Doh!

I left something out of last night's post. Since I was talking about my scarves for the Red Scarf Project I meant to remind anyone reading that if you make a donation to the Red Scarf Fund (there's a paypal button on the right sidebar near the bottom) not only can you tell Norma and she'll enter you in a contest on her blog but you can also tell me and I'll enter you in my own little reward contest for the following lovely prize:

A copy of Victorian Lace Today and a skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk to knit something from the book with.

I know I just mentioned it a couple of posts ago but I think it bears repeating anyway.

Norma has a super easy button on her main blog and on the Red Scarf Project page for making a donation. Or you can go to the link to the OFA's page that I gave above and use there button. (I couldn't figure out how Norma did her button quick enough or I'd do one too.)

Ok, back to work.

ETA: Double Doh! I forgot to repeat how to tell me you donated. As I mentioned a few posts back, mention you've donated either in the comments somewhere or by e-mail to raspberry *AT* gmail *DOT* com (everyone knows how to fix the address right? Probably even the address harvesting bots do by now.)

and the winner of the award for...

Most Tolerant Spouse Of A Yarn Hoarder is... My hubby. Who not only went with me to Ikea, but also when the subject was broached, behaved as though it was perfectly sensible to buy a glass display case to store yarn in, bought said case, and put it together and in place that same night. And spent the next night redoing displaced wall mounted things for me so I could take and post this photo.


Yes, I do know how lucky I am. No that isn't all of my stash (that's a bit embarrassing actually). It is a big percentage. The bottom two shelves are all sock yarns. More than half of that (possibly a great deal more than half) is Sheri's fault. Her shop, The Loopy Ewe, is a lovely place to deal with - so helpful. But I warn you, it is dangerously tempting all the time. She will keep finding beautiful new yarns and selling them to me. I think that means I get to blame her at least a little for the size of that stash right? Ok, truth will out: I have way more time for buying yarn than I do for knitting it up, and no will power. Too embarrassing, lets move on. The top shelf is some of my special spinning fibers. Again with the not all of them though caveat. (More embarrassment. Let's keep on moving on.)

I haven't gotten any further really on the August RSC socks. I continue to battle gauge problems with the RSC patterns it seems. But I did finish the first of (I hope) two scarves for the Red Scarf Project. Only I need a bit of advice. As you can see, modeled by my sweet puppy (and in close up - an attempt to show the pattern and yarn a bit better) it isn't red. The actual color is closest in the photo with the dog (Yes, I am planning to wash the scarf before sending it. And on warning the recipient it was knit in a house with a dog.) Or in the small shadowed part in the close up photo.



Initially I had planned to over-dye the yarn in the skein but then I had some knitting time without any dyeing time ahead of it. So I knit first. Now I'm wondering if I should leave it gray, which I think I read is supposed to be an "in" color this year, or over-dye it. It wouldn't have to be over-dyed red of course. I was thinking blue might work better. Any votes one way or another on the over-dye idea? Color specific suggestions?

I have already started a second scarf using two strands of Rowan Cashsoft Aran in an emphatic red (darker and richer than this photo is displaying - on my screen at least - it's shade 010 aka Poppy for any who care).

I'm knitting the same pattern (I decided on basically a k3p3 rib for three rows followed by three rows of p3k3 so that it makes regular blocks of knit and purls with two extra stitches to provide a stitch to slip at the beginning so the edge will be nicer than my normal one) as I did on the gray scarf because it's easy to remember (especially after having done 6 feet of it) but still looks a bit interesting even though it's so simple. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get this one done in time too. The Cashsoft sure does feel nice. I might have to get some more in a me color. Maybe even enough for a knock-about sweater.

Just in the nick of time!

I have managed to finish my Inside Outs (February's BMFA Rockin' Sock club selection) just in the nick of time. Sort of. My newest RSC sock kit arrived today when I was one row and the bind off away from finishing my second sock. Of course I've still got two other kits that arrived in the mean time that I haven't started but I decided I'll just leapfrog those for now. I finished my second sock and immediately wound the ball of this new kit and as of the time I finish editing this post, I have already cast on and knit two rows of August's gauge swatch in the called for needles.

The foot portion of my Inside Outs looks a bit long and the leg a bit short when they're empty but on me they're a pretty good fit. The leg is, as others found with this pattern, a bit tight to get on over my instep but not impossible. And it fits my leg well enough since I stopped knitting up the leg just before my immense calves get going.

