Yarn P*rn and an FO!

Well, I finished my mom's Ringwood Hose, they come up to the calf muscle and I tried them on to make sure they'd fit :) and man oH man am I going to have to knit a pair for myself. Not only did I finish these in (more or less 5 days, including work) but these are the best fitting pair of made yet! I kinda just made up my own pattern, knitting to fit my foot.

I cast on about 50 stitches around the toe (note: this is too many and made for a very square toe) and then knit up until I was past the big toe before starting the pattern. I didn't increase in the toe at all, I didn't increase until I reached about 1.5 inches from the end of the foot and started making the gusset. I increased 5 times with 2 stitches per 2 rows (one plain knit row in between). Then I followed the recipe for my toe up heel flap. I knit up quite a ways before beginning the calf increases (I tried to somewhat follow the leg directions) and increased as the pattern is written. I only knit about 27 rows of ribbing though, the 40 that the pattern calls for seemed like it might be a bit much.

I also received my yarn from Abby:
I also got some black that I really could not photograph, but you can visit her site to see any of these! I LOVE every color and have to tame myself into knitting up that blue I got from her a while ago first. I want my own pair of Ringwood Hose and that vibrant blue would be perfect.

Long post... includes wedding stuff!

Ok, I'll start at the beginning.

First, I got my Blue Nebula from Abby and I SWEAR it feels even better than the last batch I bought from her!
Can't wait to cast on for my own pair of blue socks, but I really should at least get started on my mom's! I finally decided on the Nancy Bush's Half Hose because it's got some interest but not so much that my mom won't wear them. Also, I think the tweed will look great in it!

Second, last night the man and I went to see Bugs on Broadway.
The gist of it is that a symphony plays all the music for various Warner Brothers cartoons, my favorite being 'What's Opera Doc?': the opera that Bugs and Elmer Fudd do starring the ENORMOUSLY fat horse! We had a blast!

Third!! (This is what I'm currently still excited about) I had a trial hair and make-up today for the wedding!


I think everything turned out REALLY well and can't wait for the real thing! These pics were taken back at my mom's after we did a rough redo of the hair because the stylist took it down for me at the place (WAY too many bobby pins for me to deal with if I don't have to. Also, ignore the jewelry it's just what I happened to have on).

And on a side note, I am currently a little over halfway through chart E on my Grandma's shawl. I thought I might be able to finish this weekend but I'm thinking that something more realistic would be by next weekend. :)

Lace update

As the title suggests, there really isn't much to see on this blog lately. I've been plugging away on my Grandma's shawl and have begun Chart D (it goes through chart G). I'm really starting to feel the growth of the shawl now because I don't think I can get through more than 3 or 4 rows in an HOUR! And this is what I have to look at for my rewards...
Not exactly tempting, I know. I'm also a little concerned that the 100% wool characteristic of the yarn will not make a very friendly shawl. The swatch is kind of stiff and it's not particularly cozy. I've told myself that if I finish the thing and it's not something I would want to wrap around myself I'll have to scrap it and try to make something else out of the yarn.

On another note, I have here a picture of the new stitch markers that I bought at the LYS last week. Quite cute!
And finally, I have a picture of my finished scarf.
It was a fast knit with three strands, I'm estimating about 5 hours! I actually enjoyed this knitting, as much as I could with it being a scarf anyway, and plan to CO for the afghan using this pattern. Cross your fingers that I'll actually be able to finish the darn thing!

And one more tasty tidbit, I've ordered some more of Abby's yarn! Can't wait for this gorgeous blue to come! Of course I'll have to put a hold on my own blue socks until I finish the ones my mom has asked for.... I did start sort of looking for a pattern the other day...

FO: Cabernet Socks

I know it's really hard to see the cables but they turned out beautifully and I apologize for the late-night-fluorescent-light shot but I really wanted to get these up. I followed the Yarn Harlot's Early Grey pattern (on US 3's) almost to a 'T,' toe-up of course! I don't really like the pointier toe that most sock patterns seem to call for. With the Trekking socks I CO a much larger number of stitches (which I don't seem to have recorded: DOH!) and the toe is much rounder and comfortable for my wider than average feet.

This pattern kept me interested without requiring a chart kept by my side and I could see knitting it up again with fewer stitches around the foot so that the pattern will show up a bit more. I also could have continued much farther up the leg with pattern or ribbing because of the excess yarn in this skein. I finished these Sunday night and really just wanted to get back to working on my Lily of the Valley Shawl. Also, in the future I should make the ribbing on smaller needles. I would have done so with these socks except I didn't have enough size 2 needles on circs to do it with. :)

This yarn is LOVELY to work with and I have already contacted the dye-er about purchasing more. She's told me that she's currently stewing up some more colors in this similar base yarn so none of ya'll better be snatching it all up before I'm able to convince Michael that I really don't have enough sock yarn!

