Sunday, November 28, 2010

Long Knitting Weekend

With all the travel and time off for Thanksgiving, I got a bit of knitting done.

PB270005

Pattern: plain... Melanie's Birthday Socks 2010
Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino Sock Special Seconds
Started: 10/31/10
Finished: 11/27/10

My sister and I have a tradition... each year I knit her socks for her birthday. She usually gets them around Thanksgiving, since her birthday is earlier in November and that's when I end up seeing her. She likes plain socks, so I knew hers could be my bus knitting for a bit.

Back in September or so, I asked her to pick yarn for her birthday socks, and she chose this one. It's really interesting yarn I got a while back from a Rut Bustin' sock swap on the knittyboard. I was a little sad to give away the socks from this yarn, but then again one really can't say much when the yarn has been sitting in stash since 2007.

Other than a few extra knots (it was a mill end, after all) the yarn was lovely! I still have quite a bit left, as the original skein was more like 1.5 skeins, so I might try to combine it with some other blackish leftovers and make socks for me. :D

Thursday, November 25, 2010

How Knitting Saved My Toes

On Tuesday I had a snow day, and finished these:

PB240001

Pattern: Garnish by me!
Yarn: Dream In Color Smooshy in Deep Seaflower
Started: 11/7/10
Finished: 11/23/10

On Monday morning I awoke to find snow outside. Snow before Thanksgiving in Seattle is extremely unusual, but I had seen a few flakes on Sunday, so it wasn't a total surprise. I bundled up in my heavy-duty coat (bought before my study abroad in Norway), my handknit wool socks, my hat, my scarf, and my mittens, Pretty Thing was also in my bag... and I went to work. I had to wait for the bus for a very long time, but it was otherwise uneventful.

PB240002

The way home, however, was not. To make a long story short, after a freezing 2.5 hour wait at the bus stop (I was much warmer than my non-knitting counterparts), I finally caught a bus which took me most of the way home. Since the next bus was nowhere in sight I ended up walking almost 3 miles home through the snow. And I don't think I've ever been more glad to be a knitter. By the time I got home I was freezing, but not half as freezing as I would have been without the knitwear!

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Sunday, November 14, 2010

Jera, again

both socks 1

Yarn: Stricken Smitten Smitten Merino Twist in Rune

My pattern Jera was in Knitcircus in the Fall 2010 issue. Now that the winter issue is live, it's available for sale on Ravelry.

IMG_4571

Yarn: Three Fates Yarns Eponymous in Olivia

My fabulous photographer Louise and I had a little photo shoot earlier this week. Then my fabulous layout-designer MJ made me a cute logo and a layout and then stayed on Skype chatting with me as I tweaked it into its final shape. Over the next while I'll convert my older patterns to the new fancy layout.

IMG_4543

More knitting to come soon. :)

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Friday, November 12, 2010

The End of a Story

Pretty Thing

Pattern: Pretty Thing by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn: Handspun 100% angora from New Hampshire Sheep & Wool
Started: 8/7/10
Finished: 11/11/10

When I lived in Boston, I went to a lot of sheep and wool festivals. Back in 2006 I won a skein of handspun Angora at the New Hampshire Sheep & Wool. The 4H always had a raffle, and my friends and I would buy tickets and go about placing them randomly in the boxes of things that looked pretty cool. I can't remember anyone else winning something, but I could be wrong. A little while later this came in the mail:

angora

And then it sat in my stash. See, it's not sock weight (nor would one probably want to make socks with handspun 100% angora!) I alternated between forgetting it existed and wondering what I would ever make with it... and then I saw Pretty Thing. What a perfect project for a small skein of cloudlike yarn!

So in August I started it. It sat (and sat). I am not very good at knitting things that aren't socks, especially when they're for me and have no deadline. But I took it with my on my Port Townsend trip and worked on it a bit at the coffee shop there.

