Recycling

Recycling Resolutions that is. I'm pretty sure that last year about this time I resolved to knit more and blog more frequently about it. That went well....

In my defense I offer two excuses. 1) I started a second part time job that eats up a lot of my time that I was already using for other stuff. Which means blogging time and knitting time got cut into. 2) Lots of what I was working on after the beginning of September was a secret of one kind or another. Some of it still is until the gifts are finished and given.

But here's some of what I finished since last I posted:

I finished a pair of mitts for my daughter but can't post about them yet. Don't have any good photos for one thing. And they are still a secret.

I finished a pair of mitts for a friend. Also still a secret.

I finished a pair of mitts for me. Not a secret! They are my Princess Bride mitts because they are knit from Indigodragonfly MCN Worsted in "My Name Is Indigo Montoya" and "Have Fun Storming The Castle". And I loved knitting them. The pattern, Chimera, was cool and well written and the yarn felt wonderful to knit with and feels wonderful on as well. Here they are:


I designed and knit a shrug for my daughter but I haven't gotten a good photo of it yet so have nothing to show for it right now. I plan to write it up as a free pattern soon. So I will get some modeled shots soon I hope.

I also made a little shawl for her American Girl doll using the class pattern from Anne Hanson's Lace Knitting class that I took at Spring Fling in 2009. And that I managed to get a modeled shot of. But probably only because the doll couldn't run away on her own.

I almost finished a Dwarven Battle Bonnet for my hubby but it needs a tweak or two and then I need to get a good modeled shot of it. I will try to post that one soon too.

I am a good part of the way through the first sock of a pair for my mom. These are mostly the Pear Blossom Socks from the Loopy Ewe sock club last year. Except that I did all the twisted knits as regular knits instead so that there'd be more room in the sock since my mom has diabetes. This shot doesn't show much but at least it's a photo of my knitting so I am posting it anyway.

So, I'm not dead yet. And I think I will start with a plan to blog each week and see how that goes. Since I have this plan to knit every day maybe I will have enough to post about each week.

So much time so little knitting

I've been busy with other life aspects lately and just haven't had time to do much knitting. Hence the lack of posting. I have decided I am nicer when I have been able to knit though so from now on, I plan to make finding time to knit more of a priority.

Another problem I had was too many projects all scattered about. So this long weekend I finally got myself sorted out. I had an epiphany and realized that I needed a framework for my organizational theme or I'd never get anywhere. Now I have one. It's baseball. Which if you know me, and know how much I find baseball on tv to be yawn city, will amuse you no end. But it works.

I have several categories:

At Bat: the projects I am currently working on - currently I have 11 projects in this category and 7 days in the week I think I can see an issue already...

On The Deck: the projects I would like to be working on right now but I have got to set some limits - currently 13 projects are in this category

In The Hole: projects that I do want to get too soon and for which I have all the yarn and pattern ready to go - currently there are 20 projects in here (although that's not counting all the sock kits and shawl kits I own and all the yarns I have that I wish I were knitting or, to be more honest, wish I had already knit and had available to wear)

Benched: projects I started but for which I feel not the love any more, or at least not right now - currently there are a mere 4 items here

Disabled List: projects that have something wrong with them that needs fixing, whether it is that I screwed something up or the yarn pooled when it should have striped or the dog ate my needles with my project on them - currently there are 5 items in this category and some of them will be staying there for a while I am afraid

Yes, that means that I currently have more projects stacked up than there are weeks in the year and that's not counting all the sock clubs and shawl clubs and other clubs I have been in since I discovered such things existed less than a handful of years ago.

In any case, on my right sidebar all my At Bat projects will show up since I am committed to keeping my Ravelry projects up to date in that category anyway. So anyone who'd like to help me get things done, should feel free to nag me if they don't notice movement on the progress bars.

In an attempt to get things done as much as possible, I have assigned each project a day of the week on which I am going to work on it. Today is the day for the Ophelia Shawl from the Shakespeare in Lace club from Wooly Wonka Fibers (my Ravelry project is labeled as "David Tennant Can Make Me Do Anything" because I watched his Hamlet and it finally made me appreciate the play which made me decide to cast on sooner rather than later) that I am KALing with a buddy and I have been sorting out where I went wrong with it because I was damn near done with the first row (which is working on a cast on that was 626 stitches long so even that took a while) when I discovered I had made an error. I had already had to rip everything completely back once since I first started this shawl about the same day as I did my last post to the blog.

Sad that I am still only 626 stitches in isn't it. That's less than 7 stitches knit a day since then. Though, since I had to reknit the whole thing once and almost half of the first row a second time I sort of got more knitting time in. Plus I worked on other things of course. Still way too little output. Anyway, I have now finished the first row and it is all correct. And my shawl is just bristling with stitch markers. One after every 2 repeats of the pattern on the long sides so that I can catch mistakes faster from now on. Now I get to do a plain knit row. Thank goodness. I have also decided that this pattern absolutely should have a life line put in on every rest row. I don't ever want to have to tink back that many stitches again.

