Spinning Like a Fiend

Things have been spinning up a great deal lately. there's just something about spinning. I cannot for the life of me explain it but I've found myself doing more spinning than anything else lately. First, I was working on the 4 ounces of Merino from Gritty Knits in the September 2011
Merino-of-the-Month color.

I finally finished spinning it and dutifully waited overnight to start plying. I plied and plied and plied. Then I went to bed and slept and started plying again the next day. I plied and plied and plied and plied some more. (I really wanted this yarn or I would so have lost interest sooner.) I finally finished.

It came out just beautiful.

As I've mentioned before, it's navajo-plied to keep the colors together and I spun straight through the braid to make it almost like a gradient with one color on one end, a different color on the other and the center completely different. This picture doesn't totally do it justice, you can't see how the colors move through the skein.

I tried to hold it out so you could see a bit better.

It sort of worked. I think you won't really be able to see it well until I wind it up and I am vehemently resisting because I have a couple of projects on deadlines and I know I won't be able to resist this yarn once it's wound into a ball. I will have to cast something on at the soonest possible moment.

As I said, it came out lovely. I got (prewashing measurement) 658 yards of Navajo-plied yarn. I cannot believe the yardage. This is 4 ounces people! I think it's safe to say this came out as laceweight and I'm so excited and happy with it. I'm telling you, the resistance I'm displaying in not winding it up is amazing.

But that's not all! (Infomercial Style) Remember the Spunky Eclectic yarn that I spun up awhile ago. As you may remember, I didn't love it but a lovely friend from my knitting group did and we arranged a trade. The yarn has gone to live in it's new home and something else has come to live in my home.

Two of these amazing braids of Falkland. The colorway is Giza Shadows and they're dyed by Fiber Fancy which is a dyer I hadn't tried before. I think the soft subtle shading in these braids is amazing. I absolutely love them. As a matter of fact, I love them so much that although I received these on Sunday evening at Knit Night, I had this by Monday evening.

Well, look at that, it's a lovely skein of worsted weight yarn. I really debated about how I would ply this fiber, I knew I wanted about a worsted weight to knit some great spring project (once my deadline knitting is done of course.) I'm thinking a bag or purse as a matter of fact. Any suggestions?

Anyway, I really debated about how I would ply this yarn but ultimately decided to Navajo-ply. What can I say, I love how it keeps the colors together. I really love how it turned out too.

This first skein has about 200 yards and the second has a bit less so it might be closer to a bulky-weight. What's that? The other skein? Oh yes, that's right, today I finished plying the second skein of this yarn. I still absolutely love it and I'm so excited to get to knitting but I have things to finish first.

One of my deadline projects is a sort of secret but the other is not. It's the second of the Critter sweaters. It's the larger of the two, for the older girl and I had a minor mishap in that I had it come out way too big. I was past dividing for the sleeves when I realized it so I have some ripping and reknitting to do. If you need me, that's where I'll be.

Insomnia and a Cowl or How Sometimes Things Just Come Together

As you may have heard (since I've been whining about it pretty constantly) I have had a cold lately. In trying to stay bundled up and warm while not spending all my time in bed, I've been wearing my little shawlettes around my neck a lot. I do this all the time when I'm well also but in this case it was partly to stay warm and protect my neck. They kept falling off though and I was getting very frustrated. I decided, for the first time in my life, that I wanted a cowl that didn't come undone, that you had to pull over your neck and it would stay on. Since I'm still on a yarn diet and really, I wasn't going anywhere to buy yarn anyway, I went stash-diving and came up with some lovely pink yarn.

There's a big old sticker over the label so I can't really read it but it does say that it's made of Angora, wool and nylon and that total (with both skeins) I have about 250 yards. I cast on and started knitting. In the interest of full disclosure I should mention that I got this yarn from a friend's destash and she originally purchased it from Tuesday Morning, I think.
The reason I'm giving you full disclosure is that I started to have a few issues. The yarn was broken in quite a few places. I was able to splice it but I wasn't too happy about it. It was turning out pretty nice and fuzzy and soft and suddenly I noticed that my nose was even stuffier and I was starting to get itchy.
I think it was the yarn. I think I somehow have an allergy to it. What finally clinched it was that I ended up with a terrible headache. Now, here's what's strange. I've worked with angora before. I like angora. I think it's soft and lovely. I wanted to work with this yarn but I just couldn't. I'm wondering if there's some issue with the cleanser that's used to process angora commercially. Angora straight off the rabbit is fine but this and some roving that I was spinning at one time that was Cormo/Angora (and absolutely fabulous) gave me the same issues.
The headache is what really sealed the fate of this poor little yarn.

