Summer begins

Well, it's officially summer! So I cast on my first socks for Summer of Socks 2008. I'm working Anklebiters by Terry Ross using DIC Smooshy. I'm working gussett increases on sock 1. My goal is to finish at least 5 pairs of socks.

This may be an ambitious goal as I always have a prayer shawl in the works and I'm working another sweater. Yeah, I know I said no more till cool weather.

The sweater is Allspice vest using Anna's yarn. This sweater has about 15 different colors and I had to decide what to use where. I'm not a very good color theorist but the picture below doesn't look bad.

I finished my Greenjeans design socks. They match my Mr Greenjeans sweater and are made from DIC Smooshy in Into the Mystic. I designed these with the help of a sock design class at The Loopy Ewe Spring Fling led by Cookie A. I did a couple of things that I'd do differently if I make them again. I decided that I need to be more consistent with taking notes. As in, WRITE IT DOWN WHETHER YOU THINK YOU'LL REMEMBER OR NOT!!!! I had to drag out the magnifier while making sock 2 to figure out what I'd done on sock 1. I did take notes while working sock 2.
Also OTN is a prayer shawl and a market bag. I finished a couple of Chakalakas and will post pictures next time.

On the wheel is some Creatively Dyed Roving in Fairy Dust. It's 70/3o wool/seacell. I'm on the second bobbin. Looks like I'll have enough to spin two more. I'm beginning to be very pleased with my singles. Hopefully the plyed will look good too.

Getting ready for Summer of Socks 2008

Last week I finished up a sweater project I'd had OTN since February. The last few days I worked it temperatures soared near 90, and the dog and cat still insisted on be lap animals. Needless to say, a lap full of dog, cat and sheep was hot at that point.

Now temperatures are close to 100. I cast on a sweater vest which will very likely hibernate in a few days.

Now I signed up for Summer of Socks 2008 which officially starts on June 21. At my house the socks only knitting will start sooner. I'm working on my design sock based on Mr Greenjeans cable and rib pattern using Into the Mystic Smooshy.

I worked yesterday on my second baby surprise jacket that I'm making using DK superwash from Thank Ewe. I was short about 50 yards (oops) so had to custom-order more.

I started making Chakalakas which are small baskets made from cotton. Since I'm not making dishcloths much anymore, this is a good project to use that stash. Also I found a pattern for knitted market bags. I'll be making some of those. These will be good gift items.

I also spent some time yesterday organizing queued projects--gathering patterns and yarn and putting in bags. I also organized my sock patterns because I keep buying Wendy's patterns and was concerned I'd duplicate. Guess what I had! The next few days I'll be winding yarn for Summer of Socks projects which will be:

1. Anklebiters designed by Terry Ross. Yarn will be DIC Smooshy Don't be blue
2. Moselle designed by Cookie A. Yarn will be Wollmeise Spring Fling
3. Spring Fling toe ups by Wendy. Yarn will be Wollmeise
4. Asparagus Cables by Wendy. Yarn will be Smooshy Spring Tickle. I'll be designing a sweater to match these in the fall.
5. TLE Family Frolic by Debbie O'Neill. Yarn will be Claudia Hand Paint fingering and Louet Gems
6. fresh, again by Sarah Nopper. Yarn will be Sparkles sock yarn from Keegan Lane Yarns.
7. St Louis socks by Wendy. Yarn will be Claudia Hand Paint fingering

Now I probably won't finish all these and I may cast on Anklebiters before June 21 so they may not be counted as SoS socks.

I've used enough stash to free up a small tote and this allowed me to stow kitted projects. Yay!

Finished projects:



Opal toe-ups based on Wendy's pattern. Please note Debit's paw. I suspect had these not been on blockers she would have grabbed one. I started these before Spring Fling and called them my travelling project. I started out making both at once. Never again!!!! Half way up the toe I moved one to waste yarn. Then I failed to make good notes (bad knitter). Obviously I figured it out.

In progress: Allspice vest using Anna's yarn, design sock, chakalaka, baby surprise jacket, prayer shawl

Gonna sign off for now. Stay cool--knit socks.

IT'S FINISHED--FINITO--OFF THE NEEDLES

(This has a lot of pictures of finished projects. I didn't post all. Those of you on Ravelry can see all. My id is timspinknitz.)


In January I attended a knitting retreat at Kanuga Conference Center in Hendersonville, NC. One of my classes was a sweater design class led by Varian Brandon. She used part EZ percentage, part Alice Starmore, part from a book titled Knitting the Old Way and part her own method. In February I started my first design sweater. It's had a couple of naps but mid-week this week I bound it off. I'm not overjoyed with the neck. It's a little scoopy but I learned and will adjust the next one. Here's the picture:

I also finished my Mr Greenjeans sweater. A couple of changes I made to this pattern were using larger needles for cable work on body and making full length sleeve. The yarn is Dream in Color Classy Into the Mystic. I highly recommend this yarn you can find it at The LoopyEwe.
Here's a picture:


Here's a prayer shawl I made for my aunt. It's the basic k3, p3 shawl made in Lionbrand Homespun. I'm not sure what the colorway is. I bought this on eBay and it didn't have a label.

