Raining Yarn

Here and there I’ve picked up some new yarns over the past few weeks. Even though I am sticking to a new budget, there was a little surplus with holiday money to buy a few new goodies.

First up, I finally got my hands on some Madelinetosh Sock. I’ve only heard great things about her colors and I am very impressed. This is the pheasant colorway.

Madelinetosh Sock - Pheasant

I also found some Malabrigo Sock in the Turner colorway. The buzz on this yarn has been amazing. I wasn’t sure it would live up to the hype, but the second I saw and felt it, I was in love.

Malabrigo Sock - Turner

A couple days ago I finally made it to the local yarn store, Twisted. Everyone in my knitting group had told me how great it is and I totally agree! The selection of yarns was great and the service was very friendly. Cori didn’t have quite as much fun as I did since I wouldn’t let her pull every skein out of the cubbies. 🙂 While it was hard to choose, I finally selected two different colors of Merilon sock yarn from a local yarn dyer, Black Trillium Fibre Studio.

Black Trillium Fibre Studio - Merilon Sock - Cordovan

Black Trillium Fibre Studio - Merilon Sock - Rainbow Black

Lastly, I’ve acquired a little more Dream in Color Classy as I have plans for a couple more things for Cori and a little sweater for a friend’s soon-to-arrive baby boy. I absolutely love the new solid colors of Classy. Purple Rain is an amazingly dark purple – it’s almost black. Gorgeous!

Dream in Color Classy - Purple Rain

Dream in Color Classy - Into the Mystic

Dream in Color Classy - Romeo Blue (Hard to get the blue right in the photo. Nice dark, blue).

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Not Really Knitting

• Went to Colorado for my brother’s wedding. Wonderful time, beautiful wedding.

Step-mom, nephew, brother, new sister-in-law, & dad

• Got home and went to the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival in Canby, OR. Lots of adorable fiberful animals. Showed remarkable restraint and only bought one skein of Socks that Rock!

Matt with sheep

Socks that Rock Rare Gem (dark green with some purple)

• Very little knitting due to teething 6 month old baby.

Momentarily happy teething baby

• Finished 1/2 a pair (1 sock). Had hoped to finish 2 pairs in September. 😦

A Swell Yarn Shop Skinny Duet in Candy Corn.

• Soon we will be leaving for another trip (Hello, Illinois!).

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It’s a Wrap

Offset Wraplan

Pattern: Offset Wraplan by Sara Morris

Size: 9-12 month

Yarn: A Swell Yarn Shop Original Duet in Hip Chic

Needles: US 2.5/3.0 mm

Start Date: July 18, 2008

End Date: July 20, 2008

Comments: When I saw that someone had knit this little cardigan using Duet I knew I had to too. I was a bit nervous about knitting the 9-12 month size, but I wanted to use as much of the Duet as I could and have the cardigan big enough for Cori to wear once it gets colder. Anxiously I knit all weekend ending up with just scraps leftover at the end. Hooray!

I knit the whole body first saving the sleeves for last as I figured I could always make it a short sleeve cardigan if I ran out of yarn. Using my handy dandy kitchen scale I was able to determine the exact amount I could use on each sleeve so that at least they would be even. In the end I was able to knit them with all the necessary decreases. Another hooray!

I skimped a little on the borders as I knew that is where I would have trouble for sure as there is only so much contrast color (the brown). I knit about 6 rows for the top, bottom, and cuffs, but did 9 for the plackets. I got completely off on the collar and it came out more a seed stitch then a mistake rib, but it looks cute, so it’s staying.

If anyone else is brave enough to try to knit the wraplan using one skein of Original Duet, please be aware that even a couple yards difference or a gauge difference or a slightly longer body, etc., could cause a yarn shortage. Knit the 9-12 month size at your own risk! 8)

Back to Summer of Sock 2008 knitting…

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Mystery

I spent all weekend knitting, but not socks! I still have to wash and block it so until then, can you guess what I’ve knit?

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New Arrivals

I am on a yarn diet. Babies absorb a lot of money and yarn is a luxury so I’m cutting back on my intake. I am only getting yarn now from 1) the sock clubs I’m in that I joined earlier, 2) through trades, or 3) from money I make from destashing. With that said, their have been a few new arrivals in the house.

