Finished Frenzy

I've got alot to show you, both knitting and spinning. For today, I'll stick to the knitting to keep it more manageable. As the title suggests, I finished a few things. I bought the yarn for this hat last winter when Reilly wanted a new one. I kinda waited to cast on until it was way too warm and kinda tossed everything aside. Of course, the needles were snatched and then the yarn was a mess. Only thing to do was to start over. I didn't use a pattern per se, I kinda used the idea of a skull cap I had made for Royd before. I was way too lazy to go find the pattern, so the top's a bit wonky. He loves it, so that's all that matters! Pattern: Here There Be Dragons Yarn: Knitpicks Memories, Geranium What can I say? Great pattern, I didn't change a thing. Oh, except I used my usual no-wrap method instead of the short rows suggested. For whatever reason, Nancy Bush's method gives me holes no matter what I do. The yarn is nice and soft and finally out of the stash. I've tried to use it several times and never liked what the yarn was doing. This pattern made great use of the pooling and broke it up. Below is a much better representation of the color. For some reason the color combination confuses the heck out of my camera! Long time readers may recall that I went through a bit of a lace obsession last summer. (Very temporary. My lifestyle just doesn't do lace well.) Well, I've had one project that needed to blocked, I just never got around to it. I mean, why block it if it's never going to get worn? Well, I need it for tomorrow. Someone's getting married!!! Pattern: Snowdrop Shawl Yarn: JaggerSpun Another great pattern. Not too challenging, but with enough interest to keep me knitting. Nevermind that the edging took foreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeever. Blocking didn't go as well as it could have. I ran out of room on the carpet and little ones were getting tired of me saying "one more minute!" I think that I need to invest in a set of blocking wires so that when I do have things to block, it goes much nicer. My, it's huge!!!

And It Begins...

Have any idea how hard it was to get a picture with all of them facing (somewhat) the camera and no one screaming? Horrible. Well, Royd left us Sunday for another year. We said our goodbyes on Saturday night and sent him off. We did have a chance to go see him one more time on Sunday morning, but Royd asked me not to bring the kids up. He just thought it would be easier on everybody. So far we're doing okay. Reilly understands that he's gone, but still keeps asking for him. I think it'll take awhile before he really comprehends the full depth of what's going on. There isn't much to say except that I'm glad it's finally here and we can get it over and done with. I'll be back later this week with some knitting and spinning content!

My Random Life

** We didn't get to go on vacation as planned. Here's the rundown of why. First we all got sick. Just when we were feeling better, all the boys came down with hand-foot-mouth disease. Since Marc's mouth hurt, he wasn't eating very well. I got a blocked duct that lead to mastitis. Ouch! The antibiotics I'm on killed everything and now Marc and I both have thrush. Oy. I cannot wait until I don't have administer medication. Thankfully, we still got to see my in-laws since they headed up here instead. Plus Royd didn't have to miss out on time with his dad. ** I finished another pair of socks for a belated birthday Yarn: Regia Strato Pattern: top down on 64 stitches, band heel and round toe ** I started another pair for myself Here There Be Dragons ** Thanks to some cooler weather the past few days, I've been working on the Manly Sweater again. Two sleeves down and now onto the enormous body. ** Remember Picovoli? Well, I lost about ten pounds since then and it's too big! Yay for a skinnier me. Boo for all that work. ** I've got two babies to knit for that are due in December. The great news is that they're both girls and I can finally knit something cute and pretty. ** Royd should be gone by next week. We're just waiting. It stinks. That's it for now. Sorry about the choppy post. I've got screaming children here and can't think straight.

Real Quick

I finished up a few more socks this week. Here's the details: Reillys--Lion Brand Magic Stripes, top down on 48 stitches with a band heel Mine--Koigu, toe up with short row heel and a sewn bind off That's all I've able to work on. Between the heat and the various sick people in the house, I haven't had alot of time or inclination to knit. I tried spinning but the wool is sticking to my hands resulting in some pretty lumpy singles. I'm heading off on vacation next week so I probably won't post until I get back. Royd's dad is on leave from Iraq, so me and the boys are heading to South Germany to meet up with him and his wife. Royd's probably working that weekend, so he won't get to join us. I've got a ton of things left to do before the trip ! On a sader note, we got official word Sunday that Royd will be deploying in the next month or so. Due to security reasons, we won't know until the last minute when. Well, the boys are getting into all sorts of mischief, see you in a bit!

