Post-Christmas Post

Well, I didn't get all the Yuletide knitting, sewing, etc. done, but I did get a fair bit finished. Mom loved her socks, as did MIL, Iris loved her nightgown and robe, Ryan loved his shirt, Morgan and Rowan liked their shirts and puppets, Becky liked the KIP bag, lessee...what else? OH! Ishbu loved her popholders, and Rhi liked her hat and her friend liked it so much she wants one too. I think that's everything. And alas, I don't have pictures of everything, but somewhere around here, I've got a picture of Iris's nightngown. And here's a detail of the front. It seems I'm having trouble uploading photos as usual, but links are good, too. Thank goodness for photobucket, no?
I finished plying the first of the raw wool my MIL gave me, so here's a picture of it. And also a picture of it soaking in the wok. You should have seen it when it first went to soak. The water turned yellow. Not just any yellow, YELLOW. Sheep don't take baths, and it turns out that the wool I was spinning was more of an off-white than tan. Yes, yes, I know you're supposed to wash before spinning, but I'm impatient. And besides, Kiwis spin dirty wool - which sounds like a euphemism, but it works out just fine.
I recieved some knitterly gifts also. My sweetie honey got me fiber for spinning. The silver on the left (carbonized bamboo) and the multicolored soysilk/wool blend now belong to me. *JOY* and also *SQUEE* My MIL got me the Knitpick's Options needle set. More *SQUEE*! I haven't used them yet, but I will have them in hand soon enough.
Currently, I'm working on a pair of socks for myself out of Opal Krokodil. It's purdy. Other than the green and black project in the soysilk, that's all that's current, but there are several things that are coming up, including some paid projects. More update later. Now, I've got to get off my keister and maybe try and get this house cleaned up.
Maybe I'll do a little spinning first...

What I learned in school today

I learned that it is very dangerous to walk down a hall with a spinning wheel and that I can indeed avoid saying curse words in front of fourth graders.
Okay, so this morning, I had intended to go in front of the Kindergarteners and show them how cool it is to make string from sheep fluff and then make that string into clothes. And then, as I was walking down the hall, the art teacher caught me and talked me into showing the fourth graders as well because they're doing a unit on early America and...well, 'cause spinning is cool. Iris's school is what is referred to as an "Arts integrated" school, so they do all kinds of cool stuff like have drama and art and music every week, no matter what grade you're in. Seriously, Iris has drama class every week. So they get very excited about the arts and I think that's extremely cool.
Anyhow, here are some pictures of my nervous self:



















And here I am in front of the fourth graders. While I was spinning, a screw came loose and the spindle flew off of the wheel. Much to my surprise, I did NOT let out a stream of curse words in front of the class. You may commence with "screw loose" jokes now.
It seems as though they all enjoyed watching me spin and were absolutely mesmerized by the process. They all just wanted to sit and watch and watch and watch. Not just the little ones, either, the bigger kids thought it was very cool and so did the grownups. Spinning is just...cool.
I showed them the whole process, from raw wool to string and how string turns into clothes. I showed them the drop spindle and told them how every piece of fabric used to be made from handspun thread - even sails. They were all duly impressed.
Anyhow, at least I wasn't being broadcast on national TV, but I was nervous all the same - kids can be a tough audience. Whew! I'm glad this is over, but it was very cool and I had fun.

I forgot my camera. Again. I am an enormous dork.
I even wore my brandly-new fair isle socks yesterday, but didn't take pictures. They fit perfectly (of course) and are mightily comfortable. None can understand the joys of handknit socks until they have a pair. I'm currently working on a pair of green ones from the newly acquired stash and they are coming along rather quickly. I started them on Saturday morning and it is now Monday morning. I'm all the way past the heel gusset and to the foot. It's not a sock a day, but it is pretty darned fast for me. Keep in mind that I was also doing other things. Sunday I helped with our Coven Thanksgiving (mostly by washing dishes) and I have also been spinning.
I got my spinning wheel! I am the happiest girl in the WORLD. My MIL had purchased it, but never seemed to get the hang of it and she knew that I had been wanting one, so she give it me. *SQUEE* She sent some raw wool along and I've already spun about a half a spindle of it. It's just unbelieveably fast and I am hooked. Jess must have more roving. I'm trying not to spin up all the raw wool I've got because I want to do a thing for Iris's Kindergarten class in January. It'll probably be alright. There's quite a bit of it and I have to card it before I can spin it.
The cotton harvest has already passed here and every time I drive by a cotton field, I just want to grab one of my Knaughty Knitter bags and start picking up where they carried away the bales. I totally could, but I'd want someone to go with me. It's just...sitting there, waiting for some fiber-obsessed person to pick it up. Who's with me?

