FO: Trekking socks

That's me wearing my first pair of finished socks. I found myself thinking... WHY on EARTH didn't I make some keepers before?! I love these socks, they keep my legs warm, at least the part that's always cold and this, in turn, warms my feet and the rest of my body! Next time though, I'll add some ribbing to the top because the darn things curl like mad from the picot cast off I did.

Now in Color!

So I tried my socks on yesterday afternoon, as promised. This picture:
Shows how far I've come and how little more there is to go... In fact, when I had this ONE sock on yesterday I couldn't believe how soft and warm and cozy it was or that I had strayed from his pair for one second! As soon I finished the little photo shoot I sat right down and knit on these the rest of the night so add about 2 inches to the length of the sock for a more accurate idea of what they look like now. I'm almost finished, I'm not sure if I should keep knitting on them and make them as long as possible because my lower legs get cold as heck these days. There really isn't much yarn left but I think I could get another inch or two out of it, placing the CO edge well up my calf muscle which might cause problems with stretch because I'm not ribbing the tops. We will just have to wait and see.

This next picture shows how far I've come on my Lily shawl and how much better it looks than the first one. I forgot to take pictures of the swatches that led me back to the Lily but they are mostly for the Lotus Blossom and not entirely applicable here.
Yesterday Colorado got another dusting of snow and I took a few pictures from the window outside my 7th story lab! This one shows downtown Denver smack dab in the middle of one of the bigger clouds. That dark bluish black cloud that looks like it's in the background is actually hanging right around those buildings, it was REALLY neat, but I guess you just had to be there.
This is a gorgeous picture of classic Colorado winters, snow dusted pines!

No pictures

I don't really have much to show you in the way of progress on my knits.

The socks seem to have taken a back perch on the 'knitting shelf' even though they could easily be finished in a night or two! The original plan was to use up all of the trekking but since I seem to have lost interest in them, perhaps I should just cast off a bit early. I've been trying them on as I go and had a destination in mind as far as height up the calf but they might be long enough as it is... I'll have to let you know, perhaps with a picture!

I spent Sunday and Monday evening knitting up various swatches that I actually cast off, washed, and blocked!! I knit up three swatches of the Lotus blossom shawl with needle sizes 7, 8, and 9. (I think) After doing this I realized.. I really want to make the Lily of the Valley shawl with this yarn and decided to try another swatch with a larger needle size to see what would happen. I made the swatch with the 7's and decided that I thought some of the yarn overs were too big. NOW I am knitting up the Lily of the Valley shawl with 6's, am through the first repeat and really seem to like the looks! YAY!! I think it'll all work out. I did the math and if I just add one repeat at the end the end result should be pretty similar to that of the book's.

Hopefully I won't be long at work today and can take some pictures that will please all of us. :)

Help end world hunger

Freerice.com

This is a multiple choice vocabulary game where you match the meaning of the word to its mate. Each correct answer donates rice and increases the difficulty of the next word. It's free and a great way to improve your vocabulary a little bit at a time!

The arrival of gorgeous yarn is always anticipated..

It came yesterday! I'm finding that capturing the true essence of yarn related items is very difficult to do at night. So the gorgeous yarn from Oriri Design arrived! It is somewhere between this :
And this:
I LOVE IT! So soft and pretty with its subtle variations; I think I'm going to bring it with me to Kansas and cast on for some toe up pomatomi as soon as I finish the Trekking socks. I'm hoping that the pattern will convert easily from top down because some of the ladies on ravelry said that they were having some trouble with it. If I can't convert the pattern, I'm sure that this yarn will look gorgeous just knit up with a general pattern.