PB120002

Recently it's been getting cold, and I've been wanting to finish something for that sense of accomplishment. Wednesday night I was chatting with MJ on Skype for several hours and managed to make it most of the way through. With only a few more rows left, I finished it yesterday. I wore it today and it is as fluffy and cozy as I ever hoped. :)

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Sock Yarn

    A quest to use sock yarns:

    Yarns I've had:
    * means I really liked it

    4-ply Soft
    A Piece of Vermont*
    Alpafina
    Artsygal*
    Artyarns Supermerino*
    Austermann Step
    BMFA Sock Candy*
    Black Bunny Fibers*
    Brown Sheep Naturespun Sport
    Chinese Mystery sock yarn
    Claudia's Handpaints
    Conjoined Creations Flat Feet
    Crystal Palace Maizy
    CTH Supersock
    Dicentra Designs
    Dorchester Farms
    Fabel
    Fearless Fibers
    Fixation*
    Gloss (KP)
    handspun
    Inspinknity*
    Interlacements Beibi Seda
    Interlacements Tiny Toes
    Interlacements Toasty Toes
    Jarbo Raggi
    JKnits*
    Jojoland Melody
    Koigu*
    Kona Superwash
    KP Essential
    KP Merino
    KP Palette
    Limbo
    Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock*
    Macek Designs
    Madelinetosh
    Magic Stripes
    Mega Boots Stretch
    Microspun
    Nature's Palette
    Noro Kureyon Sock
    Opal
    Panda Cotton
    Paton's Kroy*
    Peru DK
    Peruvian Quechua
    Regia Bamboo*
    Regia Cotton
    Regia Strato*
    Ruby Sapphire
    Sockotta
    Socks That Rock*
    Star (Classic Elite)
    Stitch Jones
    Sunshine Yarns*
    Three Fates Cauldron Sock*
    TOFUtsies
    Trekking*
    Wick
    Wildfoote*
    Wollmeise*
    Wool Ease
    Yarn Pirate*

    In Progress:

    Perchance to Knit
    Regia
    Vesper
    Yarns in the stash:

    All Things Heather
    Ancient Threads
    Apple Laine
    Araucania Ranco
    Artyarns Ultramerino
    Autumn House Farm
    Baby Ull
    Ball and Skein
    Baywood Yarns
    Bearfoot (Mountain Colors)
    Briar Rose Fibers
    Brooklyn Handspun
    Cavyshops Handpaint
    C*eye*ber Fiber
    Cervinia Calzetteria
    CTH Superglitz
    Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks
    Chewy Spaghetti
    Classic Elite Alpaca Sox
    Colinette Cadenza
    Colinette Jitterbug
    Country Classic Yarn for Sox
    Crash Into Ewe
    Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop
    Curious Yarns
    Done Roving
    Dream in Color
    Duet (A Swell Yarn Shop)
    Dye Dreams
    Ellen's Half Pint Farm
    End of the World Farm
    Fashion Trend Sportivo
    The Fiber Denn
    Fleece Artist
    The Flock Bransonas
    Fortissima
    French Hill Farm
    Froehlich Blauband
    Fyberspates
    geeyouknit!
    Gjestal Silja
    Great Adirondack Soxie
    Greenwood Fiberworks
    Jaeger Matchmaker
    Jarbo Mini Raggi
    Jawoll
    Jawoll Cotton
    Just Our Yarn
    Knit Purl Natural Collection
    Kona Superwash
    KP Dancing
    KP Essential Tweed
    Lime & Violet
    Lisa Souza
    Louet Gems Pearl
    Luxe
    Mama Llama
    Merlin the Cat
    Meilenweit Cotton
    Meilenweit Trend
    Mind's Eye Merino/Tencel
    Mirasol Hacho
    Misty Mountain Farm
    The Natural Dye Studio
    Neighborhood Fiber Company
    Over the Rainbow Twinkletoes
    Peterle
    Pigeon Roof Studios
    Pine Woods
    Posh Yarn Lucia
    Prism Saki
    Pucker Brush Farm
    Regia Surf
    Reynolds Swizzle
    Reynolds Soft Sea Wool
    Rio De La Plata
    Royale Hare
    Roz Houseknecht
    Schaefer Anne
    Scout's Swag
    Sheep Shop Wensleydale
    Shelridge Farm
    ShibuiKnits
    Sockenwolle Unipo
    Spirit Trail Fiberworks
    Spunky Eclectic
    Steinbach Wolle Sockenwolle
    Sundara Yarn
    Sweetgeorgia
    Tess Designer Yarns
    Twisted
    The Unique Sheep
    Universal Ditto
    Valley Yarns Franklin
    vanCalcar Acres
    White Oak Studio tvyarn
    Wisdom Yarns Marathon
    Wool in the Woods
    The Woolen Rabbit
    Yarn Botanika Radiance
    Yarntini
    Ysolda Yarn
    Zen Yarn Garden


    To check out:

    Pippikneesocks
    Sophie's Toes
    The Spinning Bunny Yarns BFL

WIPs and FOs