New Day, New Post! YPF!

I just received my April Blue Moon Fiber Arts "Rockin' Sock Club" kit yesterday-in time for YPF!!! The colorway is from the new "Tides" series and this colorway is "Walking on the Wild Tide". This is not just any old sock yarn, either. It is a new release (and we, the Notorious Sock Knitters, the first to receive it!) and is called "Silkie Socks that Rock", a merino/silk twisted blend!

So...I played a bit with my pics and was able to incorporate my skein of Silkie STR into one pic representing the skein as received, spread out (so you can see the colors in the colorway), then after I hand-wound it into a ball!

I also thought I'd show my Mystic Sea socks I'm working on in the med. STR "Lunasea" colorway...this colorway is really awesome! The more I knit with it, the more I enjoy it! The different colors that pop up and how the play alongside each other, changing their tones...I see dark teal, flecks of black, blackish teal, lavendar turning to grey (or is it grey turning to lavendar?), seafoam green, sage, yellow-green, pink...pretty amazing! And the pattern comes out so great. As for the color, you probably can't see what I do from this pictures, but at least you can check out the cool way the colors are pooling and how the pooling is interacting with the pattern texture! I'm really enjoying knitting these socks!

One last thing I had to share...embarassing, but at least it is progress...a moment I have been waiting for-to post pics of an almost-done sweater! (OK, this is partially to motivate me to finish this item! How's that for motivation?) It is the Origami Wrap Top I started (I don't know when!) and am hoping to soon finish. The body has been done for well over a year, but the sleeves were the big thorn in my side...I found an error (well, there are actually two, but I won't get into it right now...) and will have to frog back a few rows, but I am sooo close to starting the decreasing for the ragland shaping! The top came out really bright purple in the photo; the sleeves are a bit closer to what the color looks like in person. The pattern and 'yarn' are from Art Fibers here in San Francisco. The 'yarn' is "Origami", a paper yarn that kinda knits for crap since it doesn't stretch or glide along the needles well, but still cool to knit up!

Hmmm...that lasted-what?-a day or two...?

Well, here I was so good passing up a LYS opportunity yet when I went to drop off a couple of things to Nathania (you know, I had to drop her stuff off to her at Purlescence...), I of *course* had to purchase a skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts' "Twister" in the Puck's Mischief colorway. But the inspiration of being at Purlescence and being among all the lovely "Ribbi Pulli"pullovers, soon made me realize that I, too, would need to knit one for *me*! (You may or may not recall, but posted some pics on April 14 which included a lovely pic of Nathania wearing her Ribby Pulli whilst holding her lovely chicken 'medal'...) And I could not possibly pass up Jitterbug in the Castagna colorway...

So the Cascade 220 in the 'perfect' coordinating colorway is on order for me, and I walked out with a new pattern and two skeins of yarn! I swear, I am definitely off the yarn for a bit now, otherwise I will really be in financial misery...I do have a kid to feed...!

Well, it IS YPF!!!

So I think I'd better flash a bit o' stash!

You may have wondered, was all that STR for me? Well, heck yeah! Almost...here is what I ended up with after camp...5 STR lightweight (Rare Gems earlier shown with the Horcrux pattern, Obsidian, Cockamamie, Footsie Foo*, and another Rare Gems), a couple of Mill Ends STR in med. weight, a Rare Gems med wt, and (not shown) 2 skeins of Seduction in Typhoon Tina and Musk. I'll post those later...

Also shown here are two new skeins of Fleece Artist-one Sock Merino in the "Paris" colorway (I loved Nartian's so much I had to get one right away from the same source to ensure our dye lots would be the same!) and Sea Wool in the "Origin" colorway.

I have to share that my yarn cravings must be well met since Nartian and I opted for a good lunch today when our other option was to check out a somewhat LYS that is closing! How's that for a hidden benefit of Camp Cockamamie?! ;)

*interestingly, my pic really washed out the green colors. There is a very pretty, somewhat subtle limey green color to Footsey Foo; when knit, it blends beautifully with the lighter shades.

Opinions welcome...

Not like I need to be starting new socks, but I am dying to work on this pattern! Six Sox KAL is doing this one and I am thinking I'd like to use one of these yarns. Quite close in the colors that are incorporated, yet different. The one on the left is Fleece Artist "Mermaid" colorway; the one on the right is Socks that Rock in a "rare gems" colorway. The pattern is "Horcrux" by Susan Pierce Lawrence. Not sure that you can view the pic on the pattern well. Maybe I should have seen if I could find a page to direct you to...if so, I'll post it. Any preferences out there?

