Space bags, space bags, itty bitty space ba

Have you ever thought that you needed more room to store yarn? Well, with the upcoming move, I new that hauling all my yarn out to KC was going to be a challenge, but I am of course up to it. I had my roving in on rubbermaid. Sock yarn in another. Yarn remainders in another. Novelty-ish yarn in yet another and worsted weight wools in the final one. Yeah. That is a lot of bins. That doesn't count the GIANT one upstairs that hasn't been gone through. Just downstairs in those bins I have over 42000 yards of yarn and a couple pounds of roving. I am understating the amounts out of embarrassment.

A few weeks ago I hit up Bed Bath and Beyond and picked up a box of assorted space bag sizes. I did not realize how big the damn extra-large space bag was.

That bag comes up to my waist. Seriously. And in that bag I got all of my roving, handspun and sock yarn. It is heavy.

Those would be my stairs. It is stuffed full.

Want to know what it looks like AFTER the sucking out of the air???? Well...

Holy cow!

Yeah. I think all of my yarn will be moved in space bags. *heads off to buy more*

Last up...its the yarn that Kathy won! I finally got around to posting a pic of it. YAY ME!

Episode 12: Iz can Haz Cat Bordhi

New Yarn:
Yarn Pirate Booty Club - Calamity
The Knittery - Orchid
Regia Bamboo
Duet Skinny - Steel Heart

New Roving:
August Poppy Flower Fibers Luxury Fiber Club - Merino
Sample roving from A Little Quacky

WIPs :
Elizabeth Bennet Cabled Cardigan from Fitted Knits: 25 Designs for the Fashionable Knitter
Mystery Stole 3

Boyfriend Socks

Fifi

Book Review:

Cat Bordhi - New Pathways for Sock Knitters Book One

The Stitch Markers pictured are available (so you don't have to make them yourself. Woohoo!!! contact me here, at fairieknits@gmail.com, or contact Cristi. These are $7.50 + S&H.

FO:

Baby Sky Sock

Baby Coriolis Sock

I forgot to mention it, but there will be another crafty project coming that I helped Cristi with.

News:

Homespun Helpers is offical now.

Button will be coming

Stuff is coming in for the Lupus fundraiser which starts in September

Contest Winners

Because I am late with the podcast this time and I will be out of town from the middle of next week until the following midweek - I want to go ahead and announce the contest winners from Episode 11. The lovely random number generator picked:

Lisacam!!! She wins Spin It: Making Yarn from Scratch - Congrats!!!

The random number generator then chose Kathy! Kathy wins a skein of Trekking XXL in a pretty pink colorway (the same one I used to make my embossed leaves socks earlier this year and a pair of baby socks for my niece!!). I will put a pic up in the show notes or in this entry soon(ish).

If both of you can please contact me as I don't have email addresses for you and blogger won't let me click to contact you, I would appreciate it!!!

late again.

Podcast will be a little late this week - but it will hopefully be worth it. Plus it will help bridge that gap during which I will be out of town with Tattoo Boyfriend.

Iz can haz Cat Bordi. kthx bai!

Where did it go?

I haven't knit a thing since Monday. It is Thursday. I haven't worked on FiFi. I haven't worked on Boyfriend socks. I haven't touched the Mystery Stole. And I haven't done a bit of spinning.

What I have done is sleep. When not working, I have been asleep or working on things around the house. I got a bunch of stuff put up on ebay yesterday and have a couple more things to go up. Mainly my never used Cycle Ops Fluid 2 stationary bike trainer which I bought in a fit of temporary insanity.

Anyway. I have touched my yarn. But I haven't knit anything. And I don't think I will tonight either. Tomorrow I will go and knit on the Mystery Stole with Cristi and then probably on Boyfriend socks since there is only so much lace you can knit while drinking beer and watching Dr. Who.

As I have been writing this post, I was also watching SYTYCD AND chatting with my good friend Andy. He was nice enough to send this link for a storage facility to me. The NYC billboard, if you didn't click, says "Your closet space is shrinking as fast as her right to choose" and has a giant hanger. I find it in totally poor taste if you are for or against abortion. I make no judgements of your affiliation. I however, am HORRIFIED at how many people think this billboard is GREAT! If the company meant to invoke the thoughts of illegal self abortion with the huge ass hanger or it was innocent "your closet is where hangers store things" thought ... you know someone at some point had to have pointed out that it is just in poor taste. That kind of treatment of something that was so dangerous for women just makes me a little squicky on the inside. It is very...ummm...flippant I think I want to say. I am so squicked that I can't find the words for it.

