Finished Pink Socks

They are done!



The socks were finished at the end of the week and delivered on Sunday.

I am always amazed at how much faster the second sock gets done (once started of course)! I knew exactly what row to start increases (instead of having to try it on a bunch of times), then after working the heel I knew exactly how many repeats to do up the leg before switching to ribbing. Just knowing how long something will last seems to make it easier to get through.

working on second pink sock

I've been working away on this second sock and as you can tell I'm actually almost done. There's about 12 more rows and then the ribbing.




The only problem is I don't like how the ribbing is on the first sock, so I think I'm going to try something different on the second sock and then rework one of them so they match. Hopefully soon you'll see finished socks and I'll be moving on to something else!

finished pink sock

I finished one of the pink socks!

You remember these, right?



Well that one is completely done, and the second one is already past the heel! Update on it soon...

Socks done!

I've been working on a pair of socks for my friend Ericka. Actually, I've been working on two different pairs of socks, but one of them I have to follow a chart, and the other one is just plain knitting - which do you think is almost done?



Hmmm... even the photos give a clue: one has a picture of one lonely sock, the other of two almost done lovely socks. Yeah, that would be the pair:

The little Admiral, aka Tomato

My young son has had two different 'blog' names - I don't know which will end up being his for good, but almost three years old now both still fit.

After finishing a pair of socks for his older sister a week or two ago I looked at some yarn left over from a pair of socks I had made for my husband. I weighed it, compared it to some of my pairs of socks and realized I had *just* enough to make a short pair for me... Yeah, I must not have really wanted them, because as I was starting the toe he declared that he needed socks and those looked good. Now, normally I don't give in to demands like that... but I think he's right. He needed a pair of dress-up socks, and these did look good for his church outfits.



So now Daddy and the Admiral have matching socks. He might even wear them this Sunday if I remember.

I also finished spinning some yarn for a vest for him. At least that's what I hope it will end up being.


It's green. Can you tell? It's also about 8.5 oz and more details you don't care about on my Ravelry page :) I had a goal of 60 oz this year, so I am still on schedule for that... We might discuss the rest of the goals at the end of February....

Back at Christmas my in-laws gave me a gift card to webs, which is just lovely! I ordered some yarn for a sweater for ME and although it was backordered, it arrived this week.


Won't that be nice? I'm thinking it will be a new zipper sweater as my old creme one is pretty pilled.

Catch-up, Yarn and Knitting

Recently my husband saw this project on his RSS ravelry feed and really liked it. Well, thanks to Ravelry I clicked around and found someone who had that yarn and was wanting to sell it.... So a little less than a week later we got this:


...and this...

...in the mail!

I also belong to a barter group on Ravelry and sent off some DVDs I didn't want anymore, but someone else did and sent me this:

some milk fiber


some bamboo


a sock blank (sock yarn that I can dye now)


Some Targhee, which is a breed of wool I haven't tried to spin yet


...and a beautiful batt for me to spin - can't wait to see how this looks!


I've been working on a pair of socks for one of my daughters for almost a month now - and I finally finished them earlier this week!

I started with yarn that matched a tunic I made for her that she loves,


After starting both of them so I could work on them at the same time I had to get both of them through the heel...


Then I just have to keep working on them and trying them on her and working on them some more. This is how you will probably see them normally:


Once it warms up and spring is here though you might see them like this:


The patterning on them matches the tunic, just a little different, and then ribbing on top of course to help keep them up!



After finishing those socks I pulled out some yarn left over from a pair for my husband. I wanted to use at least a bit more of it before sending it to the sock blanket, so I started a pair, and before I could try them on and measure my foot, someone else claimed them.


So, a little boy will have matching socks with his daddy. Right now I am actually finished with the first one and started the toe of the second.

Spinning Again

The blue lace sweater is now sewn together and finished. It looks okay on me, but I either need to find a shirt to go with it, or give up on it and pass it on....

