Knitting in pink

Wow, it's been a week since I've last posted! Sorry 'bout that. A lot of things have happened in the last few days, a trip to Cummington for the Mass Sheep and Wool, a wedding and a 30th birthday party. And of course, some knitting and spinning.

I drove up to Cummington on my own with my wheel. I was supposed to meet some friends there and get a part of my wheel replaced. Soon after my arrival there my wheel was fixed and I shopped around. I bought an additional 2 bobbins for my wheel, some pretty spinning batts and some yarn I'd been looking for.

The batts were bought, I believe from Spin-N-Knit Crafts. The first one is a 100% merino for when I dare try spinning merino. The colors are totally off in the picture. The red as shown is actually a deep dark fuschia.

I also bought a 2 oz batt of a merino, silk and camel blend. I thought it be fun to try different things when I get more confident.



I also found something I'd been looking for for a while. Something to knit Gothic Leaf Stole with. I found this huge hank of 1120 yds in these beautiful shades of pink at the Silver Moon Fiber Arts booth.



Memorial Day was a beautiful day. I had the chance to spend my 30th birthday with friends and family. We went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3, had some great food and dessert and had a great time. I received a couple knitting related gifts.

I received the 365 Knitting Stitches a Year perpetual calendar I'd been wanting for the longest time and a gift certificate to Barnes and Nobles that allowed me to go and buy myself the book Lace Style. My husband got me a beautiful bag that I'll use as my knitting bag from now on. I'll have to take pictures so I can show you!

This afternoon I'm going to see the Yarn Harlot in Northampton. I'm really thrilled to get to hear her again. Hopefully I'll remember to bring her latest book and I'll get to have it signed! If you're going to be there and you recognize me, please come visit! I'm planning to get a lot of knitting done while waiting and hopefully I'll be able to finish my second 80's Punk sock.

Pictures of that and my latest new project tomorrow!

Today I came back from the post office with 2 packages.

The first one that I opened was from A Piece of Vermont. All the yarns and rovings from there are hand-dyed by Jessie from What Housework!.

The package contained 2 rovings I ordered on Sunday. The first one is Waltzing Matilda, a 100% BFL roving.

The second one is called Peridot, an Addison "Real Vermonter" Roving in 60% Romney/Corriedale, 30% mohair and 10% alpaca.



The second package that I opened was from my mom. She was in Vancouver a few weeks ago and found this in a yarn store and thought that I would enjoy them. My 30th birthday is in a few days and this makes a wonderful present from my mom! Thank you Mom!



The book is Lucy Neatby's "Cool Socks Warm Feet" and the yarn is On Line in Tropic Color #930. It will make very pretty stockinette socks! : )

I finished spinning the Hello Yarn BFL in Slideshow over the weekend and on Sunday morning I plyed/plied? the two bobbins together.

I wanted to take pictures of the singles but I forgot, so here's a shot of it on the bobbin after plying.

The yarn is mostly red with short areas of color; green and grey mostly. I'm getting better at getting an evenly spun single, although it is far from perfect yet!



This time I got about 240 yds out of 4oz so definitely enough to make something.

I plyed together some of the Aqua and Brown and some of the Slideshow that I had leftover and this is what it looks like:



There's about 16 yds of this gorgeous aqua and red combo. I really love it! I need to find some rovings in those colors and ply them together. That would be really pretty.

Yesterday evening I started working on the Still River Mill Mystery Bump that I got at the Connecticut Wool and Sheep festival. It's got Merino in it (I think) so I was afraid that I would have a hard time at it. But whatever else is with the Merino compensates. The single is very hairy and not very soft. So I'm not sure what I could do with the yarn I'll get from it. Any suggestions? I'm thinking that maybe I should ply it with a solid BFL, that might soften up the yarn and tame the crazy color changes of the Mystery Bump.



I'm really enjoying spinning and am really glad I did get a wheel. Now I'm thinking of buying a wheel I can travel with easily and owning another wheel with bigger bobbins...

Knitting content in a couple of days.

New Acquisitions:

A little knitty Po made by TADworks especially for me:

She's holding 3 balls of yarn and a pair of knitting needles.

