a writer, artist, or any other profession, to upcoming movie/tv releases and current favorite shows. We only made it to a few of these forums, but that's a whole other story.

But I digress. Less than a week before we were supposed to leave, Adam decided that he wanted to make a plush version of Venom that he had sculpted as part of another project and brought to Comic Con in 2008. He gave the depicted statue to the artist, Mark Brooks, who he works with often. The Mary Jane statue didn't travel home so well, so Mark decided not to bring her to the 2009 Comic Con. Somehow they came up with the idea to create a plush character using the same art, and that's where I came in. Adam, apparently wildly overestimating my sewing skills, was sure we could do it.

So we dug in the weekend before Comic Con. I wish I had pictures of the whole process, because, in retrospect, it was pretty great. However, it was extremely stressful and maddening at the time! We started with a muslin pattern, which I sewed over and over, snipping here and there, Adam stuffing and unstuffing to make adjustments, cutting a little bit more 'round the edges, etc, all day Saturday and a little bit on Sunday morning.

After the pattern was (almost) set, we started in on the real thing. I had called my mom from JoAnn's to ask her what the best material would be to work with, and she expertly told us to get ultrasuede - the ends wouldn't fray while I was sewing (and re-sewing), and the finished project would be soft and plush-looking. So we picked up a few yards of black ultrasuede, as well as some little pieces of white, pink, and red for details.

At some point on Sunday night, Venom was born...



Unfortunately, the lighting in the hotel room wasn't the best to take FO pictures of, but I thought you would get the idea. I don't have anything for scale, either, but he's at least 2 feet tall, and his arm span is probably 2-3 feet wide. So he's a big guy!! I'm totally in love with him, and carried him all through Preview Night at Comic Con. Not to mention through two airports four times, surrounded by Comic Con goers who actually knew what he was. It was pretty cool, and a great sense of accomplishment.



However, I told Adam next time that he needed to think of these genius ideas more than 5 days in advance. And if he could give me two months, I'd probably do *much* better at knitting something up!


And...inspired by the panel at Comic Con, a new colorway for my shop - Eastwick, a semi-solid, deep teal that is mouth-watering.



The DK is perfect for a scarf or mittens and, of course, there's fingering weight for a luscious pair of socks! I have a big update coming soon....

W.O.O.L. 2009

The wonderful Tina of Rows Red dreamed up W.O.O.L. (Weekend Out On the Lake) a few years ago. It takes place in paradise...otherwise known as a quiet women's lodge (Wiawaka Holiday House) that sits on Lake George in upstate New York (Adirondacks). Spinners and knitters alike, from all different walks of life and all different skill levels gather at this lovely retreat and talk, laugh, relax, and enjoy the company of other knitters and spinners. All I have to say is that anywhere I can walk around with a mini-skein of freshly spun yarn around my neck and nobody even glances twice, is a place where I belong. Most importantly, I learned that there is nothing like spinning out in the sunshine. You can see Tina's (much more detailed) recap here and pictures on the Flickr group. I can't believe it, but I didn't take a single picture all weekend long!

What I did do, though, was get inspired. I don't think it's a very easy thing to explain (nor do I wish to talk of any unpleasantness), but I've felt very disconnected from the knitting community lately. I feel much like an island. It continued even through Friday night up at W.O.O.L., as I struggled to fit in with a large group of people, only one of whom I "knew" via a swap and blog interaction. But something magical happened out on the dock on Saturday morning, surrounded by fiber, spinning wheels, and peace.

At the beginning of the year, I set a goal for myself. A rather huge goal, given my experience level. I wanted to make a Tangled Yoke Cardigan. But I wanted to make it out of my own handspun. From my own hand-dyed fiber. That I had carded up into a beautiful, heathered orange of my own creation.

Let's count the hurdles:
1. I had only been spinning for about four or five months at this point. On a spindle. Which I love - spinning on a spindle is somewhat magical, and a wonderful way to be introduced to the world of spinning. But it's slow. I can spin up an half an ounce of singles in about 4 hours. A sweater requires about two pounds of fiber - that's 32 ounces. At 8 hours per ounce, that's 256 hours. I can only spin on a spindle about 2 hours a day before my shoulders hurt too badly from hunching over. The math just gets too scary from here.

2. I didn't exactly know how to card anything. I didn't even own carders - not hand carders, certainly not a drum carder. Purchasing hand carders was simple enough, though for a project this size, a drum carder was much more coveted (and way out of budget). In case you can't tell from my blog thus far, I tend to just jump in with both feet. Who needs to learn on something simple when I have loftier goals and limited time? I figured that if I could pick up spinning by watching a YouTube video, I could figure out hand carding and make some beautiful rolags for myself!

Okay, so only two major hurdles. The first was solved in April, with an unexpected bonus that gave me the ability to purchase my as-yet-unnamed Polish beauty.

The second was a little slower going. I purchased a pair of Louet hand-carders a few months ago, but they sat, unopened, in a box of undyed fiber until just last week. I dyed up around two pounds of fiber - 20-ish ounces of a golden yellow-orange, and 5-ish each of a rustic red and a chocolate brown.



Out came the carders. My first pass was at home, the week before W.O.O.L. I wanted to see what I was getting myself into. I thought that if it was harder than I expected, I would find a video on YouTube and be on my merry hand-carding way. After a couple passes that left the knuckle on my middle finger more than a little bloody, I put the carders down. But didn't have time to find something on YouTube. So I winged it, that first night at W.O.O.L. Just pretended I knew what I was doing, and carded up a semi-decent first rolag that I spun into some very fine singles.

And on Saturday morning, I pleaded for help! Tina taught me the art of hand-carding out on the dock in the beautiful sunshine. With just a quick demonstration, I was carding away in no time! It's all about the teacher, folks! Those three-separate colors became the beautiful, heathered orange rolag I imagined.



And, after a full day on the dock, that one little rolag became a whole bag full!



And then started the sampling. One of the wonderful things about Interweave Knits is that they make it very easy to substitute handspun for the recommended yarns for each project. In the back of every issue, there is a yarn index that shows a picture of one strand of yarn, then lists the fiber content, brand info, etc, and the WPI. That's Wraps Per Inch. The magic number for a spinner. If you can spin to match how many times that yarn wraps around an object of any circumference in the span of an inch, you can substitute any commercial yarn in any project. Sampling is a very important part of that process. IK listed the recommended Rowan Felted Tweed at 13 wpi, a light sport weight yarn. Now, if I had been smart, I would've purchased a spinners control card and brought it with me. But I wasn't that smart. So there started the sampling.



The first sample, on the right, was 20 wpi, which is a laceweight. I can't even express my astonishment at having created a 3-ply laceweight yarn. Normally, I would've thought it was the coolest thing ever! But I needed 13 wpi, so that wouldn't do at all.

The second sample, on the left, was 16 wpi, which is a fingering weight yarn. I normally spin a 2-ply fingering weight yarn. It's just how my spinning tends to work out.

Third time is a charm, no? Late into the night on Saturday, I spun up another rolag into 3 sets of singles, and plied them together. At first glance, it was still much too thin. I guessed that maybe I had gone from 16 wpi to 15 or, if I was really lucky, 14 wpi. Close, but no cigar. I soaked the yarn anyway, gave it a few thwacks against the sink for good measure (it helps to set the twist), and set it to dry overnight.