I have finally started spinning again. I was planning to start the fiber I had put next to the wheel sometime this week, but then I realized the tour de fleece starts next saturday. So, friday night I pulled it out for just a few minutes and made sure everything was running smoothly. I haven't spun since we put in new seating, but everything works well together and I have spun for at least a short while every day since then. I never have joined an official team for tour de fleece, but i do tend to spin for it every year so far.

I also started the next pair of socks for my husband. He had some yarn he loved and had started some socks with a new pattern, but it wasn't working, so he handed over the yarn and I'm now making a plain pair of socks with it. It is fun stripey yarn and I'm enjoying working with it. I am almost (within 5 rows?) ready to start the heel, and then i get to start the second sock probably.

Lace - Socks and Sweater

After working on the socks for my husband (with fingering weight yarn), the vest for me (out of dk weight yarn), and the tunic for my daughter (out of fingering weight yarn), it felt really nice to work with some sport weight yarn, especially this sport weight yarn, Knit One, Crochet Too Ambrosia is 70% alpaca, 20% silk, and 10% cashmere.



These socks were knit up so quickly, not only was the yarn a heavier weight than I am used to making socks with, the lace made them even faster!



I actually knit three feet, as the second one I made I realized my gauge had changed too much to have them both match and fit. So I ripped out and went up a needle size for the second sock.



I had bought this yarn several years ago at Webs, and it's been sitting in my stash for a long time, waiting to be made into this exact pair of socks the whole time. It's nice to finally have them in my drawer instead of my bin of yarn and fiber.


At the same time I bought the yarn for the socks I also purchased yarn for a sweater. I finally started that also.



I'm almost done with the sweater and hoping to have it completely done within another week or so. If you look at my queue on ravelry I only have 6 items listed now, the socks and sweater were the items that had been on there the longest, it's nice to feel like I'm finally accomplishing some things that have been on there for years!

Projects and Sheep and Wool

I finished my traveling socks.



Originally this was a top down sock, I didn't bother doing anything to the pattern, so technically it's upside-down, but I don't care - looks good.




I also finished a teddy bear. My husband asked if I'd make one for a co-worker who went back to Japan, who's wife is due this summer sometime.


Kindof cute - now it just needs to be shipped.


So, suddenly, the day before MA sheep and wool, I didn't have any knitting projects. I had a couple spinning ones, but nothing knitting. So I cast on something I've been wanting to do for a while. Using some of the yarn I spun last July I'm making a Rivulet Scarf.



Originally the pattern gives no gauge and uses sport weight with a US6 needle. This gave me such a loopy wide scarf that I ripped out the 10 rows or so I had done and dropped down to a 3. I did about 15 rows and decided it was still too wide. I actually dropped down to a large US1. That's the same needle I just used in those socks I finished. I think I actually hold the yarn and needles differently (looser?) if I know I'm not working on socks, because it still is loose and drape-y but looks like a scarf instead of a wrap now, which is much better.


With apologies for the bad picture, I am also spinning on the wheel...


A friend of mine bought this wool for felting purposes and now, after using some for that, is ready to not have a big bag of wool in her life (or house) so I'm spinning it for her in exchange for probably some house repair advice from her...or something.



A few hours down, many hours left.... but it is fun - as she had no specs in mind for the yarn, so I'm just spinning it the way the wool and wheel want it to work.


I also got my May Yarn Pirate Fiber. This time it's BFL in colorway Zephyr. Pretty. :) I really want to start it right now, but have too many things going on at the moment.




Ok, so the Massachusetts Sheep and Wool was this past Saturday. Since we didn't go to any fiber fairs last year I was really looking forward to it, in fact, I think the whole family was happy about going. We looked through all the barns and stalls and saw the sheep, and then started going back and making purchases.

Curly has been wanting a sweater - most likely a Wallaby with a hood and pocket. I was spinning some yarn recently that she's tried to claim (and I probably will use it for her too) but this bag should be perfect...


especially since it has purple and blue :)


I then went over to the Journey Wheel booth and bought myself a 'real' spindle. I have a big ashford boat anchor from my mom, a spindlyn and a small ebay spindle (which is good, but not very sturdy). I chose a Purpleheart Featherweight. It's only 17 grams (.6oz) and it spins forever!