No pictures today. I should be getting my camera this weekend and there will be pictures of at least the socks I just finished. Oh - I finished the Fair Isle socks. I'm also most of the way through a hat made from Wool Ease from the Stash - same Wool Ease pictured here. The pattern is Coronet from Knitty and I'm using size 8 dpns. The gauge is off, but it's going to be a hat when I'm done and it's going to fit some-damn-body. Knitting stretches. I'm just sayin'.
Speaking of Stash, there is now more Stash. I'm now the owner of quite a few skeins of Schaffhauser sockenwolle in kind of a dark green color. It's a wool/polyamide blend (this probably means wool/nylon, though wool/kevlar would be wicked cool!). I've also got about that many skeins of a mohair/acrylic. It's Swilan in kind of a navy blue with fuzzies that look like my cat cuddled with it. Additionally, there are a few skeins of a pinky-purple of unknown origin and content.
That's all that's fit to print. Hope everyone is having a lovely Thanksgiving.

It is the time for holiday knitting, sewing, etc. You will note in the next month or so that until that fateful gift-giving day, some projects will be coded and pictures will not be posted lest the recipient be watching. Hopefully soon, there will be pictures of the lovely Miss Kell and her cloak. It was well recieved and now I can fix my car which is currently in the shop awaiting diagnosis. More about that here. There's a bit about a crosstitch pattern that was giving me fits as well. I was thinking about just giving up on it for various reasons, but have decided that dammit, I can do this. I ended up ripping the whole thing out and as soon as I finish getting the rest of the thread and some more bobbins, I'm going to start back on it. It may take me 97 years to complete, but I am a rather stubborn woman and it will be beautiful.
Bed-sized quilt for Iris? What bed-sized quilt for Iris? I don't know what you're talking about.

It's done! Donedonedonedonedonedonedone!!
The General Grievous cloak is done!
I'll get you pictures when I deliver it to Miss Kell. She's totally excited already. I love making stuff for her.

50th post!

This is my Fiftieth Post! Woot!
I am inspired today by the Yarn Harlot and the words of my Kell - "Make stuff. Make stuff and share it!"










This is me today. I made the dress I'm wearing and I decided to wear that d*mn shawl because I made it and it was hard, and it's done and it looks beautiful.

And here is Kell's cloak with the symbol pinned on, but not yet stitched down. I'm working on that today. This was hard, too, but I'm doing it and it's going to be AWESOME and she will absolutely love it.




And I ended up making my very first ball of homespun yarn into a headband to wear to keep my ears warm. I stitched it up last night. It wasn't really that hard to knit, but I spun the yarn myself, taught myself how to do it and then made fabric out of it. I am proud of this.

My crazy was leaking yesterday. I feel a little more steady, a little more sane today (I hope). I still have a lot to do, but it seems more manageable now than it was before. What gets done, gets done, and what doesn't, doesn't.
The one thing that helped to set me back on the path of sanity was spinning. I had finished up a spindlefull of thread and had another I had finished earlier, so they needed to be plied. I spent some time plying, had a little chocolate (Pink M&Ms - eating chocolate to fund breast cancer research, education, and prevention always sounds good to me. Save the boobs, have some chocolate.), and just kind of relaxed. The red is the most recent hank and seems to be much more consistent and even than the other. I believe I'm getting better at this.

Even still, I couldn't sleep, so I did some knitting. I don't know what I'm knitting. That depends on how much yarn I have. So far it's a rectangle. But it's a pretty rectangle and what ever it turns out to be, it's going to be warm. I decided to just knit up that one ball of my first homespun and see how it turns out. Scarf? Muff? Very pretty rectangle I can't do anything with? Your guess is as good as mine.

Okay, yeah, it's been awhile. I've been waiting on the means, motive, and opportunity to take pictures of the many and varied things that I've finished and that I've got in progress.
Here we go.

Slith...er...um...snake socks.
Not much progress, but some.
I'm about two thirds of the way up the foot.
Not much else to report, really.







