I feel like I have finished cleaning something that was hanging over my head, which is ridiculous because all I've been doing is sorting my yarn. I have sorted and photographed my yarn and frogged lots of unloved projects I'm never going to finish.
There are still one or two balls of yarn elsewhere in this house, but the lion's share is done and I'm calling it. That crosses off the fourth goal on my Last Year's Goals list!
Don't forget to leave a comment on any post between now and my birthday, 11/11/09 for a chance to win a $26 gift certificate to Blue Moon Fiber Arts.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Finished Objects & Contest!
I finished my sister's Sleep Socks! They're just delightfully soft and snuggly and I hope she really likes them. Now I just need her to Skype me back so I can get her new address!
Here they are, Classic Elite's Alpaca Sox in a pattern from the lovely Knitting Vintage Socks - Heeless Sleeping Socks. As you can see, I did put a heel in, my standard heel. I also knit the pattern inside out - it's supposed have the mostly purl side out, but I knit much faster than I purl so I reversed them.
I have another skein of this yarn so I'm thinking about making some for myself. They are awfully squishy.
In the meantime, I have started some socks for the sock class I'm teaching starting on Monday. I wasn't a big fan of the pattern they were using - it wanted you to cast on 64 for the large and be knit at 7 sts/inch. I really don't think that works for socks - I'm much more into about 9/inch. I think it makes a big difference for wearability and longevity. So anyway, I'm going to write up the pattern and give my students a choice.
I just picked up this yarn this weekend because I wanted something new to knit the socks but find myself completely in love with it. It's htNevele's Sock Yarn - she's an etsy seller, but she's also local to Madison and apparently goes to Guild. I love love love this colorway. It's called Coleus, which according to Wikipedia is a genus name for those colorful ferns like hostas. I actually despise hostas, but I think this is beautiful. I'm calling them the MacIntosh Socks because I think they look like MacIntosh apples.
I also have Leaving Patterns Behind on Sunday so I need to really get down to brass tacks and sketch out exactly what I'm going to say. I'm super excited about this class - I think it's going to be a great one.
Incidentally, if you're reading me in Madison, come on out to Lakeside on Thursday - we're having our 10th anniversary party. All yarn except for Cascade 220 is going to be 10% off and Susan B. Anderson is going to be signing her new book, Itty Bitty Toys in the Coffee Room. We will also have snacks. The sale is going to be from 6-8 and we will be closed from 5-6 to prepare.
And now, for the contest. My birthday is coming up - November 11th, the best birthday all year. I've also been blogging for just over a year now, so I thought it was time for a little contest (I do so love contests!) Leave a comment on any post between now and November 11th and I'll do a random number drawing to find one lucky person who will get a $26 gift certificate to Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Thanks for reading!
Here they are, Classic Elite's Alpaca Sox in a pattern from the lovely Knitting Vintage Socks - Heeless Sleeping Socks. As you can see, I did put a heel in, my standard heel. I also knit the pattern inside out - it's supposed have the mostly purl side out, but I knit much faster than I purl so I reversed them.
I have another skein of this yarn so I'm thinking about making some for myself. They are awfully squishy.
In the meantime, I have started some socks for the sock class I'm teaching starting on Monday. I wasn't a big fan of the pattern they were using - it wanted you to cast on 64 for the large and be knit at 7 sts/inch. I really don't think that works for socks - I'm much more into about 9/inch. I think it makes a big difference for wearability and longevity. So anyway, I'm going to write up the pattern and give my students a choice.
I just picked up this yarn this weekend because I wanted something new to knit the socks but find myself completely in love with it. It's htNevele's Sock Yarn - she's an etsy seller, but she's also local to Madison and apparently goes to Guild. I love love love this colorway. It's called Coleus, which according to Wikipedia is a genus name for those colorful ferns like hostas. I actually despise hostas, but I think this is beautiful. I'm calling them the MacIntosh Socks because I think they look like MacIntosh apples.
I also have Leaving Patterns Behind on Sunday so I need to really get down to brass tacks and sketch out exactly what I'm going to say. I'm super excited about this class - I think it's going to be a great one.
Incidentally, if you're reading me in Madison, come on out to Lakeside on Thursday - we're having our 10th anniversary party. All yarn except for Cascade 220 is going to be 10% off and Susan B. Anderson is going to be signing her new book, Itty Bitty Toys in the Coffee Room. We will also have snacks. The sale is going to be from 6-8 and we will be closed from 5-6 to prepare.
