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. :)

Just a reminder

So S found my knitting notebook the other day while we were cleaning. Lovely little gal hat she is ;) she promptly tore it up and ate half of it. Yay for roughage! So I think I need to make my list...well...less edible.

* WHW wraps- finish the ugly 70's for Ja. and start pink one for S. Start Elijah one for S.
* PP longies- Start two pairs for S
* Sesame- start for moi!
* Red washcloths- finish for kitchen
* Yellow washcloths- start for bathroom

I got rid of the second skein of 70's!! I posted pictures on the wrap for Ja. on the yarn forum. I did complain about the yarn. I am not thrilled with it. A mama there on the other hand is. She wanted to know where I got it. So I let her now I had another skein that she could have and was she interested i na trade. Turns out she is. I'm getting some lace weight yarn in exchange. She'll be getting the one skein and what ever is elft after I finish the wrap. I couldn't be happier! The yarn I am getting is pretty! I can't wait. So that makes two skeins of yarn and a pair of needle sthat i am expecting. I also have some LTK handpainted yarn in Elijah. A mama on MDC wanted someone to do some knitting for her. I offered and we got everything worked out. She bought the yarn and sent it my way. Turns out she bought too little. She was trying to figure it out but it wasn't working out very well. She pm'd me the other night to let me know I could either keep it or sell it and keep the money. Either way was fine by her! I am having some yarn luck lately. :) I know there is more I should add to my list but I don't want to think. :)

Behold...the feel of cotton

I FINALLY finished a washrag for our house. It has taken me forever but oh well. It's 12 garter ridges, 6 rows of stockinette, and another 12 garter ridges. I was just going to do garter stitch the whole time but I got to thinking. Every washrag I have ends up slipping down around the bottom of the faucet. It bugs the crap out of me. So I put in the stockinette rows. There are two garter stitches on the end of each row as well. It kind of creates a ditch that is perfect for the faucet. It is currently on there and has NOT slipped down yet. :)


Here is the whole wash rag. It's not been blocked because it doesn't matter. :) It is wet in this picture but only cause I quickly put it to work and then remembered to take pictures.











This is a picture of the wash rag in action. See? No slippage. The stockinette rows sit perfectly on top. I didn't even measure it to see how many rows to do! I just winged it.

Ahhh...the feel of cotton. ;)

Almost done!

Ahhh...almost finished with the wrap. Because I am eager to share pictures I snapped one last night. And without a bunch of chitter chatter here it is!

It still reminds me of the 70's but it's not looking too shabby. The x design has dissappeared which makes me happy. Not sure why but I didn't want that in there. I'm glad the greyish color is repeating itself more in there. I think it helps break up the 70ishness of it all. Or adds to it. Not sure which. I showed the picture to the intended mama and she loves it. She wants me to make her a couple more. AND she wants to pay me. I told her that I would accept yarn as payment and that I'd be more than happy to make her a couple. I know how hard it can be to find a good cover. This one seems to be a pretty good fit, absorbancy, and it works under clothes.



I'm going to be starting a scarf for myself. When I first learned how to knit back in December I bought this acrylic yarn that I ended up making into the first soaker I made for the chitlin. I still have some left over and it still screams at me to make it a scarf. So I'm going to. I want something pretty. I want something simple. I want something feminine. I found that. By sheer accident. http://www.helloyarn.com/fallscarf.htm I think it will look perfect with the color of the yarn. I do wish I were making it in something softer but this will do great. I hope.

For the love of knitting

The WHW wrap is just about done. And as soon as I find my stupid camera charger I will take pictures for you all to drool over. ;)

Last night I got lucky. I hit new posts on Mothering and saw someone wanted to sell some yarn. I clicked in to see what the yarn was and fell in love. It was organic. It was Mosaic Moon (I've been wanting to try their yarn). And it was in colors that I love and search out often. The mama selling it didn't have anyone showing interest so I sent her a message to see if she would do a trade. She said yes! I'm making her some toys for her daughter (who is the same age as S!). The yarn is fabulous! Here is proof:

Beautiful no?

When I posted asking about short circs there were a couple women who had had a pair or two at one time. Unfortunately they had either sold them or could not locate them. Tonight I got a pm. It was a lady asking for my address...she had something for me. I sent her my address and asked what it was. She had found a pair of the circs she thought she had sold!!! So she is going to send them to me. AND they are in the size I need for socks for DH.

I cannot wait for the mail this week. I am getting some fibery goodness!

Still stuck in the 70's

I'm slowly making progress on the WHW wrap. I had to put it down the other night and take a rbeak. I was holding my needles so hard and tight that my thumb was cramping. I've never had a cramp in this spot. Not the actual thumb per say but that fleshy triangle BETWEEN your thumb and pointer finger. Ever get a cramp there? I don't recommend it.

I am about 4 inches into it. The size I am making asks for 4.5 inches before doing the crotch/leg decreases but to be on the safe side I think I'll do five inches. The wrap I have for S is this size and I would prefer a little more length to it in this portion. Because I had to cast on 40 stitches I have an x emerging. Back in July when I did washrags for my SIL I did them all with a co of 40 stitches. Being a green and white striped yarn I got a huge white x in it. All the points were in the corners and it crossed perfectly in the middle. I thought it was ugly. She liked it. I have this x appearing again. This time though I have it going in two colors. One piece is orange and the other is the greyish white color. Sitting in my chair looking down at it I can hardly see the shape but again I am only 4 inches in. Give it another inch.

I showed the yarn (well a picture) to a friend today and she said, "Well it's not as bad as you made it sound". So I guess that's good. I pointed out that the picture did it far more justice than it should.

