Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Bavaria Bound

OMG so many things, where to start.

Inspirational Wednesday podcast hostess with the mostest Adrienne needs our good thoughts. Her daughter Kayla is having a second surgery this week. Please send them some love.

Knitting injury, the points on my Options size 6 tips have severely injured the indexed finger on my right hand and it hurts :(
I am doing the magic loop for the first time and loving it. Same needle tips mentioned above are attached to a 47 inch cable and I am re-knitting my Horcrux socks in worsted weight. Susan Lawrence , bless her, has created this pattern in a fingering weight and a worsted weight stitch pattern. Since I had to rip out so many projects this past week, I decided my redo of the Horcrux pattern would be in worsted weight. It was the right choice. I am knitting them in Knit Picks Swish Superwash in Dark Navy. I love them already, I cannot wait to wear them, they are so soft. Funny thing about this pattern, the sock looks small, but because it is ribbed it is very stretchy in all the right places. I am starting the toe decreases in about another inch. I also cannot say enough about how much I am enjoying Susan's Forest Canopy Shawl pattern. And Susan - of the generous heart - just put some of her best patterns on sale for 50% off for her birthday. Wasn't that sweet, she gave gifts for her birthday?! I ordered the three I did not already have. I have had some good patterns, some not so good patterns and some real crap. All of Susan's patterns are clear and easy to follow, which makes knitting them a joy. But wait, she is doing one more nice bit. She is going to hold a drawing for those who bought the on sale patterns and is gifting the winner the yarn to complete one of the patterns they purchased. Pretty cool.

Okay, Kayla, my ouch, magic looping, pattern sale - what else?

Oy, moths. I am starting to worry about my stash. I killed two moths this weekend. I have cedar everything - hangers, chips, sachets. I bought a pound of lavender, which smells good but does not seem to be bothering the moths. I am constantly moving my yarns around so I can check for infestation, and I have everything in zip lock bags except some finished socks. Troublesome. There was a Ravelry discussion on pests, I will have to re-read the posts for other ideas.

Ah yes, Ravelry. There has been a survey about swag and I think most Ravelers voted yes for t-shirts. But I am a bag lady from way back and I wanted the tote I saw Jess with on the Kat's Lets Knit Together Videocast. So I ordered two of them in different styles from Zazzle. They are very roomy - but as a commuter I am paranoid about bags that someone other than myself can reach into easily. So ever the girl scout, I took my stitch holder, which is like the world's biggest safety pin, and pinned the top of the tote closed. I plan on rotating between the two depending on how much junk I am carrying that day. I can't wait to sport them at the conference in Sept. ;P

More yarn came, and I still have a $25 credit for The Loopy Ewe. I know I have pledged my child's first puppies to the ladies at Blue Moon Fiber Arts because I love Socks That Rock Yarn so much. But WOLLMEISE, I am seriously thinking a trip to Bavaria is in my future. I had already planned a castle tour there in the next two years, but now I have to stalk Claudia while I am there so I may have to leave off a castle or two. I can't put it away. I want to just keep looking at it. Every time I pick up the Zenzi I see different colors from cream to bittersweet chocolate. The blues and greens are amazing in the Iris Sibirica and Rittersporn. I don't want to knit this yarn up. I just like looking at the colors. What pattern could be good enough?? I will have to look at some of Elemmaciltur's finished projects and see what he has done with his Wollmeise.

I realize that a year ago I would not have understood a word of this entry or knew who any of the yarn dyers or podcasters mentioned are. How quickly that can change. The online knitting community is vast, but it's still a very small Frappr map.

Peace.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Milestones Ahead

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Socks That Rock Colorway Tigers Eye
Womens Large

Almost half way through this challenge. 22 pairs of socks out of 52. There is the ultimate goal of knitting a pair of socks per week for 52 weeks, then there are the milestones. I am very close to the half way mark. I am getting anxious to reach 26 pairs. I have other knit alongs and challenges for the next two months that will prevent me from just knocking out a bunch of socks. But after the holidays and other deadlines I will be ramping up again. I have about a dozen pairs of size 3 needles and more than 12 skeins of heavyweight socks that rock. So I will be casting a whole bunch of stockinette socks on to get to the next milestone. In the meantime, I am currently turning the heel on sock one of the Fawkes pair. I was planning to knock out the first I Love Gansey sock this weekend and add some inches to my shawl. I did another repeat on the shawl but nothing on the Ganseys. Every time I read 6 Sox KAL emails there is a revision, tip or new technique. I am thinking I will wait until the three day weekend coming up to work on the Ganseys. All the bugs should be worked out of the pattern and enough hints and tips posted to allow me to skate through them. So what shall I do with myself this week? More shawl repeats, re-knit the Horcrux and work on Bellatrix.

