Definitely Not Kosher!

But so fun!
One cloven sock down, one to go. I’m pretty happy with the way this one came out, no pattern just my usual top down sock recipe modified to accomodate some toe separation and my favorite shoes.

I’ve been spinning on some 100% silk that was sold to me as merino/tencel, I hadn’t ever seen pure silk before and I guess the gal who sold it me wasn’t paying attention. THe silk is fun but the frickin stuff sticks to everything! I had to use a lap cloth for the first time ever because even just drafting the very compressed fibers out caused a net of silk to get stuck to my pants. I’ll ply it back on itself to get a two-ply yarn.

When we went to Temecula last week G wanted to check out this totally dilapidated old building with a moving sale sign in the window. It was hard to believe that there was still a ussiness inside but sure enough there was a bussiness inside and there was a wall of button boxes. I couldn’t help myself especially because they were 50% off! I didn’t break the bank but I am definitely starting to understand the button stash temptation.


Just about a month more of school (5 weeks with finals) and then I will be half way done with graduate school. I can’t even begin to explain how happy I will be when this semster is over. I’m focusing on the positive – it’s almost over! I love school and what I’m learning but this term has been pretty tiring and I’m just ready to be done with it. Posting might be sparse until then but I promise I’ll still be spinning and knitting!

Little bits here and there…

There has been knitting and spinning going on around here and I finally decided to share!
Here are some cormo/soysilk singles on the bobbin wainting to become a two-ply.

That’s my homemade lazykate made out of a shoebox I stole from G. It worked great, way better than the upright style kate that came with my wheel. And here we have the finished yarn, it’s balanced and wonderfully squishy/soft.

It is resting on a mason dixon bathmat (to be gifted), it seems like it it will live up to it’s name ( the Great Absorba).
Another MD creation has been completed since the picture was taken, a ballband warshrag. It will be a facecloth I think, it’s definitely soft enough for that duty.

This weekend we took a little trip up to Temecula and I found an awesome yarn shop. Temecula Valley Yarn Company was a wonderful place to visit and be inspired. The ladies were wonderful; friendly and interested and knowlegable. I tried to spin on a couple of Ashford wheels, a traditional and the castle style and I didn’t really like either, so I’m glad that I ended up with my workhorse wheel, my Fricke. I have the double treadle. They had a Lendrum in the window and a Majacraft Suzie both of which are gorgeous wheels and I know the Lendrum spins really nice and smooth. I’m still looking for the perfect yarn to make a new sweater for G and can’t settle down on a big project to keep me busy in the interim but some Arctic Lace might have snared my interest. That all for now folks, I’ll try to be more regular in the future.

Runagogo total year to date: 95 miles year to date (sooo close)!

New and Sort of Improved

The new interation of the scratchy green sweater is done!

You don’t get any head (haha) because I had some seriously wacky hair going on when the picture was taken and if you’ve seen me first thing in the morning you know how wacky my hair can get. The sweater is a pretty straight forward EZ raglan sweater with some waist shaping thrown in for a closer fit. I’m pretty happy with this one, I wore it yesterday and today and will use any coldish weather as an excuse. It really softened up in the blocking wash and it gained some length from this picture so it’s really easy to wear. I threw it on after a wedding this weekend over a very thin dress and it was super comfy and looked really good. It looked really cute on my sister too!

For non Valentines Day G got me an orchid, I love it!

I’ve moved on to the mason dixon great absorba bathmat, made in log cabin style with some seriously chunky yarn (three strands of double worsted held together and knit on size 15s) .

Runagogo Total To Date: 67.5 miles!
I gotta say I love the way I feel and the other benefits (wink)

Playing Catch Up

Pictures of knitting have been thwarted by hours of catching up on reading, there will be more of this tomorrow but in the mean time, UPDATE on selfish knitting! I have finished the body of the recycled sweater and one sleeve done and the other sleeve is started so that is progressingy quickly, when it’s all done it’ll be a EZ style all in the round with raglan shaping (my favorite shaping for me). I’ll get pictures of it once it’s all on one needle and getting smaller by the inch. I’ve got some fun surprizes planned for the finishing on this sweater but you’ll have to stay tuned to find out what they are.

Runagogo Upadate: I’m passed the half way point on miles if not days!
52 miles year to date

The picture up top is one G took in Anza Borrego last weekend, it was a pretty inspiring landscape.

