2nd Pair Done

The second pair of handspun socks are done and I just...just...had enough yarn to finish. I think I have about 6 yards of yarn left! The only concession I made was to make the top 6" instead of my usual 7". They have nice heft to them, without being as heavy as the first pair.

The new pair is on the right.

They have a great sheen to them and are very soft. Now on to the next project.....

After a 4 day weekend

I just wasn't satisfied having so much handspun fiber left over after finishing my first pair of handspun socks. I knew there was enough for at least one more sock, but would there be enough for 2 more??? Taking the scientific approach (please note: totally unlike me), I weighed each finished sock on my digital kitchen scale and a-ha, one weighed 61 grams and the other measured 45 grams! I knew one was heavier, but I was really surprised at the difference between the two. I then weighed the leftover handspun yarn and it weighed 100 grams, or just under 4 oz. I then rewound it into two balls of 50 grams each and felt I should start another pair!

As the yarn ran through my fingers to the ball-winder, I knew that this was the thinner yarn of the smaller sock, so I went down to a size 2 and cast on 56 stitches for another pair of plain socks. These too, I am doing 2 at a time on circs, so if I run out near the toes, I can at least be certain that the toes will match each other, if not the rest of the sock. I am really happy with the texture of this pair so far.

After the 4 day weekend, I should have more to show for my time, but relaxing and enjoying the sunshine was the original plan. I took several walks, watch several movies and finished up the
Targhee from JulieSpins. It is incredibly soft and squooshy in its finished skeins. I didn' measure yet the yardage but I must have at least 400 yards in the two skeins (plus the bitty one) in sock/fingering weight out of the 5 oz of fiber.

I just love how the colors played in this yarn as it was two plyed. The two skeins don't even look like they come from the same fiber,

but one skein will lead naturally into the other.

Now to plan a project.... another Ishbel, perhaps? Any other ideas out there? Until then, I will be satisfied just giving it a squeeze every now and then!

Thursday Catchup

I cannot believe this week and that it is already Thursday. What that means for me (but not most people) is that my weekend is here again. Working parttime is bad for the budget, but I love the 3 days off each week. My only problem is that I have one extra day to get into trouble. I couldn't help myself....the Koigu was on sale last Friday when I went to knitting group at Colorful Yarns. My purchase qualified for a green bag by being over ??? dollars. I just cannot reveal in public the amount of my purchases for my own protection!!! ;-) The green bag can be used in the future for one of the Green Bag Sales where everything I can stuff into it is off a certain percentage. I just hope they don't have one too soon!

Nice group and a variety of ages and abilities. And something is on sale every week! The book wasn't on sale, but I couldn't resist this one:

There are lots of gift ideas for socks, hats and accessories that are unique. I really want to try the beaded socks from the front cover.

The other rabbit hole I fell down this week was JulieSpins shop update last Sunday. I knew in advance and planned my morning accordingly. Julie's yarns and rovings are so sought after that you have to sign in to Etsy and be ready to commit. If you dawdle, your choice disappears into someone else's shopping basket. I didn't dawdle.....but I did control myself and limited my purchase to only one:

This is Targhee wool fiber in the color Bouquet. I have never spun Targhee before but it is rumoured to be like buttah! I am trying to get away from spinning my favorite colors of blue teal and green and this roving grabbed my mouse finger right away.

Progress on the socks: I am working on the heel flap now and had to look up the formula for the heel turn on a 48 stitch pattern. Thank you Charlene Schurch!

What I am finding that the sock on the left has much thicker spinning at the heel than the one on the right, and I may actually have to do a few extra rows before turning the heel. My spinning is not perfect, but who will notice???

Last but not least is the Ishbel Shawl. I finished all the lace and now casting off. I definitely will make this pattern again since once I got the hang of it, it went along smoothly. As you can see, I am using much larger needles for the cast off (10.5) so that blocking this edge with its point will not be a problem. I think the side edges are a bit tight now and I worry about stretching it out.

It sure doesn't look like much in its green blobby state. Stay tuned.

Ripped Again!

