All Boxed In

Well, the fleeces have arrived at Spinderella's. Completely by coincidence, Spinderella has lowered their processing prices a bit and expanded their volume discount to cover the entire order, rather than just individual lots over a certain size. While none of my individual lots exceeded the minimum for the discount, the whole order certainly did.  That was quite a nice surprise.

The stash is now living in a series of cardboard boxes. Tomorrow it gets loaded on a truck and sent off to my new home in Washington state.  The drive to join my stash will take about five days of drive-time, plus I'll spend a day or two in Chicago visiting family before I go.  I have two socks, a scarf and my Kiri shawl (which has another hole in it) as my travel knitting.  I expect that I might get some knitting done while I watch the movers load the truck too.  I really wish I had someone to drive me across the country just so that I could knit all day each of those five days.  Oh well.... I do have a nice supply of books on tape to keep me company and that will just have to suffice.

77.8 Pounds

I spent today organizing and packing up my spinning fleeces. By my reckoning, there are 77.8 pounds of fleece in my garage, divided into 9 boxes.

 It's taken me a while to decide where to send the fleeces for processing, but I think I've finally decided on Spinderella's.  Looks like the turnaround time is about four to eight weeks. That should work out pretty well with the moving in between shipping and receiving.  They're also located relatively close to my new location, which should save on shipping.  Now I just need to print out the order forms, fill out the info and get the boxes over to Mary at the UPS store.

And figure out what I'm going to do with the 50-ish pounds of roving I'm going to get back.  Some of it I'll spin straight into yarn for which I already have ideas for thanks to Lisa Lloyd's book A Fine Fleece. Although I greatly dislike the poorly focused and sometimes poorly lit photos in the book, I do indeed like her cabled sweater patterns a great deal.  I'm also quite curious how long it would take me to spin 1600 yards of a nice 2-ply DK or worsted weight yarn.  I've never measured my handspun in the past.

Now that I have a drum carder, I might just try my hand at blending too.  I've got some lovely alpaca, angora and silk that could be a nice addition to some of the soon-to-be-produced roving or to the already existing Merino roving I have stashed away.

Final Final FLS Update

Sis has received the sweater. She was *very* surprised. She'd been expecting socks!  I'm hoping she wasn't still expecting socks when she saw the size of the box that UPS kindly delivered yesterday.  The report is that the sweater is gorgeous and fits perfectly.  It's good to know that I guessed the sleeve length well. Sis is three inches taller than me, so has longer arms.  I made the sleeves about 1.5 inches too long for me and apparently that's just right.

I told her that since I'd purchased a whole bag of Cascade 220 in Chocolate when we went sweater yarn shopping that I actually have enough yarn to make the February Lady Pullover too.  So far she hasn't replied to that.  Since I've already started the pullover, I'll pick it back up when I get done with the Sea Serpentine Socks.

Speaking of Sea Serpentine.... ripped them back out to the end of the toe shaping again and began working the smallest size.  The foot was just coming out a tiny bit too large at the medium size (after ripping out the large size).  I'm tempted with this yarn (Hacho) to go up to a size 3 needle. The fabric right now is a bit dense.  Will have to consider that for the next pair with Hacho.

Since I now have an official signed/accepted job offer, I have gone ahead and ordered my yarn for the Evenstar Shawl.  I decided on Blue Moon Fiber Arts Silk Thread II in Winter Solstice, just like the designer used.  I love the glowing silver grey color.  The second clue of the shawl just came out so I'm just a tiny bit behind. Perhaps the yarn will arrive late next week and I'll think about getting started.  I'm also going to sign up for the whole Lord of the Rings mystery pattern series.  The previews she's given look gorgeous!!

Final FLS Update!

After making the sleeves longer, I spent an hour this morning making the sleeves back to their original length and sewing on the buttons.  Of course, I failed to take any photos at all before packaging up the sweater and shipping it off to my sister.  The good news is that it will arrive on Friday and her birthday is Saturday.  I told her I was shipping her a quart of ice cream in a plain cardboard box.  She's very excited to be expecting a sticky, leaky box of goo.

Of course, I completely forgot to get her a birthday card. DOH!

