Making Progress with the Help of Ibuprofen

It's really hard to blog around the holidays when you're trying desperately to get everything done. When you do get things done, you worry about posting them in case some random family member accidentally finds your blog through Facebook or something and figures out what you've made them for Christmas.

To add insult to injury (or maybe I mean injury to insult) I have a pinched nerve in my neck/shoulder which is making it really hard to even knit. I can only knit when full of ibuprofen, leaning against a heating pad. And even then, I have to take frequent breaks. It's making it hard to push forward.

There are a few things I have finished that I can post because I know the recipient won't find them or I don't know if/who it will go to yet.
First, the dad socks. I love knitting socks for my dad. He wears them only on Sundays to "save" them and then shows them off to people. I keep thinking if I keep knitting him a pair each year, he will wear them more often but so far, no. This year, in keeping with tradition, I knit him a pair of socks. These are from some Austermann Step I got in a destash. I think they're sort of ugly but my mom thinks they look okay so I won't both to overdye them.

This yarn is said to have Aloe Vera and Jojoba oil in the yarn which will soften your feet as you wear them and lasts through 40 washes. I'm not sure if that's true but it felt pretty nice to knit with. I have another skein of this exact same yarn so after Christmas my hubby will be getting a pair of these socks as well.

I can't remember if I mentioned it before or not but I couldn't resist the handspun Loop! yarn anymore so I cast on a quickie shawlette. I was working on it over Thanksgiving as a matter of fact.

I made a basic triangular shawl and added an eyelet row about where the color changed. I think it's very cute but not super big. I'm hoping it will block at least a little bit bigger and I might end up giving this as a gift because it's not really my colors, I'm not sure yet. I don't even think anyone on my list is handspun & handknit worthy so we will have to see what I decide.

If you're interested in some of the other projects I'm knitting this year, check out my Ravelry Project page. I just updated it and it's more current and has some things I don't dare share here. Yet.

Try to be funny? Or not.

With the holiday season I tend to get over-committed with my gift-knitting and tend to run short on time.
Add to that some family things, work parties for the hubby and various other things and what you end up with is very little time to blog with very little to show on the blog.

Gifts are continuing apace and I'm starting to think about if we need to do some sort of Christmas series again this year. So, what do you think, gentle reader? Should I try to make light of the insanity that is my Christmas knitting again this year?

Let me know in the comments please.

Finishing and Christmas Knitting

I keep meaning to post again but I sort of flamed out on re-entry. We were gone for the Thanksgiving weekend. Four days of food, family and fun but right after getting over being sick, it was pretty draining. I finished my test-knit.

The Coboda Hatt and Mitts set from the Simple Knits blog, look for it to come out soon. I really like it and it was a very quick and easy knit. As much as I like it though, I'm going to be reasonable and put them on the Christmas pile. I'm pretty sure I know who these will go to and I can always knit another set if I decide I need some.

That means, Christmas knitting is in full swing around here. I cast on the Cool Beans socks again. This time from the toe-up and with some concentration, I'm making good progress.

I think it will be easier to make sure they fit by working them from the toe-up.

I also cast on a pair of plain ribbed socks. The yarn is striping in a really odd way so I may overdye them when I'm done, we'll see.

They'll be for some male in the family but I'm not entirely sure which one yet. I will have to decide when I get farther down the sock and need to decide where to start the toe.

I've got a few other small projects planned but I'm keeping it reasonable and planning to buy a few gifts this year. How about you? How are your Christmas Lists shaping up?

Tea and Crackers

I keep meaning to put a new blog post up but I just don't seem to be able to do it. I still feel sort of like death-warmed-over which isn't very fun and I just want to feel better because it's seriously cutting into my knitting time. I finished my laceweight singles though, like I wanted and got them plied.

Just lovely! I got 750 yards too! I'm really happy with that. For 4 ounces, that's very respectable. It's still soft and lovely too, not too fine and wiry. It's Sprites by Funky Carolina in Merino and silk and I love it. I'm finding it difficult not to cast on immediately.