Too Dang Hot to Knit

Ugh. Stitches sticking to the needles plus no shade at the playground equals two bored little boys and one cranky mama. So we got a little crafty. Chop or shave old crayons, sprinkle between layers of wax paper, iron on low "Stained Glass" for your windows! And since they were still bored, we made playdough. And I started a new sock... (notice no needles)

Soft and Squishy

Yarn: my own handspun Pattern: top down, 48 stitches on leg and 44 on foot As the title implies, this is how these socks turned out. I used my first three ply for these and love how the yarn (and the socks) turned out. Needless to say, I'm beyond tickled with myself that I dyed the wool, spun the yarn and knit the socks. Funny though, the yarn took two weeks to spin and a total of four non-consecutive days to knit. A labor of love. Because I'm so enamored, here's two more shots. I started a new webring, for all those that are attached to the military, just for kicks. You can go here to sign up or here for the blog.

A Post in Pictures

Chickami, handspun sock and more handspun 12 balls for only one euro each for Scoop I swear I only went looking for a dress. I didn't find one. Mmmm. Fingers sure are yummy!

Picovoli

Pattern: Picovoli Yarn: Knitpicks Shine Sport, Hydrangea Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a picture of yourself that is semi-flattering (three kids and age have really taken over for the worst) and in focus? I tried to get the hubby to take some, but he really couldn't be bothered. Here's the details. This took less than two weeks to finish and could have been done sooner, but I had to rip out a few inches. I decided to incorporate some short rows to give me a little bit more room in the bust but had put them about four rows too low. That lost me two days of knitting. Then there was the inconvenience of the kids being sick. To keep the edges from rolling I used a hemmed edge on the bottom and single crocheted around the neck and sleeves. Overall it was a great little knit that I may use as a template for a future sweater. The yarn was great to work with as well. I'll definetely be using it again and am coveting some of their worsted weight. Since casting off I've been working on the Manly Sweater while I contemplate my next project for myself. (No rush to finish his sweater since he won't need it for quite awhile) I'm waivering between a lace stole or a t-shirt. Front runners right now are Print O' the Wave Stole, Nothin' but a T Shirt, or maybe even Chickami. I almost forgot, I'm thinking about Soleil too. Here's something to check out. Speaking of, obviously Royd hasn't deployed yet. We still don't know when but it won't be for at least a month. Everythings up in the air as of now. Which means we can't make any plans farther than a month in advance. I'm starting to get frustrated because we're due to move back to the States in May, if he's not deployed. Of course, if he goes downrange, it means that we'll move after he gets back. The thing is that the longer he's just sitting here waiting to find out if he's going or not, means our move could be delayed more and more. Does that make sense? As much as I have enjoyed the opportunity to live overseas, I'm getting about ready to go back home. I miss it.

Gotta Love the Trekking

Pattern: Melanie's Twist Socks Yarn: Trekking XXL color 106 I sucked it up and finished 'em up. Not for a lack of love, I just wanted them done. I looked through my WIP basket and realized I had way too much in there. My earlier cast on craze left me with lots of projects and not enough time. I found myself consistently cycling through them, but progress was scant. I figure if there's less to work on, the perceived progress is greater. The original pattern didn't specify left or right increases or decreases. I left the increases at a simple M1 left, but subsituted a SSK on the first half of the pattern repeat. I thought this resulted in a clearer twist and also helped me keep track of where I was. Instead of my usual heel, I used a Eye of Partridge and think it turned out quite pretty. Hopefully next week I'll have Picovoli finished. I have to rip a few inches out due to a miscalculation of the placement of my short rows. Other than that, it's looking good! Now, where did I put that other skein of Koigu...

Commitment. Or a lack of.

