good-natured ribbing

I finally had a chance to block Lauren’s shawl. It really only took about a hour and a half. I just had to talk Max into letting me use the bed to block it! He has an aversion to pins on the bed – silly man! Here are a couple of pictures:

I used two patterns from my new favorite pattern book:

The shawl was made using the Orenburg Shawl construction and has no cast off edges. It’s really quite an interesting way to do a shawl.

Here’s a link to the book I used for the construction method.

I hope Lauren is tall because the shawl is a little longer than I had planned – about 80″. I guess I underestimated the stretch!

Well, I’m off to finish dinner. Then to knit, of course!

While not as exciting as Sherry’s spring vacation (I didn’t go anywhere or buy any yarn), I did get quite a bit accomplished. Here’s what happened:

1. I lied. I did win some yarn on eBay. 10 skeins of cream colored alpaca for something like $27. It has not arrived yet.
2. We had company and went shopping. I only bought two shirts.
3. I started and finished one item that will be given to Baby Krot, but I can’t show you here.
4. I started the second item that will be given to Baby Krot.
5. We went to the Toledo Zoo. I like the Detroit Zoo better.
6. I did a lot of spinning – finished the purple club wool, finished the purpley-pink mohair, started the blue-green silk (that is about 2oz and I have 6 more ounces to go).



7. We went to the flower store and bought a bunch of annuals and veggies then planted them all.
8. I made one sock for Ava with the leftovers from the footies I made a while ago. This time, she tried them on pleasantly but said “too small.”
9. I finished the socks I’ve been working on.



10. I made a little progress on the Interlacements Carolina shawl/wrap. I think I’ve made it through half the yarn.
11. I bought a new knitting book. It actually has a full-length lacey ball gown in it.
12. We attended a family brunch. I won’t force it on anyone, but here is a nice picture of the 3 of us, if you are interested.
13. We played with sidewalk chalk for the first time. It was a big hit.
14. I went to Canada to try on and pay for a bridesmaid dress.
15. Oh yeah, and I think Ava broke my nose.

So now it is time to go back to work. And I seriously need to get away from this odd pink kick I’ve been on.

I finished two beautiful two-ply skeins of the Lorna’s Laces Purple Club roving.

Normally, yarn is plied in the opposite direction from how the singles were spun. The singles are generally z-twist and they are plied into an s-twist (I think I have that right!). My singles didn’t have the extra tightness necessary for s-twist plying – it became too loose and fell apart. So plied in the same direction as I spun the singles. The created a tighter, slightly more course yarn. But I love it – it has a lot of texture.

The two skeins are remarkably similar is size and weight – approximately 160 yards and 4oz each. I purchased a 10oz wad of roving; wasted about 1oz when I got started, and have about 1oz left over.

I’ll bring it in to show off next week!

I’ve decided that for the rest of the summer, I am not going to purchase any more yarn or fiber. Ouch. I don’t know if I can handle it, but I have been going a bit overboard lately and something needed to be done. Exceptions to this are, of course, the One Skein exchange and also the fiber festival I’m thinking about attending in August.

I have plenty of yarn in my stash to last quite a while, but I think I’ll cave on the fiber purchases. All I have left is the rest of the mohair, the seaweed-colored silk, and 6oz of alpaca/merino/silk blend that is its way to me now. That won’t last long.

It will actually be nice to work my way through some of the skeins I’ve been saving up. Wish me luck!

I finished spinning and plying the Purple Club roving (from Chicago) today, and it is hanging to dry right now. During Ava’s nap, I gave the mohair a go. Like the silk, it took me a while to catch on, but I think I have the hang of it now. I’m looking forward to working up the rest of it. The stuff I practiced on is scrap, but I thought I’d share some photos:

(note: I replaced the original pictures. These more accurately reflect the color of the yarn)

This really isn’t how I expected it to turn out – maybe it is just because I am not spinning it really thin. When I think of mohair, this is what comes to mind:

And that is certainly not what I spun. That is not to say that I am unhappy with the results, especially once I made the right adjustements to the tension. Since I am so new to all this, it takes me a while to learn about each new fiber.