Now I'll have to work on the blue Serpentine Socks and see how far I can get between now and the Olympic Closing Ceremonies on Sunday.

February Lady Sweater Finished, But....

I think the sleeves are going to be too long.  And they have a decided tendency to stretch out even longer while wearing them.  So after re-knitting the first sleeve last night to make it a bit longer, I will now be ripping out the cuffs plus an inch of actual sleeve in order to re-knit the cuffs at the original sleeve length.  On the other hand, I think the armscye depth thing will be ok, so that's good.

I picked up some buttons on the way home from work that I think will work ok. I'm not 100% certain about them being exactly right, but I think they'll do for now. Sis is perfectly capable of replacing the buttons if she chooses to do so.

Overall, I think I'm pleased with the sweater design though I'm not terribly pleased with the hand of the fabric. It's a bit limp and stretchy for my tastes though I did meet the gauge that the pattern requested.  If I make another one, I'll go down a needle size or two with this particular yarn (Cascade 220) to get a firmer hand.  I'll give Sis an option to have a less stretchy sweater if she's not so keen on the hand of her birthday present too. (If I do re-knit, I'll carry the raglan increases down a bit further too so as to avoid the armpit tightness concern I had.)

Knitting Pics At Last!

After agonizing over the February Lady Sweater and whether or not it will fit properly*, I decided to go ahead and finish it.  I'm just a few inches from finishing the second sleeve.  It seems like it's been like that for the past few nights of knitting.  Perhaps today I'll get it done and then I can get it blocked, wrapped and shipped to my sister.  Her birthday is next Saturday, so the package needs to be in the mail on Wednesday.

*I suspect that the armscye may not be deep enough to be comfortable.  The only way to fix this, however, is to rip back the entire body and sleeves and knit the yoke deeper.  I'm ok with doing that, just wanted to give the directions as written a try first. Perhaps it's just me agonizing and overthinking things too much.  It may fit my sister just fine too. She's smaller through the arms and chest than I am.  If it doesn't fit, I'll have her ship it back to me and I'll re-knit it. I think I can solve the problem by carrying the raglan increases to the end of the garter stitch yoke.

Also on the needles are the Crabby Socks for me.  I'm nearly to the gusset on the first sock.

I started another pair of Serpentine Socks for my sister for my Knitting Olympics project.  I don't think I'll get them done before the closing ceremonies. Not with the final push for finishing Sis's sweater.  The yarn is Mirasol Hacho in the color Deep Blue Ocean.  It's a bit heftier than STR Mediumweight so I'm making a smaller size than for the Crabby Socks.  It's a nice squishy yarn though.  Should be comfy on the feet. Hopefully it won't be too thick for Sis' work shoes.

More February Lady Sweater! (Still No Pics)

It's really hard to take a picture of a one-armed sweater when you're wearing it.  I'm just not coordinated enough to hold out one arm while taking a photo with the other. At least not unless I'm hoping to take a photo of the wall or ceiling.  Yes, I could have just lay the sweater on the floor for the photo, but that isn't half the fun or challenge of taking action photos. :o)

Anyway, the February Lady Sweater for my Sis now has one completed sleeve.  That leaves me with approximately 15 days to finish sleeve number two, which is completely doable.  And find buttons, which may be a bit trickier. Finding buttons for things I wear is hard enough. Finding buttons for something for someone else to wear is harder.  I'm tempted to not put buttons on it and let Sis pick out and sew on her own. She's got a whole lot more choices for button shopping than I do.

I am pretty certain that the sweater is still a surprise.  Last week, when I was agonizing over what airplane knitting to pack, she did mention that I could always knit her more socks. (It was really cute because she specifically said she didn't mean to be pushy and I had just mentioned re-discovering the sock yarn she purchased just after Christmas.)  I did mention that I couldn't work on her socks just yet because I had one project in the queue ahead of them, but that I'd get to them very soon.  I made no mention at all of the sweater.  I think we're good.

Now I just need to figure out if a) I have enough yarn left to make the February Fitted Pullover too and b) if I'll make it for her or for me! I should have enough yarn for the 3/4 length sleeve version. The long-sleeve version might be a bit dicey.  She might wear the 3/4 length sleeve version once she tries it on.  If she doesn't, I may just have to claim it as my own.


