Non-Knitters-Hrummmmph!

I had been meaning to post on this topic a while back but, you know, somehow there is never enough time just to blog!

So a non-knitting male friend of mine had seen my blog earlier on and wanted his friends to see it. He gets the addy (cuz, you know, he's male and a non-knitter, so he just could care less about my little ol' blog full of knitting and knitting-related stuff...he certainly didn't have it bookmarked! Matter of fact, he probably doesn't even know about bookmarks!)

OK, so he sees it again and is all disappointed that there aren't tons of projects posted all over my blog. "Just yarn..." Well excuuuse me! As much as you want to believe I just crank project upon project out, it takes a bit more time than that. Besides, part of "knitting" IS thinking about yarn, purchasing yarn, imagining all the yarny possibilities, finding just the right possibility, trying it out, realizing maybe it wasn't the 'right' possibility, frogging or not, figuring out where you left off...or not...you know? All the steps getting you to that final outcome-the finished product!

Some people just don't "get" it. I loves all you guys out there who read this and DO 'get' it! You are all wonderful people! Knitting is just so much deeper than some people realize...

It's NOT YPF!!!

But I'll share anyway because Terry would care...(Terry-I am assuming you are Blog-Free...?

I hadn't revealed my latest sock kit. I guess because so many people I know already have theirs up that I just figure it's old news. But here it is-and my pic of our pattern is from the back so that you can get a better view of the pattern (they use a larger pic on the back). The colorway is Firebird and the pattern is Summer Solstice, which is a slip stitch pattern. I am dying to start it, but with Nartian being the more focused one, she sets a good example for me and I am trying to at least finish my Horcrux before casting on for the Summer Solstice.

And remember how we were talking lemmings? Well, me following a lemming, I guess it make's me a lemming's lemming! As a result, a lovely new skein of merino/cashmere (Moonlight colorway) from The Knittery in Australia. If you can believe it, I only purchased one skein, despite the shipping...Yeah, every once in a rare while I behave! It helped that I wanted another merino/cashmere and I didn't truly 'love' any of the other colors left. Well-I did love a few, but they were probably too close to the color grouping I have waaaay too much of!

a Birthday Meme...

Stilaholic Nartian tagged me on this one...



The Birthday Meme rules are to go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday month and day only. Then post 3 events, 2 births and one holiday that occurred on your birthday, then tag 5 friends.



So...on July 26...

1788 - New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th state of the United States.
1803 - The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world's first public railway, opens in south London.

1847 - Liberia declares independence.



2 Births: 1943 - Mick Jagger, English musician (The Rolling Stones)-because everyone has to point out to me that it I share his birthday. He does have Leo-traits...

1964 - Sandra Bullock, American actress -yeah, she looks quite Leo-ish to me, too...and we were actually born the same day...(now I'm revealing my age!)



Based on the events I listed above, it stands to reason that one of the few Holidays on my birthday is Independence Day in Liberia!



Tagging 5 friends:

Most of my friends who even read this are blogless (or "blog-free" as Cat Bordhi would say...)
so I am sad and have no one to tag...sniff-sniff!

This one's for Alice...

I told Alice I'd post my new Blue Moon Fiber Arts "Socks that Rock" Backstabber colorway opened up. So here it is. Actually, the pic at their site is pretty accurate with the colors from what I can tell. But here is the skein opened up...

Some things just take time...

You have to know about the long road taken to knit these to appreciate them...Luckily, these were still a 'quick' knit and if they weren't, I probably would not have gone through this triple knitting exercise.

These are a pair of socks I finally finished for a little girl wanting "socks with no seams." Like I said before, a little kid says they want socks, says they'll wear them? I'm there!

So I don't do the recommended 'shop from my stash', as I think I had earlier explained. I knit one sock-the dastardly hole at the heel-flap rears its head-(is this a Cascade Fixation thing? It's my first time knitting socks with the stuff and so far, I'm a bit wary...). I push through the first sock anyway and start the second. I match up the cuffs, knit, match up the length, knit to the toes, kitchener up , weave in ends and SNIP that yarn! Yes, after closer investigation, I realize the two do NOT match up and the shorter length of the second looks quite obvious.