I finally finshed Lauren’s wedding shawl – actually I finished it last week. I haven’t had a chance to block it yet, and I’m not exactly sure where I’m going to block it yet. I believe it will be about 70″ x 25″ or so when it’s blocked. Which is a good thing as I believe Lauren will be tall like her parents. I’ll post a picture as soon as I get it blocked – hopefully this weekend!

I also finished a wedding shawl for Ian’s girlfriend, Bonnie. She saw me working on a shawl for myself and decided I needed to knit her one, too. It had to be square, white, and holey (I took that to mean lace!). When I gave it to her she was very impressed until she realized that she didn’t have a wedding dress. You can imagine what the next words out of her mouth were, so I rustled up an old slip for her to wear. She also insisted on being married to Ian that very night, so Max officiated as her mom and I witnessed. Here is a picture of Bonnie in all her wedding finery!

I started a new shawl out of sock yarn from Knitpicks. I bought several skeins when it was on sale (heaven knows why as I don’t do big people socks), but I only bought two skeins of each color. So I am using one colorway for the borders and one for the center. So far it is looking pretty good. I’ll post a picture soon.

After being jump started by the roving I picked up in Chicago, I’ve been on a bit of a spinning kick. I ordered a bunch of fiber from various sellers on eBay – some silk and some mohair. Two of the purchases went smoothly; the third was not so smooth but I did win. That is as far as I’m going to go with the eBay story :) Here is what I purchased:

	8 oz. Handpainted FINE Mohair Top: Petunia Petals!
	Hand Dyed Tussah Silk 2.3 ounces Antique Rose
	8oz Handpainted Tussah Silk Top:UNDER THE SEA

I took a break from the blue/purple wool that I have been working on to try out some of the silk. It was a bit tricky to get started with, but once I got the hang of it, it was really easy, quick, and smooth. I think it looks great (a little overspun, but no biggie) and I can’t wait to get going on the other silk!

And I just can’t resist sharing this photo of my own little spokesmodel.

Here are the responses I sent to my secret pal. I also think that we were matched up perfectly…she seems very cool, just like me…
She is a basketball lover!!! Although the loves the Spurs (Pistons’ arch enemy), I give her credit for excellent taste in teams. The funny thing is, she ALSO won tickets to a playoff game! I’ll have to ask her if she had to sing for them…

Here’s the standardized questions:

1. Which yarn is most like your personality (you can be specific or general with your answer- brand, type, color, fiber, whatever)?
I would say Noro Kureyon – colourful and abrasive.

2. What is your favorite color yarn to knit/crochet with?
I like all colours, but somehow tend to work with darker, richer colours.

3. Have you ever used variegated, or magic, yarns?
I am currently using variegated yarn for the first time on a pair of socks (which I am learning to knit well)

4. Do you tend to favor certain fibers when choosing yarns?
I prefer natural fibers, but will work with other synthetics. I tend to choose wools/alpacas, but am learning to work with other types (cotton ribbon, for example).

5. Do you prefer to work with center-pull or traditionally wound balls
of yarn?
I have generally worked with wound yarn, but enjoy center-pull despite the fact that it is far less entertaining for my cat!

6. Have you ever worked with organic yarns or are you interested in
trying them?
hmmm. By organic do you mean cotton and hemp and bamboo and such? If so, I recently bought some cotton, but have not started my project yet (a tank top).

7. How many and what projects have you made in the last year?
I’ve made about a hundred scarves, five hats, a felted bag, a capelet, a pair of “footies” (from Oneskein), my first sweater. I am in the process of knitting a pair of socks, a felted bag, and a hat.

8. Will you be knitting any gifts this year?
I most surely will. I’ve already given five knit gifts since January (felted bag, three hats, capelet), and plan on many more for the holidays.

9. What is your favorite one skein project?
I really enjoyed making the “footies” (my first ever “socks”) because they were on larger needles and included cables. In general, I like making hats.