New Job Prospects
I've got a decent chance of getting a new job in the next few weeks.  If things go well, I'll be moving most of the way across the country, which means packing up the stash.  I'm giving serious consideration to sending most of the fleeces off to be processed before the move and then have them shipped to my new address after they've been turned into roving.  That would greatly diminish the volume of stuff to pack in the fiber room.  It would also do wonders toward getting me to actually DO SOMETHING with the multitude of fleeces.  Let's face it, I've not managed to process a single one yet and some of them I've had for probably seven years.

The other cool thing about my potential new job is that the dress code is more relaxed.  Of course what's odd about that is that I suddenly feel the urge to knit a bunch of nice sweaters (cardis, jackets) so that I can dress nicely and professionally.  Making a point of knitting a little bit each day, I've figured out that I can actually accomplish larger projects, like sweaters.  I used to think they took far too long (1-2 years), but now I can see that isn't the case.  Heck, the February Lady Sweater is just one sleeve shy of completion and I only started it a month ago.  If I work on worsted weight projects that are mostly seamless, I should be able to manage 4-6 sweaters in a year without giving up my sock knitting or the occasional shawl project.

Speaking of shawl projects....I've promised myself that I can buy the two skeins of Silk Thread II for the Evenstar Shawl just as soon as I get an official job offer.  Hopefully things will progress fairly quickly on the job front since the KAL starts on the 12th and I don't want to end up hopelessly behind.

February Lady Sweater Update

I have finished the body of the sweater and am progressing on to the sleeves. I'm a bit worried that the sleeves might be too wide, but it's a bit hard to tell for certain until I knit them a couple of inches. I'll definitely be decreasing to the wrist, which isn't in the pattern, but we'll get it sorted out. I'm tempted to use short-row shaping at the top of the sleeve, but haven't really thought that through yet. I'll probably try it as written and then work on modifying it. Seems simpler that way, don't you think?

So far I'm on my fourth skein of yarn.  I'm not sure I'll have enough leftover to actually knit the Fitted February Pullover as a companion piece for my Sis's birthday sweater.  I'll know for sure after the sleeves are done.

Evenstar KAL
I've signed up for the Evenstar KAL with Susan Pandorf. I have, so far, managed to refrain from purchasing two skeins of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Silk Thread 2 in the colorway Winter Solstice. This is the yarn Susan is using for her shawl. It is BEAUTIFUL! It's a glowing silver gray color and is just perfect for something titled Evenstar.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a happy bunch of holidays, whichever ones you celebrate.  My sister loved her new Crabby Socks (shown here being displayed by my nephew).  My niece loves to steal my sister's socks, but this pair are way too large for niece to wear. Niece did, however, ask if I could knit her socks and also if I could teach her to knit.  I promised her knitting needles and knitting lessons for her birthday.

Sis and I hit Wool and Company in Geneva, IL on a day we got to hang out without kids.  She bought yarn for me to knit her FOUR more pair of socks and I bought the yarn for her February Lady Sweater.  I inadvertently bought enough Cascade 200 to knit both the pullover and cardigan versions, so I think I'll knit her both.  I initially cast on for the pullover, but then she said she was leaning toward liking the cardi better so I started the cardigan last night.  I should be able to get one of them done by the end of February for her birthday.

As presents, I received The Opinionated Knitter by EZ and Sock Innovation by Cookie A.  I really like the chattiness of EZ's newsletters.  I am thrilled by the extensive and detailed explanation of designing that Cookie wrote.  It helped solidify some ideas I've had about writing patterns and gave me some insight into a different way of thinking about designs.

