Preparation and Training

Saturday is the start of the Tour de Fleece or TdF. For those nonspinners out there, we will get you, it's only a matter of time... I mean, it's a super fun time where we spin along during the Tour de France. One of the best parts about it, as far as I'm concerned is the fact that you set your own goals. You can do whatever you'd like but you are encouraged to challenge yourself. For me, I love to use it as a time to strengthen my spinning skills and try to spin a little bit each day. I did go digging in the stash to find some things to set my sights on though.

Here are the main goals for the tour. Starting at the top: Cloudlover Merino in Peacock. This was a club colorway that a friend got and didn't love so I purchased it from her. It's been calling to me but I have no idea what it would like to be. To the right, Cloudlover Shetland in Decay. I love the Decay colorway and I got this last year at Shepherd's Harvest. I'm not sure about the Shetland base in this color so I also bought it on Polwarth this year. I feel like then it's okay to spin the Shetland and "use it up." I'm a little odd like that. The third braid is Zarzuela's Fibers Targhee in Emeralds. I really want this to be a traditional 3-ply because I think it would look amazing with those colors, subtly blending.
I also have one secret spinning project. I've already started it and it looks like this.

Exiting huh? No spoilers on this until it's done because it's a gift for a friend. It's going to (hopefully) be a lovely laceweight 2-ply when it's done though.
I have no delusions on finishing all these things, only that I'd like to work on them all if possible. I'd also love to spin something from my Into the Whirled stash finally so if I do miraculously finish all these things, then I can work on something from there.
I've been doing other things to get ready for the tour too. I glued the whorl back together that's been broken for over a year.

I can't believe how nice it looks, you can't even tell where unless you look very closely.

Don't worry, I was still using it, I just thought it was about time I actually fixed it.
I even sewed a spindle bag for my supported spindle I'm planning to use during the tour.

It's a 12-inch Russian Spindle made of Honduran Rosewood and I'm still getting used to it, it's my first Supported spindle ever so part of my goals are to get better with it during the tour. I cut the same size fabrics for the other box bags I've sewn, I just used a different zipper and sewed it the other way.
Here's a "regular" knitting project box bag.

Isn't that funny?
I've also got on my agenda to clean and oil the wheel very well so she is all ready to go and I'm "training" by trying to finish up a spin that's been in progress for a long time.


It's (surprise, surprise) Cloudlover 80 Merino/20 Silk. I think the colorway is named Ligeia but I can't tell for sure. It's all different shades of lovely purple and I want to knit it into an Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief when it's done.
The Tour de Fleece is really fun, you can join as many teams as you'd like, I'm on the Cloudlover team, the Supported Spindlers team and our local St. Cloud Knitters team. The very best part of the Tour de Fleece though? My amazing local spinners. We're taking the opportunity to have an all-day spinathon and potluck on the first day of the tour. Now I just need to figure out what I'm bringing as a dish to share and I think I'm ready for Touring.

Plurk Sock Swap Package

About the only good thing about Monday as far as I'm concerned is the mail comes. Sometimes that can be bad too if it's full of bills but sometimes you get something awesome!

Today I got my Plurk Sock Swap package. My awesome swap buddy Heather sent me some wonderful things. A purple drawstring knitting bag from Bright Light Crafts that even has pockets inside, a skein of Desert Vista Dyeworks Viso in Emeralds, Sapphires and Prince. I've never tried Desert Vista Dyeworks before and this 75% Superwash Merino/25% nylon yarn feels really nice. I can't wait to start knitting it. A really awesome bumper sticker that I have to find just the right place for (maybe on my spinning journal instead of my car) and some really pretty blue stitch markers. There's also a really nice card and some super cute cat post-its. She sent me my pattern through Ravelry and I got the Breaking Hearts Socks by Cristi H. Brockway. I can't wait to try it all out.
This whole experience has been so fun! I haven't done a swap like this before and I really enjoyed shopping for my swap partner and knowing that someone out there was shopping for me. Hopefully my partner will get her package soon too and I can send off her pattern then share what I tucked into her package.

