sock porn for knitting voyeurs.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

spinning and sock pattern pr0n

So much, but so little knitting! :)

I had an awesome weekend, kicked off by a spin-in at spinnity's... real spinners, yall! Alden Amos ain't got nothing on these girls. I picked up the second braid of Mars Superwash from Margit (I wasn't the only one there who fell head over heels for this colorway, I tell you knit flix and Nathania have excellent taste, too ;))...

ff

...met someone famous, proved to Cookie I am a real live person most of the time, generally was my afraid of people self, uttering oh about 5 sentences the entire evening (mostly goaded on by Kristi and cold medicine), and had an all around super time.

I spun, too! :) The second sock's worth of the "Crying of Lot 49" merino top I saved for myself after listing them in my etsy shop a week or so ago...

cr1

...and I'm in love. Is it okay to be in love with two things at once? Oy, but can you blame me?!

cr2

This is definitely my favorite handspun yet. DK-ish weight (once taut, its really lofty... does that still count as dk?), about 333 yd of two ply loveliness that will be some insane socks. At least one sock's going to have a yellow foot and a charcoal leg (or reverse), but I don't care. I took Teyani's recent sock (hop!) yarn spinning posts to heart-- not trying as much for a balanced yarn off the bobbins in the end but one that will be springy once the twist has been set in the wash... and I think it works. Not perfect, but definitely a breakthru for me.

cr3

It'd been hanging to dry in my hall closet's doorway and everytime I passed it, I had to squeeze it... this is the first merino handspun I've produced that is actually squeezable, huggable. (Does that make sense? My merino sock weights before felt wiry, scratchy though the base fiber was so lovely and soft...)

I'm waxing over yarn, but so in love I don't care.

I can't start knitting it though (i KNOW!)... I have finally gotten back on track w/ my Denmark STR sock thanks to kind knittyboard souls who rescued me from my sorry loss of a US 3 Boye dpn, and I should finish the second sock from the sock madness competition, despite the fact I am out on the first round... not to mention the fact I actually bought yarn (I haven't bought sock yarn in forever!) for a project I'm jonesing for... no hard and fast details til I have everything in my hot little hands, but hinthint... a Cookie A pattern :)

Speaking of...

ca

Yeah. Holy crap is what I said, too. Thanks Cookie :)

Hm... oh! Back on the holy crap tangent-- Boing Boing, Craft:, Kotaku and Wil Wheaton dug the bmp pattern along with most of yall (don't forget to enter the contest if you haven't! on til the 20th! win something etsy-riffic!)... I had several emails asking me to sell socks knit from it (no thanks, but find a local knitter and pay him/her well is all I ask!), a marriage proposal (no joke), and shock in discovering that the pattern was a top 10 story on digg.com...

Rockstar week :)

25 comments:

Kaitie Tee said...

I love the yellow/blue combo. Congrats on the success of your pattern!

Bea said...

The yarn is awesome! I wish they invented squeeze-o-vision already :) I loved the sock pattern too!

Chris said...

Wow, so famous!! Congrats. :)

Jenna said...

This is my favorite comment from the Digg story:
"It requires knowledge of multi-threaded string processes, and the usage of 2-bit linear algorithm compilers."

I didn't know knitting could sound so complicated! Congrats on your increased exposure and the beautiful spinning.

Anonymous said...

Pretty pretty yarn! Awww, it's my yarn's cousin ...

lexa said...

Love the new hand-spun yarns. Glad you're having a great week. March break here this week, and all that's been happening in my house is the flu. :(

Alyson said...

Dude, how cool are you right now??!! Wil F***ing Wheaton?! Whoooo!

(My favorite thing about the Digg article - besides being stoked about the pattern, commenters said you were cute. Compliments on so many levels!)

Stacey said...

so pretty! that is going to be some amazing socks for sure!!!!! Nice that your socks are getting some non-knitting blog exposure - you are famous! :)

suttonhoo said...

gorgeous good buzz -- congrats, rockstar!

Anonymous said...

To heck with your STR socks. Start those "insane socks" now please!! I have some sock yarn all plyed and caked and ready to go. Maybe I should start mine too since I am between sock projects.

Vera said...

Cookie's sock patterns are great. I brought two already.

~Tonia~ said...

Ypur hand spuns are so lovely. Wow look at all those wonderful sock patterns! What will you knit first? =)

Anonymous said...

Digg! DIGG!!!! You rock! And "Crying of Lot 49" has to be the best name ever. I loved that book. I cried from laughing so hard reading it. That yarn is fabulous!

HPNY KNITS said...

"Rockstar week" - you are girl, you are!! I love your yarn. its wonderful.
I also got some cookie sock pattern.
:-)

Kirsten said...

The yellow-black roving that you spun up looks great! I'm still spinning the yellow-green I got from you, and still loving it. I have not yet gotten to the point where I would even know how to make it springy & soft, but am satisfied when my yarn isn't thick and thin and blobby!

Those Cookie patterns are all awesome. I was one of the lucky ones who got the same package for doing a little sample knitting.

Anonymous said...

My son has been talking about space invaders ever since he saw your pattern. He's four and he doesn't even know the first thing about space invaders!! I have to be more careful of who's looking over my shoulder while I'm surfing the patterns next time! :)

Karen said...

Dammit. I'm at work and I want to go home and continue spinning the Crying of Lot 49 that I bought from you! I hope mine turns out as nice as yours!

DonnaC said...

the comments on Digg are not to be missed...

Anonymous said...

ooh, knitting AND geeking rockstar! congratulations! i love bmp (shooter and score index and everything! the Speak & Spell brought back good memories too). definitely going to make a pair.

also, belated congratulations on the success of your etsy store. so happy for you!

Teyani said...

Lovely spinning! - glad that it was helpful to you :-)

Unknown said...

Wow, welcome to super-stardom! Just don't get so self-important that you forget the socks that got you here ;)

Anonymous said...

My boyfriend (the computer engineer) was thoroughly impressed that your pattern made it to the front page of digg. I was thoroughly pleased to have the oppurtunity to make him listen to me talk about knitting. :o)


-Shayna

spinnity said...

Hey girl,

first - how does it happen that you sat in my living room spinning that awesome yarn and yet I never learned the color name "The Crying of Lot 49" ??? Even your afraid of people self should cough up that sort of a gem. Great name for a great color.

second - you and your spinning rock and I loved having you at our gathering. I got your thank you stitch markers and they couldn't be sweeter. So glad to have met you. Looking forward to the next one, baby!

Romi said...

Gorgeous handspun. Congratulations on making boing boing! Wooooohooooo! :D

Rhonda the Stitchingnut said...

Whoa! Congratulations ... supersock star!!

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