I bought some more cotton last night. I have to say I am quickly falling in love with it. It is a pain in the ass but you know what? There is something so simple and eprfect about cotton that even though I despise the lack of spring I find myself stocking up on it. We went to Wal-Mart and I discovered the only redeeming quality of that hell hole. 1 lb. cones of Peaches and Cream. I had bought my first two cones there when we visited family in July. It was in a town about 45 minutes from us and I had forgotten about it. Last night we headed into a town about 15 minutes from us. I wandered back to the yarn while DH looked at office stuff. Right there in the back on an end shelf was a HUGE shelf of cotton. This was a tall bookcase style shelf.....about 6 shelves on it all together....each one stuffed with cotton. I quickly scoured over the colors and grabbed three. I managed to get Desert Sands (browns and whites/creamish colors), Morning Glory ( purples, creams, whites, and yellows), and my favorite....sour green apple (blues, browns, and greens). I think each one was about 7 bucks. There were many colors I wanted but some were far more boyish than I wanted. DH pointed out I could actually get something boyish and I don't know....make him something. ;) He has claimed the sour green apple for himself.

I am wanting to get the earwarmer hat pattern from LTK. DH really likes it and wants a couple done for him. I decided I was going to do al lthe boys in our family one for Christmas and then for the women something simple like a scarf. That way I'm not panicking at the last minute trying to do seven hundred different projects. And that's how many there are. There are 17 nieces/nephews on DH's side. A bunch of procreating fools I tell ya'.

Flashback to the 70's

Bust out the 70's baby!

I got to check off some things on my insanely long list of things to be knitted. Some I checked off because I doubt I will do them soon (like Tempting 1 and 2). I'm left with only things that are possible right now and most importantly managable. Don't get me wrong...it's still long. I counted 17 things today. AND some of those are in multiples...like washrags. I can't say how many cause I'm just going until I'm out of cotton. Ahhh......the unknown.

As I glanced over my list I felt inspired so I wanted to knit. I'm not in the mood to knit for me or my family right now though. It just doesn't seem as grand an idea as knitting for someone else. :)

I decided to get some of the covers I have on my list out of the way. I've been itching to do the WHW wrap pattern again and since I printed it off I have cast on a couple times. None of the yarn was THE yarn though. So I checked my list to see who needed one and decided to do J's. She likes the 70's yarn. Thank god.

I pulled it out and cast on. I forgot how SPLENDID this yarn is to knit with. Ugly yes. Soft...gloriously so. It's the perfect yarn for me right now. I'm not loving cotton right now as it's got no spring. I despise my squeaky acrylic. And the pink merino for S is soft but thin. I wanted something with substance but not as much as my Manos. This is right in between and feels like butter on my fingers.

I was almost through the 8 rows of twisted rib when I started to doubt it. I had a feeling something was off. My rows stitches weren't looking right. I noticed it on about rox four or five. I wasn't sure yet though since it wasn't far enough into the pattern to show anything. On the next row I had to refigure out what one I was on. I knew right then and there it was going to be redone. I figured it out and went to knitting and ended on a purl. I needed a knit stitch. I scooted it down my needle and saw that I was indeed right. I had messed it up. But the funny thing is I had only done it in a very small section. I had cast on 40 stitches. The first 25-30 were perfect. The next 5 or 6 were screwed up and then the rest were perfect. How I managed to do that I have no idea. I yanked it all off and re cast on. Thank god it wasn't a ton of work. I hate going back to a row and working from there. I hate frogging a large section more though so this worked out. I was on row 6. No biggie.

I finally went and checked out Lorna's Laces. Oh.My.Goodness!! That stuff is GORGEOUS! I need some and I need it now. :)

I posted on MDC to see about tiny circs for socks. Did you know they exist? They do. AND they aren't too hard on the wallet. I was expecting them to be pretty spendy since they might be considered a specialty...I would think so at least. Not at all. About the same as other pairs. http://www.jimmybeanswool.com/secure-html/onlinegen/currgen/Clover/CloverPlasticMiniCircularNeedles.asp is the link someone gave me for them. I can't wait to get some. I think they will make sock knitting much easier for me. I'm sure there is a learning curve to them. I really want to try socks but I hate the Magic Loop and I feel to awkward with DPN's. I suppose I could try two circs but honestly why do more than need be?

Ze kimono is feenished!

I finished it! Last night of course. I got it all blocked out and seamed up. I did that part today. I started it alst night but got frustrated and yanked it apart. I rewatched the movie for mattress stitch this morning and got it all done rather quickly. I love that seam! It is fabulous! :)

Without further ado:

This is the up close of the ties and garter stitch border and the yo increase. Slightly different than the other side but still somewhat similar. :)













An up close of the garter stitch of the arm holes. Two stitches on each side. :)












And finally.....the whole thing! Isn't it so cute? Is it gender neutral enough? Please say yes. :)

So close...yet so far away

The kimono is being blocked! I wasn't able to finish it yesterday as planned. We had a long trip (in the car!) and while I had brought it to work on I quickly noticed two things. 1. I didn't have my ruler/tape measure therefor measuring a body length of four inches was going to be tough and 2. S was in the back seat screaming at us....or was asleep. When it was the screaming she simply wanted someone to sit by her so I was crawling between the front and back seat often. When she was asleep I was so thrilled that I didn't dare pick up my needles for fear og clicking away and waking her up. :)

I bound off about thirty minutes ago. I took a break and had some food and then pinned it to the floor. I'm worried though. As I was plugging along everything was lining up great. It matched the other side, it matched itself where it should etc. However when I fold BOTH arms over to creat the arms it's not so matching anymore. I'm not sure why. I did everything how I was supposed to and was on with gauge. I used the same brand cotton and the right sized needles. I'm hoping it's just one of those things that look off and once sewn up it will look good. I've been watching the MD KAL to see if anyone mentions having issues with it and so far no one has said anything. I'm hoping it's just late night delirium.

Either way tomorrow morning it gets sewn up. I'l likely do a bib tomorrow as well. If I somehow can find the energy required for it I may start it tonight. It is rather pointless/mindless knitting.

