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.