Spring Sock

Several weeks ago, Boy and I ventured west to check out the Tulip Festival in Mt. Vernon, WA. We saw huge fields of blooming tulips. Great colorful blocks of blossoms.

During a stop to get dinner, we came across a yarn shop and Boy helped me pick out a souvenirs skein of sock yarn. The color reminded us both of the tulip fields. I happen to also really like a bright sunny yellow but have no yellow socks.  

This is my current international travel project. I've chosen Cookie A's Monkey for the pattern. With any luck, I'll be we'll into the second sock by the end of my trip.

Taking Stock

At the weekly Sunday knitting meet up, I was asked how many unfinished projects I have going.  With the assistance of Ravelry, I have discovered that the total is actually lower than I thought it might be.  Between my hibernating and in progress lists and a few projects hiding in the back of the closet, the total is only 14.

Just prior to the Sunday knitting meet up this past week, I'd actually been considering starting a new project since the current batch of projects haven't been terribly satisfying and I have had to retire two pair of fairly recently knit socks due to large holes.  I had managed to not start a new project by striking a deal wtih myself.  I have to finish at least one existing project before I can start something new.  This should go very well with my plan to knit from my stash (with the exception of my Cookie A Sock Club membership).

So far, I'm working on finishing up the Mexicali Baby Ole sweater that I started for my not-yet born niece.  In 2003.  Needless to say, she's outgrown it by a wee bit by now.  But I'm sure I can find a baby of suitable size, either of my own acquaintance or through the GoodWill store or other charity.  After that, I have two sweaters that only need seaming to be complete.  Time to get over my seaming fears and get them done!

I'm on a roll

Only I think it's a nasty moldy roll and I don't like the direction it's heading....

I started the EZ green sweater a couple months back. Just yesterday I got the body finished so that I could cut the steeks. being rather nervous about the steek business, I made a point of carefully and repeatedly checking the bust measurement before I cut anything. And that's when I discovered that my gauge got tighter as I knit the body of the sweater. It is now over two inches smaller around than intended and now exactly matches my measurements--definitely too small. So I'll be tearing it out and starting over with a larger needle. I was thinking the body could have been longer anyway, so I'm not terribly upset. I figure if I am going to spend all this time knitting a sweater, it's going to be as close to perfect as I can get it. Now I just need to track down a size 7 needle....

Then after that discovery, I found that the Kiri Shawl pattern website has disappeared and i can't find my printed copy. Thank goodness for the Internet Wayback Machine.

On a happier note, I did weave in the ends on my Paraphernalia socks. The socks I knit for my sister were well-received. I also took advantage of the Morehouse Merino kit sale to have a bit of birthday retail therapy--a lace weight cardigan kit is now headed my way. This will be the eventual replacement for a cardi I bought years ago at a secondhand shop and wear very frequently. if the pattern suits me, I envision making several of them in different colors.

Spinning progress....
I finished the yellow/red roving. It may make a nice scarf though it may be a bit scratchy as the mohair is a bit coarse. I am now working on some dark brown Shetland that I am spinning into a sport weight 2-ply. I have some red, orange and yellow oddballs of Shetland that will make nice stripes or pattern in a brown cardi. It is going pretty quickly. Much more quickly than the merino lace weight I had been spinning previously.

Thankfully Spinning

I spent a couple hours at the wheel today.  This is some Border Leicester/Mohair roving from Maple Row Stock Farm.The color is called Autumn Leaves.  I like the orangey red and the golden yellow.  It is quite a warm colorway. (I really need to post a pic too.)

I had started spinning this fiber several years ago and have a small skein of worsted two-ply.  Today's efforts have yielded a fingering weight two-ply.  It might all work well together in a woven scarf.

Other projects underway:
I have started the EZ Green Sweater by Sunday Holm.  My version will be red.  I'm adding waist shaping.  I expect this to become a staple of my work wardrobe.

Still have a Paraphernalia sock on the needles.

Have churned out two bulky ribbed hats for the charity coat box at work. There is also a scarf that served very well as my movie knitting.  I need to cast on a new one since we're headed to see Skyfall this weekend.

Haven't started any socks for my sister for Christmas.  I do have a two week international trip coming up though, so perhaps there will be knitting time then.  The last time I was in Tbilisi, the TV channels were switching over to be mostly overdubbed in Georgian, even when the shows were American.  This makes it a lot less fun to watch movies on the MGM channel.  Unfortunately Netflix and Hulu don't work overseas. Time for loading up the MP3 player with books and to take along a couple DVDs.

22 and 33

I finished putting my stash into Ravelry today.  The last two categories of yarn were lace weight and sock yarn.  I have 22 unknit shawls and 33 pair of unknit socks in my stash.  Now, all of the unknit socks aren't for me.  All of the shawls are, plus I just joined the Goddess Knits Decadently Divine Shawl Club so will have 25 unknit shawls by the end of the year, not counting the three shawls currently on the needles.

At the rate at which my current supply of knitted socks is wearing thing, I need to get cracking on getting some every day socks knit up.  First, I think I'll finish up the socks I've already got started.  Tonight I worked on my Paraphernalia socks. There are two other sock projects needing 1/2 to 1 sock to finish. Should be easy enough to finish up if I stay focused and stop getting side tracked by other abandoned WsIP.

Speaking of WsIP, I did have a go at finishing up a long ago knitted up sweater.  I started the thing in the late 1990s but didn't like seaming and wasn't very good at it, so the sweater has languished.  Now I need to put the sleeves in it, the collar on it and figure out how to sew a zipper into a sweater.  Hopefully that won't take me 12 years.

I decided to knit the WendyKnits Summer Solstice shawl in my handspun. I picked a needle size that is two or three sizes larger than the pattern called for.  I also modified the pattern into more of a scarf, skipping the last clue and casting off early.  The end result is a nice crescent shaped scarf that I will wear this winter.  I got a new coat last winter but hadn't gotten around to getting or making a new scarf.  It turned out quite well.

Summer Startitis

I tried to resist. I really did.

I have fallen for the WendyKnits Summer Solstice KAL.  I am now trying to decide whether to knit it in Araucania sock yarn or in some sport weight handspun merino.  The handspun is a bit heavy for this pattern.  I'd have to go up two needle sizes to get a nice fabric, which would make a much larger shawl that would possibly require downsizing.  I'm just not sure if I want to use the Araucania for this particular project.  The green color does, however, match my winter coat quite nicely and I could use a nice winter scarf....

While I sort out which yarn to use, I am instead chugging away at the EZ 100th Anniversary Pi Shawl, also from WendyKnits.  I'm about to finish Clue 3.  At the start of Clue 4, I will have 576 stitches.

Q2 Knitting Update

I still haven't finished the baby sweater for the co-worker. At this point I think I'll knit the sweater and either donate it or leave it in standby mode for the next time I need a baby gift. 

I didn't bother taking the Paraphernalia socks with me to Georgia on my last trip. Instead, I finished the Spring Forward socks that I worked on while I was there in December. 

I also knit the first sock of my first pair of Monkeys.  I now know that the round trip drive between Tbilisi and Batumi is almost exactly one sock long!

Most of my knitting efforts at home have been directed at my EZ 100 Anniversary Pi shawl.  I'm 2/3 of the way through the third clue.


I had good intentions regarding Knit Night at the local yarn store on Friday. Unfortunately I was still dealing with jetlag a bit.  I fell asleep at 4:30pm and woke up at 8pm. Knit Night was 6-8pm.  Ugh.  Maybe next month....