To begin with here is the first skein of yarn in the Knitterly Things Vesper Sock Yarn Club Summer 2008. The color is Lovely Lollipop Sky and it is so perfect for summer. Along with the yarn, there was a little button and a tape measurer. I am already looking forward to the next installment.

The next yarn was tough to get, but I lucked out and got the heads up right when the store was restocking. It’s a skein of Twisted Fiber Art yarn. I got the Netherfield colorway on their Arial base yarn (superwash merino). No wonder this stuff flies off the virtual shelves. It’s so squishy and lovely.

The colors are muted and it is one of their “mutating variegate” colorways so the colors will shift as you knit. They also included a nice little sample in their Giles color.

I was then lucky enough to find a skein of Twisted Kabam! (their bamboo blend) being destashed on Ravelry. The color is Firefly and I think it is such a neat colorway.

Finally, a skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Silkie in the color Hoofle Foofle came from a trade. I have been really drawn to the color yellow lately. Not sure why, but suddenly I’m buying shirts and yarn in yellow. Anyone else noticing they are being drawn to a particular color lately?

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Summer of Socks 2008

Summer of Socks 2008 officially began this past Saturday. For those of you who don’t know, Summer of Socks (SOS) is a summer long knit-along for socks to celebrate summer while preparing for winter. The festivities include prizes for different sock events like most socks knitted or random drawings for completed socks in two week periods. I will not even be trying for most socks knitted, but I am going to try to complete at least one pair every two weeks to go in for those prize drawings. I spent Friday winding the yarn I plan on knitting for SOS (Pictured above. From the left, clockwise: Socks that Rock (STR) Torridon, Yarn Chef Minestrone In the Pond, STR Foo Foo, Lorna’s Laces Simply Socks, STR Little Bunny Foo Foo, sKnitches Rugby, Wollmeise Poison Nr. 5 dunkel).

I cast on for two different pairs on Saturday. My first pair is my concentration pair. These are the socks that take a little bit more focus. I chose the Zombie pattern and my Wollmeise Poison Nr. 5 dunkel. I hadn’t knit with Wollmeise before, but now I know what all the fuss is about. Wow! What a nice spin and stitch definition! I knew I had to pick a dark yarn for these socks (who ever heard of a light happy Zombie?) and I am so glad the yarn and pattern are working so well together. The only drawback to this pairing is that I cannot work on these at night. I do not have a lamp close by in the living room and my eyes just can’t cope with the little black stitches in low light.

The second pair of socks I cast on for on Saturday are a plain vanilla sock using another first time yarn, sKnitches Syncopation in the Rugby color. Another winner! This yarn has a nice texture and the colors are so much fun. I love doing simple toe-up socks with self-striping yarn. It’s perfect knitting for while watching TV or chatting at knitting group.

I started these socks using my new Knit Picks Harmony double point needles, but after a little while I had to switch out to the Knit Picks nickel plated double points. I really do not like the points on the Harmony needles. Bummer. I bought the whole set of sock needles as I had heard good things, but I don’t know if I’ll ever use them. I think they will end up on my destash page on Ravelry. Oh well.

Anyone else joining in the Summer of Socks?

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Feeling the love

The other day I received my third package in the Words and Wool Sock Club (the going away present my Illinois knitting group designed for me). Tamara was the mastermind behind this package and it is just wonderful. I know she saw me drooling over this Jojoland Melody at the Midwest Folk & Fiber Fest and, lucky me, she picked out two gorgeous colors! Tamara has also always been very supportive of my Hello Kitty obsession and included some adorable Hello Kitty ziploc bags. I love them. 🙂 Thank you so much, Tamara! This package was a lovely surprise. I wish I could bring it to Group this week and show it off.

The latest yarn from the Zen Yarn Garden Art Walk Club was also delivered recently. This month’s inspiration painting is Van Gogh’s Starry Night. The yarn has all the depth and beauty of the painting I just don’t know what pattern to knit. Any suggestions?