And now, for the contest. My birthday is coming up - November 11th, the best birthday all year. I've also been blogging for just over a year now, so I thought it was time for a little contest (I do so love contests!) Leave a comment on any post between now and November 11th and I'll do a random number drawing to find one lucky person who will get a $26 gift certificate to Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Thanks for reading!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Finished Objects & Stash Enhancement
***The stash enhancement is going at the bottom of the post. If you are in the Old Maiden Aunt Yarn Preview Club and don't want to see it, this is your spoiler alert!***
Am I knitting as much as ever and just not blogging? Yep.
In the last couple of weeks I've taken on some extra classes at the yarn store so I've been working my way through the patterns for the classes so I could teach them. I made a pair of mittens from Ann Norling and an Ann Norling hat out of some stash yarn. They're pretty delightful.
I made them with some Catalina Baby Alpaca I bought in Three Rivers on a vacation years and years ago with Jorah's parents. We found a tiny little yarn store and there were four skeins of butter soft baby alpaca mixed in with mountains of arcrylic yarn. I couldn't just leave them there so I spent all the money I got from selling textbooks back to rescue them!
I don't think I can wear the hat though . . . I'm super pale (my Scotch and German blood combine to make me the whitest person in all the land) and I need more color next to my face.
Speaking of color . . .
Meet bitter bug and strange rock n' rollers! They are just delightful and so soft. I sprang for the double membership so I got four beautiful huge skeins of yarn. I don't know if I want to go crazy and cast on Ulmus with these or wait to see what else I get. To be honest, my favorite base is the Merino/Cashmere/Nylon - should I wait to see if I dig those colors and do my Ulmus out of that?
This is an acdemic discussion of course. My top priorities are to finish my sister's socks and then get one sock done for the sock class I'm teaching starting a week from tomorrow. I'm also working on a Christmas stocking for Jorah (needlepoint, not knitting) and really want to have it finished for this, our third Christmas as a married couple. But needlepoint isn't knitting and I do so love to knit . . .
Am I knitting as much as ever and just not blogging? Yep.
In the last couple of weeks I've taken on some extra classes at the yarn store so I've been working my way through the patterns for the classes so I could teach them. I made a pair of mittens from Ann Norling and an Ann Norling hat out of some stash yarn. They're pretty delightful.
I made them with some Catalina Baby Alpaca I bought in Three Rivers on a vacation years and years ago with Jorah's parents. We found a tiny little yarn store and there were four skeins of butter soft baby alpaca mixed in with mountains of arcrylic yarn. I couldn't just leave them there so I spent all the money I got from selling textbooks back to rescue them!
I don't think I can wear the hat though . . . I'm super pale (my Scotch and German blood combine to make me the whitest person in all the land) and I need more color next to my face.
Speaking of color . . .
Meet bitter bug and strange rock n' rollers! They are just delightful and so soft. I sprang for the double membership so I got four beautiful huge skeins of yarn. I don't know if I want to go crazy and cast on Ulmus with these or wait to see what else I get. To be honest, my favorite base is the Merino/Cashmere/Nylon - should I wait to see if I dig those colors and do my Ulmus out of that?
This is an acdemic discussion of course. My top priorities are to finish my sister's socks and then get one sock done for the sock class I'm teaching starting a week from tomorrow. I'm also working on a Christmas stocking for Jorah (needlepoint, not knitting) and really want to have it finished for this, our third Christmas as a married couple. But needlepoint isn't knitting and I do so love to knit . . .
Friday, October 23, 2009
Oooooh, Look at the Pretties
Just found a new blog I'm thinking about getting obsessed with! She's in Glasgow and is an amazing knitter and a great photographer! Check it out: fourth edition!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Finished Object - Ishbel!!
Ishbel is finished!! And I totally and completely see why everyone LOVES it. It is delightful and now I want to make 8 or 10 of them. I have a friend at Lakeside who's made 4.
This is Ysolda Teague's famous pattern - there are over 3,500 projects on Ravelry right now. I added a couple of repeats of charts A and B because I wanted to use up all of my yarn. And yes, I'm due for a hair cut/color.
