doviejay knits . . . and knits . . . and knits

New Address

2010-11-16T15:45:00.001-06:00

The new blog lives here.

We're Moving - With a Contest!

2010-11-03T14:53:00.006-05:00

Hello all. It's November 3rd, a fine day to move and have a contest.

I've gotten a lot of mileage out of this blog and have enjoyed working on this platform, but it's time to switch things up. From here on out I will be blogging and maintaining a website at the new doviejay knits! Now is the time to update your favorites, links, and rss feed! I have been simul-blogging in both places for several weeks, but this will be my penultimate entry at this address.

AND . . .

It's my birthday next week, the best birthday in the world, November 11! As I did last year, in honor of my birthday I'll be holding a little contest. I have utterly fallen in love with Sanguine Gryphon Bugga in the last weeks and I think you should too.

Anyone who comments on my new blog on any NEW entry between now and Midnight Eastern US time on November 11 will have their name put in the hat for a $30 gift certificate from Sanguine Gryphon. Only one comment per post will be counted, but the more posts you comment on the better your chance.

Do you like my little orange birthday hat?

Remember: The new website is HERE!!!

I Am No Longer Big Tuna

2010-10-28T16:51:00.002-05:00

I shall now be known as Big Haircut.

Random Wednesday

2010-10-27T17:06:00.004-05:00

It’s been a bit of a nothing week here in Texas.

- I spent more time than I would like to admit admiring the Witch’s Stockings Kit on Sanguine Gryphon before they ran out. I adore striped stockings, and when you add Bugga to the mix I become almost obsessive in my admiration. I’ve bought too much yarn in the last two months though, so no Witch’s Stockings for me. Being Responsible is stupid.

- I tried to wrangle my office into a neater version of itself so I would be able to work in there, but it’s still a mess. Now I’m focused on wanting these shelves from IKEA. I would be so neat and tidy if I only had those shelves.

- Doing the final seaming on a baby gift for a friend whose new lady arrived a few weeks ahead of schedule, and I’m disappointed in myself for not altering the pattern the way I considered. I said to myself, “Self, there’s no reason NOT to knit it the way the pattern was written, and it will look just as good when you’re finished!”

- Nope. Once again I should have listened to the slightly snotty overconfident voice in my head who told me that my way was better. Now I’m just debating pulling the whole thing out and starting over. But am I that much of a perfectionist? I strive to avoid perfectionism in my life - that way lies madness.
1. - Have not finished a single thing yet this month, i.e. nothing to turn in for the HPKCHC, which is ridiculous because it is quite possibly the best set of classes I’ve ever seen.
1. - At least I am working on a pattern and liking what I’m getting. I’ve also had two other ideas spring to life while I’ve been knitting.
1. - I wish the whole process was faster. Is it me or do other designers have patterns coming out every other week? Or does it seem that way to me because they are all one Internet Entity and their new pattern launches all fill in each other’s gaps?
1. - I really need to go buy some buttons.

Unintentional Rainbow

2010-10-21T17:27:00.003-05:00

I finally got my latest shipment of Socks that Rock yesterday. It was a long time coming, but honestly, I’m happy to wait, and I’ve ordered enough from them to know that you want to go ahead and order the yarn about 3 weeks before you want to have it.

And of course, it’s always worth the wait.

The five skeins on the right are all heavyweight and are presents for my two best girls (who are both expecting and are due 3 weeks apart!) The Cozy, Fierce, and Dirty Orange and the What’s Up, Buttercup? are for this giraffe from Susan B. Anderson’s Itty Bitty Toys. I’m going to follow all of the shaping instructions (because there is not a cuter giraffe out there) but change the construction order, and I’m planning on picking up stitches and connecting things as I go, a la Ysolda’s Sophie. The three skeins of Nodding Violet are for a baby blanket for a wee gentleman who should be making an appearance in January.

At the far left we have True Blood Red and Princess Plummy, and at the top, Downpour, which was the only skein that didn’t fit in the rainbow. All are lightweight. They represent me trying to open up my horizons a little and knit with more solid colored sock yarns. As I’m working on designing, I’m realizing that if you’re going to do any kind of patterning it’s important to have solid colors so that people can see what the heck you are knitting.

In all honesty, from the second that True Blood Red came out I deeply coveted it, and there is still a better than even chance that I shall order it in Gaea or Woobu to knit my Traveling Sweater. I have the pattern, just . . . no time.

Sigh. Don’t you just love new yarn?

Some Things Stay the Same

2010-10-18T09:36:00.006-05:00

Well, I’ve been back in Texas for nearly a week, but have to admit I’m still thinking of home. I had a truly wonderful visit; it turned out to be the perfect time of year and I’m so glad I got to see so many people and do so many things.

After the Waterford Fair, (during which I got to meet my new little cousin from the previous post) my family went down to Lake Anna, VA. When I was a kid my Grandmother and Grandaddy had a house on the lake there, and we used to go all of the time. They both died a long time ago, and I hadn’t been to the house, (which is now my aunt and uncle’s) in probably 15 years.

It was pretty great. It was a little bittersweet, of course, to see the changes in the place since I was little, but really it was great to see that it was in such good shape and so well loved by my aunt and uncle and their kids and grandkids.

They took us out on the boat, and it turned out to be a very quiet weekend with very few other people on the lake at all. In the afternoon we mostly sad on the porch and talked. It was pretty great.

Something that was especially wonderful was seeing the old dock next door. This was on the property next to Grandaddy’s, but we had the permission of the owners to use it and we used to fish and jump off the end of the dock. We liked this place the best because it had a sandy beach for swimming. I can’t tell you how strange it felt to see it again. This dock was a huge part of my childhood, but I hadn’t seen it in over 15 years and I never expected to see it again. But it was still there. Had been there, the whole time.

The next morning when I woke up it was just barely light out and there was all kinds of mist sitting on top of the lake in the cold morning air. Mom and I went for a walk and took photos. It was absolutely beautiful.

One of us got sunburned out on the boat. Me, of course. My pale Northern European forebears trying to tell me that just because it was cool out didn’t mean the sun wasn’t shining and for pity’s sake to put on a hat!

Babies Babies Babies

2010-10-11T16:14:00.004-05:00

I am surrounded by small humans these days, or those who are about to produce small humans. Much of my free knitting time is taken up by knitting for the wee ones. Fortunately I love small humans with their little alien heads, big eyes, and perfect fingers.

My latest finished project includes the Baby Surprise Jacket, Stella's Pixie Hat, and Christine's Baby Booties.

My new little cousin Emma was unimpressed, but her mom seemed to like them, so I call it a win!

---------------

I know I'm a dork for not blogging sooner, but the truth is that I've been running around like crazy and swatching, swatching, swatching. I don't understand why when I want to make something off the cuff it happens so effortlessly, but when I start thinking about making it reproducible and fun for other people to knit, it gets all complex and time consuming.

The good news is that I'm swatching with a delicious yarn with some cashmere in it, so I'm happy to keep it up. Also, all of the Castle is helping.

Waterford Fair 2010

2010-10-05T09:07:00.006-05:00

Oh, how I hope that 2010 becomes a necessary entry for this title.

Even before we moved to Waterford our family came to the fair. It’s always the first full weekend in October, and it’s one of the biggest craft fairs on the East Coast. I think it’s also one of the best.

One of the things that makes it so special is the high calibre of crafts sold here - beautiful white oak baskets, delicate sterling silver jewelry, handwoven shawls, and gorgeous original Primitive style art work. It was only with this visit I traced the origins of my love of Primitive.

Of course, the Fair wouldn’t be the Fair if it weren’t in Waterford.

Waterford is an 18th century village which has been surprisingly well preserved, due in large part to their draconian Association. They are the recipients of much criticism - some of which is merited - but no one can deny that without them the village would be much different than it is today.

It’s filled with beautiful old houses:

The Historic Old Mill:

The Old School:

And the Country Store:

On Fair Day there are performers:

Craftsmen demonstrating their wares:

And Fair Food:

As always I had a nose for the fiber and bought about 550 yards of this beautiful handspun and hand-dyed yarn:

It's 70/30 wool/angora. The bunny's name was Marilla, and I might be just thinking about that apple above, but I think it wants to be some beautiful, lofty, appley scarf for modern day Anne Shirleys to wrap around their throats on the way to the orchard, or the metro.

I also bought a beautiful handmade leather journal with graph(!) paper inside. I will be getting a lot of mileage out of that.

I'm so glad I got ot come home - it's my first fair in 9 years. Now if I could just come home for Maryland Sheep & Wool in May, I really would be the girl who had everything!

Airplane Knitting

2010-09-30T15:04:00.004-05:00

I'm home for the beginning of the holidays - in my family the holidays start the first weekend in October - for the first time in 9 years. I flew of course, home is in Northern Virginia, and that meant plane knitting.

I dithered for a while when I was packing - I knit socks on circular needles and I'm very picky - Addi Turbos, size 1 US, with at least a 40" cord - and I treasure my needles. I also like to knit my socks 2 at a time. I suffer terribly with Second Sock Syndrome (one of my many knitting ailments, see also Yarn Cutting Panic Attacks). I don't take Addis in carryon luggage because I know myself, and I would be distraught if they were confiscated in a security checkpoint. I know we're supposed to be able to take knitting needles on planes nowadays, but I still have nightmares from hearing about someone traveling in Australia whose entire collection of Addis was cut in half at security because of their usefulness as garrotes.

I finally decided I would take some beautiful Brittany 4" dpns (which I was completely addicted to before I discovered Magic Loop) and some Socks that Rock and see how far I could get on a plain old sock.

In the airport in Austin:

Before I got on the plane in Charlotte:

Arrived at Dulles:

They just have a picot hem at the top and are plain old socks. I know they look ridiculous without the gusset in there. I keep telling myself that all socks do.

I'm tempted to pull them out and start again though. I feel like I want a different stitch count to break up the stripes (although I like the stripes) and I'm thinking about making them into Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern by Nancy Bush. I've made those before - here's the photo -

and I am tempted to try them in a variegated now. It would mean undoing all of my progress made on the airplanes, but that would have been lost time anyway.

What do you vote blog world? Simple socks or shell socks?

Let This Be A Lesson To Me

2010-09-26T13:11:00.005-05:00

At the beginning of last week I saw a frantic Call for Submission for a design for a pair of socks - the publisher had a due date and her previous designer was unable to fulfill her contract. I spent much of the week frantically swatching and knitting samples to try and figure out what I wanted to submit.

I'm new to this, so it took a little time to get a plan I was happy with, something complicated enough that it wasn't self-evident, but not something that felt complicated for the sake of being complicated. I finally have a solid plan with photographs, and I discover that people are already hearing back. It's too late.

So I'm going to take away these points:

I need to be faster.
Things should be close to perfect, but they probably don't have to be completely perfect for the initial submission.
I need to find the happy medium between extensive swatching and . . . not.

Also, I just realized that I never posted the finished pictures of the socks I was working on two weeks ago.

These are the Gentlemen's Fancy Socks by Nancy Bush from the amazing Knitting Vintage Socks. This is one of the best patterns in the world, and it's a great book. The yarn is that 400 yards of Jitterbug I was raving about the other day.

One of my friends knits socks like a whirling dervish and I've never understood how she's been able to have socks that she's never worn, but I think I'm finally reaching that critical mass. I still haven't worn these socks, or even the two pairs I finished right before. Of course, I live in Texas now where it's super hot and on the rare occasion I do leave the house I wear flip flops. So maybe that's the difference.

Premonition

2010-09-20T17:40:00.009-05:00

Last spring, before we left Madison Jorah and I went on a little day trip to southwestern Wisconsin. We hit up some yarn stores and various other places of interest, but surprisingly my favorite stop that day was Country Sampler, a beautiful quilting shop in Spring Green. They had bolts and bolts of fabric and tons of kits and finished samples. I was very much in danger of purchasing a kit for a beautiful pink French Provincial quilt.

I've never actually finished a quilt, but when we were in high school my sister worked in a quilting shop and eventually I saw some of her projects over my mountain of knitting and started a quilt of my own. Over the years I have enjoyed going to quilting shows and looking through the books at JoAnn and other crafty places. I have also killed many, many of what would otherwise been productive hours scanning quilting blogs.

One thing that struck me during our visit to Country Sampler was the number of quilting books about Such-and-Such types of quilts from Texas, and Lone Star quilts, and 30 Quilts with Texas Stars, etc. I remember thinking that I might be in trouble.

Yesterday I went to Gauge Knits to take advantage of a delightful sale. I bought some more Jitterbug, because I can't resist it, and some needles and some yarn for swatching a design. This is the Jitterbug - so beautiful!

My mother-in-law loves green and I've never made her socks before. That is going to have to be corrected.

Isn't this Halloweeny and gorgeous? I want to have pumpkin feet.

This is just cool.

As I was checking out I saw a flyer about the Austin Area Quilt Guild having their annual show. It was closing up in four hours so I thought I'd run down and take a look. It turned out to be more dangerous than I had suspected. I walked out with this:

I don't know when I think I'm going to have time to make a little Christmasy quilt, but I couldn't just leave it there, it was so cute! The ladies at the stand were really nice too, and I'll have to visit their brick and mortar store.

I can't start another craft with another stash. I can't start another craft with another stash. I can't start another craft with another stash. I can't start another craft with another stash. I can't start another craft with another stash.

Hey, Cupcake!

2010-09-16T18:41:00.006-05:00

Jorah went to the Pet Store after work to buy dog food for our voracious hounds and came home with a little white box.

And inside the little white box are 4 beautiful cupcakes!!!

Oh Cupcakes, you are a fad of which I shall not soon tire.

Housekeeping

2010-09-16T17:04:00.004-05:00

1. I finished the small size of my Skoosh Socks pattern.

I hope that the recipient likes them. They are for the woman who recruited me to go work in the Adirondacks this summer. She came out for a week to train me and help me get set up (on her own dime) and then when she came out later for her two weeks of vacation she brought me my very own handmade inkle loom and spent much of her time helping me out. She's a really great woman. I'm going to find a way to turn these socks in for the House Cup, but I don't know where they are going yet.

As far as the pattern goes I'm glad that I took the time to knit the socks in a different size before I released the final PDF because a couple of things did end up scaling differently.

2. On a recent trek to Gauge I discovered that Colinette Jitterbug is coming in 400 yard skeins now. I can't find these lovely big skeins anywhere else online - they aren't even listed in Ravelry's database - but they are EXCELLENT. I've never bought Jitterbug before because the yardage was so short, but both skeins I took home are already on their way to becoming something.

Fire - a delightful pinky red - is becoming some another pair of Gentlemen's Fancy Socks by Nancy Bush. This will be my third pair. Red is so hard to photograph. They are fantastic in person and not at all this weird upsetting neon pink you see here.

I also bought some Pharaoh, which is gorgeous, but I'm not ready to show it to anyone yet.

DORK ALERT!!!!! IF YOU ARE NOT A HUGE HARRY POTTER/GRAMMAR NERD, THE FOLLOWING MAY NOT MAKE THE LEAST BIT OF SENSE!!!