I guess I am just tired of the type of advertising - the in your face, distasteful kind - annoys me. Really, most ads annoy me, which is why I love my DVR, but that isnt' the point as this is a billboard. Statistically speaking, billboards are seen by more people than any other form of advertising. Back in day when I was in college they were considered the most effective form of advertising (probably still are) because you can't turn them off and if you commute chances are you pass the same sign every day, so while you don't really pay attention, you will remember seeing the billboard when you think...hmmm, I need some storage space. You might not remember the billboard, but you will remember the name of the place or the logo. Which is the point of good advertising. I don't consider THAT good advertising. I consider it disgusting, although from a pure advertising POV it does all the things you want an ad to do. But still.

Wow. Sorry. This randomly rambling post wasn't meant to be all this. It was meant to say I haven't been knitting, but I have a chocolate milkshake, so life is good. That said...I shall leave you now with the knowledge that I rarely do this and won't again for awhile. We hope.

WIP Wednesday

Well, this week I was challenged to a full disclosure WIP post. I have decided that this will happen next week because I just finished taking pics of half my closet to post on ebay so that I can clear some things out. Seriously. I am really clearing out. I mean it!!!

Anyway...onto the WIPs. Here we have FiFi. I am not saying anything else about it other than it's pink.
And Boyfriend Socks are coming along. There is a surprise on these that you will see when they are done. I haven't worked on anything else. Oh well.

Enable Enable Enable

I wasn't planning to blog today, but since Cristi outed me as her enabler, well, I have decided to share that power!

First, you must take a look at the Mystery Stole 3 inspired Swan Shawl Pin by Romi. It is BEAUTIFUL and if the bank every gives me my money back I will be snapping one up! ETA: The bank gave me my money today!!!! I now have one of these beautiful swan shawl pins preordered. You know you want one!!!!

Next - The Loopy Ewe (my favorite enabling site) had a Sneak Up last night. Now in the shop ... Lime N Violet Sasquatch Sock. This is the first LnV offering at TLE and it is almost gone. Here, we have some LnV Sasquatch from my personal stash (so these colors weren't offered) in The Cloak Maker (top), Atropine (bottom front) and Prozac! They are all pretty!

Also at TLE is Fiesta Boomerang. Holy shit. This yarn in seriously SMOOSHY!!! I can't wait to knit this up.

Eva had a little snuggle time with some Fiesta Boomerang in Stargazer. If you look to the left, you can see that there is some blue and yellow in this skein as well. Its 100% Extrafine Superwash Merino in a DK weight (so your socks will knit up fast!!!) and has a whopping 320 yards, so more than enough for a nice pair of squishy socks. Soon, TLE will be carrying the Fiesta Boomerang Baby (I think is what it is called) which is the fingering weight of this seriously AMAZING yarn! This yarn may be my favorite thing right now.

Well, other than Rozz, who was nice enough to show off this skein of the new Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome (available at an introductory price at TLE). This is The Gypsy Rose colorway and I love it. The content of the new yarn is 80% superwash merino, 20% nylon. I can't wait to have this on my feet!!! Last, but certainly not least is the Dream in Color Smooshy! (out of stock currently, but there will be more soon!!!) This is the Cool Fire colorway, which oddly enough, Wendy Knits recently knit up - I already had mine when she was working on hers. I tell you it was meant to be! 450 yards of handpainted superfine Australian Merino. Holy Moly!
Even Rozz is impressed with the yarn...he was sniffing it...that's my boy!!!
The Loopy Ewe offers free shipping over $75. So if you need a little something to put you over the top and you don't want more yarn *gasp* pick up a Honey House Bee Bar. These bars are a wonderful gift to yourself...or someone else if you are nice. The Scented bar smells of honey and beeswax. Its yummy!!! I haven't tried the Lavender bar *eyes longingly*

I guess that is enough for the day. Despite my splitting headache and desire to just go back to bed, here I am bringing you the things I love best right now.

eeeeeeee!!!!!

A little birdie told me that today is a special special day. Yes, today is the day of Cristi's birth!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DEAR KNITTER FRIEND!!!! I hope you and Bloody Finger have a Bloody good time!!!!

I have plans for your giftie...but it will be late. Why? Because I am the world's worst friend!

*sobs*

Dear Bank,

I reported some unauthorized charges to you over 2 weeks ago. I have called back twice. Today I was on the phone for over an hour and a half and spoke to 5 different people.

Please give me my money back. I have yarn to buy!

No love,

Aimee

PS - up until today I said you guys were GREAT! now...well, I want to kick and scream, but I apprecaite the 4 really helpful people from today. The first one...not so much.

Its too hot!!

Batteries in the camera are dead. Didn't realize they were the last set in the house. Too frakkin hot to leave the house for batteries. If I had realized this yesterday when I was out...*sigh*

WIPs are coming along nicely. FiFi is coming along. Cabled Cardie is still in the black hole of knitting doom. Boyfriend sock 1 is almost done. I haven't worked on anything else.