My socks, that is...... With the DragonFibers handspun,

I am hoping that this third attempt is a keeper finally. I made two attempts at doing the Berry Season Socks from 2 at a time Socks

by Melissa Morgan Oakes. My handspun is very dense and the gauge just wouldn't work out. They were coming out huge, so I ripped them again and started a plain jane pair using a 48 stitch cast on. So far so good, now, and I like the shine the yarn has in the plain stockinette. So, here is the third attempt:

I hate that I am still working part time and that I can hardly make ends meet, but I am loving my job and my 3 day weekends........ Everything is a trade-off in this life and things could be lots worse. At least my yarn and handspun stash is large enough to keep me in projects. Now, if I only can restrain myself from new purchases.

Finished one and Restarted Another

What ended up being knit with the Bright Hibiscus homespun discussed in an earlier post, turned out to be a foliage hat. I should have enough yarn for 3 of these hats, using the bulky weight directions.

I am "training" for the Tour de Fleece which starts on July 4 to coincide with the Tour de France bike race. I have spun up two bobbins of the fiber I will be spinning for the sweater. I am going for medium worsted weight yarn and I am striving for consistancy.

I frogged the Berry Season Socks from the book 2-at-time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes because the fabric was just too dense, and it almost felt woven. I began them again, this time using the top as designed in the pattern with Size 2 needles. So much better and more stretchy. The way the yarn shines in the stockinette section of the cuff makes me wonder if I should reconsider again and make a plain sock to show off the fiber. Hmmmmm.

I recall a blogpost by the Yarn Harlot where she knew all along that the socks were coming out too big and she knitted away in denial till the end...when they were indeed too big. It is one of the best lessons she has taught me over the years: Frogging in the early stages of a project is a whole lot less painful than once it is completed.

Today's nature shot:

How nice of him to stay put and pose for me!

New Challenges Ahead

Did you see the new button to the right for the Tour de Fleece?? I am joining up for the first time this year and my challenge is to spin enough yarn for a sweater or to make significant progress towards one. Of course, I am talking about spinning it on my wheel, and lucky for me I will be going up to the Estes Park Sheep and Wool Festival this Sunday to scope out and purchase something squooshy. The way this works is that you set yourself a big challenge to spin every day of the Tour de France bike race which this year runs from July 4 to July 26. There is a Ravelry group that issues prizes and it is a forum to post progress reports and photos as you go. Sounds like a lot of fun and I am up for the challenge.. Now I have a shopping goal: 2 pounds of fiber should be sufficient to make enough yarn to do this. Any ideas for colors or fiber type??? Suggestions always welcome.

I haz Iris!

This is the first blooming iris.....gift from Becky of Iron Needles and it looks like there will be several more on the stem. It is a very yummy shade of butterscotch with burgundy accents. I thought it might be the same as she showed in her blog this morning, but hers look like a much brighter gold. In addition, there are bloom stalks on 3 other iris that she sent me. Stay tuned.

I have cast on for my variation of the Berry Season Socks from 2-at-a-time Socks in my first 3 ply wheel spun sock yarn from dragonfibers. It is actually knitting up more bulky than I thought it would, so next time I will do 2 ply. Changes made so far is a plain k1p1 cuff, and I will make them regular length, instead of shorty as in the original pattern. I love the sheen that this yarn has and they are very soft, if bulky. Using size 1.5 needles.

This is a much better representation of the true colors and it shows off the texture of the pattern.

A Knitting FO !!!

Here are the Spring Forward socks, finished at last.   I worked on these on and off for several months and finally finished them last night as promised. What I learned: Two at a time socks is easiest when there are the same number of stitches on the front and back of the sock and they do not change at the heel!!! Re-arranging the stitches with this method caused major brain damage until I had it worked out, but then it was clear sailing to the end.     Details are in earlier posts, and on ravelry.

I am pretty pleased how they turned out and since we are heading into barefoot season, I think I will pack them away, but they may actually be gifted to some lucky person!

I began spinning the Dragonfibers fiber last Sunday, and it has such a full-on shimmer that I couldn't photograph it  well.   I will try again in the natural sunshine in a few days, but it does beg to be spun very fine.   

