Yarn

Well, this is a knitting blog, and so I shall talk about yarn.

First off, I was in a swap on the knittyboard - you may have seen my earlier package posted in the beginning of August. Well for the 2nd month of the swap the person that we originally sent *to* sent back to us. I was away for a few days in the first week of September, but I came home on Labor Day to find this:



My pal sent me a couple skeins of Wildfoote, some handmade soap, notecards, a needle case, 2 skeins of Cotton Ease, and a "Blast Off Spinners" shooter thing. The last is for the cats - I haven't tried it yet since I was a bad recipient and didn't take a picture until today, but I'm sure they'll enjoy it soon.

And now for a bit more yarn talk... I've been using the end of my Summer of Stash to make sure all my sock yarn is up on Ravelry. So no, I did not just buy all of that yarn that went up on Ravelry. For the most part it was from Sock Summit (yes, it took me a year to get it up on my stash) or yarn clubs, but a bit was from the yarn crawl in May. None of it was bought this summer, as I haven't been buying yarn since June 21st.

While I may buy the occasional skein once my stash commitment is over on the 23rd, I'm still going to stick to my 3:1 rule (using 3 times as much yarn as I buy).

I also need to get crackin' on some of these WIPs, so I can cast on this:



Yes, candy corn socks, here I finally come!

A Beret!

As promised, here's one of the two FOs for this week - at this rate I might even have more than two!



Pattern: Star Crossed Slouchy Beret (Ravelry link)
Yarn: handspun
Started: 1/16/09
Finshed: 1/19/09

The handspun is not my handspun. In fact, this hat is a collaboration between a few crafty people. I'm part of a swap that isn't knitting related, but quite a few knitters are in it, so I arranged to knit this for someone in exchange for a non-knitting crafty item for my swap pal. And this hat is for *her* swap pal. And yet another person spun the yarn, although I'm not sure what kind of swappy goodness she got. In any case, a collaboration of craftiness.

And the texture shot without flash:



I am perpetually shocked at how fast things knit up when they're on needles that aren't 1s or 2s. Surprising, really, use big yarn and big needles and get something quickly! I've never knit a beret before, because I'm not really a hat person. My hats are only for very cold weather and I don't wear anything fancy like berets. That's one of the things I love about knitting for other people - it gives me a chance to knit things I would never wear!

Now back to the toe decreases on the socky FO for this week...

Listening to: Quiet ~ Smashing Pumpkins, Hallways of Enchanted Ebony ~ Agalloch

Casting on some more...

So, as I said in the last post, that wasn't all of my casting on frenzy.

Freeing up those size 1 needles allowed me to rescue these little toes which had been hanging out on 2.5mm needles for a few months. (And that was after being the Reversi socks for Sock Madness which I just didn't like and ended up frogging) I started the toes intending to do the Jacobean socks while coming home from sock camp last April (I know, I know...) but since toe-up socks aren't my favorite and I needed my size 1s for much more pressing sock concerns... well they got neglected.



Now that the size one needles are free they're back in action using the Anastasia Socks pattern that I've been meaning to make for about forever. Overall a success... so far.

And of course getting the 2.5mm needles out of those toes allowed me to cast on for a much more important pair of socks!



My friend Rachel bought this yarn long ago and I promised to make her socks with it. And I tried, really I did! First I started the Canal du Midi pattern from Knitting On the Road, but I just hated knitting it so much I knew it would never get finished. The socks sat around for about a year until I frogged them, then I moved 3 times in 2 months and the yarn got misplaced. I found it and started one of the patterns from Knitting Vintage Socks, I honestly don't remember which one, but it also was not a winner.

So now it's been easily 2 or 3 years and Rachel is getting married in January and asked if I could pretty please make her the socks for her "something blue" and really, how could a friend deny a request like that? Especially since I've owed her these socks for years now and have made about 100 other pairs of socks in that time. I am really a bad friend. So I have started the Monkey pattern which is perfectly mindless and never fear, the socks are already much farther than when I took this picture a couple days ago.