Since that was finished, I needed something as a break before I dive back in to more laceweight so I started spinning a Loop Bullseye Bump. I have purchased a few from destashes but I have not actually spun one. Until now. I did manage to take one photo of this one before I started, it's just a crappy cell phone pic though. Hopefully it will look ok.
The fiber started out Navy Blue, then transitioned into Salmon, then periwinkle blue, soft pale peach, light dusty blue and finally a beautiful royal blue. It was a joy to spin and I could hardly stop myself long enough to sleep.

I finished the spinning in less than 48 hours and almost immediately started plying. I navajo or chain-plied to keep the color transitions as they were and ended up with a lovely yarn! It's a sport-weight. About 322 yards and I love it. Another one I'm having a hard time convincing myself that I should not cast on immediately.

It's hard to see all the color changes when it's in the skein but it's still lovely. It's called Cuckoo Wrasse and has Merino, Nylon and Angelina in it so it's a lovely soft but still silvery, sparkly skein. I'm thinking a shawlette with an eyelet row at the color changes would be perfect. As soon as it's dry because I did manage to convince myself last night that I should wash it at least before I cast it on.
I have been doing a little knitting when I can get my brain to function properly. I have been working on hubby's socks. Again, I do not love the colors but the yarn is squishy and decent to work with so I'm sucking it up. I turned the heel on the second sock and I'm working my way up the leg now.

I should be done with this soon. Then I need to focus on some Christmas gift-knitting before I get back to socks for the handsome hubby.
I also finished part of a test-knit I've been working on. It's a hat and fingerless mitts set for the SimpleKnits blog.

The hat is done and I think it's really cute. I hope to cast on the mitts this evening. I agreed to the test-knit thinking it might make a nice Christmas gift, the set but I'm not sure I'll be able to part with it so we'll have to see. Look for the pattern coming out via SimpleKnits soon!
When you don't feel well what you really need is super simple knitting and that's where most of my focus has laid. The socks, this hat and of course my Multnomah. I'm about ready to start the pattern but I need some mental capacity for that so that's no rush right now.

It may end up a gift for Christmas, we'll see how the list ends up.

I've also been working on my handspun Spoke sweater, finally. I was going to do the math to make the pattern work with my gauge ages ago and I just didn't seem to be able to convince myself to get it done so I enlisted the help of a lovely friend and she passed back a pattern written to my specifications. I cast on almost immediately and have most of a back already.

I really didn't realize how much 1x1 rib there was in the pattern but I'm slogging ahead imagining how it will all be worth it when it's done. Anyway, I'm going back to bed with some tea, gluten free crackers and some British Mystery shows on Netflix. One of these days I'll feel better and then just wait! The knitting will be full-on Christmas focused!!

Sideways (and not in a good way)

Last week things went a little bit sideways for me and they haven't completely righted themselves. I'm on Jury duty in my county for three month. October, November and December. I got called up for a jury and spent 4 days last week at the courthouse listening, taking notes and filling my head up with information. Afterward, I felt like a large semi had hit me. I was emotionally and physically drained. Then there was this time change and all this grey, dark weather. I'm finally starting to get back into a routine but my knitting (and really my mental capacity) suffered. I got a little bit farther on a couple of things and had to rip out something else but what has really helped me has been my spinning. First, I finished the commissioned spinning and delivered it to the friend who asked for it. She loved it! I'm so glad, it was a joy to spin (although the end did slog a bit) and I totally forgot to take pictures of the finished yarn so maybe she will take some and share them with me.

Then, I decided to do a little practicing for a spinning project I'd like to start next. I took out a lovely 4 ounce braid of BFL/silk from Funky Carolina. The colorway is called Sprites and I am in total and complete love with it. I purchased it from a destash more than a year ago and I wasn't sure what I wanted  to spin it into but with the lovely silk content, I decided that I wanted to spin some lace weight. I have half of the 4 ounces done, and so far, I am in total and complete love with it!