Today was my short day at work, and I finally got around to fertilizing the lawn, so in about a week it should be totally lush.   Of course for my three day weekend, rain is in the forecast and  I WANT to plant flowers.  With Sunday being Mother's Day,  I should be able to do what I WANT......   It isn't fair!

Wishing all the mothers out there a perfect day to do what YOU want.   Appreciate your mothers, let your kids appreciate you, and take a moment to remember the ones no longer with us.   

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

I was surprised this morning with a Valentine's Gift of pearl earrings along with the card. Gary is not usually the jewelry type of gift-giver, so it was a surprise. May he was feeling bad because this was my 6th day working this week, but whatever, I appreciated the gift and the thoughts.

Here is a new photo of the Spring Forward socks in progress. Working my way to the toes.

Turned the heel

Yes,the heel is turned, picked up the gusset stitches and I am still 2-at-a-time and moving right along. The hardest part was getting the right stitch count on each needle with them lined up in the proper order. Now it is clear sailing through the gusset decreases as I move towards the toe.

Minstrel update: UPS tracking shows it has moved from La Marque, TX, to Houston, and has arrived in Dallas early this morning. to be continued......

I went to the library yesterday and saw they had the book, "Teach yourself Visually, Handspinning", by Judith MacKenzie McCuin. I thought right, sure, this would be pretty lame, but then I saw that the technical editor was Maggie Casey of Shuttles Spindles and Skeins in Boulder and the author of Start Spinning, which I already own. I knew then that this would be a worth while way to spend several days before the wheel arrives. Yesterday was the Superbowl, and since I am NOT a sportsfan, I blew all the way through this book during the game. It is great and covers everything from fiber prep, through handspindles and wheel spinning, to dyeing and knitting with handspun. The photos are great and even if the info is pretty basic, it is very clear for beginnners and a valuable resource along with Maggie's own book. I did confirm while I was reading this book, that even though I am right handed, I spindle spin like a lefty. I keep my fiber wrapped around my right wrist and draft with my left. I wonder what will feel best when I get the wheel set up.

Attacking the stitch count discrepancy

I made my way to the point where it is time to begin the slipstitch heel on my Spring Forward Socks. As the pattern is written for doublepoints, and as I am using the two at a time technique, I had some adjustments to do to the stitch count on the front and heel portions.

The pattern is 66 stitches in total around, and as written, it calls for 30 stitches on the heel and 36 stitches for the front. While working on the first sock, I was able to transfer 2 stitches from the end of the first side but when I got to the second side to transfer the last stitch to the other side, I was in the middle of the cable with no access. I sort of knew this was going to happen and I was prepared with two extra circular needles to start transferring and having both ends to work from.

What helped was using stitch markers. I had one from the beginning marking the first side to be knitted.
Have you ever seen such a jumbled mess. Each time I transferred a side, I either had one of each side facing forward, or the working yarn was on the wrong side. I kept at it though. Persistant, I am.

After about 45 minutes and many shifts, including using stitch holders as well, I finally got all the stitches transferred and the working yarn on the correct side of both socks, and I again used stitch markers near the top to indicate the heel side.

This all took place in the 3 plain rows of the pattern, but I am sure I screwed something up, but hey, this is the part that will be where the ankle breaks or inside the shoe and who will know????? to be continued.........

On to a New Blogging Year

All through the past several weeks, I have spindling more than knitting and I am getting pretty itchy for a Wheel. A Kromski Sonata wheel to be exact.

This is the exact wheel that my knitting buddy, Stacy, purchased before the holidays and I had a chance to try it out at her home. I am thinking about the same wheel in the Walnut stain for myself to match some woods in my home and after reading many of the review both on the net and in Ravelry. I like this wheel's classic looks without taking up too much room when set up. The best part is that it breaks down and folds into a padded carrying bag so that it can easily travel to spin-ins or nearly anywhere. From what I have read, it can do nearly everything a spinner would want to do: from laceweight to heavy worsted weight. The itch is getting bad, but I am waiting for career enhancement to take place......