And overnight, something magical happened - it bloomed! It became light and airy and beautiful! As everyone packed up their spinning wheels and supplies and drove off, I madly searched for a wpi gauge - another thing I had forgotten to bring with me! The wonderful Cris, of Into The Whirled produced a gauge for me out of thin air (I swear she did!), and I wrapped, and wrapped, and wrapped in eager silence. And counted silently. And then let out a yelp of glee. "Thirteen!!!!" And those who knew what I was talking about cheered with me. And those who didn't looked at me a little bit funny. But it didn't matter - I had my wpi gauge!



And that's where the wearing yarn as a necklace came into play. I wore it all around Wiawaka as I packed up the car and said my goodbyes. I petted it a lot, and marveled at my creation. And then hit the road home. And when I stopped at the first travel center on the Thruway, the weird looks began, and I reluctantly was drawn back into the real world.

That night, though, back in the Pumpkinarium, I took my 19 yards of fluffy 13 wpi and knit up a swatch. And soaked it. And waited again. Having 13 wpi was all fine and good, but it was the 6 stitches per inch that I really needed.



I waited patiently while said swatch dried, and then took a ruler to it. And guess what? Six stitches per inch! And a lovely, soft, drapey, airy fabric in a beautiful, one-of-a-kind heathered orange that I can't wait to wear as a sweater!

FO: Laura's Cardigan

At long last!


Pattern: Laura's Cardigan fro Summer 2009 IK
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fine
Needle: Knit Picks Harmony Options, US 2
Modifications: I worked the length of size 25.5 and the width of 20. Some style mods when I wear it, too. See below.

I first saw this cardigan in the IK Summer 2009 preview. And I knew I had to knit it. The need only strengthened when the issue came in the mail. I searched my LYS for the yarn, but came up empty. Even my first few online searches left me empty-handed. But my persistence paid off, because I found a shop that carried the the yarn (Brown Sheep Cotton Fine) and actually had all the right colors in stock. I hadn't heard of them before, but I decided to chance it. And it was so worth it!



This sweater is definitely one of the more complicated garments I've knit thus far, even though, when I stop to think about it, it really isn't! The plaid is a slip-stitch pattern, where you knit the intarsia pattern one row (RS), slide the work back and work a k1 sl1 with the contrast color (RS). Then you work the same two rows on the wrong side. Lather, rinse, repeat. It really only looks complicated. And we won't talk about the 14 inches of ribbing OF DOOM.



The construction of the sweater was odd. You start with the two front stripe panels directly under the plaid section on the front. Then you put those aside and work on the back section of plaid up into the shoulders. You then pick up the live stitches from the provisional cast on, and work down through the armholes. When you reach bottom of the armholes, you join with the two front pieces you started with and work the sweater as one piece down to the waist, ending with the inch of plaid pattern at the bottom, a turn row of purls, and the inside hem (which gets whip-stitched into place at the end.) Then you pick up the live stitches on the fronts of the cardigan, and work the plaid pattern on the front up to the shoulders. The finishing is straight forward - button rows, neckline, and the little back collar that you can't see in the pictures.



The pattern says that the ribbing will stretch to double its size, therefore I knit a size 20. I usually knit a 36 or 38, depending on how much ease I want. The size 20 barely stretches to fit, and gaps a little more than I mind when closed.

The collar comes up WAY too high to suit my comfort level. I've taken to flipping it open, even though it reveals the millions of ends I wove in. I only bought 12 buttons, but the pattern calls for 15. I could have gone back and bought another set, but I knew that with the bottom barely closing around my waist and the neck being higher than I would ever button it to (not to mention the gapping at the bust, too), I left off two buttons at the top and one at the bottom. I lucked out in that Express has teal this season, and it's right close to the "jade" colorway, which is one of the main colors of this sweater. It's the perfect cami to wear under the half-buttoned cardigan, helping to negate the effects of the gapping throughout the middle and the fact that I don't even dare attempt to close it around the bust.



The sleeves were constructed differently, meant to be a little poofy and retro. They don't quite fit that way on me, though, and I'm not sad about it! I actually really love the way the sleeves fit - not tight at all, as most sleeves are wont to be on me. The shoulders do tend to bunch up on me though, causing the ribbing of the sleeves to push up and sit on my shoulders about an inch past where the seam should sit. (Does that even make sense?) In my infinite laziness, I haven't attempted to block it out yet. But I will at some point!

Despite ALL of these complaints and little fixes I had to make, I really, really love this sweater. It was worth every minute of painstaking stitch in the ribbing OF DOOM! Two thumbs up!




I'm so far behind on figuring out my summer of stash tally. But this one dipped deep. Too bad I messed it all up when I found the PERFECT cone of red fingering weight wool on closeout. Two and a half pounds of it, to be exact. Enough for the light summer cardi I've been dreaming of...generous swatching and a couple of pairs of matching socks. For $25, including shipping. How could I pass that up? I'll just have to keep knitting away! I'll update it soon.

Stay tuned for many more FO's! Including a non-knitting FO that I couldn't be more proud of and can't wait to share!

FO: Bayerische Socks

Pattern: Bayerische Socks by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Sunshine Yarns Soft Sock, Bitterroot, 1 skein
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony Wood DPN, US1/2.25mm; Knitpicks Harmony Sock Needles US1/2.25mm; Knitpicks Nickel Plated DPN, US1/2.25mm
Modifications: None.

What else is there to say about these beautiful socks? They are probably the most complicated thing I've ever knit. I can't even count the number of times I ripped back - whole rows, sections of each cable, ribbing...the frogging went on and on. But they're done! And so soft and comfortable!

I'm a big fan of the colorways of Dani at Sunshine Yarns. Her colorways are always beautiful, and she does lots of colorways from two of my most favorite inspirations - Harry Potter and Twilight. Her Soft line is actually one of the same base yarns I use in my shop, so I always love working with it. It held up to all of the frogging I did, which caused a big sigh of relief every time I ripped back for the 3rd or 4th time on a particular section. This Bitterroot colorway is a gorgeous overdye of brown and orange, fully of autumny-goodness.

You'll notice under the "Needle" section that I used 3 different needles. I started with the Harmony DPNs, but the long needles were a little awkward with all the cabling going on. So I switched to the new sock needles, which solved that awkward problem, but created another one. They're so short that I had to palm the end of the needle as I knit, which could be quite painful at times. I think for simple ribbed socks, these would be great (and I intend to try!). But for the complicated cabling, they just weren't right. I finally hit the nail on the head when I switched to the nickel-plated needles. Yes, the original awkwardness was back, but the points were so sharp that they were perfect for those 7-stitch crosses that I dreaded whilst using both types of wood needles.



I did four repeats of the cuff pattern, because I like my socks a little longer than most knitted patterns allow for. I worried the entire first sock that I would run out of yarn because of this, especially considering I have a size 9 foot. But I weighed the first sock when it was complete, and I had just enough yarn to make it through the second sock. And maybe even enough to make a square in the sock yarn entrelac blanket formulating in my head.



The fourth cable pattern was split at the gusset, and half was worked on each side of the gusset down the foot, with the other three cable patterns worked as set, to create a long line of cables down the leg, continuing on the top of the foot to the toe. This part is probably what gave me the most pause in knitting these socks. The cable charts were positioned on the unfinished pattern (this pattern was spread out over a series of two blog posts by Eunny, and she hasn't created a comprehensive pattern to-date, which is understandable giving her editorship of the beloved IK) in reverse order of what would make sense to me. Chart "D1" was to the left of "D2". Given that you read patterns from right to left, I was constantly reading, and therefore knitting, "D2" first. I solved this problem by downloading a free knitting font and creating my own charts. It worked like a charm for the second sock and I was finished in no time!!!