There it is. Glaring out from its plastic prison. Hah! I win. Except of course that I still didn't have a cowl. I was completely through the first chart too. That's 10 rounds of 130 stitches. (Oh dear, I just realized that was 1300 stitches. A few hours of my life, then it was whisked off the needles and imprisoned.)

Anyway, I still didn't have a beautiful cowl so I went back to the stash and came up with this:

Remember this? It was easy to find since it still wasn't actually put away. It's a smaller than 4 ounces skein of Gritty Knits Merino of the Month from November 2011. (It's less than 4 ounces because I took some of the spinning fiber off the braid and plan to use it for a different spinning project.) I just recently spun it into 246 yards of a squishy and soft sport-weight yarn.
I decided it was perfect and I cast on. I was going to knit myself through those first 10 rounds and go to bed but I couldn't sleep so I just kept watching video podcasts and knitting and knitting and knitting. By morning I hadn't had any sleep but I did have this.

A very lovely cowl. I literally put it on and laid down and got some sleep. When I got up I wove in the ends and took this picture for the blog.

Here's what remains of the yarn. I'm thinking it will probably end up becoming hexipuffs.
Back to the cowl. Here are:
The Stats:
The Pattern: Eleanor Cowl by Audrey Knight from Knitty
The Yarn: Gritty Knits Merino of the Month November 2011. Spun into 246 yards of sportweight yarn. (I have about 54 yards leftover)
The Gauge: I didn't measure my gauge, I just used the needles called for in the pattern and knit. I like it though so it worked out just fine.
The Needles: Size US 7, Size US 5 and Size US 4. The pattern calls for circulars in 16" of each, I didn't have 16" circulars of all those sizes and didn't want to knit it flat so I just used DPNs.
The Notes: This pattern was an absolute joy to knit, it turned out extremely lovely. The cowl could do with a good wash and block now but that would involve taking it off so we'll see how long it actually takes to get to that point. It's a bit taller than I would have thought, it sits quite bunched up on my neck so if I were to knit it again and I might, I think I wouldn't do that extra repeat of rows 23-49 on chart B.
If you are interested in a cowl at all, I suggest you check out this pattern, it's really quite lovely and well-written. It has directions for both knitting in the round or knitting it flat.
The Modifications: I did make a few modifications to this pattern. Any time there was a knit stitch in between a bunch of purl stitches or right next to a bunch of purl stitches, I knit it through the back loop to keep those knit stitches well-defined. I think it really added to the look of it and I'd recommend doing the same.

Slow Week, I'm Being Taken Down by a Cold

Actual work on projects has been somewhat stalled lately since the cold I'm dealing with has made my thought process sort of slow, when I can actually think. It's just a cold, I just find myself sitting and staring at my hands holding my knitting rather than knitting it. I did manage to get a bit farther on my second Fiddly sock.

I actually finished the ribbing and started on the leg patterning. I still love the pattern but bright light is very helpful with the dark yarn and it has been somewhat scarce lately.

I also cast on the second Critter sweater.

It really doesn't look like much of anything yet does it?

As you may recall, I watch two little girls for a friend of mine. She is also a knitter and spinner. She's also quite an enabler. I knit a baby sweater for a mutual friend last year and she requested that I knit sweaters for her girls, that she calls Critters, with some of her handspun. When the second critter tried on the baby's sweater (which came out too large for a baby really as this critter is 2) she was so enamored with it, I could hardly say no. The first sweater is already finished. As a matter of fact, she wore it to church a couple of weeks ago. Since the lovely critter mama would like the girls to be able to wear them on Easter and Lent has already begun, I figured I'd better get a move on. I am figuring out this pattern based on the baby sweater pattern I used so I may end up doing some major ripping. Let's hope not.

