All Across the Continent...

...the blogging world is silent. Because all the bloggers are at Rhinebeck! Except me! boo hoo... I am supremely ticked that I have not gotten to go to a single fiber event this year. Oh well. Maybe I'll just pop on over to Ravelry. That'll occupy me for a couple of hours, and the pictures of lovely wool and sweaters will ease my pain. sniff...

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!

Okay, this time it's really not my fault

So here's how it goes: I've been wanting to blog for at least 2 weeks now, and the first few days it was just my forgetfulness that prevented that. But then our internet went haywire, and I haven't been able to post. I go over to Gail's twice a week, but her computer is screwy and won't let me access my account. I'm at my mom's computer at her office right now, where I don't have any pictures. We expect to have internet back by Friday, but I'm going to my dad's on Friday afternoon and won't have time to blog. But never fear. I promise I will post a nice long, picture-laden update sometime next week.

Swatches are Dirty Liars

I finished my redpinkpurple socks this weekend, with quite a lot of yarn left over. But that's okay, cuz I'm gonna use my leftover sock yarn to make doll socks for Peanut to sell at the Christmas craft fair.
But about swatches. Never trust them. I was swatching for Tita's socks, and my tape measure said that I was getting 13 1/2 stitches over 2 inches. The place on my leg where I wanted the sock to start(and Tita's legs are pretty much the same size as mine) was 9 inches around. If the swatch was truthful, that would mean I would need to cast on about 60 stitches.(and I used a calculator) But I knew that couldn't be right because I had just finished a pair of socks in sock-weight yarn with 58 stitches cast on. This yarn is DK.
So I decided to wing it. I cast on 50 stitches and started working in k1p1 rib. I tried it on several times, and it seemed to be working, so I kept going. Apparently I'm a really good guesser. I knit the whole first sock and part of the second sock in less than 2 days.
(as you can see, there's a substantial guage difference.)

This is a doll I made for Thing 1. I know, she doesn't have any pants. I started knitting the top before I decided that I was going to save this and make it a Christmas present, so I'll have to make her a little sweater and some pants.

In other news, the high today was somethig like 80 degrees. I had to put my jacket on when I went outside this morning. You have no idea how happy this makes me. The weather is changing! My favorite time of year is on its way!

I want to knit myself a cardigan or a jacket for cool weather, but I'm not sure exactly what style. I couldn't find a pattern I really liked on the internet, but I think I've got it down to either Tilted Duster from the Fall issue of Interweave Knits, and the Trailblazer Jacket from the September issue of Creative Knitting. But all this said, a jacket for myself is not the highest item on the priority list right now. I really don't want to succumb to IT this Christmas, so I'm going to go ahead and start on my holiday knitting. That means lots of yarn buying, and lots of time, and hopefully a more enjoyable Christmas season(free of frantic last-minute knitting). Comments, I beg of you!!

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.

Saving the World, One Bag at a Time

Hey y'all! Just getting in a post before we leave for the mountains. We're on our way as soon as Mom gets home at noon and we won't be back till Sunday.

My BagBag marathon continues, and I have successfully completed another that doubles as my first mosaic knitting project (I think it's mosaic knitting, I'm not positive. If not then it's my first slip-stitch colorwork project.) That white card is a price tag. By my reasoning, I think I can get $30 for this. (I have, however, given Peanut my permission to lower the prices a little if they're not selling.)
I have also made more doll stuff. These are shawls, and I've made another little bow tote. Thing 1 adores the little bags and has agreed to purchase several as soon as she is no longer broke.
This is a to-be-felted purse/bag type thingie for Thing 1(don't tell). She loves it, but(apparently) has no idea that it's for her. And I inted to keep it that way. I'm taking it with me to the mountains. I'll most likely finish it, which means that I'll most likely end up felting it by hand because the house we're renting doesn't have a washing maching. But I'm okay with hand-felting.
Gail took Thing 1 and I to our not-so-local yarn shop(we have a LYS, but this one is cool too) on Saturday. Gail and Thing 1 are taking knitting lessons there, and I just love going. I got some cool self-striping sock yarn. I will not be taking it to the mountains because I haven't found a suitable pattern yet.
One problem is that the label is written mostly in another language. I'm pretty sure it's German. Maybe something Scandinavian. I know the most important stuff, that it's machine washable and one ball is enough for 2 socks. Anybody recognize this label?
There's some text ab0ve the name that reads "heiB waschbar waschmaschinenfest garantiert filzfrei" I'm pretty sure that says something about machine-washable.

12383 people are ahead of me in line to get into ravelry. I'm still not obsessing.

13375

Thirteen thousand, three hundred and seventy-five people are ahead of me in line. I will not obsess.