I've been rather obsessed with cables lately, and these were the perfect remedy. Or catalyst. Whichever. Regardless, they're soft, stretchy, and so pretty! A definite win.

Oh the Tangled Ends We Weave (in)

Or something like that.

What do you get when you spend a five hour train ride weaving in ends?



Technically, that's one five hour train ride plus a whole extra weekend. That's a whole lot of ends to weave in, let me just tell you.

Luckily for me, you also get this:



All she awaits now is some buttons. Much like the cat, my curiosity is killing me. I've probably tried the cardigan on about 10 times throughout varying stages of done-ness, and not one time did it look like it was going to fit quite right. It's very discouraging, especially given my passion for this sweater - not to mention how much time and effort have gone into knitting her!



Generally, I knit a size 36 or 38 for all my sweaters, and they fit perfectly. Because of the ribbing, Laura's Cardigan is sized differently. Following the instructions that the ribbing stretched to double, I knit a size 20, thinking it would be plenty roomy enough if it stretched out to 40 inches. I had four inches of ease, even.

It's hard to tell with no buttons on, but, at this point, it doesn't look like that's the case. I'm still holding out hope, though.

Buttons, buttons, who's got the buttons?

(photo borrowed from www.chrisglass.com)

Ron's Blanket

In case you couldn’t tell from my millions of Harry Potter posts and projects, I’m a big fan. I’d say my Harry Potter obsession is tied with my knitting obsession…and when I can combine the two, it makes me one happy knitting muggle.

Late last year, someone put out the idea of making this blanket from the Harry Potter movies. I don’t have any good pictures of it, so sorry for the poor quality!



Since the blanket is made up of many squares, all different patterns, colors, and textures, we decided to do a swap. There were so many people interested that we had to have two different groups. After deciding that the squares looked to be 8x8, we also decided to use worsted weight yarn for consistency, and earthy tones only (no bright or pastel colors). I think we decided on washable fibers only, but I’m not sure - I think I received some that weren’t. People went crazy with this swap! There were squares with all sorts of different HP-related colorwork, stitch patterns, some were crocheted, etc. It was great! I made these:



And received this back:



Not all squares are perfectly 8x8, but I’ll just have to get a little creative in the joining of the squares. I figure it’ll just add to the charm of the blanket. I thought we were going to keep it washable, but that didn't happen, either. Some of my favorite squares are hand wash only (namely that Gryffindor-colored "R" on top), and as yet I'm undecided on whether to include them or not. What do you think?

The idea was to keep the swap going until everyone had enough squares to make the size blanket they wanted. I was in the middle of the second swap when…well, I wasn’t able to finish the second swap.

But I still wanted to make my blanket!

So I rounded up the (new) troops, and swap number two began! Same rules, different group, and what’s this? I actually was moderating a swap? Go figure.

I’m a little cable-crazy right now…so I searched through my new stitch pattern books, and found an all-over cable pattern with an irresistible texture. I went stash-diving, and came up with the leftover Wool-Ease from Hogwarts Sweater v3.0. The swatch showed me that I’d have to have a garter-stitch border in order to make the pattern fit for the dimensions I needed, but I was game.

After making it through the first couple squares, I realized I would only have enough to make six of the necessary nine for the swap. So out came the two leftover balls of yarn from the first round (KnitPicks Swish Worsted). But I still lacked one ball of yarn. Each of those balls would only yield one square. I was using 26 grams per square, and Swish skeins contain 50 grams (I even weighed them to see if, by some miracle, I had an extra gram or two in either ball to work with. But no.

Hmmm. What to do? In a stroke of brilliance (if I do say so myself), I suddenly remembered a little swatch I did last year with some Swish Worsted in Truffle. Score! That’s square #9. And enough of each color to make an extra square for myself, or maybe to use in the next round.

So what will round 2 turn this into?



The Summer of Stash Tally (to be adjusted later, when I'm home from my work trip and can weigh out and calculate how much of the Swish Worsted I used) sits at:

Yards used: 380

Yards remaining: 20,961

I did some more stash-diving and came up with all sorts of worsted yarns without a designated project to call home. Most aren't washable, but what's a mish-mosh blanket without a couple felted squares in the mix?

Accio yarn!

In Which She Has a Sleeve

Laura's Cardigan is moving along at a mighty fine pace! I thought for sure that a little sleeve would only take a night's worth of knitting. I mean, I can get a long sweater sleeve done in a weekend, flat. But, for some reason, this little bugger wanted to take the entire weekend!



Granted, there was only half-a-day's knitting on Saturday. Adam and I were restless after countless weeks of rain (and no sunny days on the horizon), so we wandered out to PA to the new Sands casino. Growing up in southern CA, I'm used to quickie trips to Vegas for the weekend and miss my slot machine fix!

We spent the afternoon sitting down at a slot machine, losing $20, then getting up to find a new one. The slots weren't great - nothing extremely fun like there is in Vegas, but the Stonehenge slots were nice to us. We won some, we lost more, and ended up not too much worse for the wear. Less than a trip into NYC for a day, at least. And we had a yummy dinner at the Irish pub located inside the casino. I thought about checking out Emeril's, but fish 'n chips just sounded so much better than some expensive fancy fare.

Then it was back to work on my sleeve. By the end of the day Sunday, I managed to finish one out (not to mention grocery shopping, 3 loads of laundry and countless trips outside with the dog.)

The construction of the sleeve is rather odd, in my opinion, but I'm going with it. Of course, if it turns out to be ill-fitting, I'm going to be angry at myself for not switching it up, given the amount of work each sleeve is taking. Normally, after you do the initial bind-off for the sleeve cap, there is some succession of decreases to make the the sleeve cap trapezoid-shaped. For this sweater, you do the initial bind off (eight stitches for my size), and then continue to knit in pattern for 4 more inches, and then start rather steep shaping. For my size, there were 10 rows of decreasing 2 sts per row, every RS row, and then 8 rows of decreasing 4 sts per row, every RS row.



I tried on the sleeve when I was done, and the armpit seems a little low. In looking closely at the picture in the magazine, it seems to fit the model that way, too. I'm still going with it for now, and am just at the initial bind off for sleeve no.2.



I should have the second sleeve finished over the weekend, and onto the button band. I have a long train ride to and from to the Boston area and plan to get lots of knitting done!

I've devised a plan to get all these WIPs off the needles so I can begin a whole new case of start-itis. After Laura's Cardigan is wrapped up, I will finally steek and finish up the Deep V Argyle Vest for Angie. After that, it's time to start and finish the second Ravenclaw Entrelac Sock, to be done in time to wear to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (on the first night, of course - it's tradition.)

And, lastly, I will finish up the Bayerische Sock. I actually worked on it some over the weekend, between finishing the first sleeve and starting the second, and have one of four 16-row cable repeats done on the cuff. And, no frogging to report - that's a major feat, folks.



But you know between all those, I will start a new project or two. I just can't help myself. Especially because, if I'm going to make my goal of spinning for and knitting the Tangled Yoke Cardigan by October, then I really need to finish dyeing up the fiber and get carding! Two pounds of fiber is a lot to hand card (especially for this beginner) and spin. I'll be doing a 3-ply DK-weight yarn so the cables really pop, and that's no easy feat!

