An almost finished sock

So I had no intention of taking WIP pics of my first pair of socks. I actually wasn't sure I was going to do pics at all. Not because I don't like them but because it just seems like a project best photographed when there aren't so many glaring mistakes. :)



But I'm actually liking them. I wasn't so fond of the yarn at one point. It was right after I had turned the heel and it was looking less than cool. :) Since I've worked on it and I'm almost ready to get to the toe shaping it's not turning out so bad. I really like the yarn far more on the skein than I do knitted. It's going to be an ankle sock. When I was working on the leg/body part it dawned on me that lately all I have bought are ankle socks. My favorite toe socks are also ankle socks. I figured I should probably make them ankle socks. :) This is taking longer than I wanted but only because the wee one has not felt well the last couple days and so she is taking up my knitting time.

Picture of the new yarn

I tried getting this in the post below but....yeah, no sense beating a dead horse.

The sock yarn is Trekking (XXL). I've never seen it before but like I said before I mainly got it for the color. With my size 3 needles and all. :)
The tweed is Donegal Tweed homespun 100% pure wool. For some reason I thought tweed was a cotton only thing. I guess not. :) Both are both amazingly soft!

And red.

More yummy yarn

Well as much as I liked the blue yarn the intended mama would like something else. Something darker. Not so much pastelish. No problem though. I have the recepit and can easily take it back. I'm glad I didn't get started on it while we were in Salt Lake though. That would have sucked!

We went to Salt Lake this weekend for some work reasons and for our anniversary. The first day there I got to go to a yarn store. The first one was having a sale and that's the only reason I stopped. They had some ok yarn but nothing to really write about. I did buy some tweed but I think I bought it for two reasons. One is for the color...a beautiful red. And the other is cause I felt I needed to. I know I didn't but they were having a sale and I couldn't handle the thought of leaving without something. There was a bucket on the front porch that had some corn yarn. Had there been more I might have picked it up but there was only one tiny skein of mustard yellow. I so wasn't feeling the love. The store was also a fabric store and I think I would become more sewing minded if I could blow millions there. They had some awesome stuff!

As I threw my bag in the car I saw another store two doors down. So I tossed it in the seat and headed over there. The owner had some gorgeous colors! Oh I just wanted to buy things I wouldn't just for the coloring. I was there to look at sock yarn though. The owner was very.....non user friendly. I realize she was simply trying to help me find what I wanted and what not but the way she talked was very condescending and came across like she thought she was superior. The looks she gave me when I told her I was just now learning socks was one of disgust. "You're learning to knit with socks? Well that's actually boot yarn.What size needles are you using? Oh. 3's huh. Well my yarn is actually best for 1's." Blah blah blah. Lady I know what I want...back off. I did end up buying some based off the color. Again...red. :) As Iw alked out the door she hopped up and came running at me.

"If you have any questions please call me. All I really do is socks so there's nothing I can't answer. After all...socks aren't for everyone."

If I could have I think I would have thrown up on her. :)

Oh the joy of yarn!

I don't think I have had this much yarn goodness in so long. It's fabulous!


Good stuff from the craft store! The black is yarn for longies for the munckin. I needed/wanted a solid color to use for the MM yarn I got not too long ago. I have been trying to get some orange or red for some time and the husband pointed out that black would look awesome with it. I have to agree. :) The blue is for a trade. I'm using up the Elijah yarn and the mama wanted a solid color as well. She was thinking blue and blue is what I got. Surprisingly enough the color is almost exact. I had forgotten to grab the skein of LTK yarn to bring with me for reference so I had to go off memory. It couldn't have been a more perfect match actually. The striped yarn is Magic Stripes sock yarn. When we got to the craft store tehre was a lady knitting...socks. They looked fabulous! She's there every Wednesday and there is a class for knitting there as well. I'm not sure which day of the week since they don't have a schedule yet but the knitting lady said they are mainly doing socks this winter. Score! I asked what pattern she was using and she said it happened to be the one on the Magic Stripes yarn. After I got the Cascade wool I checked it out. I want to do socks. I really do. They are just a pain in my ass. :) So I grabbed the yarn I liked, checked the label to see if I had enough and to get the right sized needles. I hope I can do this. We are leaving for about a week and I am bringing a ton of knitting. I'll be able to whip out a good portion (if not all) of the trades I am working on. I'm thinking ambitiously and am hoping to get a lot of my list done. I plan on doing diaper covers galore and the mystery WIP. I plan on bringing cotton for the remaining washcloths and the socks. I plan on packing tonight since we leave early in the morning and am already writing my list of knitting. Yes, the knitting will get it's own suitcase. :)

**Grrrr! I have the blue yarn done and pictures have been taken. Of course...Blogger sucks!!!!!!!! You hear that Blogger...bite me! Pictures to come.****

The pics of today

Ok...here goes....trying again!