The yarn I bought three years ago at the Midwest Alpaca Festival. It is 100% alpaca in a beautiful subtle blue/brown/green. There wasn't a label with it when I bought it so I had no idea how much yardage I had.
I did Ishbel because you can repeat A and B as many times as you want and then finish it off. After every repeat I weighed it on a digital scale in grams (at the yarn store, I want one of my own!) and extrapolated how much yarn each repeat would take, so I could make it as long as possible.
I'm also working on some sleep socks for my sister who is in grad school in London right now. (I'm super jealous.) She's amazingly smart and in a really tough program, so I figured she could use some alpaca socks.
This is also helping me work through some of my Christmas knitting guilt. I decided that I wasn't going to knit Christmas presents for people this year (and Jeff keeps chanting "2000 and Mine!" at me) but I feel guiltly. So I'm knitting some Just Because socks for Sarah Beth.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
First Sock Club!!
I'm so excited!! I just signed up for my first sock club.
I guess this proves just how capricious I actually am - I have given up lusting after STR (though I still rather hope that my birthday in about a month consists almost entirely of STR) to lust after something new.
I have long had my eye on tigerlilith's blog - I became a fan in 2008 when she was doing her "Sweater a Month" challenge - and when we were in Scotland this summer Jorah and I went by her studio in West Kilbride and bought some yarn. I actually haven't knit anything with it yet - I've just been putting it in bowls and admiring it - but I can't wait. She's got a great color sense and I love her 2009 collection.
Anyway, she announced on her blog last week that she's going to do a 2010 preview club with sock yarn, and I have been agonizing over it for the last several days. Finally, after I found this pattern on Ravelry, I decided to go for it - a double international membership. The yarns are a surprise, but they're going to be dark, rich colors, which I am ALL about.
I'm not going to be buying any yarn any time soon, so I'm going to take the opportunity to knit up some of that yarn I acquired over the summer. I already (finally) finished the Cabbage Leaf Baby Blanket and I've resurrected the Wisconsin Heartwarmer. I've also got three pairs of socks going and an Ishbel. The only thing I'm planning on starting any time soon is the next Big Bad Baby Blanket in jungle colors for my boss's jungle baby, due January 3rd.
No more than three pairs of socks at a time!!!!
I guess this proves just how capricious I actually am - I have given up lusting after STR (though I still rather hope that my birthday in about a month consists almost entirely of STR) to lust after something new.
I have long had my eye on tigerlilith's blog - I became a fan in 2008 when she was doing her "Sweater a Month" challenge - and when we were in Scotland this summer Jorah and I went by her studio in West Kilbride and bought some yarn. I actually haven't knit anything with it yet - I've just been putting it in bowls and admiring it - but I can't wait. She's got a great color sense and I love her 2009 collection.
Anyway, she announced on her blog last week that she's going to do a 2010 preview club with sock yarn, and I have been agonizing over it for the last several days. Finally, after I found this pattern on Ravelry, I decided to go for it - a double international membership. The yarns are a surprise, but they're going to be dark, rich colors, which I am ALL about.
I'm not going to be buying any yarn any time soon, so I'm going to take the opportunity to knit up some of that yarn I acquired over the summer. I already (finally) finished the Cabbage Leaf Baby Blanket and I've resurrected the Wisconsin Heartwarmer. I've also got three pairs of socks going and an Ishbel. The only thing I'm planning on starting any time soon is the next Big Bad Baby Blanket in jungle colors for my boss's jungle baby, due January 3rd.
No more than three pairs of socks at a time!!!!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Cripping Jealousy
Augh.
Did you see Friday's post on We Do Not Have a Knitting Problem? Did you see it?! I am full of jealousy. I greatly, greatly covet all three of those colorways. They are among my top ten most wanted on Blue Moon Fiber Arts right now. Also Rocktober. And Jonagold. And Autumn. And Fall On Tap. I'm all about the seasonal at this moment.
October: you are my favorite month.
Did you see Friday's post on We Do Not Have a Knitting Problem? Did you see it?! I am full of jealousy. I greatly, greatly covet all three of those colorways. They are among my top ten most wanted on Blue Moon Fiber Arts right now. Also Rocktober. And Jonagold. And Autumn. And Fall On Tap. I'm all about the seasonal at this moment.
October: you are my favorite month.
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