On the knitting front, I added a couple inches to the default Yarn Harlot One-Row Scarf that's become my  mindless travel knitting.  I also managed to finish my Blueberry Sweater. Well, finish it except for the weaving of the underarms.  I'm happy that it's done, but I'm not as happy with the overall sweater as I'd like to be.  For starters, I think the arms might be an inch too short (which may or may not be fixable with blocking).  The other issue has to do with the shoulder "seams".  They stick out too much, giving the shape of the sweater an 80s big shoulderpad look that I really don't like.  Of course I have already sewn in the ends before I really thought about the fit and shape.  I think I was just so pleased to have actually finished an adult-sized sweater that I wasn't thinking clearly.  Now I'm putting off the underarm weaving until I decide what I want to do (if anything) about the sleeves and shoulders.  I've got plenty of yarn left (5+ skeins) so making the sleeves longer is definitely an option.

Future Knitting Plans:
I've had a blast with the new Strauch ball winder that Boy gave me for Christmas.  Being a wise Boy, he correctly deduced that buying me a handy tool like the ball winder might facilitate the production of more Foot Hugs for his feet.  He actually ordered the ball winder from Otto Strauch himself and it arrived on my doorstep just two days later!  I did spend the first weekend after its arrival winding a bunch of sock yarn, so Boy might be right about that Foot Hug production connection....

Despite finishing several items in the past few weeks, I'm not experiencing any knitting slump.  Quite the opposite, actually.  Once I get Sis' February Sweaters finished, I'm not sure what I'll focus on.  Several of my family members have now mentioned getting socks again, so I suppose it's time for round two of socks for them.  The last time I knit everybody socks was probably 7 or 8 years ago, so I can't really disagree with them.  I still have two shawls in progress too (Errold's Grove and the Fall 2009 Goddess Mystery Shawl) and the Tri-Cities Socks.  Maybe I can knit two rows of the Goddess Knits Mystery Shawl a day, then work on the February Sweater....  At least my knitting energies are focused on getting projects finished, rather than starting new ones. :-)

Bad Computer, No Biscuit

I had some lovely photos of my finished Serpentine sock uploaded on my laptop Sunday. Apparently a power surge yesterday caused my laptop's brand new hard drive to lose its mind.  I think I deleted photos from the camera so I'll have to remember to take another pic.  Even worse is that I lost the before picture to my French Press Slippers.  The unfelted slipper was about 2 feet long.  The felted slipper fits a size 9 woman's foot quite nicely, albeit a bit loosely about the top opening. I love to document the huge differences between before and after with felted items.

French Press Slippers
These were a lot of fun to make.  I'd been enamored of them before the Yarn Harlot fell under their spell.  (They remind me of the ballet slipper-like house shoes my paternal grandmother used to wear.) Having had a not-so-fun day on that particular day, I used them as a spot of personal retail therapy. I used some stashed Plymouth Galway in navy for them.  I didn't whip out the pair in 90 minutes, but I did get them knit in perhaps 3-4 hours total knitting time.  I have neither put the straps on them nor purchased buttons. There's no telling how long that will take.

Crabby Socks!
I have started sock number 2 for my sister.  I foresee no reason I can't get these finished by Christmas.  I might not even have to work on them in front of her and pretend that they're mine. (She's used to seeing me constantly knit.)  I don't think I'll manage to get my pair finished, though I should be able to make a dent in getting them started. 

I think I have the hang of the magic cast on for toe up socks.  I had to look it up again for this one, but I think I've got it stored in my brain now.  The slip stitch goes on the top needle and the yarn goes round the needles from under/outside. 

The Russian cast off that Wendy describes in her book seems to be a winner in terms of stretchability and simplicity.  I like having an option I can use in case I don't ahve a yarn needle (making the sewn cast off impossible).  It doesn't always happen, but sometimes I don't always have extra tools available and I'd hate to get stuck with no way to proceed.

Pictures of all this stuff coming soon!!!

A Brief Update

A deceased hard drive in my laptop has rather cut into my blogging lately. It's just not as much fun to sit at the desktop computer in the computer room to blog when compared to sitting in the comfy chair with the laptop  while watching old movies.

On the other hand, I have gotten more knitting done....
The Socktoberfest socks are complete. They're a bit larger in circumference than I'd like but a trip through the washing machine this weekend helped that immensely.  From here on out, they'll primarily be handwashed.

I had a sincere go at the Fall 2009 Mystery Shawl and promptly made a mistake about three rows into it.  I'm in the process of tinking back.  I need to figure out where to put markers in it. There are some motif repeats, but nothing really sticks out as a Place Marker Here spot.  Once I get that done, I think progress will pick up dramatically.

