Category: Blog

Here is the first bit of yarn, it will eventually be plied, from the first roving I dyed today.

 

And since it looks exactly the same, colors that is, as Thuy’s gorgeous yarns I decided that I should not be such a copy cat. So I just dyed the other half of the roving I had & here it is.

That is how sparingly I put the dye on so as not to have complete mud after cooking it.

Here it is rolled up & ready to steam.

Here it is cooling off. I will rinse it out as soon as I am done with this post. I think it’s just what I am looking for! I am thinkin’ I will ply the two batches from today to get some really funky sock yarn.

 

You would think since green is my favorite color that I would have started with projects for the theme of May much sooner~ no, not this time. But I did cast on for a green pair of socks today, that is my project for this month’s spectrum. Pictures will come once I get past the first few inches & you can see the actual pattern.

I do like socks. I also like to make them so it’s rather handy that I am not in any kind of mood to work on sweaters. I would much rather just make myself & a few others a dozen pair of socks before diving head first into my huge pile of sweaters that need finishing. I also have a wedding gift to be making so my ass better get in gear here real soon! I have 3 weeks until it is ‘due’. That is how I feel about it but I do think my plan is rather awesome. I will tell all when it’s finished.

After knitting last night I broke out my drop spindles that haven’t seen any action for over a year & prepared myself to start spinning again. Thuy has been making some bad-ass roving & yarn lately so I thought I would bust my way in & try some too. I dyed some natural merino roving & it’s drying now but as soon as it is done I will be spinning it up. Here is the progression of the roving. Of course I forgot to get pics of it freshly dyed before heat setting it.

 Undyed natural roving soaking in the sink.

Here it is all dyed but still wet.

Here it is fluffed out a little so it would dry faster, it’s in the dryer with warm air circulating throughout. I am way too impatient to wait for it to air dry! I am rather happy with the fact that I didn’t felt it at all while dying it. Pat on the back Chauntel! Good job!

 

 

 

I posted a new photo to apad2.

I finished a pair of ankle socks for Tracy. Cute yarn from Walmart for only $2! That is a great pair of socks! They look squat & fat but they really aren’t. Size 2 needles 64 stitches around for a 9″ ankle and 9.5″ foot. Hope she likes them!

A little bit Napoleon.

Drawn by Tyler, 7 years old autistic,  for his cousin Amber who is 17 & he loves her!!

I do love that boy. BTW, that is pretty not ‘pride’. We are all about the phonetics write now lol

The weather has put me in a bit of a funk. Knitting has gone into the funk as well. I will finish the socks I am working on & then who knows what I will work on. I may go through a bit of a finishing phase. I have the 2 yoke sweaters that need to have their bodies finished, 2 other pair of socks-one is so close to being finished I can taste the joy, the Carla, the Jefferson, my Rebecca 39 GGH linen skirt,  the Brocade sweater from Rowan, my homespun granny square afghan, finishing the stack of charity blankets- all 12 need edging & ends sewn in, drop stitch cardigan from spring ik- buttons need to be sewn on- all 24 of them. I will leave the list at that. Long idn’t it??? I know there are more but my brain doesn’t want to acknowledge that right now.

My goal is to finish a bunch of those projects listed above. I actually have no desire to cast on for a bunch of things. Just plans for another pair of socks and a bag. Those I am not dying to start so it’s okay if they have to wait.

I got new glasses today. Plastic frames, I haven’t had plastic frames in years! I thought I would go for a fun color too. Why the hell not?

 I like the dark orange frames, they are just the right size & not too heavy for plastics. Nice. Man I am pale. Well if the sun would come outside to play I might be able to join some of those lovely freckles together to get a bit of a tan! I know, skin cancer, I am careful Mom!

I posted a new photo to apad2.

I am doing a LYS plug. While Tracy & I were visiting her parents over the weekend we had a knitting store outing. The first knitting store in Cameron Park opened and here it is!

The store is decorated really nicely, the yarns are easy to see, touch, sort through. I found the prices a bit higher than our stores here in SB but overall for a new store they still weren’t bad! I bought the items below.

I know you are thinking to yourself, novelty yarn, WTF?? Well, it was so cool knit up on the sample swatch they had I had to get one. I have no idea what I will do with it. It may end up as wristwarmers or some such thing. The Lopi will be either a felted bag or slippers.

And look at how cute their packaging was!!!

Let me just tell you, the ladies that own it/ work there are some of the funnest, happiest, friendliest knitstore owners I have ever dealt with. The store had a very welcoming feeling, that seems to be rare in knit stores in CA. Don’t tell me I shop at the wrong stores, I have shopped plenty of them! Village Spin & Weave in Solvang is my all time favorite in the area. Overall I would give Sierra Knitting Co. a 7 out of 10. For a new shop that is pretty damn good! They will be expanding soon too so their stock is going to just get better! Good for them!!! If you are ever on your way to South Lake Tahoe on Highway 50 stop in & buy something!

I thought I would give it a try, it’s green, I like green. It’s tea, I like tea. I like both of those attributes together even more, just not this sugary crap of a drink. Unfortunately for me, this time it ended up causing me to stop 4 times in a 3 hour drive for “potty breaks”.  No thanks!! Why would I try something fun? Why go out of my normal starbucks drink routine, do you ask? Well, we were traveling, it was warm & I thought I would be spontaneous! Okay, it wasn’t really spontaneous, I thought about it from my morning coffee order until I bought it 5 hours later. I won’t do that again, let me tell you!! Notice how neither of them have much gone. I didn’t want to waste my $4 so I drank about half, that was my downfall. Being cheap. I should have thrown this shit out!

Now this is a good green tea drink, if only it was blended with whipped cream, oh well!

 

So here is something interesting I had happen on this yoke sweater. When I did the provisional cast on I just whipped the stitches onto the needles without paying too close of attention to the tension of the stitches on the needle. Yeah, about 2/3 of the stitches were way too loose and formed a ridge once I picked them up and started to knit down the body of the sweater.

That was an easy fix just a bit time consuming. I went through with a small cable needle and tightened each stitch down the line. I ended up with about 8 inches of extra yarn that I knotted on the backside for now.

Here is the yoke pretty much done. I have to fudge with the neckline a bit more to get it just the way I want it to be but I think I know how to finish it.

If you look closely there on the bottom right of the sweater you can see the loop of yarn from tightening the stitches. I had most of the row tightened when I took the picture. Overall I am happy with the fair isle but the collar I am not so happy with. I will ponder what to do while I finish the body & short sleeves.