I've been trying to stay faithful to the current projects on the needles. For over a week I've remained vigilant and worked on two pairs of socks in anticipation of the start of SoS. I'm not competing for the most pairs done, but would like a fresh start when it begins. The problem began when I received my yarn last week for Picovoli. I was good and put it away along with some Luna and went about my business. Yesterday I caved and merrily have been knitting away on some delightful stockinette in the round. Surprisingly I'm enjoying working with this yarn. Although it's mostly cotton, it has just enough give to not cramp my hands up. I can't wait to wear this! My first three ply is almost done. I need to dye up another half ounce to finish what's left on two of the bobbins. Although I carefully weighed the roving before I spin it, I kinda lost out due to inconsistant spinning. One bobbin was spun just a bit thicker than the rest so I lost some yardage. Somehow something else ended up on the wheel in the meantime. This is merino/silk that I'm spinning at over 40 wpi (my control card doesn't go thin enough!). Can we just say that it'll take me forever.

Stuck on Socks

Yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton Fun Pattern: top down on 64 stitches with a 3x1 rib I finished these up on Friday minus weaving ends that was done today. Nothing special to say about these except that I used over 45 gms on each sock when I usually use less than 40. With these finished, I quickly dug through the sock stash and pulled out a few more balls. Now I have Trekking, Koigu and handspun to occupy my time. I think they're a pretty good mix to keep my attention. The handspun is a bit hard on my hands to knit (I'm doing them on 2 mms to get a really tight fabric) so I'll work on the Trekking to give my hands break. Then when I don't feel like concentrating, the Koigu does the trick. Haven't gotten much knitting done since Sunday though. Poor Marc had to have his first round of shots yesterday and they hit him pretty hard. He'll try to smile and be cheerful, but he can't help whining through it all. Tylenol and cuddles to the rescue!

Fussy Socks

Yarn: Rico StrickSpaß SUPERBA Color Pattern: top down with afterthought heel I picked up this sock yarn awhile because I had never seen it before, it was soft and the colors spoke to me. My initial take on it was that I thought it looked similar to some Regia or even LB Magic Stripes. The softness of the yarn called out for me to knit it up and I did so soon after it came home. I started out with the intention to do my usual top down sock, but as the pattern emerged I knew that this would be a good candidate to try out the afterthought heel. Look at how pointy that heel is! Hmm. I'm glad I tried the technique out as I think it's a good one to have in the arsenal, but I won't be doing alot of them based upon the fussiness of it. Things I would do differently next time: work heel on 60% of stitches for a deeper heel and a central double decrease for a prettier seam. The pattern turned out to be quite different than I imagined. I had to do a little research to see how it was ""suppose" to look. The top is what I was getting and the bottom is what I had to force. In order to get this I had to knit significantly tighter on those bands of blue and white. I didn't think I'd be getting these done for awhile but last night I realized that my June socks for the Sock-a-Month Knitalong weren't completed. So I quickly got to work picking up stitches and finishing the heels. I think the next pair will be some purple cotton that are almost done.

A Case of Startitis

Fresh in the stash: two balls of Regia Bamboo Color. Kathleen finally(!!!) came to see Marc on Sunday and left these bad boys behind. Yum! I in turn sent her home with all of my sock leftovers for her Log Cabin blanket. I do think that there's yarn from about 30 pairs of socks. She should be busy for awhile. Yup, anyone who's wondering if the thing actually exists, yes it does! And it's really cool too. Anyhoo, I'm tempted to cast on with this yarn but I really need to restrain myself. See, I have a bit of a problem: Four pairs of socks and three sweaters need to be finished. Oh and then there's a sweater for Royd I just started along with some potholders. And we won't even get into the yarn that has yet to be delivered for some summer knitting. Honestly, I think I need some intervention! The worst part of it all? All I want to do is spin, but I can't while keeping an eye on the kids. I've tried. It's really hard. In other news, the kids are all sick. Again. In the past month this is everyone's third cold. I'm getting pretty tired of wiping noses and listening to sickly whines. When will it end?!? On a brighter note I'll leave you with a picture of Marc. I've been trying to get a picture of him smiling and this is the closest I've come to yet.