You may notice that I'm not linking to the baby sweater pattern I used. I do have it on my Ravelry page if you really need to know, but while it has some interesting slipped stitch pattern rows, I felt the pattern itself was not particularly well-written. It was missing some vital information (like how long to knit the body and how long the sleeves should be) as someone who does not have children herself, that was kind of important in the pattern. I'm not going to bad-mouth the pattern but I will not recommend it and not link to it to keep others from running into the same issues.

I'm going to head back to the spinning wheel and hopefully finish the singles for my Merino today. I'd like to let them rest overnight at least before plying and that implies that I do actually need to finish them at some point. You know, if I can stop staring blankly at the wheel and actually make the treadle go.

In Which I Use the Word Discernible and Hope It's Spelled Right

It turns out that tomorrow is going to be a bit busy so rather than waiting to blog, I decided to put a post up tonight. I'm slowly but surely descending into illness. Stupid nasty cold that's going around, nothing serious. I thought I was going to avoid it but it's coming and I know it. It's probably better that I post a little something tonight because of that too. Who knows how coherent I will be tomorrow.

The BFL yarn from yesterday is dry so I thought I'd give you all a look at how it looks now.

This is the Cloudlover BFL. I fractal spun it, splitting the braid in half and then half split again so the colors would twist around each other. In some places they line up and in some they barberpole in the most lovely way. I can tell the winter is starting to get to me because I love the parts where the golden/mustardy yellow line up with themselves. It makes me happy and I'm not usually a big yellow person. I guess I'm missing the sunshine.

I finished the first half of the Gritty Knits merino I was talking about as well and it occurred to me that if the other picture was terrible, why not take another.

This is the first bobbin of singles and the second half of the roving. As I said, I'm spinning it straight down the roving with no splitting. I am taking a smallish piece and drafting it well before I start on it though. You can see a little of the bright aqua blue on the bobbin. As you can see, it blends into a bright, bold pink with some brown and then into a sea blue-green that's quite lovely. I think spinning it this way will make a lovely almost gradient type yarn. I can't wait to knit a little shawlette or something with it.

I also made actual discernible progress on something I'm knitting. I finished a sock. Of course it's a single sock, but I did cast on it's mate so I'm working on it.

This is the first of the Cascade Heritage Handpaints (I believe) in the Gentlemen's sock in Railway Stitch pattern. I really like it so far. I'm not making any mods on this pattern except to make the leg a bit longer. I'm even using the size needle called for, even though I'm getting a bit tighter gauge than the pattern calls for. I love how it's turning out though and I'm really looking forward to having a lovely pair of dressy socks when I'm finally finished with these.

Here's a little bit closer shot so you can see the stitch definition a little bit better. They really are beautiful and a soft subtle shift of colors.

Well, I'm off to blow my nose 1200 times and watch a little television with my husband. Then, hopefully a good night's sleep.

Reappearing, just like Magic

Well, hello again. I seem to have disappeared for a week or so there. Oops, I certainly didn't mean to, I can't even use the "being busy" excuse because I wasn't all that busy. I just sort of forgot.

I'll try not to let it happen again. I have been getting things done, although not much on the knitting front. I have knit on lots of things but very little progress has actually been accomplished. Really more than anything I've been spinning. I sometimes just get into that mode. I just want to spin all. the. time. You have of course, seen some of the lovely yarn that's been coming off the wheel lately. Things that I absolutely love, so I think that has encouraged me to keep spinning things, plus, I uploaded all my dyed spinning stash into Ravelry so it made me remember all the great things in that stash.

I finished some yarn. I can't find the picture of the original fiber but here it is on my Ravelry Stash page. I spun some nice, fine singles and navajo-plied it.
Isn't it lovely? I am actually having a hard time not winding this into a ball and casting on with it immediately. I both spun and plied it on my Matchless. I got 472 yards. Like I said, I think it's just lovely. Before washing it seemed a little overplied but when I twacked it a couple of times, it seems to have evened out quite a bit.

Inspired by this yarn, I dug out another lovely braid of Gritty Knits fiber.