Baby Snakey sweater.
One sleeve done, the second started. This picture was kind of hard to take because it's a raglan sweater, and...well, it looks like poo right now. It is pieces of string made into fabric bits. Not much to look at, but it's going to be reeeeallly cute when it's finished. At least the lamb's ear looks nice.
And it will have snakes on it.
Snake skin socks, from the 6sox group.
Are we sensing a theme here? What is it with me and snake-related knitting lately? I swear to you I didn't plan this.
Anyhow - look! see how they are all done done done!
I was a skosh late in posting the finished picture to the group, but that's okay 'cause I totally got them done.
First on my feet next to the marigolds


And here a shot of them next to a moon flower. Moon flower is the common name for Datura species. Datura, also known as raving nightshade or jimson weed, is very very toxic.

This is not Datura. This plant is a relative to morning glory and it is also called moonflower. It's genus and species is Ipomoea alba. This genus contains over 500 different species, including the ornamental moon flower.

And now, for something completely different. It has nothing to do with snakes. Here are the Husband!socks. Look look! I am on the toe decreases! Thank the immortal Gods, I'm finally on the toe decreases. I will finish them before his birthday on the 11th. Go me!

I rather like this picture. I have another picture that's pretty good next to some purdy flowers, but this one is more...I don't know...appropriate?
These socks are for a big ol' dude. So I took the picture on a dude's truck - you will also note roof construction in the background. These are very dude-related things. Of course, the truck and construction belong to a completely different dude who also wants foot-sweaters. He will have to take that up with his woman. Sorry, Carl, you are one of my best friends in the whole world, but I don't love you enough to make you foot-sweaters. Thanks for the photographic use of the truck, though.

Dear Becky,
I've switched to Blogger Beta like a big dork. I can't go back. *headdesk* I figured, "hey, merge with my Google account, okay!" *headdesk* Now I find that I can't yet post on non-beta blogs and that's prolly why you're having difficulty posting on mine.

stoopid beta.

Anyhow, this is what I was going to comment:

My mamaw said "warshraig." I love dialect.
Go pengies, go! I love how you've just up and renamed it "Ragnarok." I'll be sure to light Nell after Fenris swallers the sun. Can't be knitting lace in the dark now can we?

That, and that your dad was really awesome. I really don't know what to say other than that. I'm glad to see you back on the blog - pirate sweater's coming along nicely.

I've finished one S.S.S. sock and I've got the picot done on #2. I must needs pick up the Slith...er...um...snake sock and rip back the Husband!sock #2 - and order more yarn. Big feet=

big socks (what were *you* thinking? yeesh!)
After I finish these pairs of socks, it will be time for a sweater or afghan or something - it's getting cold! Of course, I must keep at least one pair of socks going at a time. One never knows when one must have a small and portable project.

I had forgotten that I already took pictures of Iree's little socks. So, here they are, again. I finished them back in April and if you want to see the entry again, that's where it is in the archives.
Aren't they cute?!


And here is Iree in her Sunshines and Rainbows nightgown. Her hair didn't quite curl right this morning, but she looks awfully cute in the picture, no?
I altered the pattern from when I made one from iris fabric. Instead of 5/8 seams, I used 3/8 because I'm at the largest size in the pattern and needed to make it bigger. I can see that I'm going to have to buy some larger Iris-sized patterns for the larger sized Iris. I think she grew last night.

And here is a picture of the ol' ball and skein. :D
The ball is the first yarn I spun, so it's kinda thick and inconsistent. The skein is way more consistent, though I'm still working on it. It kind of varies between laceweight and sport with the occasional foray into worsted, though it mostly stays around fingering weight. I have no clue what I'm going to do with it yet. Perhaps I'll finish spinning up the roving I have and see how much there is before I decide on a project.

Just two pictures of one thing today. Yes, I know I promised pictures of finished birthday-related stuff. It's like this. Kidling has her birthday. Birthday stuff must be worn *immediately* following birthday - the next day or so. Mommy of kidling was too slow with the camera. These picture are from today and is of the "Not a real green dress, that's cruel." She is also showing off her ponies that she got for her birthday. She says it's her princess dress 'cause it goes to her feet and twirls. See the shoes? Princess shoes.
Today she took goodie bags to all her friends in school and they were pretty thrilled. Some of them were even wearing the party hats when I went to pick her up. I managed to get rid of some of the leftover party stuff I had from last year, but I still have a fair bit of Scooby Doo party stuff and still a fair bit of Little Mermaid party stuff. Dang, if I'm not a sucker for this kid.