And last, but certainly not least, I present Blurple Waves:



I thought up this project quite a while back as a solution to all my gorgeous 1 or 2 balls of worsted-ish weight yarns in blue and purple. I got many of them as gifts from the many secret pal swaps I participated in, and a girl can only use so many hats. Plus, as you may have noticed, I don't knit many hats. These are really beautiful yarns from Lorna's Laces Worsted to Colinette to yarns from little farms across the US - and they really deserve to be used.

So I came up with this idea... I could knit a blanket in a chevron pattern with all these yarns, since they are all blue and purple and go well together. I can knit up what I have and add to it when I get special gift balls of yarn, and if I start doing SP swaps again I can ask for yarn for it too. :) I had the forethought to buy the needles a few months ago so it was all ready to go, and after casting on 299 stitches (eek!) I'm off!

Yay for socks!

Remember this tragedy? Well yesterday I got another pair of socks from Jenneke. Or, rather, I got a pair of socks, but it was the second pair she sent.

In any case, they are amazing!



I snapped a few pics this morning before leaving for work as it was about 20 degrees and I wanted to wear my brand new socks. :)

The yarn is Merino-Alpaca from Natural Dye Studio, and they have a twined heel:



They're so so pretty, super soft and comfy too! Thank you!

Also the fleece seems to be a hot topic - it is my Rhinebeck fleece. I bought it while I was there - you can read about it here. I got a colored fleece so I could dye over it to make heathery yarn, so I do plan to try that. I'm not sure how much yarn I'll get out of it, but it's about 5-6 pounds of fiber so probably a lot. I guess that will depend on what weight(s) I spin it at too. I am going to make at least one pair of socks from it, of course.

Listening to: Black Hole Sun ~ Soundgarden, Cherub Rock ~ Smashing Pumpkins

Socks again!

First off, I've signed up for NaBloPoMo - aka posting every day in my blog in the month of November. I guess this means for once I'll talk about my WIPs and not pretend that all my knitting springs fully formed from my needles. ;)

Speaking of finished knitting, though...



Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Socknitters Winter Sunset (#94)
Needles: 2.5mm (US 1.5)
Started: 8/24/07 (at the Philly Knitty Fest)
Finished: 10/30/07

Also, Alexis sent some photos of our Secret Spook exchange - I look stupid in all of them but here's one of Catherine opening her gift:



That's the little ghost bear I was talking about. ;)

Secret Spook (with socks, of course)

Last night FiberCult minus Amanda got together to exchange our Secret Spook gifts. Alexis was my Spook and I was Catherine's. At the moment that I'm writing they both have top posts about the Red Sox winning the World Series, but here you get a different type of socks.

Like these ones (#93):



Pattern: Crosshatch Lace from More Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: "This Is Halloween" custom dyed by Macek Designs
Needles: 2.25mm / US size 1

Those are the socks that I knit for Catherine. I didn't think to get a picture of all of her package before I assembled it, so hopefully she will. There were also some cute pumpkin stitch markers, a candy corn candle, some assorted Halloween goodies (stickers, a pencil) and a little ghost bear.

And then there are these socks:



The (almost) purl-free Monkey socks knit for me by Alexis. Actually she gave me *two* pairs of socks!



The other ones weren't handknit, though. I also got candy corn tissues, a cute skeleton pail which doubled as gift packaging, glow in the dark nail polish (!), some yummy chocolate, and some lovely Alpaca Sox yarn, which I haven't tried yet. The backdrop is a Halloween fleece blanket I picked up at Target on the Rhinebeck trip. I plan to use it year round (well, whenever I need a fleece blanket).

Socks #92 and great swap packages!

Real life has been extremely busy lately, but I've gotten a couple of packages that I should share and finished some socks.

Socks #91 are a gift and won't be shown for a bit, but socks #92 aren't secret:



Pattern: Chevron from Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Regia Crazy Colors 6-ply
Started: 6/19/07
Finished: 9/30/07

I started these back during the Secret Solstice sock disaster, but I put them down pretty much entirely after that. I needed a simple and public knit the other day and picked them back up, and now they're done!

Now for the swap packages...

First off, I got a beautiful pair of socks and some other goodies from Suemoon in the Knittyboard Sock Exchange Part Deux (or KBSX2 for short):



The socks are Monkeys (my first although I've knit some) and she sent me a cute sheepy bag and some yummy chocolate from afar. I also *almost* knit Monkeys for her, but luckily I didn't!