Well, I'm off to get some more knitting done on Ophelia now. Next time I hope to have enough progress on it that it will be worth a photo and I will talk a bit about the construction of this one which is unique.

Ooops I did it again

Good grief! Four months! I wish I had a good excuse but unfortunately I got nothing but lazy to defend myself with. And that's not much of a defense.

So... Let's see if I can cover what happened in the meantime: I did do Sock Madness again this year. I made it into the 5th round this time but wasn't one of the first 4 in my group to finish so I didn't make it on from there. So I have the following socks that I actually finished:

L to R
Round 1: Simple Sideways Socks in Lisa Souza Hard Twist Petite in Blue Flame (almost fit me)

Round 2: Cool Beans in Wollmeise 100% Merino Sock in Natural and Cherry Tree Hill Merino Sock in Java (a little bit big but I might wear them as house socks)




L to R

Round 3: GAMs in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Douglas Fir (too big - so to mom when lengthened)
Round 4: Emma (knee highs - nearly endless 2x2 ribbing) in Bellamoden Fingering in Nori (they fall down unfortunately)


And these socks were the ones that did me in:

Round 5: Roma in Numma Numma The Usual in House Red

I wasn't thrilled with the yarn choice I made when knitted up in this pattern so I think I might have slowed down a bit because of that. I've set it aside to think about for a while but I will probably rip these all the way back and use a different yarn for this pattern and a different pattern for this yarn.


In between rounds of Sock Madness I worked on various odd projects. I finally finished the pair of Firefly socks knit in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Firefly colorway for a friend who is also a Firefly fan:

I think I might have finished something else since February too. But I am not sure what. And maybe I should save something so I don't wait 4 months to post again. Only didn't I try that last time and it didn't work so good? I also started a couple of projects but they aren't too far along so I think I'll wait until they look a bit more impressive before showing them off. And again, I will try to be more regular about posting.

So not in training....

... but I'm going for knitting olympics anyway. I have a couple of Ravelympics projects brewing in my mind, and one Knitting Olympics project for the Yarn Harlot's original version and I will not be at all surprised if I don't finish any of them. But... I am going to try, so for the next just over an hour I am going to be desperately trying to find everything I need in order to do my olympic knitting feats. And then for the next 16 days I will be trying like a crazy person to get it all knitted.

Good practice for Sock Madness I guess.

Since I have no photos and I promised some last time (and I will keep forgetting to blog - silly muggins) I thought some of the no longer really recently finished items from the holiday knitting might suffice. So here they are:

I made a hat for my Mum.

my apologies for the blurry photo - mum wouldn't pose

Who promptly lost it. So I have started another... Which I foolishly started already but after the 11th of January so can't count it for Ravelympics - lol. Which means it will probably be set aside for a while unless Mum whines.

I have been working on a mini version of Anne Hanson's Casino shawl and have made it to the top edging but I think that too will end up having to wait it out. Since I don't think I can finish it in the hour and a half I have left before the Ravelympics start. Though I think I might try...

Here it is before I made it to the top edging.


Oh, and I finally finished those gift Lothloriens. Now I have to make a pair for me. But not yet....

Knitters really are good people

To help the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti, Kim McBrien Designs is donating 75% of her proceeds from pattern sales to Doctors without Borders for their Haiti relief effort. You can buy her awesome patterns here on Ravelry. I believe you can do that even without being a Ravelry member but I haven't tried to test that theory.

I bought both her cowl patterns and I am going to also go and make a donation directly. I hope you will do the same (donate either way, directly or through Kim McBrien Designs or both to get two chances). If you do, post a comment on this post telling me you did and I will have the random number generator pick someone to get a yarny prize for being so good.

And I do have knitting to show but I will save that for the next post since I still need to weave in ends.

This is ridiculous, you know.

For several weeks now I have on a day here or there popped up my blog and had every intention of writing a post. And then not done it. I don't know if it is that horrible pain in the patootie called "perfectionism" or just plain laziness or what. But its never gonna stop if I don't just blog something.

It's not like I haven't anything to blog either, I did in fact make more than one holiday gift this year. Although so far I am not doing so well on the post holiday knitting that is due.

Still, I did accomplish knitting in 2009 even in the last few weeks (actually quite a bit in the last few weeks and hardly any for weeks and weeks before then so maybe the break in the blog was just in the wrong place?

For the FoUI (my hubby the Fount of Useless Information - trivia? he has gobs of it) I made two pairs of socks this winter.

His Mars Tickle Attacks! socks knit in the Mars colorway (that and ticklish feet and his love of puns should explain the name of the socks) of Fiber Fiend's Superwash Merino Sock Yarn. This was a really nice yarn to work with. It makes a nice cushy sock.

I also knit him some socks in his alma mater's colors (Go Cal Bears!) in a stripe pattern I have done once before. But man, 40 ends to weave in by the time I was done! Not doing that again. If I ever decide to do this sock again, I will have to remember to weave in the ends as I go.

