Yarn calls to yarn...

I think most people have heard the saying 'Like calls to like'. Well I'm convinced that yarn has that same type of ability.
I was being so good, trying to destash and whittle down on the UFOs. I honestly didn't want more yarn. Nope, yarn is lovely to visit, but it starts to feel like a burden, just sitting there wanting to be held, caressed and knit. I'm not a fast knitter and I'm not one to have a million things on the needles at once. So my yarn is pretty much in a long line to be used. Now granted two of the following aquisitions are from the Rockin Sock Club so I don't think they count. One, they are sock yarn, and well everyone knows it jut doesn't count against stash. And two, they were paid for last December as a gift for me. But regardless, they are calling to new friends, which just seem to creep into the stash without me being aware.



This was my sole purchase from the Wisconsin Wool and Fiber Festival this past August. I've wanted to try out briar rose for some time. Their colors are breathtaking. This is their superwash sportweight in the grandma's blessing colorway. It's perfect for this time of year. I hope to make it into one of Cat Bordi's new sock pathways.

Next is the Flower Power colorway from the August Rockin Sock Club.


This one makes me sad. I hate it. As in despise beyond all belief. If I look at every color individually I don't mind it. But together..the blue grates on me. So this will be earmarked for selling next year...or maybe for a chevron scarf for a gift.

This was a volunteeer kind of...

I want to make the Equinox Pullover from the Fall 2006 Interweave in one of the Knit Picks yarns so I ordered a Color Card. I can't pay more for shipping than the stupid item costs! Luckily this Alpaca cloud said he'd come home with me. It's earmarked for a lacy scarf one of these days.

Ah the October Shipment of Rockin Sock Club. *drool*



How can this not speak to the inner Goth in us all?? It's so dreary and rich and complex. Yum. You'll pry this one from my cold dead hands ;) I can't wait to see the rest of the Raven Series that is going up on the Blue Moon Fiber Arts site on Monday. Not that I need MORE yarn, nope..I'm just going to look. (famous last words)

I desperately want a pair of Fetchings or some sort of fingerless mitt. I read on Crimson Purl's blog about how much her Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran was piling so I didn't want to use it. What's a girl to do? Go to her LYS of course. I only purchased ONE ball, and with a particular item in mind...so it's really not stash enhancement, no it's a future project. See the distinction? Isn't being able to rationalize such a gift?

I found this Sublime and OMG it's amazing. It's so soft and sproingy. I can't wait to see how it knits up. The reviews on Ravelry for this yarn are very positive, so I'm sure it won't be a trainwreck! Here's a link to a site that sells it.

So here's the whole lovely pile of yarn I wasn't going to buy, didn't need and love all the same!


Tucked under all that fiber is my current project. I'm plugging along on the DH's socks. I'm working on the heel flap on the second sock. I'm can't wait to be done with these. They've sat in the workbasket far too long.


I think the mitts will be next in line. I've also ordered a different colorcard from Knit Picks..and yes it's coming with some volunteers as well. *sigh* I'll snap a picture of that when it comes. :)

Two FOs!

Yay for insomnia, kinda sorta...

I have two completed FOs!




Baby E's Sweater
Specs:
Pattern:
Raglan caridgan with Fully Fashioned Shaping from Debbie Bliss's Baby Knits for Beginners
Yarn: 2 hanks Blue Sky Alpaca's Organic Cotton in Pebble and 1 in Nut
Needles: size 7s
Started: September 2007
Finished: October 2007

And finally FINALLY my sweater!




Specs:
Pattern:
Perfect Sweater from Mason-Dixon Blog
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers and to hell if I can remember how many skeins it took...
Needles: size 7s
Started: November 2006!
Finished: October 2007

Whew. This sucker almost took a year! I used the picot edge with the v neck option. I also used darts for the bust. It fits great and will be a wonderful addition to winter wear!

I used some of my McGyver knitting skills when seaming the sleeves..


Those, my knitting friends, are little girl hair clips. They work so well for 'pinning'.

I got my Telemark color card in the mail today, so I'm dreaming up what colors to use for the Equinox Sweater. Also this week the Rockin Sock Club shipment came! Wohooo. I love it and will use the pattern included, but no spoilers here yet.

Pictures and a Huge Thank You.

Ok,

We've all heard about the 'Knitting Blogging Community', and yes those are air quotes. It's one of those things you think, Ya..it's nice. Knitters give to the Doctors without Borders for the Yarn Harlot. They give to the Heifer Project at Christmas for Wendy. They help out their own in need, like Annie Modesit.