And the other swap package I got was from a Ravely swap entitled Rock Out with Your Socks Out:



My amazing pal, Lisa, even had some Ruby Sapphire yarn custom dyed for me in my fave colors and named after me!



That's me in yarn form, alright!

Thanks so much to both of my pals! Hopefully I'll get a little more knitting and blogging time this week - I've even started my Rhinebeck sweater.

Socks and Mail

Well, the rainbow sock is finished which brings my sock count up to 90 pairs total, and gets rid of that pesky 1/2. Not too long to go til 100!



Yesterday I went to the post office and picked up a couple of packages, and then got home to find another waiting for me - a very good yarny mail day.

First off, my final SP9 package from my amazing pal jochibi:



I was lucky enough to meet her this spring at Maryland Sheep & Wool along with a bunch of other knittyheads, so when she told me we had met it wasn't *too* much of a clue. She sent some beautiful Socks That Rock in the Space Dust colorway, which was my camp name. She also sent emergency chocolate, a cute fish bath fizzy, honey to go with the myriad of different kinds of chai that she has added to my collection, some more chai, Werther's Original candies that are a little different from the normal ones, and come nice hand lotion.

Thanks jochibi for being such a great pal! :)

Now on to some other mail...

I got my latest Yarntini club shipment:



With some orange, but actually quite pretty yarn, orange lip balm, and one of those nifty little DPN holders.

I also got some Wollmeise via a swap with Peachy:



The colors are Veilchen (violet, like the flower) and Mitternacht (midnight).

Listening to: Undone ~ 27, A Desolation Song ~ Agalloch

More Swap Socks

My pal Suemoon got her socks, so now I can post them! (She has pictures on her blog too!)



Pattern: Child's Sock in Miranda Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Sunshine Yarns in Sweet
Started: 8/19/07
Finished: 9/2/07

I'm going to leave it at that for now as I'm pretty busy, but I'll be back later with more content, promise!

As promised, yarny goodness

Well today I had a chance to get to the post office and pick up a couple of packages - the first was from my knittyboard Rut Bustin' Sock Swap partner, who turned out to be Bad Amy!

The outside of the box had pictures of people knitting - one even wearing yarn on her head! The whole thing before unwrapping the little individual packages:



The Thelonious pattern, treats for the furry residents of my household, and star beads - I'm really going to find an occasion to wear those in public!

And after some unwrapping I found these lovely goodies:



The sheep tape measure is just adorable, and I can never have enough tape measures as they seem to always get (temporarily) lost. I find them, stockpile them on my dresser, then take them every time I can't find one in my bag. Eventually I go through older knitting projects and bags I don't use frequently and look under the bed and find them all again.

The Toblerone brings me great joy since I have always longed for one. Now, don't laugh, I'm being totally serious here! I have had the chance to taste Toblerone before, I've had small pieces of other peoples' and I think I had a few mini ones once. However I have never had my very own full size Toblerone, and I look at them and think about how I want one every time I see one in the store! Apparently at those times I always decide to 'be good' and I don't ever buy them.

There's also some Mandarin body scrub, a little peanut butter chocolate nubbin, and a new kind of chai to add to my collection.

And now the yarn you've been waiting for:



Both of these beauties are Fleece Artist mill ends.



The purpose of the swap was to send yarn that busted the recipients "sock rut" - my rut is blue, in case you didn't know. ;) I think my pal managed to do this quite well and still send yarn that I love!

And a teaser for next time... I got my Taste of Germany package!


What? I never said I didn't like my blue rut!

Listening to: Moonlapse Vertigo ~ Opeth, Don't Know Why ~ Saves the Day

Another kind of needle

Well, I finished a pair of socks for KBSX2 this weekend, but those will be secret til my partner receives them. However, Sunday I went to a friend's house for some swimming and a bit of sewing:



I'm making a denim skirt. We did a lot of it on Sunday including pockets, which I'd never done before, but I still have to get a zipper so I can finish it.

Today I got to meet Helen who was here in Boston on her honeymoon. She has a lovely new husband who was very tolerant of having to meet some weird internet knitter on his honeymoon, and he even took this picture of us - ignore the strange mischievous grin:



He only made fun of us slightly for whipping out a pair of socks in a graveyard to pose for a picture. ;) We did a good portion of the Freedom Trail and had some coffee in the North End.