You can see that the leg portions still striped which is great. And from this I think you can see how one sock had wider stripes in the foot than the other. What amuses me no end is that the sock that had the wider stripes in the foot appears to have narrower stripes in the leg. So now I'm wondering if I was supposed to knit one from each end of the skein to get a perfectly matched pair? (I now have this mental image of knitting on the two socks at the same time until one gets the spaghetti scene from Lady and the Tramp.)

In other knitting news, a while back I started some socks in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport using Wendy's basic sport weight toe-up pattern for some "quick" socks. I did a toe. Just the one. They've been waiting patiently for attention ever since. I think I'm starting to get a clue why I have so little knitting accomplished. I don't spend enough time on it. (Doh!) I have done a few rows of the FMB and of the Barbie (TM) dress and so on but nothing worth showing yet. And the dog has now chomped both the needles I was using for the Sidewinders so until I get ahold of some more size 1s they are on hold again. Miraculously the yarn appears to have survived the experience each time.

And of course there's always the other reason why there's been no increase, if not a net decrease, of knitted fabric results. I finally admitted that another sock I had started (circa 2001, iirc) was never gonna make it and ripped it back. You can see why in this photo (as almost always on this blog, click to enlarge the photo for details) I think.

I was still blindly following without thinking when I started this sock so I started it with the needles called for in the pattern. The fabric was coming out way too loose. Only I didn't really know enough then to know that it was too loose for a sock. Now I do. So I took a deep breath and leapt into the frog pond with it. I may start over someday but possibly not with that white sock yarn. It's a biggish percent cotton and I'm not sure it has enough stretch for a stockinette based pattern to work well.

I've been wasting a little of the little time I have for knitting time on photographing the stash instead of knitting with it. Partly for putting it on Ravelry and partly just so I would be able to remember which yarn was which when trying to choose the next project (or rather the 32nd next since I've already got a long mental queue in addition to the one on Ravelry). In doing this I discovered that it is very safe to say that I have enough yarn to last my lifetime even if I had as much time to knit (and weave) as I could possibly want. Well, maybe not if my requisition for 36 hour days while the rest of you only get 24 ever comes through. But otherwise, I could just stop buying yarn (and fiber too probably) right now and be totally set. Not that I have any intention of doing that of course. Someday maybe I'll take and post a photo of the entire stash in one spot. Or maybe not. Might be too embarassing... Or, you know, I might never have that much open space in any one room.

I've also had to continue to devote some time to continuing to move things back into the studio from the various places they'd been stored for the last several months while remodeling was taking place. This last week in addition to starting to sort out the yarn stash, I also set up the "antique trunk of jewelry making goodness".

That's the seed bead (which applies for beaded knitting as much as jewelry making of course but "atojmg" is long enough already) drawer. The much deeper drawer below it is for the ongoing projects and tools. And the one below that is full of other beads and findings, and so on. In the process of unpacking my stored jewelry supplies, I discovered that I have over the years managed somehow to collect rather a lot of nice raw material for lovely jewelry pieces. Not to mention start but not finish a number of pieces. So I think I might start making myself some jewelry again soon too. In that copious spare time that I don't have. Maybe after school starts next week.

If I live that long. The last week or so of summer vacation is getting to be a bit too much for me.

If you can't say anything nice...

... or in the case of blogging - interesting, and all that. Since I've had practically nothing to show in the way of knitting I've said nothing. But a month is ridiculous. So in a bit I'll show what little I've got and why it is so little.

But first by way of a public service announcement: Norma of Now Norma Knits is doing a contest to help support the OFA (Orphan Foundation of America) and the Red Scarf project's new fund. Read about the Red Scarf Project here on Norma's special blog for this year or on the OFA site here. I donated some sock yarn (of which I have an ample supply for my lifetime at this point) to Norma's contest for prizes. But since I know I'd never have made it through college without the support of my folks, emotional as well as financial, I feel very strongly about supporting the OFA and their Red Scarf Project. So I'm gonna run a little contest of my own. If you make/made a donation to the OFA via Norma's blog (she has links to thePayPal donation page for the OFA in several posts) or the OFA site between when they started the fund about the 1st of August and oh, I dunno, lets say the end of September, let me know and I'll enter your name in the list to pull a random number from for this reward for your generosity right here:

A skein of Handmaiden SeaSilk in the Nova Scotia colorway and a copy of Victorian Knits Today for you to find a pattern in for the SeaSilk.

Since I'm sure readership of this blog is pretty low, your odds should be great for this prize. And since I'm a softie, I might even come up with (an) additional prize(s) if I get more than one message saying someone's donated. Mention your donation in the comments or by e-mail (raspberry _AT_ gmail _DOT_ com) - whichever you prefer, and you're entered in the mini-contest for this lovely skein of yarn and book. It really is an excellent cause, so please do consider making a donation.