Here it is. I can't believe how fine I'm able to get it and I think it will make a wonderful 2-ply. Half is on this first bobbin and today, while I hang out with a sick little critter (who is staying home from preschool with a fever), I'm working on the other half. I'm hoping to finish and ply before the end of the weekend and have some lovely yarn to share next week but we'll see, I'm still putting my house back in order. The handsome hubby hasn't been feeling too well himself so he hasn't been much help.

Some Socks

I've been getting some knitting done but it doesn't look like it because there's just a little progress on a few different things. I do have a couple of things that actually look like there's progress though.
First, one of the Wrought Iron Socks is done.

(I really cannot figure out why some of my pictures post sideways. Even when  change them and save them, they still post the wrong direction. Anyone have an answer?)
Anyway, I really think it turned out well. I can't seem to get in a groove with knitting these socks, I pretty much have to force myself to work on them even though the yarn is lovely and I love how the stitch pattern looks, I just don't want to mess with the little cables I guess.
Here's a close up of the cable, just because I think it looks so amazing.

Ahhh, pretty Twisted stitches.

I'm also making some good progress on the plain socks for the Handsome Hubby.

Still not my colors but I'm enjoying the squishy yarn and the simplicity of the sock. I did actual math to figure out when to start the heel increases, knit Wendy Johnson's Heel Flap heel and started the ribbing right away so when I get halfway through with the yarn, I can just bind off immediately. I liked knitting this heel, it's got an unusual shape though so I don't know how it will wear or feel once the sock is on, time will tell.
I realized the other day though that if I'm going to do any Christmas knitting this year, I should really get going!

A Very Good Mail Day

I guess if you post pictures of your handsome hubby and then link to your blog on Facebook and you are friends with his friends on Facebook too, they will go to your blog and then tell him they saw the pictures of him. He knew I was posting them but I'm not entirely sure he wanted his friends to see them. Oh well, I think he's adorable and that's all that counts right?
On to the actual fiber content. First, I've been knitting like mad on my Skew socks, I really thought I was going to run out of yarn (so much so that I ordered another whole skein from someone's destash)  it hasn't arrived yet but that's okay, I have this much left.
 
And that's after...

I finished them. After I finished the first sock, I weighed the ball (never mind that I didn't weigh it before I started) and I had 1-7/8 ounces left. That's less than half of 4 ounces so I was sure I was going to run out. Since they're an unusual construction, I wasn't sure what to do but find more of the yarn so I did. That's okay, I really love the colors so I can always knit something else when it arrives or destash it if I change my mind.
So, let's jump right into
The Specs:
The Yarn: Vesper Sock Yarn in Witchy Woman which is a Halloween colorway. Lime green, purple and black stripes
The Needles: I used two sizes of DPNs for these socks US 1s (2.25mm) and US 2s (2.75mm)
The Pattern: Skew by Lana Holden from Knitty
The Modifications: Like I said, I knit the foot on size 1s and switched to size 2s when I started the heel parts to make them fit my feet. Otherwise the heel was too tight and the leg would not have fit either.
The Notes: My gauge changed on the second sock after I switched to the heel and larger needles so the tops are not identical even though the feet are. I'm not sure why it changed but it did and I love them anyway.

I just love how the heels look together but it's really, really hard to take a picture of your own heels. Did you know that?

Since I finished these lovely socks, I decided to start some more. Plain, plain plain this time.

This yarn was a gift from a friend without a tag so I'm not sure what it is and it's certainly not my favorite colors but he needs some more hand knit socks for this winter so it will work. They're very soft and squishy so I can deal with the colors. These are plain so I can do other things while I work on them. Like read or not go crazy. With 12-inch long feet, there's a lot of knitting that goes into socks for the hubby.

I also went a little bit crazy with destash purchases this last week and things have started arriving.

Today was a very good mail day. (Please note that two of those items are from the Gritty Knits Merino of the month club and the Gritty Knits Nom of the month club so I really only have 3 destash purchases there.)