This is a Rocketry sweater for a new baby at my church. It was designed to use Dream in Color yarns. I used some Knit Picks Swish because I was being cheap and didn't want to spend the price of the kit on the gift. Since I'm totally lacking in color theory abilities, I didn't think this was a very baby-like sweater. I suspect Tristan will get this sweater.
Another reason I wasn't overly thrilled by the above sweater was that I made an EZ baby surprise jacket. This was from some superwash yarn dyed by my friend Laura. I also made a matching hat from 101 One Skein Wonders. Now when I first finished this little jacket, I thought "It's okay but not the cutest sweater I've ever seen." Then I found these little bear buttons at Walmart. When I sewed them on, it was like magic. I'm now making a baby surprise jacket for the "church" baby.


These are my exchange partner's socks. Pat is from near Chicago. She gave me a beautiful pair of socks made of Claudia Handpainted, some qiviuk to spin, some chocolate, some Wollmeise, a tape measure, some note cards and a basket. Her socks are Wendy's Loopy Laces and the yarn is Regia Stretch in Skater colorway.
This is the finished Argosy wrap. I gave it to a knitting friend who has breast cancer and is undergoing chemo. It's made from Fantasy Naturale and the colorway ought to be red hatters delight but I don't know the name.
I think this is most of the big items I've finished in the last two months. I finished Janelle's dorm socks and some hand towels. They're in my Ravelry notebook.

On the needles now, a pair of generic toe-ups based on Wendy's pattern using Opal sock, a pair of design socks to match Mr Greenjeans sweater using Dream in Color Smooshy, a baby surprise jacket using some DK superwash in Spring Melody from ThankEwe, and Allspice vest from Anna Zilbourg from kit. I'll also be working on some market bags for Christmas gifts soon. Bye for now. Hope to be back sooner.

Fiber Festival in the Back of Beyond

It's Memorial Day weekend. A knitting friend suggested that I might enjoy attending a fiber festival in Big Island, VA. So Saturday morning I took a trip to my first fiber festival. I printed driving directions from the festival's website but also set my GPS while waiting at the drive thru for the barista to make my mochaccino. The GPS kept saying that my current location was at my home and I tried to reset it but that didn't work.

Now let me say that this was a beautiful area of Virginia and the scenery provided many Kodak moments. BUT...the directions from the website took me down a small, really small, road. On one stretch a dually would have needed a wide-load escort. While on this stretch I was behind a Uhaul which had the right wheel on the shoulder and the left over the center line. I stopped before I left civilization to buy a soft drink and, after about an hour, I began to appreciate how Sandra Bullock's character felt in "Two Weeks Notice." I didn't see any RVs but I was about ready to stop at some stranger's house and ask if I could use the facilities.

I took "Little Loopy" with me and wanted to stop and take pictures of her with the beautiful scenery but this road had no pull-offs--of course, I could have stopped on the road as traffic was pretty much non-existent. Finally I arrived. Here's a picture of Loopy on the car at the festival
You can see the Virginia Blue Ridge behind her. Here she is having lunch with Wanda, Kelly and Robin who are members of the Danville knitting group.My main purpose in going to the festival was to buy roving. Of course, I had to have sock yarn and a knitting bag too. Here's a picture of the yarn from Misty Mountain Farms and the roving from Kid Hollow Farm. The bag's on order.Before I left to return home, Robin, Wanda and Kelly gave me directions home on the "good" roads. The drive was a little longer but much easier.

Later this week I'll be posting about knitting projects. Gotta go spin...

More Preemie Hats

preemie hats
Originally uploaded by katzendog3

Here are more preemie hats. All made with Knit Picks Shine Sport. They are so tiny. Thanks to my KF Robin for the picture. I keep forgetting to take pix and send the hats to her to distribute.

What's up lately

I've been pretty busy on weekends lately. I've had to work a couple of Saturdays, Project Linus meets on Saturdays, the dog went for routine vet visits a couple of Saturdays, and I had spinning lessons on Saturdays.

Spinning is going well. I'm spending about 30 minutes a day at the wheel and am loving it. I wish I had more time. I've got one bobbin of yarn that will be used to ply, dye and knit something. I will start a second one sometime this week. Finding a drafting "hold" that worked for me was not easy since my thumbs are different from most folks. Now I've got it going and am pleased with my handspun. I can't decide whether to use the yarn to make something for myself or to make something for Tristan.

I'm getting ready for my trip to The Loopy Ewe's Spring Fling. I'm making a pair of "secret socks" for my exchange partner, and Wendy Johnson (wendyknits) who will be leading a toe-up class at the Fling has given us a homework assignment. So those will be OTN and possibly another pair of socks for a gift.

Also, OTN is my design drop-shoulder sweater. It is hibernating until I finish the "secret socks." The body is finished and I've knit up my first sleeve and worked to first decrease. I hope to finish it before I leave for Fling.

On the gift knitting front, I'm making a baby surprise jacket using a friend's handdyed. This is an interesting pattern but then EZ's things usually are.

In the wings are several socks I want to make and my DIC sweater KAL and some more baby sweaters.

Below are some pictures of finishhed projects and works in progress.

Snowflake closeup

031908 002
Originally uploaded by katzendog3