I want to start something new. I want to do some kind of pretty lace shawl or stole - something fiddley.
*sigh*
But I'm a stubborn thing, you see. I want to finish this other foot sweater at least and I need to also work on the S.S.S. and the baby sweater. I'm to the gusset on the foot sweater and I've started the sleeves on the baby sweater. No progress on the S.S.S.

Today, I absolutely have to finish clearing off my table and work on The G.G. Cloak. I think I've still got to mark the center. Then comes the quilting. Hopefully, I'll get some of that done today.

It's been a few days since I've spent some quality time with the Blog. So, here we are. There are a few updates to the sidebar, so go take a look if'n y'awn to.
I've not got as much knitting done as I'd like in the past week, but enough to be going on with, I think. I've at least hit some knitly milestones.

For example:
On the foot-sweaters, I finished the heel flap on the 2nd sock.










I started the Snake Skin Socks (S.S.S.) for the 6-Sox KAL. This is my first pair for 6-Sox. Gal's gotta start somewhere, right? Might as well jump right in.










I finished the first fair-isle sock and finished the toe on the 2nd.












And I finished the back and left front raglan shaping on Baby Sweater #1. I haven't got to the left front neck shaping yet, but may be able to do that today. In case I haven't said before, I'm making two just in case. Better safe than short a sweater.










So, there you are. Note the countertop. It's new. Some dudes raided my apartment, replaced lights, doorknobs, faucets, and countertops and they put in a much-needed medicine cabinet in the bathroom. The countertop is alright, I guess. It's not something I would have picked out for myself, but it doesn't entirely suck. At least they didn't just paint over the old one like they did at my last apartment. They had even painted the sink! Who paints a sink?

I want you to know that I absolutely *adore* The Harlot. She's not only a yarn geek who has acheived greater yarn geekitude than I can ever imagine, but she also likes scifi. Not only is she a scifi geek, she plays D&D. No joke. The best groovy knitter geek chick ever.
(Steph, if the D&D was a secret, I'm very, very sorry. I'm blogging under the influence. Hardly anybody reads my blog anyhow. No wukkas. I'll knit you a d4 or a d6 to make up for it. Maybe a d20, but that might be a bit ambitious even for me.)

I love you, man! No, I *really* love you, man.

Gods of the blessed mountain, I must be the biggest dork ever. Y'all (by which I mean both of you) love me anyhow, right?

Okay, so I'm taking a bit of a break from spinning. It is Tuesd...aw dang, it's Wednesday. That means tomorrow I have to go to the dentist. Very sad. Novocaine and deep cleaning.

So, when you first start doing something you suck at it. I suck at spinning. Well, to be fair, I'm actually getting muuuuch better. My thread is more consistent and I'm able to spin something a bit thinner than what I had been. I think my first couple ounces of wool are at about chunky weight (and very inconsistent) and now I'm going to be closer to worsted or sport. I've plied two spindle's worth and the next two spindles will be much nicer.
When I went to buy wool, I got the cheapest bag for practice and the cheapest spindle for practice. Now I've gone from suck to lovely, I hope. I'm not sure what I'll do with all this home spun what varies in size so much, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

I really like spinning and I'm fascinated with processes that go from raw materials to finished products. How do you get from sheep to clothes? How do you get from flax plant to fabric?
I actually researched flax and it turns out that I had planted some in my garden. It has pretty blue flowers and so I was thinking "Hey, this is a pretty little ornamental and it's called 'flax.' Isn't that funny? I bet it's not really flax, but something that's just called flax."
No, it's really flax.

So, I did some research, grabbed a little less than half of the plants and started the process to turn them into fiber and then fabric. I did that and managed to get enough fiber to knit a wee tiny bit no bigger than my thumb.
I just wanted to see if I could and I did. I took a plant from my garden and made fabric out of it. From raw materials to finished product. I love it.