This picture is really horrible but I didn't take a better one. It's a lovely bright blue on one end, a combination of pink and brownish in the center and a sort of sea green-blue on the other end. Since the colors travel along the braid and are so different, I thought it would be fun to spin it straight down the braid, navajo ply it and have a lovely almost gradient yarn to knit into a shawlette of some kind. I started spinning it but as I'm spinning it quite fine it's taking forever. Since it's taking so long, I needed something instant gratification (or as close as you can get in spinning)

I grabbed this lovely braid of Cloudlover BFL from my stash

Since I love how the colors look together I fractal spun it. That means I split the braid in half then split one of the halves again so the colors would mix up.

This is a really terrible picture of them during plying. They are moving, that's why it's a bit blurry. I really like how the yarn came out. It's drying right now so I will wait to take a picture of it. I planned to spin a chunky two-ply but really, the fiber drafted so well that I ended up with about 364 yards of sportweight. I'm not sure what it wants to be yet, so it will be marinating in the stash for awhile.

I did acquire something new this weekend too. (In addition to my fiber clubs which both arrived. I won't post pictures yet so I don't spoil surprises but they are up on my stash if you are interested.)
I didn't break the yarn diet, don't worry. I instead won a prize!

This lovely batt is from my friend Lisa's etsy shop (the shop has been on hiatus for awhile but she's wanting to get it up and running again soon so keep checking if you're interested). We had a Lord of the Rings party on Saturday (during which we watched all 3 extended edition Lord of the Rings movies, that was a lot of sitting)
and we had a "costume contest". That's in quotes because really it was Lisa and I that showed up and she was sick so I was the only one in costume. We had a lovely time anyway and had more snacks since there were only the two of us. I got to choose a lovely prize for having a great costume. It's a 2.05 ounce batt. I'm not sure of the exact content, although I think it may contain some silk and it definitely has something sparkly in it. I think the picture shows the colors pretty accurately and I'm in mad, crazy love with it. It too is going to hang out in the stash for awhile though.

Not much else has been going on, just a lot of spinning, some knitting and a fun party. I'll have more to report later this week since I'm going to try getting back in the habit of blogging at least twice each week.

Just a Quickie

As I've mentioned, I haven't been feeling the love too much with my current projects. Rather than casting on something new, I decided to find an older UFO (Unfinished Object) and finish it.
And so I present: Hubby's Hideous socks.

Now that they're done they aren't as bad because I don't have to knit with the yarn, but they are not my favorite colors. I originally purchased the yarn, thinking it would have more of the pretty reddish pink in it. It doesn't. I decided to knit socks for the hubby because he doesn't mind colors like that. Okay, so getting back to an older format;
The Specs:
The Yarn: Red Heart Heart and Sole sock yarn. 1 Skein Navy Blue, 1 skein Rustica
The Needles: US 2 (2.75mm)
The Size: Men's Size 12 (12" foot)
The Recipient: The Jumping Bean (My darling husband)
The Pattern: Just a plain toe-up sock with coordinating heels and toes
The Notes: I wanted to use up the yarn that I didn't care for so I knit these two at a time from either end of the ball. Hubby's foot is 12" long and I had quite a bit for the leg. I'm impressed. I did have some of the Navy Blue left, I just got sick of the ribbing and the leg of the socks, including ribbing is about 5.5". I had one foot done through the heel when I picked these up and quickly finished them. JB says they are really comfortable and he likes them a lot.

So, do we like this format for finished items? Do we like how it's presented, that you get all the information in this format? Leave a comment, let me know.

Corriedale is Inspiring

The other night I was watching TV with the hubby and thinking about knitting. I was just not loving any of my current knitting projects so I knew I needed something new. Maybe something quick and simple so I could get back to my other projects (which really are lovely, I just wasn't in the mood for them the other day.)

I grabbed some lovely yarn and cast on a baby hat I had been wanting to try. When I finished it, I also knit a quickie pair of booties to go along with it. The set is going in my gift box and someday some very blessed mom-to-be will be getting a great set from me!

Isn't it great? The hat is from Homespun Handknit and part of the Bouncing Baby Set. The booties are Oh! Baby baby booties pattern. I've knit the bootie pattern before (several times) They're super cute!