A Person...Can Develop a Cold

Look! My first tomato babies of the year!



And...after a long, long wait, my daylilies are blooming!


I'm really excited over them this year, too. I transplanted these on the side of the house from the front garden in spring of 2007. We got some blooms that year, but not many. Last year, they pretty much doubled in size and we had blooms for a good, solid month. This spring, they've multiplied exponentially, and it's taken all the willpower (and time management skills) not to count how many buds are on the plants. Take a look and the before and after pics.

Spring 2007, after transplanting:


Spring 2009, two years later:


Crazy, huh?

Wait...this is a knitting blog??? Are you sure?

Hmm...knitting. There's been a lot of that going on, too. But I can't show everything that I've been working on. Secret projects are a ton of fun, but they don't really make good blog fodder!

Not to worry, I have some bloggble knitting, too. I cast on (for the third time) for the second Bayerische sock over the weekend. I counted out my stitches three times before finally beginning the ribbing to make sure that I had exactly 76 stitches. I wasn't going to rip out that ribbing one more time! After I assured myself the stitch count was correct, I flew threw the ribbing, the increase row, and then started the cabling. I downloaded a free charting font and recharted the cable patterns to make them more fluid, and easier to follow. Especially for the foot - I didn't want a repeat of all that ripping I did on the first foot because I couldn't keep Charts D1 and D2 straight.



And what did I end up doing three rows into the cabling? Riiiiiip. I put that down and worked on Laura's Cardigan for the rest of the weekend.

I finished the ribbing of doom, the plaid pattern hem, and the interface for the turned hem. After that, I worked the upper right front of the cardigan - more plaid, and worked most of the upper left front. It's getting closer, and looking excellent, if I do say so myself - though it's pretty impossible to get a good picture of the entire cardigan at this stage, to show all the progress in one shot.



There were a few measuring snafu's that needed to be worked through - for example, I spent a good while measuring from the top of the ribbing instead of the beginning of the armhole, so I knit a couple inches more than I needed in plaid before starting the shoulder and neck shaping, and had to rip back. I didn't lose a ton of time, it was more the annoyance factor of how much time I've spent frogging in the past few weeks. I really need to work on some easier projects next!

I'm currently itching to cast on for the Yarrow Ribbed Socks from "Knitting Vintage Socks" with some Knitpicks Imagination in "Wicked Stepmother" that's been burning a hole in my stash since the yarn was first released last year, but am forcing myself to get a couple of my FIVE WIPs off the needles (including at least one pair of socks)! This should satisfy the craving for simple though, no?

The title of this blog post has nothing to do with knitting or the garden. But Adam and I did have the quintessential Saturday in New York City - brunch at Tavern on the Green (so yummy) followed by Guys & Dolls. The line, "A person...can develop a cold" is from one of Adelaide's (played by Lauren Graham) songs.

Some Serious Knitters

I like to think of myself as a "serious" knitter. But these ladies take the cake. Talk about the ultimate mini-village. We have a Halloween village and a Christmas village - I never thought about a knitted village! The creativity of knitters continues to astound me daily.

Emerging...

It's 11:07 on a Sunday night (way past my bedtime on a school night), and I'm just emerging from a knitting frenzy. Did I finish the second Bayerische or Ravenclaw Entrelac? Nope! Did I finally steek and trim out the Deep V Argyle Vest for my friend Angie? Of course not! How about that Laura's Cardigan? Ha!

Instead, I spent the weekend completely immersed in a new project. It began at lunchtime on Friday, when a coworker commented on my Endpaper Mitts (still unblogged), and mentioned that his boss is always freezing in her office, and maybe could I help him get in good with her and knit up a pair of handwarmers for him to give her?

Well, you know how that particular story goes...so little time, so much to knit - for me! I contemplated knitting yet another pair of Endpaper Mitts. This would make pair #5. I probably had enough leftovers from the first four pairs in the stash, and what a great stash-busting exercise that would be!

But then I remembered this spectacular twisted stitch pattern from one of the Knitting Treasuries that would look fantastic perched right atop a hand. Perhaps on the back of a pair of handwarmers? Fridays are short days during the summer - we have the opportunity to work an hour extra Monday through Thursday and once we hit 40 hours for the week on Friday, we can go home. After lunch. So I went home.

And I tried to be good - really I did. I cast on 72 stitches for the second Bayerische, and knit all 14 rows of ribbing. And when I got to the end of the increase round, ready to jump into the deliciously complicated cables, I realized that I had only cast on 70 stitches. So out it all came.

Enter swatching marathon. I poured over my stitch pattern books, trying to find the perfect line up. And then I swatched with some DK weight yarn leftover from the Riding to Avalon. But the pattern was way to big to fit on the back of a handwarmer. So I pulled out the leftovers (Knitpicks Essential) from the multiple pairs of Endpaper Mitts. Perfect! I swatched the cuff pattern, matched it up with the back of the hand pattern, did some math, some charting (using this nifty free font), and cast on! I knit through the first pattern repeat on the cuff on 2.75 mm (US2) needles, but it was too loose. So out it came. And then I went to bed.

On Saturday, after a long day of weeding out the Rhodendron bed (which is huge, and mighty full of tall, tall weeds after all the rain we've had lately) and painting a ton of spindles on the staircase, I sat down to restart the second Bayerische. And cast on 72 stitches. I was positive this time that I cast on all 72. And when I got to the end of the increase round, I was short. Why? Because I was supposed to cast on 76. So frog it, I did. Again. And that was the end of that (for now).

I turned back to my swatches. Because you know I couldn't get it out of my head that easily. I had swatched on 2.25mm (US1), and I really liked that fabric better than on the 2.75mm from Friday night. But, based on the measurements of the swatch, I was worried it would be too tight for my crazy big hands/forearms. Oh well! I pulled the 2.25mm DPN's back out, and cast on. And knit, knit, knit away. Perfect! I got through the first pattern repeat on the cuff (and most of the way through Veronica Mars season 3) before I looked up at the clock and realized it was 1:30am.

At 8am this morning, I was up and at 'em, the doggie was fed and had been outside twice, the first load of clothes in the washer, the grocery shopping done, the pie for an afternoon party made and freezing, and I was back at work on the cuff with Ms. Mars and the fictional town of Neptune (which I think I have pinpointed to somewhere between San Diego and LA.)

I made it to the end of the cuff before I had to hit the road for said party. And, trust me, it took every ounce of willpower I had to put. the. knitting. down.

And guess what I picked up as soon as I walked in the door at 6pm? Work tomorrow? Who cares! I don't need to make a lunch, or print out those pesky cycle count spreadsheets. I have handwarmers-to-be waiting for me!

I realized that said spectacular twisted stitch pattern would be quite annoying on the palm whilst trying to type or do other tasks one might attempt with handwarmers in place, so I went back to the stitch dictionaries and started swatching again. I found another stitch pattern that I adored, but, once swatched, realized that it wasn't quite right, either. I filed it away for another time and went for an old standby instead, and started working on the hand. I was about halfway through the hand (and much, much problem solving), when I saw the late hour. Duty calls, my friends.

There is no pictorial evidence of my knitting escapades, unfortunately. Just tall tales of mad obsession, which hopefully will be enough entertainment value for now. Gotta keep y'all guessing, right?