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Plethora

As a going away present my dear Illinoisan knitting friends developed a sock club just for me and I have just received my August Words & Wool Sock Club Kit from Liz. I am blown away with all the lovely goodies. The whole kit has a honey/ginger theme that is just perfect for this time of year.

First, of course, is the yarn. It is some absolutely gorgeous Fearless Fibers sock yarn in Butterscotch. I adore this color! And the yarn is so soft and lofty. Along with the yarn, Liz included a working copy of the Honeycomb Socks pattern from the latest Interweave Knits which I’ll be sure to use with this beautiful yarn.

Liz also kept in mind my love of ginger cookies and included a box of delicious Anna’s Ginger Thins. I’ve been enjoying them as I knit in the afternoon. 🙂 There is also some honey (always useful) and a cute little Burt’s Bees kit with lotions.

Finally, there was a bee cat toy. Let me tell you, the cats LOVE this toy. Without any prompting from me, Laska found the bee in the first few minutes and proceeded to attack. Then, last night, Nemo brought it to me in the middle of the night. The bee is a big hit!

Thank you, thank you, Liz! This kit was so wonderful and makes me miss you all even more, if that’s possible. Thank you! I leave you with a picture of the ferocious Laska showing that Bee who is boss. 🙂

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Routine

As you may have noticed I have not been blogging as much since I got to Oregon. I was trying to think what’s changed (aside from my zip code) and I realized that it is all about routine. I’m a creature of habit and when things are thrown topsy-turvy I get out of sync. Since my husband is thousands of miles away, I am intentionally unemployed, and everything is new to me here I just haven’t gotten into a rhythm yet. I used to write my blog posts before going to work. Well, that doesn’t work so well now. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining, just trying to gain balance in my life again. While I won’t be entirely happy until Matt gets here (hopefully in two weeks!), I am enjoying nesting and exploring. Now on to the knitting!

Pure Fall Mermaid Socks

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Pattern: Mermaid (modified) by Lucy Neatby in Cool Socks, Warm Feet
Yarn: Yarntini Self-striping in Pure Fall
Needles: Inox 2.0mm (US 0)
Start Date: June 27, 2007
End Date: August 22, 2007
Comments: I had been looking for a good pattern to use with this Yarntini for ages when I received the Cool Socks, Warm Feet book in the Pure Knits Sock Club kit a couple months ago. It was then that I decided to use the Mermaid pattern. I wasn’t too keen on having it go around my entire foot so I chose to knit the sock toe-up plain and then only do the stitch pattern on the leg.

I think these socks came out really great. The only thing I would change when I knit them next time is I would increase my needle size one or two sizes when I get to the leg as this pattern does not have a lot of give when going over the heel. While I can definitely wear these as is, a little more stretch would have made them perfect.

Yesterday my Wollmeise sock yarn arrived from Germany! Yay! It is absolutely stunning. Claudia, the dyer, asks you when you order if you want your colors to be light, medium, or dark. I asked for both of these colors to be dark and I’m thrilled. On the left is Poison Nr. 5 and on the right is Mitternacht (Midnight). They both have these intense colors running through the black. Gorgeous! And it feels good too. 🙂

Yesterday I also went to a new knitting group that a few of us on Ravelry started. We met at Insomnia (cafe) in Hillsboro and had a terrific time! I’m already looking forward to next Wednesday’s meetup, though I think we are still working on a time. Anyone in the Hillsboro, OR area is welcome to join us. Just leave me a comment!

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Toot

I’m tooting my own horn today (sounds kind of weird typed out…). Two years ago at 12:01 a.m. Matt and I quit smoking. We went outside of the Barnes and Noble, smoked our last cigarettes, and then went inside and purchased our copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Two years! To celebrate we will be going to the bookstore this Friday night at midnight to pick up the last Harry Potter book. Oh, and I bought a little bit of yarn from Blue Moon. 🙂

On the left is some Silkie in Backstabber. The rest are Socks that Rock Mediumweight. The colors, from left to right: Tanzanite, Torridon, Minestone. Cost? The price of 1 1/2 cartons of cigarettes.

(I just joined A Swell Yarn Shop’s Luck Lurker Sock of the Month Club…Cost less than a couple cartons of smokes 🙂 ).

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