So, as you can see there on the right there's been a bit of progress. One thing I haven't listed there yet is the Ninewoods altarcloth. Here's a picture of the top finished and basted:

It's very cool and very random. I like it. There are nine blocks and each block is a nine patch. Within the nine patch are little ninepatches. I used only scraps from my scrap stash and some from Becky's when I got sick of my fabrics.
Anyhow, the only place I'm stuck is how to quilt it. Not a clue. Should I just work around the squares or do something nifty in the bigger squares or... well, I don't know.


Anyhow, I'm actually making progress on the foot sweaters, aka Husband!Socks. My goal is to be done by his birthday and I may yet get there.









Here's the first You-Know-What sock (pictured with mini-sock for scale...or something). At first, I was going to do a dark mark, but it required intarsia. I probably could have worked it out somehow, but I do like the stripeyness of these. At any rate, the swatch for the intarsia made for a cool patch on my jeans jacket.

It occurs to me right very now that I haven't got a picture of it.
Bother.
I assure you it is very cool.

I'm also making progress on the General Greivous cloak. I got the fabric and now I'm drawing out the quilting lines for the 'armour weave'. The liner fabric for the front is slightly different than the fabric for the back, but it will be symmetrical (and have kind of a cool effect, I think). I haven't drawn out the pattern for the Greivous symbol yet, mostly because I want to get the lining quilted and sewn in first.

Clearly, I am insane.

My only little girl, four years old, is in Kindergarten. Right now. My only child in the care of the public school system. It is a frightening thought.

So, out of a bit of nervousness last night, I made a gauge swatch. Swatching is not insane you say? A-ha! I shall show you.
















It's about four inches from the heel to the top. It's got an eye-of-the-partridge heel and I'll be arsed if I can remember how I decreased for the toe. I'm proud of myself for being able to do this off the top of my head, but...I made a four-inch sock. Just because.

Here are some pictures of the design process. Note the monkey.

So, I made a new dress for Iree. She's all about dresses right now, so I checked my stash of fabric and cut out a couple dresses for her. I let her pick the first one and she picked the cherry fabric. I have a horking lot of this fabric even after this dress.

But it's cute and she likes it. The other one is a pale green plaid that doesn't look nearly as bad as it sounds. The pattern was pretty easy, I finished the cherry dress in a day, so I may work on the green dress tomorrow.


I made this dress a couple years ago. I guess Iris is about three in this picture. I think that's her Lolly in her hand.

This little baby girl is going to Kindergarten on Friday.















And these are her yellow mittens. They have a bit of I-cord connecting them to go through the sleeves of her coat. Hopefully, they will be easy to keep up with that way. These are my very first ever mittens, so I'm pretty proud of them. Every time she saw me working on mitten #2, Iris wanted to try on the other one. She'd walk around with one mitten on, wiggling her fingers inside of it.

I actually made #2 a bit shorter than #1, so I ended up ripping it back past the decreases and lengthening it a bit. The pictures above are 100% done, finished, complete, post-ripping back and re-knitting.

Here it is just after I ripped it back. Iree said I was very silly for making her mitten two times.
She's probably right.

Anyhow, there may be a hat to accompany the mittens and possibly a scarf as well. I've got a fair bit of the microspun left in yellow and some green that goes with the fluffy novelty I've got stranded in the mittens. I think that right now I want to make a pair of socks for myself.

I have pictures, as promised, and updates.
I haven't been doing much actual knitting the past week or so. I've been very distracted and busy, and Jane, stop this crazy thing!


I did a few TCA blocks while visiting my mom's last weekend, so the stack is a bit higher and the ball is a bit smaller. This will be a TCA before ya know it. I also found the pattern for the ziggy-zaggy wave pattern that's so common as a TCA, so I'm thinking either that or the classic granny square.
You can see in the picture there that one of the blocks is composed of leftovers.



Oh, and here's a picture of the crocheted washrag that I mentioned last time. Isn't it purdy? It's a bit faded 'cause it just went through its second wash. It is to be expected with this sort of thing. It's still lurverly. It looks great wet, too. I love how the variegation turned out. I did another one that's a star shape and about the size of my hand, but I chose not to take a picture of its wet mankiness. This was done on a size G or H crochet hook with the Sugar & Cream cotton in alternate stitch. Alternate stitch makes for good scrubby bumps.