10. How much yarn do you have in your stash and how do you store it?
I have probably 50 skeins stashed away. I create “secret” mountains. They start as a small pile hidden behind a chair, in a drawer, under a table, and they somehow grow and morph into an insurmountable tower of fiber that not even the cat can conquer.

11. Do you have a yarn in your stash that you love so much you can never
use it or part with it?
Nope. Love to share good yarn.

12. Do you knit less or differently in the summer?
I used to. But the bug hasn’t left me this year!

13. Do you belong to any knitting groups (online or offline)?
Technically, two. At work, a bunch of us knit one or two lunch breaks a week. I also have a group in my town of friends that meet once a week.

14. Pal, please confirm for me your mailing address
(included in the email)

My pal also sent along some extra questions of her own devising…

Do you like animals? What kinds do you have? Saw that you mentioned a cat….fellow cat lover here :).
I have a sweet and fat kitty named Blake. He is named after William Blake, as I got him the day I defended my thesis about William Blake.

Do you have any favorite shows?
I don’t watch a lot of TV, although I try not to miss a Pistons game! (I love to knit and watch basketball). When I am not watching a game I will catch Survivor sometimes. I have to say my favourite show is America’s Next Top Model. I do not know why this is.

Books?
My favourite authors have to be J.R.R. Tolkein and Stephen King. I’ve read just about everything they have both written multiple times. Two books that are favourites that don’t fall into this category are Q & A by Vikas Swarup and Life of Pi by Yann Martel.
In general, I am a horror buff, reading anything I can that will scare the pants off me. Edgar Allen Poe is a favourite as well as M.R. James. I can’t get enough of their short stories!

I liked the line I heard on A Prairie Home Companion this morning when a character was asked what she wanted for Mother’s Day (paraphrased): “I want what all mothers want — for everyone to go away and leave me alone.” That’s not really what I want, but here’s the start of what was a good Mother’s Day for me:

Coffee, time for yarn-winding, a finished sock, and a new game to play (a gift from Emily).

I finished the sock, which I started last week, while we were driving around doing errands yesterday. It’s the first of a pair made in the Garter Rib Stitch pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. Not only is it from the same book that my Sockapalooza SockPal used to make my socks, it’s even on the same page! (Page 33, btw; she used the Baby Cable Rib pattern.)

I’ve had a skein of Mountain Colors Bearfoot (I think the color is Moose Creek) for some time, but wasn’t sure what sock to make with it until I got this book. It’s such great yarn that I wanted to make sure I had exactly the right pattern. The picture in the book is made with a yarn from Mountain Colors , in a color that’s very similar to mine.

We spent part of yesterday in Whitmore Lake, where we heard there was a funky coffee shop and the Whitmore Lake Yarn Co. Obviously this was mainly my idea, which I justified by saying that I would “only look around” the yarn store while we were there. But then, I always feel bad if I go into a small shop and don’t buy anything, so I added to my stash these attractive skeins of Wildfoote Luxury Yarn:

I went on a winding spree, and now have, not one, but two, baskets full of neatly wound sock yarn. It makes me feel very secure. I’m also in the process of knitting the second Gentleman’s Sock; it takes more concentration so I work on it at home, not in the car.

I was going to wait until I finished the pair before posting. However, I thought I’d try out the sock blocker prototype that my husband made for me. It needs to be a bit longer for my foot, I think.

I got a message from my One Skein secret pal today asking for my answers to the “get to know you” questions. I have emailed them to her (or him) but I also thought I’d share with everyone.

Dear Pal,

Here are the answers to your questions. Please note that there is another One Skein Secret Pal Exchange participant on this blog – don’t get us confused (PLEASE!!!).

Q: Which yarn is most like your personality (you can be specific or general with your answer- brand, type, color, fiber, whatever)?
A: If I could be any yarn, what yarn would I be? Hmmmm… Is there any yarn that can be described as cranky and sarcastic ;) No? well then I pick an interesting/textured chunky wool because I always love a big comfy sweater (not because I’m interesting and chunky).