My daughter wanted somewhat more complicated things this year so I only got one thing made for her by the end of 2009. She is obsessed with penguins at the moment (and actually that has lasted a full year plus - interesting) so asked for a knitted penguin. I was stalling saying I had to order yarn because I didn't have the correct weight in a penguiny color and she made the mistake of saying I could use any color. I asked "even a wild variegate?" and she said yes. So she got this:

But she seems to love it so it's all good. Except I had so much yarn left I could make her a pair of socks. So now I have that on my "to knit" list for this month.

You know what else is ridiculous? We're 8 days into January and I haven't knit a stitch this year yet. Not a good way to get knitting done for Valentine's day. So I need to get back to knittin'!

Catching Up or at least not falling too much further behind

I finished one of the gift knitting items! Are you excited? I sure am. And I think the FoUI is too because he has successfully bemoaned the cold as he bicycles to work so he's getting them early. Which sort of leaves me short a present. But I think I will print out a photo and wrap that up rather than trying to add yet another item to my already scary list.

But look! A FO!



And now I am off for four days of probably not much knitting time at all. So no doubt will be considerably further behind by the next time I can post. Still, I have one present! Yay!

Oh so very far behind...

So according to the Holiday Knitting Plan by today I was supposed to be done with 1 pair of mittens, at least one sock of a pair of socks, a good half of a vest, and working on the knitting for a stuffed toy.

And where am I? I haven't even looked at what I need for yarn for the stuffed toy, I haven't gotten any further than the swatch for the vest, so there's nothing to show for that.

I do have part of the foot of the first sock done (this would be more impressive if they weren't toe up socks):



And one mitten hand done, thumb still to go and the second mitten on the last set of increases for the thumb gusset.



I am on the hook for parent helping with school stuff next week so confidently expect to be even further behind by the end of the month. Frankly, it would be likely that I would be further behind even if I weren't going to lose my knitting time for most of a week. But I have not yet given up entirely. The Holiday Knitting Plan did have some extra time left at the end which I can use to make up for lost time earlier on. As long as I can keep from losing too much time I still might pull this off. (Cynical optimist may be almost a contradiction in terms but I strongly suspect it labels me pretty accurately nonetheless.)

Wednesday Weasling - or rather Weaseling about Wednesday

No offense intended to actual weasels of course. But on Wednesday I had planned to employ some weasel words to imply I got more done than I did since Monday. Only then I fell asleep early that night instead of finishing a blog post. And again on Thursday and then other life issues intervened as they will and so on... So now we're at the point where I need to employ weasel words to cover for why I didn't even blog when I was supposed to. Only my readers are much too smart and aren't gonna fall for that anyway. So, I'll just tell the truth. I still haven't even managed to put in as many hours of knitting per day as I was supposed to. And much of what I did manage to do had to be ripped back. You would think I would learn, wouldn't you?

I'm doomed. The Plan has me finishing two items by the end of knitting time tomorrow. The FoUI's (aka husband's) mittens and his socks. I have one mitten most of the way through the thumb gusset increases.

at least this seems to fit - actually to me it seems a bit big but he says it is right and they are his mittens

The other mitten is yet to be cast on. This is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in the Pioneer colorway. I'm using Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns mitten pattern for these.

The socks were also only a singleton of the pair and it was only part-way up the foot, but was also too big around so is now not even finished with the toe increases.

yeah, pathetic, I know - the worst part is I knew it was getting too big but I kept going

That's Fiber Fiend superwash sock in the Mars colorway. And I'm making them up as I go along. He want's ribbed socks. I had such a clever ribbing pattern set up for them when they were 64 stitch socks. Now I have to refigure it. Ah well...

And that is it for projects started. At this rate, I might just maybe have one gift each done in time. If I speed up.

I have swatched for the vest for the Remembrall (aka daughter) and now have enough information to start actually designing the pattern. I think I will start the back of that today. The yarn is a really lovely green from Tactile Fiber Arts.

which this photo captures best out of the ones I took today but still doesn't really show the glow

A little of the indigo (I think I am remembering how this was dyed correctly, indigo over something else to produce this lovely shimmering green that really does look like a kelp forest shining in the sunlight that filters down) is coming off on my fingers as I knit but that is to be expected. And it's just barely noticeable. Much less than some other yarns I have worked with. I'm really looking forward to working on this and have been using it as a bribe to get more workaday stuff done.

And now that I have done my bloggerly duty. I am off to knit while the FoUI takes the Remembrall on a bike ride. If I get enough of the mittens and socks done early enough today I will get to spend a nice little bit of time working on the vest back. I really am looking forward to that so motivation isn't going to be a problem.

Well, that good intention went well didn't it?

Not.

Still no completed knitting to show off. Lots of mucking about in the real life areas since June what with packing for moving back home to California and then unpacking once we got here. Not to mention getting through the first month of school etc. It all just left much too little time for my hobby life. Which is annoying as all get out. And nearly equal amounts of tinking to knitting means very little progress to show for what time I did have for knitting. Plus much of the knitting now is "secret" so really I got nothin' blogwise.