Aside from that I have a ton of knitting to do. I am making a diaper cover for a friend who is having a girl. I went through all of DD's baby clothes and pulled out what doesn't fit anymore. This is going to one clothed baby! I need to get the cover made up and I am debating doing a kimono for her. Honestly though the allure of this pattern has not only left the building but has retired as well. I'm just not feelin' the love.

Kimono torture

About five seconds after I hit submit last time my brothers showed up with some gloriously clean fleece for me! It's not over greasy but you can still feel the lanolin and it's white. Oh boy howdy is it white! Actually more cream based but in comparison to the rest that stuff glows! I can't wait to get using this stuff. And dying. And knitting.....oh man.

I ended up frogging the right side section of the kimono. It was not turing out well at all. No matter what I did it was atrocious. So I posted on the yarn forum over at MDC and got some help. It didn't work. So I frogged some more and grabbed MD. I opened it up to look at the picture and to read the pattern. I decided to look at the instructions for the yo increase and went with that. It's turning out great! It looks a bit different from the other side but not so much that you really notice. I think I notice so much because I'm doing it. I have a couple more inches on the arm part and then start my decreases. If I can I'll likely finish it tonight, if not I'll do it on the road tomorrow. Then blocking and some seaming and you shall see a picture! DH keeps telling me to redye the yarn since it has pink in it. I told him to leave me alone about it. I figure it's small enough and going to be for a newborn that the colors won't matter. Everyone questions the gender regardless of clothing color until babies are about two or three months anyway!

Speaking of babies. Another lady I know is pregnant and a kind of friend is thinking she is. Why are they popping up everywhere? Is it because I am torn on this baby front and don't know how I feel about it? I'm jealous of this kind of friend. I've never been jealous of her. I think I shall solve my baby issues with some baby knitting....that I can mail away as sson as I finish it. :)

Socky socky sock

I've been thinking about socks a lot lately. I was trying out Thuja since it's on bigger needles and I had yarn that fit the gauge. Some simple dark blue merino but it worked. I saw somewhere the other day a vintage sock knitting machine. Holy cow!!! Talk about a contraption. But it got me thinking....would I be nuts to find some super tiny circs (even if I had to get them custom) and do them on one set? I'd have to split once I got the the heel/foot portion but it oculd be done right? Please tell me yes cause I would be crazy enough to attempt that one.

I'm almost done with the kimono. For those of you readers who don't know, it's knit in one piece. You finish up the left side and reattach the yarn and finish the right side. I finished up the left last night while we watched Fantastic Four and rejoined my yarn. I had a knitting for dummies book I used to try and figure that part out. S was asleep in the other room and I was not risking getting on the computer to make sure I was doing it right. I am doing the yarn over increase and so far I'm a bit confused on it. The left side was easy since the increase is done on the RS near the neck line. So what? That means the first stitch on the RS was the actual increase. The front line of that piece is nice and smooth and very consistent looking. It turned out great. The right side is not looking as good. Again the increase is done on the neck line on the RS. Problem is that makes the increase the last stitch. I'm not gting a smooth even looking finish. I've only done a couple and I know from experience that it's hard to tell what a pattern is going to look like until you get a couple inches in. It's got to settle but it's just not working for me. I'm having to do the increase on the second to last stitch I'm thinking. I've altered the pattern a bit. It's such a simple one that I wanted a little more oomph to it. I have a garter stitch edging on the bottom all the way aruond and I did a k2 edging on the wrist portion. Not a lot of fanciness but it's enough to break up the monotony of it all. I am doing it in stockinette which may be why I am having a hard time with the yo on the right side.

My mom cleaned up the chunk of fleece she took. She actually had it done within a day or two of taking it. My brother is supposed to be on his way over here to drop it off but he has yet to show. My mom would like to take more and I'm avoiding it but I have a feeling it won't last long. Now all I need to get is a drop spindle so I can get to spinning. She did buy the plans for two different wheels the other day and is going to see if she can't have someone make them for us. I'm pretty excited about that but we'll see. She's weird about money and I'm not sure when and if it will happen. I think I'm better off finding a place to rent from.

Baby knitting

I'm purified by pain. HA!

Due to a recent finding out of a friend being pregnant I have abandoned socks (ok I failed miserably at them and they depress me so I stuffed them in the bottom of my knitting bag) to create something lovely and tiny. I cast on the other day for the Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono (Mason Dixon Knitting). I was actually excted to use up some of my acrylic. What a more perfect way to use it! The girl I am knitting this for isn't neccessarily....well......I fear for this kimono if I had done it in anything else. I didn't want her to wash it wrong and it be ruined. Not saying the girl is a dunce but I am saying her husband is. And they aren't as concerned about preserving that sort of thing. Anyways, the acrylic I chose sucked. NOTE to self: STOP USING ACRYLIC! It was squeaky and rough and gross. I was dreading it yet again. Then I had an epiphany! I had cotton that I personally wouldn't use anywhere in my house. Or on my daughter. Or anything related to me actually. It's not ugly...just not me. So I pulled that out, the acrylic off the needles, and re-cast on.

It's flying! I just finished up the arm increases and have finally had to set it down. My hand was starting to cramp up throughout the knuckle area and my finger tips are getting raw. I cranked out 2 inches last night and another 4.5 today. I was surprised I go that much done. Between chasing the wee one and entertaining the bigger wee one I didn't really have much down time. I'll finish it up here in the next day or so and then I'll do a bib to match. I plan on using the Mason Dixon pattern for it as well. Oh yeah, the cotton is Sugar and Cream in Peppercorn. The set is for a boy but it's bordering on girly. I don't know how to make it appear more boyish. The pattern isn't very girly at all, in fact it's very gender neutral. The cotton though has some pink streaks in it. I'm hoping that since it's in a size newborn that it will help. And hey! Ultrasounds are wrong every day. :)

The socks I started fo rthe MDC KAL are being unloved. I am not liking socks really. At least not this pattern and yarn. I think I want to try two circs to do a pair. I don't like magic loop so maybe that would help. I feel kind of dumb about it all actually. I mean I start this KAL and get people in it and going and what not and I can't even complete the project for my very own KAL. Gee, go camp dweeby. :)

Fibery goodness

We're finally moved!!! Ok, we have been for about a week or two now but since I am just now getting here to tell you all about it it's only natural to see we finally moved. :)

We are almost completely unpacked...just a few random boxes here and there. I haven't touched any knitting yet. I went to pull out the socks for DH and realized I have a needle missing. I think it's somewhere in the car but have not had the motivation or the energy required to tackle that beast. I'm sure it's in the front seat somewhere. I need to go find it though. I started the MDC sock KAL and haven't actually been able to do any KAL!