Well lucky me-I had purchased a second ball and one ball was enough for the pair! So I had committed the leftover yarn to my co-worker friend so that she could knit a pair for her grandaughter. Rather than tearing back another sock, I knit a third sock that -yes!- seems to match quite well. I gave the mismatched sock to my friend and now she only has to knit one sock. But she has to match it to mine! >;P

I know, I'm a big baby because I didn't have to frog a thing and I only had to knit one extra sock that is practically mini and done on a big gauge. I'm just bummed I wasn't more careful and that what I had hoped to whip out in a week, actually dragged out to 3 weeks.

So that's my story and I'm posting pics to prove I knit 3. They are small and they are DK weight, so it could be worse-like Nartian's ripping out a whole sock in smaller gauge! And no, I didn't play with my PhotoElements to fool ya'll...the striping is different in all three socks and it would have taken my inexperienced self waaaay longer to change the striping in the pics to fool you than to knit the third sock!-HA!

So much to share...

Sometimes there are days where I just have soooo much to share-and the time to do so! Actually, I realized I held out (I must be in denial that I could possibly have new yarn to post in a mere week's time...) and forgot about the pic I took of my STR order that arrived yesterday (well, and a couple from the prior week...). Of course, being a good friend, I have to post the pic so that Nartian can check it out, too. You know-I'd hate to have her wait until Monday to see it!-lol!

Brick, Silkie Socks that Rock (Puck's Mischief, Walk on the Wild Tide), Backstabber, Bambu (SeaBreeze).

And yet another post today...

because it's YPF!!! Well, no yarn-gasp! Well, actually, I can never disappoint! I have a couple of new rovings I bought from the Yarn Wench. (Yes, the Leming Syndrome that Nartian has made me aware of...) I popped over to Knitters Anonymous and read about how much Kristie 'loves' the Yarn Wench's rovings...so...I bought some! I really only purchased ONE...but then she posted more and so, of course, despite doubled shipping now...I bought ANOTHER. These are the 'Retro' and "Islander" colorways. So no new purchased yarn, but some roving and pics of some handspun yarn from the three lastest purchases of Funky Carolina "Toadstool", Yarn Wench "Retro" and Yarn Wench "Islander" rovings!

The colors appear in this pic a bit more browned out. Picture, if you will, a bit more yellow to these colors. So picture, if you will, the center "Retro" color REALLY looking, well..."Retro"-think back to the old days of harvest gold, avacado green and burnt orange kitchens/refridgerators...remember the upholstry? Kind of a furry, velvety type damask with the gold in it? Well, this yarn reminds me so much of that. It really is a swirl of those three colors! And definitely more gold/yellowish in color vs. the brown tone. And the Islander? Look above at the rovings, which are more true to the colors. I can hardly wait to get around to getting a whole braid spun, but since I am still only handspindling, progress is slow. Sock Camp was my splurge this year, setting the spinning wheel back for now. Definitely in the next two years!

Yay, ME!!!!

Well, I think if you read this blog, you know that I am not too clever in coming up with titles for my entries...Literary I am not. But-on to why I'm so proud of myself! I purchased, started and completed my Celtic Vest I purchased from One Planet Yarn and Fiber! AND...it fits! Here, pics of before and after blocking (or, what I referred to as 'reverse felting', since the wool/silk blend actually "grows" by about 20% when blocked!

I'm of pudgy, apple-y proportions, despite the waifly proportions of my little representative doll (but hey, they don't give pudgy body options when you make them and they are fantasy 'dolls', afterall...not look-alikes!), but hey-the vest fits and I like it! LOVE the colors and the feel of the fiber, too. Now-to either finish the ever-haunting sleeves of my origami wrap or to get moving on the Ribby Pully. My one excuse for not progressing on Ribby-Pully is that I'm waiting for Stilaholic Nartian to finish some things so we can do a KAL with it. But then again, considering how I still haven't finished my Kews and Nartian breezed through those, I could probably use all the head start I can get!-lol!