Now, on to knitting. Here's a picture of Iree's yellow mittens. They're done with Microspun and a fuzzy novelty whose name I forget. I've got quite a bit of microspun left (see, under the mitten? that's all microspun), so I'm thinking at least a hat to go with the mittens. Maybe one of the fair isle checked hats.
I'm thinking about casting them on again so I can get a fresh start. It's been awhile since I knitted these, and it's really not very many stitches. They work up very quickly. Thumbs, by the way, are magic.


Here's foot sweater #1, bottom of the picture, and #2, middle of the picture. They're coming along slowly, but they are coming along. Miles and miles of 2x1 rib. I'm only just now to the calf decreases.
You heard right, calf decreases. I want you to know that I love my husband very much and that if we ever should part, I'm finding a female partner to knit socks for. Someone with size 6 feet.



And finally, here's the baby sweater. I'm about three and a half inches in and I start the armholes at five inches. This is also in Sugar & Cream cotton, using Steph's Daisy pattern from Knitty. Like I said before, I'm going to do the snakey one.








Have you noticed yet?
I'll give you a hint, the lovely wood you see is my dining room table.
It's clean.
Not only is my dining room table clean, but I've cleaned up my sewing area in such a way that I could actually do some sewing. I haven't yet replaced the diaper cart for cotton fabric storage, but I did take the casters off and push it up against the wall. It totally looks like I did it on purpose. I'm still going to replace it, but at least now it's no longer hindering my use of the space.
So, on the sewing front, I've worked on one of the Knight puppets a bit and I cut out two dresses for Iris. She's really into dresses right now. Dresses every day (almost). Today she picked out a pink and grey UT outfit with shorts and buttoned up the shirt herself. She said, "I can button anything!" and that she was proud of herself. I'm proud of her, too.
Yesterday, we registered her for kindergarten. They did an assessment test and she did gloriously. She knew all the letters, counted, read, followed directions, wrote her name, and knew her colors. She had some trouble with the picture of the car and is still not convinced that it was a picture of a car. I don't know why, that was kinda weird. She's both nervous and excited, and I think I'm more so. I got a great kid.

Okay, so it's been a bit since I posted. Becky still has my camera, so no pictures today. You'll note by taking a glance at the sidebar that there's been some progress. I've finished Dragonfly's socks and I can't wait to see how they look on her feet! Another pair of socks finished.

The Husband!Socks are in progress again. I finally got the chutzpah to cast on the 2nd sock. I'm about an inch into it and believe me, that's not very far along at all. these are as daunting as any sweater and possibly more so.

Aaaand, speaking of sweaters, I've cast on this very evening a sweater for the as yet unnamed offspring of my sister. It's Steph's Daisy sweater, though I'm making the one with the snakes. It's in Sugar 'n' Cream cotton in a color called Dark Pine. I've got a variegated green that I'm thinking of doing the snakes in. They'll be nifty and stripedy!! I'm going to need more of the green, I can tell from here.

Oh no. Not more yarn. Anything but that.

Anyhow, there's a TCA in progress as well. I'm using up this light blue Red Heart yarn in a crochet pattern called Lacy V. I figure I'll just make blocks 'til I run out of yarn and then either acquire some other complimentary yarn and keep going or sew up what I've got. I made a crocheted washrag for the kitchen (not a Mason/Dixon Warshrag, mind you, but nonetheless very nice). I plan to try out the M/D Warshrag, but haven't yet. They look very nifty.

Since last I posted, I finished one little mitten for Iris and one of Dragonfly's socks. I'm to the heel flap on the second sock and at the ribbing on the second mitten. I really want to start something else and I have a pretty good excuse now. My little sister is pregnant! Yay knitted baby things!
Of course, what to knit? I have a book with booties, bonnets, sweaters, and blankets. I might make one of those, but I also want to do something different.
I'll either find something or come up with something.

I'm almost finished with one of four iris hankercheifs.

I...don't know what to say. I'm still in shock, I think.
I finished it- **finished** done, blocked, and it's now neatly folded in my drawer out of reach of kitties or kiddies. I finished the Mystery Shawl #2.
I'm going to have some ice cream now.
Here's the proof:

Here it is blocking on my bed. I have a Queen sized bed, this shawl is freakin' huge! I was really worried about the tight bound off edge along the neck, and while I'm not pleased that the top edge is so inconsistent, it blocked fine. I would rather liked to have had a consistent edge worked along the top, but what is one to do?