Even with the AC on, it is hot hot hot. I mean the heat index is something like 5 billion today. OK - 106 or something. I think the high today was 99. I don't know, since I work from home (thank you to the best employer EVER!!!) I don't actually have to go out in it. Hence no batteries. Hence no pictures. Hence sadness.

Eva is sitting next to me. She wants to be in my lap, but it is too hot to have a fat hairball on me.

Ummmm....nothing else much going on. Just knitting when it isn't too hot (Monday night I was so hot I only knit 2 rows and then went to bed.) Sometimes just being still with the fan on and the AC running and being lazy is what a nice southern night calls for.

Where's the handspun at??

I have to admit that I haven't really been a good spinner this week. With the end of the Tour de Fleece, I have taken a teeny tiny break from my spinning. Not that I am over it, but I needed to catch up on some knitting (I mean I do have something like 3 million WIPs right now), laundry and sleep. I would say I was catching up on housework, as well, but that would be a lie. The house is a wreck of fiber and junk mail. *looks about* Too bad I have all this knitting. Guess it will get cleaned up as I pack it up.


Anyway...no handspun today, so instead I will give you piccies of my babies. About a week ago I snapped these shots of the monsters. They are a little tough to get pics of. My camera makes noise when you turn it on or zoom, so by the time you are ready to snap a shot, they have moved/run/hidden/don't look as cute. Tattoo Boyfriend's camera is a digital SLR, so we are excited to work with that instead of my (perfectly acceptable) Fuji Finepix something or another which isn't as quiet as his. Though his is more fiddly. The only time I have used it was under the influence of buckets of Corona (yes, buckets. A couple of the friends starting buying buckets and sharing around...we participated *sigh*)



First, we have Rozz (no, I usually don't make the bed...I used to, now I have more important things to do, like knit).

I have long known that he loves to burrow under the covers and nap during the day. I frequently find him there tucked under. On this particular day, I came upstairs and he just partly covered up. When I grabbed the camera (and turned it on in the other room), he just looked at me while I took his picture. Isn't he a handsome boy??

About an hour later, I came back upstairs for something or another and snapped this pic of Eva.

Notice she is laying EXACTLY where Rozz had been. Not sure if he left and she got up there or if she pushed him out, but it was amusing to me that she was in the same spot he had been in. Pretty pretty princess that she is.

Fairieknits: Episode 11 - Finally she has a contest!!!

Lots to do, lots to see!

FOs:

Mariposa is done after 2 long years of not doing a damn thing with it because I hate to seam. Laziness, I know. In Lion Brand Microspun (which for the life of me I couldn't remember the name of during the podcast ... other than micro...I kept wanting to say microfiber. sorry about that!

Pictures of these next few are all up in the blog! Flip back and see!

Rum Runner Socks from Yarn Pirate Booty Club Yarn in the Rum Runner Colorway.

Danielle's Pinwheel

Basalt Tank from Knitting Nature: 39 Designs Inspired by Patterns in Nature

WIPs:

Elizabeth Bennet Cabled Cardigan from Fitted Knits: 25 Designs for the Fashionable Knitter

Mystery Stole 3

Tattoo Boyfriend Socks

Fifi as part of the Sexy Knitters Club KAL

New Yarn:

Dream in Color Smooshy - Cool Fire Colorway - check out some knitted socks in it at Wendy Knits!

Fiesta Boomerang in Stargazer

Cherry Tree Hill in Gypsy Rose

You can check them all out at The Loopy Ewe which is where I picked mine up at.

Book Reviews:

The Tour de Fleece is over and I learned a lot while spinning during that time.

Charity:
Plans for the Lupus Raffle in September are going well. Thank you to all who have sent in donations for prizes already! Looking to start mid-Sept and run through probably Oct. 5. Tickets will be $5 each and I am hoping to raise $5ooo this year!

Crafting for a Cause will be officially name changing to Homespun Helpers on August 15th. More into on that blog. I am so pleased to be part of this amazing group!

CONTEST!!!!
I am going to give away a copy of Spin It: Making Yarn from Scratch. To be eligible you must leave a comment on this post and I will use the random number generator to pick a winner. One entry per person no matter how many times you comment. And if you don't have a blog, that is ok as long as I can get in touch with you! I will be raiding my yarn stash for at least one yarn prize as well!

Best.vacation.ever.

I read on Bezzie's blog that there is a cool contest about vacation stories over at Calling on Kalho, so I figure this is a good time to talk about that. I am guessing that most people will recount a vacation from their childhood, but not me. Sure, I have GREAT memories of childhood vacations to Disneyworld (which were then eclipsed by the fact that we moved to Orlando, so Disney lost it's luster) and Niagra Falls. Or the years we went camping or my trip to London and Paris.

I, however, had my favorite vacation 2 summers ago. Just two? Why? Well, lets begin the begin, shall we?