Prespun roving.



The first of the two singles. I'm almost done with the second one now and should be able to ply tonight...if not early in the morning. :)

And the latest stage of the MWIP. Oooo pretty!

Oooo some blue stuff. And some MWIP

I've been spinning non stop and am almost done with my second ball of yarn! I finished up my purple/yellow combo and plan on plying the remaining stuff with some white. I hope it turns out as well as it has in my head. I'm just not sure about it. This roving/yarn is hairy. :)

Like I mentioned in my last post I'm in a Magic Ball swap. I decided to spin the blue roving from my kit and send that my partners way. The coloring is actually blue and green....very much like ocean colors. Ocean waves and seaweed...cheesy? Sure. Truthful? Yes. It's kind of hard to see the green since it's just barely there....floating beneath the blue stuff just like seaweed floats below the water. Very subtle. I'm hoping once I ply it that it brings the green out a bit. I unrolled it all out and split it in half so that when I do ply it it will go a bit smoother than last time. It's turning out very pretty! I think I'm getting the hang of it. My thickness is more consistent this time around in my singles. I hope my balance is as good as the last one. I posted on MDC and they pointed out that I had really nice balance. Yeah....an ego stroke. :)

I've started on the second half now. I think I am either allergic to the wool (Cotswold) or to the dye the farm used. I can feel a residue after I spin this color for a bit. I couldn't feel it when I spun the first ball of roving but by the time I went to bed last night it felt like I had something greasy....I was tempted to think it was lanolin but this stuff is too dry for it to be that. Within ten minutes of laying down my hand I use to hold and draft the roving was itchy, slightly puffy, and tingly. So far today I haven't had an issue with it. I'm really hoping it was a fluke thing.

I haven't been working on the mystery WIP as much as I am wanting. It's been freezing here! This morning I got up early to wait for my neice whom I'm watching today. At 10:30 it was STILL 28 degrees outside. Yeah. It's cold. As a result my fingers have been like ice thus preventing proper knitting. I managed a row this afternoon when the temp. had gone up a bit but it's still a bit too cold. It's currently 59 degrees and my fingers hurt cause of how cold they are. Our apartment has HUGE (like taller than 5 feet and wider than 4 feet) windows in every room. So it feels a lot colder inside than it does outside. Hard to keep heat in with all that open space you know? I think I need to knit me some fingerless gloves. That way I can get some warmth and still function. Spinning surprisingly enough is just enough movement for the blood to get flowing and not require feats of gymnastics. BUT I have been getting little bits and pieces done. Not a ton of progress but we're getting there.

***I had three or four pictures in this post. However, Blogger sucks ass and refuses to let me post them in any form, size, or position. I have been trying all day to get them in without any luck. I'm going to go ahead and publish this post and try again in a seperate post until I get them up. Sorry...no pictures for you! :) ****

I have handspun yarn!

Saturday the glorious spindle arrived. By midnight I had my first ball of yarn! :) I ended up spinning all day long. I was so excited that I just wanted to get a finished product. As a result I think it could have been better. I'm shocked at how consistent I was able to get though. My singles weren't so great but when I plyed them I got a pretty good balance going. At least I think so. :)


Here's the whole skein. I didn't use the whole ball of roving so the skein is not complete. I ended up putting my singles on two different bobbins so plying would be easier. Since I wasn't sure how much was on the first bobbin I had to guess. I was very close. I only had a short amount left on the first bobbin and I used that to tie it off. I'm going to use the rest of the roving and ply it with some white I think.






Here's a close up of the actual yarn. You can see how uneven my singles are in it. But like I said I was so excited...I just had to get something done. :)

This roving is super easy and smooth on my fingers. There is a huge difference between this stuff (Cotswold) and the random fleece I got off Freecycle. The fleece is harder to draft but that could be because it hasn't been combed or anything. I'm hoping to get some brushes to see if that will work. I don't know if I like the roving that came with the kit though. It's very hairy. I don't know if all roving is like this since my fleece doesn't do it. But like I pointed out the fleece isn't combed or anything. I was hoping that it was just because this is my first time but the stuff I'm spinning now is doing the same. I hope it's just the type of wool that makes it do it.