3. In the evenings, when we're watching PTI, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report (the nightly lineup) I am working on a project for the House Cup that makes me laugh like a crazy person.

One of the other Ravenclaws drew our attention to this blog post from Hyperbole and a Half. Being Ravenclaws, we all thought that it was hilarious. And so, The Alot Along was born. The assignment for Charms is to plan a break in at Gringotts, and many of the Ravenclaws (and a couple of students from other houses) are planning a massive heist with the Alots. People are crafting things such as Alot of Ambition, Alot of Gold, Alot of Stealth. And I am crafting Alot of Luck.

Because I abhor fun furs as a general rule I decided to make a smooth bodied Alot all covered in Shamrocks. But them I began to think, "What am I going to do with a smooth bodied Alot all covered in Shamrocks?" So I'm making mittens, to which I shall attach Alot horns and eyeballs.

They aren't perfect - they're not gift or design quality, but they are fun and I'll get some mittens out of it. The yarn is Dale of Norway Baby Ull from a very old colorwork project long since frogged. I just have bits and scraps of much of it, so I'm holding two strands together and working them at the same time. It's basically coming out worsted weight.

4. I'm working on a brand new website as part of my plan to become a Real Designer. It's one of the main reasons I was able to justify buying a Mac, and it is pretty fun. I especially love how you can drag in photos and resize them and move them around. That's my idea of a good time! (See dork alert above.)

I Am Offended

2010-09-14T00:33:00.004-05:00

Okay, so I know that The Colbert Report is a joke show, but this lady is not joking and this is beyond the pale. Stephan Colbert's guest tonight is a woman who has written a book about How to be a Preppy. She describes her book thusly:

"A Preppy is somebody who has tremendous ease, tremendous confidence, a little goofy, a little sporty and uses received wisdom, because having new ideas of your own is not Prep . . . It's really somebody who has a classic outlook on life, as well as a classic wardrobe . . . There are also people who are aspiring to prepdom and for them this is a moment where they can actually say I want a self improvement program that allows me to wear khakis, allows me to drink bloodies and allows me to casually toss my sweater over my shoulder . . . (Prepdom) is about fitting in. What are we going to do in a world with Polar Fleece and the internet?"

I am almost speechless here. I don't understand how this can not be a joke. She is completely serious though, down to her Ann Taylor shift dress. All I can think of is this:

In case you can't read it, the poster says, "Conformity: It's the one who is different that gets left out in the cold." Poster originally seen on How I Met Your Mother and yanked from Be Awesome Instead.

To sum up: What you wear is just as important as the fact that you are unable to think for yourself. Excellent, lady. Well done.

Skoosh Socks

2010-09-13T19:32:00.005-05:00

I just put the finishing touches on my new FREE pattern:

Skoosh Socks are top down socks with patterning around the cuff and down either side of the legs and foot. They come in three sizes, and are a fun, quick knit. You can download the pattern through Ravelry here. As always, feel free to PM me on Ravelry at anytime if you have questions, or email me at doviejay (at) me (dot) com.

Last Year's Resolutions

2010-09-09T14:01:00.003-05:00

I am late posting this wrap up - when I went back through the old entries I discovered that I set these resolutions at the beginning of August, not the end. So after 13 months, this is what I've got.

Accomplished:

Tell people when they piss me off rather than get all angsty and hurt.
Ice skate at Tenney Park
Go to the Farmer's Market whenever possible
Make steps to get the sleep thing sorted out
Join/start a knitting group
Try to get into Camp
Get some healthy strategies for letting work go
Go through the stash and list unloved yarns for trade on Ravelry
Go through the house and take things to Goodwill every 3 months
Put all the music on the computer onto SB's old iPod
Read new books, not just the same old favorites
Go to Thursday music at the Terrace
Celebrate Jorah's graduation in style
Visit The Fold
Go to a Badger Football Game
Don't let being nice mean I'm not tough with people who deserve it
Call people I want to hang out with and ask to see them

Not Accomplished:

Submit patterns for publication
Finish the Madison Heartwarmer using the weaving technique
Get a Tattoo
Get back in the habit of going to the gym
Put at least 1 pattern a month up on Ravelry
Update the blog frequently (at least 10 times a month) and use photos
No knitting patterns by other people until after dinner
Walk the Lakeshore path out to Picnic Point
Go out on Lake Mendota on some form of a boat

The accomplishment I have enjoyed the most would definitely be the reading goals. It has been great getting into all these new books and it's definitely something I'll keep up for this year.

Obviously the design related goals will be taking a front seat in the next year. I'm working on a new list to help keep me on track during what is going to be a very busy fall.

Still need to get that tattoo though.

More Socks Than You Can Shake a Pointy Stick At

2010-09-06T18:14:00.007-05:00

These are today's socks!

First up are the March Shipment of the Rockin Sock Club - Slip Jig Socks in My Wild Irishgirlie.

I pronounce this a delightful and enjoyable pattern to knit. I would also like to say that I love this colorway. In fact, I love it so much that I see it again in my future. I think it would be amazing for girlie babies, and as it happens, I know several.

Let me also direct your attention to the cunning little circles on the cuff. They make me think of dancing, and the whole time we did this little photoshoot I was ballerina-girl. Something you may not know about me is that once upon a time, I was quite the dancer.

Next we have a pair of prototype socks.

This yarn is Three Irish Girls Beckon Stretch Merino in the colorway Father Time. I also have some baby booties in this colorway around here somewhere, if I could just hunt them up.

And here are the socks that came from the Prototype Socks pictured and characterized above. I name them Skoosh Socks. Here they are in Socks That Rock Spy Say Guacamolay - again may I just say, this colorway rocked my socks. It rocked them hard.

I'm putting the final touches on the pattern, and working through the smallest size - a gift for a friend. I've got to tell you, they are taking forever. It's probably because they are smaller than my usual sock and I expect them to go faster.

These are Happy Hands Toe Jamz, colorway Spirit In The Sky. I love these colors too - and this song is one of the great songs of all times. That's something cool about Happy Hands sock yarns; they're named after songs. I have some Brown Eyed Girl in my kit that's going to be some beautiful socks one of these days.

I'm working on some other behind-the-scenes stuff here, but I am going to try to get the Skoosh Socks up and running later this week. Very exciting!

Arbitrary Thursday

2010-09-02T13:12:00.003-05:00

I have a bunch of little things to post about so here they are, in no particular order:

1. I have three pairs of socks to photograph and blog, but I need a photographer's assistant, and he is at work. I also have a pair of yoga socks to photograph and blog, but I can't find them.

2. It is allergy season and I am sniffly, cranky, and tired.

3. I love my new studio! I need to get a few more things in place and then I will take pictures to show you.

4. I have spent most of my time in Texas designing a new free pattern for some socks. After I get the photos of it (and finish knitting one more test pair to make sure that everything is up to code) I shall put it up on Ravelry.

5. My dog Lucky has a felted flower toy which I must throw for him every 3 minutes. A day in which he does not find the flower 6 or 8 hundred times is a day wasted.

6. I really wish I had practiced drawing more after I got out of school. Just now realizing that would have been a good skill to have.

7. I could have started gathering information for this whole Becoming a Knitting Designer thing a long time ago. Why do I not yet own copies of Knitting From the Top, Sweater Design in Plain English, and The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design? I especially want the Knitgrrl one.

8. I think I'm going to really love this job.

9. It was late last night and dinner never really happened so we went to the Austin Culver's. It was just like being at home. Oh, Wisconsin, how I miss you.

10. Going to a yarn store later today with a new friend from the HPKCHC. Always a good thing mixing knitting, yarn stores, and Harry Potter.

11. Big plans this weekend!

a. UW @ UNLV - we're going to go to watch the game at a bar with all of the other UW alums here in Austin. (Not to mention that football is starting, my favorite time of year!)

b. Going to see an interview with and then a one man show by Kevin McDonald - our favorite Kid in the Hall! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. Kids in the Hall is one of the best things on the planet!

12. And Monday is Labor Day! Even though I don't really get days off any more that is still exciting!

Home Again Home Again

2010-08-25T09:29:00.005-05:00

Well, I got to Austin on Monday night, so today is my second day in the new place. It is so great seeing my husband and dogs again - it already feels like I was never away. I completely love our new place as well - big rooms, beautiful floors, it's great. I have a studio of my own with a ton of light, we have a dishwasher(!) and we have laundry hookups, so we're looking for a secondhand washer and dryer to hook up to them.

My main project right now is not so much knitting as it is getting everything organized in this house. There are still boxes everywhere and I have a ton of unpacking to do. I do like organizing things though, so that's a good.

I definitely think it's going to be weird though, not leaving the house to go to work. I did it yesterday for the first time and just kept feeling like it was time to get going. Last night I started to work on a pretty cool project though, and now I feel like I have some momentum.

I'm off to work on unpacking and organizing for a while. In other news, yesterday I had my laptop blaring music while I was working and kept thinking, "Oh, no way! I can't believe this radio station is playing this song - I love this song!" and then realizing that I was listening to iTunes and of course it would be playing all of my favorite music, because it's my music. Very smart. SMRT.

Weaving Addition

2010-08-17T16:48:00.007-05:00

There are many different ways to use math in weaving but let's look at this one.

Today I took this:

put it with this:

and ended up with this:

Then I took this:

put it with this:

and ended up with this:

So all of the ingredients for a great day.

Unfortunately, it has been a pretty rotten day. My allergies have arrived, but I am loathe to start taking the Zyrtec I brought because it knocks me right on my butt and makes me want to sleep for 18 hours a day (it's the only thing that works, even though it wears me right out.) I may cave in and take some next time I go back to my room though - I'm already exhausted so what's a little more exhaustion, right?

In good news, it's Tuesday, so there was a new The Guild up, and also my favorite podcast. This also means that I will be home a week from today - a new home, but home all of the same.

I hope they don't have Ragweed in Texas.

****The first weaving is a random mix of blue and turquoise 5/2 cotton with Mountain Colors Bearfoot Ladyslipper and the second is six different pinks and lavenders also in 5/2 with Socks That Rock Lightweight Mist. Both patterns are tabby.

GASP

2010-08-09T22:11:00.004-05:00

I was reading old blog posts of mine (because I'm a dork like that) and came to the one where I lamented that Lover's Leap STR wasn't more red because I wanted to knit My Vampire Boyfriend socks from Knitty. I totally forgot about this and now True Blood Red is out and it's super red and bloody and vampirey!

Don't you just love yarn?!

and vampires?!

Home?sick

2010-08-01T19:49:00.002-05:00

I've been feeling a little betwix-and-between lately. This is a fun place and there is lots to do and see here, but I'm homesick for three different places. As my mom would say, I've had enough fun.

I miss Madison. I miss Lakeside-That-Was and mostly my friends who worked there. I've been thinking about them a lot today, the Lakeside Ladies. I flipped through the new Twist Collective, and it made me realize how much fun I had at the yarn store - how I would feel when the new fall yarns would come in, every box full of new colors and textures. Every fall filled with possibilities. I want to go have dinner with them all at Taj Indian (as an aside, I long for food with spice!) and have someone say, "Have you seen the new Classic Elite books?" and have someone else say, "Oh, I have one in my car, I'll be right back!" I love my ladies.

I miss Virginia. I spoke to my mom and my grandma briefly yesterday and they were making homemade ice cream and Peach Conserve. It's been really nice here recently, like Virginia in late September, and I can't wait to visit home this fall. I'm going back for the Waterford Fair - the big craft show in my area. I may spend up to two weeks at home and I can't wait!

Weirdly, I miss Austin, even though I've never been there. Maybe I'm just excited to get my life going again. I want to be there with my family in our new house and get settled into a routine. I want to have a cell phone again so I can call my friends in Wisconsin, Louisiana, Florida, and Virginia and not have to rely on Facebook. I am ready to develop a routine and really get down to designing and knitting and working on my LIFE.

------------------------------------

Silver Bay has a Labyrinth (a replica of the famous one at Chartres Cathedral) and I finally tried it out this morning. You may know that I'm not a religious person, but I am a spiritual one, and I have heard about the power of Labyrinths from various readings and friends. It was quite the experience. Most of the wisdom I gleaned from it came in the form of cliches, it's true, but cliches are cliches for a reason. There is a difference too, between having someone mouth platitudes to you when your soul is tangled up and realizing them yourself.

Trivia Night at the Store

2010-07-20T19:24:00.003-05:00

I'm sitting in on Trivia Night at the Store (that's the only place I can get wireless to work) listening to the game and I am totally amazed that no one knows the name of the butler from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

What kind of cultural wasteland is this anyway?

MultiCraftual

2010-07-18T12:39:00.007-05:00

I'm still here!

I've been crafting it up, craft-style.

Here we have a beautiful basket, which is in progress and approaching the finish line. I ordered the reed a couple of weeks ago and then some friends and I dyed it. It's not perfect, but I'm pretty excited.

Inside the basket you will see the Baby Surprise Jacket which matches the Love Booties and Hat I made for my cousin's baby a few weeks ago. I can't believe I still haven't taken pictures of the hat. Nothing I can do about it now, it's in Wisconsin. This little jacket isn't quite finished. It needs the picots on the cuffs and to have a few more ends tucked in.

There is also the almost finished pair of Nutkins Yoga Socks (which don't have toes, but are otherwise Nutkins.) I am thinking about finding a place to do yoga when we get to Austin, so obviously I had to knit something to represent that desire. Again, I just need to weave in the ends to consider this finished. This yarn is STR lightweight Jonagold.

A couple of nights ago I finally decided to frog my most recently started Stock Socks, and then I began to knit another Ishbel. This is Dream In Color Knitosophy, color Superhero. I don't know if I'll keep it going, but I sure think it looks pretty.

Friday night I also started the March Shipment of the Rockin' Sock Club - Slip Jig Socks by Irishgirlieknits. I'm actually doing these 2 at a time on one circular needle, but the picture with just one was better. Newsflash: I love this pattern. I have another skein of Chickabiddy mediumweight at home that I was thinking was going to be a baby sweater for one of my many pregnant friends, but now I'm thinking more along the lines of another pair of Slip Jigs.

Here is a picture of the Shawl that Jazz I've been working on for a few months. It has been recently resurrected from Time Out Due to Miles of Garter Stitch. It's gorgeous and made with luscious yarn (Old Maiden Aunt Silk Alpaca) but it's all clubbed up on the needle and impossible to see, so please just enjoy this beautiful color.

In other news I have recently read The Mysterious Affair At Styles by Agatha Christie. I am not putting it on my New To Me list of books because I'm pretty sure that I read it in 7th grade - I went through a big Agatha Christie phase and read almost all of her books. This time I found a box by the side of the road full of books with a sign that said "Free Books - Please Take!" so I took that and Five Little Pigs.

Yesterday I started The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan. He also wrote The Lightning Thief and the rest of the Percy Jackson books. So far I am really enjoying it. The kids have a lot of questions (the biggest question is 'WHAT IS GOING ON?') and so do I!

