Category: Blog

yessssssssss.

I won a spinning wheel on ebay. Not just any wheel, a Louet s10 straight from the Netherlands where they are manufactured. So happy! It will be 2-4 weeks before it gets here but until then I will be hoarding fiber and rearranging my living room so it has a perfect little spot to come home to.

Isn’t it loverly? I love the finish. Nice and clean. The color looks like it will fit nicely in my living room and for some reason that is important to me.

It’s actually my birthday gift (Dec 17) but I have been outbid so many times on these wheels I was not going to miss out just because I would get it early. Plus, if you know me, it was really just an excuse to get it as soon as possible! I am a cheater & I know it.

Done! Are the Jaywalkers out of Fortissima Disco.

Let me say this about these socks. Ahem… I finished them last night around 9pm. Put them on, slept in them & took the picture this morning. I have never, ever had a pair of socks that actually fit my feet & stayed up. I even have trouble with store bought socks falling down around my bony feet. These fit so perfectly around my heel/ankle that I don’t ever want to take them off. As a matter of fact it makes me want to cast on for another pair this very instant. But I shan’t.

I am also only 8 rows away from being done with the back of the Green Lacey Hoodie from Rebecca. Just thought I would throw that in there. I am going to finish the back & cast on for the front pronto!

My kids had a real issue with today being Friday the 13th. Personally I like it. It’s a lucky number to me & Friday is always a good day.

As Erin pointed out in a comment on my last post I didn’t show you the third project that I started from Rebecca #32. Here it is.

You can see the yarn in the top corner. That is a ball of yarn that is not being knit with. I have misplaced the project. Okay, I haven’t looked real hard for it. I started the sweater, decided I had way too many projects going and put it away. I do believe I put it in a canvas storage box with the granny square blanket but I haven’t checked. I know that when I do see it I will *want* to work on it & put all else aside. I don’t *want* to do that so it will stay hidden/lost until I have lost all self control & dig it out.

I did receive my Lisa Souza order of Lime’n Violet sock yarn. Gorgeous, soft, scrumptious sock yarn. I do believe it has to wait to be balled because Tracy & Kalah have the swift this weekend. They are having a swift part ( I would call it a balling party).

I should be finishing the Jaywalker socks tonight. Then I need to cast on with some Trekking for a sample pair of socks for a class I will be teaching. On the side I have been working on the green lacey hoodie from Rebecca #32. I love that pattern. I do believe I will be able to finish it in the next week if I can get some knitting time in during the day. I am hoping this weekend will be productive. It was supposed to rain today through tomorrow morning & I was really looking forward to that cozy fall feeling. Alas, it did not happen.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, indoors or out!

No, really. They are sprouting like there is no tomorrow. I don’t mean to do it. I just feel the yarn, open the book & there you have a new project. The killer book on my agenda right now is the Rebecca mag #32. I already have 3 projects cast on from it right now. I only purchased it on Friday of last week (using a 40% off coupon at Craft Essentials). That aught to tell you something!

First I give you the Green holey hoodie. That is not the name of the pattern but I like it, so that is what I will call it. I am using EcoWool in a lime/grass green color. The picture is actually pretty true to color.

Next is the Frost Flowers & Leaves shawl from A Gathering of Lace. I am using Misti Alpaca laceweight on size 5 needles. I have the center pain in the butt done. I used the magic loop to start those pesky 8 stitches instead of fighting with dpn’s. Now I have moved up to a 16″ circular needle. As of right now it feels like the gauge is too loose. I haven’t really gotten into the main part of the pattern yet so I will continue on the 5’s and see if it works better once the leaf pattern starts. If not I have no problem moving down a needle size to 4’s.

Next we have the Jaywalker socks. I have one finished and 2″ of the second done. I am using Fortissima sock in Disco. It has bits of sparkly in it, very fun! I started the top of size 2.5’s, worked them for 3 inches and then moved down to size 1.5’s to get a good calf shaping. The legs are 7 inches long so I wanted there to be a bit of shaping to make them comfortable & stay up well.

And another project from Rebecca #32. It’s a shawl using the ever-fiesta-ish Patagonia Araucania in greens. This time it will stay knit. I am not ripping this frickin’ yarn out again. (By the way, when I did frog the fiesta shawl it ended up being just about finished size; fingertip to fingertip & about 30″ deep. sigh. It would have been a fast, whipped out project. If only it hadn’t been so damn ugly.)

Let’s see. What else?

Oh yes! The Lion Brand granny square blanket using Wool-ease. I, of course, did not buy the pattern. It’s a simple granny square for heaven’s sake! And I am loosely following their color pattern out of the catalog. Loosely.

And that is about it for projects I am currently working on. Oh & the Filatura di crosa sweater that I started last week. I posted about that one though.

All 4 of my family members put in requests for new socks yesterday. We were driving along on our way to Longboard’s for dinner on the pier in Santa Barbara, when they all start shouting out the colors they need new socks in. I suppose since it has cooled down here a bit they all must have them now! Their feet are getting so big now (Sadie is wearing a womens size 5.5-6) that socks are not nearly as fast to whip out as they used to be when they were toddlers. One of them is going to have to start knitting or I won’t be able to keep up!

I hate the color striping in the patagonia shawl. I ripped out the whole thing & now, now I will go ahead & start a solid green candle flame shawl. Done, done with the fiesta stripes.

I thought since I finished a long, long project that I needed a quick fix. So I started a triangle shawl using Patagonia Araucania cotton yarn, some I had on hand, the rest I bought at Knit & Pearl. Using 9 balls of greens colorway, 1 reds, 1 oranges and 1 blues I am just going, going, going. I want it to be huge, like a blanket! Right now the spine measures 32″ when I hold it up and let it hang. I am about half way done with it.

