Not Sock Yarn — Again January 16, 2012

Readers of this blog will be familiar with my efforts to spin sock yarn.  I previously made some very not sock yarn, although it turned out well.

Since then, I decided to give it one more try – at least this time the yarn is fingering-ish weight, and the beautiful hand-dyed indigo BFL is showing its heritage here.

But I think that my efforts to make woolen sock yarn are over. Having a copy of Clara Parkes sock book, it’s clear that I need to spin worsted.  Not sure what I’ll do with this experiment, but eventually the right project will come forward.

Also, I’m doing some projects for other people – I know, the selfish-knitting thing is going badly.  But look at the pretty yarn I got!

Ah, Malabrigo, your colors are amazing!

Tomorrow, I’m off on a trip for a couple of days, likely to rain, so I’ll be stopping by the lovely yarn & fiber store!

I got the blues January 7, 2012

Blue socks:

The Lady Tryamour socks are fully knitted – I just need two charms to attach to the leaves.  My cousin Marie has told me where the bead store is in the town I’m now working in, so this should be accomplished this week.  I am in denial that  one of these socks is larger than the other — I think for the first sock, I managed to make a pointier toe, so even though they are technically the same length, one has a looser fit.  I may put them in the dryer for a bit for a little shrinkage…

And there is indigo blue – in two forms:

The top is the indigo dyed yarn from the A Day of Color at A Verb for Keeping Warm.  I’m very happy that the yarn is a pretty deep blue (I know it will lighten with drying).

The bottom yarn is my handspun, BFL fiber dyed with indigo by the amazing Kristine of AVFKW.  This is my latest attempt at spinning sock yarn.  I think it will be my last attempt spinning long draw for sock yarn.  The good news is that I need some fingerless mittens, so this yarn should work for those…

Light January 6, 2012

Today is Epiphany, which is the day after the 12th day of Christmas.   The symbols associated with this holiday are water and light, which relate to the two major stories in the Bible associated with this day – the baptism of Jesus and the three magi who travel to bring gifts to the baby Jesus.  The word epiphany is greek, and means to uncover or reveal — in this case, it’s about Jesus’ true identity in the stories.

Really most traditions have a season of light in the Northern Hemisphere, since it is the time of year when the days are the shortest, and we are about to head into the really cold part of the year.  (Irony alert:  it isn’t that cold here.)  It  totally makes sense to have light, when it seems to be in shorter supply.

But the metaphor of light and revelation of God come in many forms.  Today it was one of my aquatics students who had her baby last Friday – a big baby boy named Gavin, weighing in at 9 lbs 14 oz.  I should say that his mom was in class as of last Tuesday, so she was working it until the very last.  We got to meet Gavin at the end of class today, and she told me that she was in labor as our class met a week ago, and she thought of us, wishing that she was in class and not in labor. I jokingly took a wee bit of credit for Gavin turning out so well, and his mom looked at me and reminded me that Gavin had been taking classes too, so yes, I do get some of the credit.

Sometimes light just dumps itself right out – instead of going off on a journey of finding a baby, there was a special one growing right before my eyes, and his presence was a gift of light today – an epiphany indeed.  Thanks, God!

Got socks?  So do I! Photos coming soon…

Colorful January 2, 2012

My “other” LYS A Verb for Keeping Warm (it’s across a bridge) had a lovely event on New Year’s Eve Day – Kristine called it “A Day of Color” and folks were invited to reserve a spot ahead and come to knit, sew, spin, weave, or dye with the indigo pots.  My friend Judy and I thought this was a lovely way to spend the day, so we drove over after a lovely breakfast (eggs Benedict and bacon were involved – yum!).

I got out my sadly underused spindles and made some yarn out of the “pity fiber” that my friend Sue bought me at Sock Summit after the great pox event of 2011.  It’s pencil roving that is hand dyed, and it makes lovely yarn with navajo plying:

Then I played with some of the other fibers that Kristine had pulled out:

Kristine also fired up the indigo pots, and gave a small tutorial about the process of dying with indigo.  Folks brought yarn, fiber and fabric to be dyed, and here’s mine:

Apparently it needs to sit a whole week, wet in a bag, and then I am supposed to set it and wash.  It’s already looking good!

In other news, I finished a hat and mittens for a friend who was complaining that his hands were cold at work. I knit up Maine morning mittens (free) – I thought they might be small, so I made them ginormous, and then did felting to get them down to human size, and knit a hat because there was a lot of yarn leftover. I love the Blackstone Tweed yarn — it is lovely, and quite reasonable in price.  Eric’s blog is kinda fun, and he totally respects the knitter too~

I’ve also been paying attention to my feet – I pulled out my book The Knitter’s Book of Socks, and am tackling the Lady Tryamour socks – a bit fiddly with the toes, but after that’ it’s a pretty easy knit. There was a moment of panic after I had left a comment on the Ravelry page for the yarn, Staccato by Shibui Knits, and the company then noted that the yarn blooms a bit. I had 3/4 of a sock done, so I decided to block that much of the sock (it’s toe-up) to see if it would still fit, and luckily, it’s fine. This pattern is fun – leafs at the toe and the base of the heel, a turnover cuff and more leafs, including one that hangs beyond the edge of the cuff. There will be a small charm attached at the tip of that leaf when I get a chance to buy one. The hand of this yarn is really lovely – wool, silk, and a bit of nylon!

