Booby Socks

How could I possibly pass up the opportunity to knit these great pink socks to promote Breast Cancer Awareness. They are awesomely pink and so cute in the kit I purchased from Purls of Wisdom. The net proceeds go the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Research Center and the yarn is a limited edition "Pink Ribbon Trekking XXL yarn" by Skacel. Edited with my apologies---the creative designer is Rosemary "Chappy" Chapman. Hats off to her!



The kit even comes with darker pink beads which get knitted in as nipples on the booby motifs!





There is even a special toe called the Nipple Toe....



I can't wait to cast these on so I will cut this entry short.............

Like patting your head and rubbing your belly

My first spinning class was this morning and I was expecting a group activity. What I ended up with was a private lesson with Sandy. The LYS, Purls of Wisdom in Parker is fairly new and since there are no other stores on the south end with much in the way of spinning supplies, Jen decided this would be her niche. She has lots of undyed and dyed roving and will soon carry spindles and wheels. I created (with help) a drop spindle using a dowel and 2 old cd's. Here is my first attempt:

Like everything, it is going to take lots of practice to get the hands,roving and spindle to work together to make a good usable yarn. What you see is 2 hours of work!!

Garden in front yard

Even though today was damp and dreary, looking at my front garden and my dwarf dutch iris just makes me smile. The colors are so deep and dreamy.

I may have to look for sock yarn in this color. Come to think of it, I already have some! :-)

Well--- almost.

I know that daffodils, tulips, and roses will follow as the days warm up. Every few weeks a new color blooms there until fall when the fuschia colored mums reign. I will keep my blog updated with all the colors of summer.

Another first: I added the progress bar today for most of my works linked on Ravelry. Another successful attempt at computer doo-hickeys that I know nothing about. I just have to trust they work the way they are supposed to.

Conversation yesterday with daughter:

Me: "Guess what. I put a stat counter on my blog and got 22 hits and 2 comments!"

Daughter: "You have achieved the Pop Culture Icon Status that I have been seeking"

It is not every day that I can impress a daughter. Love it!

I hope it is not a new addiction

I signed up for a beginner class of drop spindle spinning this Saturday. We will be making a drop spindle from 2 cd's and a dowel and then spin from prepared roving. I have been spinning-curious since going to see the Yarn Harlot last year at the Tattered Cover. There were several people spinning away as they waited in line and I was fascinated. Like I don't have enough to do right now!

I still have not started the second sock for Alison (out of Fixation). I can taste the end of my Kauni, but need to really concentrate once I begin the buttonholes. And the Slippery sock has been transfered to my new Harmony 32" needles from Knitpicks. I am hoping the Magic Loop knitting goes faster than doublepoints.

Yay, it's spring finally here. The glacier has melted from the front lawn, the sky is crystal blue, my dwarf dutch iris are blooming in the garden. Today on my walk, I saw a red tail hawk which is always a beautiful sight. Life is good.

And I got two comments on yesterdays post- my very first. I am so happy.

Let's see if anyone is reading this blog.

Today I have added a counter to this blog to see if I am talking to myself or if anyone else is visiting. Not that it matters, really, but since I see myself as a pretty average knitter/person, maybe my experiences could benefit others.

Last night I sewed the buttons on the button band of my Kauni, and have begun the second button band. I am at the point where the next row involves the buttonholes. I am using 9 buttons in 4 colors, with two close to the top and then on alternating "squares" rows. My neck band and the button band match pretty well, but when it came to starting the second button band, I decided to make a random change so the two front bands don't match. I think that goes along with the randomness of the whole sweater. What do you think??

After looking at the photo here, the green button looks misplaced, so I guess I will be moving it over a bit. At least the buttonholes should all be even!

My Sleeves Actually Match....Almost

I can hardly believe I pulled it off, knowing my lack of skill at such things. The sleeves for my Kauni are done and they actually match......almost. They are spot on all the way down, until the cuff and there is a slight difference in the color of the purples. I am not complaining, but puzzled how that could have happened.

I have now picked up around the neck band and am using yellow and purple/red. There ended up being no yellow in the sleeves, but plenty in the body. So yellow on the front bands is my plan as well. As I wandered through Ravelry, I noticed that many people took much time matching the sleeves to the body, manipulated the colors so the color runs were shorter, but I just knit through the sleeves as the colors came. Not sure I would have picked the Denver Broncos color combination of orange/blue or the Xmas red/green, but I am not unhappy the way they turned out.

I tried duplicate stitches over the red stitches which resulted from a sudden color splice, but was definitely unhappy with the result of that. I pulled the stitches out and will try another technique for it, that I saw on Ravelry. Gotta love Ravelry for getting your questions answered, even before you ask them.

Progress on Kauni

I am at about mid forearm on the first sleeve of my Kauni cardigan. I thought the orange would never stop, but now it is red going to purple and blue. I can't seem to finish the two original balls of yarn which were 150 grams each in order to wind the new ball into two, to finish the 2nd sleeve and front/neck bands. These balls are going on forever- maybe they are magic. I also cut the steeks yesterday to try on the sweater. It is a good thing I made the medium and not the small because I may need to make the front bands a little wider so it is not too tight at the hips.

I finished the 1st sock of Alison's fixation. I am not really motivated to start the 2nd as I really do not like the yarn much. Her birthday is in two weeks, but she will be here in early April. I will shoot for then to have them finished.

I started the Slippery socks from Knitty.com and they are very pattern intensive with lots on single cables and slip stitches. I like the yarn I am using even though the pattern is getting a little lost in the varigation of colors.

Yesterday I drove around with the top down on the Miata and today we had a blizzard. You gotta love Denver weather........ At least I know that Spring is around the corner, even if March is our snowiest month!