On Sunday I did a little spinning since I had received some luscious brown alpaca fiber from the fiber club I joined earlier. I did not spin the alpaca because I had already started some camel/tencel that I got from the Estes Park Wool Festival and wanted to do a three ply which would use up 4 of the 5 bobbins I have. (Yes I went to the wool festival and yes I took many pictures fully intending to blog. However, those pictures of long since been deleted and I think I'll just blur over that blogerly indiscretion.)
Again, this picture was taken at night and doesn't capture the true essence of my yarn! The consistency is pretty darned good since I didn't put too much effort into it. Both skeins are from the same batt, just different ends and so one is darker than the other. The purple is truly more purple and the pink actually has some brown in it to tone it down. Both are quite pretty and soft and much less shiny than the flash would have you think. Also, I only had about 2 yards of singles left that I wasn't able to make into a three ply! I just split the batt into what I thought were three equal lengths and eye-balled the bobbins as I went along! That sure made my day on Sunday. I got about 200 yards of 3 ply that I would categorize as sport weight. I'm not really sure what I could do with that... One sock, a hat? Is that enough for a hat?

Speaking of hats, it's getting pretty cold outside and I didn't bring one! My ears are cold and I'm hankering to start a hat, we'll see what happens.

I'm BAAAACK!

So lately I've been thinking about jumping back into blogging again. Things have calmed down at work and I have time to formulate a blog post every once in a while. I don't really want to blog when I'm at home because I'd much rather be knitting but I feel bad when I knit at work. I don't feel any remorse if I look busy aka blogging, so this might work! I take pictures when I'm at home, post them to flickr where I can use them for both the blog and ravelry, which I've become quite smitten with lately. :)

Recently I finished a pair of Log Cabin Socks (from Holiday Knits) for Michael because his feet get quite cold in the evenings. I made them toe-up, which seems to be my preferred method of late, and so the heel flap doesn't have the cable pattern on it. These took me about a week and a half! I'll try to get a picture of them on the recipient some time!
A side note, I imagine that many of my pictures will have to be taken with no natural light because I take them when I get home from work and after my workout, by then it's pretty dark!

Here is a picture of the socks I'm currently working on for myself. They are just a general toe up sock pattern made with Trekking XXL in 147 Burgundy. I've worked a bit more on them since this picture was taken on Friday and have passed the heel turn. I find that when I'm knitting both socks at the same time I am actually able to finish them, and in a decent amount of time too! I started these last weekend I think... I also really enjoy being able to try them on as I go, ensuring that most, if not all, of my work will come to fruition!

I decided that I would probably get cold shoulders at my wedding reception and, thus, should knit myself a shawl! I also thought that I would like to wear the thing after the reception and for some reason white did not seem the best choice. I went to Shuttles about 2 weeks ago and purchased a cone of Bambu in this green:

I had the idea of knitting something with a springtime theme, since the wedding is in April, and decided on Nancy Bush's 'Lily of the Valley' found in Lace Style. The stitch gauge works out fine, but the row gauge is almost HALF what it should be! I chose this pattern because I thought that it was fairly calm and wouldn't draw too much attention from my GORGEOUS dress. If I double the repeats to account for the decreased length I feel that the pattern would be too busy for the simple style I wanted. I started looking for another pattern..... And decided that the Lotus Blossom shawl might be a suitable substitute. That pattern has been ordered and is on its way, but I don't expect it before Thanksgiving.

After I finished Michael's socks, before Lace Style arrived and before I started on the Trekking socks, I learned just how dangerous it is to be without anything on the needles... That's why I bought that sock yarn, knowing full well that I have PLENTY more at home. That's also why I bought this sock yarn in cabernet... I was caught off-guard at work and put in the order so fast I sent it to the wrong address! It hasn't come in yet, but you can bet I'll take a picture as soon as it does. This new colorway in prosperity is also REALLY calling my name! Don't you snatch it up until I figure out what to do with myself!

At work, this is my baby:
For those who know a little bit about science, this is a Western Blot set up. For those of you who don't know much about science, it moves DNA from a gel to a piece of paper that can be manipulated a little easier.

I'll be going to Kansas from Wednesday through Sunday to visit some family and won't be able to blog then, so don't think I've abandoned you again!

And, in closing. The obligatory picture of Fez!