I've also been working on spinning. This week I finished some lovely Corriedale. I got the Corriedale fiber from out Spinning Guild's gift exchange at the Christmas party in 2010. I spun the almost 3 1/2 ounces into a lovely 2-ply laceweight.

I've thought about dyeing it but it just looks so lovely I think I need to knit it as it is.

Here's a dime for scale. I'm thinking twisted stitches would be gorgeous in this yarn. I'll have to try it out. I have 412 yards so I should be able to make something lovely. I'm off to search patterns now.

Beautiful Mittens Can Brighten up a Winter's Day

Well my friends, I finished the Merino/Bamboo yarn. It turned out lovely.

I love how in some places the colors matched up and in some they didn't. It turned out really neat. I'm so excited for it to go to its new home too!

I've also been working on some mittens. I just decided I needed a project other than socks and these were small and relatively quick so they were just the ticket.
A friend loaned me her copy of the Fiddlehead mittens pattern. I dug in the stash and found some wonderful yarn.

3 skeins of Alpaca and Silk from Blue Sky Alpacas in a lovely undyed color. I wound off little balls of it and dyed them, waited very impatiently for it to be dry and knit these.

The best part about them? (Other than the fact that I dyed them) is this:

You knit basically a second mitten inside the first and then turn the second one inside out inside the first, making them double layered and super warm.

I love my new mittens, they make me smile.

One more thing before I sign off for today. As many of you know, I've been working at a local craft store teaching and moderating Knit & Crochet nights for several years, I've been going through some personal things, including some depression and anxiety and I just felt like I was putting too much of myself out into the world when I need to focus on myself and getting better so, this week, I quit my job at the local craft store. It was a very hard decision because I love some of the friends I made there but I need to focus on myself and getting to a healthy place before I can focus on others. I want to try to continue to blog as my knitting and spinning often keeps me going but I will be focusing on what I need first for awhile. Thank you, gentle reader, for understanding.

Mmmm, Chock Full of Orangey Goodness

Remember that fiber that I showed off the other day?

Well, it's called Fruity Drinks by the Pool and it's from the Spunky Eclectic Club. I'm not in the club but occasionally will purchase something from a friend's destash when she isn't excited about it. This is one of those purchases. It's 60% Merino and 40% Bamboo. I think it's a lovely fiber, very silky and glides easily through your fingers to spin it. As a matter of fact, it seems to have turned into these singles.

I'm having the same issue my friend did with it though, I'm not loving the colors. I'm just not that enamored with them. The good news is, I asked a different friend, who commented on the fiber, what she'd like me to do with it. I'm going to 2-ply it for her and we will work out some sort of trade or something. Very exciting.

As I've mentioned, I've been trying to get my projects page more organized on Ravelry and have it reflect, at least in some small way, my actual projects. I think it's pretty much current right now. Sadly, the only thing I've added is socks. It's apparently all socks all the time around here. Just to prove it, here's another one.

This is the yarn. It's called Darling Clementine and it's Nom of course from the Gritty Knits Nom of the month club. It's not my favorite colors but they will be bright and soft and squishy and I think that honestly, if I'm going to stay in the Nom club, I need to knit with it once in awhile or I'm going to have a ridiculous stash of the stuff. I do love the way it's knitting up though.

As you can see (maybe) I'm into the gusset increases on the first sock. Isn't it full of delicious orangey stripes?

I've also been working on updating my stash on ravelry. I'm starting with my fiber stash only. I think I have it all updated now. At least with all the dyed fiber, although there could still be some lurking around the office, it's pretty messy in there right now. If you'd like to take a look, you can find it here. We will not mention all the undyed stuff yet right? Otherwise I might go a little bit cuckoo!

Anyway, I'm off to try to get warm and ply that Merino/Bamboo. It should be fun.