Every year there is a convention in Atlanta called Dragon*Con. A few years before I went with a group of friends for the first time. I skipped the next year and then went again in 2005 with some other friends. Andy and his wife Mel, Cheri, Gen, Charles, my friend Larry, Jeff and some others from all over the country headed to Atlanta for Labor Day weekend. Cheri, Gen and I shared a room full of giggly girls and we were off to have one hell of a drunken weekend. I mean we were drunk the first night.

On Saturday, Gen and I decided to wait in line (forever) to see the cast of the Firefly movie, Serenity which was coming out in just a few weeks (I had already seen it at a screening - that isn't the point). Behind us in line, there was a guy. He was hot. HOLYMOTHEROFGODHEWASHOT!!! I was, of course, knitting. A lace scarf in fucking mohair as a matter of fact which I kept having to rip back since I was trying to watch him out of the corner of my eye. He talked to my group of friends, but when the line moved, we lost him. He claimed later I ran away from him. He lies, I looked for him.

I lement that I have not seen him again. Did I mention he was HOT?

Gen spots him on Sunday across a crowded hotel lobby. She yells at him. He thinks it is me yelling at him. He comes over. He hangs out. He is, as you have guessed, Tattoo Boyfriend. We hung out until about 3 am. We had drinks. Some random guy in a bar who claimed he was a judge from San Fran there for business with his sife (re: hooker) said we made a really cute couple. He passed all of the potential dating questions. He bought water for me when I was thirsty. He joked, he laughed, he shared. We had an immediate attraction.

There was an embarrassing little incident in the dealers room involving a guy at the bondage booth oversharing about his carpal tunnel and a certain pair of bondage cuffs he can stay in for hours. I was MORTIFIED that this guy was telling me this as I stood next to the HOTTEST GUY EVER TO TALK TO ME. I attract things like this. He said he had no idea I was mortified, but really when we got into the 10th minute of this guy's life...it was too much.

We parted late that night with the possibility of breakfast the next day and Gen and I walked back to our hotel. My phone had died earlier in the evening, so when we got back to the hotel I plugged it in and was listening to VM when he CALLED. He wanted to tell me he had a great time and wanted to make sure we got back ok. Then we had breakfast in the morning. It was the best french toast EVER (and I have a deep deep love for french toast). He ordered the same thing I did. I smiled.

The whole weekend was a lot of fun, but those few days are a blur of happiness and excitement. Now, 2 years later, we are getting ready to head down to Atlanta again. I am getting ready to move to Kansas City so we can be together full time and none of this 2 city business.

And to think, at the last minute BOTH of us almost didn't go. Funny how those things work out. Now, here is a picture of that trip that he is in, but you can't see him...hahahaha. He hates to have his pic taken, and since I can't seem to locate that pic at the moment...there are none. hahahaha. OK - I am a meanie. Sorry. He is very private and doesn't really like it when I talk about him, so shhhhh...he doesn't read this blog or listen to the podcast. mostly because he hears enough about fiber at home already.

Turtlegirl76 and The Bloody Finger: A Cautionary Tale

So one Friday a knitter named Aimee* went to a knitter named Cristi's* house for an evening of beer, nachos and knitting. Not really in that order. When Aimee arrived, Cristi was pruning her bearded irises because, well, it was time and her family is coming next week. Cristi was doing this as quickly as possible because 1) it was hotter than hell out, 2) there was knitting to be done and 3) she had no beer.

Aimee went upstairs to put her knitting bag down and grab a couple beers. She pet Calvin and Ripple and then went to the kitchen for beer. Meanwhile, Cristi is busy pruning away. Suddenly, Cristi is in the kitchen holding her hand. She has cut her finger. Let's rephrase. She has attempted to sever her finger with a pair of pruning sheers.

Aimee looks at it with her. They put pressure on it. They put peroxide on it. Aimee calls her mom to see if they should take her to have it looked at. Mom says to do that if it won't stop bleeding. It stops. Cristi goes out to clean up the clippings and decides to cut some more plants. Her finger begins to bleed again. Once again the bleeding is finally stopped with the discovery of some of that second skin bandage stuff applied.

Dinner and beer are had. Dr. Who is watched. Finger bleeds some more. Aimee suggests having it looked at, however it is too late to do anything but go to the ER. Cristi declines the ER saying she feels stupid going to the ER. The finger throbs. Aimee suggests taking some ibuprofen. Cristi takes 3 motrin. With beer.

The finger develops its own personality. Bloody Finger. Bloody Finger talks and tells you to do things. Aimee suggests that Cristi put a regular band-aid OVER the gushy looking second skin stuff (which has now been changed once and is now the finger sized kind) because yarn shops won't let you touch yarn with Bloody Finger.