And now, for the little fiber arts I've accomplished since last time:

I've got proper fitting heels on both my Inside Out socks at last and have gotten one repeat of the leg pattern done on each of them. It seems to go faster now that I'm not trying to keep the tension so tight so I am now starting to feel like I see the light at the end of the tunnel (although not apparently in this photo).

I've got another bobbin of brown romney spun up. Once I get a third bobbin filled, I can't get much further until I can get some more bobbins for this wheel. I'm wanting to make a 3 ply yarn from this so I need at least 1 more bobbin.

The why so little knitting has been accomplished: I've been working on the studio to get it ready for my fiber pursuits etc and more immediately guests. IE my sister-in-law, whose visit early this month somehow resulted in lots of not-knitting time when I had thought I would have at least some. But we had fun so it was all good. When last you saw it, the studio looked like this:

Now it looks like this (well, mostly):

Actually, the bed has already been decommissioned to make room for my loom. But that's not in yet, nor are some other things so I may subject you to further photos at a later date.

This photo is here to show what I do with all that yarn I buy at the Loopy Ewe that I don't seem to knit up. I use it as decoration (for now). I do have lots of knitting plans though.

I've also been employed providing entertainment for the "home from school for the summer" child. Which I find terribly tiring, and she - no doubt - doesn't find as entertaining as either of us would like.

Oh, and best of all, I heard back from my Auntie to whom I sent the Spring Things Shawl and she was very complimentary about it. I think she really liked it rather than being polite. So naturally, I'm all afire to knit her something else. She says she needs shawls to keep her shoulder warm and ward off issues with it. So I'm thinking I'd like to make something warmer for the winter.

Possibly something in this nice Handmaiden 2-ply cashmere would be nice.

Or maybe in this Blue Moon Fiber Arts Geisha.
I can't decide which would be the better choice. My mum is all over the cashmere option just because it is cashmere I think, but I'm not sure she's a good barometer for what my favorite English Auntie would like best. And I'm not sure what would be the best pattern idea. To try and make something up on my own or find a good pattern. I do want to make a nice warm shawl for her. So any and all advice on these matters will be cheerfully received. Cashmere is always nice but there is a lot more of the Geisha yardage-wise. Of course, it's also always possible to buy more cashmere. I'm also not sure which color she'd like best, I'm kind of thinking the Geisha colors might be more her style. This is why it takes me so long to actually finish anything of course...

The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful

The Good: I got my invitation to Ravelry this weekend. I'm raspberry over there if you want to find me. Fortunately for the state of my marriage I didn't get a chance to log into e-mail and discover this until today. After I finished my huge list of Sunday and Monday chores. If I disappear for a month it'll be because I'm wandering through Ravelry in a happy fog. If you're on the waiting list, do what I meant to but didn't get around to and gather the info about all your projects together so that you can pop it all up easily. If you're not on the waiting list yet, go check out the tour and then get on the waiting list. It has the potential to be fantastic. I'm really impressed with what they've accomplished and how carefully they've been adding folks in so they can avoid implosions. It really must be a huge endeavor to manage that kind of environment as it grows. Even when it is growing in a controlled way.

I can't wait to see what all there is and get my projects organized there. Unfortunately, I'll have to. Today was full of errands and tomorrow is my upholstery class which sucks up the whole day.

The Bad: Last night I broke a Lantern Moon Sock Stix needle working on my February Rockin' Sock Club socks so they are on hold until I can replace it. I managed to get one heel finished and start the second so I want to keep going with these rather than switch now. At least the heel knitted with these needles is a better fit than the previous one.
That's one horribly pale foot propped on my other equally pasty leg in order to get a good shot of the heel. I need to enlist a helper for these photos I think. I'm rather annoyed with myself for not using the bamboos instead though. Especially since I knew I have to knit tight to make gauge for this pattern. Only, they were in a different project and I was too stupid to switch them out. And then this morning I cracked (just a tiny one thank goodness, but still) my beautiful David Reed Smith niddy-noddy by skeining a lace weight under too much tension. Sometimes I just want to smack myself upside the head. I'll have to see if I can get a replacement part for it or something. Sigh.

The Beautiful: Possibly I should have saved Beautiful for Ravelry and lead off with this as merely Good but I am so pleased with how this turned out (eventually) to be almost exactly how I envisioned it when I started, that I think it's beautiful. I mentioned last time about dying some yarn for Mystery Shawl 3. Well, I did it this weekend. I started Friday night with what I had in the house. Food coloring. I tried blending some colors and dropping them into the water on the yarn in some sections followed by using the new (to me) black food coloring with which I tried to get a grey fairly evenly over all the yarn. The idea was to end up with a grey backed by hints of other colors (blue, purple and green basically). Well, that didn't work out too well because the black food coloring isn't really black. It just looks black if it is dark enough. Lighter, it's more of a reddish brown or something I think. Which wasn't the look I wanted.