Q: What is your favorite color yarn to knit/crochet with?
A: Lately, I have been really drawn to blues and I am always a fan of greens. However, it is pink all the way when I’m knitting for my little one (two year old Ava).

Q: Have you ever used variegated, or magic, yarns?
A: Quite a few. I actually have a tendency to prefer multi-color yarns over solids.

Q: Do you tend to favor certain fibers when choosing yarns?
A: Most of what I use is wool, though I have been drawn to more wool blends, cottons, and other fibers lately.

Q: Do you prefer to work with center-pull or traditionally wound balls of yarn?
A: I have a ball winder and swift so I never wind a ball by hand (unless I ripped out a large amount). Although I could pull from the center, I don’t because the yarn usually turns into a big tangled mess as I finish the ball.

Q: Have you ever worked with organic yarns or are you interested in trying them?
A: I have never worked with organic yarns. I have nothing against them but have no particular interest.

Q: How many and what projects have you made in the last year?
A: In the past year, I have made a couple sweaters, several scarves, some socks, a couple wrap/shawls, a couple shrugs, several baby blankets, some hats. I’d rather not stop to count them up :) Maybe somewhere in the 20-30 range. I have also obtained a spinning wheel, learned to spin, and made several skeins of yarn. Have a look through the blog for entries by me.

Q: Will you be knitting any gifts this year?
A: Yes, I will be making a handful of baby gifts and whatever I can cram in for family xmas gifts.

Q: What is your favorite one skein project?
A: It all depends on the size of the skein, I guess. Generally, scarves – there are so many options, you can never have too many, and they make good gifts.

Q: How much yarn do you have in your stash and how do you store it?
A: My yarn is currently stored in two plastic bins, though they are chock-full. Inside the bins, the yarn is kept in ziploc bags. A picture is worth a thousand words… here’s two:

Q: Do you have a yarn in your stash that you love so much you can never use it or part with it?
A: Well, I don’t really think that I’ll get rid of the yarn besides knitting it up (I guess that means my stash is still too small!). But I don’t have any that I cherish so much that I would never use it.

Q: Do you knit less or differently in the summer?
A: I do. Last year, I barely knit at all during the summer. This year, I have shifted my interests to socks and cotton items.

Q: Do you belong to any knitting groups (online or offline)?
A: Just the group of cooworkers who contribute to this blog. I don’t know too many knitters outside of work (just my mother-in-law, grandmother-in-law, and my aunt).

Q: Pal, please confirm for me your mailing address.
A: Included in email.

No, wait — it’s not a contest. But I feel like I won because I got these excellent socks today from Jill in Pittsburgh:

As you may have guessed from Nigel’s bulletin below, I have been eagerly awaiting their arrival. I wouldn’t say anxiously, but certainly with eager anticipation (“They’re green! They fit! They’re really great!”). They are lovely – made with Socks that Rock yarn, in Beryl, which is just exactly the right shade of green. The pattern is from Sensational Knitted Socks, which I just bought 2 weeks ago because I liked all the patterns in it. Coincidence? All in all, high-quality socks. I am very pleased.

Anyway, one more picture since I like them so much. Even though I am not usually prone to taking pictures of my cats, especially Sophie grouchy-pants, I had to take this one because she jumped up and started purring when she saw the socks. The last time this happened was a year ago when she took over the rug that Kristen knitted for us. A rare occurrence, and a sure sign of approval.

PINCKNEY MICHIGAN DASH SOCKAPALOOZA PACKAGE ARRIVED ADDRESSED TO SHERRY STOP ADDRESSEE BUSY MENTALLY PREPARING HERSELF STOP DETAILS FORTHCOMING STOP K2TOG STOP

After a weekend of fits and starts, I finished a second little pair of baby socks. For variety I wanted the second pair to be different than the first, so I thought I’d try a baby bootie pattern I had torn out of a knitting magazine a while ago. This, despite the fact that all of the patterns I had previously tried from this magazine (which shall remain nameless) either had tons of mistakes or just didn’t result in something that looked good. The second option applied here – just didn’t look good. So I transformed it into something more shapely. Even though the color is better in the first picture I think you can tell the booties on the right are much more appealing.