Proud mom...

Of a 7th place 1st Grade Winner of the San Francisco Dental Society's poster contest!

And now, to show a few chickens...

I just popped over to Yarn Harlot's blog...is the knitting world now going to embrace the knitted chicken and start knitting chickens? I tell ya, it's crazy...

But I feel even more important because I was THERE...I saw and touched these knit chickens!

So above are a few that maybe didn't make the 'big blogs', but that's ok...they can appear here on my humble blog!

Mine is the fat one above, on a wood table. ..

What a great time!

Well, camp has ended and I am heading home! There were so many great people and it was sooo much fun! The Blue Moon Fiber Arts gals are absolutely wonderful and really had such great activities and workshops planned for us!

Here's a bit of a summary:

We had four workshops and were broken into 4 tribes, rotating through the various workshops. I was a Chickabiddie. The other tribes were Rhode Island Reds, Cluckers and...hmmm...I can't remember the 4th right now!

Prior to the start of our workshops, a special Blue Moon shop was set up to provide all our class material needs-you know, just in case we may have forgotten needles or something....Yeah, or SOMETHING! I came fully equipped, but it didn't stop me from purchasing some Seduction, STR and mill ends that were being offered!-YAY! Too tempting! There were also some tres-cool patterns, sheep-to-shoe kits, books, bags, knit pouches, t-shirts, etc...

My tribe attended a Stitch and Gossip with Cookie and Nathania. We worked on a charity blanket by each knitting a square in the round, joining 4 into one large square, then running a circ along each edge of the square so that four of us could knit on the blanket at one time. (THAT'S what one of my earlier pic is showing...). And, of course, we were using heavy wt. STR which was awesome to knit up!

Our next workshop was with Cat Bordhi who had us knit a mini sock, toe-up, using a cute pattern she wrote. She taught us Judy's provisional cast on and introduced us to her left and right increase technique, which will be in her next book. Other than owning Cat's "Socks Soar on Two Needles" and visiting her site and making her cute little sock bookmark, I really didn't know much about Cat other than what other books she had written and that she is the Moebis woman! Little did I know what an entertaining, brilliant woman she is. Truly a gem and she lives in the San Juan Islands, so we even got Cat Comments added to our Whale Watching tour! Too fun!

In the evening, we had campfire! We exchanged handmade chickens and I have to confess that luck and good fortune has been on my side these days, as I scored THE BEST chicken ever! Lisa K. made a Hippy Chicken-I'll post a pic eventually, but boy was it detailed! The chicken looked like it was felted or sewn from felt; then she crocheted a mini-potholder vest for it, put a leather with beads headband on it. It had mini-sunglasses, a cool fimo necklace, sock knitting in it's wing...just FABULOUS! Cat and Yarn Harlot Stephanie did a joint project and did a presentation on the evolution of their chicken and the secret details for making an authentic felted egg-complete with olfactory effects!

The next day was whale watching-we cruised on out into the San Juan Islands and DBF and DS were even allowed to join in! Everyone sat around chatting and knitting. We even had a special "Mystic Sea" pattern that Cass wrote that was our 'official' whale outting pattern! The prescribed yarn we used was med. wt. Lunasea, but, of course, we could have used any colorway!

Another fun evening at "campfire" when storyteller (and good friend of Cat's), Antionette (need to check her last name!) entertained us with two stories. We then headed out to roast marshmellows over an open fire. Yes, folks, a REAL OPEN FIRE! Real flames, I mean...real coals, I mean...real rowdy folk, I mean...

The next day workshops for my tribe started with Tina's workshop where we learned about colors, dying, BMFA colorways, Tina inspiration, and where we got to play with colors using pastels and yarn! I enjoyed this sooo much! So inspiring! Plus, what was fun was seeing so many different colorways and socks and balls of BMFA yarn in a huge pile!

Stephanie's class was a blast! As she stated in class, "Cat is the yin, I am the Yang..." She and Cat are so complimentary to each other in their styles and yet you can agree with both! Stephanie discussed sock construction with the use of very few tools and-get this-no tape measure! Of course, she was thoroughly entertaining in her presentation.

So we then followed classes with a second Olympics event! (Did I already mention that we had had one the day before?--"Underwater Knitting", of which Nathania got the Gold Medal!) This time, it was "Paired Knitting" where a paired team had to knit together, each used only one hand and had to knit as many rows as possible. I had the honor of getting to knit with Cookie, though I think I slowed her down! It was all great fun, though!