And now, it's 11:35 and we have officially entered the witching hour (aka the time at which Leann cannot possibly sleep long enough before work in the morning and will, inevitably be a witch (or a word that rhymes with witch) to all.)

Ribbing of Doom

I’m borrowing this term from a fellow knitter friend. She coined it for a mere four inches of garter rib. Sure, it was 300 stitches, but four inches compareth not to the 13 I’ve done so far on Laura’s Cardigan. And mine is true ribbing, not garter rib. With color changes every four or eight rows. See?



The lighting isn't the best, but I had a bad day and was too lazy to do something about it. Sorry! I have about another inch or two of stripes and then one more inch of plaid pattern before I can start working on the tops of the cardigan fronts - more plaid.

Needless to say, progress on this has slowed some. It doesn’t help that I’m working on another project – a swap whose deadline came and went. But, since I’m moderating the swap, I have a nice little cushion while I await all packages to come in so I can shuffle them up and turn them back out. I’m saving that swap for another post (a project like this one deserves a day in the spotlight, rather than being sandwiched into another post.)

There’s really not much other knitting news to tell! I haven’t cast on for the second sock for either Ravenclaw Entrelac or Bayerische.

So….how about some pretty flowers?


I don't remember the name for these, but they're pretty and just keep blooming!


Poppies - a little taste of home. These plants give yellow, white and orange blooms. They're quite different than the wild ones that grow in California, but I'll take what I can get!


Rhododendrons - the newest addition to the garden this year. We planted them to replace the dried out, thorny vine and poison ivy infested hedges that have been in between our and the neighbors' house for years. The story goes that brothers lived in the two houses, and neither wanted to claim the hedges as theirs (probably because they were uglier than sin.) So each clipped only their side of the hedge, and nobody clipped the top. It was bad. These are filling in fast, and the flowers are far, far prettier than what was there before! Of course, the old hedges have been there so long that the roots wouldn't give out, so we had to settle for just cutting them down to the ground and letting the Rhodies grow around them and hope they would die off. Only now, with so much sun, they're growing back faster than I can clean off the new sprouts to deaden them! I will prevail, though!

Much more knitting content next time, I promise. I might even cast on for another sock! Gasp!

Ready, Set, SWAP!

No matter how hard I try to only buy yarns with a specific project in mind, there are some yarns that have been sitting in my stash for quite some time.

I’d like to enter into evidence the following item:


This is a skein of beautiful, squishy Tahki Torino. Of which seven skeins (five in raisin, two in black) have been sitting in my stash for almost 2 years now.

See, I bought them when I was a young knitter, once upon a time when I considered all yarns to be equal, no matter their weight, fiber content, dye lot, etc, etc. I picked these up at a LYS in Princeton when Adam and I took the short drive down there to spend a beautiful day leisurely strolling through the quaint shops in town and the beautiful campus.

The black was intended for the Deep V Argyle Vest (of which, sadly I never made an FO post.) Didn't think to check that it was heavier than the DK weight required. It felt like the yarn I had swatched with (Sublime Merino DK), so certainly it must be the same. I’ll just add it to the leftovers from my swatch! Wrong.

The raisin was intended for a sweater that’s been in my head ever since I saw a version of it on Veronica Mars. Yes, even as a young knitter, I had lofty goals of making up my own sweaters. Well, the very first sweater I knit was Adam’s Hogwarts Sweater, which I made up as I went along…and then had to rip and re-knit three times before finally having a sweater that fit him (Hogwarts Sweater v3.0) But what I didn’t know is that I really prefer to knit in lighter weight yarns because they’re just better suited to my figure. The aran/worsted weight of Tahki Torino would make up into something I probably would never wear due to its bulkiness. Plus, I never could find the other colors needed for that sweater in similar fiber content /basic texture and weight.

So in my stash they sat. And sat. And sat.

Until one day I decided to count everything in my stash. And then proceeded to faint.

So swap it, I did. I received three beautiful skeins of sock yarn from a lovely knitter who believes she took advantage of me. Did I get less yarn than I gave? Maybe. But three skeins of sock yarn will leave my stash much sooner than those seven balls of Tahki Torino.



That’s one skein of Trekking XXL, of which I’ve been reading much about on several blogs. There’s enough for a pair of socks in that skein. There's also a skein of Regia Silk, and one unknown skein. But it was pretty, so I took it! Neither of these have enough for a pair of socks (which I didn't know when I took them, but am fine with), but I will probably dye something up to use for toes, heels, and maybe some solid stripes on the cuff. We’ll see how it goes.

The stash, adjusted for this swap, the beautiful Lorna’s Laces from Laura, and some calculation errors, now comes in at 21,613 yards.

I’m getting there, right? Just lie to me. I could use a lie that makes me feel better rather than tears me down right about now!

One Down, One To Go...

Two first socks came off the needles in the past week or so.

I finally managed to finish the last few rows of the ribbing on my first Entrelac Sock. I still need to do the tassel, though. I’m saving that till the end to ensure both tassels are the same. It fits pretty well – it’s still tight around the ankle (and, therefore, in putting on the sock), and a little loose around the leg at the ribbing. I’m hoping the ankle will stretch out some with wear, as did my Falling Monkeys, and that I can tighten up the ribbing a little with the addition of the tassel.



The first Bayerische sock flew off the needles, it seems! As soon as I got the hang of the pattern and was no longer constantly ripping back rows and rows, it was time to turn the heel and the pattern changed again. I was back to ripping back 3 rows every other row, it seemed, as Chart D split into D1 and D2. With knitting charts being read from right to left, my eyes automatically went to the chart on the right to work first, which was D2, not D1. I think I was ripping back the stitches for those two charts right to beginning the toe. But, it was worth it all – because it’s pretty.



AND I can even cast on for both socks #2 at the same time, because I got a nice package from KnitPicks in the mail last week!



Laura’s Cardigan is also coming along nicely. I find the sequence in which it is worked quite odd, but it doesn’t bother me any time other than when I stop to look at my progress. First, you knit the stripe sequence for the cardigan fronts, starting with a provisional cast on at the top, knitting downwards for a few inches.

Then you work the plaid pattern for the upper back, starting with a provisional cast on at the bottom, and ending with the shoulder bind-offs and putting the back neck stitches on a holder. You remove the provisional cast on from the upper back and work the stripe sequence to the same point at which you worked the left and right fronts. Then you join the fronts to the back (at the armhole) and begin working in the round. I’ve worked through the multi-color stripe pattern and through the waist stripe pattern.



At this point, the stripe pattern reverts to the multi-color pattern for another 7-ish inches, then one inch of plaid for the hem. I think, after that, I’ll be picking up the provisional cast-on stitches for each of the fronts and working the plaid pattern on each side, to meet up with the back at the shoulders.



For once, I’m not subbing out the yarn. This is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece Fine, in the same colors as the pattern uses. I had a hard time finding all the colors at one place online (none of my LYS carry this yarn, much to my chagrin), but finally found it at a reasonable price. The pattern struck me so much just as it is, I didn’t dare to dream of making it in any different colors, so it worked out perfectly for me. Also, because the yarn is thin, I was happy to work with cotton (which I don’t normally relish) so I could wear this cardigan all summer. I wouldn’t have been able to do so if I subbed out for lovely wool. Who knows, maybe I’ll be so inspired by the way it turns out that I’ll make another one, in different colors, in wool. Nah…probably not!