Last Thursday was my night NOT to work, so I went to the Craft Shop and started a stained glass project. Spoiler Alert: I love it. I have always wanted to learn stained glass. I came across Louis Tiffany in college and fell deeply in love with his work. It's just another extension of my love of Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau. I'm worried though - how will I possibly make room in my life for another craft? A whole new stash of glass - new equipment, cutters and grinders and torches? We'll have to see.

Uncraftily, but still exciting, I learned to play Mahjong last night! The power was out so three very nice people who live in my house taught me how to play and we sat around a card table all holding flashlights and saying, "Pong!" It was super awesome and I foresee lots of Mahjong in my future. I told them that it was clear to me that when I get to Austin I'll have to buy a set and teach Jorah to play, and then we would have to make some friends, at least two.

Today is the halfway point of my summer incidentally. I am here for 10 weeks and two days total, and as of today I have 5 weeks and 1 day until I am reunited in Austin with Jorah and my dogs. It's been a fast, fun summer so far! Here's hoping that the rest is just as good!

Craftiness

2010-07-08T19:08:00.005-05:00

One of the perks of working the the Craft Shop is all of the peripheral crafting that is going on. I tend to get a little bit lost up in the weaving room (good news is that I'm back to Minus One - only one empty loom right now) and so I missed some of the trainings . . .

I did get to make a glass and concrete stepping stone:

Very fun and pretty! I have a thing for trees and trees of life as you may know.

And also a Dichroic Glass Pendant.

The swirls are from the vacation to to Ireland last year, specifically when we went to Newgrange and Bru na Boynne. Here's the post I made last summer about this. These spirals are inside the mound. I was really taken by them and I've been doodling them ever since. I completely love this pendant.

I want to do some stained glass too, but I don't know yet what I would want to make.

Missed Anniversary

2010-07-06T18:55:00.004-05:00

I feel terrible about this, but I have to admit that I have recently missed a really important anniversary.

June 20th was the 35 year anniversary of the movie JAWS.

Let me just say, so there isn't any confusion, that this is one of the greatest movies of all time.

Tell me the way to go home

I'm tired and I want to go to bed

Oh I had a little drink about an hour ago

and it went right to my head

Nothing can match the music playing while those black eyes come right for you.

In other news, I went swimming three times today!

May Knitting

2010-06-26T16:29:00.007-05:00

Looking back through my archives it seems like I didn't talk at all about the knitting I did in May for the HPKCHC. I actually did all six classes, and was pretty pleased with five of them. I know I've been talking recently about how frustrated I am with my OWL project and how I want to abandon it, (at least the main part of it) but I did do some really nice projects last month. Let's take a little tour.

Skew for SPEW Socks:

I knit the extremely popular Skew socks from Knitty. I found the pattern to be straightforward, easy to understand, and very enjoyable. Unfortunately the socks turned out too small, so they have gone to Florida to live with a dear friend.

My next favorite project was the delightful Sophie:

Of course all of Ysolda's patterns are beautiful and thoughtfully designed, but this one is also just adorable. Charms was a good excuse to knit it! I had a bunch of the pink and so decided to duplicate stitch the inside of the ears. I think next time I will find a tutorial for intarsia in the round. I know it can be done, my friend Kj can do it!

I have had this hat in my head for a while now and wanted to see if I can do it - the Viking Kiddo:

It's my own 'design' though as you can see it is an easy little hat. This is sized for a kid, so you are not able to see me model it, I know you are disappointed. I am particularly pleased with how the horns turned out.

At first I turned my nose up at the Herbology assignment, but finally I did knit this little flower, which is attached to a hair comb:

I think it's just lovely, but I don't know if I'm brave enough to wear it. I do wear my hair like this all the time - it's fun and it keeps it out of my way - but the flower might be a bit much.

I don't know if I'll be able to do any classes next month either. I only brought a bit of yarn to New York with me (definitions of 'a bit' are up for interpretation) and I'm really feeling the itch to start coming up with some things on my own. The temptation in the HPKCHC is to do a pattern by someone else, because everything is time sensitive and at least you know it will work out. They encourage you to knit your own stuff but I just don't know if I am that organized.

Summer Camp = More Fun When You're an Adult

2010-06-22T20:18:00.002-05:00

I'd love to do posts where I say "Here's what I did today:" and then follow up with some photos, but the truth is that is just not going to happen - there is way too much going on here. It is the most I can do to get online one day out of three!

Anyway, here are some pictures and snippets!

Last week I learned how to warp an industrial loom:

As you can see, you spool up all of the colors you want to put on, set them on the rack in the correct order, and then thread them through the doohicky. Then you turn the back beam and the whole thing winds up. They go through the counter on the doohicky to make sure that you put enough warp on. Extremely cool.

This is a better picture of the weaving shop:

This view is from the top of the stairs looking across to the window. Below is a view from the window looking to the top of the stairs.

The whole place is pretty amazing. Today I learned how to make stepping stones with glass set in concrete (and how to score and break glass). We also worked with leather. Tomorrow it's copper enameling and stained glass - something I've always wanted to do, but it never occurred to me that it could be an option.

It's been crazy busy here the last couple of days, but we're finally done with the Orientation part of orientation and just have site training (which is fun!)

As far as knitting goes, I'm really frustrated with the HPKCHC right now to be honest. I am just at the heels of my Yoga Nutkins and those are fine, but I am crazy frustrated with the boot/slippers I'm attempting to make. One of them looks exactly the way I pictured it, and the other one is all crooked and annoying - HOWEVER - they are numerically identical. Honestly I just feel like scrapping the whole thing.

I am going to go back to my room now. I think I'm going to say "TO HELL" with the House Cup tonight and roll up my new skein of STR Heavyweight Love. It's going to be a baby surprise jacket. I am just going to knit it because I want to knit it. Period.

And here is a picture of my front porch:

I share this house with about a dozen other people. I am a lucky dog, aren't I?

Greetings from Silver Bay!

2010-06-19T19:16:00.004-05:00

My first week at camp has ended and I kind of love it. The work is work, but it’s great to be weaving again. I have an adorable little room in the grownup housing (a room of my own!) with a braided rug on the floor and my own sink. I have gotten to play with an inkle loom (my new favorite thing!) and learned how to put on an industrial warp.

I’m not getting a whole ton of knitting done . . . I’m going to bed at 10:00 at night because I have to be up by 6:15 or so. Most of my free time has been spent thinking about how I need to do my laundry and reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire.

They are pretty amazing. I’m almost finished with the second one, and then I have to wait until The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest comes out in paperback. I love all of the Swedish places in the books: Saltsjobaden, Strangnas, and Sotertalje. They are making me want to look for kickboxing studios when I move to Texas. They are real, complicated stories with real characters and an amazingly detailed sense of place. They are making me realize that most of the popular fiction I read is by Americans - I really should branch out.

Most of my knitting has been focused on Harry Potter projects - I’m working on my Jonagold Yoga Socks and my three OWL projects. I’m definitely not going to be able to do six projects the way I did last month. I was hoping to do a lot of knitting and designing while I’m up here, but we’ll have to see how it goes when I get more situated.

Orientation officially starts on Sunday. I hope to god there won’t be funtivities or management parables.

If you haven’t yet, go look at the new Blue Moon Colors - True Blood, Dilly Dilly, Drusilla, Spike, Slayer - Tina knows what I like! (vampires, old folk songs, and the colors - especially the True Blood)

Packing

2010-06-11T18:06:00.005-05:00

I don't have time to make a weepy "I can't believe I'm voluntarily leaving Madison" post like I was planning. I'm in the throws of packing instead. I have most of my clothes packed (just waiting for a few things to come out of the dryer) and now it's time to start really thinking about necessities.

Knitting and yarn going to Silver Bay:

1. OWL stuff. Obviously. For my HPKCHC this term I'm attempting a History of Magic OWL and making:

a pair of knitted boots

an Aestlight Shawl

a Caroline Cloche

All of these things need to be at the 50% point by June 30th. I've made good time on the shawl and the cloche, but have recently decided that the boots need to go back - waaaaaaaaaay back.

2. Homework for HPKCHC:

Nutkins yoga socks (DADA)

Stella Pixie Hat in 35% bamboo yarn (Herbology)

3. Yarn for future projects (keeping in mind that Jorah can send me a care package or two if I need it.

Heavyweight STR Love to make a baby surprise jacket to go with the Stella Pixie Hat and Booties that I already made.

Yarn for my Molly Nosegay shawl already in progress

Yarn for the Pingala shawl already in progress (possibly back to the drawing board on this one)

Yarn for the Clock shawl already in progress (ditto)

4. Random STR (and one skein of Mountain Colors) which I need to use to DESIGN MY OWN STUFF in colorways:

Spy-Say Guacamolay

Muddy Bottom Breakdown (cables?)

Cattywampus

Mist

My Wild Irish Girlie

Ladyslipper (Bearfoot)

I have made a big change of plans and decided NOT to pre-wind everything before I leave. I will do things the old fashioned way, without my fancy ball winder and swift, just like they did in the Days of Yore when all and sundry were forced to wind their designer hand-painted yarn by hand before knitting it magic loop on their Addi Turbo needles.

I think I might take my skein of Knitosophy Superhero too, just in case. Also Whimsical Little Knits. You never know when you might need to make an Ishbel at the drop of a hat.

New Computer

2010-06-01T13:09:00.004-05:00

I'm afraid I don't have pretty pretty pictures for you today. I got a new computer over the weekend and haven't transferred over yet. Right now I am, in fact, sitting at my computer desk listening to iTunes on my 8 year old Gateway Desktop, and typing on my brand new MacBook Pro. Something is wrong with this picture.

I finished up all of my Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup classes for May and even posted an OWL proposal. I'm very excited for the OWL - especially the two more minor projects which are not actually the focus of the OWL. (SDER)

June classes posted and I have to admit I'm not sure I know what I'm going to make for ANY of them. At The Fold last weekend I got a fair few skeins of STR intended for Baby Surprise Jackets, but I don't really see where they fit this month, unless I make two for Defense Against the Dark Arts, which I don't see myself doing.

Jorah has told me that he's going to start data transfer tonight, but honestly thinking about it, I don't know what I want to transfer. Do I really want all of the files that are on my old computer? We're cleaning out our house right now, getting rid of the things we don't want or need before the big move. Do I really want or need everything on the old computer?

P.S. I never thought I would be a Mac person, but even though I barely know how to use this computer I love it. The videos are crazy helpful and everything is so pretty and easy. I bought the One to One classes, but I'm not going to go until after we're in Austin. Until then I'll just be learning on my own!

Radio Silence

2010-05-24T21:26:00.005-05:00

It's been a busy two weeks since my last post. My boss has come back from leave, so I've been working extra hours to get her caught up and reintegrated into the job. It's great to have her back and I'm remembering how much I love working with her. It's going to make it even harder to leave.

Last weekend my parents and in-laws both came out for my beloved's graduation:

He's officially a math doctor! (As soon as he finishes his thesis later this summer!)

Jorah's folks went up north with some friends for the rest of the weekend and we hung out with mine on Saturday. We did the Farmers' Market and State Street and had a great time. All of the parents loved the new babies.

Another busy week passed and then last Saturday we drove down to Decorah, Iowa and met Jorah's parents for wonderful day visiting The Vesterhiem - a museum about Norweigian immigration to the States.

Jorah has Viking blood on his mother's side and they had been wanting to visit for a while. There were six of us there and three of us are past or current National Parks people, so we love our museums and guided tours. It was a great day.

This is Jorah at lunch, where we all tried the Lefse Special (awesome).

Doesn't he look super Norwiegian? Look at that Dale of Norway sweater! (We found it secondhand in La Bella Vita, a wonderful little yarn/vintage shop in Mineral Point, WI.)

I first read about the museum in this knitting book, which I bought with my Christmas money. I don't love the projects, although there is some good stuff there, but the history and the pictures of the museum made me crazy with geeker joy. It was a wonderful museum and I really recommend it if you have even a passing interest in the 19th century, Norwegians, immigration, textiles, or prairie living.

We also visited Blue Heron Knittery, where I was seduced by the beautiful knitting kits and allowed myself to be talked into a book I've had my eye on for a while . . . and some real Norwegian yarn to go with! As you can imagine, it was very hard to convince me that I needed more books and yarn.

I'm excited to make these mittens - a year and a half ago when I was all crazy about Latvian Mittens I didn't know how to knit colorwork with two hands OR magic loop! I can't wait to go to town on them.

In the meantime I'm all over the May classes for the HPKCHC. I don't have photos of any of the rest of my homework, but here are my SPEW (Skew) socks:

I am up to the cuffs and expect to finish tonight. Then I just have to find someone with small enough feet to model them for you! They came out bigger than the pattern (which was my intention - I have Sasquatch feet, even if they are beautifully shaped) but still too small for me. I think they are going to be winging their way south to sunny Florida to live with a dear friend who has much more ladylike feet than I do. Don't let the ridiculously bad photo fool you - they are beautiful in person!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to knit with the other HPKCHCers in the area at the Union Terrace. They are way farther along this semester than I am, so hopefully they can light a fire under me so I finish up in time. I haven't even written up an OWL proposal yet!

S.P.E.W.

2010-05-11T10:20:00.003-05:00

I got another shipment from Blue Moon on Friday - I won one of the RSC contests and got a 20% off coupon, so it would basically have been like throwing away free money not to buy a bunch of yarn, right?

One of the skeins I bought was the new color Queen Charlotte and I have to say, I loved it so much that I didn't even get a picture of it in the skein before it was wound up and I had started knitting it. Originally it was going to be a smaller Funky Sock Monkey (it's medium weight instead of the called-for heavy weight) but then I liked it too much, so I frogged that and now it's becoming Skew.

I am crazy about this pair of socks and this colorway. I want to go hog wild and order 3000 yards and then just roll around in it. It is a genius combination of colors - I'm definitely doing that thing where you just want to keep knitting to see what happens next - I am on the edge of my seat waiting for the next gorgeous marroony purple to show up!

These are my project for the HPKCHC Defense Against the Dark Arts class. I was running around looking for them in another house members' queue and when I found them she described them as her SPEW socks, because of the Society to Promote Elvish Welfare. Now of course that is stuck in my head too.

I just want to stay home from work and knit! I can't wait to see what happens next!

Plans Plans Plans

2010-05-04T09:29:00.005-05:00

I'm making the simplest baby sweater in all the land (Louise Cardigan from Vintage Baby Knits) and I keep goofing up the yoke because I'm not reading the directions. First I was decreasing too quickly, now I'm decreasing too slowly. Thank goodness it's such a small sweater, otherwise I'd be knitting it FOREVER.

This weekend some of my favorite ladies in the whole world came over to knit for a couple of hours. We hung out in my living room and talked and had show and tell. It was really great - I'm going to miss them like crazy when I move in August.