Cristi drives to DC. Bloody Finger is semi-gushy. Bloody Finger continues to bleed. Pam, who is sheltering Cristi in DC for the night, sees Bloody Finger. Cristi finally breaks down and goes to an Urgent Care where they tell her they can't do anything anyway because it has been over 24 hours. She just has to live with her new friend: Bloody Finger. Pam takes Cristi to a pub for beer and to hang out with a doctor friend who they will make look at it. Although he is only an anesthesiologist.

Aimee encourages her to talk to people with Bloody Finger and in the Bloody Finger voice which came out the night before thereby cementing Cristi as single for another night.

Lucky for Cristi, this happened to her left ring finger. She is an English style knitter so this doesn't affect her knitting really. Unless Bloody Finger is actively bleeding and no one wants blood on their knitting.

Moral #1: When using sharp objects make sure your fingers are out of the way before cutting.
Moral #2: When you are still bleeding 4 hours later and your friend says - hey, lets go to the ER - GO! She is wise in the ways of injuring herself and is willing to sit with you while you wait.
Moral #3: WTF are you doing yard work for when there is knitting to be done??? When there is knitting to be done, well, you should do it.
Moral #4: Never EVER do anything that could endanger your knitting. This includes housework and laundry.
Moral #5: If you are going to do serious damage to your hand, make sure you do it to a part that doesn't interfere with your knitting and on your non-dominant for knitting hand.

Five morals sounds good enough really.

Nope: One more. Moral #6: When your injury gets its own personality, you should worry both about your sanity as well as the sanity of your friend who is now speaking to you in the Bloody Finger Voice.

I would show you pictures, but really I promise that you don't want to see them.

*The names in this story have not been changed because no one is innocent.

The Blackhole Edition

Well, its WIP Wednesday and I bet you are hoping for some progress pics? Well, there are none? Why? Well, I have been project faithful (mostly). I have only completed another couple rows on the mystery stole, but have mostly been working on the Elizabeth Bennet Cabled Cardigan.

I am in the blackhole of knitting on this project. I feel like I have been knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting(and really, I have - I worked on it for almost 3 hours on Monday night and another hour since) and I still haven't split off the sleeves. It looks great, just exactly the same...and it will for atleast another 10 increase rows or something...so no pics.

Then last weekend I decided that I would work on finishing some projects, so I did. I finished some socks. I finished the Basalt Tank...again. I say that because I had already finished it and worn it once, but there was a little issue that I needed to fix. A year later and I finally did it.

I did CO a new pair of socks today for Tattoo Boyfriend. I had to take the monsters to the vet and needed a project to carry along. I am almost done with the first foot, but I am wiped out from all that kitty wrangling, so I am going to take a nap instead of a picture.

And now you know the REAL reason for no pics on WIPs today...oh well...I like the Basalt Tank.

Pattern: Basalt Tank - Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughn

Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton

Needles: ummm...I don't remember...whatever the pattern called for, I got gauge and off I went.

Issues: There is errata for this pattern. Hell, for this whole book. That 6" tail I wove in under BOTH underarms?? worked itself out when I was at dinner the first time I wore it. I just fixed that.

It was a nice knit. I enjoyed it. I looked good in it.

Tequila Tuesday

Well, rum really! These are my Yarn Pirate Booty Club Rum Runner Socks. The colorway is Rum Runner and is exclusive to the Booty Club.

I love love love these socks. I am not a big fan of St st socks usually, but I cast these on toe up and they went FAST!!! Short row heel looks awesome in the stripes and I added 8 rows of 2x2 rib at the top (I am not going to tell you the big boo boo I JUST noticed on these and I finished them on Saturday...OOPS!).

The sock blockers came to me by way of Cristi. Look for more from her soon.

Handspun Monday: The Tour Ends

It is the end of the Tour de France. That means the end of the Tour de Fleece, too. Wow. What a great few weeks of spinning. I have noticed such a difference in my spinning over the last few weeks as I have been spinning every day.

Here we have some CJ Kopeck Creations in Jester. This was gifted to me in a secret pal exchange that ends this month, so I really wanted to spin it, but when I tried at the beginning of the tour, I was really having some issues with it. It was finer than I was used to, but this bobbin is half of the roving I have and I started the other half already. I am hoping that when all is said and done I will have a decent amount of yardage so I can knit something cool with it!!!

Tomorrow - we have another FO!!

FO Friday...you thought this day would never come!

Wednesday I mentioned that I had done both more and less knitting than expected.
Yesterday I said there was a FO for today.
You thought this day would never come! To be honest - so did I!

I am pleased to bring you Danielle's Pinwheel Sweater!!
In that pic you can see a mistake. oops! I will never mention it again!

Danielle has promised action shots and when I get them I will put them up. I am thinking this will go out next week with some other little gifts I have for her!

Also making its blog debut is MY pinwheel. You can see the difference, yet sameness in our color tastes.