My mom came by the other day. I wasn't really wanting her to since we have decided to cut her out of our lives as much as possible but it was inevitable. She looked at some of my yarn and the covers I've knit and said I should go with her to the next spinning league meeting. She also looked at my fleece and asked to take some home to clean. I let her but it was against my will. I don't WANT her to take it home and I don't WANT her to strip everything out of it with Dawn. I know it's going to come back clean and ready to spin but she seems to over do it. I don't want it coming back something so altered that I cry. Yeah, I admit it. Things like that make me cry and frankly I can see her doign that. She loves to chemicalize everything and iof given the chance I'm sure she would. *sigh* I should have gone with my gut and said no. Buck up girl!

I have a pair of longies I'm knitting for someone else in the Elijah colorway. I finally got everything unpakced to a degree that would enable knitting and when I pulled out my pattern I realized I was short yarn. The lady wants longies. Her son falls between two sizes. We've agreed on the larger pair. However, I only have enough for shorties in the smaller pair. She's going to order more yarn and I'm going to wait to knit it. I just want to start! I feel like I'm in an imposed knitting limbo. On the plus side, not only is she getting another skein of Elijah but she is going to get some Black Rainbow as well! I've been wanting to try that forever and now I can!

The people who lived her before us left some things...a washer, an old bunkbed, and a couch. There were some other random things but those were the bulk of it. They left this old beat up dresser in the abck room that I had orignally thought about chucking. I have no problem adopting left behinds and cleaning them up and making them our own. No snese throwing out things if they can be rehabilitated you know? So I checked the dresser out. There was some water damage on the top, a side piece along the bottom was gone, and most of the handles were broken. So I pulled out all the drawers and moved the dresser out into the other room. That's when it dawned on me. I needed storage for yarn and fabric and I needed a bigger piece in my living room to take up space. BINGO! I wiped it all out and got to putting things away. One side (three drawers each side) has all my fabric and the other side has all my yarn (seperated by type...natural or nasty :) ). Now it will be come a project to beautify it. Should be fun!

Mmmm fleece

I am so in love with my fleece. It is so thick and lanoliny and dirty and smells like a farm. DH hates it. :)

I wish I could get it all washed up right now but DH read the directions for washing it along with me and now he won't let me until I can do it right! hehehehe I did wash a small chunk of it and it was shocking to see how much dirt and debris was in the water. I thought I was going to end up with a slighty creamy color but actually got quite a bit of white. There are random pieces of dark brown/black mixed into it all. I cannot wait to get going on this! The white fluff in the middle is the piece I washed up. I washed it twice (not too set on getting it cleaned...I just wanted to do something to it lol) with my wool wash I use on my covers. I didn't do a rinse on it or anything....just patted out the water and let it dry on my sink over night. There are still a few pieces of grass and sticks in it but it shouldn't be hard to get it out. I did open the fleece up when I set it out to dry and it open beautifully...nice and even. There are some thinner spots in it but for the most part it's even. There is still enough lanolin in it that after two washes it still leaves a film on my hands! This stuff is COATED in lanolin. I'm really excited about this and am so glad I posted when I did!

About fleece time!

Woo hoo!!! The lady for the fleece finally emailed me back and I am going to pick it up at 8 tonight! I can't wait. I'm pretty excited about this. To top it off she is willing to meet me somewhere so I don't have to go find her house. So what? Freecycle, for those of you not involved it's www.freecycle.org , is mainly a "you want it, you pick it up...not my problem if you can't" type deal. She is one of the few people who has been willing to meet me somewhere. AND she is meeting me at a place literally around the corner from us.

I need to figure out how to make it into roving. I know I'll have to clean it but that's about all I know at this point. Oh and card it but I don't know how or anything aside from that. Better get to googling!

Ooo a KAL

Woo hoo! I'm in charge of my very first KAL. When I posted asking if anyone wanted to do one with socks I got the idea that maybe we should have an ongoing one. So I posted about it and everyone seems to like the idea. I need to work up some details and then it starts!!! It won't be up until later in the week though, so keep your eyes open! :)

I have decided, due to the KAL idea, that I really need to get to work on my list. I'm tierd of feeling like I have too many projects going. I usually do. Now that everything is written down I am going to work really hard to start crossing items off. We'll be moving at the end of the month to a tiny little town (less than 5,000 people...heck I think it's even less than 4 thousand) and I will have plenty of empty time. Good thing my list is long! :)

I haven't picked up my fleece yet and it's starting to bug me. The lady has been kind of rude about it too. I don't get that. Why offer something and then be rude about it? Way to go! I did manage to find out more about it. It's in total raw glory! It hasn't been cleaned or carded or anything. There's still debris in it even! I'm excited to get it. I guess I'll have to learn it all! There is a place pretty close to where we'll be moving that rents wheels. My mom wasn't sure if they do a rent to own type deal but she's going to ask. Either way, I'll be renting one here soon. what's a good one for a newbie? Better do some looking around!