If you'd like more information about any of them, check out my Ravelry stash, I'll be uploading them all today.

Handsome Hubby Handwarmers

If you are friends with me on Ravelry you may have noticed that I started a new project yesterday. I called it Handsome Hubby Handwarmers. There's a reason for that.


Here he is. My nerdy guy. (Notice the Captain America T-shirt) He sits in an area at work where cold air blows on him so he's been wearing his jacket while at work. I offered to make him some handwarmers to keep him from freezing his hands while working. He has enough trouble with dryness and splitting hands in the winter. He agreed if a "manly" color of yarn could be found in my stash. How little he knows about the stash.

I dug out this blue worsted-weight yarn that I had previously dyed blue with my friend Lisa. It was meant to make something for him as a matter of fact. I started these yesterday morning and finished them this morning. They're a very fast knit.
So, here are The Specs:
The Yarn: Fisherman's Wool dyed "Superman Blue" by myself and my friend Lisa
The Needles: US 7 (4.50mm) DPNs
The Pattern: Dashing by Cheryl Niamath. (A Knitty pattern)
The Modifications: None, I actually knit these to pattern. Wait! No, I only knit 10 rounds after the thumb rather than 18.
The Notes: These have mirrored cables so you can tell which hand they go to but they're similar enough to be interchangeable. I've knit this pattern several times before and I still like it. I have a pair and I knit them for my stepsister at one time too.

I think he likes them and we had some fun with this photo shoot. Hopefully they'll keep his fingers warm at work too.

Purple Progress

I've been really focused with my knitting lately. I think I'm over my startitis and I've been working hard to get some of these projects done. First, the first of the Wrought Iron Socks is past the heel flap. These are toe-up with a traditional flap heel. I did an eye of partridge rather than a slip stitch heel on these, otherwise I haven't made any changes.

This picture doesn't show the patterning very well but it's as close as I've gotten to the actual color of the yarn. It's sort of sear-your-eyes-out purple and I absolutely adore it!

You can see the pattern much better in this photo. I'm really happy with the way these are turning out and I just need to keep moving with them.
I also dug out my skew sock and fixed it. I don't remember if I mentioned it but I was having some trouble with them. I started knitting them on size 0 needles. I realized partway up the foot (these are also toe-up) that they were not going to fit because the stitches on the bias stretch differently than straight knitting. I ripped it out, it wasn't a huge deal at that point and I started again on size 1 needles (2.25 mm). It was looking wonderful, fit my foot just fine and I made my way up to the point where you need to do the heel. If you have looked at this pattern you know the whole thing is an unusual construction and it was very fun figuring it all out. I, however, got past the heel and tried on the sock. It didn't fit through the heel. Too tight. I put it on timeout until I figured out what to do. It's my first time knitting this sock and I wasn't sure about adding more stitches because then the counts listed in pattern wouldn't be right so I ultimately decided to rip back (after a grafted section even) and switch to size 2 (2.75mm) needles before the heel increases and graft. I stuck with the size 2s to make sure it would fit through the leg as well.

(I cannot figure out why this picture insists on posting sideways. Very annoying) I really like how it came out! I love the look of the heel and the whole thing is so interesting and fun! The yarn is Vesper self-striping sock yarn in Witchy Woman. You can't really tell but it's neon green, black and purple stripes. The purple looks so blue in every picture I take.
I'm not thrilled with how loose the fabric on size 2s seems so I'm hoping the yarn will bloom a bit when it's blocked so it will seem less loose and holey. Overall I really like it though. I have cast on the second sock but I think I'm going to run out of yarn. I have less than half of it left so I'm scouring Ravelry to find more to make sure I can finish these socks. In the meantime I'll just keep on knitting until I run out.

Super Sock Splendor

I fell down a little bit and cast on some things. I've been so careful lately about working on finishing things first and it just didn't work this week.


