disclosure...

I have to be honest with myself (and others) on just how much I bought at the fiber festival...

4 ounces of the blue/green/yellow/purple roving:


4 ounces of pink/orange/yellow roving:


1 pound of white alpaca roving!:


a basket of medium and dark brown alpaca roving (weight undetermined):


A beautiful needle felted llama hat:


A hand knit ruffle scarf: (beautiful & I know that I could probably knit one just like it, but would lose my mind doing it!)


two adorable needle felted birds made by the Sisters at the St. Placid Priory:


And last but not least, some apricot pepper jam, yummy!

(I will not, however, disclose exactly how much I spent on all of this!)

wow!

So...after I wrote last night, I decided to try some more navajo plying with the singles that I spun yesterday at the fiber festival. It went much more smoothly. I was so thrilled with the yarn that resulted that I HAD to knit it up right away!!



I LOVE IT! Colors are just like a sunset out at the beach!

Then I had to start spinning up the aplaca...



(maybe I should watch that video that I linked to last week about obsessions again?)


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On another note, it is somewhat reassuring that things don't function smoothly at work without me. I've been on the phone with a coworker and my boss twice already this morning...its nice to be needed

yarn!

I finally decided to just go ahead and ply the singles that I spun from the bright colored roving that I purchased at the OS Arts and Crafts fair.

I had been unsure of how I should do it since I divided the roving lengthwise into 3 (of course unequal size). The 3 different singles of course had different lengths of each color...Well, I decided to just let the colors do what they wanted to do.

The effect is nice, I think. Although the colors are not true in the picture. It slowly fades from one color to the next.
With the small amount of single ply I had left of one of the singles, I attempted to learn how to navajo ply. The result is the smaller skein. I like it, but will need LOTS of practice.

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The fiber festival today was a lot of fun. I bought roving: some wool very similar to what is pictured above; also some nice alpaca (brown and very dark brown) I can't wait to try spinning it! Then I bought 2 needle felted birds, they are adorable.
(pictures of what I bought will come hopefully tomorrow) 

Help?

I have a chronic problem with my socks...(OK besides the ever present second sock syndrome!)

Does this happen to anyone else; and if so how do you fix or avoid it?
- on the heel flap, the slipped stitches on one side look very nice, even, etc.
- on the other side they are bigger, loopy, sloppy looking.

For a long time, I thought that it was just me being uneven with my stitches, but on the last several socks, I have consciously tried to even things up, and now with trying several different types of heels and coming up with the same problem...Well, I know I must be doing something wrong!

The looser stitches are always on the side that is at the end of the knit row / beginning of the purl row.

(sorry for no pictures to illustrate this)

one down...

I finished my first Baudelaire sock (finally!!) I was even a very good sock knitter and cast on for the second sock within ten minutes of finishing the first!!!

I have a 3 day weekend! I was very happy to see the end of this work day, it was a very long week.

This weekend is the Schafer Meadows Fiber Festival. I can't wait!! I just have to try and avoid spending too much money. 

lessons learned...

1. Lace sock - I haven't yet finished a lace sock, this is only the second that I've attempted. I really like this pattern. I love how the texture looks both off and on the foot. I think its beautiful!!

2.Short row heel - I haven't done a short row heel before, and thought that this would be the perfect time to learn. I had a pretty easy time of it, and am only disappointed in two things:

a. there is a gap on one side, despite my numerous attempts to make the stitches tighter
AND
b. AFTER TURNING THE HEEL AND STARTING TO KNIT IN THE ROUND....THE SOCK IS TOO TIGHT IN THE INSTEP!!!!!

3. Pattern designers know more than me! This is not really difficult for me to admit, but I guess it's hard come to terms with this more than halfway through the sock. I didn't think that it would matter so much which heel I did - I thought that they would be interchangable. And, maybe they could be, but with some tweaking of the pattern.

4. Ripping back and picking up lace stitches (actually I haven't learned this one yet, but will soon!) So, I get to rip back 1 full pattern repeat on the cuff, the short row heel and at least several rows on the foot -- and then I'll do what the pattern told me I should do.


But not today. It is too nice to spend the day inside, I'm going out to the garden! 

So...

In my last post, I talked about being tempted by Eunny's socks.
well,
somehow, instead of starting them, I started a sock from the Sensational Knitted Socks book. Here is my progress so far, 2 full pattern repeats done.


I made a few modifications: different toe cast on, started with more stitches so I didn't have a really pointy toe. (sorry it is a bit blurry)

Here is a nice picture of Terry (but I think that he looks sorta sad here.)

Also, I added a button on the sidebar to subscribe to bloglines. I've just recently started using it too - saves a lot of time!!

Dangerous!!

Eunny's blog is DANGEROUS! (at least to a distractible sock knitter like me!)

Here are a few examples:
entrelac socks!

beautiful cables!

I already have 3 socks in progress, and sock yarn for 4 more pairs. And the yarn that Joy bought for her socks I promised her. And now I feel like dropping everything and starting both of these socks...
...instead, I'll go spin some wool.

The Fair!