But really, what would anyone do for me? And why would they want to? (Goodness that sounds selfish and it's NOT what I sit around and think about..plot about or something.) But you get the point.

So I go on vacation and am an idiot and loose my camera, my blogging camera. Am I broken hearted about the photos lost of the girls at the St. Louis Zoo? Sadden, but no, not heart broken. What comes to mind?

HOW AM I GOING TO BLOG MY KNITTING?!

It's all about priorities, you know.

Home I come and post to the blog, without pictures. And what happens?

KnitWit offers me a camera. Can you imagine? Here she is roughly 17 days away from moving and leaving for college, and what does she do? Offers to send me her old camera for a few balls of yarn. She's busy, ya'll. She's stressed. And she thought of me.

Damn, we knitters really are amazing folks. Seriously.

So in honor of KnitWit, here are mass amounts of photos of FOs. (The camera by the way, is amazing. I honestly think it's better than the one I had..)

In order of completion, we have the Solstice Slip socks from the Rockin Sock Club.



They fit really well. This was my first time using the Lightweight, and I might not every buy anything else now..



The pattern was fun and the garter stitch toes and heels were interesting to watch take shape. This is a toe up sock, by the way.


Then on the Texas trip, I was determined to make this


into some amazing socks. And guess what? I did! :)

This is Cookie A.'s Monkey pattern. It is the second time I've done it and I know not the last. Very fun pattern, but not too hard you can't memorize it and start to 'read' it as you go.


I did a slip stitch heel flap and adore the way it rainbowed. Very very very bright yummy amazing socks.


Just look at those colors. I'm seriously in love with this colorway, Sherbet from Socks That Rock.

Finally I had my little tirade through my house trying to locate DPNs. This is the result.




I do things by the seat of my pants, which is how I came up with it. I've seen enough of these online and in stores, so figured 'Eh. I can do that'. The fabric was left over from my youngest's nursery. I might have to make a straight one and a something for the circs.

I still need to figure out how I'm going to close it. I'm leaning towards a ribbon about 1 1/2 inches wide, tack it to the back and then use it to tie it closed.

Whew. Ok. There they are. The FOs. Only thing I didn't post is my progress on the Perfect Sweater. It's just SS arms, so not too exciting. Kinda looks like all the others I've posted.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your knitting! I know I will.

Vacation and Knitting

Edited to add: It's a great resort up in Eagle River, Wisconsin, called..lots of imagination here.. Eagle Waters Resort. :)
http://www.eaglewaters.com/
They have completely redone the resort since the pictures on the site were taken.
It's lovely. :)

Apparently all I needed was a vacation and new Rockin Sock Club shipment!

We had a wedding to go to 'Up North' as the Wisconsinites say. It was about a 4 1/2 hour drive each way with tons of knitting time over the weekend. Yay!

So while I looked at this.

I worked on turning this


into this

This is my second effort at the toe. I began knitting the large size (i have 9 womens) and they were waaaay to big. So all my knitting from Friday was frogged and begun again. I don't really mind, since I'd rather have a pair of socks that fits than a pair I can't wear. I'm not into gifting STR. ;)

By the time we got home on Monday I'd begun the gusset increase.


I had a great time and this knit is really fun. Hubby and I listened to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on the way to and from the resort while I knit the entire time. Yay being shotgun. :)


It was gorgeous 'Up North'. The lakes are so relaxing to watch. I wanted to sit in that swing but never got around to it. :( Maybe next time!

Thanks for all your support in the non-knitting summer heat. I've shelved the gloves for now. I think that stranded wool was just too much in the heat. These socks are the lightweight STR and not nearly as hot to handle.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Beware - Knitting Content!

Yay! Well sorta yay. :)

I ran out of yarn, as predicted, on my second Jaywalker. We are taking a bit of a break since we've been so tight lately. I'll buy the yarn in the next month and finish it up. I should have enough yarn to make my mother some shorties. Waste not, want not!

As mentioned previously, I needed some mindless knitting while the wee one had her dental work. Which, by the way, went wonderfully. Thanks for all the good thoughts!!

I came out with a Packers inspired dishcloth.


This is the beginning of the Christmas knitting of 07. I just need to crank out a dozen or so more and that should be good. Everyone can always use a knit dishcloth. They are similar to handknit socks, you never realize how awesome they are until you have one!

I also did a little destashing on the Destash blog. And why does one usually destash? To restash of course!!

Lover's Leap from Socks That Rock in Mediumweight
I'm thinking some cabled goodness, perhaps Lombard Street Socks.