Socks and charting lace

Before I get into my thoughts today I thought I would correct a mistake I made. lol When I posted the knitting tool two posts down I somehow put in a link to my photobucket. That's all fine and dandy but the leaf lace in there isn't mine! lol It's a scarf a fellow blogger did and I saved the picture to show my sister. The correct link is there but in case you don't scroll down here it is again: http://www.thedietdiary.com/knittingfiend/tools/IncreaseEvenlySpace.html

So I finally got my sock needles. Well they aren't really sock needles but they are the right size for the socks I am doing. :) I cast on yesterday after I got home from picking them up and was going along pretty good. My day was not going well yesterday so in a moment of frustration something happened to a stitch. It slipped off and I think that the stitck I did in the round BEFORE that one came undone. I still had a stitch but I was missing a round right there. I thought I could go on and it wouldn't make a difference but it did so I frogged, I wasn't too upset though since I was only about .5 inch in. When I went to gte the needles yesterday I had to go to two different stores. I wanted to get some sock yarn for myself along with needles. I had enough on me to get two pairs of needles and one to two skeins of sock yarn depending on brand and weight etc. The first place had no sock yarn at all! So on to the second store where all of theirs was mixed in with a huge section of acrylic. And they didn't have the brand or color I wanted. The one I was willing to get wasn't too bad price wisebut I was about 20 cents off! So I settled for something I didn't really like or want. I did end up returning it and came home sock yarn free. Oh well. I can practice using the Thuja pattern for DH. That might not be a bad idea anyways...bigger needles, thicker yarn.....easy practice right? I posted on MDC to see if anyone would be interested in a sock along. I hope a few ladies say yes. It'd be my first KAL and I think it might be enough inspiration that we all complete two socks! lol

I found a Yahoo group that will help me create a lace pattern. I decided on writing my own for the afghan I want to do and this group is all about charting lace. They tell you how and help with snags and everything! I can't wait to actually have a moment to get into it. I'm pretty excited to think I may write my own pattern and a lace one at that!

Stuck on neutral

I have so many projects in mind and have no idea where to start! I want something simple but I don't want to work on washrags. I want something tough but I want it to knit fast. I have started three things today only to get one row in and pull it off the needles. I had started a wrap for a friend only to find out I did a size too small and had to unravel it. I want to use my acrylic up but I don't want to do toys. I have no reason to do baby stuff like bibs......oh blah!

I'm going to go get a Pepsi and come back and pick ONE thing on my list (which has since grown since I put it here) and do it. I still haven't gotten the needles needed to do DH's socks but he promised we'll go get them by this weekend. He's doing a marathon thing on his game all weekend and I'll be stuck to entertain myself basically. Woo hoo.

I think I need to soak in the tub and go to bed.

Alrighty, I am back and in better spirits. I have some boucle that has been burning a hole in my yarn bucket since I got it. I've had it since Feb. and I love this stuff. I take that back. I love the colors. Dark reds and oranges and browns. Very autumny. Every bit "our colors". I had started making it into an afghan but after doing 20 some odd rows in garter I was bored. So I yanked it off my needles and have plans to start anew. I want this to be able to drape on our couch. Since we are moving and getting a new couch I figure now's the time. I'm having a hard time finding something I love though. I don't want to settle for like. I want leafy lace. I want it to be open and airy and have a leaf pattern in there. I went through google and knittingpatterncentral and other sites to find a pattern but no luck. I found some on KPC that I liked but they all seem so heavy. I don't want a ton of garter stitch and that's what a lot of those patterns had. I want something like Branching Out from knitty. That would be gorgeous as an afghan I think. It fits all my requirements as well...airy, lace, and leafy. Too bad I am number impaired. I posted on MDC to see if anyone could either help me enlarge Branching Out or if they had a pattern similar. I hope I get something. We move in two weeks and I know there is no way I'll get it done but between then and now I have quite a lot of time to work on it. Plus, it's an 800 mile drive to where we're going.

Knitting heaven

A friend of mine just found out she is pregnant! Congrats J!!! Since she's a fellow cloth user I told her I would knit her a gender neutral wrap and then later when she found out the gender a more specific one. She's hoping for a girl so I'm saving her some pink wool. I started on the wrap tonight. It's the Warm Heart Woolies pattern. I'm glad I decided to. I'm not in a good mood and this is a quick knit. It's nice making something so tiny. I wish DD was this small. Ahh, baby lust tonight.

I'm using my 70's wool. J liked it when i showed it to her and thought it was perfect. I'm to the increases portion and I'm still not sure of the color. I've done 8 rows of twisted rib and I'm still feeling the 70's has thrown up in my lap. We'll see once I get into something more flat than ribbing.

I can't remember where I saw it but someone posted a link to an increase tool. I clicked on it and glanced at it before saving it. I figured it would be good to have but I couldn't think of when I would use it. I finally got to use it! My first wrap (the purple one a few posts down) I was unsure about the increases. The directions say to increase four stitches evenly. When I made the purple one I had to write it all out and plan it so it would work right. I thought I had gotten it but it ended up not being right. It was unsymmetrical. You can't tell once it's knitted up but being the knitter I KNEW. It's covered with velcro anyway. ;)

So tonight I got to that portion and took a break to chat with a buddy online. That's when I remembered the tool. I pulled it up, filled in the blanks, and lo and behold! I got two options. The unsymmetrical one (which is exactly what I did on my purple wrap!) and a symmetrical one. It was so easy! I put in two numbers and this program did the math for me. I am so glad I saved this thing!

So here you go: http://www.thedietdiary.com/knittingfiend/tools/IncreaseEvenlySpace.html
Enjoy! I know it's making my knitting all the more pleasurable already. :)

It's been a little while since I got my Boye interchangables. I wasn't sure about then at first but I think I'm liking them. The actual needle isn't as slick as an Addi but they aren't too shabby at all. I use them in flex mode often. They are pretty decent for that. I don't like them as circular's though. I haven't had a project that requires the sizes I have but the few times I have had my other cables in something as a flex I've used my longest length and connected them as a circ. I just knit back and forth on it. The cables are stiff and awkward feeling. Maybe as I use them they'll loosen up but at this rate I'll stick to something else for circulars. They are my first choice on straights/flex though.