But this is ridiculous. So I think I'll just blog the secret knitting anyway and hope that the recipients are smart enough to not read my blog between now and Winter Solstice. I thought about ending that sentence with just Solstice so that when the deadline for the knitting blows by and I wave at it, I can tell people, "Oh, I meant the Summer Solstice" when they ask where their present is. Then I decided that I really should try to aim for the goal. And maybe my nice readers, if I still have any after such a dreadfully long hiatus, will cheer me on to completing everything in time. Or, you know, something.

So here's the knitting list for the holidays (and my family's inconveniently timed birthdays falling as they do in the winter also) so far:

For the FoUI (aka hubby): Mittens, a "Professor" sweater (anyone who has an idea what that means past leather elbow patches please please please clue me in), two pairs of socks, and maybe if there is time, a hat.

For the Remembrall (aka daughter): a vest, a knitted stuffed toy, a sewn stuffed toy, a pair of socks, a doll sweater, and maybe some other knitted or sewn clothes for her dolls and a pair of fingerless mitts.

For my Mum: a sweater (the blame for which can be laid completely at my daughter's door - she piped up oh so helpfully at dinner one night last week that I could knit Mum a sweater for her Holiday present this year), a pair of fancy gloves (which was what I was "sensibly" limiting myself to)

For my first BFF: A scarf and a pair of socks that are seriously overdue from her birthday.

For my second BFF: a pair of socks.

My BFFes may have to settle for New Year's presents because this list is already scary scary scary long and that doesn't even allow for the fact that I kinda wanted to have a knit by me shawl to wear to the FoUI's office holiday party this year.

And of course, considering my track record over the last 6 months with completed knitting this list is preposterous raised to the ridiculous and multiplied by insane. But very much in keeping with jumping in where angels fear to treadle, right?

So I've got a plan. The official start is Monday. If I knit the entire evening every night from now on, I might make it. If I guessed right about how long each thing was gonna take to knit. I plan to work on three projects at a time; one big and two smaller more portable ones. Starting with the FoUI's mittens and one of the pairs of socks, and the Remembrall's vest. Progress thus far on this is nil. I am designing the Remembrall's vest and I know what I want it to look like. But getting there... not so easy. The FoUI's mittens and socks I can pretty much just knit. Although I will need him around to be sure of fit issues. So since he'll be out of town all week next week tonight I need to find and wind yarn for these two projects and get started on knitting them so I can be sure of the fit before the body is inaccessible for a week. The yarn is found and the first skein wound for the Remembrall's vest. So it is also time to start swatching for that.

Just as soon as I finish a couple of design things I was doing over the summer...

Go ahead, laugh at me. I am. Progress report and photos on Wednesday.

I really need to do better than once a month...

I hope that will be easier soon. By this time next month I think I will at least know when I will be able to move everything back home. Can't recall if I've mentioned here that we have been spending the last few months mostly in Texas. The FoUI (the Fount of Useless Information - aka my husband) is doing some work for a client of his company there. The carrot that got homebody me out of my house here (we're home this week) was that after the months in Texas we'd then be sent on to Australia for a year. Now I ask you, could any fiberholic say no to a year in Australia? Only, it appears that the Australia part has gone poof.

Which is ok. We'd have had to leave our dog behind for that year and I think I'd miss her an awful lot. And besides, now that we'll be home instead, Operation Second Dog can commence sooner. As soon as I get us moved back I'm puppy proofing and then we are on the hunt for a new Golden Retriever puppy. We like to have two dogs at a time so that when we're out they have company. And we haven't had two dogs for a very long time now. It still feels a bit odd. Although not as odd as no dog at all!

OK back to fibery goodness type stuff... Except, I got nothin'. A few more rows on what I posted last time. A decision made that there was no way the sock I was designing was going to work as I had done it so I had to rethink it. A new sock started for that friend in someone else's pattern thinking that that would be quicker at least. And it looks like my gauge is off... In fact the only thing I have is new yarn and fiber which arrived while I was in Texas. And is staying here because even I can't really imagine taking it back to Texas just to move it here in July or August.

I swear my fibery mojo has totally deserted me in Texas. I need to get home for good. I had a sense of direction there (which I don't here nearly as much) which was nice but not if I had to give up my fiber-pursuits mojo for it.

I promise some kind of actual knitting or spinning or something related content next time.

Busy busy busy

Boy, time flies when you're busy. Nothing much to show for it I'm afraid. Most things I have been knitting on over the last two weeks have ended up frogged. Or not appreciably further along. But I'll show them off anyway. I've got nothin' else that I've done.

A Very Late Birthday Present:

That's not that great a photo but that might be ok, since this pattern is going to need some rejiggering I think. I've been avoiding frogging it though. Mainly because it is so late a present already. 'Course at this point wool socks are probably not needed until fall anyway. Maybe I should just do it right and make it a half birthday present. Votes?