I decided this morning that I would go to THE FAIR! Despite still feeling a bit under the weather - weak and achy - I had a terrific time and am very happy that I went.

No pictures yet, but several nice things were purchased!
-- Some lovely 100% tencel yarn (shades of orange, rust, brown and a bit of green - fall colors),
-- some beautiful wool to spin,
-- and I volunteered to knit Joy a pair of socks in exchange for some other handmade crafts (tins covered with her beautiful marbled paper!) - Joy picked out some very nice dark blue sock yarn by Pat Fly (the same brand as my socks that I just finished). I was hoping to meet Pat, but her shift didn't start until late in the afternoon.

Had loads of fun looking at all the animals! Joy knew one of the families with goats, so we stood there and talked, got to pet the goats without getting in trouble, and the goats had fun chewing on and licking my bag of wool - luckily I noticed before they chewed through the paper!!

More details tomorrow...when I'm not so tired.

Obsession?

Have you ever felt like this?

When Knitting Becomes an Obsession

I know that I have sometimes knit almost obsessively, but not this bad! I found this link on Marlene's Blog

Wow!

These socks knit up faster than any other socks I've knit!
Details:
- done in 7 days!
- My basic sock pattern (originally from Sherri, with a few modifications)
- Size 3 needles (I think that this yarn would knit up better on size 1 or 2)
- Yarn: Fly Super Sport, Monarch, Ruby Redmond colorway

(ssshhh, don't tell anyone that I spent my sick days knitting - I had to do something while I was just laying there on the couch!) 

beautiful day!

Today was a lot of fun. After church this morning, I went to Ocean Shores to the Arts and Crafts Festival.

I talked for awhile with Betty from the Shafer Meadows Fiber Guild. She was selling some of her handknit items, also yarns and rovings! I bought some lovely hand dyed / handspun mohair and silk boucle. It will make a terrific Christmas present for someone. (Sorry the pic is a bit out of focus, but it shows the colors)

I also bought 2 ounces of corriedale roving in very fun bright colors! (the photo makes it seem even brighter than actual) I split it down the middle and already spun the first half!! It was easy to spin, and I have to resist spinning the other half tonight - other things to do!

After I left the art show, I walked out onto the beach. Its strange...I live only 40 minutes away, and go so infrequently! I think that I need to get out there more often, since it relaxes and soothes me. I feel so much better now. :-) I sat there and knit in the sunshine, listening to the waves for over an hour.

I've made very quick progress on the pink sock that I started yesterday, turned the heel this morning, and am several rows into the gusset!

I'll leave you with a picture of the roses in my front yard:

Saturday

I realized on Thurdsday (the day after my last posting) that the reason that I was so crabby and out of sorts, was because I was getting sick. I'm not feeling terrible, just really achy all over, especially all my joints. I went home from work early that day to get some rest. Luckily, the next 2 days (Friday and today) have both been very slow days at work, and I've only had to work half days.
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This posting will be full of lots of unrelated but fun things!

1. Proof that I actually cook sometimes! I made Stuffed Zucchini for a dinner on Labor Day. This was taken after stuffing it, but before baking. I got the recipe here but made a few changes. They were a hit. Yummy!



2. Dahlias from my yard!



3. I realized that I never posted a picture of the socks that I made from the Noro Silk Garden Yarn. I took so many pictures, and NONE of them accurately showed the beautiful colors! They were finished in March (during my long break from blogging).


4. Progress on the pinwheeel: Done with the loopy edge, started on the first sleeve, and finished only 4 rounds before becoming distracted but all the other projects...



5. Proof that SSS hasn't really taken ahold of me again! I've started on the second fair isle sock (even tho I said that I would finish the pinwheel first...)



6.However, my case of ADD has kicked in. Sherri got some new sock yarn today. I nearly started drooling!! This is wonderful stuff! After much thought I chose: Fly Super Sport, color: Ruby Redmond. This picture is the best of the 5 or 6 that I took and NONE of them turned out good. The colors are actually BEAUTIFUL!!! (Light and dark pinks, and dark brown).

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(Added later: I was telling a friend about this website that I found. I used it to help convert the Green Gable pattern. I haven't yet cast on. So I don't know how helpful it actually is. But it seems useful.)

It has been a long and sorta tough day.
So I thought that a few flowers might brighten things up. This is the amazing color show that my rhodies put on this spring:


[--- I'm trying to come to terms with frustration with others, with things that are out of my control, and with not being angry about those things... because they just make my day worse and won't make things any easier or better - and the meltdown just makes your friends worry about you... (I can't really elaborate on this because there are several examples just from today!) So, I guess I'll go and take a bubble bath and head to bed early, and hope that I'm less crabby about things tomorrow.] 

actual knitting progress!

I've been making some good progress on the pinwheel sweater!

After lots of thinking, I decided that I would follow the pattern and do the loopy edge. After that decision, I had another...which colors to use!?!

Luckily, I quickly made a choice. But I wasn't sure...but every person I asked which colors they would use selected the same (without any prompting or biasing!!)

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Terry would love for me to knit a sweater for him! I can hardly believe how sweet and innocent he looks in that picture!