So I continue to spindle spin with my three favorite spindles: Golding, Bosworth, and Eichheim. I am almost to the end of the Creatively Dyed Sea Wool fiber from Rhinebeck, and I believe I will have enough for socks after plying the last bits. I am making a regular 3 ply for this yarn, and putting quite a lot of spin into it to make it better wearing socks. Might have to do 2-at-a-time toe up socks, in case I run short. Oh Boy, another technique to learn!

This is all that is left to spin:These are my singles already spun for the second skein:

I don't seem to be making much of a dent in the Briar Rose BFL fiber, also purchased at Rhinebeck in October. One skein is finished of worsted weight, which I used the Navajo ply on the fly technique. For this next skein, I am using the same technique, but spinning finer, so the plyed yarn is much thinner. I should probably be using my wraps per inch tool to determine the actual weight of the yarn, but until I have lots of it finished, I am too lazy. I am winding it onto a TP roll as the spindle gets too heavy and I have about 40 grams in weight done on the TP roll. The skein on the left is the worsted weight which should make a nice hat. Since the roving was over a pound when I purchased it, I better make friends with it. It will be occupying my home for a long time! This is the roving ball still left of 17 oz purchased:

And this is what the scale reads.........

Special Day

I wasn't going to post again until my contest ends tomorrow at midnight, but I was so blown away today that I had to share.

1. I have been checking daily for comments to my blog and entries into my first blogiversary contest. Today I had a very special surprise. There was a comment from Melissa Morgan-Oakes herself, commenting on my Spring Forward socks which is the second time I am using her technique 2-At-Time Socks. As I work my way down the leg from the cuff, she reminded me that I still have to deal with the stitch count discrepancy from the way the pattern is originally written and the way I have the socks set up on the needle. I will worry about it later, much like Scarlett in Gone with the Wind. Don't forget to read about the contest and my blogiversary entry.

2. I hope no one misses the "We are One" concert, either live (which is now not possible) in re-run on HBO or wherever else they may run into it over the next few days. It was incredible that hundreds of thousands of Americans and American supporters, all races, religions, political persuasions, music lovers, and patriots gathered in peace to share the joy and excitement of the Inaugural Weekend festivities on Washington DC's mall in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial. All styles of music were represented from Pete Seeger to Stevie Wonder, from Gospel Choirs to John Mellancamp, from Bono to Beyonce. The choices of songs and music had me in tears for much of the event with a sense of pride and patriotism and hope that had been missing for such a long time. All the music was punctuated with videos and the words of past presidents and statesmen from Lincoln, Kennedy, Roosevelt, and Reagan to Martin Luther King, Jr who we also honor this weekend. This was capped by a short talk by President-elect Obama at the end and the excitement builds til Tuesday's inauguration.

Yes We Did! and Yes We Can!

Back Spasms lead to a day off

Yesterday, I managed to work out at the gym very comfortably and felt fine for the rest of the day. Today, woke up....fine. Showered....fine. Got dressed and dried my hair.....fine. Had breakfast and sat down at the computer....fine. Got up from the computer and headed upstairs to brush my teeth and put on makeup to get ready for work....NOT FINE! One step from the top, my back spasmed with such a force, it almost threw me to the ground. I stood still for a while, grabbed the bannister, mounted the last step, and headed for the bathroom. My color was absolutely green in the mirror as I broke out in a cold sweat. After I grabbed 3 advil tabs and downed them with lots of water, I just stood as still as I could, since each time I moved, there was another spasm. Owwwweeeee...............I then slowly shuffled downstairs and called in to work.

I was afraid to sit down for fear of not being able to get up again, but after about 45 minutes, I sat in my chair to knit and listen to my IPOD to some of my favorite podcasts: QN, Cast-On, Sticks and String. My 2-at-a-time socks are progressing well and the Spring Forward pattern in easy to memorize with the knitting looking lots more complicated than it really is. Not much to show yet, but it will be a pretty quick knit.

While watching the Golden Globes last night, I worked on my lace scarf some more. I think I will steam block what I have to get a better idea of the finished length so far and how much more to go for about 50" final length. Before lightly steaming:

After lightly steaming:

Isn't the pattern lovely??