National Yiddish Day

Who knew that today was use your Yiddish day ?!
Well, thanks to Cara I did!
All I have to show for today are svey kleineke sveaters. Sadly I can’t figure out how to use another alpha bet on this here blog.
I got a little hooked on the instant gratification of the baby sweater, so I made two. Both are Elizabeth Zimmermann patterns. Check it out N, I used the Hannukah present you got me to do the first one.

I hope you all enjoy this as much as I do, they make me smile everytime I catch them out of the corner of my eye.

Deconstructing

Last year in early April I decided to knit G a birthday sweater. I am aware of the curse of the bofriend sweater BUT, we’ve been together a long time and I am of the belief that if I don’t care what happens to my knits no harm can be done by them, seriously. Give with the best of intention and let it go. I completed it in time for his birthday at the end of April but I hit a wall at the end of the pattern (Durrow by Jodi Green) when I ended up with a really big loose neck not at all like the crewneck I had imagined. So after the success of the green sweater I decided to pull it out of it’s very long time out and figure out the neck issues. I made G put it on when I was done so I could take a picture before I rip it all out. This was a really bad pattern choice because it was ribbed and way too big and the cables were too too heavy a material for him. I took these bad low contrast pics the other night.

The bigger issue with this sweater is that G doesn’t like the way the yarn feels, it’s too itchy so it will be ripped and turned into a sweater for me. Maybe some hats and mittens too .
The baby sweater is finished and there is another almost finished I’ll try to take some natural light photos tomorrow. It’s not like we don’t get enough of it around here.
Runagogo: Year To Date Total – 33.5

Nicole- you should join me, you know you can count miles swimming too!

Can’t Stop Myself

from finishing stuff.
This last week has been a mad flurry of putting things together and blocking. Last weekend I was invited to attend TNNA here in San Diego with some really wonderful women who have the best knitting store in Berkeley, Stash. I had a blast and was totally overwhelmed by all the choices of yarns and fiber. Nicole noticed a little pile of knitting in the corner and well, now it’s a sweater! I love it and for sure it’s the first sweater I have ever made my self that really fits. To be honest it’s really kind of smokin’ hot. I did all the knitting last semester and finished it up in a couple of days before this one started. The pattern is Glasgow Lace from the Fall 2006 Interweave Knits I ran out of yarn so I winged it with some short row ribbing to make the cap sleeves. The yarn is a 50/50 wool/silk from Artfibers in San Francisco, it was a mill end I got at a pretty big discount but there was only 426 yards on the cone so this is a great project for that amount of yarn that’s between a fingering and worsted weight yarn.

Also I knit up a one skein wonder out of some of my handspun to wear to the confrence. You can’t see it so well here but it is very warm, sorft and comfy. My next thought is to make a similarly styled top down raglan sweater out of handspun (maybe, that will require a lot of planning) because it would be a very flattering very comfy sweater.

Lastly, I have silently joined up with RUNAGOGO ( runagogo.com ), run 100 miles by April 1st and have logged 23 miles this month. I will be updating my weekly and year to date totals here to keep myself honest and on track.
Stay tuned… a baby sweater will be making an appearance here soon!
As always all photo credits here belong to G and click on the little pictures for bigger!

Second FO of 2007

So the first FO of 2007 will appear later on as I gifted it before I took a picture but they look remarkably similar to these beauties. These are Socks that Rock, Horntone colorway (mostly) using the Potamus pattern from Knitty. These were pretty simple because I didn’t use the pattern on the top of the foot so they would fit more comfortably in my shoes and that chart kept throwing me for a loop. These are a little frustrating in that I ran out of yarn less than half way down the second sock! i finished it with some other STR than I’m happy will rarely see the light of day (I hate pastels) which is why it is hiding in the back. This is why I don’t buy yarn sight unseen anymore. This is the second time I’ve run out of yarn with the old put up of lightweight STR, I ca see why they changed it. That darkness in the background are my very first real curtains EVER! A much appreciated Hannukah present which G hung a couple days ago and they are great! Some friends are comming to visit this weekend which should be pretty knit-blog worthy. Someday I’ll get the header personalized sick/tired is kicking my butt right now.

I DID IT!

I managed to get this thing up on new years day, whoo whoo!
not much to say today other than hello world and I’m sleepy already.
I did get to go on a rad new years day hike to continue a wonderful tradition.

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