I've got some more on the spindle now and it's going soooo much smoother. I think I've got it figured out pretty much. At least the spinning portion. I know I still need to get the hang of drafting but until then I'll just use thiner strips of roving. I read a blog this morning and the post was about some yarn she had spun on her wheel. Oh man I want one! It looks so smooth and nice and fluid!!!! I want to try one so bad. Maybe I'll talk the husband into renting one for me for our anniversary. I would love to just try one. I do like the fact that i can walk around with my drop spindle though. That's nice. I can see it becoming a habit when insomnia hits. :)

I'm part of a Magic Yarn ball swap and I think I'm going to use my spindle. I have some perfect roving for this mama and I think it would be absolutely perfect to use it. :)

If fluff were gold....

I would be rich.

This morning the husband woke me and the daughter up early. He wanted to go to town and get himself something. He had just spoiled me on our last trip there and now he wanted to spoil himself. The plan failed though because we ended up getting the daughter a ton of warm clothes. It's been freezing here and she needed some things.

When we got home it was well past noon which meant the mail had come. While the husband grabbed the clothes out of the car I ran to the mailbox and flung it open. Sadly all that was in there was a dinaky post acrd advertisment. I was dissapointed but got over it as I got the sleeping child out and headed up the staris. There....in front of our door....was a package.

Now, dear readers, do not think this is some ordinary event. It is not. Our mailman does not come up the stairs. They leave a nice little note in the mailbox downstairs and outside that sayd, hey come get a package HERE at the POST OFFICE. The fact that a box was sitting in front of our door was a miracle in and of itself. And no, it was not UPS. This was your ordinary, mailman delivering, priority mail. It was fabulous.

The man realized how excited I was and opened the door as fast as he could. I couldn't get in quick enough. I laid the sleeping kid down on a bed and ripped it open. You know what it is?

Come on guess.

It was something glorious.

It was my drop spindle!!!!!!!!!! And to top it off I got three colors! The website said it would be three natural and one dyed but as you can that was not the case. We got home at about 2-2:30 and it is now 9:53. During that time maybe an hour was spent NOT sinning. Yeah I'm addicted.









Here is some of the colored roving I've spun. Since this picture was taken I've done a ton more. (**Picture dissapeared!***) I had to remove that yarn and put it on a bobble so I could do more. This will become a scarf for my sister I think. She likes the color combo so it works. Me? Not a fan of it. :) I also did some white but it's not as pretty looking spin wise as this so I have yet to upload it to Photobucket. I do have some pictures but the camera just died so no luck.

As a result of my crazy spinning there was no work done today on the mystery WIP. There was some work done yesterday..a color change in fact but nothing really to post about. I'll try and work on it some more in the next day or so so that another picture can be taken.

Behold! The loveliness of the mail box. :)

I got my first package of yarn for the triplet knitting today. Wow! This yarn is so much better than I could have imagined. It's all so so so so so so soft! I can't believe how soft it is. The munchkin has opened the bag and taken the balls out and put them back in about a million times. She keeps petting it. See? The softness speaks to her as well. :)

The lovely mama also sent me some roving for me. This stuff is SSSSOOOO soft and creamy. It makes me want to wrap myself in it. Heaven!


Here is all the fantastic yarn. The colors are so much more vibrant than this picture shows. It's dark and rainy here today so our lighting is less than stellar.









And here is the roving. I want to dye it but I don't know what colors. I don't want to do Kool-Aid either. And do I dye it in roving form so that the color is even more random when it gets spun or do I dye it once it's yarn? Oh the predicament.

Twisted stitches

Every now and then I get a random but pleasant pm on MDC. Tonight happened to be one of those now and thens.

The title made it sound like a sals pitch. I'm thinking it was for some random knitting tool that I would need. Nope! Turns out it was a rather helpful pm.

I've been knitting with twisted stitches!! Every so often I get the feeling I'm doing it wrong. Being the newbie that I am I usually chalk it up to a lack of self confidence in my knitting ability. Turns out it was intuition talking! I'm not sure how I'm doing it wrong but when I should have all v's on my needle I have y's and v's. The pmer was guessing it was my purl row. I had posted a picture of my mystery project and she noticed the discrepency. Thank god!

I guess I am off to refresh my memory with some videos. I guess I can continue doing it this way or I can correct. If I correct it I can make my yarn go further.....like 15% further.

Mystery Project

So in true knitting funk I have decided to cast on for a project for the little one. Yes I know I have tons of other people to knit for but I want to do something for us. I've been knitting for others for awhile and will be knitting for others for sometime so I thought I should get something in there while I could. I won't tell you what the project is but I will tell you some details. :)


Needles: size 6
Yarn: Tatamy Tweed by Kraemer Yarns.
Colors are oatmeal and lime. 45% cotton and 55% acrylic.
Pattern details: Cast on 60 stitches. First green stripe is four rows and is solely garter stitch. First oatmeal is three inches followed by a one inch green stripe and done in stockinette. Total length of this piece will be 7 inches.