So Saturday I went out and got some Jacquard Acid Dyes and overdyed the whole skein with Gunmetal. And I got this lovely yarn which is not quite as blue as it looks here but it is definitely a blued grey which I think I actually like better than the grey I had initially envisioned.

hand-dyed laceweight arty shot

It felted a little bit in the dye pot because I had to leave it for a bit while doing chores and it boiled softly while I was gone. That'll teach me to not try to multi-task while I'm dyeing. I re-skeined it today while it was still slightly damp (I seem to remember reading some blog somewhere that mentioned doing that with slightly felted yarns to make it easier to separate the strands) and it looks fine. It was only a tiny tiny bit felted together. It pulled apart pretty easily except for a couple of places where I actually had to tease the strands apart a bit. This photo shows the color variation better but the one above is arty.

KnitPicks Bare Laceweight dyed with food colors (blends of regular and neon and Black) and overdyed with Jacquard Acid Dye - Gunmetal

It's still drying right now. But I can't wait to use it. I think I've finally got the right yarn for my Mystery Stole 3. I just hope that 880 yards will be enough. Melanie says it only took her 780 but I'm always convinced things won't work for me even if they do for other people. I need to learn how to color correct my photos I suppose but I haven't time for yet another interest. Especially now that I have Ravelry to explore.

Confession Time

I'd probably get a lot more done if I just concentrated on current projects instead of starting others. And reading about still more others. Only I've been reading these blogs and they all have these cool things they are doing and... Yeah, you know what's coming next. I buy another pattern or yarn or both and futz around with them instead of finishing anything currently on the needles. Plus I keep finding issues and have to rip out the little bit I did get knitted. I'm working on accepting that in the appropriately Zen manner but mostly I'm still swearing and stomping and pulling a Cinderella's step-sister with the sock (or whatever) when I figure out there's a problem. Then after the appropriate mourning period I rip and restart.

The "accomplishments" of the last two weeks are thus minimal.

I ripped the French Market Bag back to the color change and switched which color I was using for the lighter color. I knew in my heart when I started the second color that it didn't seem quite right but I plugged away for a while before admitting it officially. Then I had to wait for a chance to get to the LYS. I like this combo much better though.
But at the current knitting rate, I figure there's at least two weeks before I finish this bag.

My Feb Rockin' Sock Club Socks had managed to get knitted to the appropriate length and get their heels knitted only to have their heels have to be ripped back. I mean really, does this look like it was gonna work out ok to you?
Me neither. It's partly because I forgot to switch back to the size 1 needles from the size 0 needles I think. I may also have not started at the right place. I ran a thread through to use as a lifeline (note to self, do that before starting the heel next time, idgit, it'll be much faster than carefully picking up stitches in the already knitted part) and ripped the heels out. Then I got smart and with the socks on the lifelines put them on and measured and decided I actually needed a few more rows of foot on each one first. That's finished but I haven't restarted the heels yet because I got sucked into the whirlpool.

I joined Mystery Stole 3. I'd have managed not to I think, except my best friend joined up too and after that I was helpless against the current. Of course, despite thinking it over since I first heard about it (sometime around the day signups started, iirc) I didn't actually sign up until practically the last day. (I'm wondering, do I win a procrastination achievement award for that?) So I'm still trying to pick a yarn let alone get caught up. So far I've tried a plain purple extra fine merino which is probably ok but not quite dark enough maybe. And the Midnight Rainbow/Harlot's Peacock laceweight by Perchance to Knit that I got from The Loopy Ewe and I'm still looking for the right answer. I love the Harlot's Peacock but decided I want to save that for the Peacock Feathers shawl. I know, how predictable, but I think it will really look nice in that shawl so I'm saving it for that. Which I just ordered the pattern of - see paragraph one.

So I decided to dye my own for MS3. I have some KnitPicks bare Laceweight merino. I've popped it into a dye pot and we'll see what I can come up with on my own. After all I'm already so far behind that waiting while I dye some yarn isn't really that big a deal is it?

The two inches of ribbing socks are still just two inches of ribbing and the sidewinders are still where they were too. And the Barbie dress, while twice as long as it was, is still indecent even for Barbie so I've nothing to show you for that either. I did start another hat, this time for the neighbor's baby, but quickly put it to one side to finish up closer to the winter holidays. No one needs a hat around here right now!

