Episode 6: Return of the Knitter

I'm back from my fabulous Wyoming adventure! We did a lot of snowy stuff, ate a lot of good food, but I know what you're here for is the knitting, so I'll cut to the chase.
These are my first toe-up socks, and also my official Wyoming socks, since I bought the yarn in Wyoming, bought the needles in Wyoming, and knit almost all of them in Wyoming. The needles are DPNs in US sizes 1 and 0, and the yarn is Trekking XXL, color 100. I am in love, completely and utterly.

Since they were toe-up, I could make them as tall as I wanted without fear of running out of yarn. They're about 7 1/2" tall from the top of the heel, and I had a suprising amount left over(no pic here, go check out my Ravelry)

This is part of my Christmas present to myself, bought at the same adoreable yarn shop as the other color...
...and this is the rest of my present. From left to right: Clover Takumi bamboo needles, sizes 9, 11, and 13; Clover Takumi bamboo DPNs, size 1, set of 5; Lantern Moon Rosewood Sox Stix, size 0, set of 5.

I've never trusted tiny wood and bamboo needles, not believing that they would stand up to much pressure. But knew I was going to have to start a pair of socks in my luscuious new yarn, and I didn't have any of the right sizes with me(in Wyoming, I mean. They were at home). The store didn't carry any of the right sizes in metal, so I sucked it up and got some. Turns out that they're fine, and I'm in love.
This was part of my present from Mom, a very wise move on her part. I think my favorite is Mason-Dixon, but I love them all.
This is a to-be-felted bag that I took with me to knit on the trip. It's 95% done, and will stay that way for a bit because I need another ball of yarn.
This is a pair of socks I started last week, with the sacred bamboo needles and that grey yarn above.
They're inspired by the Yarn Harlot's rotating rib socks, but I've personalized them and now they're the Cyclone Socks.
Another thing my mom got me was a spindle kit from Hello Yarn, and I've been practicing. It's a simple top-whorl spindle and 8 oz. of Romney top wool. I couldn't get a pic of my first yarn up(check my Ravelry, it's there) but this is my second yarn. My first was expectedly uneven, but my main problem was that the twist was buliding up in the thin bits and leaving the thick bits all fluffy and unspun. I found in my second yarn that if I kept a smaller amount of fiber in my hand, I didn't get the big lumps so much.
I'm still majorly overtwisting, but I'm working on that as we speak.
Like my cotton pyramid? Not exactly a masterpiece, and Sugar n Cream doesn't hold up as well as stone, but... oh well. Pretty soon I'm going to start a set of handtowels for my family, in these colors. The photo's pretty accurate, and it goes with our bathrooms perfectly. I'll keep you posted.
One lonely ball of black cotton, intended for some wristbands. The design I had in mind didn't work out so well, but I'll think of something else.
Finished Blueregard socks, finally. They're been done for a while, but you know me and my fickle ways...

I'm Baaa-aaack!

Okay, there's been lots of knitting going on, but first, I have to tell you what happened last weekend.

The Small Ones and I were at our dad's house, and we went to this art fair on Saturday, where I met some interesting people. The first was a lady with a booth where she was selling jewelry she had made. I complimented her work, and mentioned how all the little cards the earrings were stuck through had pictures of sheep printed on them. She said that was because she collected sheep. In fact, her daughter owned a yarn shop, but she had collected sheep long before that(I wish I could have seen my face when she said "owns a yarn shop") I said that was really cool, I'm a knitter and I love sheep. She said that her daughter had some patterns published on the internet and I should check them out. She wrote the name of the shop on a card, though she wasn't quite sure how to spell it. It's "Knit Nueveau(noo-vo)" or however you spell the French word for "new"

Second interesting encounter happened shortly afterward, when we found this booth and some ladies who were medieval re-enactors. One of them was spinning on a drop spindle. I already knew sort of how to do it(from reading blogs) and I watched her and she showed me and after a while she let me try it! It was great. I only spun about a yard, but it was really even and she said I did really good for never having spun before in my life. I was riding that high all weekend. I'm going to have to get me a drop spindle real soon.

I realised a while ago that I never showed you guys the yarn I won in Annie's drawing, so here it is:
Ain't it purty? Smells good too. It's Brooks Farm variegated primero, 500 yards, 100% mohair. I adore it, but I can't for the life of me think of what to make with it. But for now I'm content with leaving it on my worktable as a pet skein.
(color sooo not accurate) These are Tita's Christmas socks, in all their glory(well, most of it. I spent five minutes taking this picure again and again, in various lights, and I couldn't get the color anywhere near right) I just might have to steal these. Maybe I could hypnotize her into thinking that she bought this yarn for me out of the goodness of her heart, not because she wanted socks.
This is a dainty little tote I whipped up from one ball of ribbon yarn from the dollar store. That brings be so much joy. My mom even bought the yarn for me, and even if I bought more it would only be a buck-a-ball. I'll probably sell this for $10-$15!
This is a Christmas gift, a clutch purse for my cousin. This is it before felting,
and after. I love felting. I also love how it freaks my mom out.