On our way to my parents house north of Denver this morning Michael and I got stuck behind 5 plow trucks as they cleared the road. Finally they turned around to go back and clear the other side of I-25 and this is what we saw:
An ENTIRELY empty north-bound I-25! Those of you living near the area know how very rare this is, so much so that I just HAD to take a picture!

One of the more knit-blog worthy items I received for Christmas from my parents was the neutral Knitpicks sock yarn sampler bag. I took individual pictures of the yarns and posted on Ravelry or you can view them through the previous knitpicks link.
My mother has requested a pair of socks made with the Flint Tweed! I didn't think that she really wanted knit items from me and when I suggested this package to her I didn't really expect to get it. I was also hoping to knit myself up a pair of blue socks...
Oh well, anything to fuel familial love of knit garments so that later in life I am not bogged down with too much knitting to store. :)

Also, I'm sure you are all aware of Webs' year end clearance sales on their yarn. Well... I'm sad to say that I actually bought something for myself in the few days before Christmas (the first day the sale started, to be exact) and received it yesterday:
You are looking at approximately 1984 yards of 2/4 Highland Tweed in the Arctic colorway. I got the the whole cone for 8 bucks and have absolutely nothing planned for it... This is 100% wool and seems a bit itchy, however the supplier says that it still has the spinning oil on it and that it will soften up after washing. When this large amount of yarn first arrived I was thinking a sweater but if it doesn't soften up enough in the wash I could make some GORGEOUS shawls out it. Come to think of it, my Grandma was talking about needing a shawl....

One last thing, I forgot to post a picture of the finished scarf for my sister. I finished it on Monday and wrapped it immediately and it really looks exactly like this earlier picture:

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.

Obsession + A Job = Trouble

Sorry I haven't been posting lately... I've been a little obsessed with my new projects. Plus, I had an interview with a company called Bionovo. The description of the position was too detailed for me to get a good understanding of what I would be doing and then they SHOCKED me with a group interview. I was so nervous I was damn sure I had failed the interview. Then I called them and harrassed them a few times because they were taking so long in getting back to me. I was certain they just didn't have the guts to tell me that I wasn't hired. The next day I got an email to go in for a second interview. Well when I got there one of my future coworkers said, "So I heard they offered you a position." Tthat was news to me, but it sure put me at ease! Woohoo!!! They're not sure when I'm going to start working because they have to get corporate in California to send me the necessary paperwork but it sure is a relief to have a job to look forward to. I'll tell you more about it later, perhaps after my first day. This post is dedicated to all my on-going projects.

First, I spun up some of that merino from morehouse. I'm not sure if you can tell the difference between this picture and the previous one but I really haven't put a dent in the fiber.
The wool actually has a little too much grease in it and I'm losing almost half of the fiber to preparations but its spinning up very strong. I'm forced to spin it a little thicker than I would like because it snaps on me if it's any thinner. But now that I see it in the picture, perhaps it's plenty thin. I plan to navajo ply it and knit up some socks for both Michael and my mother.
When I first got this wool I was using Fez's cat brush to prep the fiber and for some reason I decided that I needed something more appropriate for the project so I went out and bought this:
It wasn't until I got home that I realized this was a direct violation of the yarn diet... I really have no explanation as to why the diet completely slipped my mind. But I was VERY good in the yarn store, Michael was with me and he made sure that I only got what I went in for. I was sidetracked several times and each time he wacked whatever I picked up out of my hands. It was quite humorous and I'm sure the other women in the store heard my laughing.

I also received my first allotment of wool from my spinning club. It's 4 oz. of Rambouillet.
I've already spun up a decent chunk of the first ball before taking this picture.
Here's the yarn:
I'm quite enjoying spinning with this! I'm not sure if it's the fiber or the fact that I don't have to spend an equal amount of time prepping the fiber before spinning it. This I'm also having to spin up a little thicker because it's already been washed and doesn't have any grease in it to help hold the fibers together. But again, this is certainly something I love!

Last night I went to Michael's softball game and brought along my jaywalkers. The weather was a little chilly (even with me in my sweatshirt) so I thought that it would be a perfect time to get some work in. Also, I need to turn the heel on the second Hedera and I'm not confident enough in my skills yet to not keep referencing a pattern. Anyway, I was sitting there, watching Michael and his team warm up when I got recruited to play for another team on another field cuz they were short one girl. MAN I forgot how much I used to love playing softball. They said that they could probably use me every week so I'm thinking about doing that! The league runs through early June and then I'm thinking about joining a more local league in the fall (which is August through October)!