And if you think the Yarn Harlot is entertaining, you really ought to experience Cat and her together! There was even a separate competition between the two of them for fastest knitting-Stephanie on DPNs, Cat on 2 Circs! While knitting, they proceeded to place themselves in yoga poses and even posed themselves into a knit stitch! Too hilarious!

Grand finale was our banquet followed by our fashion show and awards presentation! Oh-and each tribe even made up their own camp song, though my tribe fell short in that arena! Everyone elses' songs were clever and adorable, though! What would camp be without awards? No, I didn't get one, (I never do, but I kinda like being somewhat non-descript! That way I freak people out more as they get to know me!-lol!) The benefit is that I got to be a big "L" (for Looser!-NO, they didn't label us that, I did!) which meant we (those who had not gotten an award or prize) got to line up and choose from an assortment of goodies! I am now the proud owner of an Addi lace 47" size 1 circ!-HA! (see? Good fortune shineth upon me!) The fashion show was quite fun, too! There were such wonderful items modeled for us!

Well, I've gone on and on and now will stop! I'll try and add some pics!

No whales, but lots of Sea Lions!

It's really all about the pictures...

so let me just load them up before blogging, in case I don't get a chance to do more before our dinner break is over-we have a full schedule!

I can't believe the trouble I'm having with loading these pics and this connection!

OK-classes were fun! Nathania and Cookie had us knit up squares for a charity blanket, so four of us ended up knitting on the one blanket to 'grow' it! Too fun!

I forgot to post a pic of our official t-shirt and camp name badge. Other pics: early morning view from my room, 'campfire' last night, the big shopping haul!

Today it was whale watching, though we didn't get to see any whales. There was an underwater knitting olympic and a concert and later we will be having another campfire with story telling!

More pics later, but maybe not til I'm back! Depends on if time permits.

CAMP COCKAMAMIE!!!

I'm heeeeeerrrre! And am thrilled to be a part of Camp Cockamamie! We had our dessert reception tonight-yummy! And I FINALLY got to meet Tina face-to-face! She is just as wonderful as I KNEW she IS, but there is just nothing like puttng a name to a face and finally meeting in person! (BIG HIGHLIGHT #1 for me with camp!)

So I'm sure you all want to know what's going on, right? Well, besides coffee and dessert (well, I actually was talked into -ow! Twist my arm!-a Bloody Mary prior to the reception by a new STR buddy, Sharon. She and Vicky are here together from Texas...) It is still early on in camp-pre-camp time, really, but still the energy is high!

Stephanie (Yarn Harlot) will be teaching a class, as well as Cat Bordhi, Tina and the Sockateers. Cookie and Nathania will also be teaching a class! I had a feeling they were more than just attending camp!

We each got a camp bag (and of course I had to include the pics for all of you!) And what was in this bag?...A chicken chucker! Another notions bag! A skein of STR in "Cockamamie"! And what was in the notions bag?...We got card, Shakespeare Insult Gum, and the most awesomely adorable stitch markers! (had to include a close up, cuz that's how I do...)

Enjoy! I need to be good and go to bed so I can be up early to buy yarn!-er, I mean have breakfast...

Don't be hatin' on me...

OK, it was not only an excellent mail day on Thursday, but an extra-special mail day on Friday because I received my Rockin' Sock Club 2007 *Contest #1 prizeS!!! I received TWO skeins of lightweight Socks that Rock in two of the new colorways-Lunasea and...(dum-dah-dah-dum....!)...MYSTIC KELP!!!! How cool is that?

I poured over name after name for the contest that I came up with, settled on "Mystic Kelp", which made it to the final vote, only it didn't make the mark! The majority of the other suggested yarn names were really clever and punny, but my little old 'mystic kelp' made the vote list, so considering it was maybe only one of two or three non-punny names, I was just flattered to see it on the list! I was listed as a winner, as I believe my name was randomly drawn from the entries.

Well as it turned out, I'm assuming that my name suggestion must have been "Dyer's Choice", as Tina (Fabu-Dytress Extraordinaire) came up with a "Mystic Kelp" yarn! YOWZA!!! I'm too thrilled and flattered!

And (as you see...) heeeere they are! (Again, I don't know how to work around the picture layouts, so they are kinda out of order....) I showed the skeins twisted and opened up, in case you like to get a better idea of the color proportions...

*BTW, there was a post last week that there are still spaces left in the club, so if you still want to get in on the club, contact them and see if there is still room!

Just in time for YPF!!!