Once that I had in my mind that I wanted one of these cute little Pos for myself I contacted Tomoko from TADworks. She was super fast and super helpful. She even made 3 different Pos for me to choose from. And in less than a week I had my own.

My own pair of sock blockers:



I've been wanting a pair of sock blockers for quite a while now. But I didn't want to spend the amount that I've seen most of them go for. Then I found Knitting Haven's. I placed an order for them Thursday or Friday and received them yesterday. I'm really pleased with them. Between them and the model foot I have I should be able to take better pictures of finished socks.

More sock yarn:

Like I need more sock yarn! : )


Fleece Artist Merino Wool in color Vintage

yarn4socks has received a huge order from Fleece Artist full of new colors. Of course I couldn't resist and I had to have at least one!



That's what I had to pick from, so it was quite difficult! : ) All of these will be available later today for purchase.

Knitting:

A finished Punk sock:



A square for my new afghan:



After mentioning it in my goals the other day I had the extreme need to cast on immediately. You should have seen me on the couch. A huge bag full of balls of yarn on one side. My square on my lap. And 6 different balls of yarn still attached to the knitted square on the other side. (I didn't want to cut the yarn until I was really sure I liked it)

I don't know if you can tell, but the lower half of the square was knit as per pattern. With rapid changes of color. The second half was not. I didn't like the fact that the colors changed so rapidly and decided to stick to less color changes. I like it better and will probably do all the other squares like that. Each square is supposed to measure 5" across but I get barely 4.5" with mine. So I'll just have a slightly smaller blanket when I'm done. Or I'll have to make more squares. 1 square out of 96 done.

BTW, what you see at the bottom of the picture are the gazillion ends that I will have to weave in. Another reason while the lesser amount of color changes sounds good to me! : )

Ali from Skeins Her Way is currently having a cool contest over on her blog. So after you read my list of summer knitting goals go and here and participate too! Just make sure you let her know I sent you here. Cause I really want her Fitted Tank pattern : ) Thank you Clothesknit for telling us about this contest!

Summer Knitting Goals:

1. Knit every pattern of the Sockamania KAL and finish each pair
2. Finish my 80's punk socks
3. Knit the other sock to the yarn4socks June sock club
4. Spin and and ply about 4 oz every other week
5. Cast on for my Bluebell Boatneck from Fitted Knits. I'll be using the Cascade 220 I got on the Destash blog a while back.

6. Find 1000yds of fingering weight yarn to start working on the Gothic Leaf Stole
7. Cast on for worsted weight afghan and get at least 10 squares done. I'll be using the yarn I accumulated to make the Ripple afghan. After seeing this pattern from "Handknit Holidays" I changed my mind.

ETA: How could I forget!
8. My Sockapalooza socks too of course! : )

I've been knitting away on my two socks in progress. I've been working mostly on my 80's punk sock but my May Day sock is almost to the heel.

Forgive the poor lighting on the second sock, I don't know why it is so different from the first one. Yesterday I spent some time trying to make a light box to take better pictures. I used what I had on hand but today I need to go and buy a couple things that hopefully will make it much better.

I've been out most of the weekend and so have been able to knit more on the mindless knitting sock then on the one that requires reading a chart. So it's why the Punk sock is much further ahead than the other one. Also the Scout's Swag yarn I'm using for the May Day sock is a lot thinner than the Perchance to Knit I am using for the other one.

Last week I finished plying my Dragonfibers BFL and this is what it looks like now:



I used my homemade lazy kate to ply it and my homemade niddy noddy to skein it and it worked really well. I calculated that I got about 164 yds of yarn out of the 4oz. Of course it is not perfect, it's quite thick and thin but I'm pleased with it. I started spinning some Hello Yarn BFL

.

I split the roving in 2 then each half in 3 parts. So far I've done 2 parts out of the first half. More pictures when I'm done spinning at least the first half!

I was tagged by Nell and Toni for the "7/8 random things about you" meme.