Tita and I are taking a crochet class at out LYS, and this is the square I made at our first session. It's from the book "200 Crochet Blocks" by Jan Eaton. The whole class, in fact, is on squares from the book. There are 30 block classes offered, one a week. Tita and I are going to 10 of them, on various weeks, in various months(it'll take a while to get through them all) By the way, this is the block called "Lemon Peel"
This is another Christmas gift, a slipper for our nanny. (yes, I know it's gynormous. It's going to be felted)
I FINALLY finished Thing 2's blanket! Yay me! I put so much work into this, I've decided I'm just going to put it away and give it to him at Christmas. He'll forget about it soon enough. Small boys are like that.
This is a Dobby Hat for my friend Wayne, who is the boyfriend of my friend Anna, whom I have also made a Dobby Hat for. He saw hers, and loved it, so I was planning to make him one for Christmas, but then his birthday snuck up on me, so here it is. I can't wait to see his face when I give it to him tomorrow.

So now you've all been suitably caught up, and I'm off to read blogs. Ciao!

How long has it been?

Wow. So sorry I've been gone, I just haven't remembered or haven't had time. But I got goodies to show!

This is the bag for Thing 1 when I was attempting to felt it by hand. It felted some, but it took a long time and didn't get as dense as I wanted. So I waited until we got home from the mountains and felted it in the washing machine.
Thing 1 adores it.

Remember the sock yarn from Germany or something? I love it!!! It makes the most fabulous stripes. It's almost embarrassing how much the changing colors entertained me.
And they're very comfy. And machine washable.
I got some new sock yarn that I'm also thrilled with. Isn't the colorway just gorgeous? This is also mahcine washable. It's 50% superwash wool, 25% Soysilk, 22.5% cotton and 2.5% chittin. Did you know that chittin comes from the shells of shrimp and crabs. That's really cool.
I know this may look like a pile of knitted sausages, but it's really the parts for a doll. All I have left to do is finish the sewing and stuffing, and knit on the head(and make it some clothes) but I'm procrastinating horribly. I really hate this yarn, so it's in my best interest to get it over with ASAP.

This is the makings for a pair of fuzzy dice for Heather's birthday. All I have to do now is felt the black knitted fabric, cut out some circles, and sew it together.

Mom and Tita went on their own vacation the the mountains last weekend, and they brought us goodies back.
A swift and a ball winder for me, Tita, and Thing 1 to use(though it's mostly mine)
This some yarn that's not exactly mine. Tita got it so I could make her some socks with it. I don't get the socks, but she's let me do my favorite part. The box thingy is a little pouch with a grommet on top so you can stick your yarn ball inside and not have to take it out to work on the project.
This is a shawl for a dear friend of ours who has just lost her husband. A warm shawl is like a hug, which is something I reckon she needs a lot of right now.
Can you see the heart?

In other news, I just won 500 yards of free, gorgeous yarn in an online drawing hosted by Annie from AnnieKnits(see sidebar). It should be coming in the mail any day now.

Ciao!

PS: I am number 9018 in line for Ravelry. There are now more people behind me that in front of me. You have no idea how much this gladdens me.

Wing It

Cozy Shawl(aka "Wing It") is finished! This is my first shawl, first lace, and first project in wool, and I've learned a few things:
#1: Wet wool has a mind of its own. It will stretch as far or as little as it wants and there's not much you can do about it.

#2: Thursday is a bad day to block because A, the sink and tub are dirty and B, I can't vaccum with a large piece of knitwear taking up a large piece of the floor in my room.

#3: My bathroom sink has indigestion again and it's not my fault. It's not the shawl's fault either.

#4: Because the shawl(according to the pictures in the pattern) is not really supposed to be blocked, mine is substantialy bigger than the one pictured. It's several inches longer than I am tall. I'm 5'4". You do the math(this is not a bad thing at all. I love the biggness)
#5: Sticking pins in the carpet brings me a bizarre happiness.

#6: I need to get some kind of gridded blocking board so I can block in straight lines more easily.

#7: Lack of a gridded blocking board can sometimes induce a lovely design feature. Example:

I was unable to get one side to go in a straight line, so I pinned it out into a swooping pattern. I'm glad I did.

#8: Lace is not really lace until it's blocked.

#9: Wet wool is incredibly heavy and does not smell very nice.

#10: Dry wool smells very nice(unless it's fresh off the sheep and hasn't had the smell of sheep excrement washed out of it)

(It's wider than it looks here. Some of it is scrunched up at my neck)

In Other Knitting News:
"Dobby Hat," found on a blog. A lovely, quick, easy knit, good for scraps. Contact me for a link to the pattern.
"Calorimetry" from Knitty.com. This is an alternative to a hat that's designed to be buttoned under an updo. But going by the fact that it's long enough to tie under my hair, there's a teensy possibility that I maybe might have had a bit of a guage goof. It's not a terrible mess-up, since I can still use it. I'm going to make one on smaller needles and/or fewer stitches for Thing 1.

I had a gloriously small amount of yarn left over from the shawl, so I didn't save it. I put it in the bag with the other tiny scraps that I'm saving for stuffing toys and stuff. But later I decided to try out hand-felting, so I pulled it out and knitted up a weensy swatch.
I held it under warm running water(running water is not nessecary, I should have just filled the sink) and rubbed it in my hands for about 10 minutes, and this is what I got:
Felt. The process of felting fascinates me, and it kinda freaks my mom out. I can't wait to do a whole project in felt.