The Tri-Cities Sock is past the heel and gusset shaping.  I don't remember where on the foot I am.  This is back to being a 4-5 row repeat so works pretty quickly.  I won't get both socks done by the end of the year but I might get them done by the end of January.

Taking precedence in the knitting queue is a new project: The Crabby McHappypants socks for my sister and me.  The yarn is Socks That Rock Mediumweight in the Crabby McHappypants colorway (corals and blues).  The whole idea came about when my sister commented that she was named  "Assy Jackass McSmartypants" at work one day for being a Smartass/Smartypants.  Later that week I stumbled upon the Crabby McCrabbypants and Crabby McHappypants yarns.  Since we've both been called Crabbypants before too, we thought Crabby yarn was a must have.  Both of us liked the colors in the Crabby McHappypants better than the Crabby McCrabbypants, even if we do like the latter name a whole lot more.

Now I need to knit at least one pair of socks between now and Christmas.  I'm not sure I can get it done.  I've got a lot of baking and some shopping/shipping to get done too. Ideally I'd like to get both pair finished, but I think that's definitely out of the question.

The pattern I've chosen is Serpentine Socks from Wendy Johnson's new book Socks From the Toe Up.  This is my first foray into toe-up socks.  It took a bit of extra research to figure out Judy's Magic Cast-On, but once I got past that, I figured things out quickly enough.  It was really fun to learn a new technique too.
 
The only thing I need to keep tabs on now is what numbers I use for cast on stitches, length to gusset/heel shaping, etc.  It's not going to be difficult to do, unless I start getting top-down and toe-up numbers switched around.   In hopes of preventing that, I'm putting an old index card box to good use and creating an index card for each of my sock victims recipients.  The front of the card will hold the relevant measurements while the back will hold the information about the actua socks I've knit for them.  Ideallly this would be kept on the computer, but a hard copy card system should work well enough for now.  I'll build a real database later if I get bored.

Update: I have finished the first of the Serpentine Socks. I'm totally sold on the toe-up method though I still prefer DPNs over 2 circulars.  I hate having to push the stitches over the join to get them to the needle tip. It feels like it slows my knitting immensely.

Long Time No Report....

I still haven't purchased yarn for my sister's February Lady Sweater Pullover.  I'd still like to knit it for her (February) birthday.  Perhaps that will be my bit of Thanksgiving shopping this year....

I have, however, actually been knitting.  I am halfway through the 2nd sock from Socktoberfest.

I'm halfway through the first sock of my Tri-Cities Socks (aka Pittsworth by Spilly Jane).

The Fall 2009 Mystery Shawl is still stuck in Clue #1.  I went through a period where I screwed up every row I knit, so I put it aside for a while.  Once I finish my socks I'll pick it back up.

 Darning Pile
Not long ago, Yarn Harlot talked about her experience with Shoemaker Syndrome (or Cobbler Syndrome).  She observed that while she knits socks all the time, she tends to knit them for other people rather than herself and that her socks all tend to be of a similar vintage so they wear out at about the same time.  I have the same problem.

This is my pile of socks that need their heels darned. 

It's only four pair.  I've been trying to remember how old they are and, as near as I can tell, it's been five to eight years since these were knit.  I can't say that I'm terribly upset or surprised that the heels might have small thin spots by this point. On the other hand, I dislike darning socks, not to mention that there is only so much darning that a given sock can take, so I should probably start planning to crank out a stack of replacement socks for myself. Fortunately I have somewhere around 185 sock patterns stored on my computer (plus the hardcopy patterns on my bookshelf) and sufficient sock yarn in my stash to knit 30-ish pair of socks.  I think I'll be in good shape sock-wise before too long.

After I discovered the first pair of socks which needed darning, I when through the rest of my socks to check for others that needed repair.  I also grouped them all by color, just to see if there was a trend or pattern. Surprisingly there really isn't. The most common color is various shades of red. I have no handknit socks in the following colors: black, tan, white or yellow.  I could really use a pair of socks that is dark green (and of course I have no dark green yarn in the sock stash).  The closest match to my dark green sweater I could find today was a pair of socks that is lime green and purple (Lorna's Laces Jungle Stripe). Other than that, I seem to have most colors represented in some way. Mind you, I still have clothes that don't match any existing socks, but if people aren't used to seeing me wear socks that don't entirely match my clothes by now....