Here are the rules:
Each person tagged gives 7 (or 8 depending on who it's coming from) random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 (or 8) facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven (or eight) others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

Here are my facts:

1. Until just now I still had no clue what a meme really was or what it meant. Definition from here:

"meme n (mëm): A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. From the Greek mimëma, something imitated, from mimeisthai, to imitate.

In Blogspeak, a meme is an idea that is shared and passed from blog to blog, like a question posted in one blog and answered in many other blogs."

2. I once flew 2 seats over from Corky - Chris Burke from "Life Goes On"

3. My favorite ice cream used to be Chocolate Fudge Brownie by Ben & Jerry's but it has been replaced by Godiva's Capuccino with Chocolate Hearts ice cream

4. I married my High School Sweetheart.

5. I've watched every single episode of Bones. It is one of my favorite shows and I hope it goes on forever!

6. One of my favorite painters is Magritte, a painter from Belgium.

7. I went to see the Lord of the Rings Exhibition back in 2004 in 2 out of the original 4 locations. I went to see it in London and then in Boston.

I think I'll stop at 7! : ) And I won't tag anyone, but feel free to tag yourself if you wish.

I saw this on a lot of people's blog. Here's mine:

Mark with bold the things you have knit, with italics the ones you plan to do sometime, and leave the rest.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn (kinda, the closest is Patons Soy Wool Blend)
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Buttonholes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on one or two circulars
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener stitch
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegated yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

What have you learned to do that has marked a definite change in your knitting life?
Learning to knit socks I think. Now I always have something to take with me and to work on instead of getting bored waiting. Also socks are an easy way to learn different techniques that can be practice for a bigger projects, like lace or cables.

Contest

Back in March I participated in a contest over at SweetPea's blog. The winners could win some yarn from Rohrspatz & Wollmeise. I had been drooling over their sock yarn for quite a while so I participated of course. I ended up being a winner and won one set of mini skeins from Wollmeise. That's a sampler of all the colors that they produce. That is over 40 different colors.

I received them yesterday. And let's just say that I was quite impressed. Look at all those colors! Aren't they just beautiful all together like that? I had fun taking pictures this morning and created this mosaic.



I also put them in a set for your enjoyment. You can also see different pictures on SweetPea's blog in her March archives.

I don't know yet what I'll be doing with it but I'm thinking something along the lines of a log cabin squares blanket or something like that.

Spinning

I spun up the Dragon Fibers I received last week and plied it this morning. I waited until this morning because I was waiting to receive this:



My father-in-law made this for me. The lazy kate I received with my wheel didn't work very well and I thought that this kind of kate would work better. My FIL likes to do woodscrafting so I asked him to make one for me. And he finished it last night! Actually, he didn't consider it finished but I convinced him to let me take it so I could try it out... I don't think it's going back to his house!

He also helped make a bigger niddy noddy:



2 x 1/2 inch plastic t-connectors, 4 feet of slightly smaller diameter dowels and some masking tape...
I haven't tried it yet but I'm pretty sure it should work just fine. This niddy noddy should make 72" skeins.

So you want to see the spinning right?



I still have a little bit on one bobbin and about 20 grams left to spin, then we'll know how much I got out of that 4oz of BFL roving. I'm really quite please with my first experience spinning up painted roving and I'm glad I've got much more in the stash!

After knitting 2 repeats of the Sockamania May pattern I had to stop and think. Did I like it or did I not?

This is what the sock looked like. I wasn't sure if the yarn/pattern really worked together and I almost liked better how the stockinette portion of the sole looked. Also, the knitted up sock didn't quite look like the others I'd seen knitted up here. So I just decided to rip back to the toe and start over, in plain stockinette.



I think I like it better. The pink and the neon green spiral around the sock and that looks kinda cool!. The yarn I am using is Perchance to Knit in color Flash. It will be available as yarn4socks' June Artist of the Month starting June 1.

So after frogging the Sockamania May Day pattern I needed to find another yarn that I would think worked better. And this is what I came up with:



The yarn is Scout's Swag in color Run Like Hell. I think that the semi-solid color will work better with the pattern. Even if I can't figure out why my sock didn't look like the others.