Here they link arms and love each other before "Pink" is off to sunny California!

The Specs:
Pattern: Pinwheel Sweater (adult size)
Yarn: Mine: Cascade 220, Danielle's: Cascade 220 (red and gray) and elann.com Highland peruvian wool
Modifications: Well, there is no edge on mine (not sure there ever will be). Other than that, done as directed.

Great minds and such...

I had been planning to blog about the Charlotte Yarn Swap and Sell from this Saturday all week and decided that today was the day. Imagine my surprise when reading bloglines and Cristi beat me to it!! Well, I am doing it anyway because while I have a FO to share, I don't have the pics loaded yet because this was the planned post for the day.
Because she beat me to it, right there is Cristi selling her yarn! What she didn't sell, she donated to charity!
And here is Autumn buying some of Cristi's yarn. I met her tonight for a little knitting fun and tea talk and she is already knitting up what she bought this weekend into a cute wrap to wear to her brothers wedding in 2 weeks. Or maybe she is buying Heather's yarn here. Not sure. But she was buying yarn!

But where is my table? Well, I have to be honest - I didn't take any yarn to swap or sell. Instead I took a large trash bag and 2 grocery bags full of yarn to donate to charity and let them go to better use. I took 3 passes through my stash and a real look at what I would really have time to knit before I die. I have a lot of yarn.

Oh - I mentioned a FO. Guess you will have to wait until tomorrow to see that.

WIP Wednesday - both more and less than expected

With the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) on Friday, a second trip to the eye doctor for a "dislodged" contact lens AND about 4 million other things, I got both more and less knitting done than I planned.

First, I got less done on the Mystery Stole then I planned. This is the end of Clue 2 which I finished up on Friday afternoon. Then I headed over to Cristi's and worked to about halfway through Clue 3. The lower pink lifeline is the end of Clue 2 - so I made some progress, just not as much as I would have liked. Especially since I haven't touched it since.

I headed to the Harry Potter release over at Borders and took my Elizabeth Bennett Cabled Cardigan with me. It has grown quite a bit in the last week...it was barely more than a collar last week and now it is almost ready to have the sleeves become their own little projects. I think I will be altering this pattern and knitting the sleeves in the round. Sadly, though, the Cardigan got too heavy to carry in my purse and I struggled with it at Harry Potter when I was standing in line. While I was sitting in the comfy chair, it was no big deal, but in line it was a pain. Never fear, my Yarn Pirate Yarn in Rum Runner (month one of the Yarn Pirate Booty Club) had arrived and it was talking to me. So, it was Cast On Saturday and I took it with me to Charlotte Yarn (more on why tomorrow). Sock one is done, sock 2 is on it's way. I apparently have the honor of having the first completed Rum Runner sock according to the Ravelry and Flickr groups (if there is another - I would LOVE to see it!!!) This yarn absolutely spoke to me and made me knit it. No really, it did. It talked to me all day Friday and I had to work with it. Look at how pretty that short row heel is!!! *squees*

I don't just dream of socks!

I admit it. I dream about knitting all the time. ALL THE TIME. And the sock nightmare is not the only one I have had about knitting. I have another one for you. Just as recent. And this one I blame on The Panopticon! His recent lace knitting has had me really thinking about some future projects. And he had a mean lace nightmare that I think triggered this one.

I was in a house and there was a young child. This young child was beautiful. And not mine. In this child's possession was a small aquarium with 6 beautiful goldfish. They were actually the multicolored ones. They looked like goldfish, but were purples, blues and black. They were talented fish as well in that they would leap to the surface for their food. I should note that I somehow managed to kill 2 of these fish. Or I thought I had, but they were apparently sleeping. (The inside of my head is a strange place)

This child also had 2 beautiful handknit items. One was a small blanket that someone must have knit for her with love. The other was a lace shawl of some sort. It was large and square. Not really something you would gift to a child for every day use. She also had a small black suitcase full of beautiful little girl clothes. Dresses and shoes. Tops and skirts. She was a girlie girl and adorable.

Yet, this child was of an age that she was fully potty trained and fully aware of pretty much everything. She was precious and precocious. Then I went into the bathroom and realized the had used it. Fine. And tried to flush. Fine. But her beautiful white lace was in the toilet. Fine. It can be cleaned. I go to retrieve the lovely lace, but as I reach the toilet she comes forward and flushes the toilet again. I grab for the lace and struggle to keep it from swirling into the depths. Being destroyed. I paniced. I pulled. This lace was seriously probably the strongest handknit I have EVER encountered for it to have taken all this abuse.

I notice that it is bulky and that her blanket is wrapped in the center of the lace. Apparently this child is evil to the core and trying to destroy all the pretty knitting. (See this is how I know she isn't mine! Mine will be evil, but they will grow up with a respect for knitting. Some people teach their children respect for things like alcohol, guns, the really expensive figurine things - mine will learn knitting respect in the womb!)