Exhibit A: Shapeless blob	Exhibit B: Full of shape

The successful pattern is adapted from Ann Budd’s “Better Than Booties Baby Socks,” which appears to be openly available on the Interweave Press site.

Since I have another picture, here are the two pairs of socks going off to the new baby. She’s only 10 days old, so I think they’ll still fit.

Just a quick post to show a completed skein from the Lorna’s Laces roving. It turned out quite well and got better as I went. The second half of the batch is quite thin and very consistent. The photos show the first part, though, so you can’t see the really good part! I may even be able to make some sock yarn soon!

This little skein adds up to ~350 yards and is a lot softer than I thought it would be (based on the texture of the roving). Next time you see it, it will be a lovely 2-ply yarn. When will that be? Hopefully some time next week.

I started working on a simple shawl, or mini-shawl, with the Interlacement yarn I got in Chicago. The skein is quite large – over 300 yards – and it aught to be enough to make a nice little wrap (maybe not a whole shawl!). Here is a picture of it before it got too large to see clearly. The short, cast on edge is the collar and with all the YOs, the stitch count increases by 10 every 4 rows.

My intention is to have something to throw over the sholders on a cool evening sitting on the deck. I have already wished it was done several times while knitting it on the deck on cool evenings.

Here is the treasure I brought back from Chi-town:

It is Berroco Foliage in “Japanese Maple”: all fiery reds and oranges! It is 53% wool, 47% acrylic. This will make me a lovely sweater as soon as I’m finished with Rosedale!

I have been sucked into the “sock vortex”. Beth “lent” me her Oneskein book (I do not plan on returning it!), and cleverly pointed out the “Footies” in there. Because they were knit with worsted yarn and #8s, they would be a quick knit and I could learn some basic techniques. We took a trip to the yarn store and I picked out Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Pine. The socks are 50% wool and 50% alpaca and oh! so soft! I will be happy to hand-wash these!

I enjoy cabling, although I am quite slow at it. Despite this slowness, I managed to knit up this pair in under 10 hours. In fact, I finished one footie on the way up to Chicago on the bus, and started and finished the second one on the way home!

It looks like I am ready to begin making ‘real’ socks. I have purchased sock-weight yarn and #1s and #2s. I think I will begin with “the pattern Sherry has memorized”. More to come…

Sadly, I don’t have pictures for this post. Normally that would prevent me from posting, but I felt that it was necessary to record and share this little anecdote. As you know, I recently whipped up that blue shrug to wear to a wedding shower. I thought, wouldn’t it be sweet if Ava had one too. So, I quickly altered the pattern and actually finished the little thing in about 2 or 3 days. I just knew Ava would love it. Everything worked out great – I made two shrugs in about a week’s time and we were ready for the shower.

All I had to do was get Ava to try the shrug on – easier said than done. After two days of getting it half on followed by quite a lot of screaming, I tried one more time and managed to get it on her but she was not pretty. She wasn’t buying my reassurances that it looked really cute. Finally I took it off and said “Fine, throw it away!” She slammed it into the diaper pail and we never looked back.

I was thrilled to get my Sockapaloooza socks yesterday – they’re from Peggy in Alaska! They’re Jaywalkers in Opal Handpainted Color 22. They fit perfectly and I love the blues and grays — the color/pattern combination reminds me of waves on a choppy sea.

Almost as fun as receiving the socks was learning that Peggy has family who live very close to me. Sock fate!

Thanks, Peggy — I love my socks!

