Make A Wish

I was lucky enough to be a prize winner in the drawing that LynnZimm held for those who donated to her Make a Wish fundraiser. My prize was a handknit pair of socks from Leslie of the wildly popular video podcast The KnitGirllls. Leslie also sent me some brain food, CHOCOLATE, a book light and bookmark for those late nights reading in bed. I am going to have a cozy fall and winter with all three (well maybe 15 minutes with the chocolate). The hanpainted water color notecard that was included in the package is to die for. It is gorgeous.

It's a Record

I somehow managed to knit a Traveling Woman Shawl in three days. I cast on and knit the stockinette portion on Saturday. I knit Chart A three times on Sunday. I knit the border Chart B and cast off Monday. Unfortunately due to the healing process I cannot block anything right now, I did not have the foresight to pull the blocking squares out from under the chaise before surgery. I also don't think the stretching during the pinning and wiring process would be good right now.

I was determined to knit another Traveling Woman Shawl correctly. If you recall the one I knit for the Ravelry meetup was a pattern fail. I forgot to knit the second repeat of chart A and ended up with a modified version of the pattern. The shawls in Ravelry which were knit correctly kept taunting me. My only modification this time was to add a third repeat of Chart A. I knit this out of my own handspun, Japanese Maple 100% Corriedale from The Painted Tiger. I still have a nice sized ball left, but I did not think it would be enough for another repeat of Chart B. I love it so much, the colors look so pretty knit up. This gives me a sense of how the spinning and plying affect the knitted fabric.

My itty bitty Nano came, it's adorable. I had it engraved with Go SMALL or stay home! 8-}

Spins, Socks and Wips

Spins:
I have skeined up the Bermuda Triangle and finished spinning the singles of the Sanguine Gryphon Dinosaurs in the Neighborhood. Currently I am spinning my first braid of Crown Mountain Farms, it is 8 ozs of superwash merino. Wow it looks more like a pound of fiber. I may spin 4 ozs of something else before I spin the other four ozs.


Socks:
I finished three pairs of the socks I was working on - mostly to avoid the mind numbingly long rows on the Cobblestone Sweater and Green Mountain Shawl. The yarns used below are (1) Opal Rainforest 6 in the colorway Lord Marlon; (2) Lana Grossa Solo #5208; and (3) Happy Choices #6.




Works In Progress:
I am still knitting sock 1 of the Hermione's Everyday Socks in the STR Colorway ST-1.

I cast on a pair of Ardeo Socks for my Sister, I have only completed the cuff so there is nothing to see yet. I am using Knit Picks Essential in Navy.

I cast on a Traveling Woman Shawl in my handspun in the colorway Japanese Maple. I cannot tell you how much I love this yarn, it is knitting up wonderfully and I love the way the colors are moving through the stockinette portion. I have just started Chart A. . . . and this time I will knit the charts in the proper sequence.

It Is Mine Whine

I have decided not to put any more of my stash into Ravelry. Except the Prism Merino Mia because I am trying to collect one skein of each color, and need to avoid duplications. I will list my handspun as I finish a skein also. But the sock yarn, and yarn for projects I think I will only list when I am working on a project using that specific yarn. I am getting a lot of requests for yarn in my stash even though I don't have any listed for sell or trade. I am pretty sure I have whined about this before - sorry. Just because I have had a skein of something since 2007 does not mean I don't want it. I am a collector, I like to try different yarns/fibers and I buy single skeins to see a yarn in person before buying enough for a project.

I always volunteer to send Ravelers left overs if I have something they need, but I am not selling my Alice Starmore Hebridean or my Wollmeise lace weight. I am actually considering downloading my stash to an excel file and removing it from Ravelry. I don't like having to say no, and constantly explain why I cannot send someone that "impossible to find in the same dye lot" skein they are searching for.

What would be great is if I could make my stash non-public, that would be perfect. Then I could continue to use it on Ravelry with all of the links. That may be selfish, but I listed my stash for me to scroll through when planning a project and keep track of colorways and such. I don't know, I guess I am feeling a little harassed, Ravelry has gotten so big now and there are so many members, that the number of requests has grown with it.

Past Due

Wow my projects were really out of date, books too. I spun two fibers and read three books that never made it to the side bar. Lets start with what's on my needles.

I am about to start the sleeves of Cobblestone. The yarn is Malabrigo Worsted in Emerald Blue.

Lots of socks.

Pair #1 Happy Choice in colorway #6, very weird to be unraveling yarn from what looks like a scarf to knit a pair of socks. Lots of curl in the yarn but no problem knitting with it and the sock is extremely soft and cushy.

Pair #2 Lana Grossa Solo in colorway #5208. I love the fabric and the slow color shift but the yarn is very splitty, doing the ribbing and the heel flap was a pain. Project bag: Blue Baseballs from Piddleloop etsy store.

Pair # 3 is the beginning of the Hermione's Everyday Sock in 3am Enchantments' one of a kind colorway The One Eric Dyed. I love this yarn so much. However, I am going to have to frog this sock. The pattern calls for a size US 1/2.25mm needle and 400 yards of sock yarn. The sock is too small and I need to go up to at least a US 2 needle for this yarn. So I don't have enough of this yarn to knit these socks. Not a problem of course because I have a gazillion sock yarns in my collection. Project Bag: 3am Enchantments Route 66 bag.

Pair #4 Opal Rainforest Collection 6 in the Lord Marlon colorway. Plain stockinette socks, nice and squishy and knitting up superfast in all their self-patterning glory. Project Bag: Piddleloop retro Snoopy bag.

Next - what I am spinning. I cannot say "what's on the wheel" anymore because my Hansen electronic Mini Spinner does not have a wheel. I have named her Cherry by the way, thanks Lemonhalf for helping me pick a name.

First is the Bermuda Triangle from Wild Hare Fibers that I am currently spinning. It is a 4 oz bfl bump. So pretty.


Second is The Painted Tiger 100 % Corriedale top 8 0zs in the colorway Japanese Maple. I spun and 2 plyed it for a total of 472 yards. It is a fingering weight. I want to knit a shawl out of the yarn. The hank is currently hanging in the shower to dry. I will probably post another picture of it all skeined up.

Last my Dyeing Arts Goblin Seas duo which was 4 oz of superwash merino. I 2 plyed it for a total of 254 yards. It is destined to be a pair of socks for Mom.
I cast off the Mystic Desire inspired shawlette I created when I had pattern fail on the Mystic Desire KAL pattern. I also finished the Clapotis I knit for Jane's birthday present; it came out gorgeous. I used Interlacement Tiny Toes again, colors #203 and #209 - I really wish this yarn was still available. The colors are so wonderful.