Look what arrived today! It's a happy mail day and arrived just in time for YARN P0 rn Friday!!! Above, my Etsy purchases from last week: Pigeon Roof Studios "Plum Tortie", The Fiber Denn's "Silver Forest", and Sanguine Griffon's Traveller sock yarn in "Mali'! (And it looks like they just put up MORE in their Etsy store!-hint-hint, Nartian!-lol!) The Silver Forest proved to be more green than the silver/gray I had imagined it would be. Fine with me! I love it and I love greens! Mali had less burgundy/brown than I thought it would-there are actually bits of bright yellow, fuschia, cherry red and hot pink mixed with a very medium gingery-brown. No complaints here, either, since alot of my picks lately have had more brown than expected.

Sanguine Gryphon wins out on packaging-nice box and beautiful calligraphy hand-addressed to me! Not that the other two packages weren't nicely packaged, but I love the tags on the yarn and the calligraphy! The Fiber Denn labels on the yarn were lovely, as well. And yet, I just am so impressed with the Pigeon Roof Studios color combinations.

Oh...and I just wound the new Fleece Artist in Rainforest! The teal adds the highlight to the foresty green/gold combination and looks spectacular! Yes, true SABLE (Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy) going on here!

Sometimes it's the little things that matter...

So these pics are all out of order, and until I can figure out how best to work around them, you will have to challenge yourself to sort out the pictures. I KNOW you can do it! It's not that hard...

Little things can mean the most. Like this little zip lock baggie my son brought home in his backpack one day. On it is written, "It is for Lesly". I ask my son, (who doesn't always communicate well verbally) who gave it to him. He says, "It's from Naema". So basically, my son's classmates are sending yarn home to me through him!-lol!

I always have a sock to work on when I accompany the class on their fieldtrips, so they have all come to understand that that is just what I do-knit!

So I decided to make his classmate a small Calorimetry to wear. Let's just hope his other classmates don't start sending home random balls of yarn!

Little things II...one dishcloth knit from a Monthly Dishcloth KAL I recently joined. Nothing like the feeling of satisfaction that completing a project brings to you. Well, I was so frustrated working on the Inside Out socks, that it was such a great feeling of accomplishment to knit this one single dishcloth! I even started on a second one for the April KAL!

Lastly, a little more stash enhancement-from Little Knits! Some Fleece Artist Merino in Rainforest and some Crystal Palace Bamboo Cotton in Chocolate Almond! I think the Monkey socks may be next up!

One week to go til Camp Cockamamie! Can't wait! And there will be YARN for SALE! Can you imagine?!...

Not so appetizing, but what the heck-other people do it!

OK, so my cooking isn't so 'Gourmet Cover-worthy', but I still thought I would share what kept me from my knitting this weekend! (see? this is actually knitting-related!) Well, I did actually work a bit on my 'top secret' homework assignment for Camp Cockamamie, but I didn't work on much else.

We attended a Seezdah Bedar celebration today at a friend's house. It is the 13th day of Narouz (Persian New Year). It was potluck, so I decided to make a roast turkey breast with sage/grand marnier and an orzo salad. I put the feta around the edge of the orzo salad, in case anyone was vegan, but then again-does it matter if it is on the same plate? I didn't mix them together...Well, at least I was making an effort to accomodate a more narrowed vegetarian diet...

So this is what I came up with. I know, the turkey looks a bit pale, but I was shooting for cooked and tender, not browned and dry. Besides, one thing close friends know about me (and relentlessly tease me about)--my oven is broken. Has been for over 6 years! I basically have survived by using my wonderful toaster oven! Ta-dah! When I need to do anything bigger than this (for the most part, this large 1/2 breast took up the whole oven), I use my parents' oven--nice having them close by!

So you see? This stuff is much more challenging for me than meets the eye!

Etsy'ing around...

OK, I've become an Etsy ho'! In one week, I have placed 4 orders! But I have to say, I am the proud owner of a POODLE crochet pattern and these lovely stitch markers! And soon, I will have two more pairs of 'Socks in Waiting'--I'm such a sucker!

So...after reading Cookie's blog, I had to go visit The Sanguine Griphon and got some of this (Traveller Handpainted Merino sock yarn in the color MALI). Not only that, but I had earlier seen this "Pigeon Roof Studios" yarn in what I thought was an interesting colorway and marked it as a 'favorite'...it was now SOLD OUT! So I panicked! I clicked on the store and found yet a new addition-so of course I had to buy it should it end up sold out!-HA! Sickness, I tell ya! No sooner do I think I'm laying off yarn purchases (well, at least 'til Sock Camp...), that I go and buy MORE...! Hmmph! I shouldn't be confessing this here, since there IS one person who is keeping tabs on me and will probably chastize me about this! (And I'm NOT referring to my bud, Nartian, since she's an enabler and will be quite interested in seeing my yarn when it arrives and will be just as happy as I am that I have expanded my sock knitting options!-LOL! She understands...)

