closer

and not in that nin way, except for you ;) yes you.

I've been working on getting ready for this weekend... every year my dad's side of the family has this huge christmas party, lots of food and a crazy $5 gift swap that was more fun when my cousins were younger (drunk uncles would play, "how soon can we make the kids cry" when making them trade their $5 gifts for something they hated). This was actually the only time I used to see my dad's side of the family, including my dad, every year. I grew up with my mom and sister not 2 hours from them, and not 3 from my dad, but til I graduated high school I didn't see much of them and haven't for the past few years, either. I know them well now and have missed them, but i'm nervous... trying to get things done is how I'm coping with the anticipation/fear.


(unfelted) Fuzzy Feet from Winter Knitty 2002
Started: November 28, 2oo6
Finished: November 29, 2006
Patons SWS (soy wool stripes), Natural Navy color... just over 2 sk
US 10.5 (6.5mm) 16" circular, Susan Bates and Clover dpns, 4

Bigger this time than last, 4" cuff, 48 sts CO & around the foot and definitely longer. I used just over 2 sk, didn't use all of the leftovers from my previous pair. Knitting them as written (not as wide) would use up 2 skeins, not more. This time I worked them til 2" shy of the length (I think they ended up 13.5-14"?) and used flat toe decreases every round (for top/bottom: k1, ssk, k to 3 sts to end of needle, k2tog, k1; skipped the plain round) til 24 sts total, then kitchenered closed. I'm thinking the toes will look more rounded when felted up, we'll see. I'm taking these w/ me this weekend, so dad can felt them and I can have a private, knitter chuckle when he unwraps these giant socks and thinks I've officially lost my mind.

I am packing too (only a day and a half trip, but packing for my toddler is like the ark... 2 of everything so I'm starting early. I need to wrap grandma's afghan, and was trying to figure out exactly how to present the "care" part of it (handwashing, etc). I think I came up with a pretty solution. I bought some stamps from Kaspareks-- they have great customer service and shipped the next day. I've been wanting these for a while, this was a good excuse!


Ho Tai, Dragon with Spinning Wheel (trek, i thought of you when i saw this one), and Unravelled

and printed one of the Lizard Ridge photos, mounted it with photo mounts onto a plain paper card...



and wrote out a little note and care directions inside the card.



I figured this wouldn't get lost like a smaller tag card may, and was a nice compliment to the present. I'm going to do this for all the knit gifts this year, I think-- its easy and feels craftier than I am.

Non-segue before I go, the mailman just dropped this off and its too beautiful not to share...


Lace weight 100% silk from Colourmart UK (ebay), anthracite

Beauty beauty. Cheap cheap too, $15 shipped from the UK. They sell "laceweight" silk (2500 yd/5 oz cone), but will double/triple/4x strand it for you for free (even if you buy just one). I had them double strand this and now it looks to be the lace weight I'm used to seeing-- so about 1,250 yd/5 oz. They're known for their inexpensive cashmere (Cookie posted pics of the sample cards/skeins they sent her, along with a quick review), but this silk is nice. Suggestions for it? I was thinking Sarcelle, or maybe a rectangle from JennyRaye's humongo list of rectangular shawls. (who am i kidding? knit lace? oy...)

Alrite, Sherwood needs a sleeve and a half, and my kid needs more juice... seeyou soon (hopefully with a completed kid's sweater!)

Stash in Berkeley, Fuzzy Feet in Oakland

I went in search of yarn for my Hypotenuse (I decided that the Schaefer Anne wasn't right for what I was looking for-- it was soft and light, but didn't feel like it would be warm) at the newish Stash in Berkeley... I found the perfect yarn but am waiting to post a pic of the progress til another day. (Love both though, yarn and pattern.)

Did pick up a few other things...


Rowan felted tweed, ginger colorway

This was my second choice for the manlace... but I did bring home a ball to make another pair of Knucks sometime. I just noted the yardage, could one make a pair of socks with this? I love the tweed. It also says washable on wool cycle on the label...


Baruffa cashwool, 100% merino lace in red

Can I knit lace? No. Could I not pick this up? No. Love the color, and the *idea* of a red lace stole or something is appealing. :) I don't have the patience yet, but this was so soft and so red... (famous last words.)


Claudia's HandPainted yarn, purple midnight colorway

I always thought Claudia's yarn was handwash only, but the label on this pair of skeins says it can be machine washed gentle and had a "GEMS" emblem next to it... so I guess she uses Gems Pearl as her base yarn. Lovely color, even though I've been personally shying away from high contrast, dark colorways (afraid of patterning getting lost in the color).


Mountain colors bearfoot, yellowstone colorway

I stumbled onto this accidentally, Stash Yarn has their Mountain Colors "display" hidden between their knitting space in the back and the cash register. I never would have thought this was Mountain Colors; I always think of deep blue and purples when I think of their colorways.