Kj brought her Skew sock to show us all while she worked on the second one, and I have to say it was like a revelation. I'd seen the pattern of course, and lots of people made them for their Olympic project, but it is so much cooler in person. She let me take some pictures of her feet -

See how cool that is? Another reason I hadn't wanted to make it was because I have such gigantic feet and it's a difficult pattern to alter. Kj suggested just changing the gauge (of course) and so I'm going to give it a try with my STR Mediumweight ST-1. When I knit with mediumweight on US 1.5s I get a much more standard sock.

And so that brings me to my Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup Plans.

1. Frog the Kettricken Mukluks and reknit them on US 1 needles for History of Magic and Fantasia.

2. Skew socks for Defense Against the Dark Arts - need to find them in someone's queue, which I know I can because two other Ravenclaws are doing them too.

3. Ravenclaw Husband's Auxiliary Rune Hat for Ancient Runes (I think out of Bearfoot)

4. Monkey - I ordered the Blue Moon pattern - I can't decide what class it fits in though.

5. My mom is going to get here in 9 days - I really really want to finish the Olympic Sweater before she does, so that's going to be my priority before I can start all of these House Cup projects.

I'm also going for Convocation. Good luck with that self.

Midwest Alpaca Fest

2010-04-27T09:37:00.005-05:00

Went to the Midwest Alpaca Fest with some friends this weekend and had a great time. I got a chance to try out a spinning wheel (not a disaster, but not a triumph either) and we looked at some super pretty alpacas with their little faces. I forgot my camera, so you'll just have to imagine the little faces.

I had a productive knitting weekend other than that too. I finished my latest set of Distraction-Knitting-Booties in STR Lightweight Lapis -

And I also finally finished the socks I promised for my brother last summer. I'm going to try to get to the post office later today.

I've started another sweater from Vintage Baby Knits. I have a feeling I'll be working my way through all of the patterns in this book before long. I don't know if I'll finish this sweater - I only have just the right amount of yarn and I haven't found the book to be super accurate on yardage - but the patterns are gorgeously cute and I'm having a ton of fun.

My parents are coming up to visit in a couple of weeks for Jorah's GRADUATION(!) and I'm going to throw myself back onto the altar of the RavOlympics sweater - I'd love for it to be finished when they get here. I might get distracted and just knit more adorable little baby things though . . .

Querera

2010-04-22T23:38:00.007-05:00

When I was in 9th grade we did a writing assignment about this word. The teacher told us that it meant, "place of wanting." As I was googling around to confirm that for this post I discovered that actually, it means "wishes." That kinda wrecks the poetry of this post.

But it's always going to mean Place of Wanting to me. I've been thinking about places that I love today, with it being Earth Day and all, and I am always going to come back to this word. Even though I've found out that it means something different (maybe I'm not spelling it right?) I'll always think of my querera as being the place I go where my soul feels soothed. All of the tumblers and gears in my mind suddenly but gently fall into place and I am entirely at peace.

For me that place is Harpers Ferry, WVa. It's about thirty minutes from my home back in Virginia, and I worked there for three summers at the end of high school. That first summer I was 17 and had just finished my junior year of high school. Not only is Harpers Ferry breathtakingly beautiful, it was also where I was when I met or became close to some of my favorite people - we all worked together in this paradise.

That was the summer that my husband and I became something more than friends, and the summer that I learned to love my brother as a person and not just a brother. It was also when I became close to my two best friends, two wonderful women who make me proud to know them. I met my boss and her boss - aside from being excellent teachers, they are also excellent friends.

That summer I worked harder than I'd ever worked in my life and had a song in my heart the whole time.

That summer was 9 years ago now, and it still stands out in my mind as completely unique.

In my reflections on Earth Day, I wonder if that summer would ever have happened without the unique geography and history of that place. Would I ever have met, known, loved some of these people? Well done, Earth. Well done.

*I remember what I wrote about in high school - the roof outside my window at my parents' house. I had just figured out that I could take out the screen, brace myself against the sill, and stretch my foot out to get to the roof of the porch. My folks hadn't found out that I could do it yet, and they were FURIOUS when they did and tried to forbid me from doing it anymore. I was 14 and it was my room, so that didn't last long.

After they got how good I was at climbing out the window they gave up and started letting me do it and then go over the roof to hang Christmas garland on the front porch. I won't do it anymore though - I'm all old and less assured of my invincibility.

Return of the Mojo?

2010-04-19T21:52:00.008-05:00

I wouldn't say that it's back full force, but after a refreshing trip to the farmers' market this weekend I began to feel slightly knitty again.

I've been filled with a certain amount of Leaving-Madison-Urgency recently and have finally bought something I've been meaning to get for a while now. Madison has one of the best Farmers' Markets in the nation and there are a few crafty booths in addition to the produce and baked goods types. I've been wanting these since I first saw them years ago:

Adorable onesies from Bernie's Gir l. I do not now have a human infant, nor do I expect to have one soon - but I couldn't leave Madison without my favorites!

Okay, now that the embarrassing stuff is over, on to the yarn! We also hit up The Sow's Ear this weekend, and were delighted to find some BEAUTIFUL sock yarn by Sun Valley Fiber Farm.

I was actually the most attracted to a beautiful color called Barn Raising - a gorgeous handpainted faded pink with just a few touches of red. I ended up with two skeins of the above because they also had some great slipper soles - my size and with lots and lots of holes. I've been meaning to make myself some nice mukluks for years, and now with the Royal Assassin challenge I'm all over some Kettricken mukluks! (As we know, she loves the purple!)

Did I mention it's 80% Merino, 10% Nylon, and 10% Cashmere? No? That's weird, because it is completely my favorite yarn! I am loving of the MCN. Had to go back the next day to get a crochet hook small enough to go through the holes in the soles, but it's totally worth it. I've made progress on my Brother Socks, and washed the yarn from the first iteration of the Brother Socks last summer (which I just found in my garden after searching for for 7 months!)

And I've also started my Rectangular Ulmus, which I've been salivating over for months.

I don't know how I feel now that I'm going though - this pattern is the reason I opted for the double yarn club through Old Maiden Aunt and I LOVE Strange Rock n' Rollers (the light green/purpley one.) This is a wool/bamboo blend and it is incredibly soft . . . . but I feel like the Strange Rock n' Rollers is a little washed out next to Bitter Bug . . .

Here it is by itself - it's so luminous! I was planning on knitting the lacy ends in this color, but I don't know if that's enough for such an amazing color!

What do you think?

Fantasia: Royal Assasin

2010-04-18T21:56:00.003-05:00

I'm very excited this term to be running a workshop in the Ravelry group Fantasia! Basically, each semester people submit proposals for challenges based on books (fantasy and kid's books, hence, Fantasia) and others turn in all kinds of projects loosely based on those challenges.

I have done a challenge for some of my favorite books, The Farseer series, especially Royal Assassin, which has one of my all time favorite characters, Kettricken. I have been working on a badge for the challenge, and I hope this works!

In other reading news, I have been absolutely consumed with mysteries of late. I'm all crazy for Mrs. Emily Pollifax and Miss Maisie Dobbs. I like a good heroine. Jorah's traveling a lot next week, so I'm going to be fending for myself a bit. I have four new books to keep me company!

I really can't believe how crazy about reading I've gotten - who knew that of my 26 Last Year's Goals, reading new books would be the one I would embrace most heartily? And that it would be so expensive . . .

It's worth it though. I do have to go - poor Mrs. Pollifax has just been left with her associate's (dead) body and seen her friend kidnapped . . . she's also had her passport taken away by the Istanbul police. To switch to a different detective series, Captain Hastings would say, "Oh, dear!"

Mystery Solved!

2010-04-13T10:12:00.004-05:00

Remember the end of this post from September?
Look what I found outside my front door this morning:

The sock I was knitting for my brother for his birthday last summer! I thought I lost it up in Door County and spent weeks tearing apart my house and car. It's been lost in the garden for 7 months! That tells you how much I like to garden . . .

I'm very excited though. I'll frog and re-skein and wash it and then I'll have a whole new ball of Dream in Color Smooshy! Thanks for the free yarn, universe!

How Am I Coping With the Loss of My Mojo?

2010-04-12T23:46:00.004-05:00

By reading (three books in three days this weekend!)

And knitting these painfully cute baby booties:

I've already started another pair, but I snapped a needle. Maybe that means it's time for sleeping?

I'm Mad At All of My Knitting

2010-03-30T23:05:00.003-05:00

Let's hop down the list and see what on the terrifying list of 10 projects I should be knitting:

1. RavOlympics Sweater - I have to frog back to the beginning of the white on the sleeves because I want to join the new balls there and not where I am so I don't have to strip and carry yarns up the seam.

2. Pingala Shawl - sooo much stockingnette

3. Clock Shawl - sooo much garter stitch

4. Shawl that Jazz - being reknit at a smaller gauge - ground I've already covered

5. Daybreak - skewonkus edge, probably going to frog

6. Keefly Mittens - haven't worked on these for months . . . not feeling it

7. Wisconsin Heartwarmer - had to frog back to the purple because of a gauge change, am now having to tink back something like 270 sts per row because there is a mistake somewhere but I can't find it - had to put it down this afternoon before frogging in a fit of rage. Also I only have 10 weeks to finish this per my goal and I'm feeling the time crunch.

8. Stock Socks - sooo much stockingnette

9. Brother Socks - hate ribbing on sock feet

10. Here Comes the Sun Socks - need to frog - too small for feet

I'm a whiner, it's true. I have many projects where there's nothing wrong and I just want something exciting and new. I'm being a fickle child and should just knit knit knit something. I make these lists to convince myself to just get over it and get to work. I haven't finished anything in nearly 6 weeks!

It's spring break! Time to be productive!

Know What I Love?

2010-03-30T15:16:00.003-05:00

Haircuts!

End of an Era

2010-03-29T23:15:00.008-05:00

Spoiler Alert: The end of this post contains a photo of the Notorious Sock Knitters' World Domination Tour Sock Club March 2010 shipment! If you don't have your yarny surprise yet, don't scroll down!

Sunday was my last day at the yarn store. I had been thinking about it for a while but finally got to the point last month where I just needed more time to myself. My other job has gone full time this semester, and after 27 days straight without a day off, I got to the point where I needed a break, so I gave my notice.

I am really, really sad to leave. I have been at Lakeside since February 2007 and I honestly believe I have learned more from working there than I learned in school. The textile program I was in really didn't focus on knitting and in the classes where I did knitting techniques I pretty much was designing my own curriculum. Working at Lakeside allowed me to rub elbows with other talented knitters, my coworkers, and of course the customers. I learned so much just from watching other people knit, not only about technique, but about what people like to knit and what is IN in knitting, and all of the yarns.

I'm going to be leaving Madison, probably for good, in August, as you well know if you're a regular. My husband has a post doc at the University of Texas in Austin, and so we're going to be moving south. There's also an outside chance that I'll be leaving sooner - I don't want to count my chickens or anything, but if everything I want happens I'll be leaving in June - and that's only two months away. I have so many more things to do on my 26 Things To Do in the Last Year List - I'm definitely going to need my weekends!

Got to shake off the gloom. Let's look at pretty pictures!

One of my friends at Lakeside gave me this as a going away present, it's Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Ladyslipper.

As far as my going away present to myself, I had to get a bunch of Claudia Handpaints Fingering. It's sold as sock yarn, though I wouldn't use it as such. I'm thinking baby clothes.

And as promised, the sock club shipment for March. I am very excited. At first I was not thrilled, but the photos in the patterns of this yarn knit up are gorgeous! And I love the name: My Wild Irishgirlie. I'm thinking this time I'll be knitting the Janet Laidmen pattern - I love the book The Secret Garden even though (reason #112 Why I Shouldn't Have a Knitting Blog) I personally hate to garden. I love the little flowers in the pattern. And I love that this is mediumweight.

I'm waffling about my Daybreak Shawl, by the way. It's all skewonkus on the edges and not nearly the nice big shawl I had my heart set on. I'm unsure about its future. Another thing I learned at Lakeside: If you don't like it, rip it!

Two Sock Day

2010-03-23T23:09:00.005-05:00

I never explained about Two Sock Day last week! Last Wednesday I finished my Cascadia socks, from the January shipment of Socks that Rock Club:

The colorway is Happy Go Lucky - I love it! Sorry about the overexposed picture - these socks were extremely hard to photo.

And Jorah finished some socks he made for me during the Ravelympics in STR Lightweight Lapis:

The first time someone else has knit me socks!

Work has been rough recently, and sometimes you need a two sock day to lift your spirits!

In other news, I am finding myself completely consumed by the Percy Jackson series. I've barely knitted for the past two days because I've been devouring books 3 and 4. I can't start #5 until tomorrow though, because our landlords are showing our house and so I have to clean. I'll have to help Percy save Olympus tomorrow.

Sunday Morning

2010-03-22T21:25:00.002-05:00

I woke up, looked at the clock, and said, "OH NO!!"

Jorah, sleepily, "What's wrong?"

"It's my first real day off without plans in months and I woke up at 7:45!"

"Me too, but, you know what? We can go back to sleep. We have the technology."

Stuff We All Get

2010-03-19T23:48:00.007-05:00

I am so blessed to have such beautiful yarn. Lately it seems like yarn has just been coming to me - appearing out of nowhere. That's not entirely true, but look at the pretties:

This is my amazing gift package for competing in the Ravelympics. Even though I didn't finish (injury due to running out of yarn) I was entered in and got one of the Courage to Compete Prizes on Team Blue Moon. UnravelingSophia, who has a blog of her own, was our team captain and sent me that package of yarny goodness.You see before you a skein of mediumweight Hollyday (a color I desperately wanted at Christmas but didn't get) a skein of Sockittome in Vermillions of Socks (I saw it and immediately thought, 'it looks kind of like ST-2!' I think of everything in terms of STR now). A very cool pattern, beautiful stitch markers, awesome key-chain gauge and ruler, Knitter's Hand Balm, and sock note cards. Amazing loot.

Also, my extra yarn to finish my Ravelympics Sweater has arrived and I couldn't help but throw in a skein of Lover's Leap Mediumweight. I admit to being a little disappointed - I thought from the interwebs that I was going to be red. Fortunately pink is one of my other favorite colors (certainly in the top 30). They were going to be My Vampire Boyfriend socks though, and I don't know if Spike wants me to knit pink socks to remind me of him . . .

On my first day off in 27 days I went to the Madison Knitters' Guild Knit In with a friend. We showed up at 7:30 am (marketplace openned at 8:00.) We were also one of the first cars in the parking lot - as I said to Kj - it's good to know that we're only the 19th and 20th craziest knitters in Madison. We cruised the marketplace, went to class, (Kj had Photographing Your Fiber with Franklin Habit, I had Two End Knitting with Carol Rhoades.) Did more marketplace, saw Ann and Kay of Mason Dixon Knitting, did more marketplace.

My Two End Knitting class was amazing! When Kj came to get me after I told her I felt like my brain had exploded. I am all over this now. If I ever finish anything in my lineup of 10 WIPs I plan to go a little crazy with the Two Ends. Also, I need to buy a book.

Ann and Kay were very good - very funny and I had a great time. My favorite part though, was intermission, when we got to go up and feel all of the garments. It made me stiffen my resolve to knit this, and this, and this!