Sherbet in Lightweight
These are destined to be a pair of Monkeys. Yum!

And finally
Jade in Socks That Rock Mediumweight
that will be Embossed Leaves.

My stash is happy with me! I also picked up 5 different colorways of Sugar & Cream to continue the dishcloth work on the side.
Also on my needles are the Norwegian Gloves. I finally settled on the colors.


I've substituted Charcoal for the Natural, Natural for the red, and Green/Pink for Charcoal. Follow? :D
Whew! One last thing to mention. I've had a ganglion cyst in my left wrist for years. It doesn't look like this one, thank goodness. It's actually on the palm side of my hand, inside my wrist. You can't see it from the outside, but you can feel the hardness of it when it's flared up. Which it is now. And it hurts like hell. Hell, I tell you. There's not a ton of knitting going on here at the moment. I have an appointment with a hand surgeon on Monday, so we'll see how it goes. I've never had it drained, but whatever they do it's got to be better than this!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Alive

Yep, alive and blogging again.

I have a new laptop and hope I can manage to upload pictures without loading some different software.

I've had a bit of a stressful few weeks. My littlest had to have dental surgery (she's 3) to have 2 caps put in. It required for her to be put under. Mom does not deal well with that. But all is well and she has 2 shiny new teeth and no more pain. They think she just has thin enamel and they also sealed her teeth. Fun fun! They never tell you about this crap in Parent School..

Anyway I needed good mindless knitting for the waiting room. I managed to crank out a dishcloth. I think I'm going to start randomly working on these in hopes of actually getting Christmas Knitting done. My goodness I said that in JUNE folks. Be impressed!

My second Jaywalker in the RSC yarn is going well, but ...I'm scared. Really scared. I don't think I'm going to have enough yarn. I grew up in Las Vegas and hate to gamble. I get nervous everytime I pick up the needles...

Here it is hanging out in the sunshine.

That's the other thing happening at our household. We are outside all the time. For those of us who live in the northern part of the US, we make SURE we enjoy every second of warmth given to us.

I hope you are all doing well!

Full Disclosure

I was reading Julia's blog and felt the need to 'fess up myself.

I'm not quite as clever as she is, so my list is just a list. ;) But these are ALL the items on my needles as of this moment.

This is from the oldest to most current project.


I started this sweater..heck so long ago I don't even know. Hmm must have been almost 2 years ago now. I was making it for someone and then became a bit uninspired to gift it to them. So it's stalled. It's beautiful. It's a pattern from The Best of Knitters Arans and Celtics called 'Wonderous Woven Cables'. I'm using Knit Pick's Wool of the Andes. Great yarn, interesting knit..but there it languishes. I have to admit I'm nervous to pick it back up because of gauge. It was so long ago my knitting style has change and I'm afraid it will look like dog poop.


The Mason-Dixon Perfect (hell) Sweater. It's just a SEA of stockingnet. There sits the completed front and back, and the 2 sleeves are almost half way done. I'll get this finished before the Fall, but I just can't pick it up right now. It's knit in Cascade 220 Heathers. I really like it and know I'll enjoy wearing it.



And then there was the Shifting Sands pattern from Grumperina, knit in Malabrigo. It's soft, gorgeous and well..just not what I want so..


Bye bye Shifting Sands. I think I'm going to try and make an Hourglass sweater with the yarn instead. I have 3 hanks, so I'll figure something out. For now it's back into the stash.


Here's the hubby's sock. It's a bucket load of stitches, done on 1's. The Trekking is lovely, and these will get done sooner or later. It sits next to my knitting chair and I do a few rounds on it every day or so. I did some slip stitches in the arch to make it more snug for his high arches. Will have to see how that works out.


Ah the current love on the needles. The Chevron scarf in STR. I love it. It's mindless enough for TV watching, yet interesting enough that you don't want to gouge your eyes out! I'd say I'm almost 1/2 way done.


This is the Rowan Summer Tweed I'm futzing with. I'd like to make some summer tanks for my girls with it, but have yet to really commit to the project.


And then there's the current Rockin' Sock Club yarn. I THINK I may have found the right pattern for it. I don't want to do the Grasshoppers since I'm just not into 'sandal socks'. More photos when it's progressed.


Whew and that's it. 7 projects, one frogged so really just 6. I'm actively knitting on three of them (hubby's socks, chevron and the RSC yarn), leaving 3 hanging in limbo land. Not too bad. Could be worse. Much worse.

One step forward, two steps back..