I got another wonderful package in the mail last week – this one from Amazon. After searching through the Harmony Guide for cable stitches, I still didn’t find quite what I wanted. In order to get free shipping with Knitpicks order, I threw in the book Cables Untangled (seen in the picture above), recommended by Dana. But, I still really wanted those Barbara Walker Knitting Treasuries. Because I’ve also been itching to try out some knit/purl combinations for some socks. (What can I say, I’ve been reading too much Knitspot lately, and I’m inspired.) But then, I couldn’t decide which of the four to order. What happens if I ordered one and two, and settled on a cable pattern for my sweater that I didn’t love, but was just okay with? Now, I realize this could happen even if I ordered all four treasuries, because the perfect cable might not reside there – it might not even exist! But I needed to exhaust all resources. So, I bit the bullet and ordered all four.



And, I’m very glad I did. Because the perfect cable pattern just happens to reside in one of those treasuries that I might not have ordered if I had to choose sight-unseen, and my head is going crazy with all the ideas! The last details are forming in my head, and I’m getting close to putting pen to paper and needle to yarn to swatch it out.

And, last but not least, another inspiration from Anne:



Flower of the day: Azalea

They’re exploding in my little front garden, a little spot of heaven in the morning as I drag myself to work, and brightening my spirit as I try to release the trials and tribulations of the work day in the evening.

The Best of Times; The Worst of Times

I had a whole “woe is me” post written about work crap that I’ve been going through lately. But I decided that I needed to focus on the positive. So the only background to the “Worst of Times” that I’m going to give is to say that I was up for a promotion at work when my manager left the department. And I didn’t get it. And the person who did – I don’t like him. He’s a nice enough guy…but we hold *very* different beliefs, and as far as I can tell, work at very different quality levels.

With that said, I have to again repeat what an amazing group of women (knitters) I’m blessed to belong to. I posted on our message board about my work blues on the day I found out that (a) I wasn’t getting the promotion and (b) who was, a very kind woman, Laura, e-mailed me and said she was sorry that I was having such a hard time at work, and she wanted to send me something to cheer me up, so could she please have my address?

I was floored. But how could I say no to someone who wanted to spoil me?

My package arrived on Saturday, just as Adam and I were rushing to get ready to head into the city for his 30th birthday dinner at Peter Luger (so yum, by the way!) I opened it up, and this is what I saw:



I’ve been dying to try some Lorna’s Laces – I see it all over the internet EVERYWHERE, and it always looks so luscious and happy. And it is! Even better, the colorway is called “Bittersweet”, which is just too funny, and too perfect for the situation.



She included some soft scents from Bath & Body Works, in the form of hand gel (no more germies!) and a plug-in which is *so* going into the bathroom! Not forgetting the lip gloss, too!



And…these earrings and shawl pin. She MADE these. The earrings went in right away, as they just happened to compliment my dinner outfit perfectly. And the shawl pin couldn’t have come at a more perfect time, because I’ve been wanting to knit a shawl for a while, and just finally found exactly the one I want to knit. And, bonus, I bought the perfect roving at MDSW without even knowing it! Now I just have to get spinning (and, um, learn how to knit lace!)



What more could a girl want?

THANK YOU LAURA!

Turn of the Wheel

This one has been off the wheel for a while, I just haven't had time to write about it yet.


4 oz of Superwash BFL from Spinning Bunny, I think in the Autumn Sunrise colorway, but I can't remember for sure. It was a gift from my wonderful spoiler during the Warm Ewe Up Winter Swap I participated in a few months back.



I started this on the spindle while I was on vacation in Arizona in March. I didn't get very far, though. I wasn't enjoying it much - the fiber was pretty slippery on the spindle, and it kept breaking. I finished it up when I got my wheel - the fiber behaved completely differently, and I really loved spinning it.



When plying, I tried to keep the barber-poling to a minimum and protect the color changes. Both of these colors are so beautiful and vibrant; I really wanted to keep that. I had four bobbins, each about 1/4 full, that I used to while plying, so I could break the singles when a color change was happening on one single and not the other. It worked pretty well, but I did end up with a little bit of barber-poling here and there. Not enough to ruin the effect I was going for, by any means.



There is 444 yards, about 16 wpi. (Since this has been done for a while, it's already included in my stash quantification, so I'm safe there.) I'm thinking this would be perfect for socks from my new book, probably one of the basic ribbed socks with a fun new heel and toe to try out. I want this yarn to shine, not be hidden by a busy pattern, and any of the several versions of ribbed socks in this book will do.

State of the Knitting

As I mentioned in my last post, as soon as I kitchenered up the second Falling Monkey, and had all the ends weaved in, I immediately cast on for two new projects. That brings the total WIPs (as opposed to UFOs) up to four.

Laura’s Cardigan – I just couldn’t wait any longer. The yarn was sitting on my scrapbook table, baiting me. What could I do but wind up all the yarns and cast on?

(This is the first part of the two fronts of the cardigan.)

I swatched first – I did the ribbing and then a little bit of the plaid pattern. I didn’t get gauge exactly, but close enough. The ribbing stretches, so I’m not too worried. I am worried, however, at keeping track of all my little bobbins!



Bayerische Socks – I’m participating in a Bayerische Sock knit along. These socks are beautiful (what does Eunny design that isn’t, though?)



And they’re every bit as complicated as the pattern hints at. I had a little trouble interpreting the 7-stitch cable the first time around, and it happens 4 times every 8th round. When I got to the 4th round, I noticed that my knit and purl stitches weren’t in the right place to do the next set of crosses, so I laddered back down to the 2nd round and rearranged. The cables didn’t lay completely right, but I was okay with that. I kept knitting merrily on, through the second round of cables, all the way to Round 10.

And then I looked back to admire my work. And realized that the first round of cables were going in the wrong direction. I wavered for another few minutes, and then bravely frogged. I didn’t plan my frogging well though, and ended up back to the 13th out of 14 rounds of ribbing on the cuff. It took a while to get through the intense increase round and back into the cables. But I made it through that first round of 7-stitch crosses breezily. And then on the 3rd round, had to ladder all 12 stitches on Chart B (did I mention that there are FOUR CHARTS per round?) back to the first round, and reknit that section. I was just happy I didn’t need to rip all the way back again!

I’m back up to Round 7, and it’s going much better. I’m very happy with my yarn choice (Sunshine Yarns Soft Sock in Bitterroot) – I was a little worried that the 2-ply wouldn’t show enough definition in the cables, and also that the variegation would be too busy. But, so far, neither of those have been an issue.

There's really not much to show, but here you go!


Entrelac Socks – I’m almost done with the first sock. All of the Entrelac is done, and I’m working through the ribbing at the cuff.



I really love these socks – though they’re a little tight. I swatched to gauge perfectly, however I think the construction is just too small for my humongous ankles.

I started with a US1, and then switched to a US2 when I tried on the sock after turning the heel (managing to break one of my US1’s in the process) and noticed how small it was. I knit with the US2’s up to the last round of MC blocks, when I tried on the sock again and noticed that it was getting pretty tight on my calf. I switched to US2.5 for the last two rows of blocks, the top triangles, and the ribbing. I haven’t tried it on again, but I think it will fit nice and snug. I really hate knee socks that fall down, and I’m hoping the fact that these are pretty tight will help that.

Of course, once I'm done with the first one, I can't start the second until the Bayerische socks are done, since I was so smart and used the same US1 (inadvertently, my only pair) needles for the Bayerische as I did to start the Entrelacs. Go me.