I did get some more done on my studio but no more pictures of that until it's done I think. I want to display the full effect rather than anymore piecemeal shots. And I did get something done on my chair...
That's the first piece of actual fabric on the chair instead of just muslin underlining or whatever they call it.

To give you an idea of just how exciting it is around here...
... she's watching ice melt.

What? Wait, where did all the time go?

Woosh. I'm not sure how more than a week has passed without me really noticing it. Some knitting has naturally occurred. A little spinning too. Not enough though. Of either. Nothing much to photograph because of that.

In not really knitting or spinning or anything related: I did some more work on my chair but forgot to take the camera. Next time maybe. And the studio has now had most of the joint compound stuff dealt with. I'm not making anymore predictions though about when things will be done because the project stalled a bit this last week and I blame that completely on my boastful statement about when I'd be able to paint.

Knitting-wise: I got through the increases on the French Market Bag and am at the color change point. There's days and days of knitting ahead of me on that before it will merit another photo. I started yet another sock but won't show that either. It's only 2 inches of 2x2 ribbing. Boooooring.

The Sidewinders stalled because the dog ate my knitting needle. No really, she did. I had switched to a pair of rosewood straights because that was all I could find that I liked in the 2.25mm size 1 size in any lys. Anyone who wants a Crystal Palace bamboo in size 1 feel free to ask and I'll send it off to you. I don't like the join. So anyway, I knit a few rows of Act two on these straights and they were working fine. And I go away for a while and when I next go to pick them up I discover the end missing off one of the needles. It turned up with the unmistakable marks of dog teeth on it about two days later. So I couldn't work on my Sidewinders because of the dog. Also, because I was too stupid at first to figure out that by wrapping a rubber band around the needle near the end I could easily render it useable again. And partly because I couldn't figure out how to write the pattern out for myself so even after the doh! moment I didn't start right up again. I think I have got it now though. But since they still look just about the same as last time - no photo of that either.

More rows done on the Feb RSC socks too but again, not enough of a change since last time to be worth a photo. And I started a Barbie(tm) dress for my daughter's dolls but since it still isn't long enough to be decent, let alone finished I'm not gonna photo that either right now*. Those skinny yarn things take forever to show progress. Worsted weight things go much more quickly. Well, as long as they are small things like hats they do anyway.

I did manage to knit a couple of little hats for Sheri's Loopy Q2 Challenge (baby hats for an orphanage in China) and got them sent off in the nick of time (I hope - I don't really trust the post office). They were a fairly fast knit actually (worsted weight and small = fast), and I had fun with them.

I used Knitting Pure and Simple's basic children's hat pattern and then did a little tiny bit of futzing at the top for decoration. On the plain peach I just did an i-cord long enough to make a little loop and then sewed it down. On the multi-color (knit out of the crock pot dye experiment that involved shaking three flavors of KoolAid over the yarn and water to see what would happen) hat I used the method for making decorative little yarn twists that Annie Modesitt showed on Knitty Gritty. I thought they looked kind of cute like that. And better than a pompom because no yarn ends can be pulled through and then eaten by the hat wearer.

I've started on a third one as a present for next Christmas for the neighbor's baby girl. I'm just going to get it going so I can remember the plan and then I'm going to shelve it for a bit. If I remember to take good enough notes (or look here) I'll do a matching one for her older sister and something similar but not too cute for their middle brother. And then I'll be in clover with my own daughter who's the same age as the older girl which is always a good place to be.

I find myself puzzled by something I noticed when my June Rockin' Sock Club yarn arrived the other day. I'm really not a big fan of oranges or yellows or even reds. I do like wine/burgundy and the occasional black cherry or even maybe once in a very long while, maroon. But mostly I tend to stay in the cool color half of the color wheel. So why does my "currently easily accessible" yarn pile look like this?

I don't know, either. I know some of them were bought/dyed for the orphanage hats and the colors were chosen partly deliberately to make them look "happy" and partly because there's not a lot of color choice in the KoolAid stash. And my daughter does like those colors so they won't go to waste even if I didn't manage to use them up for orphanage hats this time around. And two of them (the June RSC - that's the one in the front, 2nd from the right, and June Zen String - the one that's still in a skein instead of a yarn cake ) are club yarns where I had no control over the color that arrived. Only I actually like them all - in at least the abstract, even if not for me. And I think the June club yarns will stay mine no matter what.

Does this mean I'm finally getting over that orange outfit I wore when I was twelve that I thought had scarred me for life?

Probably not.


* Actually, I did. It's the thing on the needles in the yarn pile photo.