Surprisingly, the only thing I bought was this:

Briar Rose Fibers Wistful, a delicious 50% merino, 30% alpaca, 20% silk blend. I have 1,000 yards. I think it wants to be a gigantic scarf.

And then, just to give you a taste of the projects I mentioned in my last post -

Daybreak, in STR Mediumweight, 24 Karat and Sugarplum and

Stock Socks, in Dream in Color Knitosophy Superhero. I love them both.

Work In Progress Run Down

2010-03-14T22:50:00.003-05:00

In no particular order:

1. RavOlympics Sweater - currently stalled waiting arrival of more yarn, started February 12th

2. Pingala Shawl - my own design, started in January

3. Clock Shawl - my own design, started in February

4. Shawl that Jazz - started last week

5. Daybreak - started on Thursday

6. Keefley Mittens - started in December

7. Wisconsin Heartwarmer - started a long, long time ago, sleeping for months

8. Stock Socks - started on Thursday

9. Brother Socks - re-started in December

10. Here Comes the Sun Socks - started in September

I don't have any new pictures for you because my sainted camera is being wonky. It's suddenly decided to stop working all of the time. It'll take pictures fine for a while and then - nothing.

Hm. I think I have too many works in progress. What am I going to do about this?

Also, I think I need a win. I'm a little down and I need something to pep me up. Daybreak is probably closest to being finished, even though I started it so recently. And I think I'm just going to frog the Here Comes the Sun Socks - they don't fit me anyway.

Then I'll just have 8.

Okay, going to go watch a Poirot and knit on Daybreak. Polite man makes people take responsibility for their actions, and STR Mediumweight. That should do the trick.

Kid Books

2010-03-08T23:52:00.003-06:00

Not a lot of knitting going on here recently. Ever since the Olympics I've pretty much just been fussing with things. I'm getting there on my Rockin' Sock Club socks, which is good and I've even started Magic Looping them, which I love, but other than that I'm really just picking at shawls. I don't want to start something too big, because I don't want to get really invested in something and then have to leave it to work on the sweater when my extra yarn comes in.

Instead I've spent the last four days reading kid books. We went to the bookstore on Friday night and I bought a knitting book, two knitting magazines, and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. I spent much of the rest of Friday night, and any time I wasn't at work on Saturday reading like a voracious hound. Verdict: I loved it.

I was in such a groove that afterwards I picked up a book I bought a few weeks ago but hadn't gotten around to yet. I just finished Thirteenth Child, by Patricia C. Wrede, one of my favorite authors from childhood and someone I got to meet a few years ago. It was also great (by also great I mean awesome.)

I love kid books at this level - I also love picture books, of course. One of the reasons I didn't start Thirteenth Child right when I bought it was because I was in the middle of reading A Series of Unfortunate Events again.

One of my favorite things about my mom is her love of reading. When we were kids, one of the most important parenting promises she made to herself was that anytime one of her kids wanted to be read to she would drop everything and do it. I have memories of sitting next to her on the kitchen floor when I was four years old while she read to me.

I know I've written before about the peace of mind reading gives me. I had a rough adolescence - who didn't? - and reading is one of the things that got me through it. Sometime along the way I really began to be able to stop the whole world while I read and see and think about nothing else. It's almost exactly the opposite of what knitting does for me - while I knit my mind is cooking the whole time - when I read I am almost always completely gone.

I loved these two books - I'll definitely be getting the sequel to The Lightning Thief next time we swing by the book store, and I'll keep an eagle eye to see when the next Frontier Magic book comes out.

Not a Solid Plan

2010-03-03T22:43:00.003-06:00

I'm cold.

Solution: knit a shawl.

Reality: I've cast on for three shawls in the last few weeks.

Result: No shawls.

NonFinisher

2010-02-28T19:54:00.004-06:00

I'm not going to finish my RavOlympics sweater.

I came home from knitting on Tuesday night and finally faced the sad truth - I was going to run out of white if I kept knitting. Because I will want to stripe in a new dyelot I decided to stop knitting right there, rather than see how far I could get. I know this was the right thing to do, but I'm still a little disappointed.

Here's the sweater on Wednesday morning after I gave up:

Of course, part of me wants to look on the bright side - I did get a good start on a sweater I've been meaning to make for 3 years, and I did learn two handed weaving, and I did knit 1,120 yards in 12 days. And tomorrow I shall become Payday Woman, and I shall order more Will 'O The Wisp, and after 5 to 10 days for processing, and 2 to 3 days to ship, I'll be back on track. And I'll finish.

Until then, I'm going to go clean the bathroom.

Argh

2010-02-21T23:06:00.002-06:00

The sweater is still pinned to my bed, and it's still wet. I have two fans trained on it, and yet.

I want to sleep!!

Sunday Morning

2010-02-21T11:16:00.005-06:00

Again, off to work.

Last night I finished the body of the sweater and this morning I started blocking it. Here it is pinned out on the bed drying.

I really want to finish!

Friday Morning

2010-02-19T10:25:00.004-06:00

I'm on my way to work, but just wanted to load up this updated photo of my RavOlympics project:

I'm still on the body and starting to get worried about running out of the Will 'O The Wisp which is the white. I've got another skein even after I run out of this one, but the sleeves are almost entirely white.

You can see that I subbed some colors in recently. I went to add the Rosebud in last night and it's just too pale, so instead I've used Lightweight Love (held doubled) for the pink. I completely love it.

Early Morning Knitting

2010-02-16T08:49:00.002-06:00

I had a touch of food poisoning on Sunday night and went to work yesterday morning feeling like death warmed over. I stuck it out through my meetings but finally came home around 3:00.

I made it for another 3 hours, but then went to sleep around 6:00. Jorah says that he tried to wake me up at 9 to eat some chicken soup he made and I said, "Sleeping, not eating" and didn't even open my eyes.

All of this means that I woke up this morning at about 6:30 wide awake and ready to go. Which means I've been knitting for several hours now, happy as a clam. It's been really great being able to say to myself, "I can only knit for another hour and a half before I have to get ready for work."

I'm working on, of course, my RavOlympics sweater:

I'm really enjoying it. I keep thinking it's too big and going back to check my measurements, but Mom said she wanted this size, so this size I shall make.

While I've been knitting I've been listening to '90's music (in my computer in a folder called 'contemporary' - SDER) and (oops!) cruising the Blue Moon Fiber Arts website. Can one of you please tell Tina to either (a) Stop introducing gorgeous new colorways OR (b) hire me as a resident test knitter?

The resident part is very important - I want to live in her warehouse.

Have you noticed that these last few posts have a crazy amount of parenthesis? What's with me?

Knitty, Not Bloggy

2010-02-14T22:38:00.007-06:00

Spoiler Alert! One of the patterns from the January shipment of the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Notorious Sock Knitters' World Domination Tour is pictured at the end of this post, in the yarn that came in the January shipment! (It's awesome.) Don't scroll if you're not ready to see it!

I've been on a major quest to finish some things up before the RavOlympics start and last weekend I finished three projects in two days! (That's one of the benefits of having so many projects going on at one time.)

Let's take a look, shall we?

First, the Mini Mochi socks that captivated me over Christmas. I've really only been working on them during Open Knitting since I got back to Madtown.

I don't know how I feel about these. The yarn is beautiful, of course. They look like they're lit from the inside, even in person. It was such a pain to knit with though - extremely splitty, oddly thin in some places and just downright broken in others. They're being cannibalized to use as a model for the next class sock class I'm going to teach, as they are my Stock Socks pattern (slightly shorter ribbing because I was really frustrated by the splittiness in purling.)

The next was also a shop model - Ice Queen from Knitty.

It's made of delightful Kidsilk Haze and is beaded - my first time knitting with beads (I've knit with Tili Tomas Rock Star, but that's pre-beaded.) It was also my first time doing a provisional cast on, which I now crazy love. I've done patterns that require them before, but I usually just do my standard backwards loop and pick up, because it's almost as good. I did the real thing this time because when I knit for the shop I don't alter patterns, so that customers should get the same result. I'm really glad I did this project, I learned a lot. (I know the picture is terrible.)

Project Number Three is the Floyd Sweater from Vintage Baby Knits and it's totally gorgeous.

I have two pregnant cousins right now and when I was telling my mom about it she asked who the sweater was for . . . I said it's for me! I'm not giving it away - I love this sweater! It's not really a baby sweater anyway - it's probably going to fit a two year old! (I had a ton of extra yarn after I ordered my second skein, so I decided to knit to a bigger gauge for a bigger baby!)

Oh! An awesome knitting friend gave me TWO skeins of Three Irish Girls's Beckon Stretch Merino in Father Time! I think it's going to be a shawl!

And now, the first shipment of the Rockin' Sock Club! I LOVE the Cascadia pattern! (I love mountains and dragons, so it's a complete homerun!) I'm actually way farther than this picture shows, this was taken last weekend!

And now, back downstairs to work on the RavOlympics project! It's awesome - photos soon!

(Happy Valentine's everyone!! Allow me to direct you to some socks I'll be knitting after the RavOlympics - My Vampire Boyfriend. I'm not watching the Olympics, by the way, but Buffy - soon Angel.)

Done and Done!

2010-02-02T09:15:00.004-06:00

I officially crossed two things off of the list in the last two days.

On Sunday after I got home from work Jorah and I walked over to Tenney Park to go ice skating. I couldn't get my laces all of the way up and I was very unsteady in my skates so I created a common-sense caveat to my Last Year's Resolutions. I will do those things as long as I can do them without really hurting myself. I was unconvinced that I could skate with laces only halfway done, so I put my shoes back on and slid around on the ice in my shoes. It was actually super fun.

Yesterday morning the sign-ups for Schoolhouse Press Knitting Camp went live. I've been wanting to go ever since I found out that it existed years ago, and so this year I applied. I have my fingers crossed - I really hope I can get in. A couple of friends who have been before wrote me letters of recommendation (super nice of them) and so I'm hoping that will help me.

As far as the rest of the list goes, I'm working on it. I'm trying to get a knitting group going (I've been trying for about two months now) but people aren't coming regularly yet, so I'm not going to cross that off. I'm working on updating the blog and going to the gym, but it's hard with the short days and my work schedule right now. I'm thinking I might have to start getting up and going to the gym before work, even though getting up that early is against my prime directive.

I have a couple of things I'm working on, designy-wise I just need to get them written up. I also need to finish knitting my Floyd baby sweater, which is super cute but taking up all of my time. I honestly expect to be finished by Friday.

I went through the house and Goodwilled a bunch of things at the beginning of winter, so that's going well, I added about 95% of my music to the Ipod, and I've read a number of new books since August - they're all light and fluffy, but I'm okay with that.

So yeah. I think the Last Year's Resolutions are going well so far.

Ravelympics

2010-01-29T09:38:00.005-06:00

My yarn for my Ravelympics project came today. First, a little history:

Three years ago this spring my long-time boyfriend and I got married at my parents' house. It was completely beautiful and the best day of my life. At the time we were extremely poor and my folks happily paid for everything and worked for weeks to make it beautiful. I have, from time to time, some pretty difficult social anxiety and Jorah and I did lots of things in a more untraditional way in the hopes of alleviating those issues. My folks were up for anything we wanted to do and it really made a difference.

At the time I wanted to do something amazing for them, to thank them for all of their effort and understanding, but first I couldn't think of anything, and then we didn't have any money. I ended up telling them that I would knit them anything they wanted, and that next time they came to visit we could got through all of my books and pick a project. They seemed excited about this and I emailed pictures of sweaters to them for a few months and we chatted back and forth amiably.

Then they came to visit and my mom discovered Poetry in Stitches. Okay, that's cool, I can do that. And then she picked a child's sweater. This Child's Sweater. I can alter patterns, it's cool - she's small, the pattern runs large, I'll just gauge it out.

Then she decided that it had to be machine-washable.

I screamed a silent scream. Spoiler Alert: I am a yarn snob. The task of finding a machine washable yarn, with that particular yellow . . . it was very difficult and I spent lots of time on Ravelry advanced searching for yarn over and over again. I spent even more time buying a ball or two of yarn, swatching, and then deciding that it wouldn't work.

Then I fell in love with Socks That Rock. Machine washable, available in many, many colors. And then I met Heavyweight, and did the math, and it's going to work. After two years of searching for the perfect yarn I am ready to knock the socks off this sweater. I am in Git'er Done Mode.

Yesterday the yarns arrived. Allow me to present my Ravelympics yarn:

Child's Sweater, Page 116
Socks that Rock Heavyweight
Rosebud, Midsummer Night, Brick, Will 'O The Wisp, Bleck, Sand

(For those of you playing along at home, I already had the Brick, you are correct.)

My dad wants an MG sweater with saddle shoulders. I'm thinking Rowan Felted Tweed. I want to make that later this spring too, because this summer is their 30th Anniversary, and I would like them to have their sweaters for it.

I look at this yarn, and February 12th just can't come fast enough!!

Send Her My Love

2010-01-27T23:12:00.003-06:00

My husband "discovered" Pandora after I told him about it six or eight times. He got hooked on classic rock, Journey, The Eagles, etc.

Now I spend my entire life singing power ballads in my head.

"Well, if we hear any inspirational power chords we'll just lie down until they go away." - Rupert Giles, Once More With Feeling

I Was Doing So Well

2010-01-21T22:53:00.004-06:00

I was doing so well! I was knitting and blogging and designing and photographing and posting and it was all good and the angels sang! I was even going to the gym again!

And then my boss went on maternity leave. And now I'm the boss. It's about all I can do to get my butt from my bed to work and then back to bed. At least my sleep problems are under control - then I'd be a real mess.

I assure you, some amount of knitting is still happening here. I'm just not home during daylight hours any more, and therefore cannot photo anything. I'm working on a hat out of Mini Mochi doubled I think I will write up as a pattern as well as my requisite four pairs of socks.

I wasted a bunch of time last week working on the Floyd Sweater from Vintage Baby Knits. It was a pleasure and joy to knit it, all four times that I started it. The yarn requirements are way off though, and I kept weighing my remainder, realizing I didn't have enough yarn, and frogging. I finally understood that I just needed to order another skein of Vine Maple Heavyweight and broke down and did it. I'm not saying that the Floyd Sweater itself if going to be a waste of time - I'm so enamored of it I'm actually going to knit it for the fifth time when my yarn comes. I just wish that I had the sense God gave a goose and looked at all of the Ravelry projects, which clearly state that you are not going to have enough yarn unless you are making this sweater for a chihuahua.

And because I don't have any time at all, I decided to do the RavOlympics this year. I haven't entered yet - I'm waiting for the yarn I ordered to get here. Then I'll tell you all about my super secret project!

Sorry no photos - as I mentioned, it is dark.

Last FO of 2009

2010-01-13T09:41:00.004-06:00

I never posted about the last finished project of 2009! That's too bad, because I really quite enjoyed it.