Finally the Green-Brown Yarn Story

After spending Saturday relaxing at home, we ran all day on Sunday. First church followed by a birthday party for my husband's grandma. She's 90 now! It's sure amazing to see how her life has progressed and the friends she has made along the way.
Well, after spending all day Sunday running my darling husband and I seem to have picked up some sort of bug. Both of us have been sick for days. Since I've been lying mostly comatose in bed I haven't gotten a lot of knitting or crocheting or anything else done. (You should see the pile of dishes in the kitchen. It's scary. Anyone want to come and wash them for me? Please? No? No takers huh? I guess I'll have to try to find the strength somewhere.) Anyway, instead of new projects, I have a couple of things to show off from the last couple of weeks.

First, I have a lovely snowflake dishcloth I crocheted. The pattern was free on a display of Bernat Cotton at JoAnn Fabrics. I originally picked it up because my mom was interested in it. I thought if I crocheted it first, then when she inevitably calls with questions, I would have some idea what they wanted and would be able to help.

I really like the result though. It's pretty enough to be decorative and it almost makes me want to wash the dishes. Not quite though. I think I will have to make a few more to have around for dish-washing though. If you're interested in it, you don't need to trek out to your local JoAnn's though, the pattern is also available online here.

I did feel the need to start a new sock on Saturday too. I really don't know why, I have several going right now. I wound up some yarn I had spun last year. It's the Zarzuela Sock Stripes yarn. I talked about spinning it here. I cast on a sock from the toe-up and so far, I haven't gotten very far.

It's turning out lovely though and I'm very happy to be knitting it.

As promised, I also have a bit of spinning to show off. First, the singles I showed off last week. They plied up into some lovely yarn. I got about 246 yards despite swiping a bit of the fiber to put into other spinning projects. I'm not sure what it would like to be yet though. I find that's so often true when I spin something.


Speaking of spinning something, I finally have a photo of the cursed yarn.

I'm joking of course, I don't really believe the yarn is cursed but it has had some serious problems. I originally received it in July 2011 for the Gritty Knits Merino-of-the-month club. I liked the colors and the subtlety of it but I knew it wasn't going to be exciting to spin, it was too subtle for that. I started spinning it with the intention of navajo plying and I should have known it was going to have issues when it seemed to be taking forever to get though the fiber, the singles were turning out lovely until...
the thread of singles broke while I was spinning. Normally that's no big deal, you just find the end, splice it and keep going right? Except! I could NOT find the end. I searched and searched. I finally created an end by snapping the singles and kept going with the spinning, trying to forget about the issues it had. I finished the singles before Christmas, but set the bobbin aside in order to finish all the projects I had going for gifts. When I finally took it out and started plying, I found no lack of breakage and when I got to that same spot where the singles had broken, I had the same problem, not being able to find the end. I got so frustrated, I set the bobbin aside and finally had to have my friend WoolPrincess help me find that end. I managed to finish the plying and wind the yarn off with no further incident. It really is lovely yarn and I have a whopping 544 yards of Navajo-plied yarn. If only I can bring myself to get past its issues and knit the yarn now. It will definitely have a time-out for awhile and then we'll see.

In the meantime, I'm going to try to get a little something done. Maybe some laundry could get folded. Let's just ignore those dishes for one more day.

August Socks are Finally, Officially Finished

I keep saying I will blog twice a week and then time just slips away and here I sit on a Saturday, still without a second blog post for the week. In yet another attempt to keep the habit going, let's start with a few finished things.

I've had these socks finished since August. They were my August socks after all. I forgot to take pictures of them though and so the project for them on Ravelry has been sitting neglected. Gathering internet dust as it were. Finally, in all their getting-slightly-pilly-already glory are the August Socks.

I really do like them and I think they turned out very well. If you'd like to know more about them, check out their project on Ravelry here. It will be updated with this picture and it's completed information later.

I've been focusing a lot on doing spinning lately. Almost to the exclusion of my knitting. I guess I just find the smooth feel of fiber sliding through my fingers to be so soothing, something I can almost do without looking, that I tend to get lost in it.

I finally finished plying the cursed Green and Brown Merino but it deserves it's own post. It has a whole story.

I also spun and plied a braid of pink and purplish merino that I wasn't too sure about.

I took some of the fiber out of the braid for something else and was left with some unusual colors as you can see from these singles. Pretty but unusual. I'll bet you can't wait to see how they plied up. Well, wait you will have to, the yarn isn't washed yet and I think it deserves at least that before it's blog debut.