And since it's been sparse on the knitting lately, here are some cats to make up for it:

Java likes to help me knit.



Pan is just too lazy.



Listening to: Only Happy When it Rains ~ Garbage, In My Waking Life ~ Saves the Day

KBSX2

I'm part of the Knittyboard Sock Exchange - actually I'm one of the people running it - and since my swap pal received her socks I can post them now!

My first pal was Jenneke and I knit her these socks:



Pattern: Little Child's Sock (with modifications) from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Camouflage
Started: 7/31/07
Finished: 8/13/07

Of course she took an even more beautiful picture:



Now to finish the socks for my other swap pal!

Listening to: Intolerance ~ Tool, Cryin' ~ Aerosmith

A Mysterious Package

Monday night I got home from knitting and found one of the dreaded package slips in my mailbox:

"Hi, this is the Post Office, we're holding your package hostage until you come and get it. By the way, we're only open 'til 5pm!"

In the 'Sender' box it said MJ. Hmm... that's odd, why is MJ sending me mail? So I get online and harass her on IM. After her response to the first of my inquiries was "No comment." I began to get suspicious.

I asked her if she was my Sockapalooza pal and she was! Out of the bazillion people who joined she got me. Now, because she is oh-so-nice and totally nuts not only did she knit me socks for Sockapalooza, but after she found out I was her pal she still knit me late-birthday socks. What a pal!

Today I went and picked up my package before work.



She also bought yummy yarn that I haven't used yet! Ruby Sapphire. In fact, it may have been the same one that I looked at on Etsy and resisted buying. And she knit the Thirassia socks - I downloaded that chart too because I wanted to knit them after seeing them on someone's blog. She sewed me a pretty star bag to match my needle case and she made me a perfect star necklace and sent me blue yarn! And she put Trent Reznor on my sock band. ;)



And nice and close...



Thanks again, MJ!

Favorite Color Swap

Today I received my Favorite Color Swap package from Cindiluhu, who was the pal I sent to in the first FCS!



The package contained some lovely Anne yarn, a blue bunny with jelly beans, a Little Mermaid bookmark and some A seals, two different kind of star stitch markers, a cute Shoot the Moon book, and a pin. I think she may have made the stitch markers herself (if you're reading, did you?)

Thanks so much for a great package!

In other knitting news, I've been working away on my WIPs and trying hard not to cast on anything new before March 10th and the start of Sock Madness!

No socks here!

I've actually finished two pairs of socks in the last couple of days, but they're both test knits so they can't be shown on the blog just yet. Total is now 67 pairs.

Instead I have some yarny goodness for you! First off, I got my package from a sock yarn swap today and received this lovely Sweet Georgia yarn, along with some chocolate. :) This is especially great because she won't be dyeing for a while and I didn't have any in my stash.



On Sunday I got to try my hand again at spindle spinning. When I first tried I hated the drop spindle, then I bought my wheel. This is the first time I've used a drop spindle since I got my wheel, and I made a nice little skein of yarn:



I also got to ply on a spindle for the first time! The fleece is Shetland. I probably won't be spinning much on a spindle in the future either, but it's nice to know that I can turn out decent yarn.



Remember! You only have through midnight on the 28th (Eastern Time) to enter the contest. If you already answered and would like to change your guess you can do that by deleting your original comment and leaving another, but no changes after the 28th.

A Secret Project Unveiled

Since Adelle received her package, I can now post about my SSS Swap Sock!

Adelle was the mastermind of this swap, in which you knit one sock and send it along with the yarn and pattern for the second sock to your buddy. In return I will be receiving a single sock sometime soon! The deadline to send is 2/28, but I finished the sock a while ago and couldn't wait to get it out.



Pattern: Oblique Openwork from Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss
Started: 1/29/07
Finished: 2/6/07

I think the socks turned out great, and I enjoyed working with the Knit Picks Gloss, even though I'm usually not a big fan of silk. The pattern is very easy to memorize and made good TV knitting since I didn't have to pay too much attention. I will definitely be knitting the same socks for myself.