In the shade to get rid of the shadows but the true colors are in the sunlight.

Now that I see it on the monitor it looks rather fiesta-ish. That is not a bad thing, just not my thing. I will have to see how this turns out. I do like it while I am working on it though so we’ll just have to see once it’s done.

On another note, I took a picture of the Filatura Di Crosa pattern that I am working on little by little.

That is 7 inches of 2×2 ribbing people! Now I am onto the body of the back which is all stockinette. I do love the yarn, it is a tad bit more orange than in the photo. Spice is the color name. The sweater is just adorable! I really should focus on just that so I can get some wearing time in before it gets too cool for my freezing extremities. Yeah, I know! We live in Santa Barbara, home of no seasons. Well let me tell you, I feel the seasons in my freezing hands & feet even if it is 70degrees outside!

Tracy & I made magnetic boards for ourselves (oh, about 4 months ago) after our smaller 6″x9″ weren’t large enough for full size 8.5″x11″ charts. Easy to do & inexpensive. We were lucky enough to find 8.5″x11″ heavy, thick, leather placemats(? we never did figure out what they were really for) at Ross that we used as our backing, 4 for $4.99. Then we took a roll of self sticking magnetic sheet, cut it to the right size & stuck it on. I then took my self stick magnet strips, cut some ribbon to match and voila! Fancy, schmancy magnet board! I have two & Tracy has two.

Back that is not magnetic

Magnetic board front that is magnetic!

Magic I tell you!

Okay, so I did it like I said I would. At 12:35pm Saturday I bound off the last stitch of the Fan & Feather Shawl.

Here is a picture of it being bound off. Crochet bind off for the edging detail.

And here it is all bound off & ready for blocking. 46″ across

And now for the blocking. I used my blocking wires & T-pins on my California King Sized bed.

I now need to steam all around the edging to make it nice & round, not pointy. Right now it measures 73″ from tip to tip. I do believe that it will grow a tad bit more when I steam the edging out.

I am so pleased yet a little sad that this long journey is done. It’s like when I come home from a long trip, I am sad that I am home. The same here. I am sad that this shawl is done being knit. Even though I now get to use it/wear it all the time. I sat for about 2 hours not knitting at all before I was able to get over my muddled brain and decide what to knit on next. I did decide that I would work on socks. The green STR socks to be exact. I finished them last night. Done. I did forget to take a picture of them though. To be posted later….

I am going to finish this fan & feather shawl if it is the last thing I do. So.close. Only 10 rows to go but man are they some serious rows! I timed myself on row 171 of 189 and was knitting at 31minutes a round. Not so bad for over 1200 sts a round. The pattern rows are the killers. Over an hour because I am triple checking my stitch count after every yo & decrease section. Last thing I need is to drop a stitch or make a mistake in the 11th hour of this shawl (knock on wood). So, hours will be spent knitting around & around in gorgeous merino single spun handpainted yarn. Darn.

I really wasn’t too concerned with getting balls of yarn all perfectly spaced to not have color changes. The yarn is handpainted/kettle dyed and a one of a kind 3 hank batch. I wanted it to be kind of raw moving from hank to hank. I like it a lot!

So in a completely selfish mood I decided to stop by Knit & Pearl this afternoon, before getting the kids from school, & purchase a pick me up in the hopes I would be motivated to complete the shawl & move on to something colorful & new to work on.

3 hanks of Patagonia Araucania yarn in shades; reds, oranges & blues. They will go with the emerald/blue that I already have on hand (all 9 balls) and become a large shawl. Triangle or spiral circle I am not sure yet. I was going to make a cardigan but have since decided that I will use a cotton shawl more. I already have a dozen knit cardigans that get passed over when I get dressed.

1 more ball of misti Alpaca lace for another shawl. I am slowly collecting the yarn for this shawl since I need over 3000 yards for the pattern.

And 1 ball of DB cashmerino aran yarn to make myself a pair of Fetching gloves for this winter.

And a sample of Soak (her prices are better at knit & pearl than online), a new wool wash that Julie had samples of. It smells so good…so good…

Oh & I did start a project the other night at a really late hour when I wasn’t thinking straight.

Woolease granny square blanket from Lion Brand.

I am using all the same colors as in the pattern pictured above. So fast. It’s an easy set-it-aside-pick-it-up-whenever project. Inexpensive & washable. Can’t beat that!

Let’s see, what else have I got going on? I have more sock yarn calling my name than I know what to do with. It’s almost worth staying up 72 hours straight & knitting socks just to use some of it up. Not a good idea you say? Shucks. Oh! And I started a Filatura Di Crosa sweater from the fall 2005 book. Gorgeous sweater. I will get a picture up once the shawl is done & I get past the 7inches of ribbing.

Now if I could only get some spinning in sometime….

Edit: It’s been washed & is now pinned to the blocking board drying. The puckering around the yoke decrease rounds has disappeared and is now nice & flat! The yarn softened up a lot after washing. I knit this with Knitpicks Merino Style in a pretty tight gauge, 6.5sts/ inch, on size 5 needles. It is fan-frickin-tastic!!!

I finished the brown cherry last night. I am so happy with it! I just have to give the yoke a good blocking & wash it before it makes it’s first real debut in public. But for now, here it is!

By using the k1tbl, p1 rib it gets a tiny bit of a twist on the sleeves & bottom but I think I like that added surprise. I love how the shaping hits all my curves perfectly! It’s a very happy day when you design something and the finished product is better than you expected!

I am considering putting the pattern up for free but I just can’t decide. I do love it so much! I suppose it’s worth something, not just free. Let me know what you think, wouldja?

The Vogue mag preview for the next issue is up. Go take a peek!

My faves:

So simple & stylish, gorgeous!