I have a weird little worry. When I'm knitting even though my hands are clean I'm worried I'm going to dirty the yarn up. lol Like when you're peeling a potato even though your hands are clean you can leave little brown watery marks? I'm afraid I'll do the equivalent to my yarn. It never happens but I can't help but think it will.

Fleece score on Freecycle!

The Blossom lady got back to me again today. I think I've got all the issues worked out. I'm owrried I'm making the wrong size though. It seems the pattern runs large. Or at least this piece does and it's just the back. I know once it's washed it will shrink since it's cotton but I doubt it'll shrink that much. I don't want DD to not be able to wear this. The warm months are slowly disappearing. I know this can go into the colder months by adding leggings and a little tee under it but it's so cute I want her to be able to wear it without all the extras.

I cast on for some socks tonight. I think I need better yarn. Or more accuratly thiner yarn. I was using Paton's Merino. I found Thuja for DH and want to do those asap. I thought I had the right size needles but I don't. I'm two sizes too big. I guess that means I still need to get some.

Tomorrow I go pick up some Freecycle goodies (pregnancy tests!) and part of that is some fleece. I'm headed into the craft store as well to get the things I need to make a drop spindle (and of course DPN's). So I posted a wanted on there for some roving and a lady got abck to me saying she had some fleece from a few months ago that she was going to use for spinning and I could have it! I can't wait. I don't know what the difference is between fleece and roving though. Is there a difference? Is fleece still wool? I'm afraid I am a total newbie in the fiber world.

Heavy lifting

So I emailed the maker of Blossom and was surprised to see she had replied to me. It was Sunday. What was she doing at her email? Who cares, I had a reply. She tried to answer my question as best she could. It was rather jumbled and clear as mud (my question that is) but she got it figured out and answered me very well. However, I was supposed to be on a knint row right now. I'm not. I'm on a purl row and I don't know what number row it is. It's either row 10 or row 1. How do I pick? The pattern is supposed to be row one as a knit. Maybe I should do this row as row ten, knit my next row and count that as row one to....OMG! I figured it out! Yay!!! I can now continue on....

I had put Blossom down for a day too long I think. I picked it up to work on it today and set it back down after three stitches. Maybe it's not the wait I had to do. Maybe I am just not feeling like knitting. I have the urge to create something but I don't want to put the effort in it. I was telling my husband today that it's a shame I can't hire someone to just start my projects for me. I could just hire some lady to cast on for all my projects and do an inch or so. That's when I start liking what I'm doing. Those first couple inches bite. You can't see your pattern and it's still too short to have any real flow to it. Maybe it's just me.

Checking my blogs today I saw Mason Dixon had updated so I headed over there to read it. It always gets me inspired. I want to knit fabulous things afterward. GIANT fabulous things. Whether in size or quantity. I can't help it. I usually go rifiling through my yarn and needles after I finish reading and go to bed with high aspirations only to wake up staring at some list. Tonight was no different. I read the entry, clicked on the KAL button, and was immersed in such beautiful knitting that I ran outside.

???

Yeah, I ran outside. I picked up some knitting paraphenilia the other day from a Freecycler. When we were in Idaho I got an email asking if I was still looking for needles. Being the needle whore that I am I said yes, explained what was going on, and set up a time to pick them up. When I got the box I was kind of dissapointed. There was some very random needles, bias tape, and god awful (in color) acrylics. I grumbled a bit and put the box in the trunk so we could go about our business. I had forgotten about it until tonight.

I jsut went through it and the needles are far better than I thought. I have a huge pair for a blanket I have already been planning and some random sizes. Mainly 10's and 8's. Seems that's a popular size and you can't have too many. There was also a set of 4 plastic size 9 DPN's. But the best part?

A set of four metal size 1 or 0 (there are no markings and I have no needle sizer) DPN's. I can do socks now!!! I wasn't able to get a set the other night when I decided to try socks. I figured I wans't going to get them either. We had to put it off until after our move basically since money is tight. I was bummed. Seeing these made me rush upstairs and cast on and split just to prove I could do it. I can't wait. I can do socks now!! Woo hoo!

And of course...I made a list. I knew it would happen. And after I made that list I set up a tenative list of tomorrow's (well today....it's early) activities and I actually put on there "knit". Yeah, I scheduled in knitting because my list is so massive. Without further ado I introduce "The List":

red washcloths: Less than half of one done.
yellow washcloths: 0
SIL's washcloth: 0
K's washcloth: started and then frogged. Sitting at 0
Blossom: About two inches done. Of the back. The first piece. Of many.
Katja: %^#$%^$ One cup done. Sitting in the bottom of the knitting bag turned away from prying eyes.
Nursery block: 3.5 of 6 complete. Seaming and stuffing required.
Woolie Wonder Wrap: Yarn has been picked.
Picky Pants for S: Cast on
Picky Pants for MDC mama: waiting on yarn
Boucle Afghan: Yanked off small needles and waiting to be frogged for MUCH larger ones.
Wool bathmat: Yanked off needles, pattern refigured, considered Absorba the bathmat, frogged, and reqound. Sitting and waiting for me to come back.
Bag for tub letters: Yarn needs to be picked. Going back and forth on type of yarn. Nothing fancy needed but why settle for less? It would be a good way to get rid of some acrylic.....
Wet bag: Yarn needs picked
Felted boxes: Yarn has been set aside and waits.
Felted clogs: Need pattern and yarn
Socks: Need some yarn!
Ballet Camisole (Magknits): Yarn needs picked