While buying the purple wool bag I also picked up just one small silk cap from Fantom Farm. I'm spinning it now on the new featherweight and will probably make a small kerchief for Lily with it.


I wish I had grabbed a couple more... oh well.

My husband picked out two projects he'd like to make, both are lacy, both use fingering weight. One will be blue, and one will be green, both from Sliver Moon Farms.


He also decided he wanted to at least try spinning, so when we walked by the Spunky Eclectic Booth he picked up some BFL in a nice green...


...and a little turkish spindle.


He says that if he like spinning it will be his for good and I can buy another one sometime soon - and if he doesn't like it then we made sure that I also like the one he chose. He has dabbled a bit now and seems to enjoy it. So far he's using some of my mill ends white superwash (mostly the pencil roving bits) and he's picking it up pretty quickly...-


We also stopped at The Wheel Thing and got some fun tools. I haven't tried them out yet, but hope to soon



We also sat through a senior (teenagers?) class sheep show that had a variety of breeds and listened to the judging, got to watch one shearing, saw the winning fleece and knits and yarn, and the girls had a chance to weave - they now want to borrow a loom and do some more 'real' (not potholders on a peg loom) weaving...

To finish off the day I ordered a tiny bit of yarn for a vest and helped one of my friends pick out a pattern and yarn for a sweater I'll be making her (she did some sewing for me), so I have a bunch of things I'm working on, and a bunch more planned. Fun Fun Fun!

The Difference Between Cooked Noodles and Pretty Lace

OK, here's an in-progress shot of the shawl, see how it's all lumpy, bumpy... the stitches are pulling together so it's pretty small and looks messy?



That is why we let lace soak and then block it before it dries completely. Usually this is done on a foam board, with big pins and wires...


You stretch it out, pin it in place and then stretch and repin. If you want a soft block you might just stretch it once. If you want a hard block you keep stretching - first one side and then another - lace can usually stretch a LOT. Once you have it how you want it, you just let it dry. When you unpin it and take the wires out it might relax a bit, but it will still hold the shape and be pretty.


Once blocked you can see the empty space that makes lace look so nice.




Isn't it purty? :)



The shawl didn't take all of the handspun yarn, so I wanted to make something else with it. I looked around a bit and found a pattern I liked, and then did something completely different.



Not completely different I guess, but I did change a bunch for this pattern - some details are on my ravelry page.




This Mothers Day was pretty low key, but we did go on a family bike ride, since I got a new bike! I still need to put a child seat on it for the little guy - already ordered. The girls have been riding the past couple weeks to knitting time at the library (1.5 miles one way) while I've been pushing the stroller and walking. In anticipation of my riding too I thought I better get them used to carrying their own books and knitting. So we (they helped choose the colors) used my leftover Lopi and made these two backpacks.


Here's another shot of Lily's. She decided to have me make hers second, so all the bugs would be worked out of the pattern I was adapting.


I still need to sew on big toggles or buttons, but right now I clipped one of my stitch holders there and it worked fine (I just want them back sometime).


One of my birthday presents from my sweet husband was a 3 month membership to Yarn Pirate's fiber club. I got my first shipment a couple weeks ago.

It's called Sweet Pea, and it's already on my little spindle. I broke it into 16 little balls and I'm just working through them one at a time.

I'm also working on some Superwash I had ordered a while ago from The Loopy Ewe that I'm spinning up using my Spindlyn. Aside from those two spinning projects I'm down to one knit project currently.

That one knit project is my socks. I had gotten both of them past the heel (toe-up) and when I counted the cable twists they didn't match. I then compared them and figured and tried to make sense of it - undid the offending one and redid the increases and heel. I then counted - I had undone the wrong one. I then undid the other one and redid the increases and heel and they now match fine.


The other sock is just a pattern or two shorter, but now I can pick up either and just knit on them whenever. I have the four row pattern memorized, and it's very easy to tell which row I'm on. I'm just knitting until I'm a lot closer to running out of yarn (since they are using separate balls of yarn).

I'll keep working on these - but I will be starting another teddy bear and a lace scarf soon!