I eventually managed to rescue the knitting and there was no damage, but it was stressful and I think I woke up sweating and swearing. I am sure there is some deeper meaning to my dream, but I don't want to even begin to analyze it. All I know is that I am glad there are no evil children destroying knitting in my immediate area.

To help combat the trauma of this telling, here is a picture of my sweet boy, Rozz with Knithulhu. He is, of course, not impressed as he is not allowed to touch the knitting so he just ignores it in favor of sitting in mommy's lap and snuggling.

Isn't he a handsome boy?

Pretty in Purple - Handspun Monday

Oh hell, I am running late this Monday - so let's get this going. I had pics all ready and I just slipped actually posting them. WOOHOO!

Last week I promised that I would be working on Love Bones 3 from Poppy Flower Fibers.

This is bobbin one of this lovely domestic wool top. Approx. 2 oz. per bobbin.And Bobbin #2. Plying will happen this weekend.

Now, this is not next, but since we are talking about Poppy Flower Fiber roving - well I wanted to show off my Luxury Fiber Club haul for July. It is 100% Merino and I am in love.

She has a couple spots left open if you want in for the next 2 months at a reduced price. $34!!!! And that includes shipping. And you will still get a month of BFL cause she hasn't done that one yet and it is guaranteed to happen! You can email her if you want in.

Today I started spinning some beautiful roving from my secret pal and I will be posting that next week in time for our big reveal!!!!

A Knitter's Nightmare

Several nights ago I was asleep (it could have been an afternoon nap, who can remember at this point, really?) and had the following dream. No, it was a nightmare.

Cristi and I were hanging out - as we often do - knitting and talking about life in general and knitting, but I am not sure where we were. The space was smallish, but comfortable. Not at all cramped. A nice place to knit, but it was not my place or her's. Not Panera. I was wearing my Embossed Leaves socks from IK (hell if I remember what issue at the moment - they are in Favorite Socks). These socks are done in a pink self striping Trekking and I love the color. Of course, I love pink, so what is not to love about these socks.

So, we are talking about knitting and the subject of socks came up. We were discussing toe up vs. cuff down and extolling the virtues of the toe up sock. I am currently in love with toe up and short row heels (the short row heel fits my stupidly shaped foot better IMO!). The embossed leaves are neither toe up or short row heeled. But the Embossed Leaves sock is currently Cristi's favorite sock to knit and I think she has 3 pairs done. So discussing them is not something we don't do. In fact it is something we discussed AFTER I had this dream - though I didn't tell her about it at the time.

As we discuss the sock, I take my foot out of my shoe to show the full sock. Now, I love shoes. Socks are a necessity for 1) shoe comfort and 2) foot warmth. I knit them because I love to knit but I would be happy with store bought socks really. I mentioned that stupidly shapped foot? Well, gusset heels are baggy on my foot and no matter what I do, they remain so. I have shortened them and everything, but I just love to knit. So I knit myself pretty socks. Before I started knitting socks, I must say that I did have a giant love of "different" socks anyway. Every pair of "work socks" I own are weird. I have argyle knee highs and pinstripped and all sorts of different socks. I haven't had much occassion for wearing my hand knit socks to work as I tend to knit bright pink socks - but whatever.

Out my foot comes from my shoe - which shoe I can't remember even though I have the PERFECT pair of show off your hand knit socks shoes - I am pretty sure it wasn't those shoes. To my absolute horror there is a hole in the toe of my sock. A HOLE! and not because I have worn it out, but because the entire kitchener stitch graft has come apart. THE WHOLE THING!

Well, let me tell you that my dream-self gasped. Looked horrified that my toes wer hanging out for a moment and not freshly pedicured. Then realized that these were MY HAND KNIT SOCKS! and the toe has FAILED! The look of horror turned to shame. Shame that I was such a poor knitter that my grafted toe didn't stay grafted. In my dream, Cristi and other knitter's who are a blur (because we were not alone) mocked my inability to kitchener stitch properly. I think I vowed to never ever ever knit anything other than toe up again.

I woke up in a cold sweat. I got up immediately and checked my socks to make sure there were no holes in the toes (they don't).

And that is why my Embossed Leaves socks are now sitting in my living room under the coffee table and not in the sock drawer. They are being watched carefully for signs of failure.

Episode 10 - the 4 things I love

What are the 4 things I really love???

FO:
Tomato - from No Sheep for You: Knit Happy with Cotton, Silk, Linen, Hemp, Bamboo & Other Delights
Lacey Lamb - its blocked and done FINALLY!!!