I haven't any idea what socks to knit after I get these two pair finished.  Heck, even if I did decide on something (as I'm sure I have done at least twice in the past), I'm sure I'd change my mind before I actually get them started anyway.  At the moment, probably because of the socks I'm currently working on, I'm rather enamored of patterns with twisted stitches. Perhaps something like Pamina or Lohengrin or Magic Mirror.  We'll see what I like when the time comes to actually pick something. :-)

Slight Change in Plans

I came across a pullover version of the February Lady Sweater and sent the link to my sister (she for whom I was going to knit a FLS for her Feb Birthday).  Personally I think the pullover would be more flattering on me and decided that I'll knit myself one soon.  Sis was initially wishy-washy about which she wanted.  I put my foot down and told her to tell me which one she really liked cuz I wasn't going to spend my time knitting her something that held no magic for her.  She laughed and said pullover.

Finally, Procrastination pays off!  I hadn't even purchased the yarn yet, much less cast on the sweater.  w00t!

One KAL frogged

Well, Crenellation is no more.  I got to a point where I couldn't get the chart to work for me and I couldn't figure out where I went wrong.  I also wasn't as enamored of the pattern as I had hoped I would be and wasn't terribly thrilled about the prospect of knitting the 2nd sock of the pair.  So I frogged it.

On the other hand, the loss of Crenellation leaves me with more time for the Fall Mystery Shawl and the Socktoberfest Mystery Sock.  The fourth clue for Socktoberfest comes out on Thursday morning.  I don't know if it'll be the foot and toe or just the foot.  I still haven't finished the first clue for the Fall Mystery Shawl (Clue 3 comes out on Saturday).

Sock KAL Progress! (Now with picture!)

I've gotten to the end of Clue #2 on the Through the Loops Socktoberfest sock.  Stayed up past my bedtime tonight to do it, but I think it was worth it.  I'll post a picture tomorrow.  I'm too tired to mess with it now. (Update: Pic posted.)

Next up: get caught up on the Solid Socks KAL (aka Crenellation).  I still haven't done more than a row or two on the first clue and I think the second clue might have come out this past weekend.  (I really need to put the clue schedules on a calendar or I'm going to get completely confused/lost.  I already thought the MMario MMystery started in November instead of January 2010.  Oops.)

I did start casting on for the Fall Mystery Shawl 2009 (FMS09) from Goddess Knits.  But then I got sidetracked by watching Castle on Hulu and needed to work on something less brain-intensive.  As soon as I get Crenellation up to speed I'll get cracking on the shawl.  The news on the FMS09 is that we're knitting a stole from each end, so each clue will need to be done twice and then the two halves are grafted together.  Some of the KAL participants aren't very happy about that since they don't like grafting.  I don't like it much either, but it's not going to stop me.  I'll just have to practice my grafting before I finish the shawl.  I'm absolutely NOT going to let grafting get between me and a lovely lace stole.

Let's Not Do That Again

I just hand wound a 1300 yard ball of lace weight yarn. It was supposed to be a center-pull ball, but apparently the yarn is sticking to itself a wee bit too much for that to work.  I will have to finally get myself a ball winder.  I've been meaning to buy one for some time, just never quite got around to it. (There's a 3300 yard skein of cobweb weight merino in my stash that has been languishing for about 5 years until I obtained a ball winder.)  It'll be a Strauch ball winder.  They make a good quality product that's well-built.  I've been very happy with the drum carder I have from Strauch, so I might as well own their ball winder too. 

The yarn I was winding is for the Goddess Knits Fall Mystery Shawl 2009.  I'm using Penny Rose's Carrie (80% merino, 20% silk) in gold.  It's a gorgeous warm butter yellow.  I expect it'll make the shawl feel that much warmer.  Clue number one came out today.  I expect I'll finish it in about twice the time the knitalong is scheduled to take, but that's just an estimate.