I made some good progress on the Jaywalkers last night while watching the X-files we received from netflix:
Since we're discussing socks, here is the progress of my second Hedera. And I really don't think I've got second sock syndrome with this. I've just been obsessed with other projects lately....
For example, here is the progress I've made on my shawl. And those of you who look close enough will notice that the pattern is not at all what I decided on in the last post.I was having such a hard time working out the way that it was supposed to look that I just gave up on it and found that I really liked the pattern on page 68 called 'A knitted veil in Pyrenees wool.' I like the fact that I don't have to think too much with it and should be able to have a nice end product. Don't get me wrong there is some necessary concentration when knitting the pattern, but it's not like I took several pieces of other patterns and tried to make them fit!

And last, but certainly not least, I treated myself to a visit to the yarn store in celebration of my recent employment! I got two skeins of tofutsies because they are quite cute and something I haven't knit with before. I was only going to buy two skeins of sock yarn, but then I spotted an older yarn harlot book and snatched it up!
This picture shows more accurately the peachy shades in the skein on the left.
Now I know that they are very similar in shades and colors, but they were really the only ones that I saw that I liked! Oh well, I'm quite certain that I won't be knitting them back to back. I really think that I'm going to just be knitting these in a simple ribbing or striping pattern as something that I can use to keep my hands busy when I can't fully concentrate on a pattern.

Also, I haven't done any more work on the two sweaters. I'm really contemplating ripping back the neck shaping on the front of the cardigan and making into something more 'me.' And I'm not too worried about finishing Rachel's sweater in time. I've just got the sleeves left and seaming, that shouldn't take too long with the way it's shaped and pattern for the sleeves.

Cute little sprouts!

A couple of my cute little seedlings sprouted over the weekend. I took this picture of them on Monday and they haven't changed much since.
Also, I finished both sleeves for the cardigan and have started adding buttons to one of the front panels.
I think I've forgotten to mention a couple of things on this blog. I have signed up for Anne's spinning club: The Wooly Wonka Fibers Spinning Club. Every couple of months Anne sends out 4 oz. of fiber along with directions on how to spin it up and a pattern that she wrote for the project. I think the first batch of fiber will be sent out around May 15 and Anne has told us that it will be rambouillet. I'm really excited for this because there will be a few non-wool fibers and I have yet to spin up anything but wool.

Today I plan to spin up some more of that variegated merino I bought a while back. I spun some on Tuesday night and realized that I'd forgotten how meditative it really is. I'm thinking I should really make more of an effort to spin at least 2 or 3 times a week. Also, I don't want this fiber to look like some extremely variegated yarn that was poorly matched or plied. I was thinking that it won't really look good plied with any other yarn, even an undied yarn. So I've decided to try my hand at navajo plying for this. First I have to finish up a good sized bobbin and then I'll post my efforts on the new plying technique.

Since I finished my shawl my fingers have been itching to get started on a new, more challenging project (the stockinette cardigan is pretty hum drum). Jenna's lace hoodie really moved me, so I think that will be my next large project. I just have to track down the pattern. I'm pretty sure that it's only in the Rebecca magazine, issue number 32. Well issue 33 is out now so I would have to special order it from most places.

Also, I've really been craving some sock knitting but my jaywalkers are so dark and heavy.
I want to work with some more spring-y colors. I have some cute green sock weight yarn that I bought from knitpicks quite some time ago.
Also, Val knitted up some cute little summery socks by simply ommiting the cuff and she said you could knit two socks from one skein! I haven't picked out a pattern yet but I'm thinking something kinda lace-y and free... maybe from knitty.com?

Eye Candy Friday

Another delivery came today!
It's the yarn that Maria, Val and I bought for our spring cardigans. Maria's will be in green, Val's in white, and mine in pink. I've already knit up a swatch for gauge and let me tell you, this stuff is awesome! It's 100% cotton from Webs and the swatch came out perfect and has such wonderful drape and minimal curling even in stockinette. I can't wait to cast on for this project! Maria is tweaking the pattern tons to make it fit just the way she wants it to and I was going to as well. But then I did a lot more measuring and got all ready to make some calculations but found that the pattern was perfect as is!

Here, is a picture of 250 yards of that orangey-red merino top I spun up. I think it turned out beautifully! Each strand has some red and some gold in it and overall the skein is pretty even! I took some pictures of the yarn in the daylight but they weren't true to the color, so I snapped this picture as a last resort and it came out perfect!
Happy Friday!