A few months ago I was at the Knitting Tree and saw some delightful Malabrigo Twist. I've always been iffy on Malabrigo, even though the colors are so beautiful they make my soul hurt, because it seems so soft in the single ply I've been afraid it will just shred to pieces within minutes of wearing it. Or pill like crazy. I had never before come across Twist, which is an Aran weight 8 ply.

Anyway, I bought three skeins of it to make my future SIL a long moss double moss scarf. When I joined ball three even though they were the same dyelot, there was a marked difference in color, so I picked back and made the third into a hat. The hat is cool because it's a double thickness around the ears - it's essentially a fold up flap that is then knitted in so it won't wiggle around on you.

I'm very happy with this project, and the Malabrigo, in spite of dyelot issues. This is my gorgeous sister modeling, by the way.

Happy Christmas to Me

2010-01-10T16:23:00.006-06:00

I got some amazing yarn for Christmas from my amazing family, in addition to a couple of really great books. I'm all high on knitting right now because I just finished the stockings I intended to wear to my family Christmas party, a mere 18 days ago.

They aren't completely perfect, but I completely love them anyway. I left a little slit on each one in the picot at the top because I'm going to insert some elastic in there at some point. I'm especially excited because they are my second pair of toe-up socks, and I used the instructions in Wendy Knit's Socks From the Toe Up book to figure out how to reverse engineer the heels I wanted. I did have to do my own math, because I have really big feet and legs and the instructions didn't cover those stitch counts. Also, I like 72 sts around the foot and 80 around the ankle.

And now let's look at the Christmas haul:

My brother-in-law and his fiance (recipient of the mmmmmMalabrigo scarf and hat) gave me two skeins of lightweight STR in The Incredible Shrinking Violet and Lapis.

My parents-in-law gave me these two heavyweight STRs - Vine Maple and Jinglebell Rock. I think Vine Maple is going to become this baby sweater from the beautiful Vintage Baby Knits (also a Christmas present.) I think the Jingle Bell Rock may become something like these socks by my friend operarocks. We went to high school together and hadn't really been in touch for years, but she's quite an impressive knitter now and I love that I'm back in touch with her. Facebook, you've earned your keep. I also have some heavyweight Brick though . . . maybe I should make them out of that . . .

They also gave me mediumweight ST-1 and Strange Brew - and so did my cousins in Vancouver!!! I have two well matched skeins now, in each color! I don't yet know what's going to happen with ST-1 (it might be my favorite colorway ever) but I'm thinking that Strange Brew wants to be the Bellatrix Socks.

One of the most amazing things of all was a book my mother-in-law found for me - Soft Treasures of Little Ones: Baby Knits from Dale of Norway. I've been dying for this book for 6 years now, but it's out of print and almost impossible to find. When I've seen it in the past it's been upwards of $170. She found one in new condition and the seller must not have known what she had, because she definitely didn't pay that much. Let us all have a moment of silence for the cuteness of these baby pants.

When I got home I had another Christmas present waiting for me - my Old Maiden Aunt sock club yarn! It's the cashmere/merino/nylon blend, which is hands-down my favorite!

This is Seen The Ocean:

And Derelict Daughter:

I also got this totally cute bag, with two mini skiens. Wouldn't you know it, but the mini skiens are my favorite colors from the whole club!

When I was a little kid one Christmas I came out of my room and looked at what Santa had brought and said, "Oh, Mommy - it's a good day for presents!" That's how I felt the whole of break. Was a good day for presents.

This Year in Review

2010-01-04T21:54:00.012-06:00

I think this year could correctly be called the Year of the Sock. Looking over my Ravelry page, it is clear that I am obsessed. Here we are - the projects of 2009:

Socks - 16 pairs:

Anastasia Socks
Stock Socks
Mom Socks (not blogged)
Sleep Socks
Rustic Rib Socks
Pirate's Booty Socks
The Socks that Guard the Realms of Men
Protego Socks
MacIntosh Socks
Blackrose Socks
Ireland Boot Socks
Dragon Socks
The Dude
Jennie's Autumn Joy
Gold Shells
Flamingo Pie Socks

Pullovers - 4:

Class Sweater
Bleeding Heart Raglan
Tree of Life Pullover
Henly Hoodie

Baby Blankets - 2:

Cabbage Leaf Baby Blanket
Jungle Baby Baby Blanket

Miscellany:

Class Hat
Korknisse
Child's Corn Scarf
Mug Snug
Class Mittens
SIL Scarf
Ishbel
SIL Hat
Grommet Bag

Overall, I'm pretty happy with that level of productivity. I just hope that in the next year it will be more my-pattern and design focused.

I'm not going to list a bunch of resolutions here - as you know if you've been reading for awhile, I make my New Year's Resolutions in August - although this year they are called the Last Year's Resolutions - and they are listed in the side bar. I'm working on them!

Christmas Break

2009-12-27T11:51:00.005-06:00

I haven't been around much because I'm at my family's place in Virginia where the internet is slow and people expect you to interact with them. Also it's been a pretty busy holiday so far.

Things are not going well in knitting land. I got 8 skeins of Socks that Rock from various people this Christmas (eight total, not, a whole bunch of people gave me 8 skeins each, which would have been both totally wicked and overwhelming.) Eight skeins total is pretty wicked and overwhelming actually - I am seized with the desire to stare at yarn all day. I am also completely consumed with the desire to knit knit knit all of my new yarn, when in progress right now I have:

Sister-in-law's Christmas scarf (almost 2/3 finished)
Mom's aborted Christmas mittens (have to finish, but on the 21st reason prevailed and I realized there was no way on this planet that I was going to be able to have them ready for Christmas.) I got her some china instead and showed her the mittens which she now eagerly anticipates. I'd like to finish them before I go home. Also I forgot the pattern and so am following the first mitten very closely to make sure I do the same thing.
Uptown Boot Socks - started this fall after WI Sheep and Wool, very slow progress, just finished the first one and it is too small for me (because of the cables). Hope to finish and give to my mom, who has tiny little ankles.
Brother Socks Round II. The replacements for the socks I lost in Door County. I'm just about finished with the gusset on the first one.
Jonagold Socks - started for myself shortly before leaving WI.
Gingerbread Girl Stockings - have finally done the math and am in process of knitting the legs.
Mini-Moochi Stock Socks - I accidentally bought some Mini-Moochi yesterday and before I knew it had almost half of a sock. Oops.
Heartwarmer. Of course.

I normally don't mind having a ton of things on the needles, but I'm really loving all of these projects and it's starting to be a little overwhelming. I need to just finish something (or four things) so I can cross them off. I got two skeins of Strange Brew Medium Weight STR, and it really wants to be the Bellatrix Socks.

The first three on the list are the ones closest to being finished, so I'm going to make those my top priority. And if I get tired, maybe a little Mini-Moochi to take the edge off.

Baby Blankets

2009-12-18T11:16:00.005-06:00

Blocking . . .

2009-12-17T22:03:00.006-06:00

Before you are the Cabbage Leaf Baby Blanket and the Jungle Baby Blanket, in that order. (Also my lumpy mattress.) The Cabbage Leaf has been done for weeks, but was unblocked and I just couldn't take a decent photo of it. The Jungle Baby was finished last night and shall be gifted tomorrow to my awesome boss on her last day before the holiday.

I really like how both turned out - the Cabbage Leaf bleed all over my socks and essentially ruined my Gingerbread Dude and Flamingo Pie Socks in the wash, but I'm over it because it's just so great. There is alpaca in it and it is just extremely soft and delightful. It also felted a teeny tiny bit, so I've stretched it quite a bit (and yes I know I could have pinned it out better.

The Jungle Baby did not shrink, it just got nice and soft and stretched out - perfect for a baby blanket for a non-knitter. I think it's going to hold up pretty well.

There are definitely more projects for me out of both Paca Peds (Cabbage Leaf) and Happy Feet (Jungle Baby) in my future. Although in the future I shall wash the Paca Peds by itself.

Beauty shots tomorrow in the natural light.

My Autumn Joy

2009-12-14T11:34:00.004-06:00

Just finished my Heelless Sleeping Socks (with heels, with the spiral reversed on the second one, with a picot hemmed cuff) in Gail's Autumn Joy. I completely love them.

In progress right now I have:

The Jungle Baby Blanket
The Gingerbread Girl Stockings
My Brother's socks
Mom's Christmas Mittens
Future Sister-in-Law's Scarf
Here Comes the Sun Uptown Boot Socks

Really I've only been working on the Jungle Baby Blanket and the Future Sister-in-Law's scarf. I'm going to have to crack back onto my mom's Christmas mittens - I was trying to buy her something on Ebay she would love, but got outbid this morning, so it's back to the mitten board. I really want to cast on my Jonagold for some more socks just like the ones I just finished - so much so that I wound it up the other night. But I know I should finish these Christmas/Baby presents first. Rats.

Snow Day!

2009-12-09T16:49:00.003-06:00

Pattern Up!

2009-12-08T11:28:00.004-06:00

A couple of months ago my pattern Indian Corn Scarf was in Knitcircus (very exciting.) After three months the pattern rights revert to the designers, so I am finally listing this pattern for sale on Ravelry for $5.00.

I love this pattern. I have made quite a few of them in the past and they always turn out so fun, whether they are the same colorway listed in the pattern or not. Here's one I made for my sister:

I hope that everything goes right with the pattern and that I listed it correctly - it's my first for-pay pattern and I'm all excited and nervous. I hope you enjoy it!

Breaking the Resolution

2009-11-30T10:58:00.006-06:00

I swore this year (as I swear every year) that I wasn't going to knit anyone gifts this year, but my Christmas present idea for my mom (who is awesome) fell through and suddenly I had knit half of a pair of mittens for her. Oops.

They are the Keefely Mittens from Handknit Holidays (my favorite knitting book ever) and they are made of Classic Elite Lush, which I've never worked with before but is completely delightful. There's angora in it and they are just super soft with such a nice halo. I'm also using them to practice knitting colorwork with two hands, which I just learned from the Philosopher's Wool website - there's a great video - and I'm going to use this technique on the Wisconsin Heartwarmer, so I'm practicing. I'm not quite as good as it yet - my colorwork is bumpier than usual - but it's not bad and I'm hoping it will block out.

I'm also knitting a baby blanket for one of my bosses - she's due on January 2nd and she's amazing. There is an exception to Selfish Knitting if the person is a brand new human infant or is in the process of producing or acquiring a brand new human infant.

You can't really see it because it's all clubbed up on the circular needle, but it is the Pinwheel Baby Blanket (from Knitalong) and it's going to be totally cute. I have 13 skeins of Plymouth Happy Feet in colorway 21. So far I've knit almost six of them (held doubled). They don't know what type of baby they are having, but they're doing the nursery in a jungle theme, and I think this will work for either a girl jungle baby or a boy jungle baby.

To counterbalance all of the knitting for other people I have started knitting up some of my birthday stash. Those of you playing along at home may have noticed that I bought a skein of Gingerbread Dudette the week before my birthday and then received another one from Jorah. They are surprisingly different dye lots, but both beautiful and I wanted to knit some stockings for myself. I'm knitting them at the same time from both ends of the ball and switching from one to another ball every row.

I'm doing them toe up so I can make them as tall as possible. It is making for a fussy tangled mess, but I think they look great and I'm really excited.

I was planning on finishing these before I started anything else, but then this happened:

The socks that I knit for my sister were so delightful I wanted some for myself, so these are Heelless Sleeping Socks (with heels and inside out) for myself out of Gail's Autumn Joy. I love, love, love how this is knitting up. It's going quite fast too, because I just want to knit it all of the time.

I also finished the MacIntosh Socks last week and they are just super comfortable to wear and I love the colors.

They are my new pattern; Stock Socks. Like a chef uses stock as a base for a delicious soup, this pattern is a base for a great pair of socks. I like them plain too though - it really shows off the pretty sock yarns I like!

The Dude

2009-11-23T11:03:00.004-06:00

I finished some socks out of my Mediumweight Gingerbread Dude the other day. I am deeply in love. They are warm and squishy and fit great and feel great. I got the idea to make these because knitting siamese made some last year. They are the Leyburn Socks from pepperknit.

I am really loving the mediumweight too. It is soft and warm and knit up so quickly on a size 2. There is definitely more mediumweight in my future!

Happy Birthday to Me

2009-11-20T12:53:00.004-06:00

It's been crazy busy this week and I'm just finally getting around to posting my birthday yarn loot. I also just got my Old Maiden Aunt Yarn Preview Club yarn this week, so I'm going to put that at the end of the post - THIS IS A SPOILER ALERT.

Here we have my delightful new Socks that Rock (all lightweights):

Left to Right they are Gail's Autumn Joy, Gingerbread Dude, Sugarplums, Grinchy, Gingerbread Dudette, ST-2, and Jonagold. The Sugarplums, Grinchy, and ST-2 are from my awesome parents in law and the others are from my awesome husband. Good taste in yarn must run in the family!

For those of you playing along at home, I now have two skiens of Gingerbread Dudette Lightweight. I'm planning on making some stockings (or at least tall socks) with them. I'm already almost finished my Mediumweight Gingerbread Dudes (I hope to have a picture for you soon - the socks are so cool!) I think I might make the Lightweight into a hat.

And here is my beautiful new Old Maiden Aunt 100% Superwash Merino, in Midnight Owl:

and Put On the Day:

I completely love them. I don't know if they're going to be socks or what, but I have the big love. I love orange, but I don't usually buy it. And if you look at my Ravelry Stash Page you'll see that I'm all over brown. I'm feeling like maybe I want to use them together, but I don't know if they are going to be the Rectangular Ulmus of my dreams or not, but whatever they become they are going to be beautiful!!

And the Winner is!

2009-11-14T11:26:00.003-06:00

Amy of amyknit40!

Ravelry message me with the email address you would like linked to the gift certificate and I'll get that taken care of as soon as possible.

Thanks everybody for commenting!

Stash Enhancement!

2009-11-08T17:05:00.005-06:00

Went to The Fold yesterday with some friends and got some more Socks that Rock. I'm trying out a few different weights too. I got 2 lightweight, 3 mediumweight, and 1 heavyweight. I also bought some 2.5 needles today, so I'm going to start swatching the mediumweight on that. The heavyweight is competely delightful - it is extremely soft.

From L-R, they are Brick Heavyweight, Sugarplum, 24 Karat, and Gingerbread Dude Mediumweight, and Jinglebell Rock and Gingerbread Dudette Lightweight. I can't wait to start knitting them!

Don't forget to comment between now and November 11th for a chance to win a $26 gift certificate to Blue Moon Fiber Arts for your own STR!

Cleaning?

2009-11-06T11:16:00.003-06:00

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.

Finished Objects & Contest!

2009-11-03T10:03:00.007-06:00

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!

Finished Objects & Stash Enhancement

2009-11-01T17:06:00.004-06:00

***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 . . .

Oooooh, Look at the Pretties

2009-10-23T12:19:00.003-05:00

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!

Finished Object - Ishbel!!

2009-10-17T17:59:00.005-05:00

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.

First Sock Club!!

2009-10-04T23:06:00.003-05:00

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!!!!