Clapotis 2:
Which, naturally - partly because there is only one yarn ball to cope with and partly because the magically changing colors is entertaining, is further along than Clapotis 1:
Which is being knit from two skeins of All Things Heather Merino/Silk so means changing yarns every two rows. I had to alternate because my skeins were pretty different. But they are making a kind of nice stripey effect. See:


I also recently got my first shipment from the Tactile Fiber Arts Fiber Club. Oh boy is it well set up!

Look at what I got:

That's Finn fiber dyed with weld in a solid and in a multi-color to pair with the solid. I'm not sure yet what I am making with these. Aren't they the epitome of spring though? I love it and I am soooo not a yellow fan usually. Here's a close up of the fiber:

And here's one of the awesomeness that is Maia and Brooke:

They know I need all the help I can get to keep track of stuff and so along with a binder they have included a couple of business card storage sheets and a little card that I can attach a fiber sample to and also a singles sample and then a finished yarn sample too for that matter. Is that not Brilliant!!! One of the nicest touches is that the binder is both made of recycled materials and also is itself completely recycleable. Awesome! There's also a fantastic info sheet on the dyestuff. I love this club.

Sadly that lovely fiber is not yet spun up (in my defense I have only had it a week). Unfortunately for my fiber fun time I have been busy with other things. Including, starting the work to get us ready to move back to California this summer. Which is getting closer and closer. And most recently finally making a trip to the Museum of Fine Arts here in Houston. We just managed to get there in time to see the exhibit from Afghanistan. They still have some info up about it. I found it to be a very interesting exhibit and I would have loved to have had more time to study it. I very much recommend going to see it if you get a chance. It looks like it will be in New York City at the Metropolitan June 23rd through September 20th. I thought it was interesting enough to seriously be considering making a trip back east in the right time frame to see it again there.

It has completely reawakened my fascination with ancient history and archeology. This is not necessarily a good thing considering the size of my to do list.

In the "slightly closer to textiles" arena there was also a fascinating art installation that was so like something my brother would have done (not in content necessarily, more just like the artist's mind works in similar ways to my brother's or something) that I find it a tad heartbreaking.

Ok, back to work.

I think I better give up sleeping...

'Cause that's the only way I am ever going to be able to come close to catching up. Or even keeping up were I to get caught up.

Since my last post, knitting has just not been going well. That's all there is to it. I didn't manage to make it through the third round of Sock Madness this time. Which is not necessarily bad. But isn't necessarily good either of course. But the attempt meant that other stuff didn't get finished either.

I went to Spring Fling at The Loopy Ewe which was a great deal of fun. I sure hope I get the chance to go again next year! At Fling I took a lot of classes (which meant I got no knitting done on my Sock Madness socks for long stretches of time) but I really enjoyed all the classes.

I took Sock Design classes from Wendy Johnson and from Cookie A. So in theory I now know how to design socks both toe up and toe down. LOL

I also took Anne Hanson's Advanced Lace class and was a bit worried about whether I qualified for an advanced lace class. But I kept up mentally if not with the actual knitting. Learned lots and had fun so I am very glad I took the leap.

Both Cookie A and Anne Hanson mentioned that they teach longer versions of these classes and I hope to someday take them because I can tell that I have barely touched the tip of the iceberg vis-a-vis what all three of these ladies have to teach. And I love to learn.

I picked up a few yarns at Fling but it will be a little while before I get going with anything with them so I will wait until I have a project for them before I start getting silly with the showing off or anything. I'm also still not properly unpacked from Fling so no longer remember what I had been doing before I left and can't remember where I tucked my current knitting projects so can't show them off either for the little progress that was made until I find them again. So I need to do some hunting.

In the mean time, I'm going to do a little WIP list from memory to remind myself why I need to spend more time knitting. So, in no particular order (and certainly not in need to finish first order):

Round 3 Sock Madness 3 socks
Round 4 Sock Madness 3 socks
Rounds 5, 6, 7 and maybe 8 are coming up soon too.
The Loopy Ewe second quarter challenge (I still don't know what I want to knit for this)
BFFs socks (my design which I think needs a little reworking which means tinking back because like an idiot I didn't put a lifeline in - when will I learn!!!!)
Cluaranach (it is too warm to work on this right now even though I am not that far along - the yarn is marvelously warm so when I do get it done it will be wonderful)
Baby Bee (class project from Anne's Advanced Lace Class at Fling)
Clapotis 1
Clapotis 2
Design project 1 (child's vest)
Design project 2 (shawl)
Design project 3 (mitts)
Design project 4 (hat and mitt set)
Design project 5 (stole)
Design project 6 (socks from Wendy's class)
Design project 7 (socks from Cookie's class)
Leaflings
Zazzlejeans sweater (need the needle tips from Clapotis 1 for this)

And then there are all the not even started yet things. Which I won't list because if I do it will damage my calm. Although I need to remember at least a few of them:

S's socks
A's socks
Socks for The FoUI (the Fount of Useless Information aka my DH)
Vest for the Remembrall (aka DD)
The Loopy Ewe Second Quarter Challenge project
my personal challenge to myself (knitting up all the yarns that remain unused from my first 6 orders at TLE)

I also need to frog some projectst that simply aren't going anywhere and either repurpose the yarn or put it up for destash.