Then I had a yearning for a new hat.  I find that I wear one of two hats, and I was yearning for something more.  I haunted the patterns of Woolly Wormhead, and then went back to a Knitty pattern that I’ve used before, the Brambles Beret, and comes in a variety of sizes (I have a huge head, it turns out, even for a normal size person, and I’m short).  And I had leftover yarn from Mom’s sweater, so this was a totally free hat that I had to knit all last night while watching the Downton Abbey Season 1 marathon on PBS – you do have your DVD recorder set for next Sunday’s premiere for Season 2, right?  So I have a hat:

And the weather has decided to mock me by being relatively warm, so I may not get to test it out for a few days.  Such is the fate of my first FO for 2012!

Happy New Year to All!

Sample Sweater – and I really do mean the “sample” part December 24, 2011

What do you do if you don’t have time to knit the whole D@ng sweater in time for Christmas?  Knit a sample one:

This took about an hour to knit, which means there really is time to finish a sweater in time for Christmas!

On the Day Before Christmas December 24, 2011

Yesterday was a fun day.  It began with my now infamous routine to the 12 Days of Christmas that I use every year in water aerobics.  My students put up with a lot, let me say. No photos to protect the guilty.

Also, I collected supplies for the annual tradition of Christmas cookie baking:

Two delightful sisters stopped by to make them:


Resulting in edible art:

I already have my post-Christmas knitting planned.  First up, some socks from The Knitter’s Book of Socks which I got at the Soccupy Oakland event last month. The pattern is Lady Tryamour by Sivia Harding, and the yarn is Staccata by Shi Bui – it is quite lovely!

And for my Tweet-up friend Eric, there are some fingerless mittens coming -out of this yarn:

Because that’s a what a knitter does for her friends.

As we enter this time of celebration of so many holidays and observances that talk about light, I wish to all the hope that light brings to our lives.

Pretties and Holies December 17, 2011

I seem to be on a knitting kick at the moment — small gifts made out of the Ribband pattern.  See?

The yarn is leftover stash, so the only cost is the beads and fittings.  They crank out pretty quickly!

In other news, there are some socks in need of repairs.  Not sure when that will happen, but hopefully before I really need them.

And in unrelated news, I am so glad that I can now get a flu shot at the pharmacy.  Went it to my regular pharmacy to pick up a prescription, and with 20 minutes, I also had my shot, and all the co-pays kicked in.  So convenient!

Check In December 10, 2011

The blog is getting ignored amid all the happenings in my life.  But there have been fun things.  I asked for chocolate at my farewell party at the church and this is what I got!

My chocolate cup runneth over indeed.  The farewell celebration was so sweet and lovely that it filled my heart.  I wish the church the best as they have a talented pastor coming who will lead them well.

And now I’m onto another place, Church of the Roses.   As one friend said, “That is the best name for a church ever.“  It does ring, and the folks are lovely.  I’ve only been in the office two days, but met a bunch of folks, already have fun with the volunteers and the office staff.  I know that this is the honeymoon, but I’ll enjoy it while I can!

There has been knitting in the middle of the transition – thank goodness.  I finished a couple of Christmas presents, including a wurm hat and cowl set – it took just less than 100 grams of sport-weight yarn to make these, so it’s an economical gift.  This was leftover yarn, so even better~

And I knit one of the viral knits happening now, the Bandana Cowl – so easy, so fun!  I used Madelinetosh DK superwash merino doubled, and it is so squishy and wonderful!

After having eyed the Ribband necklace/bracelet pattern for months, I finally forked over my $5.00 and bought a bunch of beads at the bead store this week, and last night threaded enough for my first one – it’s going to be an easy–peasy knit, and great for gifts.

On the garment front, my cardigan of my own design is done, except for the closures, which I will have to ponder for a bit.  It can be worn in the meantime, which is fortunate for me.  The decision about whether it will be a real pattern has not been made, so I’m not showing the whole sweater, but here’s a tantalizing glimpse of one of the features:

Next up – more Ribbands, I think, and I’m very interested in starting to knit the Lauriel cardigan from Ysolda’s Little Red in the City book – it has some new-to-me construction techniques that will be great to learn, and it’s a fabulous sweater to boot!

FO: Saroyan November 27, 2011

I knit this in the past week for my local yarn store, Blue Bird Yarn & Fiber.  Yeah, I know it’s crazy to knit a store sample at this time of year.  I guess I needed a comfort knit.

Lovely yarn:  elsebeth lavold silky wool.  Color: 57 Great free (and adaptable) pattern:  Saroyan. by Liz Abinante.  Ravelry project notes.

What Next? November 25, 2011

It’s a mad dash between me and the end of the year.  I am switching jobs right before Christmas, which is a little insane in a church job, but I’ve never claimed I was all there, so the blog is getting ignored. Sorry!

I am still knitting along – my own-design cardigan is proceeding with the help of a friend who gave me a great idea for the collar, photos when the sleeves are done and attached (I hope).  The Wurm hat is also going ok, although I am nervous about having enough yarn.  Afghans for Afghans socks and a sweater are WIPS, which is fine, since they are not due ’til January.  I’m even knitting a store sample of a small shawl (it’s mindless and fast).

Because I am busy and there’s less time on the couch, the kitties are not all that happy with me because the weather has changed to the winter-for-us-in-the-Bay-Area model.  They have joined in what is a familiar protest.  I’m calling it “Occupy Wool”:

This is their favorite knitted object in the house, being made of a significant amount of Cascade Eco-wool that must smell wooly to them even when not wet.  It is also the largest one, being the Log Cabin afghan that took quite a while and lot’s of leftoverss.