Cripping Jealousy

2009-09-29T12:44:00.004-05:00

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.

Productive?

2009-09-21T19:57:00.007-05:00

I actually woke up this morning and couldn't get back to sleep - weird - and so I did something that felt productive (in the way that cataloging anime is productive).

I took pictures of all the yarn I've bought this summer and loaded it into Ravelry. I feel decadent!

I'll just hit the highlights for you, shall I?

From the genius tigerlilith at Old Maiden Aunt:

From Red Sock Yarn in Door County:

My very first Malabrigo - Malabrigo Sock- I've never been attracted to it before, but this was just lovely. It looks like the color of love to me, brown and red. Delicious. I'm going to knit myself some stockings.

From Spin in Sturgeon Bay:

Plymouth Happy Feet - going to become a baby blanket for my awesome boss who is expecting a jungle baby early next year.

And from Wisconsin Sheep and Wool (which was awesome):

This awesome sock yarn from Happy Hands.

And tons of Grandma's Blessing from Briar Rose in olive to make the Gap of Dunloe Cardigan of which I have been dreaming.

Lots of pictures. Sorry if there are too many pictures - they were just so pretty.

One of my Last Year's Goals is to put up yarn I don't want on Ravelry for trade and having started with all this yarn I'm definitely keeping, I'm hoping to put more up in the next week or so.

Yay for yarn!

Uh-oh

2009-09-17T00:30:00.004-05:00

The Christmas colorways are out on the Blue Moon Fiber Arts website. I was casually surfing and put $300 worth of sock yarn in my cart. Yeah. Can't push the buy button on that!

My Own Little World

2009-09-10T12:00:00.006-05:00

I know not too long ago I posted that I was going to post more, like I was doing in the spring, and then I fell off the face of the earth.

The truth is, while I have some things to post about, I haven't been knitting too much. I've alluded several times in the recent past to some health problems and sleep problems I've been dealing with, and they have been taking up most of my physical and mental energy. I'm hoping I'm going to be over this stuff pretty soon and able to get back to your normal obsessive knitting schedule, but until then let's just have a mismash blog entry.

I went to The Fold two weeks ago and it was everything I could hope for and more!! Jorah actually got more yarn than I did, but I came away with four skeins of STR Lightweight. It was very exciting.

The next weekend his folks had us up to Door County, which was about the most fun, relaxing vacation I can remember having ever. I slept a lot, it's true, but we also hung out, and Jorah and I drove around by ourselves on Saturday in the rain, finally landing in a sweet little yarn shop called Red Sock Yarn (where I bought some delicious looking Malabrigo Sock (my first Malabrigo, I haven't ever been attracted to it until now!), and on Sunday we took the ferry out to Washington Island.

Washington Island was beautiful - we went to the hotel and poked our heads in, and to Seiver' Fiber Arts Studio as well. Jeff got some Tuir on clearance (enough to make another sweater) and I got a book I loved when I was learning to weave at Oberlin - A Handweaver's Pattern Book.

On our way back to Madison on Monday we stopped at Spin in Sturgeon Bay, where I found some great stuff to make another Big Bad Baby Blanket (probably) for my boss, who knows she's having a baby, but doesn't know what kind, and is due on January 3rd. She's doing the nursery as a jungle, and I think this yarn is going to be perfect.

As far as knitting has gone, I finally finished the Dragon Socks! Work continues on the Lizard Ridge sample and the Big Bad Baby Blanket (slowly, slowly, I'm sleeping about 17 hours a day) but I'm just glad to have the Dragons done and out of my purse!

Now.

When we went up to Door County I sort of ran out of time to pack, so I just took three totes to the living room area and dumped in every single project I could find. I know for a fact that the socks I started for my brother were among them. FOR A FACT. They were sitting on the little end table, mocking me because I needed to rip back about 6 rows, and I distinctly remember thinking, 'maybe I'll fix these up there' and I packed them. Unsurprisingly, I didn't work on them while we were on vacation, and now I can't find them anywhere.

I've always been skeptical when people lose knitting, (how could you lose your knitting?) but now I have done it. Anyway, if you're up Door County and find a sock being made on 5 dpns from Midnight Derby Smooshy, and its about 6-8 rows into the heel flap, let me know, okay?

Castonitis

2009-08-18T23:14:00.004-05:00

After that bout of Knitting Ennui this summer I am surprised to find that I am suddenly stricken with Castonitis. As you know, this is a disease of knitting that can be extremely dangerous. Before you know it you can find yourself with 12 projects and no needles left, which can lead to panic attacks and feelings of despair when you think about how long it's going to take to finish everything.

Right now I'm still in the honeymoon stage of Castonitis, when you think all new projects and yarn are charming and say to yourself, "I can totally finish that before September!" In the last three weeks I have Cast On:

An Ann Norling Sweater that's going to be the model for the beginning sweater class that I'm teaching. It's been blocking for two days and is finally dry.
Ysolda's Ishbel - a delightfully charming shawl that is knitting up very quickly and begs me to work on it.
Some PerpenSOCKcular socks, which I ripped out after a few rows, not because I was frustrated, but for some unfathomable reason.

I have bought yarn for:

The PerpenSOCKculars, that yarn is wound back up and sitting on the coffee table telling me how pretty it is and how I should knit it RIGHT NOW.
A new earflap hat
A matching pair of mittens
A shaving kit bag (these are great, I'm going to write up a pattern for you!)
I also have 25$ in my Paypal account and am going to buy more sock yarn. I'm tempted to get Beached or ST-1 or ST-2 Socks that Rock, but a friend of mine also recommends Hazel Knits sock yarn. Or I could get some more Old Maiden Aunt.

I was already working on:

The Madison Heartwarmer (I saw working on, but really I haven't touched this since May.)
The Dragon Socks
Socks for my brother
The Cabbage Leaf Baby Blanket

I absolutely need to knit a Lizard Ridge sample so people know what the class is about, and I need to knit it as soon as possible. And it's been suggested at the shop that I knit a model of my Indian Corn Scarf out of RYC Wool Tweed for a fun rustic look.

See what I mean? Castonitis. I'm also starting to get twitchy about Christmas knitting, but I am trying to firmly make up my mind that there will be no Christmas knitting. The problem is that I know so many delightfully knitworthy people. But I don't have time to knit something for everyone.

The best cure for Castonitis I find, is the pleasure of finishing something, so with that in mind I really powered through to finish the Ann Norling Sweater. It's a great pattern with lots of options and I'm really going to enjoy teaching it. Please excuse the messy pictures, it's after dark here.

Tomorrow I start Lizard Ridge! Last time I got so I could do a square in a day, so let's hope for the same speed this time!

It Never Rains But It Pours

2009-08-13T18:25:00.008-05:00

It's been a pretty rotten summer. Jorah's been out of town since May and I've just had one health problem after another. I did have some pretty sweet vacations, but there have been issues at work because I missed so much time, and then I had to miss more time because I've been so sick. Things are starting to pull themselves back together, but I've been marveling a little at just how much can go wrong.

Things are starting to look up now though, and now that one good thing has happened (I got a promotion!) more good things are starting to follow. For one thing, look what came in the mail today:

And look what the first pattern is:

That's me! I'm Jennette Cross! That's my scarf! I'm in Knitcircus! Another short happy sentence!

And why haven't I been showing the blog knitting content? Because I've been speed-knitting the sweater for the Beginning Knitting: The Sweater class at Lakeside this fall. Yes, the fall class schedule came out and I am all over it! I'm probably going to get a few Scarf classes, which I do like to teach, but I'm glad to be mixing it up a little. Honestly, the sweater is almost finished, so I'm not going to bother photographing its pieces. The front and back are complete and I've just got about 5 inches or so left to do on the sleeves. I'll photo it after it's blocked.

Aside from the Sweater class I've got a class called Lizard Ridge, based on a beautiful afghan that was in the Fall 2006 Knitty. (Don't worry Knitty, participants have to go to knitty.com to download directions! Not like Knitty reads this blog!) Lizard Ridge is all about short rows and knitting backwards. Here's the one I knitted a few years ago for a friend's wedding:

And then in November, I'm teaching a class called Leaving Patterns Behind. It's going to be all about my way of approaching patterns, and how to alter them for size and yarn choice. The last part is going to be about writing patterns yourself. So folks, if you like the Bleeding Heart Raglan or the Henly Hoodie, come to Leaving Patterns Behind.

So you see, it never rains but it pours. Much of this summer has been about the bad, but now things are starting to look up, and oddly, just as bad things were happening one after the other, now good things are too. Example: Jorah returns on Saturday night!

Vacation Post #3

2009-08-08T23:46:00.007-05:00

The next morning we continued our tour of beautiful Western Ireland with the Dingle Peninsula.

This was my dad's favorite part of the Ireland tour, and it was completely stunning, but for some reason, I didn't get many photos. The problem, you see, is that I keep having to dig my camera (which is a bulky Nikon D50) in and out of my purse. I can't wear it around my neck like a self-respecting tourist, because three times the strap has given up and expensive digital camera has bounced on the pavement. So now I don't have a strap. I know they have some nice ones on Etsy, and I'd like to try one of those (hint: Christmas).

We took quite a large ferry across the River Shannon (it was extremely windy, cold, and fun) and then went to the Cliffs of Moher. That was just absolutely breathtaking. They are 700 feet tall and you can just see the first of the Aran Islands in the distance.

The view to the south:

To the north you see another Martello Tower:

Looking straight out to sea with the Aran Islands in the distance:

Here are some people enjoying their vacation & the wind:

A look a the waves crashing at the base of the cliffs - even though we were 700 feet up the wind brought us a little bit of surf sometimes:

The blue people, or, as they are better known, my beloved parents and sister:

After the Cliffs of Moher, we went to Doolin to set up camp (we spent two nights in Doolin at a ridiculous hotel). The first night was the birthdy of my much esteemed brother:

and so he had the honor of picking dinner. We went to a great pub, which we liked so much we went back the next night as well. Somehow this picture of my sister is the only one I took that night:

Doolin is supposed to be the capital of Irish music, and indeed, the first night we were there a great musician came in and played all manner of songs. We were just leaving when my family's favorite came up, "The Wild Rover" and so we stayed, and out sang and stomped the Irish. I know it's anglo-phile (or irisho-phile) of us, but it really is our song. My uncle and cousins learned it and sang it at mine and Jorah's wedding reception, there were words and signs and everything, and since then, we've adopted it.

I think that's enough with photos for now. Join us for Vacation Post #4, when I detail a much less fun ferry ride and find my first yarn of the trip!

August New Year

2009-08-04T21:44:00.004-05:00

It's August, which means . . . it's the new year! Yay! Hooray! Ticker Tape and Streamers!

Alright, now that that's over -

Seriously though, I do think of August as the new year because that is when I get a new planner. I'm very attached to my planners - in high school I made a dorked out custom binder called The Agenda of Champions - and take those little calendars very seriously. This has a bit of a different flavor this year though, because this year is likely to be our last year in Madison.

Yes, sadly (happily?) Jorah is supposed to graduate in the spring, and then we will officially be done with school. And Madison, at least for the present. It's a hard fact to face - I'm turning 26 this year, and I've lived here since I was 19. When we leave, I'll have lived here for 7 years - about a quarter of my life. We've been very happy here - and never happier than this last year in our own house on the Near East side.

In true New Years style, I've decided to come up with some Last Year's Goals - some of them are habits I want to get into, and some of them are one time kind of things I want to accomplish. I got this idea from a favorite blog of mine, my topography*. Because I'm going to be 26, I picked 26 Things to Do in the Last Year. I'm going to list them in the side bar to help remind myself.

Here they are:

1. tell people when they piss me off rather than get all angsty and hurt
2. ice skate at Tenney Park
3. submit patterns for publication
4. finish the Madison Heartwarmer using the weaving technique
5. go to the Farmer's Market whenever possible
6. get a tattoo
7. make steps to get this sleep thing sorted out
8. get back in the habit of going to the gym
9. put at least 1 pattern a month up on Ravelry
10. join/start a knitting group
11. try to get into Camp
12. get some healthy strategies for letting work go
13. update the blog frequently (at least 10 times a month) and use photos
14. go through the stash and list unloved yarn as trade on Ravelry
15. go through the house and take things to Goodwill every 3 months
16. put all music on the computer and then onto SB's old ipod
17. read NEW books, not just the same old favorites
18. no knitting patterns by other people until after dinner
19. walk the Lakeshore Path out to Picnic Point
20. go to Thursday music at the Terrace
21. go out on Lake Mendota on some form of boat
22. celebrate Jorah's graduation in style
23. visit The Fold
24. go to a Badger football game
25. don't let being nice mean I'm not tough with people who deserve it
26. call people I want to hang out with and ask to see them

Another thing I want to do at the end of this year is throw myself a graduation party. I may not have been in school, but working at Lakeside has taught me so much, and I'm wanting a little recognition too. I keep joking with Jorah that when he gets his Phd, I'm going to get my Masters in Popular Knitting from the Lakeside School of Retail. I say it jokingly, but I have considered fonts for the certificate I plan on making myself.

*(My Topography is great, by the way. She's a writer, artist, photographer, and 2nd grade teacher, and her kid is the most gorgeous kid on the internet.)

July Homework

2009-07-31T22:02:00.004-05:00

Just wanted to show the blog this cute picture of my July Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup Homework.

Adorable, eh? They're called Korknisse, and though I saw the pattern online, I just made up my own rather than read the directions. I think they're hilarious. The goal is to make an advent calendar with the Felted Trees from Mason Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines, and then make a little forest where the Korknisse live. It's going to be great! Of course, I'm going to make many, many more Korknisse. I have tons of corks - one of the yarn store ladies saved her corks up for me for months and now I've got them coming out the ears.

As soon as I have time to knit them!

Vacation Post #2

2009-07-28T20:58:00.005-05:00

After Malahide we went to the Botanical Gardens, but I don't have any pictures because I was too tired to go in, so I sat on a bench outside and knit. I didn't know it at the time, but I was coming down with a killer sinus infection that would stick with me for several weeks.

Anyway, while I was knitting on that bench, little kids kept coming by and being fascinated. They were super cute, but my favorite was a little boy about 3 who came running up to me and said emphatically, "We HAVE to see the ducks!" I looked at him very seriously and said, "Well, that does sound important." His mom came up behind him and laughed and said "Oh, it is important." (Except picture those two with charming Irish accents.)

The next day we left Dublin and went to Kilkenny Castle, which wasn't my fave, but there was a really cool artist studio center thing across the street that had some great textiles. My sister got a truly gorgeous handwoven blanket made in Ireland from Irish wool - super jealous. I wanted to get a handwoven blanket myself, but didn't see anything nearly as nice the rest of the trip.

Our hotel that night was the Glasha Farmhouse. I was getting really sick by this point, and so unfortunately didn't see much of anything. I pretty much ate dinner and went to bed. The food was delicious though - the porrige we had for breakfast the next morning was amazing - one of the best things we had the whole two weeks.

