Wednesday, May 28, 2008

sock jinx

I am sure of it. I have cast on two pair of socks in the past month or so and both of them have had issues of sorts. First it was the Baudelaires knit in a poor choice of yarn. I realized I did not like the yarn/pattern combo about 4" into the pattern, and I should have frogged them at that point, but I think I was in denial. Into the frog pond they went. The yarn is off to a hilarious new home and something different is coming my way in return. (Go read her blog, you can thank me later for brightening your day.)

Then, bored with all my current projects, I decided to cast on for the Entrelac Socks. These I loved! I realized while knitting them that if I ever finished them I would be the proud owner of $60 socks (three skeins of Colinette Jitterbug). While this sounds posh, I also realized that there would not be too many places that I could/ would wear them. While they were very interesting to knit, they were a bit funky for my tastes. Did that stop me? Of course not! I knit them all the way to the heel, they looked great until I realized that the heel was actually going to be on the side of my sock instead of the bottom. I have no idea what I did to make that happen. So before I could even take a picture I frogged it too. Good news is the Jitterbug is a very hardy yarn and stood up well to both the knitting and frogging. This is another pattern that I would like to try again, just in a less expensive yarn.

Good thing it is barefoot weather and I won't be needing socks until September!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

condensed blogging picture version

Here are my "dirty socks"- as you can see from the closeups, all the details are mushed. This pattern is too pretty to be lost in this yarn. It's the frog pond for these babies. I will knit them again, because I really like the pattern.
My Woolee Winder arrived shortly after my last post. Although it does not match my newly stained wheel, it has made so much difference in the quality of my spinning. Just look at that even bobbin! The fiber I am spinning is merino from handpaintedyarns.com in color Ivory. It is so soft and a pure joy to spin.
Savannah was such an enjoyable knit.
I love this section in the center that is slightly longer than the main part of the shawl. It provides just a little more coverage just where it is needed.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

condensed blogging

Wow, has it really been an entire month!? I have been composing blog posts in my head for the past month, but just can't seem to find the mojo to write them down. So, instead, here is a list of all I have been up to in the past month...
  • I turned 30 (in case you were wondering, yes, I did freak out a bit. There was quite a bit of soul searching on my part- the 'where am I now compared to where I thought I should be at this age'. I am a bit better now.)

  • I made a few birthday purchases.... a pound and a half of roving for spinning, a Woolee Winder (I still do not have it. I placed my order before the last big fiber festival and my order was lost! I should have it by today.), a spinning book and a big bottle of Belvedere Vodka.

  • I stained my spinning wheel (after a year of her being naked in my living room, I felt it was time.)

  • I finally finished SOTSii- Savannah. I love this stole and have worn it so much- It is a little extra special to me because the Girl Wonder's middle name is Savannah.

  • The family and I took a trip to Florida to visit family for a long weekend (Sarasota is such a beautiful city!) then on the way home we surprised the kids with three nights in Disney World. (We visited the Magic Kingdom and Typhoon Lagoon and had so.much.fun. It was worth every penny and we will go again. I can't imagine going for an entire week- we were beat after two days!)

  • I knit 20" (toe to cuff) of Baudelaire (I was planning knee socks, but hate the yarn for the sock. While knitting in Disney the only comment about my knitting was from a small boy (maybe 4) that looked at my knitting, looked up at me and said, "That is a dirty sock." To his credit, it does look dirty with all the bits of tweed in the yarn. I really like the pattern and will make it again with a better yarn.

  • I cast on for the Entrelac Socks. I have 4 balls of Colinette Jitterbug in my stash that I originally bought to make a striped sweater. I am about half through two skeins and am not in love with the sweater so far, so I decided to try the socks, see which I like more then frog the other one.

  • Oh yeah, and all the mundane day to day stuff, house cleaning, cooking, packing, unpacking, gardening, grass mowing, ceiling painting (I almost cried over that one! As my MIL likes to say "I cussed that paint onto the ceiling!"), schooling the kiddos, and I lost 6 lbs.

I will have to show ya'll pictures another day, school starts in a few minutes and I have a ton of yard work to do today. Hope ya'll have a great week and I look forward to catching up with all of your blogs soon! I am so behind!