Have I reached SABLE?

Well, I think I reached SABLE (Stash Aquisition Beyond Life Expectancy) a looong time ago, but if not, I probably clinched it at Creative Accents. Well, today I went to tea to celebrate my friend's birthday. NEVER go out with a group of knitters because you will inevitably have cause to go the LYS (ImagiKnit)...which we DID...And I could not pass up some of the Jitterbug colorways that were in stock! And they also have the Sheep Shop Yarn Company bulky yarn on sale for $10 a skein. What was I to do?! Had to get some for a future vest! Yeah, I'm on a vest kick now.

Many pics to sort out-sure wish I were better at editing these pics and such...

OK, the first is today's acquisition. The second is my Smooshy acquisition from Knitter's Palette. I was a bit disappointed in the In Vino Verite colorway-not as rich as I'd hoped, but just as Smooshy! The next pile is my order from One Planet Yarn and Fiber-a Celtic Vest Kit, roving in Toadstool colorway, and Yarn Botanika Radiance in Amber. All gorgeous!

So...back to vests...I started the Celtic Vest kit! And it is coming right along. Let's see if I actually complete it!

Lastly, ONE Horcrux sock finished today! Now to cast on for the second!

Now What?

I just finished spinning and plying the last of the 2oz. of Chasing Rainbows merino/bombyx! I figure it totals around 150 yards. So what now? I was thinking lacey shawl shaped scarf, though I'm not sure if it is even enough for that..

Any ideas or pattern suggestions? I counted around 95+ strands at about 1 1/2 yds, each. I didn't figure out the wpi yet, but I think it is maybe DK I guess other options at this time is do nothing. Just toss it in with my other spun stash and maybe it will look good with something else I spin down the line and it can be part of a shawl...Well, not like I don't have other projects looming at this time...

An ALMOST Finished Object!

Boy, I sure love the quickie projects! I started this last Monday and got up to this point last night-that would be five days! A more productive knitter could have done this in a day or two, but I just don't have that kind of time to work on my projects. The fact that our household has been sick and the Little Emperor has had a fever over the past couple of days also boosted my down time to knit!

I didn't care for the ribbed cuffs and hadn't read about doing the provisional cast-on until after this was started, so this is the 3/4 length sleeve version. I may still try and pick up and knit the edge of the sleeves. Another thought is that I may just do a crochet edge at the neckline and sleeves in the cocoa color, since I like having the cocoa frame the brighter colors.

I found the collar suggestion (thanks for the tips search suggestion, Carla!), but I'm not sure if I'll go that route.

I also committed to making a pair of socks for a little girl. She has wanted seamless socks and well-if a little kid wants them and says they'll wear them, who am I to say 'no'!-LOL! She didn't ask me to make them-I offered!

Now, the sensible knitter would go shop in their stash first, which I did. The little girl's mom had said that yes, it probably was best to avoid wool. Well, I knew I had a bunch of Fixation and Esprit that would be just fine. I found a ball of pink (the child's preferred color), though it was a pale pink and I just didn't think it would match her mother's 'edgy' style. So, like any good knitter, I used it as an excuse to go check out Article Pract and their on-going Memorial Day Sale! I must say that I was rather behaved, having left with 2 balls of Fixation, 2 skeins of DK twisted Lorna's Laces (45% off-how could I resist?), and a coin purse that I couldn't resist. No other yarn.

Am I proud of myself? Hell yeah! Did I really *need* to go there in the first place? Well, that's not the point now, is it?

I did receive my two skeins of Smooshy, which I will have to flash for Terry. And I also completed a scarf that I made from some recently acquired yarn from the big Creative Accents Closing Sale Purchase, so I will have to post those later...