Knitting in pink

I had a great surprise waiting for me at the post office today, my Sockapalooza socks. A few weeks ago I found out that my pal had sent me a package, which had never seemed to make it to my post office. She kindly offered to send me another pair that she had knit and put together another package together for me. She sent me an awesome package and am not sorry to have had to wait. I would love to link to her blog but my pal doesn't have a blog.

My pal Emily treated me to some awesome cable socks that fit great. They're thicker and taller than the usual sock I make so will be nice and toasty this winter. I bought some boots a few days ago that they will go great with. I guess I'll have to take a picture of that for you!

Enough talking, here are the pictures:

She also sent me lots of goodies:



A candle in a cute little tin box, a little bag of moth repellent, soap from River Soap Company called Eve's Flower that smells like lavender and yummy yarn. The yarn is from left: Zen Yarn Garden Merino/Tencel in Purly Gates and Vesper in Neapolitan. You can click on the picture, as always, to see it bigger. I adore the card she used, I'd love to find out where I can get a hold of them. They're labeled ""Ewe Knits Series", an illustrated glossary of knitting stitches by Heather Hill Studio and Bonnie Magee". If anyone knows, I'd love to know too! : )

Thank you Emily!

Message to my Sockapalooza pal: I've been trying to reach you but I don't think you check your anonymous email. I'm concerned that my pair of socks might have gotten lost in the mail. You said you sent them to me almost 2 weeks ago and they still haven't arrived. Can you contact me with your regular email so that we can see if we can find out what happened? Thank you!

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I've been waiting for something to arrive in the mail to write this post. The last item I was waiting for came in today so now I can!

Here are a few things I ordered in the last couple weeks from etsy.

First I ordered a circular needle wallet from Piddleloop.

I special ordered one to match the project pouch and the zippered case that I already had bought from them.



It came with a few extra goodies; cute pencils, stitch markers, a little notebook and cute little tags.



I also found this cute necklace by Mack Handmade Goods. I thought it would be a fun addition to my jewelry box. I think that all knitters should get one!



Closeup on the pendant here.

Last but not least is this:



What is it you ask? It's a brand new camera strap from here, for my new toy.



It's a Pentax K100D bought after reading about it on Chemgrrl's blog. Using this fancy DSLR required quite an adjustment from my tiny 3 megapixel point and shoot camera, but I'm really enjoying it and I look forward to taking much better pictures with time and practice.

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On the knitting front: I'm 75% done with my second Yarntini sock and should be done within the next couple days. Next up will have to be my first pair of Monkeys for my Monkey Sock Swap pal out of the cuties on the right



The yarn is ShiBuiKnits Sock that we just got in at yarn4socks.

I just heard from my pal that I knit the socks for. She loves them! I'm so thrilled that I was able to knit socks for someone else's feet (it helped that her feet were exactly the same size as mine!). She said they fit even better than socks she knits for herself... I'm really, really happy about it all. I haven't heard anything from the pal that is knitting socks for me, I keep hoping they'll arrive today but I try not to get my hopes up too much. I heard from her at the beginning but never again after that. So I hope everything is alright.ETA: I just heard from her, she just sent them to me! Yay!

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I finished a couple days ago my first Spiralling sock for Sockamania. I couldn't be happier with it.

I love, love the way the yarn works with the pattern. It gives it almost a woven look. The yarn I'm using is Colinette Jitterbug in Copperbeach.

I'll be casting on for the second sock later today and I hope to have a pair done by the end of next week!

I mailed out my Sockapalooza socks today. I hope they make their way safely to their new home and that they will be well loved. Farewell thee well my lovelies...

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It's not like I need any more sock yarn but... I'm really tempted to soon place an order from Wollmeise directly. I haven't had any contact with the dyer yet but it seems like you have to order at least 5 at once for them to ship. Am I right?

If that is the case, would anyone like to place an order along with me so that we would share the shipping? I can't afford and do not need 5 more hanks of sock yarn so if someone wants to buy 3, or 2 someones want to buy 2 each I think we could work something out. I have my eyes on some Rhabarber and some Versuchkaninken...


"samples of their colors won on a contest over at "From sheep to shawl and socks""

The only thing I've been knitting in the last month or so are socks. Nothing but socks. I can't even remember last time I knit on my Razor Cami.