Deep V Argyle Vest (v2.0) – I haven’t blogged about this one yet, nor photographed it. This is a gift for my friend Angie. She requested this vest specifically after seeing mine, and even picked out the colors (Knitpicks Telemark) in Tidepool Heather and Black).



I’ve been working on this for quite a while – since February, I think. I was halfway done when it took a backseat in March while I went searching for my knitting mojo. I tried to have it done before her birthday at the end of April, but it just didn’t happen. I have just a little ways to go on the stranded knitting, and then will cut the steeks and do the neck and sleeve ribbing.

I ran out of black yarn for this (which was surprising, considering the amount of leftovers I had after version 1.0), and had to order another skein. I kept my fingers crossed for two reasons – (1)that the yarn I had would last all the way through the stranded knitting, and (2) that the yarn that came wouldn’t be *too* far off from the dye lot I had. There was no way Knitpicks would still have this dyelot in stock, since I bought it last fall. I’m not sure if the last skein will hold out until the end, but the dyelot I received is indistinguishable from what I have. Right now, at least. We’ll see what happens when I actually start knitting with it!

I'm trying to decided if I'm brave enough to cut away without the crochet reinforcement, a la Clumsy Knitter. I'm betting I'm not, though. I'm such a chicken! Maybe if it weren't for someone else...

I have a strategy when I’m working multiple WIPs, none of which necessarily take precedence over another, and all of which I’m still interested in completing soon (therefore they are not UFOs, but WIPs). I usually knit while watching TV. Since I don’t have cable in the Pumpkinarium, I rely on my ever-growing collection of DVD’s. I mostly watch the seasons of my favorite tv shows I’ve collected over the years (Buffy, Angel, Veronica Mars, Smallville, Charmed and Gilmore Girls), and some that I rent from Netflix (Big Love, Robin Hood (BBC), etc). I occasionally throw in a day of movies…but usually stick to my TV shows. Especially when I’ve got a lot of WIPs to work. I knit on each one for a whole episode – about 40 minutes, depending on the show, and then switch. And then, after two shows, I move the laundry and take out the doggie. It’s a system I’ve been honing for the past two years, and it works pretty well! Especially right now, because there are four shows to a DVD, and four WIPs…you get the idea. This works on the weekends when there’s nothing particularly exciting going on. On weeknights, I tend to pick one (sometimes two) projects per night and stick with that. Or, sometimes I fall asleep on the couch with nary a thought to the knitting.

And yes, I know how pathetic I am!

FO: Falling Monkeys

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.
Yarn: Sunshine Yarns Soft Sock, Fall Leaves
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony DPNs, US0
Mods: None

There really isn’t much to say about these socks…it’s not like they haven’t been knit a million times before me! The pattern was interesting, but easy. The second sock somehow managed to be tighter than the first. Almost too tight, really. It’s a little hard to get over my massive ankle…but once it’s on, they’re really comfortable. This yarn is soft soft and lovely.



This is the first Cookie A. pattern I’ve knit…but I’m in love with her new book and can’t wait to get some of these socks on my needles!

Summer of Stash tally-

Yards used: 275 yards (these didn’t even use 2/3 of the skein!)

Yards remaining: 24,050 yards



And, since I finished one UFO, I immediately cast on for two new projects! Because that makes sense, right?

Oh My Stash!

I've been buying a lot of yarn lately. That's not entirely the truth, as I participated in quite a few swaps where I was gifted some, too. And I've dyed up a little here and there for special projects.

Regardless, my stash overfloweth. I've been struggling over the past couple months to find a new way to track my stash. A friend very generously offered to download all the work I put into organizing my stash in January into an Excel spreadsheet, so that was my starting point. I formatted the spreadsheet to better work for my needs. (I should mention here that I tend to go slightly overboard with my Excel spreadsheets. Don't even ask about the series of budget spreadsheets I've developed over the past 3 years.) I created separate tabs for each weight of yarn, as well as one for handspun and another for fiber. I then totaled up each tab onto a summary tab.

And then I fainted.

In January, after my re-organization, I counted roughly 12,000 yards (or about 7 miles) of yarn. There were a few skeins here and there missing...but no more than 500 yards or so.

As of Friday, I have approximately 24,325 yards of yarn. That's roughly 13.82 miles. More than a half-marathon. I also have 44.07 ounces of fiber, or about 2.75 pounds.

Excel doesn't lie, my friends.



Granted, most of this yarn has specific projects attached to it. Some of these projects require a little additional yarn, but mostly I have everything I need to knit for quite a while. Especially if you include the fiber I can spin.

Basically, I need to quit buying yarn!

In 2007, the "Summer of Stash" was born. I think it needs to be reborn out of its ashes, much like the fabled Phoenix. At least in the Ross household. I pledge (to try really hard)not to buy any yarn/fiber this summer, aside from what I need for my shop. I'm starting NOW - May 9th (coincidentally, Adam's 30th birthday.) My yarn/fiber diet will end when we leave for our anniversary trip to England on October 2nd.

As part of the Summer of Stash Rebirth, I will keep a running tally of my stash. For every FO post between May 9th and October 2nd, I will subtract how much yarn I used out of the stash. For every spinning project, I will add to the tally.

Ready. Set. Go!!!

{Runs off to finish those pesky Falling Monkey socks so she can subtract the yarn from the stash alredy!}

Books Books Books

I’ve been adding to my (rather sparse) knitting library lately. I can’t imagine ever running out of patterns available in magazines or online that I want to knit, and there are very few books that include more than one or two patterns I would want to make, so I didn’t really see the purpose in creating a robust knitting library. But every once in a while a book pops up that I covet. I have quite a few on my Amazon wish list for birthday/Christmas present ideas, and more recently I’ve been getting interested in knitting history and the types of patterns that come along with that. Also, as I start to knit more things of my own design, I’ve been looking for stitch dictionaries more than anything else.

My two most recent acquisitions serve a specific purpose. A couple of blogs I’ve been reading over the past couple weeks focus a lot on sock knitting. It’s never something I’ve had a passion for, but I’m certainly intrigued by it. Perhaps more so now because I’ve been dyeing up so much sock yarn for my shop. It also might have something to do with my newfound interest in the rather diverse history of my craft. Combine this with my love of all things British, and you have the reason why I purchased “Knitting Vintage Socks”. The author, Nancy Bush, interpreted sock patterns of olde in England, mostly from Weldon’s Practical Needlework series, which was published in the late 1800’s through the early 1920’s. Combined with several different types of toes and heels, these vintage patterns have me salivating like the smell of freshly cooked (real) Mexican food. She recreated patterns meant for men, women, and children alike, and even resized children’s socks to fit a woman’s foot. My sock yarn stash is meager compared to the rest of my stash, but I do so love to spin sock yarn – and my fiber stash certainly is not hurting these days. I think this book is the perfect inspiration to keep me planted at my new spinning wheel (as if I really needed more motivation to do that!)

As I mentioned in my last post, I have a brand new cone of 2,200 yards of beautiful DK weight 50/50 alpaca/wool that I want to use for something special. I have an idea in my head of the type of sweater I want to make, thanks to this picture from Lolly. I don’t intend to try to copy this cable, or the picot edging, and those weird things on the sleeves definitely aren’t to my taste…but this picture has definitely inspired me to create/find a beautiful cable of my own, and put it into a classy, simple, maybe even floaty sweater. I picked up the "Harmony Guides Cables & Arans" at Borders after flipping through it and seeing the wonderful variety of both simple and slightly more complicated cables. Some of the cable patterns are repeated, with different names, which is a little irksome, but, overall, I think this book is a great starting point for me to start swatching and sketching. I’m not sure if I will find quite the cable I want in this book, and I’m dying to get my hands on some of Barbara Walker’s Treasuries, which I think might contain the more complicated cable patterns that I’m searching for.