I’ve spun a little of the wool I picked up in Chicago and I think it is coming out pretty nicely. I wasted a bit becaue the tension was off on the wheel and didn’t spin enough to hold the fibers together. Here it is so far:

I think I might make a 2-ply yarn out of this. Typically this is done by filling two bobbins then spinning back onto a third. My old wheel only has one bobbin and it doesn’t come off (or go back on) reliably. So I am going to have to wind the single ply into balls first then work from that. We’ll see how it goes!

As Beth describes in her earlier post, we went to Chicago, my second trip there in as many weeks. Of course, I bought more yarn. I haven’t taken a picture of my purchases yet, but here is what I accomplished during the drive. (Forgive all the variances in color — I just couldn’t get the pictures right tonight.)

I finished one Gentleman’s Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks, using the most excellent Zerina Merino I bought during the previous trip.
It has some unique features, which you will see if you click on the thumbnail to the right; namely, a cushy railway stitch construction and calf shaping. I wasn’t quite sure about the shaping at first, but it turns out that it fits Nigel’s calf perfectly.
I also had time to make a pair of baby socks for our co-worker Maureen, who had a baby while we were in Chicago. She won’t be reading this blog, at least not any time soon, so I can post a picture. These are made of Lorna’s Laces Shephard Sock yarn, in Purple Iris. We didn’t know until the women at Loopy’s told us that Lorna’s Laces is located in Chicago.
For some reason, miniature socks get more “Aw’s” than booties. I think it’s the novelty factor. Just for a sense of proportion, here they are next to the Gentleman’s Sock:

Kris says I should blog more, so here it goes. Since I do a lot of shawls, I don’t have finished projects very often. Here’s what one of my current projects looks like.

Looks like the blob, doesn’t it! Not very attractive right now, but it should be a lovely circular shawl once it is blocked. I still have a lot of rows left to do, though. Expect a finished shawl in a few months.

While I was visiting my family last week, I stopped by Threadbear and picked up two things – yarn for a wedding shawl for my niece, and a book. Here is the shawl after a week’s progress.

I realise Lauren is only two, but I needed a new project and I figured it is stashable until she’s older. And it was an excuse to buy a new book – I really did end up using a pattern from the book.

This is a great book, but be warned that there are no charts in this book. Since I prefer to work from charts for lace knitting, I am having to chart the patterns as I go. This can be tricky as many of them change the number of stitches in each row. I hope I get better at this as I go since charting the pattern for Lauren’s shawl took me two hours, and there were only 16 rows!

I’m off to add another couple of rows to Lauren’s shawl before the guys get back from gymnastics. Happy knitting!

I finished a pair of socks on the bus ride home, but luckily I was prepared for that. I packed my Regia Canadian Fashion Sock Yarn in Ontario. I am following the Basic Ribbed Sock pattern from Vogue Knitting on the Go – Socks Two.

I’ve only made a little progress but enough to see the patterning of the colors. Just like the real Ontario, I’m really liking the way it looks!

Although I am not a photographer by any means, I am typically pretty skilled with the point and shoot. But sometimes, it just baffles me. Why would it have chosen the ball of yarn to focus on and not the big thing in the center of the shot?!

This one is a much better representation of the sock so far.

While we were in Chicago, we had enough time to visit the yarn store closest to our hotel – Loopy Yarns. It was a lovely little shop with very friendly and knowledgeable staff. I managed to outspend the others in the group (just barely squeeking by Sherry!) but only because I stopped to look in at the window display after I checked out. I couldn’t resists the Lorna’s Laces roving and has to go back. We left the store delighted, all sporting large red bags – didn’t look touristy at all :) Here are a couple shop photos:

We didn’t get a chance to have our new yarns take a group photo, but here is what I picked up:

In this pile you see: two skeins each of Charcoal and Purple Iris Shepherd Sock by Lorna’s Laces (80% superwash wool and 20% nylon) , Carolina by Interlacements in Poppy Fields (rayon, cotton, flax), and 10 oz of the Lorna’s Laces Wool Top roving in Purple Club that I couldn’t resist.

Here is a closeup of the lovely Carolina:

I’m sure the others will post their own pictures.