First, I cast on some lovely Georgia on my Mind socks

This is from Three Irish Girls Adorn sock in the color Lucerne, I got it from a destash and I was so in love with the color it didn't make it into the stash. I just set it near my knitting seat and I couldn't resist it anymore. These will become my purse socks, my skew socks have a bit of a problem so I am giving them a time out. That makes me feel vindicated about starting these.
Then, I'm in the Solid Socks group and this month's color is purple. Since purple is my favorite color and I just happened to have a semi-solid in stash in an amazing purple, I decided to cast on these.

The pattern is Wrought Iron socks from Wendy Johnson's book Toe-up Socks for Every Body. I'm really liking it so far but I haven't really found my groove yet. The chart is 38 rows and so, I haven't made it through one chart repeat yet, I think that will help. I just need to sit down and focus a bit. I think it's just lovely so far though. The yarn is the lovely nom by Gritty Knits it's a club colorway but I forgot to enter it in my Rav stash so I can't remember which month it came from. The color is Royal Purple though and it's a very difficult color to photograph. This one is probably the closest I have gotten so far.

I actually don't feel too bad about starting these socks since I finished some.
These are the Vine Lace Socks from Socks, Socks, Socks.

Let's get right into the Specs shall we?
The Specs:
The Needles: US Size 1 DPNs (2.25mm)
The Yarn: Merino Bamboo yarn dyed by my friend Lisa in the Sugarplums colorway (she's not currently dyeing so I can't link to her but she's planning to start up again soon!)
The Pattern: Vine Lace Socks by Kathy Garguilo from the book Socks, Socks, Socks
The Notes: While I think the yarn is amazingly gorgeous and the pattern really shows it off, I really struggled with this seemingly simple pattern. The chart is small and seems easy to follow but I found myself ripping and reknitting a lot. The way the yarnovers, ssks and k2togs move made it more difficult to make sure you were in the right part of the chart than I would have thought.

They took a good long break but eventually, I persevered and finished them up. I think they'll become some of my favorite socks but I'm not sure that I would knit this pattern again.
Either way I have some lovely new socks finished and some lovely new ones on the needles too.

Coffee Beans

This week sort of slipped away from me. It went from busy to busier and all of a sudden, it's Saturday. I sort of forgot to blog but I have been working on some things.

I'm making some decent progress on a few projects but I'm really excited about these.

These are the Cool Beans socks. I'm knitting them as a Christmas gift for my lovely mother. They're coffee beans and I think they're so cute.

I'm using a skein of Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in Kindling for the brown and a skein of some random hot pink fingering weight yarn for the pink. My mom's favorite color is fuschia so I think these will be lovely because she loves coffee too!

For colorwork they're going very quickly too. I'm a little farther than these pictures show. I have 5 beans down the leg so far and the pattern calls for 6. I was considering stopping at 5 but I'm concerned that they will be too short as they're just barely 5 inches and so, I think I will continue and knit one more bean before I continue with the heel flap and heel. I really like the way they look so far and I'm enjoying knitting them though.

It's always lovely to be a little ahead of the game on Christmas knitting and to be knitting for someone you know will appreciate their gift.

Autumn is Riveting

I can't seem to tell if I'm falling in love with fall or with my autumn shawl. Either way, it's finished!

I really love how it turned out. I had loads of fun taking pictures of it.

So, let's get right down to the Specs shall we?
The Specs:
The Yarn: nom from Gritty Knits in the Autumn colorway, it's a club colorway from last October so it should be available to the public now. 2 skeins.
The Needles: US 4
The Pattern: Simply Riveting Scarf by Megan Williams (a free pattern!)
The Notes: The pattern is written for one skein of DK weight yarn but I followed the directions for increasing in size and knit on needles I thought worked well with the lovely fingering weight yarn. I stopped knitting in stockinette at the area where I would have added a riveting row (when I was low on yarn) and added 6 rows of garter stitch to edge it. I have a wee little ball left that will be great for Hexipuffs.