This is all worked in one piece. The original pattern is for a much smaller babe so all the tweaking I'm doing is experimental. I got my cast on from a post on another website. I hope it's enough. I held it up to her and it seems to be wide enough. The 7 inches is based off my own measurements. I really hope it works out.

It's official!

I just bought my very first drop spindle!!!!! If I could bottle my glee and throw it at this post so that you could feel it I would.

I had to hurry and pick one so I didn't get as much time as I would have liked to research but I think the one I got will work. It's actually a kit from a farm in New York. It comes with directions, a spindle ( bottom whorl), and 8 ounces of 100% wool roving. 3 natural colors and one dyed. Yeah. It's cool. To be honest I bought it mainly for the roving. That really did seal the deal for me. That and the man breathing down my neck since he needed the card. :)

http://www.nistockfarms.com/handspinning-spindle-kit.html

That's where I got mine from. I can't wait to get it. $32 total. I am so excited! I'm going to call my mom later and ask her to help me get all my fleece cleaned and washed. She'll like doing it (she's been begging for more), she'll be happy to spend time with me, and I won't have to pay out the ass to have someone else do it. :)

Holy knittingness!

Oh geez. I need to crank out three more wraps and a pair of longies. And fast. There is a mama on MDC who is having triplets! She needs covers so I offered to knit her some. Some=12! I'm more than happy to do it though. And you know the great thing? ALL the yarn I'm using is getting donated to me. I posted asking for some help in that regards and pm's a few people. One lady happens to be a friend of the soon to be mama of triplets and is sending me 10! skeins of wool. Another mama is sending me enough for 4-6 covers. And another one is sending a skein. I'm going to be able to make her a ton of smalls and a good chunk of newborns as well. Heaven help me.

The new Knitty is up and OH.MY.GOSH. The patterns are fantastic!! There is a skirt....oh that skirt.....and socks...on two needles.....2!!!!

We went to SLC this weekend and I got a new book (surprise, surprise :) ). It's Spinning in the Old Way. I don't know if I like it. It's informative but the author is sooooo full of herself. She mentions every book she's written within the first three pages. She rattles on and on about how she is sooo worldy yet simple and blah blah blah. I started reading it outloud and the wee one reached over, closed the book, and shook her head no. Yeah, it's that great.

I'm getting new yarn! Woo hoo!!! Part of our visit to SLC involved eating dinner with the stepson. That's all fine and dandy but his mother and grandmother tagged along. Woo hoo fun for me huh? I told the man that I would agree to it but I was getting yarn. Smart me eh? ;) I may get a hand spindle istead though. The yarn I would want (or I should say the quality and possibly brand) is going to be about the same anyways so why not!? Yes, I think that's what I'll do.

Heaven in my mailbox

Yeah. Lace weight AND organic. Nuf said.

Fishy fishy fishy!

I finished the fish! It didn't take long at all. The wee one wouldn't nap so it took longer than it should but that's life. :) It's so easy that I'm thinking of making a ton and giving them to various small chitlins for Christmas.

Here is the face detail. Kind of blurry and I'm not sure why. This was my first time doing a face so it's less than pretty. The yarn is some black wool. I'm not sure what brand.











Here's a profile picture. :) The pattern called for 24 fins...12 on each side. Since I used the Elijah I scaled back and only made two. It seemed a bit much to make up 24. Had I used a solid color like the pattern says to it wouldn't have been a bad idea. Too much would be going on though with this one. The fin on the bottom was an accident. That was supposed to go on top but I kind of like it. It makes for an oddly shaped fish but hey! We can't all be perfect. :)


Here's another profile. Just to...you know..show the other side. :) The seaming is a bit off. One body piece was smaller than the other and I'm not sure why. I had to fudge it all a bit but it's not an eye sore. As I got to the fin I realized I had sewn the tail and the fin on the INSIDE of the body so I had to undo my seaming a bit and start again. I decided to keep it turned right side out and continue seaming. So the bottom part is a visible seam and the top...well not so visible. :)

The fish is stuffed with the fleece I got from Freecycle. My mom cleaned some up remember? I was wondering what I was going to use when the munchkin pulled out the bag. It was perfect. So there you have it! My very first all wool hand knitted toy. :)

New beginnings

Last night I showed my friend the picture of the wrap I was working on. As you know from my previous post....not feeling the love. She promptly replied with, "Wow, that is ugly." Thank you A. So I picked it up and having the confidence and confirmation I ripped it. All of it. It was fabulous. I really wanted to use this yarn though. I could sell it but it's destined to be something for my little one. So I opened my natural yarns drawer and tossed it in. I grabbed out all my knitting books and started flipping through. On the top was my Toys to Knit book. I have started the block in there but got bored so it has been sitting in the bottom of my knitting bag for some time now. I have left the book in the drawer to minimize Dh's whining when we realizes I have yet to produce something from it. Suddenly it dawned on me! I could use this yarn for the fish pattern. I cranked out one piece of the body last night and you know what? I don't knnow why I didn't do this sooner. It's PERFECT for it....stripping and everything. I think I'll make a few of these and gift them out. I can't believe how perfect it worked out.