Friday I wrote a pattern for my Hogwart's Sock Swap socks. I had planned to knit some self striping socks in her house colors but I have never received the yarn I ordered from Knitting Ninja, I have had to file a complaint with PayPal because they are not responding to e-mails or anything. It's not a huge amount of money, but it's mine. Also, it totally bunged up my knitting plans - which I HATE. So I scrolled through my stash photos on Ravelry off and on all day Friday and decided to write a pattern using some of the yarns in my stash. I will be my own test knitter and make a pair in the same yarn but with different colors. We'll see how it goes.

It's knitting time.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Rockin Sock Club Arrival

Yahoo. The Rockin Sock Club colorway is so me - Flower Power. Having grown up in the Haight Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco I especially appreciate this yarn and the temp tattoos and the pattern. The club is getting better and better.













I also got the new colorway Blue Brick Wall.
It is different than it looked online, less blues in it.












I got one of the holiday colorways for some Christmas socks, Hollyday.
I am going to wind that up right away.
I never have enough Christmas apparel.


Loopy Groupie Credits

I have gotten two $25.00 Loopy Groupie credits recently and I continue to put them to good use.

More Cookie A and Miriam Felton Patterns





and the yarn to knit them up in .

Danke Claudia











I received a shipment of Wollmeise from Claudia. It is gorgeous. I can see what all the fuss was about. I am impressed with the colors of course, but the volume was a complete surprise. The hanks are 574 yards / 150 grams. There were several weights and color density choices, but the information was in metrics and European terminology.









I made my best guess which would be the weight I like to knit socks out of. But I thought it was the 343 yards hanks. I am thrilled that it is this amount instead. 150 grams - Excellent!!! I wish she was closer and that I did not have to pay the exchange rates, I think Wollmeise would replace Socks That Rocks as my favorite yarn if it were more convenient to buy. Yeah, I know Sheri will be selling it at the Loopy Ewe, but I am not one to be sitting around in front of the computer waiting for restocking posts.


Jigsaw Along Completed

Jisgaw Along Jigsaw socks in Shepherd Sport Black Watch

Another pair of socks doing double duty. I made these socks for the Jigsaw KAL. They are very soft and squishy but surprisingly they did not use up a lot of yarn. I have more than half of my second ball of yarn left. I will definitely be knitting this pattern again.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Ripping Good Times

If you are not on Ravelry and are just about sick of hearing about it, skip this first paragraph.
I have much more incentive, and seemingly the ability, to get my projects done now that they are all in Ravelry. I can see pictures and status bars of all of them all in one place. I open up the projects screen and decide which projects are closest to completion or have a deadline and I focus on that project until it is complete. I also have a chance to re-assess some of the projects that need to be changed or abandoned. Looking at photos of socks in progress really allows me to see that a yarn or pattern is not working out. Hence, this "ripping good times" post. I have read too many postings of Ravelers who know something was wrong with a project; either their pattern or yarn choice, but finished the project anyway. Then they either ripped it all out, hated it and never wore it, or gave it away. I don't see the point in doing all that work for nothing. I also use the postings of other Ravelers to see what their finished projects look like. I have looked at projects knitted in yarn that is in my stash. My queue is now almost equal to my stash list; a project for every yarn. Lots to do!!! I have discovered a new way to pick projects for yarn, and yarns for projects. What a great resource Jess and Casey have created!!