I really wasn't too sure about the colors of this yarn when I first received it, I'm not a big yellow/brown fan but I decided to purchase a skein from someone's destash anyway and so had two just hanging out in the stash for a good long time before I decided to knit with it. I'm really glad I did, it's lovely to wrap around your shoulders now that it's getting colder outside. You can't get a very accurate picture of the shape of the shawl from the pictures I took, I'll have to have some photos of me wearing the shawl taken soon.

One project done, you know what that means!

I'm allowed to cast on something new. More about this lovely project later this week.

Skyp-ing is Finished

I spent some time working on my Skyp socks while I was out of town this week and lo and behold, they got finished! It's amazing how if you work on something it gets done.
I think they turned out very well.

The Specs:
The Yarn: nom from Gritty Knits in the June 2012 club colorway: Dusk
The Needles: US 2 DPNs (2.75mm)
The Pattern: Skyp Socks by Adrienne Ku
The Modifications: At first, I tried to knit them exactly to pattern but I had some trouble getting the pattern to line up after the heel on the first sock because you leave some stitches unworked at the end of the round before the heel flap. I chose not to figure it out and fix it, I just kept going and didn't both to leave those unworked stitches on the second sock.
The Notes: Lovely yarn to work with, although it's definitely too warm for them just yet, my feet were sweating like crazy while I had them on (for those 2 minutes) to take photos. These will be going into the Christmas box I think, to become a gift.
There's also a bunch of leftover yarn.

It may not look like much but this is 46 grams of yarn! I think I may do some hexipuffs and then attempt to knit a pair of children's socks. We'll see if I get that ambitious.

I think this is the last thing I had with a real deadline so it's all about what I want to knit for awhile. I'm very excited about that! Although, I should think about working on those couple of projects I am planning to knit for Christmas.

Planning for Halloweening

I recently treated myself to something a little bit special. A skein of Vesper self-striping sock yarn in a Halloween colorway.

It's called Witchy Woman and I thought it was very pretty. I decided that I would knit some Halloween socks, I don't usually do that so it sounded fun. This skein stripes a lovely deep purple, neon green and black. It's even more fun when you wind it up and start knitting it!

I have one other skein of Vesper sock yarn but I haven't knit with it at all yet. I like it so far although it's another fine yarn that I chose to knit on 0s. Rather than doing the typical plain stockinette sock I decided to go a bit different and I'm knitting the Skew pattern. Fun yarn plus a fun pattern should make a really awesome pair of Halloween socks.

You may notice I'm not mentioning my other knitting, that's because I'm working on it but it looks pretty much exactly the same. I'm also not mentioning Christmas knitting (don't panic, you knew it was coming!) That's mainly because I'm not planning to do a whole lot of knitting this Christmas. I put far too much pressure on myself so I have decided that only a very few people will be getting hand knits this year. I'll have to bring it up at some point though.

Fall Shawlette

I just wanted to get a little quickie post up before I rush out the door. I started a new shawl/ette! It's from nom in the Autumn colorway. I have 2 skeins one from the club and one from a destash, they're different dyelots but I'm not all that worried about it. I wanted something fairly simple since there is some color variation in this yarn so I chose the Simply Riveting Scarf pattern by Megan Williams.

I'm planning to just keep adding repeats until I get close to the end of the yarn, do the edge and bind off. I'm loving it so far! It's a fast and fun knit! Talk to me later when the purl rows are a few hundred stitches though.

One Skyp Down

It's amazing how quickly socks knit on size US2 needles will go when you just finished a pair on size 0s. The first Skyp sock is done and I'm loving this pattern.

It's very simple and easy to execute but it look wonderful! I'm really glad I did decide to rip the ribbing and reknit it because the 2x2 ribbing flows so nicely into the sock pattern.

I'm not sure what it is about this colorway though, it's not my favorite so I've made these just a tiny bit big for me, I'm thinking they will be a Christmas gift. For someone pretty special though, this is nom after all! (The colorway, in case you love it is called Dusk and was a club colorway. It doesn't appear to be on the shop yet  but should be soon. I think it was June's colorway so it will be out this month or next month I believe.)