This was last night before I went to bed. I needed to block it out cause my increases were less than flawless so it needed to be done. See how perfect? The far left (yellow end) is the tail end I'm guessing. I'm hoping I can get the same stripes going for the other side. I don't think it would look horrible if I didn't get it but it would pull it all together if I could. I can't wait to finish this up! I think I'm going to use to some blue merino for the fins and scales...not sure yet though. I may do a combination. The pattern calls for 24 scales in three different colors but that seems like too many to me.

More photos

Ok, I'm addicted to looking at my pictures today so you get two more. :)



This is the first little bit of the WHW wrap for the munchkin. It's a size medium, like I said in my other post. Not sure if I'm liking it. You know how your hands can feel overly dry when you wash dishes and they get all pruney? That's what this yarn feels like. I've been told that it gets better but at this point I'm wondering how truthful that is. It has a weird look to it. If I could get a decent up close of the blue I would. It's almost like the stitches get smeared together so I get a muddled, murky look to that section. It's very odd. I hope it gets better. The colors are also very...symetrical? It goes in a pttern.....yellow/orange, pink/blue, green/blue, blue, green/blue, pink/blue, and yellow orange. Not digging it.



And this is the new cotton that I got a bit ago. Not sure which one to use for the Kaftan. The brown and white on the far right is going to become Sesame. I'm thinking of using the Morning Glory (the one on the far left) one for kaftan. Not sure though. I got to thinking about it and the one in the middle (Sour Apple Green) would look great. Maybe more for a boy? I'm thinking the Morning Glory. Yeah, that and maybe some dark purple embroidery thread for the little embroidery that goes on it.

I am so looking forward to my winter knitting. I'm thinking of skipping knitting everyone gifts for Christmas so that I can be totally selfish and just work on projects for me and my family.

Pictures galore!

Blogger permitting. :)

I got a new book the other when we drove down to get DH some new tarot cards. It's Special Knits by Debbie Bliss. I am so excited about this book! I sat on the floor of the bookstore trying to find THE book and came across this. It is FABULOUS!!! I'm trying to hurry through my list so I can make a lot of the things in here. I plan on doing most of them but first on my list will be................






It's a hooded Kaftan. Absolutely adorable and in a type of yarn that I happen to have. Woo hoo!



Next up is a more finished picture of the WHW wrap. I got the velcro on and am still debating whether or not I want to wash and lanolize. Either way it gets mailed out tomorrow.




This is the front of the wrap. Not the best sewing job on the velcro but I already explained it to the mama and she doesn't care. :)








And this is the back of the wrap. The wee one is feeling under the weather today so she is napping. Had she been awake at the time of pictures you'd have a live model. :)




And last but not least....another WHW wrap in LTK yarn in the Elijah colorway. This is for the napping one and is in a size medium. This is the first thing I've made her this big and it doesn't seem like the right size! I did decide to start at the back this time. I got to thinking it took so long to get these done because I got bored. Starting at the back it seems to have more changes. I know this isn't true but hey it works! :) Ok...looks like Blogger is done with my pictures. :) That's fine, it'll give me time to work some more on it. It's not very big right now.

It is DONE!

I finished up the 70's wrap about ten minutes ago. The ends are weaved in and it is blocking. I need to get some velcro for it and washed and lanolized. It didn't turn out so bad. Much better than I thought. I have quite a bit left shockingly. I think I could do a size small and a newborn or maybe even two smalls. I'm not sure yet. On Tuesday the cover gets sent out and the yarn gets sent away...far, far away. I knew that my cast off was going to be tight so I used a size 7 instead of the 6 it was knit in. BIG difference! My cast on is straight for one and it's not so tight that it pulls at the corners. I do wish it were a stretchier than it is but that seems to be a reoccuring problem. I know there is a stretchy co and I've used it but I can't remember how or where it's at. I found it online one night by accident. It's late and I'm tired. So I'll leave you with a picture of a blocking wool cover. :)