Since I finished two spinning projects that means I get to start another right?

Mmmmm, lovely stuff, very soft and silky. Let's talk more about that later too.

I have Nothing Interesting to Say Here

The last couple of days have been a bit crazy. I spent the weekend finishing up my family Christmas celebrations. We went down on Saturday and visited my grandma and then on Sunday we spent the day at my grandpa's house. It was a lovely weekend but it was not very conducive to knitting.

I have been working on getting some things done though. Here's the sweater for Critter #2 (the littlest lovely lady that I babysit for each week)

This is some Superwash Merino that her mama and I dyed at Shepherd's Harvest last year and then she spun into some lovely two-ply yarn. There's a full pound and so, when I finish the first sweater, I'll be starting on Critter #1's sweater. They are both very excited about their sweaters.
I'm on the first sleeve of this smaller one.

I would normally link to the pattern that I'm using but it's a free one on Ravelry and I don't think it's written very well. It's really more of a guideline for me so I won't encourage others to check it out. It's meant for a baby anyway and I'm knitting toddler size (by going up a couple of needle sizes, making the body and sleeves longer). The larger sweater will take some measuring and finagling before I can cast on. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I may be a little nervous that it won't come out the right size.

The Gentleman's Sock in Railway Stitch has been weighing on my mind as well. I threaded it onto waste yarn and tried it on. It's quite a bit shorter than the pattern calls for and when you stretch it to fit it around your leg, it shortens even more.

The verdict? I'm knitting more leg stitches. I'm really, really hoping I don't run out of yarn on the second sock. I think they're turning out very nice though. Although, I don't expect to have a pair of socks anytime soon.

Actually Sticking to one Goal

I don't usually post on a Saturday, but I did promise to post at least twice a week so I need to actually get to it, especially since I just said it the other day.

Not much has changed on the knitting front, although I did take a look at my sad Ravelry projects page and discovered that I am seriously outdated. I haven't posted a picture of my August socks and they've been completed since, well, August. I'm wearing them right now as a matter of fact. Hmm, now would be an excellent time to take a photo. I should remember that and take one today.
I did start a new pair of socks, The Gentleman's sock in Railway Stitch from Knitting Vintage Socks. I think the pattern is beautiful. Although a bit fiddly, especially on tiny needles in dark yarn. I'm loving the socks but I have encountered a problem.

I'm knitting them on size 0s as the pattern calls for and I realized (now that I have knit all the way down the leg to where I should start the heel flap) that I'm not getting gauge. I should have used 1s. I like how they look in this gauge and I'm enjoying knitting it. I'm planning for the socks to be for me (because why knit for someone else on 0s) I'm pretty sure they will fit well at their current gauge as well. The issue I'm running into is that they have leg shaping and they are meant to be 8 1/2 inches before the heel flap and they aren't. They're about 6 inches. My question is this: To add more leg stitches or not?

Well, weigh in, what do you think? I'm guessing the only way for me to know is to slip the sock onto waste yarn and try it on, figuring out where the shaping sits and where it should sit. More on that next week.

In the meantime, Happy Weekend!

Goal-Setting

I keep meaning to post but the time has just slipped away these last couple of weeks.

I had a wonderful Christmas with my in-laws, then a wonderful Christmas with my family. Then a crazy busy week and a lovely quiet new year with friends.

Now, as the calendar turns, I'm starting to look forward and figure out my goals for the coming year. Some are personal and I won't share them here, some are business-related and some, well, some are meant to be shared here. They are the fiber/yarn/knitting goals.

1. I would like to be better about blogging. I'd like to post at least twice a week, more if possible. Feel free to start bugging me if you don't see anything for a bit.

2. I'd like to get my projects page updated on Ravelry. It really helps me to realize just how much I have going on if I have it all listed and pictured. I've been really bad about that lately. Within the next week, I want to get a more accurate picture of my current works-in-progress and start getting my projects page more organized.

3. I'd like to get my stash listed on Ravelry. Completely. I want to get it all more organized anyway and while I'm going through it, why not take it out and take a picture, get it listed and then I'll have a much better idea of what I have too. That will make planning projects much easier as well.