So...I guess I'd better put in my lovely stitch marker pics, in case the link didn't work...

Sock Camps a-Comin'!

I am so excited that Sock Camp is coming up SOON! I can hardly wait! We were given a homework assignment and sent an information packet, so that really got all of us campers revved up!

I had to stop my Inside Out sock so that I could concentrate on my homework.

Nothing interesting, really, to post. But here's my Little Emperor's coloring contest submission...

The dark pink over the bunny's eyes is a 'mask'. His stuff gets more and more vibrant and interesting.

Scout Rocks!

So here is my new Bamboo/Merino hand-dyed from Scout! I had originally wanted the Merino/tencel blend in the Biblioteque colorway. I instead got the merino and now this bamboo blend! Cool to see the color difference, huh? Same colorway, (Bibliteque), but this reads much more brown/beige. Now to plot what it shall become...

And as for my poor Inside/Out sock, I'm afraid progress is slow. I got caught on the reverse heel flap and had to tear back. Funny how one can look at something and intuitively know it is not right (like in this case, the heel was just too wide...) and STILL ignore it! I just kept on going but finally got smart enough to stop and realize that frogging was inevitable.

I'll keep plugging away, though interest wanes!

Do I LIE or what?

Bwahhhh ha ha ha!!! I just re-read an old post from January 16 of this year...
http://tapmouseknits2.blogspot.com/2007/01/sometimes-i-get-stuff-done.html

I actually was excited to complete my ONE toe-up sock with reverse heel flap, yabber on about how I loved that reverse heel flap, and even had the nerve to state that I think I am a "big girl" now and can do the math for future toe-up socks using this heel!-LOL!!! NO, NO--ROFLMAO!!!! For if it were true, this Monsoon Inside Out Sock that I have decided to knit in this way would not have it's heel currently frogged back!

Well...I guess it was a good thing this pattern is toe-up because I clearly need more practice with this method! Maybe I needed to try and do the math conversion again instead of using someone else's mathematical chart! That's what I get for being my LAZY-A_ _ self!-HA!

Rockin' along...

So I'm slower than the rest, but figured I might as well show some pics of my Monsoon "Inside Out" sock I'm working on, cuz the flashing of the yarn is quite interesting...The top pic is the insole; bottom pic is the sole. I always confuse the term "instep". I somehow psychologically think "arch" when I see "instep". But I KNOW 'sole', so that is the only thing that saves me!

I don't mind the way the yarn is knitting up. All I ask is that the second sock NOT perfectly stripe! I'm not super anal, and don't need complete 'matchy-matchy", but I don't think I could deal with stripes on one, flashing/pooling on the other.

So far, I started the toes on size 1 needles, tore back and re-knit using Inox steel 00 (yes, I finally figured it out with the help of Nartian!), and switched after about a couple of inches to the 000 (Susuan Bates). I think I ended up with this 'interesting' patterning because my tension goes in and out of looser and taut. It looks like it tried to stripe in a big, stripey way, but the gauge was just not staying tight enough. Oh well...I still love them and hope that the reversed heel flap (ala Widdershins, ala Diamonte) will work out. I decided to garter stitch the gussett increase to try and keep the look consistent with the toes. We'll see...

A bit of time to post...

...but no time to post pics right now...

I started my "Inside Out" sock from my first 2007 Rockin' Sock Club kit. A bit of a pain having to figure out gauge. OK, I"m lying-I decided I'd skip gauge and go right to using size 1 needles.

The toe started looking way to huge, so I hopped down to what I believe are 00 dpns, but could be 0...Yeah, I'm that bad!-lol!

Progress news: I finished the black onyx footies for DBF and will start matching ones for our son. And yes, I supposed I will work more on the Inside Out...Can I confess something else about that sock? After tearing out trial 1 and starting over, I got 1/2 way through the toe, started the second half and had to tear back again! The double wrapping was off...so basically, I've made near to no progress on them!

Meanwhile, Stilaholic Nartian was ripping through her first one-I swear, she looked like she was nearing the toes this afternoon. I wouldn't be surprised if she shows up tomorrow with a finished one in hand tomorrow!

Ah, well...that's why we are all different, right? One day, I, too will progress further!