Those are just the projects I jotted down prior to looking through Mason Dixon. I'm going to do some bibs, burp rags, and blankets as well. As you can see most of this is just floating thoughts in my head. I have a lot of yarn deciding to do but at least I can see where I sit now. Maybe I should stick to this list and not add or take away anything until I finish it all. Granted there are some things that will always be on the list (like Picky Pants) but that shouldn't put a damper on my knitting. Maybe this will increase my knitting desire. :)

Felted clogs and things

Wow, Blossom either works up quickly or I've actually had knitting time today. Not sure which one but either way it's lovely. I've run into a snag but I emailed the lady who made the pattern and hope she can help me out. I hope it's soon. I have put it down until I get a reply but am really wanting to just go ahead and do it. Screw making sure I'm doing it right. :)

We've decided that we're going to do a no shoes policy at our new place. Our current carpet is NASTY. Between the dogs and the constant in and out it's gross. It's dirty and stained and grimy feeling. We've been wanting to to do a no shoes poilcy here but just decided on it. We've been waiting to get the carpets cleaned before doing it (kind of grody to not wear shoes in the house right now) but haven't been able to do that. Thinking about it all has gotten us grossed out. DD crawls on that! And plays on the floor. They should be in better condition. We're kicking ourselves for not having cleaned the carpets when we first moved in. Oh well.

So what does that have to do with knitting? DH wants me to knit him some socks (in a genius moment of remembering I was wanting to do them) and some felted clogs. I know someone out ther eposted about themo n her blog but I can't remember who. I googled it and couldn't find a free pattern. I would need for it to be a free one since we're broke with moving. :) I'm pretty excited about the no shoes thing. It'll be a bit tough with his family since his dad wears shoes from the moment he wakes up (as in slips into them as he throws his feet off the bed) til he goes to bed (as in slips out of them as he swings his feet into bed). My side is a bunch of shoeless heathens so it'll be nothing to get them to take theirs off. I'm going to find a nice shoe rack so we won't be tripping over them all the time.

Blossoming along

I have been wanting to try Blossom from MagKnits forever now. I found it by accident one night awhile back and didn't bother to save it. I thought I would remember enough of the details to google it later on. I forgot everything though except what it looked like and even that was foggy. All I knew was it was a wrap and had some embroidery on it. I finally found it again way too late. The sizing no longer worked. DD was older than 9 months. I posted on Mothering last night to see if someone had made it for their 1 year old. I so so wanted this. It's cute and I have the perfect yarn for it. Someone was able to convert it for me for two more sizes!!! Thank you frogger!!!! I cast on last night and did a couple rows. I plan on working on it some more today and I hope I can get it done this weekend. We'll see though. My knitting has been reduced lately due to DD takeing later naps. And DSS being here. And keeping those two from killing each other. :)

I am thinking about doing the Ballet Camisole from MagKnits as well. It's pretty and seems easy enough that I think I could do it. I have enough cotton to do it although it's not in the colors I would neccessarily pick for myself. I wasn't sure when I bought this cotton anyway. It's called Peppercorn I think. Not my cup o' tea. There was some other colors there but I was thinking about DD and the patterns I wanted to do. Oh well. I'll give it a try and if it's not looking good I can frog it.

I'm going to try socks as well. I plan on picking up some metal DPN's here soon. I need to find a pattern that would work for me though so I can get the right size. I need to get some sock yarn too. I have a pattern for DH picked out already and am excited about trying them.

I need to try and bang out a few projects real fast. We're getting ready to move (800 miles!) and yarn and knitting will be packed. Who knows when I'll get to it again. I'm sure it'll get out of packing as quickly as the computers will. Don't want that gathering dust! :)

Pictures take 3

Ok since the last post didn't allow me to post the bad 70's acrylic for comparison I'll put it here and YOU can scroll down and see the likeness.






See? Shocking isn't it? On to brighter things! A lovely bag and some lovely books. :)




















This is the outside.













And this is the inside. Super roomy! I think last time I checked it held about 16 skeins of wool in there. And that was actual Paton's Merino skeins. I'm sure it could hold more. :)














I feel official with these books. Don't know why. :) I am working on the nursery block from the Toys one and am working on getting some stuff for a few things out of the Mason Dixon one. I'm liking them both but have heard that the Toys one has pattern issues. I haven't found them yet but I'm not an expert at that sor tof stuff. Plus I haven't done anything more than a knit square from it. :)



I thought long and hard about doing a picture of my needles. But in order to NOT be laughed at by my peers I have opted not to. It's a bit ridiculous how many I have now. I even picked up more from Freecycle. Someone found a very old wanted ad by me and even though I have a ton of needles already I said yes I would love them. Ok, now that I have drug this on for three posts I will stop here. Now I can say I have updated this completely and will no longer fret about letting my many (ha!) readers down. :)

Pictures take 2

Ahhh...cotton. This one is a variety. :) The red and yellow are becoming washcloths for us. As sad as this is we have maybe three in our whole house. We just use cloth wipes for everything and it's getting old. DH requested I make some so I am. You can see the beginning of one in red for our kitchen. Since I am doing them for both kitchen and bathroom they will be two different patterns so as not to intermix them. I know I can clean them well but frankly the idea of wiping kitchen counter grime across my face is gross. I don't care how clean it is. The Tatamy Tweed is a gift that was sent to me. And boy is it heavenly! It's a cotton blend and is so soft and smooth. There is a HUGE difference between that and the other stuff. I'm using it to make Katja ($ # ^ @ % $ #) and yes that is a cup on a DPN sticking out of the green. No it has not been finsihed. I can't tell you when it will be either. ($ # % $ @ # $)






This is my most recent cotton. Two one pound cones bought at Wal-Mart while on vacation. I plan on making these into some clothes for the wee one as well. I'd love to do Blossom but need to get the pattern altered for a 13 month old. I would do it but am unable to. Basically me+math/alterations= a sobbing and hysterical me. Or a pissed and irrational me. Or an onery and irritated me.