The Chevron grows...


while the Walking on the Wild Tide went from a formative Grasshopper...


to a time out in the 'Naughty Bag', back in a ball.



If you look closely it's trying to escape.

These Blue Moon Fiber yarns sure are cheeky.

Arg...

I won't let myself be beaten by sticks and string.

$#(*&@Q*_!#&$&

(Deep Breath)

Ok, so I got my STR kit and I stink. That's all there is to it!

It took me an hour to finally figure out the cast on. It was hard for me to knit into the bottom of the cast on for the second needle stitches. I fought. And futzed and really wasn't getting frustrated, just trying to figure it out. It was just a challenge, you know?

Finally got it cast on correctly, finished the toe increase and then started on the pattern. It's not an easy one, requiring you to P2tog with YOs. Anyway, figured that part out and kept going for about 3 inches and tried it on.

It was too big. I was working with 2s and hadn't checked gauge. I'm a dork that way. I was 1/2 a stitch off every 2 inches, which amounts to 1 off in the 4 inch gauge.

I frogged. No big. Just have to do the stupid freaking cast on again. And the silk content of this yarn doesn't hold up well to frogging and futzing. It's starting to be fuzzy on the end.

I cast on for the medium with 1s. Finally got it, only took 1/2 hour this time, and finish the toe and it was too small.

@#$()@*%*)(

*cough*

So dug around and tried the Turkish Cast on, or the figure 8 cast on. It was easier and I cast on for the large with 1s and it still didn't fit right.

The yarn, which really is lovely, is having a little time out in my yarn bag.

I'm off to work on the chevron for a day and think about where to go from here.

Rockin Sock Club April

Wow.

The new kit is gorgeous! I like it so much more than Monsoon. The STR yarn was lovely as usual, but the 'camo' colors just aren't me. This kit, oh ya, much more me!

If you want spoilers, hop here.

I actually think I'm just going to leave the hank lying around for a few days. That way I can really enjoy it.

Happy happy joy joy yarn....

Sloggin and Waitin

Woohoo! My laptop is up again, thank goodness. For the 4th time, my powercord broke. Stupid Dell. It's an older model and they've actually fixed this problem in the newer models, but I'm still stuck replacing it. Anyway once the battery died, poof. That was it until the replacement cord came. I swear I felt like I was missing a limb. How silly is that?

Thanks for all the lovely comments on Jack's sweater. Now that my computer situation is back to normal, I'll be replying and cruising blogs again. :)



Here's another picture of Jack's Sweater, officially complete, buttons and all. Right now it's wrapped and I just need to take it to the Post Office. Got to get as much milage out of an FO as possible, you know.

Otherwise I continue to slog along on various projects. I've actually sent in for a password on the Slogalong. What a great idea, and since one of the slogging projects is the Perfect Sweater Sleeves from the Mason Dixon site, it's appropriate.



I have 8 more inches on each sleeve. Then I get to block, sew together and pick up for the v-neck. Soon soon. I WILL wear this sweater this fall. Yay!

I have NO idea what the hell made me pick this pattern for my first sweater. I think I figured 'Aww just SS, no big' OMG. SS from hell. It goes on and on and on and..you get the point. But the end is in sight and I know I'll love wearing this sweater. Next one will be a top down EZ pattern. Screw seaming. ;)

Slogging project number 2, the hubby's sock(s). Really just sock, since I haven't finished the first one. Wow. I really feel for those of you who have knit a men's size 13 or something. My husband is an 11 and it's bad enough. I swear I feel like I've knit knit knit knit this thing and it never gets longer. You know it's bad when you lay the item out after every row and hope it's grown.


These will be an amazing pair of socks. I keep having him try them on to make sure they are going to fit. He has a high arch so I am doing a slip stitch pattern in the arch to make it nice and snug. It looks nice and he says it feels good. Just a few more inches, slap a toe on it and off to the next one.

Next week the new Rockin Sock Club shipment is due to be sent! Whoohoo! So what did I do? I went and order 2 skeins of mediumweight in Farmhouse and Watermelon Tourmaline.
Oh yay, I'm making one of these for myself. I think the Chevron Scarf has become some sort of virus around the net, much like Clapotis and Jaywalkers. But damn I really want one and I love those colors. I personally blame on Ashley for this! :) Originality be damned, I don't think I can improve it!

The other thing on my mind is this collection of yarn.


Rowan Summer Tweed. I think I'm going to make the girls tank tops, each with 2 colors. It's in the thought phase. I'm loving the colors though, so springy.