This was my first trip to Stash. I think they opened up at the beginning of the year-- they're located in the "fischu fischu" part of Solano Avenue in Berkeley, nice nice neighborhood with Zachary's Pizza, high rent and no parking. They have a large selection of yarns, although I never quite "got" how things were arranged (and I was there for a while!)-- I think its by gauge, but I can't be sure and was thrown off by the low "displays" in the middle of the room (I sat in front of these on the floor looking for Schaefer Anne colorways-- they had about 4 skeins of it and none of it grabbed me).

I guess its always a challenge to yarn stores, how to arrange and display yarns. For me, I always feel guilty pulling yarns out of those "box" wall displays (that are always full to the brim, and stuffed 2 deep so you can't see what is behind the first wave of yarn), but I will if I'm looking for a matching skein. So I end up with an armful of yarn, and then have to put it back and it never quite seems to fit and skeins are falling apart in my hands and and and :)

Stash has quite a selection, lots of Rowan yarns (I saw the cashcotton 4 ply in vivid I thought I'd want for the manLace, but it wasn't tweedy like I thought it was and also a bit lighter, so I passed on it) and also lots of the fair isling yarns (the little itchyish 25gm putups... I can't remember the name!). For sock yarns, they had Lorna's, Regia (silk & bamboo I remember), Nature's Palette solids (I actually really like the NP "variegated"-- theirs are never jarring or high contrast, but always really nice), Claudia's Hand Painted, Mountain Colors Bearfoot. Maybe more, I forget :) Their prices were a bit higher than the same yarns I found overlapping at Article Pract, but like I said-- this neighborhood has got to be a killer in rent, and they also have a larger space and a sitting area for knitting...) I don't live that close, at least in terms of time on transit, so I won't be back that much, but it is a nice store.

I did feel a bit... clicqued out as well, like older or returning customers had the employees attention and I was a bit invisible. (Could just be the Ellison on my nightstand echoing though.) I stood at the register for several minutes waiting for a conversation between employee and customer to be finished (not ringing up purchases or finishing a transaction, and there was more than one employee there), and the employee lamented that she didn't get to say goodbye to **** and how rude she must think her while she was ringing me up (not making eye contact with me, only with the other employee). If I were "new" at this whole thing and yarn stores intimidated me like they used to, I'd also have felt irked I hadn't been acknowledged while shopping as well. But for me, old hand that I am :) the selection speaks for itself and I'm glad enough that another local store is within reach to support.

That said, I did pop over to Article Pract where I always enjoy shopping and picked up Becka's contest prize. I forgot to snap a pic before I sent it on its merry way, but she has great taste :) Also picked up a bent tip tapestry needle for... wait for it, finishing the Lizard Ridge afghan!!! :) I finished the 4th panel Friday and seamed it up Sunday, but its still not finished. I picked up the crochet hook for its edging on Sunday night after finishing another quick project...


(prefelting)


Fuzzy Feet from Knitty Winter 2002
Started: November 11, 2006
Finished: Finished November 12, 2006
Felted: November 14, 2006
Patons SWS yarn, Natural denim Navy colorway 2 skeins
US 10.5 16" circular and dpns

My first felted slippers :) I was planning on giving these to my dad with the boyfriend dad socks, but they didn't work out and fit me :) I did cast on 48 sts for a larger/wider foot, but silly me dec down on to 40 for the gussets and was like-- oh, it'll be FINE :) Fine enough to fit me! Not a big deal, its a fast knit and I want my dad's pair to fit and not be weird (next time I'll do something different for the toe too, make it more square... felted it looked like a pixie foot). For me, I like them... they're tight like a sock and will keep my feet warm as the weather cools. I have enough for a toddler pair left from these too, though I'll have less when I make my dad's pair larger (should have enough for a large men's pair from 2 skeins, though.)

I'll use the Patons SWS (soy wool stripes, 70% wool 30% soy!) again-- great price, fun striping, widely available at craft stores. I know people have said its a "replacement for Noro"... yeah, if you're just trying to replace long color repeats (some are). Its dyed in long color repeats, where Noro Kureyon is (from my newbie spinner's eye) taking different colored roving of the same wool and spinning them together. Noro's not just adding in new colors of wool for color changes, they slowly add in roving over several yards to accomplish the color gradiation. After almost 20 balls of Kureyon over the past almost month, I've been inspired by how its spun up and also by its non-patterning. The Patons SWS looks non-patterned, but if you notice, 2 balls made 2 exact pairs of slippers totally accidentally (I didn't match the stripes, just knit from the beginning of each ball)-- the long patterns look to be contained in one ball of Patons SWS. Cool, but patterned :)

I do like the Patons SWS though, don't get me wrong! The soy content has me *totally* geeking out... soy! :) Its a single, but strong as 7734-- I usually just pull yarn to break it, but I couldn't with the SWS and had to use scissors. Its soft knitting up, but when I put the unfelted slippers to the back of my neck, it felt itchy (I'm usually not a scarf girl anyway). The felting looks great... my pair went thru for one cycle in the top loader on hot and are pretty completely felted (with some nubby texture that I think looks cool) and are fuzzy... both, soy not felted? Don't know, but I like the look overall.

Phew. Next time, if I don't slit my wrists with the crochet hook, I'll have the Lizard Ridge done and maybe enough of my Hypotenuse to show too :)