This is Picky Pants wanna be wool. I bought this not too long ago when I bought my great bag (see next post lol). I had visions for it. It has since sat in the bottom of said great bag waiting for me to remember it's there. I remember. I just realized once I got it home that they are rather boyish colors and well.....the daughter is a girl. I was so excited to be out buying wool and sad to see that all they had was a weak selection of Paton's that I jumped and bought a good color combo as opposed to a good color combo for a girl. Oh well. People around me are pregnant and if worse comes to worse I can knit something for them. Not that that is bad at all. :)

And now...here comes the 70's. I have decided that this yarn is what the 70's would look like if it were thrown up by a small animal...such as a cat. I did a test swatch out of it and it's not as bad knit up but I have a hard time knitting very much of it since I do find it ugly. I will use it and the longer it sits on my table looking at me the more I grow to like it. I doubt I will ever love it. Heck, it's more of an aquaintance to me.

















And for a comparison since I did mention that it looks like a bad batch of 70's acrylic that I have....a picture of the bad 70's acrylic. (ok check next post....stupid blogger! %$@^%$#^!)

Pictures take 1

Ok after much fighting with Blogger tonight I have decided I will need to do this as a series of posts. I finally have pictures for you!!! There are a couple things missing but not a lot. One is hte bag I made my sister. It was the project I did in Freedom Wool (greens and purples). Just a basketweake rectangle, folded in half, and sewn up the sides. Nothing fancy. The other missing thing is the washclothes I made my sister in law. They were done in green and white cotton (their preferred colors). One was all garter stitch, one was stockinette with a border of garter, and one was thick "ribbing". Basically it was 13 knit, 13 purl, and 13 knit. They turned out lovely and I have enough left over to make her one more. Ok...I'm going to give this another try!





This was my first ever soaker. It's Tiny Bird's free pattern. I did it in some acrylic I had bought in December (well the yarn for the body was in December). I LOVE this yarn. Well more like the color. It's Red Heart T.L.C. and is surprisngly soft for acrylic. I never got around to adding the ruffles though. 1.) I was to afraid to learn how to pick up stitches and THEN figure out a ruffle and 2.) I don't crochet. I know someone who does but frankly she's a hag and I didn't want to ask her. :) It was my first real seaming project. I just sewed up and down the sides. I wish I had figured out a better way cause it ain't pretty. I tucked some strays so you can't see in the picture but trust me. I think I would have fit better had I taken the time to do it right. I have some of the body yarn left over and even though I have decided acrylic soakers aren't for us I am tempted to use it up as a pair of shorts.




This was my secnod cover. This was the free Warm Heart Woolies wrap pattern. I LOVE this pattern! It fits my munchkin perfectly! I would make the tabs longer but other than that I have no complaints with it. Again, nasty acrylic. This was some NASTY acyrlic too. My first soaker I thought everyone was just being hoighty toighty when they trashed acrylic but this made me a believer. It was squeaky and rough and just plain out icky! It made me decide not to continue using up my acrylic (remeber I was using it to justify using the good stuff in the end?). It was a dissapointment for sure. I really liked this color combo and had plans. I even had various combos picked out and laid aside. *sigh* I do plan on making more of this wrap though.

Now this! Now this stuff....oh my heavens!!!! This was my first official "cool" buy in the wool department. Manos color 104. Also known as Prarie. I LOVED this stuff. I bought two skeins thinking I was going to need them both for my Picky Pants. Didn't turn out that way and I'm happy about that. :) This quickly became......



this. :) The picture DOES NOT do it justice (and it changes the color quite a bit huh?). I did a ruffle edge that is a need-to-be-seen-in-person-on-a-person type edge. :) I lvoe these shorts. I did shorten the legs a bit though. The chitlin was mainly crawling when I did these and was only walking a little bit. I made them shorter so that crawling would remain easy. Her knees tend to catch her cloths/covers and it's awkward. Not a week after I finished them she started walking full time. Yay! :) They are missing the drawstring but only cause I haven't made one yet. I was unsure about doing one since they sit low on her. After a few washes and wearings they have stretched a bit but not as much as I had hoped. I think next time I'll make the waist a bit longer and maybe add a round or two to the body. I'm pretty proud of them none the less.

On to part two!

We are home!!! Not a lot of knitting was done but mainly cause we were so busy.

I managed to whip up three wash rags for my SIL. There was enough to d o four but I didn't get them done until the night before we left and I didn't think I could get the fourth one done in time. I think I may do it anyways and mail it to her. She seemed to like them but was on the verge of leaving so she didn't really look at them. I did three different patterns and really liked how they turned out. I was pretty pleased with them. DH was too. He kept complementing me on them.

I got some cotton. Two cone of Peaches and Cream. Lovely stuff. I can't wait to start using it up. I'll post pictures later on when I update with pictures. I do plan on it. DH has been passing my blog link around and I am feeling insecure and needing to get something up other than a whiney post. :)

I recently traded some Addi Turbo's for some yarn. They were a length I don't use so it wasn't hard to give them up. I was pretty excited since I was getting TWO skeins of yarn. I got it in the mail while we were gone and got it out last night. It's ugly. The way she described it was pretty. Rust and chocolaty browns. Very earthy. It's more like the 70's gone bad. In fact I have some nasty acrylic that T's wife found for me that matches it EXACTLY! I about cried when i pulled it out the envelope. I was hoping it was just the late hour and the poor lighting but after looking at it some more today it's still ugly. I don't know what I'm going to use it for. I'm thinking I may save it to put in the business. Maybe someone else out there will like it. Someone has to, after all someone liked it enough to make it. Or maybe they didn't like how it turned out and that's why it was sold. Who knows. I'm pretty disappointed. There were some other yarns I could have traded for that I wanted as well and I am wishing I had chosen one of them. I knew I should have asked for pictures. Oh well. It's really soft which I am thinking is it's only redeeming quality at this point.