We visited the Cobh (say it Cove) Heritage Center the next day, which was a nifty little museum. Cobh was a shipping town, (lots of the survivors of the Lusitania were put up here and it was also the Titanic's last port of call) and there was a great emigration museum about, essentially, Leaving Ireland Through the Ages. This is Annie Moore and her two brothers, the first family to be processed at Ellis Island. They left from Cobh & apparently there's an identical statue in New York.

Next was probably the eeriest thing we did. We went to Glengariff and took a boat ride to the Italian Gardens. I say it was eerie because you get on a little boat and putt out past a couple of small islands where (sad to say) mean-looking seals are chilling (we got this close!) and then you land and walk into this imaculately kept garden-island. There were all different kinds of garden there, of varying levels of formality and theme. The Italian Garden, of course,

But there was also a Temple looking out over the water at the mountains on the other shore.

The whole time we were there Jorah kept saying he felt like he was in World of Warcraft, and I kind of agreed with him. I don't WOW myself, but it definitely had that feeling of being too romantic that you get from video games - like no place could really be this beautiful. They even had their own Martello Tower for the Orcs to hide in!

Martello Towers were all over the coast - they were originally a part of the early warning system to watch for raiders. You could just go up inside this one to the roof. None of my roof pictures are that spectacular, but it was pretty breath-taking. There was a strong cold wind blowing that just invigorated me. The whole trip I kept saying over and over, "This is my favorite thing!" Going up in this Martello Tower was definitely one of my favorite things.

The next day was one of my favorite days in Ireland - I'm not surprised that it is the most popular day tour. The Ring of Kerry. Let's check the photographic evidence, shall we?

These are mostly taken in the Gap of Dunloe, where there's an little old road and you take a jaunting cart with a jerry (one horse cart with a driver) back to see the scenery. This was also really the only time that it was foggy or rainy the whole time we were out in Ireland and Scotland - for the most part it was all bright and sunny. And hot!

All these beautiful colors made me want to knit a sweater. It's in my head, this sweater, and I'm hoping to make it this fall, possibly out of Manos of Uruguay.

You can also see the picture of me petting a lamb. When we were coming back through customs we had to go through the Agricultural line, because I patted this sheep. The customs people were a little eye-rolly at us when we told them our only contact with animals was that I patted a sheep for five minutes in a parking lot. What can I say? Jorah and I are rule followers - we can't help it!

Anyway, even after the Gap of Dunloe there was lots more driving and getting out and taking pictures and honestly, it almost felt like a completely different planet. Everything was so ethereal and spectacular, it was hard to believe that we could all exist in the same place. I felt bad because at this point of the trip I was really quite sick and would no sooner get on the bus than I would pass out.

It was good to have sickness as an excuse though, because later that night we went to the Liam O'Conner Irish Show, which was utterly ridiculous. It was making my brain pound on the outside of my skull, (never a good sign) so Jorah and I left at halftime and walked back to the hotel. We were staying in Killarney at that point, and it was much more enjoyable to just walk and take in the evening. And then go to bed.

End of Knitting Ennui

2009-07-27T10:35:00.004-05:00

For the last couple of weeks I've been really bored with my knitting. Not exactly bored even, just not excited. I've been working on the same pair of socks and baby blanket for quite a long time now, and haven't really made much discernable progress. I was feeling like I wanted to Cast On something new, but couldn't decide what, even though I'm sort of flush with good yarn right now from the Ireland/Scotland trip.

I hate that feeling, not know what I want to knit. I have mentioned my obsessive personality - I don't do well without a project to occupy myself.

Then I went in to the yarn store this weekend. I have SEVERAL pretty sweet classes to teach this fall, (which I'm planning to post about in the next day or two). The bosslady and I were talking about my classes and the shop models I need to make so that people see what they're going to learn if they take my class. She loaded me up with about $150 worth of yarn and sent me home to get to work (that's more than one class).

As soon as I got home, did I start the shop models? Or did I cast on for a new pair of socks for my brother and finally decide what to make with that mystery alpaca I got several years ago at the Midwest Alpaca Fest?

So now I have four projects on the needles, with two more I need to cast on this week. Oh yeah, and the Heartwarmer has been stalled for several weeks too . . .

Ahhhh. That's better.

Vacation Post #1

2009-07-25T00:22:00.007-05:00

I keep thinking I'll blog when I knit something, but it just so happens that right now I'm awash in a sea of knitting indecision. All I've really got going are the Dragon Socks and the Cabbage Leaf Baby Blanket, which I've been working on for ages and you've completely already seen. So I'm going to write up the vacation instead!

The first day we got to Dublin and drove around a little before walking to a pub and having a Guinness. It's true what they say - Guinness in Ireland is completely different from US Guinness. I'm not much of a Guinness fan stateside, but it is delicious in Ireland. I had some Donegal Lamb Pie that first night too, and by the way, they are as delicious to eat as they are to knit with. We were pretty exhausted and turned in early-ish, but not too early - have to beat the time change!

The next day we started by going to the Boynne Valley. You pull up to a little Visitor Center and then take a little bus to Newgrange, Nowth, or Dowth, which are all sites of Passage Tombs. We went to Newgrange. Passage Tombs are pretty cool. Here are my two favorite boys walking down to the visitor center.

They might not even really be tombs, but they obviously had some kind of cerimonial purpose for the pre-Celts and people think that whoever they were, they worshiped the sun. The tombs are some of the oldest surviving man-made structures on Earth - 500 years older than the pyramids. When the Celts got here they thought the tombs were the entrances to Faerie and left the places assiduously alone. The Irish name Bru na Boinne, means, "The Otherworld at Boynne." (I was extremely happy about all of the Irish on road signs and waysides and museums. Everything has to be written in Irish too, and police and lawyers all have to speak fluent Irish because you have the right to demand your trial take place in Irish!)

The only entrance to Newgrange is a narrow, somewhat winding tunnel that slopes just slightly upward. Over the door on the outside is a little window box, which is exactly level with the floor in the center of the mound. On the morning of the winter solstice, the window box precisely lines up with the sun rising over the mountains on the other side of the valley, and the light creeps up the passage and touches the center of the room. Nowth and Dowth are lined up for the Equinoxes.

We were pretty near Drogheda, by the by, (I took a picture of the map) but didn't make it to the home of the Clarys. Father du Bricassard is a jackass, by the way. Also, it's not pronounced Dro-gee-da, it's DhroHEDa. So there.

Anyway, after Newgrange we went to Malahide Castle, which was really fun, and our first experience with the cafeterias in all of the historic places over there. NPS take note - I bet they make mad profit with their good variety of hot food in all of the parks.

I was extremely excited that the castle had a doorbell.

Malahide was cool, but the best part was the garden in the backyard. The family retired to Tasmania awhile ago, but spent most of the 20th century making a beautiful garden with specimens from all over the world. If you know my family, you know one of our favorite things to do is to wander around gardens and say, "What do you think this is? It looks like a . . . but I've never seen one this shape before . . . see if there's a sign . . ." We amuse ourselves.

My brother and sister and I also reenacted an old photo from our past. Of course, in that photo, we can reach all the way around the tree. (And we're like, 11, 9, and 8.)

Traveling Summer

2009-07-20T01:16:00.003-05:00

Whew.

Just got back from my friend's wedding in California, where I have been for the last week. It was completely beautiful and I had a blast, but I am glad to be home.

This summer has been pretty chaotic so far, but I'm feeling good now. Just one more month until Jorah is back, and no more traveling and living out of a suitcase or sitting in airports. My work schedule will normalize and I'll be able to knit and blog with regularity again.

And tomorrow I pick up the dogs!

Here they are chilling together in my office. They love that chair.

Can't Sleep Clowns Will Eat Me

2009-07-02T10:22:00.007-05:00

I'm sick as a dog and miserable as all get out, but I can't take a nap because I have a Dr.'s appointment in 45 minutes. After they sent me home from work this morning (thank the gods) I downloaded a bunch of vacation photos (I had to dump them onto Jorah's laptop while we were traveling because my memory card is itty-bitty - he's emailing them to me.) I have almost all of them.

Just to warn you, I am planning on writing up the vacation - I have lots of beautiful photos (although not much knitting content) and I want to be able to remember this vacation in the years to come, and I'm not really convinced that I have a rabid knitting following anyway which will be perturbed if we veer into vacation photos for awhile.

But until then, here's a teeny-weeny bit of knitting content - the bare minimum I did to not get kicked out of the Knit & Crochet House Cup. Divination's July assignment was to make something tea or coffee related, and so I present to you, The Mug Snug.

Isn't she lovely? This is my favorite mug, and I use her all the time, especially now, being so sick. Russian grannies the world over recommend chai s'myodum (tea with honey) for the sick, and I am all about it. I pretty much always have a pot on the stove making me some more.

As you can see, there is a built-in coaster as well. I have convinced myself that there's such a thing as scorching a table and that I need a coaster for hot drinks. I have always been scornful when I've seen patterns for these in books but the truth is, I realy like it. It really is nice and cosy. The only problem so far is that I was admiring the smooth way I picked up stitches to knit the bottom at one point, tipped the cup too far, and poured hot tea in my lap. Well, we can't all be smart.

Found Some Yarn!

2009-06-20T15:20:00.004-05:00

You would think, being in Ireland, that I would be up to my neck in the stuff. You would think that I would be sick of wool, that I would have enough wool to last me for the rest of my life.

The truth is, wool has been in somewhat short supply over here. It seems like the Irish want you to buy their already knit sweaters, not knit your own. This doesn't make a ton of sense to me, but then, I think everyone should knit everything. Everyone needs a thneed.

Also, were you aware that the sun, essentially never sets over here? It is literally birght as day here, and it's well after 9PM as I'm typing. I'm too exhausted to write much more tonight - it's been a pretty go-go-go vacation - but I wanted to post some pictures of the finished Henly Hoodie - literally finished 45 minutes before the cab came to go to the airport.

When it was first finished I was somewhat disappointed, but decided that I would wear if for two weeks on vacation, and if I still wasn't sure I would pull it apart. About a week in now, and I've decided I love it. I did buy buttons for it, but decided to 86 the buttons. I like it just the way it is.

In these pictures, by the way, I'm standing in front of the Passage Tomb at Newgrange, one of the oldest surviving man-made structures on Earth, 500 years older than the pyramids. I got to go inside. And can I get a whoop-whoop for Dream in Color yarns? Look at that Deep SeaFlower, especially in the above picture. They know their dyes.

I'll be telling you all about the wool that I bough on INISHMORE the largest of the ARAN ISLANDS when I get back. I might have bought 6,000 yards. Maybe.

Regularly scheduled blogging will resume 1st week of July when you will be treated to entry after entry of me desperately trying not to get kicked out of the HPKCHC.

Where Have I Been?

2009-06-09T21:40:00.005-05:00

It's been a long time since my last post, and the truth of why is that I am lame.

1) I have become utterly obsessed with Battlestar Galactica. Jorah and I like to buy dorky tv shows for special occasions. Our 2 year wedding anniversary was right after he left for New Mexico, and we celebrated by getting Battlestar Galactica. Let me just say that it is testing my loyalties in many ways. I love and adore Joss Whedon, and sincerely believed that there would never be anything better than Angel, Firefly, or Buffy (in that order) but I am LOVING this show. I'll be able to give a full verdict later this summer after the 2nd part of season 4 comes out. In the meantime, I have barely even checked my email.

2) All my knitting is boring. I haven't finished a single thing since the last post. I did fix all of the problems I was complaining about in May, but things are still fairly boring. Here's a WIP photo tour:

The Henly Hoodie. The truth is, I'm not crazy about the armseyes - there's something rotten in the state of Denmark. I need a sweater to wear in Ireland/Scotland though, so I'm finishing it - armseyes be damned. If I'm still unhappy with it, I'll pull it apart when I get home and reknit it - the Classy is to good to frak with. As you can see, I'm almost finished the hood. Then I just need to deal with the ends and put the buttons on.

The Stock Socks. These used to be my Mermaid socks, but they were too small. I decided I ought to come up with a basic sock recipe for myself for a plain old sock, and so these are it. They are my purse socks, and and they travel around with me.

The Cabbage Leaf Baby Blanket. I pulled back the whole thing not long ago all the way to the CO. I'm knitting it again, 20 sts narrower. I dig this blanket, although, as you can see, I still have not been able to take a decent picture of it.

And finally, because I've been going crazy knitting all this stockingnette, I started some Shur'tugals out of some Dream in Color Starry - Nightwatch. I'm pretty crazy about the Starry, and I don't usually like glitzy yarn. I have some in Romeo Blue too, and that is going to become - you guessed it - Viper Pilots!

I had so much fun knitting in May because I gave myself some deadlines. This month has been really hard though, because I'm leaving the country for two weeks. I have homework to do for the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup, and I don't know when I'm going to do it - whatever it is, I'm going to have to post it to the net pretty quick after I get back - homework is due by midnight on the 30th.

I also wrote up two patterns in May, and found that it gave me a lot of focus and structure. It's something I need to do more often. This guy thinks so too:

He likes to sleep under my desk while I type. This is him sleeping on one of my slippers. Since this picture was taken I've moved one of his beds under there. He's much more comfortable now.

Simon Tam Pattern

2009-05-27T11:01:00.005-05:00

The pattern for my Simon Tam is now available as a Free Ravelry Download!

I had some technical difficulties in the last few days, but the Ravelry Shopkeepers Group sorted me out. Thank goodness.

This is a great little pattern, if I do say so myself. Although there are only two of these on my project page, one I knit for Kate and the other for me, I have also made a pink one for my sister, a red one for my mom, a gray one for Jorah's grandmother, and a white one for my grandmother. I can make one in six hours, and it's one of my very favorite presents to give.

It's made by holding 2 strands together - Ultra Alpaca doubled for the cuff, and then one strand Ultra Alpaca, one strand Tilli Tomas Rock Star, which is a glorious beaded silk. It's knit on size 10 needles, so it knits up quite quickly - I can make one in less than six hours.

I haven't had this pattern test knit, (apologies) so I'm offering it free. If you find any errata, I hope you will leave a comment or email me right away so I can help. This is the first pattern I've written up for other people, and I want it to be good!

Mad Color Socks

2009-05-26T12:46:00.004-05:00

Mad Color Socks are finished! Nine pairs since the start of Sock Obsession 2009!

These are my homework for May Defense Against the Dark Arts for the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup. The assignment was to make something that would protect us, and so these are the Protego Socks. They will protect my feet from the cold, but they are also so bright and cheery that they will protect me from Dementors or the ill effects of proximity with Horcruxes.

In all honesty, I love these socks. I wanted to find a way to use this colorway and looked at some pictures of it knit up on Ravelry. I saw these from knitglit who writes Jumble of Wonderful and fell in love. I ordered some for myself and was off to the races. The colors are gorgeous and most correct in the second photo.

The pattern, Mad Color Weave, was also really fun to knit. If I do it again, and I predict that I may, I think I'll change the twisted rib on the side, although I don't know what I'd do differently. The yarn is of course, Spawn of Braun Socks that Rock Lightweight. It was a joy to knit with.