So much to do... I better go get started. I hope to be photo heavy next post to make up for being so photo non-existant this time.

It's Sock Madness's fault

Well, by dint of ignoring everything else I was supposed to be doing, including getting back into a proper blogging routine, I managed to make it through both Round 1 and Round 2 of Sock Madness in time to move up. I'm now in the gap just before the start of Round 3 and finally catching up on other things again. Since last year I almost made it through Round 3 I feel a dreadful despairing urge to make it through Round 3 this year. This could be very tricky. Although I would already be out if I had been in the "For Whom The Ball Rolls" division (whew, there's a bunch of speedy knitters in that group) so I'm counting myself lucky.

So what have I been doing since I last posted? Well, strictly speaking since before the last post. Round one of Sock Madness this year was a pattern that I designed and submitted for the contest last summer/early fall.

Tropical Mer-tini in Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Beach Glass

Tropical Mer-tini (Ravelry link) is based on the Drunkard's path quilt block. To make it extra wiggy for Sock Madness I developed a way to do a heel flap heel as an afterthought heel. The pattern will eventually be available outside of Sock Madness participants but I want to add a second size option and also see if I can make the heel prettier. And include improvements from the feedback I have gotten from the lovely folks who knitted it up and then let me know what they thought. This has been a very fun learning experience and I have really enjoyed it. Although, I have to say, I was worried I wouldn't make it through the first round since I was trying to make sure I was available to answer any questions, I wasn't concentrating as much on my competition pair as I would have been if they had not been my pattern.

Tropical Mer-tini in Celtic Memory Yarns Merino-Tencel in Irish Mist

I still need to come up with a nice greenish martini to pose with these socks. Possibly I will have time for that once Sock Madness finishes. Or I get knocked out of competition.

Round 2's socks were Tokena (Ravelry link) by Tricia/Zemy. I found them very hard going. Mainly because they were my first Fair Isle style color work knitting. And partly from poor choices I made about which yarns I used (I should have gone for the ones that were closest in size) and how I worked.

Tokena in All Things Heather sock in Raspberry and Apple Laine Apple Pie in Silver

But I got them finished in the alloted time and I have found a home for them (although I wish I had done a better job on them since I am sending them to a very sweet fellow raveler) so really, it is all good. I think I have enough left of the yarn to knit a second pair for myself if I use the Raspberry (how could I have not bought that yarn?) as the contrast color and another shade for the main color. I'm thinking maybe black? Thoughts?

I've also been slowly working on my Cluaranach and my two Clapotis and a pair of socks for a friend's birthday (I'm late with those too) and trying to develop some more designs. But I'm going to save all that for another post. Within a week I hope.

Good Grief

I have been appallingly neglectful of the blog. I do apologize. It's partly that things weren't blog-able for a while there. And partly that moving only some of your stuff is so much more complicated than moving all of it. And partly that I just didn't think I had much to say I guess.

Anyway, I did Christmas knitting. Some of which was actually finished in time to give on Christmas but not in time for the last post. Like this pair of socks for my mum (of which I apparently do not have a FOto. I'll try to get one when I see her next):

Simple Stockinette Socks - Berroco Sox in Humberside

And some of which ended up being birthday knitting for my daughter. Thank goodness her birthday is in the early part of the year and thus after Christmas.

She had mittens on her list as the highest priority for knitting. So I made some basic mittens for her:

Simple Mittens - Union Center Knits Whatnot Sport in Stormy Sea

And then I had signed up in October I think for the Loopy Ewe Swap 3 on Ravelry. So I made Anne Hanson's Boing! for that:

Boing! - Malabrigo Lace in Loro Barranquero

I also was busy working on a second sock for a Sock Madness 3 design I did. More on that later. Sock Madness 3 is ongoing now and I still haven't finished the Round One socks so I need to get cracking! Back in .75 socks.

Still not dead

Not a lot bloggable in the fiber sphere though. We are now in our rental house in Houston Texas which is driving my DH up a wall because since it is a rental he can't fix any of the many issues with it. He picked it so you'd think he'd have come to terms with it by the time I got here but apparently not. We'll be here through the summer so I think I better get knitting on some shawls for air conditioned places soon. But first I have to get through the holiday and birthday knitting. My family is all clumped at the end of the year which makes for an expensive and/or time-consuming December and January. Not that I have gotten anything done yet for anyone (except Mum - shhh don't tell). I'm sort of hoping that Santa will give me an extra week (who am I kidding, I'd need an extra month for my list) in my stocking and when I pull it out everyone else in the whole world will go into suspended animation while I get all my Christmas and Birthday knitting done and wrapped and under the tree (or in other rooms in case of birthday stuff) before the magic wears off. Must remember to stock up the larder just in case Santa can manage this one.