On another note, I realized yesterday that I haven’t had a finished object to show since February! I’ve been so caught up in my spinning wheel and my secret project that I didn’t even realize! My knitting time has slowed a little as I struggle to find a new balance between life, work, and traffic, as well as while I enjoyed the new wheel and spun up a couple custom orders. Hopefully things will be getting back to normal around here, and I’ll have lots of knitting progress (and FO’s) to show soon! In fact, I was so concerned over the lack of FO’s that I stayed up way too late last night working on my last Falling Monkeys sock from last year. It’s my oldest UFO (unless you count poor Mirabella, still hanging off the closet trim with one sleeve missing – which I don’t.) I turned the heel and am almost through with the gusset decreases. Then I have 5 more pattern repeats for the foot and will start decreasing for the toe. It should be done rather easily this weekend.

Which is good, because look what came in the mail yesterday! And you know how much it’s killing me to not cast on for Laura’s Cardigan immediately.

Loot

Saturday, Adam and I made the trek down to Maryland for the Sheep & Wool Festival. It was the first for both of us! Adam was amazed at the amount of cars in the parking lot – he didn’t understand what the draw was. I was just bummed that I forgot my camera!

We had a little snafu in the beginning. Aside from the rain and an accident slowing our 220 mile trip down to about 4.5 hours, we got to the parking lot only to see a sign that read, “Police will remove unattended pets and children from vehicles.” Well, we had brought Bailey with us. We knew from the website that she wasn’t allowed inside the festival…but we figured that since it would only be 66 degrees, and we were only staying for a few hours, she would be fine in the car with the windows cracked. We do it all the time. There was no way she could’ve stayed home for 12+ hours without someone to let her outside to “potty”.

So Adam stayed with her in the car while I ventured in. I stopped by the information booth first thing to ask if the police would literally break into the car if they saw her in there, and they said that they would make an announcement over the loudspeaker, but that yes, if we didn’t answer the call, they would break into the car. They suggested leaving a note with our phone number on it, so we would be sure not to miss the call. I mentioned they might want to reference that next to their “no pets inside the festival” policy on the website, to which I received a blank stare. Adam wrote up a note, cracked the windows, left Bailey with some water, and came in to join me. Yay!

Oh my. Sensory overload! There were so many booths and so much pretty yarn. And the fiber! I’ve never seen so much and so many different types all in one place! I had a smallish budget, and I knew right away I would have a hard time figuring out the best way to spend it.

We walked all around the place, to just get a feel, first. We petted some sheep. Adam thought it was weird when I swooned at the softness of one sheep in particular, then looked it in the eyes and said, “I want to knit you.” Personally, I thought it was a perfectly sane statement.

My stash was overflowing even before the festival, so I really tried to only consider purchasing things for specific projects. I have a few vests/warm-weather projects I want to knit sooner rather than later, so I stuck to the list I made before-hand of their requirements. Of course, I didn’t find anything for those projects. There really wasn’t anything I wanted (or could afford) 6-10 skeins of to make a vest or sweater. And I really didn’t want to just buy sock yarn. Firstly, I have enough of that to last a good while and, secondly, sometimes I feel like buying a skein of sock yarn is a copout (even though I do it quite often.)

I really didn’t intend to buy any spinning fiber. I have plenty in the stash – more than I will probably spin all year, considering the two pounds of fiber I’m dyeing, carding, and spinning this summer to make my Tangled Yoke Cardigan. For some reason, I’ve been on a green– a limey, chartreuse, bright green – kick. I saw this BFL at a booth in the main hall at Bullens Wullens, for a very reasonable price, and thought long and hard about what I could do with 3oz of yarn. I tend to spin fingering weight yarn, and 3 oz would be enough for a pair of (low cuff) socks, but I didn’t want that limit on it. While I sat and pondered, Adam dug up four more ounces of the same colorway! I still don’t know what I’ll do with seven ounces, but it gives me a lot more options than just three.

My second purchase of the day was a cone (a whole kilo!) of this beautifully heathered, warm grey 50/50 alpaca/wool blend of DK weight yarn from...well, I don't know - there's no name on the cone! But it's fluffy and soft and gorgeous and I love it! I have a very specific project in mind for it that includes a beautiful cable detail. I have a picture in my head, but it’s not completely formed just yet. I’m still playing with a few different combinations in my head before I actually put needle to yarn to start swatching. Being that I have an entire kilo of yarn (2,200 yards), I plan on swatching fairly intensely for this one until I have just what I want.

Purchases out of the way (or so I thought), we looked for some food (and really didn’t have trouble finding any.) I love fair food. Beyond words. Corndogs and Cotton Candy and Funnel Cakes, oh my! Unfortunately, Adam can’t eat most of it, and I don’t like to flaunt the fact that I can. We did find, however, the yummiest French fries ever…and managed to eat two tubs of them throughout the day. Plus a side of cheese (for me). And a big glass of fresh strawberry lemonade (iced tea for Adam). Drool.

Tummies full of greasy French fry goodness, I met up with some wonderful knitterly friends on the lawn outside the main hall. We talked, laughed, oohed and ahhed, and had so much fun. There was flip-flop throwing, rolling down the hill, and an intense game of chase. Okay, so that was the kids…but we had fun too!

After the meet-up, I ventured back into the main hall, intent on finding the Socks That Rock booth I heard was there. Alas, I did not find the STR, but I found something even better. Yarn for a project that was actually on my list! This beautiful dark blue, 2-ply fingering weight yarn from Old Mill Yarn(Domy Heather - Midnight) is speckled with individual fibers of red and green. It makes the color so deep and wonderful, words simply cannot describe it…and pictures certainly cannot do it justice. It’s exactly what I was waiting for to pair with my Malabrigo sock yarn for a lightweight argyle sweater. Actually, I never could have imagined something quite this great – it’s way better than what I imagined. And the owner was so nice. She was out of color cards, but offered to mail me one after the festival if I called her and told her I was there but she had run out. Let me tell you, I will definitely be ordering more of her yarn! A 100 gram skein is only $8.95. I bought three for my cardigan. I think I might only need two for what I’m planning, but I didn’t want to run out. And this would make a gorgeous pair of matching socks, so I’m not complaining!

All in all, it was a very successful day! We got home before 8pm, plenty of time left in the evening to ogle my new purchases some more. Bailey was more than ready to be out of that car about an hour before then, though. She’s a little scaredy-cat, and refused to go potty anywhere along the way, at the fairgrounds, or on the way home. She raced out of the car when we got home, let me tell you!

And we won’t talk about how my spillover ottoman no longer closes, making it virtually useless as its former foot rest for the knitting chair.



And we *certainly* won’t talk about the Brown Sheep Cotton Fine on its way from Woobee Knit Shop for Laura’s Cardigan. *OR* the Hempathy I just ordered from WEBS today for the Nederland Vest and the Adobe Table Runner (because I had to order enough for both projects to get the discount!)

But we WILL talk about all the lovely knitting in my future!