4. I've signed up for a stashdown and so I'd like to focus on not purchasing more yarn and fiber for awhile. I am still going to continue my clubs so there will be a small influx of yarn/fiber (hopefully enough to take the edge off) but I think focusing on what I have will be a great idea. I have so much waiting for my attention and some of it is lovely stuff, so there's no reason to ignore it like I have been. Let's say I will not make purchases (unless it's needed to finish a project) until Shepherd's Harvest in May. Setting that goal will (hopefully) also help me to get a little money set aside to make Shepherd's Harvest a wonderful time to purchase some fun things!

I think setting these goals and actually putting them out there for others to see will help me to stay focused on them.

Meanwhile, I'd like to show off a couple of pictures of what I just finished.

This is 4 ounces of Polwarth from CJ Kopec Creations. I actually bought it from a destash awhile ago. The other night when I needed something to spin, I went for the lovely, bright package with this in it. It was a joy to spin, quick and easy because it was so well prepped (and not by me). I got about 400 yards of 2-ply. I love it. I tried to get the colors to line up for the most part and ply with each other so in most places they do. I think it's wonderful, although bright. I have enough for nearly any one-skein project but I'm not at all sure what I'd like it to be yet.

(The color is more accurate on this second picture)
It seems so bright and too beautiful for socks. There's some wonderful project just waiting in this skein, I'm just not sure what it is. Maybe it will have to marinate for awhile until I figure it out.

In the meantime, I leave you with this:

A picture of a wonderful winter afternoon at my parents house. Hand-knit socks up on the hearth, knitting in the lap and a lovely fire. Life doesn't get much better than that.

Happy New Year to all my lovely readers!
P.S. What goals do you have this year?

Weather Delay means you get the Cute!

I was going to share some pictures of my lovely shawl that I received from my Plurk Swap buddy today but the gray weather and lack of light is not very conducive to taking good photos and the beautiful shawl really deserves better than that.

Instead I've decided to show you a picture of one of the cutest things ever.
This is hubby, crocheting. He's working on an undisclosed gift for an undisclosed recipient. He's helping with the Christmas gift creating this year.

Isn't he cute?! (I'm pretty sure he has no idea I have taken this picture since I didn't use flash. that's why it's not super bright either. It is super cute though!)

Plurk Swap from My Side

Since I'm heavily ensconced in my Christmas knitting there isn't too much for me to blog about right now. Although, there will be at least a few things I can show off because I know the recipients won't be stumbling near to get a peek. That comes later though. For now, let's take a trip back in time. (It won't take long, just a little jaunt.)

A few months ago I joined the Plurk Swap and then sort of forgot about it. Well, I remembered to look for fiber in Wisconsin and I remembered to spin it into some lovely laceweight but when people started posting about how they had started their shawls and weren't we getting close to the deadline, I panicked slightly, pulled myself up and finally made a decision on the pattern.

I knit the Holden Shawlette. The pattern was in my recipient's queue so I knew she would like the pattern at least. The start is just stockinette and it flew by. Of course by the time you get to the patterned section the rows are longer so it seemed to take longer. I always think that's partly because they are patterned too so I need to pay more attention. I finally cast off and blocked it. It turned out lovely.

I think half of what I liked about it was how the colors moved through making almost stripes in some places and smooth transitions in others.

The patterned section was actually pretty fun to knit but the picot bindoff took some fortitude. You manipulate each stitch several times to make the neat little bumps. I did not pin each one out although I think it would have added something.

Then I started assembling all the other bits and bobs to include in the package. We had a spending limit so I tried to be reasonable but I made a few things too so I could send off what I thought was an awesome package. (Hopefully as good as the awesome package I had received.)

My swap buddy has received it already and (I hope) liked it so now I can blog about it all I want.

One more picture, just because I can!

I really like the way it turned out and I actually had a lot of fun with the swap. Right now there's some real life stress going on so I don't know that I would rush right out and sign up for another swap but I certainly would consider it if another swap came along.

Hmm, I never posted about what I received did I? Well, maybe that will have to be an upcoming post. In the meantime, I'm going to try to get my Christmas lights working so I can decorate. So far, it isn't looking too good.