I have managed to get the stash mostly unpacked. Public Service Announcement: I don't recommend moving the week before Thanksgiving folks. Especially not if you are a knitter or any other kind of crafter.

testing a theory

I thought I would test a theory. My apologies if you thought there was a real post. There will be later today (I hope!) but not just yet.

Shades of Monty Python and the Holy Grail...

Like the "Dead Body That Claims It Isn't" in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, I'm not dead yet. Indeed, I am feeling much better although possibly I shouldn't say that in order to avoid getting conked on the head in 7 more lines. I am touched that Lynne worried enough to ask though. Thanks Lynne!

I have however, been awfully busy with not fun stuff. The busy-making-est of which is getting ready to move temporarily. The FoUI (Fount of Useless Information aka DH) has been rented out on a job (he works for a consulting company) that requires that we move to Texas for a while and then to Australia (or so they promised or I'd have never fallen for it) for a while. When they were talking him into it in July it was 4 to 6 months in Texas followed by a year in Australia but once they had him hooked it became a year in Texas first. So I have been trying to get ready for that since that means a bigger more complicated move.

A person living in a normal household would perhaps not find that as daunting a prospect. Unfortunately I do not live in a normal household. Just as well, perhaps, since I'm not exactly normal either.

I have been trying to get the stashes (yarn, fiber, fabric, bead, etc) organized as well as get rid of lots and lots and lots of stuff that we never got around to dealing with in the last decade or so. And all the stuff we kept (for sentimental, or legal, or privacy, or "no one else would take it" reasons) from the clearing out of DH's parent's house when it was sold several years ago. I'm only about 1/3 of the way done but I've used up half my time so I really need to get better at that.

What knitting I was able to squeeze in since last posting is stealth knitting (developing a sock pattern for Sock Madness 3 if they decide they like it anyway) so I don't even have that for today.

I will however, sometime in the next few weeks maybe have knitting and definitely have some destash stuff to do.

And I do have some WIP photos but I'm saving those for another day because I only get the DH on weekends now (he's already in Texas working) and only some of them at that so I want to get back to him and make sure he's still working on the great long honey-do list for this weekend.

Doesn't everyone plan vacation around yarn shops?

Or is that just me? We got the oddest look from the Canadian customs officer...

But first, we have to back up a bit to the domestic vacation. AKA a weekend in Oregon. I went to Black Sheep Gathering for the first time this year. I highly recommend it. I had such fun. I took three classes with Judith MacKenzie McCuin. I love taking classes from Judith but I learned something about taking classes this time as well as learning from the classes. I learned that I need assimilation time. When I took classes while at home, I had time in the evenings to practice what I had learned and review it mentally. But when I was in a hotel with family that wanted mommy time I didn't get to play and review. So next time, one class per day max.

I had lots of fun at BSG in the shopping arena too. I bought fiber every second time I went by the Tactile Fiber Arts booth I think (and I went by a lot). I also bought two fleeces. Both second prize winners in their classes.

A lovely slightly variegated grey Romney.

And a gorgeous black Wensleydale.

I needed to buy fleeces about as much as I dunno, a polar bear needs to buy snow? But they are sooooo pretty. Of course, now I have to wash fleece. And not so much in the time to do it department but that is a story for a different post. The Romney is from Fox Hollow Farm and Fiber right there in Eugene Oregon, and the Wensleydale is from Black Pines Sheep in Colorado.

I learned how to make the kind of sock yarn Judith likes (and why she likes it) and that I can indeed spin finer than I think I can. I learned how to spin really really fine too. And then I came home and had barely a week at home before we went off on another vacation and lots of stuff to do before we could go. So I didn't get a chance to spin (or even finish putting my wheel back together properly after its dismantling to get it into the car - GASP!!!) for weeks. I must remember next time to also allow two full weeks of limited obligations at home so I can practice what I have learned.

Our second vacation was a real actual week long one to visit my SIL in New York State. We flew into Rochester and since we were there it only made sense to take the child and hubby to see Niagara Falls.

That blue head on the left might be the FoUI.

And once you're at Niagara Falls, you might as well go to Canada. And once you're in Canada you might as well go to Toronto, and once you're in Toronto there's a yarnaholic's tonne of yarn shops. (I feel like a mouse with a pancake.) Sadly I had to pick only one but I picked a good one. Lettuce Knit is in the coolest neighborhood! Possibly many cities have multiple neighborhoods like that but I'm from the suburban sprawl of California and we don't have anything that vibrant around here. I was probably too effusive in my praise because the offspring felt compelled to announce that we were not moving to Canada.

When we were going into Canada the customs officer got rather an odd expression on his face when my DH answered the "why are you coming to Canada" question with "to buy yarn". I can see why he'd be suspicious of us, we already answered the "how long" question with "a few hours" which has gotta make people wonder. Although as near as we could tell hundreds (maybe thousands) of Canadians were going to America for the day. We found that a bit puzzling particularly since it was Canada Day. Which would have been a great excuse for why we were visiting, if we had known before we got to the customs officer.