Quenching the Craving

Once you become an experienced Knitter, Garter stitch becomes something new to you. Instead of being just a learning tool or even a staple in your Knitting diet, it becomes like junk food. You can love it and you can probably survive on it but eventually your brain is going to start begging for real food. For fruits and vegetables and complicated spices and nutrition. So many of the projects I've been knitting lately are garter stitch and I'm loving the ability to just zone out and knit, to read and knit or any number of other things but I was starting (I totally typed that as stitching.) to crave sustenance. Something bulkier, meatier. I was craving something complex. When I finished the Color Affection I couldn't resist any longer. I was craving something and garter stitch just couldn't quench it, neither could any of my other projects so I started digging through my Ravelry queue. It's gotten a little out of control so I refused to find something not in the queue. I looked through every single sock I had queued and finally settled on Lohengrin.
It's complicated and lovely and just what I was craving. Then I had to dig out yarn too of course and I finally settled on a skein of Malabrigo sock in color 854 Rayon Vert. In the skein it really looked very semisolid and I'm finding quite a bit of contrast now so I'm not sure that I love it but I need to get more rows into the chart to see if I like the way the stitches look before I decide.

It's very difficult to photograph, it's much more burgundy and less purple in person but it's just lovely and I love the feel of Malabrigo sock so I hope this works out.
The Plurk sock swap is done now, meaning I mailed off my package but she hasn't received it yet and I haven't received mine yet but I'm so excited for both of those things! I had so much fun choosing things for my swap buddy and since her favorite colors are out of my color comfort zone it was really a challenge sometimes too but a great challenge. I'm all nervous for her to love her package though and for me to love my package. Hopefully we'll find out soon!

All the Finishing

It's been all finishing around here lately. I have been wanting to finish up some spinning projects that I'm in the middle of so I dug out the two ounces of rambouillet from Cloudlover that were still not spun up. The color is Maenad and the first two ounces turned out great! I got more than 350 yards of chain-plied yarn. I wanted to spin the second half the same way so I spun it all up as a single on one bobbin. It had been a good while since I spun the first half (like more than a year) so I would have liked to have it nearby to look at but I seem to have misplaced it. That's because I pulled the whole office/wool room apart so I could organize it but I haven't got it all put back together yet. It's still a disaster and now so is the living room.

This skein spun up pretty well and plied up into a lovely skein of about 220 yards. I'm not sure that it was split evenly so I'm still happy with that yardage. Now I really want to find the other skein though so I have them together.

I just love it. The colors are unusual together but they really work. This skein is a little bit overplied (which is normal for me with a chain-plied yarn because I don't want it to be too loose) so it needs a good wash and twack, I just haven't gotten that far yet.
I really forced myself to work on my Color Affection too because I was excited to have a finished shawl and I was so ready to stop working on it.

It paid off too because now it's done! I continued the short rows in the three-color stripes until all the stitches were worked and I decided the edging in the third color made it a little dark so I didn't want to knit any more of it and I bound off after knitting only an inch of the edging. It still needs a blocking too but I really like it. It's not as deep as I thought it would be but it's really long, soft and lovely and I can't wait until I can wrap up in it. It's far too warm for that now.

The stripes look great and I really do love it though. All this finishing just makes me happy and it makes me not feel so guilty about the fact that I started something new last night. You'll have to wait and see what that is though. For now I'm going to revel in the fact that these things are finished.

Focus, I Think

The last couple of days I've really been focusing on my Color Affection, trying to get it finished. I love it and I've really enjoyed knitting it but the rows are long again and I'm just emotionally done with it.
The three-color stripes in short rows don't go all the way across the length, there's a small section at the side where they don't cover it. I decided that I would keep going with the short rows since I have plenty of yarn left and finish off those last stitches. I'm really not sure why I decided to do that. Maybe because it feels more finished if I short-row all the stitches. Maybe because I'm punishing myself for some unknown wrong I did somewhere in my life.
Who can tell. Anyway, I've been trying to get myself to work on it but I keep getting discouraged and finding myself just holding it and not knitting it.