Ripping
It's time to do some ripping. I keep looking at the photos of my Horcrux Sock in STR Monsoon. That yarn is just like the Lisa Souza Lime & Violet colorway. You have to select the right pattern or the yarn looks like crap. There is no stitch definition with this yarn, which means I need to rip the Horcrux socks out. I have given up on this yarn, this is the fourth pattern I have tried. I am going to just knit some plain stockinette socks and get this yarn out of my stash. Same with the Lisa Souza L&V, I even tried some crochet patterns with that yarn. No go. It will become some plain stockinette socks too. Lisa gives you so much yarn to the hank that I will probably get at least three pairs of socks out of the two hanks I bought. I am also considering ripping out both of my hibernating shawl patterns. Too much time has passed. I have notes on where to resume, but don't feel inclined to do so. As much as I hate the thought of casting on hundreds of stitches again, I think it will be worth it in the end for both shawls.

Casting On
I am going to use a plain solid colored yarn for the Horcrux socks. I really like the pattern and it knits up so fast. I should be able to get back to this point in the pattern with a solid sock yarn in no time. The Candle Flame Shawl and the Print O' The Waves were not the best patterns to start with using lace weight yarns. I think I will restart them in October in fingering weight yarns.

Lots of ball winding needs to be done. I am adding so many socks to my queue and I want to get them cast on. I have enough pairs of sock needles to get them all on the go, but the yarn is still in hanks and skeins. I need to get some more yarn balls and bricks wound up. I think it's time to get out my lovely electric ball winder.

Casting Off
I am doing the toe decreases on my second Jigsaw Sock, they are so pretty squishy and soft. I am also doing the toe decreases on my first STR Tiger's Eye stockinette sock. I will finish both of them tonight. I will focus on and finish my Six Sock KAL Gansey sock Thursday and Friday nights. I want to wear my Forest Canopy Shawl in September at the CGOA/TKGA Conference, so I will focus on that Saturday. I have 5 Netflix DVDs coming to watch while I wind up balls of yarn and finish my shawl.

Moving ON
Sunday I will cast on the Horcrux in something solid, and work on my Bellatrix and Fawkes. Moving on * moving forward * and keeping lots of little toes warm.

Sunday, August 19, 2007


Well I have a few pairs of socks to finish up, some homework for the conference and some hanks to wind into balls. I will need to stay off Ravelry for a few nights, which is getting easier to do now that I have entered my projects, queue, and most of my sock stash. I will be working on my Swap Pal packages and their gift socks as well. That should all be good blog material, but on the other hand I will get more done if I stay out of Blogger for awhile too. This weekend I did not turn on the TV, I did not get more knitting done than with the movies last weekend.

I listened to most of Stephen Fry reading The Order of The Phoenix. I think I prefer Jim Dale. Some of the pronunciations are downright annoying. His female voices are more natural though and easier to take. I am comparing them as I listen. I have favorite lines and scenes in the Jim Dale audiobooks.

I have a few podcasts to listen to this week. I saved them on purpose. I have a few more packages en route. The postman left a slip Friday re a package from Germany, but he did not redeliver it on Saturday. Idiot!!! My cousin came back to Cali after the family reunion and she took the box of yarn I was planning to send her to the post office and mailed it home herself. Cool. I think she will like the colors I gave her.

My brother would not let us do anything for his 50th birthday. I sent up some prayers of thanks for having him in my life and wished him a good day. I hope he had one. He was not home when I called today and he is off to Pebble Beach tonight. I'll have to wait to chat at him when he gets home.

Hmm now seems like a pretty good time to get started on my To Do list. Adieu!

Knit & Crochet Show Fall 2007

CONFERENCE CLASSES HOMEWORK:

F201C-Crochet To Fit and Flatter the Queen (Sized) (Crochet)
Homework: Work 3 gauge swatches in size 6" by 6"


S204C-Crochet Lite (Crochet)
Homework: Make two gauge swatches for a pattern that calls for worsted weight or heavier yarn.

____ The first swatch should be in the yarn and hook sizes stated in the pattern.

_____ The second one should be in a much lighter weight yarn but still using the

hook size specified in the pattern.

WIP as of 8-18-07

Tiger Eye Stockinette Sock







Fawkes in Firebird reknit on size 2 needles






Horcrux in Monsoon

Stash Enhancement

August 2007

Harry Potter Audiobooks by Stephen Fry



British Adult Versions

Bag Lady Swag








August 2007

Clover Kritter Cases

August 2007
Crafty The Crocodile

Daphne The Dolphin

Fergie The Frog

Hippy The Hippo



Books










August 2007



Patterns

August 2007

Magazines


August 2007