Spinning:
Gothic Ladies
Tour de Fleece update

WIPS
Mystery Stole
Pinwheel
Mariposa
Elizabeth Bennett Cabled Cardie from Fitted Knits: 25 Designs for the Fashionable Knitter
Bellocq Stockings (which I mentioned and I haven't touched in over a month)
Rum Runner Socks

Yarn:
Yarn Pirate Booy Club - Rum Runner!!!!
Luxury Fiber Club from Poppy Flower Fibers
The Loopy Ewe - Fleece Artist in Lily Pond and Pale Pink and Spritely Goods in Fairy Duster II.
10 skeins of Cascase Sierra
4 skeins of Classic Elite Sand
4 balls of Patons Katrina

Book Reviews (there are 2 because I just bought a lot of books!!!)




Crafting for a Cause
Square Contest Winner - treehugger with 120!!! Congrats! We collected enough squares this month to put together 8 full blankets and a couple squares short of a 9th!!! Thank you to all who participated!
1759 items donated this year so far
Warm Up Winchester

Tomato Thursday!!!

Yesterday I mentioned something was missing from WIP Wednesday. Today I would like to introduce you to my newest top! Tomato!!
As you can see - I made a few modifications. I will detail those below. This was a fast and fun knit! I am SO pleased with the way this top turned out! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the colors!
I had a little trouble with herringbone pattern at first and I ripped that sucker out...I was almost through with the colorwork section. I kept looking at it like there was something wrong and hoping that it would magically come together. It didn't. So I ripped back with a little help from Cristi (who kindly would the yarn for me as I frogged with wild abandon!!!) and came up with this pretty pink and black perfection on the next go.

Now, the edging detail is probably my FAVORITE part of this project. Here is one of the sleeves, but more on that down in the details.

Details:
Pattern: Tomato from No Sheep for You: Knit Happy with Cotton, Silk, Linen, Hemp, Bamboo & Other Delights

Size: 40"
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Stone (3 balls) and Berry (1 Ball)

Needles: US 7 for body and 6 for Ribbing
Started: July 3
Finished: July 15
Mods: Where to start. I guess with the first one...

1. I some how ended up with the perfect number of stitches on the front and sleeves, but an extra 6 across the back. I don't know, I am special that way. I didn't realize it until I had already knit the first round of the houndstooth pattern. So, I ripped back to the stone row before it and adding back shaping. Yes folks, back shaping. I decreased 6 stitches evenly across the back mirroring the decreases 3 right leaning, 3 left.

2. I can't read. So I knit the pattern repeat 3 MORE times instead of 3 times total. I actually really like the even number of pattern repeats, so I left it.

3. I decided I wanted to have the pink in more than just the bust area, so I added 2 pink stripes in the ribbing. To do this, I knit 4 rounds in MC 2x2 rib. Then I knit one round in pink (knit all the way around no purls). Then I knit in MC in rib patter for one row. Knit 1 row in CC in pattern. Knit 4 rows in MC in pattern.

4. The pattern only calls for 4 rows of ribbing on the sleeves. Well, that wouldn't work for adding the pink to the ribbing, so instead of 4 rows of ribbing, there are 11. This is the same number of rows as are in the collar and the bottom ribbing. I had to add a row to the collar too, I think.

Even with the serious startitis I had, I managed to finish this in 12 days. And that includes the blocked and all. This was a fast easy knit. A GREAT knit for a first garment and if the fair isle scares you, just make it in one color. Lots of people are doing it.

A few thoughts on color. I am a pink girl. I thought about knitting this in pink with stone as the CC. BUT I think one of the things that makes this such a great top is the pop in color. The Stone color is very mellow and pretty, the Berry really pops against it and it is just beautiful. Pics don't do it justice.

WIP Wednesday - A Case of Startitis!

First up this week we have the Mystery Stole 3. Yes, I am a silly silly knitter knitting black lace weight while sitting on a black couch and usually wearing black pants or a black skirt.

See that pink line there? It is the end of Clue 1. I am now 14 rows into Clue 2 and that was all today. I have been having some issues with the left eye and so knitting lace has been harder than usual - I had planned to work on this all day Sunday. Yeah. Notice how while pretty it looks a bit muddled in the middle near my pinkie finger down there? Here's to blocking!!!! KaidydidKnits and Cristi have great pics of their Mystery Stoles up too. Lets see, what do we have next? It isn't the Pinwheel because it still looks like it did last week. I know I know, I should have worked on it. But instead I cast on the Elizbeth Bennett Cardigan from Fitted Knits: 25 Designs for the Fashionable Knitter. I have mentioned my great love of this book before and right after I got it I found Cascade Cloud 9 (50/50 Angora/Merino - what the pattern calls for) at almost 50% off. So I bought the yarn and it has been sitting in my stash.

Look at the collar. I really love the seed stitch followed with that peral ridge. This is echoed later in the pattern as well. Hmmmm...something seems to be missing. I wonder what it could be. I guess you will have to wait until tomorrow to find out!