And here is the shawl completely blocked and hanging on my VanGogh print of Cherry Blossoms that my most awesome mom got framed for me.
This is the cleanest place in my house.












note the cat up to mischeif as usual. No, he didn't pull it down, that was an attempt at artful draping. If he had pulled it down, the next finished project you would have seen here would be a lovely grey fur hat.


Also, I finished MladyM's socks! They are perfect sockly twinkies. Which is to say that they match just perfectly. See?
My feet are pretty close in size to the intended feet. These are a bit big on me, so they should be perfect. I'll be mailing them off to Canada just as soon as I can get to the post office.
I hope they fit okay. I really liked working with this yarn and I've got a weee ickle bit left over and I don't know what the frell I should do with it. More pictures of the socks here.


I've started on Dragonfly's socks (formerly known as Wintermoon) and they are going very quickly. I thought I would try the eye of the partridge heel, 'cause it looks neat and I've not done it before. I wasn't sure how it would look with the self-striping yarn, but it turned out just fine. (...goes to take picture...)
(...returns from taking picture) Well, as you can see, the heel flap turned out fine. I think I like how that looks even better. There's also a little preview of the picot edge for the cuff. I figured that since they were short socks, they needed something other than ribbing.
The thing in the background is a glasses case I made for myself because I suddenly needed one. I've got contacts now. While I wish they were the kind of contacts that could get me a job (I'm looking for one this summer), they are not. They are, however, the kind that I poke into my eyeball so I don't have to wear glasses. It's weird to just see my face in the mirror. I haven't seen that since 5th grade and I look a bit different. I like it. I can wear sunglasses that cost me all of a dollar ten cents.

I must tell you something. I had just finished the vinyard socks the day or so before I finished the MS#2. When I finished the shawl, I had nothing on my needles for five, maybe ten minutes. It was weird, let me tell ya. As it is, I've only got Dragonfly's socks on the needles right now. The second foot sweater isn't cast on yet and I've not got the pattern for the flower basket shawl yet either. I'm considering getting something from the stash and just casting something on. A hat? A scarf?
Can't be having one project at a time, now can we?

Summer is for Socks

Do you know why Summer is for Socks?
Because it's hot. Really, really hot. In fact right very now it's 34*. That's 34*C. It's 94*F and, just to round things out a bit, it's 307*Kelvin. Really freaking hot.
A sweater is going to lay on your lap like an evil sheep that wants to cuddle you 'til you pass out from heat exhaustioun. Afghans are right out - evil *HERD* of sheep, plus the sheepdog and shepherd. I'm finishing up TDS, I'm only fourteen or so repeats away from casting off and I am so done. Sweat + wool = sad. It's going to be a very nice shawl. Iris says I should give it to her Granny, but I'm not sure.
"Here, mom, I made you this grey lace shawl. Isn't it pretty? Now you can really look like an old lady!"
Umm, no.
I may be wrong. It's been known to happen. I'll have to ask and see how she feels about it. Can I be sneaky about it? Is she going to read this blog? Only time will tell! Tune in next time for...
pictures?
maybe?

Long time no post. I've kind of had a week and everything is just thrown off kilter. I haven't done a whole lot of knitting this week (due to off-kilterness) but I did get a hankercheif finished in memory of my friend who passed away last sunday. I started on another one and my goal is to make four for the four sisters who lost their dad.
I'm making progress on the Mystery shawl #2. I've turned the corner and now I'm on the home stretch. Me and Becky are just about in the same place now. We have a quart of Ben & Jerry's each in mind for when we finished. Cherry Garcia for me, something involving peanut butter for her. For all the cussing and frustration and whatnot, it's going to be a beautiful shawl that I'm never knitting again.
MladyM's socks are nearly done. I really like how they're turning out and I'm going to try to get a picture of them before I mail them out. I'm at the gussett of sock #2 and nearly done with that, so I'm very almost at the catfish puppet stage.
About a week ago, I went to the Knaughty Knitter and picked up some stuff so that I can teach myself how to spin. I'm certain that it's not the most wonderful, consistent, perfect string in the whole world, but I took the fluff, made it go roundy-roundy, and now it is string. My plan is to keep spinning until I feel like there's enough on the spindle, then do it again and ply. Whee!
I like spinning. Spinning is cool. I make string.

Okay, still no pictures. Man, do I need to get my camera back.
So, I've been a bit distracted by life happening around me. I'm kind of at a zen place with it all now. But, anyhow, on to adventures in string.