Happy Roving

Why yes, that is a new template. I really like how it looks, but I'm still tweaking it. I appear to have a problem with the coding in the comments section. They show up incomplete, but are right when you click on the "post a comment" link. Anyone know how to fix this? This is way beyond my HTML knowledge. Although I did not sign up for Dye-o-Rama, I have been following enthusiastically. I just love seeing all the beautiful colors everyone has been creating and it's been very hard to just sit back and watch. I've begun investingating sources for yarn and which dyes would be best for me. I'm leaning towards WashFast Acid Dyes but have yet to order any. My itch came to a head yesterday when I just had to play. This is what I came up with using Koolaid. Ice Blue Lemonade, Orange, Lemonade and Artic Green Apple Grape, Lemonade, Strawberry, Black Cherry and Coral (lemonade and strawberry) Blue and Red Wilton dyes mixed to make purple The Wilton dyes broke in the bath which surprisingly turned green. Thankfully, I was dyeing this to go with some previously dyed purple and green roving. I love happy mistakes!

Another?

Go sign up. You know you're knitting them anyway!

Crushed Berries

Spinning in fits of five minutes here and ten minutes there has really paid off. In this time I have managed to get this done: 8 oz. Corriedale Roving from Winderwood Farms 664 yards, approx. 16 wpi Okay, I admit, I did wake up at 5am the other morning and get 2 hours in before I had to stop, but that was only once. Now what to do with it all? Maybe socks. Or a scarf. Or maybe I'll let it sit on the bookshelf for inspiration. I just have to promise myself not to start anything new until I get at least one pair of socks finished. I have three pairs in the works and can't quite get the energy to finish any of them. Instead I've been focusing what little time I do have on Ribby. One sleeve to go!

Mail Call

I finally got my butt to the post office and found lots of great stuff waiting for me. First, there was my socks from Kira. She made me Pomatomus using yarn from Ellen's 1/2 Pint Farm. My feet are so happy for soft, squishy and gorgeous yarn! Thank you sooooo much, I love them! I've been wanting to make these socks and now I don't have to. Next up is a little fiber. 8 oz. Merino, 8 oz. Merino/Mohair, 24 gms silk hankies, 1 pound Wensleydale Not pictured, 3 pounds of BFL I know I said that I have enough wool to hold me over for quite awhile, but I have a reason. See I needed just a few more ounces of BFL to complete a spinning project. I figured why not get the large lot and save a few bucks with the discount and shipping cost. Well, it kinda snowballed from there when I saw other things that I really liked. I just need to find somewhere to put it! Not to worry that all my fiber is just sitting around taking up space. It is getting spun up! The purple yarn is what I'm working on now and it's turning out quite nice. The other two skeins didn't turn out as well. I had dyed and spun the roving so that when it was knit up, it would stripe, which did turn out. The problem is that I had a hard time finding my groove with the Navajo plying on the first bobbin and it turned out pretty crappy. The original goal of this yarn was socks, but now I'm thinking I'll make some felted potholders. I need new ones anyway so it all works out.

Sockapaloooza

Pattern: Rib and Cable Socks, Interweave Knits Fall 2005 Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot "Wildflower" Close up of ribbing, first picture is better for color accuracy Okay, I know I haven't really talked about these all that much. It wasn't so much that I wasn't excited about making them, I just had a hard time focusing on them. My pal had specified that she didn't like lacy socks, so that narrowed down patterns by alot. I knew that I wanted to have some sort of ribbing to ensure a good fit, but couldn't decide upon a pattern. Initially I had dismissed this one since I had done these for my last pal. Finally I realized that it's a great pattern and there wasn't a reason not to make them. As far as picking the color goes, I goofed. I had meant to order Wild Raspberry, but clicked the wrong button. When I first got the yarn, I thought it looked funny but just tossed the yarn onto the shelf while I waited for the right needles to come in. Well, I didn't get to the knitting part until after Marc was born and then it was way too late to reorder the yarn. So, I forged ahead and think they turned out nice. If she hates 'em, well, then I can redo. I've been spinning whenever I get a few free minutes. Next time I post, I'll give you all the details...