Sock KALs....
I thought I had Clue #2 of the Through the Loops Socktoberfest Sock finished, but when looking at the photos of other people's socks realized that I completely skipped the part of the instructions that said "repeat these rows 5 times".  Oopsies.  On the other hand, this means the sock length will be much more to my liking.

The Solid Sock group's Mystery sock has been cast on, but that's all the further it's gotten.  I'll have to check when Clue #2 on that one comes out.

And now I'm going to work on the TtL Socktoberfest while I watch Hulu and let the lace yarn sit and think about its poor behavior earlier today....

Ta Daaaaaaa!

I have completed Sis' Striped Socks.  All three of them.  Why have just two socks that don't match when you can have three?!

Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in Lobster Pinch (the red/pink) and Apricot Smoothie, purchased at Haus of Yarn.

Pattern: My basic sock top-down pattern knit over 64 stitches. K2, P2 rib for the cuff and instep.

Needles: Size 2 dpns.

I'll get these in the mail tomorrow or Friday, along with a t-shirt that reads "Will trade sister for candy".  Long ago, she probably would have too, except that I used to just give her all the Halloween candy I didn't like, which was most of it.  I'm the only person I've ever met that would have to dump out the previous year's Halloween candy in order to go Trick-or-Treating.

That reminds me, it's time to go buy another bag of Mary Janes..... (It's an amusing coincidence that the wrappers kinda match the socks!!)

Chemo Cap Done!

The chemo cap is finished!  It is currently tumbling around in the dryer after having a bit of a wash.

Speaking of Wash....
I talked to Boy a bit this evening. While we chatted, I happened to be browsing sock patterns on Ravelry and somehow managed to stumble across Wash's Sweater.  I mentioned Wash's Sweater, since Boy is a fan of Firefly.  He immediately Googled it and said that he had decided that he was going to start wearing sweaters in the winter again.  And that he would wear a sweater like that if someone happened to knit it in a size that would fit him.  When I asked if that was a roundabout way of asking me to knit him a sweater he said "maaaaaaybe".  I told him that I would consider knitting him a sweater but only if he picked out the yarn so that the color and degree of softness would suit him.  I also pointed out that an adult-sized sweater often takes me a couple years to finish.  He said it wasn't a rush and that I should knit the other stuff on my list of things to knit first.  (He's obviously not seen my Ravelry queue--there are over 300 items listed there now.)  Maybe, if the yarn has been chosen by that time, I'll cast on after the first of the year....

New Sock KAL

Since it was a depressingly chilly and dreary weekend, I decided to cheer myself up by joining the Socktoberfest 2009 KAL sponsored by Through the Loops.  This is the yarn I'm using for it. It's one of the three skeins of hand-painted sock yarn I purchased at the Fine Line Creative Arts Center in July 2009.  The yarn line is called Riot of Colors.  I hope I can get more of that next time I stop by the shop.

And, since I was still a bit mopey, I also cast on Crenellation, which is the October / November Solid Sock Group mystery knit.  Of course, I'm not actually using a solid color yarn (I'm using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in a multi-color blue colorway.)  I think it'll still turn out fine and I'll knit the next Solid Sock pattern out of a solid color to appease any irritated sock knitting spirits.


In addition to starting two new socks, I got all the way to the toe shaping of Sis' Striped Sock #3, added a couple inches to the body of the Blueberry Sweater, ordered the yarn for the Goddess Knits Fall Mystery Shawl 2009 and darned holes in a pair of existing socks (two more pair to go).  All in all, it was a fairly productive weekend, knitting-wise. If the weather remains damp and dreary the rest of the week, I might get a lot of knitting done in the evenings too!

Whatever Happened to Travel Knitting?

Had a 2 1/2 day trip to Nashville. Got very little knitting done.  For starters, I was the driver to/from Nashville (which is totally fine).  I also discovered that Pittsworth is one of those patterns to which you need to pay attention when you knit.  Each round is short enough that I don't really memorize a row/round repeat (only two repeats per row) and the vertical repeat is 49 rows long.  On the other hand, I do still like the pattern a lot for this yarn.  Anyway, it used to be that I got a LOT of knitting done on trips because I'd just hang out in my hotel room at night and knit.  I was in my room at night, but not much knitting got done, mostly because I was either talking on the phone or too braindead to follow a fairly complex pattern.  Next time I'll bring a less complicated project....