I still think the colors are really great and I love how they play together, I'm just ready for it to be done. They sure look cute in my Stitched by Jessalu Doctor Who bag though don't they?
I really had to squish the cakes to get them in there but they fit very well now that they're partly used.

I guess I know what my weekend plans are; get this bad boy done!

Weekend in Pictures

I had a great time at our family reunion weekend. It was at my cousin Hunter's house way out in the country so we had lots of room for everyone in RVs and campers and whatever else. There was some mud.

That's my brother rocking his 4-wheeler back and forth to try to get it out.
My cousin even got his larger two-seater really stuck.

My uncle brought up the tractor.

But that wasn't cutting it so my cousin's husband brought up his pickup and chain.

They did eventually get them out too!

Although somewhat dirtier than when they started.
My view looked like this.

It will not post straight. I didn't get all muddy this time, it was much more fun to watch. The food and drink flowed freely and the sleep was minimal but it was worth it!

There was even knitting by the bonfire, that may have just been me.
Some legal fireworks.
 
Including well-supervised sparklers.

And staying up late. I ended up watching the sun rise on Sunday morning!

It was beautiful and after I finished up a toe yesterday at home, with socks that smelled like delicious bonfire;

My May Vesper socks were done! The colorway is Pansies at the Phipps and they stripe almost perfectly!

The only difference is a tiny bit of lavender on one toe. I think I can live with that. I've got my June Vesper skein wound and started but I haven't decided if they'll be plain again or if I will do a pattern. I've got a few rounds of ribbing to go before I decide.

Quick Hello and Good-bye

I'm sorry I've been absent from the blog, I've spent a good deal of time with this girl;

This is my niece and while she is super fun and busy, she is not super great at creating knitting time. To be honest, it's totally worth it to spend the time with her though. As you can see she loves to do silly things like sit in the toy box. She did manage to "help" me finish my first Vesper Pansies at the Phipps sock though.

I always forget how much I love knitting plain stockinette socks. I can do almost anything while knitting them! Exclusions seem to be showering and doing the dishes. I can practically knit them in my sleep. This is the skein meant for May though so I'm falling a little bit behind. I have a family reunion that I'm leaving for in about half an hour that I am hoping to have a little knitting time while visiting and while in the vehicle (I'm not the driver) so I'm planning to pack another skein of sock yarn, this half a pair and the Color Affection. That should be enough right? If you don't think so, don't tell me, I don't want to know! Regularly scheduled blogging will commence next week.

Lack of Affliction

The trouble with having a bunch of different things on the needles is that I want to work on each of those things. That means very little progress gets made. I did manage to get to the point of starting the 3-color stripes on my Color Affection.

I think it looks wonderful. I love how the colors are playing with each other. I really thought the third color and the second color would blend a lot more than they have.

As you can see though, the third does stand on its own. I love how short the rows are right now too, although they're getting longer, that's the nature of short rows.
I'm definitely enjoying this knit but I'm not planning a second or third Color Affection right now, maybe I haven't actually caught the "Affliction" some others have.
I am definitely afflicted by the weather this week though. I think that's part of my restlessness in my knitting. It's been rainy and gray every day this week with tiny little bits of sunshine here and there. I'm definitely ready for the rain to go away.

Return from the Long Weekend

I didn't get nearly as much knitting done as I would have liked this weekend because I had a terrible migraine on Saturday and Sunday. Thankfully my lovely husband took wonderful care of me (partly by letting me eat too many milk duds. Oops) and I felt much better yesterday. I did manage to spin while not feeling well though, mostly by feel and I finally finished the yarn for my Lala's Simple Shawl. It's Gritty Knits Merino from the Merino of the month club in March of 2012. I have a friend who didn't love her braid so she traded me meaning I had 8 ounces. This is so out of my color comfort zone that I'm not sure what I love so much about it but I do love it. I got about 530 yards of a nice worsted weight and I adore it. I already washed it so it just needs to be wound and cast on but I'm feeling a little guilt from last week's startitis so I haven't actually taken the plunge yet.

I also managed to finish my short socks.

They still feel a little stiff and unyielding so I'm still hoping they will soften with washing because my hands ache just thinking about knitting on them so I'm not sure if I will end up keeping them. They are perfectly nice socks, I just have bad memories so if they don't behave they'll be given away. I love the pattern Pink Chocolate also by Laura Linneman but I did not love the yarn or the knitting of them. I definitely need to knit them again soon in a happier yarn.
I'm also holding off because I bought WendyKnits Summer Mystery Shawl and I'm thinking I would like to knit that as part of the KAL this summer but I seem to get behind on KALs so I'm not sure that I will make the effort. First I need to decide what yarn I would use though. That might be at least one step in the right direction.
I'll have to decide about that later because today is my eighth wedding anniversary and it sorta snuck up on us this year so I'm going to make a nice dinner for us at least.

Long Weekend Progress Report

Things have been a little bit crazy around here this week but some knitting has been happening too so let's check in on some things.
First up, the May Vesper socks. I'm knitting these out of Pansies at the Phipps which is a 4-stripe Vesper I got from someone's destash. I like the yarn but the colors do mess with me a little bit. All together they're a little out of my color comfort zone.
 
Whoops, that doesn't look like a sock. Sadly the Jaywalker pattern I was knitting was not working out, I had cast on 84 stitches and I'm knitting on size US 1s (2.25mm) which is typical for me with Vesper. I finally got past the heel flap, it took forever, and went to try it on before picking up for the gussets. It would not go over my heel. I had to rip them out and I rewound the yarn. I think I may just knit plain socks with this yarn this time. We'll see, I haven't cast on again yet.
Next, we should check in on the Color Affection.

I have 7 of 12 two-color stripes done but I just have not felt the pull to knit on this. I take it out and knit a row or maybe two and then put it down again. I am making progress but very slow progress. I don't know why it's not appealing to me right now either, I think it's turning out lovely and I really want the finished shawl, I just don't feel like knitting it.
I'm also knitting a pair of short socks that I don't think I've mentioned.

These are the Pink Chocolate socks designed by Laura Linneman. In her Lala's Knits group we're doing a KAL (it's call the Best kept secret KAL). These are short socks with a great pattern that's open and lacy. They should be going super fast but I'm just not loving working on them. It might be a combination of the yarn and the needles, it could be the rougher feel of the yarn (I'm hoping they will soften up when washed) but I just can't quite put my finger on it. I try to make myself work on them a bit here and there so I can just get them done. They'll be nice socks for the summer, I just need to work on them!
A wicked case of Startitis has been roaming my area for awhile now too. I've been strong and I've resisted for a good long time but I couldn't take it anymore and this week I cast on all kinds of new things. I'm not going to mention all of them because some of them may get frogged before they make it any farther but I will mention a couple of things.
First, I am working out the pattern for the Garter Monster shawl. What better way to work it out than to knit it again?

This time I'm using some handspun Gritty Knits Merino from my Merino of the month club. It's mostly orangey-yellow with hints of purple in it like flowers and it's bright and cheerful and a very easy knit. So far, I'm loving it and it's getting a good deal of my knitting attention. Toward the end of the Garter Monster I was so sick of plain old garter stitch rows but just a couple of weeks after I finished it, I found myself craving that simple knitting again.
I'm also knitting this out of a fingering weight rather than a DK (closer to worsted in my opinion) weight yarn so it will be a smaller more shawlette version.
I also couldn't resist swatching for a sweater.

This is some Arucania Nature wool. It's not super soft but I'm loving the colors and it's very nice to work with. I knit a very large swatch last night for the Monday Morning Cardigan and washed it, this yarn did soften up very nicely with washing. The issue now is that it's too big. I need to go down at least one needle size and I'm debating if I should just cast on with the smaller size or swatch again to be sure. Even though it's a bottom-up sweater so it takes some commitment to actually cast on, guess which way I'm leaning?
This weekend is Memorial Day weekend here in the US so I will have a Handsome Husband home for 3 days (unless he decides to work Saturday morning, he hasn't decided for sure yet) I'm hoping that will lead to more knitting (and maybe even spinning time) but I know it will be more cooking and cleaning up from cooking time. It does usually mean Barbecuing and yummy, summery food though, I can live with that trade off.

Finished Objects in the Wild

The trip I had been planning for several months was sadly cancelled so instead I spent some time with my husband and his family. We got to visit with his parents and grandmother and have a very nice time. I also made my husband, who is by no means a photographer, take some finished object photos for me so I could share them here on the blog. I'd like to note here that I don't love photos of myself but I'm working on being less critical of myself so I'm posting them here anyway.
First up, my Garter Monster shawl. I absolutely love this shawl! I wanted something big and cozy to cuddle up with when I'm not feeling great or when it's really cold in the winter and I think I achieved that very well!

It's long enough to wrap around my arms and tie in the back too so I can wear it without thinking about it falling off or slipping into dish water.

It's not tied in any of these photos though, just hanging loose so you can see how big it really is.

I adore it and I'm sad that it's getting a little too warm to wear it any more.
Then my husband tried to make me laugh and I made weird faces at him.

I made up this pattern and I've had a couple of people mention that they'd like to see me release the pattern so they could knit it too so I'm working out what I did and will be releasing the first ever pattern written by me very soon!
Next we went to visit my husband's adorable Grandmother. She's 91 and living in Assisted Living. Here she is with her loving grandson (my Handsome Husband)

Aren't they adorable?
I then made my husband take some photos of me wearing my new Wispy Cardi. I have to say, I had a hard time with these pictures. The shirt I was wearing bunched up funny under the sleeves and at the front but I'm posting them anyway. Again, trying to be less self-critical.


I really do like the sweater a lot and I think it's going to be really nice when the air conditioning somewhere is turned up just a little too high for me. Just a nice light add-on piece for the summer.
It's possible that my trip will be rescheduled but there are no plans for that at the moment so instead, I'll be planning some summer knitting.

Grape Gelati Socks

I've been slowly but surely plugging along on some fiber I've been spinning, trying desperately to get it done. It's not that I didn't like it, I did it's just a mostly solid color and I was sick of looking at it. I wanted finished yarn, not fiber!
Yesterday I finally finished the singles and had 3 lovely bobbins of singles, ready to go.

I'm a rule-breaker and I often don't wait overnight before plying but the first bobbin was started a good long time ago (probably more than a year!) so I did want to wait overnight. It was difficult because I ran out of knitting mojo last night but I managed to wait.
It plied up very nicely though.

You may be able to see the last little bit on the outside of the bobbin got chain-plied when one bobbin ran out.

It's the lighter purpley-pink part in the middle and the darker purple to the right of it. Other than that, it plied up into a very nice yarn. We watched two movies today (since it was my Handsome Hubby's birthday and we were mostly relaxing at home) and it took both movies to get it done.

What really spurred this project on was awhile back but I remember why I started it. I had joined a Spinalong/Knitalong to spin for socks and I procured 6 ounces of BFL to spin into sock yarn. When it was finished, and it felt like it took a really long time! I was really disappointed in my yardage. Less than 400 yards. I decided I could do better and I set out to do it.
I took this lovely fiber marinating in the stash.

I set out to spin a traditional 3-ply sock weight yarn. I think I achieved that very well here. It came out to 480 yards or so and I think it will make just lovely socks.

I really do like the yarn now that it's finished but it did seem like a bit of a marathon to get through. The fiber had been purchased from a destash and was Stitches 'n Rows 4 ounces BFL in Grape Gelati. It's a little bit overplied, which I always tend to do because I like a nice, tight twist, but it should relax a bit with a wash and twack and then it can be knit into some lovely Grape Gelati socks.