The best part of that whole excursion to Canada? I got some yarn I've been just missing getting other places for over a year. 2 skeins of Dream In Color Fatty in Beach Fog.

Now if only I could remember why I wanted them...

In New York we did quite a few touristy things. We went to Corning to the Glass Museum and make our own blown glass ornaments. I find that whole thing alarmingly cool. Alarmingly because I need a new hobby (particularly one that requires large expensive things like kilns) like that aforementioned polar bear needs more snow. But it was a lot of fun and look at the pretties:

Mine is the blue and purple stripy one, my DH made the blue and yellow one.

And then on our way to arrange to take an evening boat ride around one of the lakes, we went to the neatest yarn shop. Finger Lakes Fibers is a great shop. Lots of interesting yarns. Lots of local yarns. Seats for the non yarnies. And they carry Brooklyn Handspun (which I had yet to succeed at getting a skein of) and they had one that called my name.

Soft Spun Plus in Hydrangea

I think I will succumb to temptation and use this to make the Hydrangea socks in The Eclectic Sole. Finger Lakes Fibers does a local fiber tour which includes a visit to Schaefer but I missed it by a week. They are also doing one to Ireland which is kinda tempting except I think I am going to be busy even if it weren't already too late.

That's enough for today this is already awful long.

Like a Bad Penny

I just keep coming back. I've been up to a lot since last posting. Most of it not bloggable until now. Besides, vacationing and knitting for others and panicking about possible moves has taken up so much time lately that by the time I remember I need to do a blog post, it's so late I really need to get sleep more than I need to post a blog entry. Particularly since blog entries created when I am that tired tend to be pretty undecipherable.

I shall split the events since my last post up into several entries so as to not have too long of a post here. Now the question is, chronological or not? Eh, linear time is usually a good thing so chronological it is. Catch up time:

My first not-bloggable knitting was shown all wrapped up last post. I participated in the Loopy Ewe Swap 2 on Ravelry. I had never done a swap before and I was interested to try. I was assigned a very sweet lady to knit for, Marissa (HPMomma on Ravelry), and as I always do when starting a project, agonized for ages over yarn and pattern choice. The fact that it was going to someone I didn't know well just made me dither more.

In the end I knit socks for her:
Pattern: WendyKnits' Alana Socks bought at The Loopy Ewe
Yarn: Creatively Dyed's Luxury Sock yarn in Campfire Embers (that might be the Loopy Ewe's name rather than Creatively Dyed's) bought at The Loopy Ewe

It took forever to find the right pattern for this yarn. It's so beautifully dyed that large areas of plain stockinette really show it off best. So I felt bad that I had knit so plain a sock but the yarn really glows in it. The photo I have of the socks does not do this yarn justice. This was my first hemmed cuff sock too so I learned a new trick from this swap as well. That's always fun.

And boy did I get spoiled (and I should have posted about this right away when it arrived but I had a bad month for having time for blogging there for a while) by Beth (Plexippa on Ravelry), my upstream partner!
So much goodness in that box! And see the little Loopys on the box side? So cute! I'm stunned by how perfectly she got everything I love. I mean, gift cards for coffee and ice cream? Perfect! The fan lollypop also perfect (although I ended up having to give it to my daughter - something I did mentally kicking and screaming I might add). And the other goodies were also so exactly what I'd have grabbed gleefully for myself if I had known they existed. Soak labels for hand knits (doh! I just realized I should have used one of those for a later project facepalm), and Green Tea scented Knitter's Hand Repair Soap (which my hands could use repairing and it's the loveliest scent but I've only just convinced myself I'm allowed to use it LOL) and the loveliest leaf bead stitch markers. Not to mention that gorgeous bump of Tempted Roving (Yummy! It's next on the big wheel) in my favorite colors and at 80/20 merino silk so lovely feeling! And the best for last, the most amazing mitts!

Look closer at those gorgeous mitts she knitted for me!

Anne Hanson's (Knitspot) Orchid Lace Mitts! A pattern I have been planning to knit for myself for ages. Knit in The Sanguine Gryphon's Eidos in Euthydemus (purple is like totally my favorite color like evah!) and a fantastic fit besides! I have been a big fan of both Anne's patterns and The Sanguine Gryphon's colors and yarns for a long time so I was overjoyed. Really I go all squee (and I'm really not a squee-er under normal circs) every time I see these mitts. I've had them sitting out so I can see them and pet them ever since they arrived. I finally had to put them away this week since we have a guest so I had to vacate my studio/office. They are so lovely and elegant I am going to have to lose some weight and buy a sexy little black dress to wear with these next fall when the FoUI and I go out on dinner dates.

More soon. There's still Black Sheep Gathering, more stealth knitting that doesn't need to be stealthy anymore, vacation that may yet lead to yet another new hobby, a new spinning wheel and more maybe moving madness to come. I said it was a busy last few weeks...