It's amazing how, if you keep your Ravelry project page updated you can see how many projects you have going at once. I'm amazed to find that I actually don't have that many so I'm thinking of starting a lovely cushy shawl for fall. I'm even thinking about using some nom. I have 2 skeins of a colorway that's very autumny and I think it would be perfect! Now to find just the right, simple pattern. I'm sure I have one in my queue.

Silk Mittens with Dyelot Issues

Let's discuss dye lots shall we?
You know how you often see those messages on patterns or even on yarn that state: Make sure you buy enough to finish your project in case of dyelot changes? Well, the same applies if you are dyeing your own fiber for a project.

Let's examine my silk mittens. These are knit from silk hankies or mawatas that have been pulled out into a yarn-like thickness and then knit. There's no spinning involved. They've been pretty popular the last few years. When I thought about trying the process, I couldn't just run out and buy the fiber already dyed, no, I had to try dyeing it myself.

It really is a fairly simple process, the same as dyeing any other animal fiber. Notice the difference though? The top of the left mitten (they are interchangeable, it's just the left one in the photos) and the thumb are darker. Yup, I ran out of dyed mawatas and had to dye more. I didn't get them to come out exactly the same but to me, it was close enough so I decided to just use them anyway. It's silk after all, you don't want to waste it! The color was dubbed "Mermaid's Tears" by a friend at Knit night and I think that's funny so it stuck. You can find my Rav page about them here.
I think the color is close enough that it doesn't really bother me that it's a little different but when I finished them and showed them to my dad, the first thing he said was, "How come the top of that mitten is a different color?"
*sigh* Muggles.
Ah well, they will still be lovely this winter.
Speaking of silk though, I  have agreed to teach a class at the Upper Midwest Fall Fiber Fest this year. It's all about silk! Here is the Ravelry group for the Festival, although my class is not listed yet, if you're interested, keep an eye out.

Skyp-ing Along

Projects have been going along pretty well. I worked on my Skyp socks a lot while I was down at my parents' house. I got it past the heel turn even. It's turning out pretty well so far. Although I haven't made much progress since I returned home.

I had a little trouble after the heel flap and turn while starting up the gussets because the pattern calls for you to stop 5 stitches before the end of round (for the size I'm making) before starting the heel flap and then when you start up after the turn, while picking up gusset stitches I wasn't at the correct part of the pattern to start the pattern as written. I'm not sure if the fault is with the pattern or me but I decided rather than ripping the heel flap back to figure it out (since that is my least favorite part of a sock) I would just fudge it and keep going. I was at my parents and couldn't look for errata but I wanted to just keep going.
Here's how the pattern looks.

It's really an interesting pattern and I'm loving the knit, very simple and quick.
I've also been doing a little bit of spinning. This month in the Knitgirllls group for Expand your Horizons it's Rambouillet. I happened to have some lovely Rambouillet in my stash so I decided to participate and spin some of it up.

Here's the braid I started with. It's from Cloudlover and it's just lovely. So soft and sproingy. I'm not sure why I hadn't spun this earlier but I really enjoyed spinning this lovely fiber.

I only spun about half of the fiber but I wanted to get it done so I could get back to my commissioned project. I'll have to get to the second 2 ounces later. Meanwhile, I finished this:

It's a little less than half of the 4-ounce braid and it's Navajo-plied. I absolutely adore it. It stayed soft and sproingy and when washed, it puffed up a little but not a ton. Now the truly amazing part.

Less than 2 ounces, 3-plied in a Navajo-Ply and it's...wait for it....358 yards!!!!
Sorry about the excessive use of exclamation points but I'm very excited about this yarn. Of course there are a few thicker and a few thinner spots, which is usually true of handspun but it's all soft and smooth, none of it came out wiry. I definitely want to spin more rambouillet very soon!