Socktoberfest!
I didn't mean to, but I stumbled across the Through the Loops Socktoberfest KAL.  I even cast on the sock last night, though I have since decided to switch yarns.  I wasn't sure that the ShibuiKnits Sock yarn had sufficient yardage to finish the socks and didn't' want to risk running out.  I'll cast on with the winning yarn momentarily.  I've decided to go with an autumn colored handpaint yarn called Riot of Colors that I purchased at the Fine Line Creative Arts Center in St. Charles, IL.  It was dyed by one of the students in a dyeing class.  I thought the autumn colors would be suitable for something called Socktoberfest, even if the pattern itself isn't really fall-like.  It's still gorgeous yarn.


Chemo Cap
I expect to finish the chemo cap this weekend.  I'm past the patterned section and only need to do the decreases at the top of the hat.  I haven't read that part of the pattern very closely, but surely I could manage to finish that in a couple hours of TV time.  It'll be good to get it finished and on its way to its recipient.


Holiday Knitting
I'm still planning to knit my sister a February Lady Sweater for either Christmas or her birthday (late February).  I still haven't purchased the yarn for that.  I'd like to finish the Critterknits for niece and nephew that I started last winter.  I still owe niece a hat and some mittens. (At least, I don't think I finished the mittens.)  I still owe nephew a hat and scarf.  One of these days I'll knit them sweaters too.  Also on the holiday list for 2009 are some dishcloths.


Boy Socks Received!
Speaking of gift knitting....Boy received his socks on Wednesday.  I told him they probably should be washed before wearing and explained the recommended washing process.  He said he's wash them over the weekend and wear them next week.  His resolve lasted less than 10 minutes.  He wore the socks to work on Thursday and he said they fit marvelously all day long.  I allowed as how I could be talked into knitting him more socks if he asked me to and if he picked out the colors for me.  He said he'd be happy to supply me with a list.

Chemo Cap Snafu

Remember a while back when I said I was going to knit the Santa Cruz cap?  Then I changed to Interlude and finally decided on the Snowdrop Beret?  I got a whole pattern repeat of Snowdrop done last weekend.  Didn't have much knitting time this week, at least not much knitting time for knitting that required any sort of brain function. It's very much been a K2, P2 or garter stitch kind of week, mentally.  Here's proof of that:

One night this past week I decided I'd work a couple rounds of the Chemo Cap just to be making progress on it.  So I did.  I got up to Round 13, which requires a cable needle that I'd put away, so I set the cap aside until today.  Today I knit three or four more rounds and finished the pattern repeat.  When I sat back to admire my work, I realized what was wrong.

I had knit seven rounds FROM THE SANTA CRUZ PATTERN on my Snowdrop Beret .

So I frogged an inch of hat.  Now I'm ensconced in my comfy chair with a mug of hot Sleepytime tea, watching Ben-Hur on TCM.  If I'm lucky, I'll be able to make up the ground I lost.  The recipient of the chemo cap is probably a month into chemo at this point.  I need to get this finished before she a) finishes chemo and b) regrows her hair!!!  This hat needs to get with the program and STOP STRUGGLING TO NOT BE KNIT!!!!!  Bad hat!! No biscuit!!  (On the other hand, I have completely lost my sulky, crabby attitude about this project since it started misbehaving.  I am now completely determined to kick its soft blue butt and show it who is boss!!)

I would just switch over to the Tri-Cities Socks (aka Pittsworth by SpillyJane), but I'm ready to start a 49 round repeat cable pattern.  If I haven't the brain power for Snowdrop, I certainly haven't got enough brain left for Pittsworth.*sigh*

One thing I can say about Spa yarn by Caron.  It holds up well to repeated knitting and frogging.  I'm getting used to the splittiness of it and managing to not split many stitches now.  I'm also using some rather pointy Bry-Flex needles too, which I'm sure helps.