While on vacation I worked on 4 different socks:

My Yarntini Home plain sock, of which I finished the first sock,
A sock that will be disclosed fully in about a week or so,

I knit on the second sock of my Sockapalooza socks, which are all set to go to their new owner



I started a pair for DH out of some Regia Strato Color bought at Knit 'n Knibble while in Tampa.



Since I've been back from vacation I started yet another sock...



I'm using Sunshine Yarns in Bloom and the pattern is Snicket socks from Magknits. I was inspired by Isel Knits' beautiful version. The yarn will be available at yarn4socks in September as part of our Artist of the Month. We're very lucky to have Sunshine Yarns available for that occasion.

Now I'll be alternating between the Snicket and the Regia socks until the first sock is done. Then I'll go back to the first two and finish the pair. When I'm all done I'll have 4 more pairs of socks done!

I finished my Sock pal's socks. The second sock was finished yesterday and they were promptly soaked and blocked.

Here they are, all pretty on their sock blockers:

It took me about a month to knit the first sock and about 2 weeks to knit the second. Of course, there were other projects I was working on, but as the deadline started looming I decided that I really needed to get working on those exclusively. And now they're done and I can get back to starting more socks... lol!

Now I just have to get a couple things together and make a pretty little package and they will be on their way to...
Of course I'm not telling! I do hope they fit!

My trip to the Adirondacks was a great success. The lodge was comfortable. DH and I got to spend quality time with friends that live quite far away. We hiked, did some rafting and some canoeing. There also was quite a bit of knitting and spinning and even a trip to the most amazing store. Old Forge Hardware is quite the general store: you'll find hardware stuff, camping and fishing gear, kitchen equipment, decorations, clothing, a bookstore section, furniture and even a knitting section. My friend and I were quite impressed by the selection of books, yarns and accessories there. If you're in the area it would definitely be worth the visit, if only to visit the store itself. Also, if you're ever in the area there is another stop you must do. In North Creek, on route 28, there is Gore Mountain Alpaca Farm. The owners are extremely friendly and will talk about their alpacas and let you go into the field with the alpacas and even touch them. I had a great time there and would have loved to stay much longer.

The alpacas had just been sheared a couple weeks ago and were super cute. The group that you see are about a dozen females with the two babies. About 4 of the females were pregnant and are expecting this year. If you want to get more information or see more pictures just let me know.

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Tomorrow pictures of what I knit and spun while on vacation!

ETA: The comment function is now working again. If you wanted to post one you now can!

The theme for today, as you might have guessed, is "Socks". Lots of socks. Socks for the Sock a Month KAL 3, socks for Sockamania, socks for Socktopia and socks for Sockapalooza. That's a lot of socks!

First are the pair I just finished this morning. They are my Twisted DK socks in Wing.

When I see them I keep thinking of a Monet painting, but when I searched for that painting I just couldn't find the one I was thinking of. Maybe you know which one it is?

The first sock I knit was the one with the least amount of pink. I could have started the second sock in the same place to have matching socks, but I was going for a mismatched look so just continued the yarn where I left off. Now I wish both socks were like the second one I made, with the most pink. But I still like them, they're fun and they were super fast!

Stats
Fastest pair ever! Cast on sock one April 28, Bind off sock 2 May 6. Just over a week.
Yarn: Twisted DK in color Wing
Pattern: My own: Toe-up Magic Loop Short-row heel.

This pair will count towards my Socktopia and Sock a Month KAL 3.

Next up is the next pair I need to cast on, for my Sockamania KAL. The pattern is really pretty and looks like it's going to be fun. Now I just need to chose which color yarn to use.



I've never knit with a dark yarn like the one on the left and don't know if it is going to work out well with the pattern. I'm sure the one on the right would work though. Any suggestions?

Next up is Sockapalooza 4. My pal likes green and knee highs and I really wanted to do something she'll like. I found this pretty yarn by Dream in Color in the lovely color Happy Forest. The yarn looks like a sport/DK weight yarn and will be perfect for the Elegant Ribbed Stockings from "Favorite Socks" pattern.



The yarn is a semi solid and not a solid like in the book, so I hope it will still work with the cables of the pattern.

I won't be casting on quite yet. Gotta get a headstart on my Sockamania socks...