(looks at shawl) Yep, I feel like I've got about 20% of the whole thing to go. I'm one pattern repeat past the middle and if I bust arse on it, I could have it done by... July? Maybe? I'm loathe to set an actual finish date because I don't actually know how long it's going to take me. I'm certainly going to be doing the happy dance of joy when I finally do finish. As an additional motivator, the only other thing I'm working on is a pair of socks. When I finish those (and that should be soonish, I'm on sock#2), I've got another pair for someone not me and then it's on to a pair for me or else to finish the Husband!foot-sweaters. We'll see how adventurous I'm feeling. Anyhow, only shawl and sock until shawl is done. When sock is done, sock gets cast on. Then another sock, then another. Such is the way of sock-knitting. After this pair, I'm going to try toe-up ala Wendy Knits.
In the meantime, I plan to re-chart the fair isle for Iree's cardigan. I may even move the needles a size or so up, I don't know.

Still no pictures. My sister has my camera 'cause I, like the dork I am, forgot to get it back from her after we got back from Eden's birthday party. Lots of birthday pics, and a pic of the current sock-in-progress ala Harlot.
But, there is progress to be had. Check the sidebar.
The bridesmaid's dress is **DONE**
She liked it, it fits, it looks great, and she gave me pennies.
Didja get that last part? She gave me pennies.
Sock #1 of 2 of MladyM's socks is done. 2nd sock is cast on.
The Husband socks are stagnant because I can't get any more of the Essential in black until June. I've finished the 1st sock and I have two skeins for sock #2, but I know that it's going to take more than that. I have a third skein that I was considering for another sock, so I'm thinking I may weigh it and split the skein.
Bored now. I need encouragement. I need to work on MS#2 (aka T.hat D.ang S.hawl). Perhaps with that as the at home project and the MladyM socks as the while I'm out project, I'll get them both done. What I don't need is to start something new and different and shiny.
Time to work on TDS.

Okay, so no pictures today, but a lot of update. The MladyM socks have suffered a major setback. My working gauge was 3/4 a stitch off, making it waaaay too wide. It was bad. I ripped the whole thing back. Monday I thought that I had put in a size 2 amongst the 1's, but it turns out not to be the case. I just had a looser working gauge. I'm about six stripes into it rather than being almost done with the first sock. No worries. It's only a sock.

No real progress on the MS#2 because of the sock issues.

But I cut out the bridesmaid's dress today. I had thought at first that the wedding to which this was to be worn was at the end of the month, but it turns out that I have a week to finish. Hence the busting arse on it today. I want to get some of it sewn tonight, but I'm going to have to read and reread the pattern to make sure I'm doing it right. It's a sleeveless thing with a shaped bodice and boning. The skirt will be easy-peasy; it's two pieces. The bodice is a bit more fussy and I want to approach it with caution. At least there are no weird sleeves.

Na'ama's skirt is being mailed right very now. It's a week later than I had planned, but it's on its way to its owner. She sent me popovers as part of my payment. I asked for something you can't find here in town and she sent a box full of these wonderful pastries that are hollow in the middle and just want for fruit and cream or something to fill them. They came with apple butter. The label read "Ingredients: Apples. That's it!" Amazing how good food is when it doesn't have all that extra crap in it.

So, I've been making progress on my Mystery Shawl #2. Go me.
I'm about halfway to the center mark and I seem to be moving along rather quickly. I'm doing four, five, maybe more pattern repeats per day. Each pattern repeat (for the MS#2 uninitiated) is one of the ickle triangles there on the edge. I suspect that I'll peter out somewhere in the middle part of this clue, but if I keep going at this rate, I should be done *before* Ragnarok.











So, to take the edge off, I did a gauge swatch for a potential Iris sweater. I like how the colors worked out and how it's all chromatic (and Iris likes that part too), but I'm going to have to re-work the chart so that it's...less, no, more, erm...something. Well, I'm going to have to rework the chart. I'm really liking the fair isle greek key theme and I may just do that all over or switch between two different fair isle keys (the other one is in the yellow and green, so you can't see it very well). The gauge is alright. I used #6 straights with MicroSpun that Becky gave me in trade.

Pictures, as promised!

First, Na'ama's skirt:







And here are the hankies I've been working on: