finally

I've been *struggling* with this handspun, finally off of the bobbins!


Handspun, handcarded naturally colored merino-- 3ply
36 gm, fingering weight

This is yarn spun from the unwashed fleece I purchased when I bought my ashford joy, washed at Deep Color Studio's Fleece Day class, handcarded into rolags... and let sit for WAY too long. It looks wonderfully woolly and it is, but look closely-- it's a 3-ply! My singles were crazy thin... Kristine (we met at the fleece day class! she has a super awesome site selling yarn and rovings that are naturally dyed as well as some that are acid dyed; an etsy store too) had asked me how the merino fleece was spinning up and I replied that I was waiting to spin it all once it was carded, and then I remember reading somewhere that the "beauty" of rolags was that they were so light and airy...

I had been carding these and shoving them into gallon ziploc bags, compressing them to get even more into the bag. And zipping it closed.

I also remember reading that fleeces could generate more "grease" even after scouring if left to their own devices... my goodness. All of these newbie mistakes meant that the rolags were greasy, tightly packed together, drafted ugly and had to be (p)inched out instead of truly woolen spun (PDF!) like I'd wanted. It made my fingers greasy, not dirty but just sticky... I couldn't help but worry that they were making my bobbins sticky (no), and wondered what I could make with it. It breaks my heart a little (relative), but now I don't even want to use the rest of the fleece. I know I can re-scour it but... I don't want to and it'd be really hard here in my small space. Sad to think of it sitting unloved, uncarded and unused, but it is :(

I just wanted the spinning to be over, really... so filled 3 bobbins lightly and plied them together for this.



Once skeined up, I scoured the yarn in hot soapy water and smacked it around to slightly shock/felt it and now? It's soft, very oddly squishy (very dense and slowly expands back out instead of bouncing back when squeezed), and I really like its woolliness... have a thing for that though, not a shocker.

I had no idea it was SO light though (36 gm!) I was hoping for enough for mittens, but not here. I think I'll pair it with some Rowan Felted Tweed from the stash...


Rowan Felted Tweed, "ginger"

I've had this nagging need/offhand request to knit a pair of fingerless gloves *with* a fliptop mitten. I've been trying to work my mind around how to do it, and then the Stash and Burn podcasting crew talked about the Urban Necessity gloves from magknits and it's just what I was thinking about! (You know they're holding a one-skein contest, right?) Except, I really wanted to work in some colorwork, inspired by my most recent mitten book scores...


Knitting Fair Isle Mittens and Gloves by Carol Rasmussen Noble
Latvian Mittens by Lisbeth Upitis

...both purchased from Velona Needlecraft (the Noble book is sold out at Velona now; sorry Stacey! :)) I still want to figure out how to knit a fliptop colorwork mitten that looks good, but this pair (merino & felted tweed) will likely just be some sort of fibonacci or other non-random mathematical striping instead. I have a Palette color card on order from Knit Picks for more colorwork mittens though (and a set of their new Harmony interchangeable wood tips and long cables for a big holiday project I'm batting around).

More on everything later though :) It's shaping up to being a good week ahead despite missed connections; miss you!

i can has mittens?

sorry, couldn't resist :)


twee mitts, pattern by magic-fingers.blogspot.com
handspun merino/silk, ashland bay "rose"
US 8 (5.0mm) dpns, 4
started & finished: 20 august 2007

What a fun, fast pattern. I knew when Anushka posted pics that it would be perfect for using little bits of lovely handspun-- mine finished with ribbon weighed in at 42 gm (and I still have leftovers... there's a compulsion in me to squeeze to the last drop when it comes to something good and special like yarn I've spun myself).



Mine were a little different than Anushka's, both on purpose and on accident :) On purpose, I started with a folded edge picot caston instead of a provisional that's finished later... I'm just more familiar with it. The folding over gives a little more puff and weight to the edge. I CO, knit 2 rnds, did the yo/k2tog row, knit 2 rnds and then attached the CO edge by knitting it together with the next row. Needles same throughout; I CO an extra st (56 total) and k2tog'd when starting the actual fingerless glove pattern after "seaming" the co edge. It does leave visible a little seam edge when viewing, you guessed it, up the skirt...



...but it's not noticeable from the business side. Meanwhile, back on the farm-- I worked the slipped st cable rib a little differently than written; I slipped as if to purl, knit next st, replaced slipped st to LH needle and knit into the back of its loop. Again, this was just a change b/c it's what I was used to doing. Finally for the on-purpose portion of our program, I knit the hand 2 repeats longer than written (and waited to start the palm ribbing to match)-- my row gauge was on, but the column gauge wasn't. No big deal, even with the added length and extra yarn used for the picot cast on, I had plenty of yarn.



Very pretty mittens :) A pain to put on (and take photos of) by your lonesome, but Anushka has much better ones here. (And is like, the cutest designer-cum-knitwear model in the process.)

Speaking of MITTENS...


Magnificent Mittens by Anna Zilboorg


Latvian mitten technique encyclopedia, Russian (?) 1994
"Latvijas enciklopedija," isbn 5-8869-057-4
Latvijas enciklopediju redakcija riga 1994
BapeЖkи 350 y3opob
Cimdi 350 Rakstu

I know Stacey's chomping at the bit wondering where I found Magnificent Mittens (since it's oop and amazon sellers have it listed for ridiculous amounts...) :) Dumb is as lucky does, I bought the last copy from elann.com for retail. I guess I just luck into finding rad mitten books I shouldn't be finding... maybe I should actually knit a mitten or two soon :)

As excited as I am about Magnificent Mittens, it's totally overshadowed by the Latvian/Russian book. I don't really know a thing about it-- the first 25 or so pages are in Russian (?-- apologies if I'm way off base), detailing the pictures inside and with a few knitting techniques/keys to instructions. The rest of the book consists of 350 different images-- full shot completed mittens, cuff edgings, line drawn techniques and charts. (Each link leads to a flickr photo, and here's one of the back of the book-- Latvian?)

edit, 8/27: shake-your-booties was kind enough to leave me this comment about the mystery latvian mitten book:

Your book appears to be in Latvian, but the title is in Russian.
Варежки (pronounced var'ezhki) is Russian for "mittens" and узор (printed as узоров because it is associated with the number 350) is "pattern."

This was another serendipitous find, I was googling for Upitis' Latvian Mittens (high on my elann mitten score) and stumbled upon this one. It reminds me a lot of the online Latvian mitten collection here (and gloves here). Both are slow loading pages, but lovely. The source page has socks and other stranded knitting pics linked from it, as well.

Since we're on the subject of books, for posterity's sake my Interweave Hurt Book Sale purchases (last year's are here):


Alden Amos' Big Book of Handspinning (back in stock @ Amazon)
Meg Swansen's Knitting
Color in Spinning by Deb Menz

Like last year, I can't tell what makes these books "hurt." There's a little wear on the bottoms, but really not a big deal.



Don't be bummed if you missed out though... at 50% off plus 4.95 shipping to start, unless you were snagging books that were going oop or buying several you could get a similar deal by shopping amazon. (I'd thought that The Big Book of Handspinning was going oop since it was gone from amazon for so long; Schoolhouse Press says that Knitting is going oop soon.) Mine were fine, but a few reported on Ravelry that they received books that were more damaged (I thought I'd read somewhere people were missing actual pages from their books as well...?)

Anyway! For next year :)

...for next time? Hanami's done, but I still am borked on blocking and don't really want to bother with it :)

Interweave annual hurt book sale

I've been retagging my older blog posts and wondered when this was going to happen again. Every year, Interweave has a "hurt" book sale where they sell titles at more than 50% off b/c of dents and scratches. Last year I ordered Alice and Jade Starmore's The Children's Collection, The Art of Fair Isle Knitting, and Folk Knitting in Estonia-- you can see their condition here (they were all fine and all are back for sale this year).

Sale's on again, and this time I snagged Meg Swansen's Knitting (going oop), Alden Amos' Big Book of Handspinning, and Deb Menz' Color in Spinning. Since you're paying shipping from Interweave, it is best to check your selections against Amazon pricing for regularly stocked books, esp. if you're only buying one. (Shipping was 6.95 for my 3 books, no tax).

The site's getting slammed (as well as checkout-- they take paypal and credit cards, online orders only), but if you have the time and patience its worth it. They say shipping takes up to 3 weeks, but I received mine in one last year.

Interweave Hurt Book Sale homepage

(have fun!)

stfu: gee, bmp, dy, pom, 224

I have a thing about our wonderful language, how it looks :) That said, can a picture really compare? You tell me!




GEE Magazine, "love for games" (German)
July-August 2007
(with my bmp space invaders sock inside!)

When the editors of GEE asked if they could have some hi-res photos of bmp for their print magazine, I didn't really know if they were serious. Then the mail comes on Saturday...! :)

I took 3 years of high school German, and came away with 1) ich libe dich 2) how to make out in a semidark classroom while everyone else watches home movies of the Rhine and 3) that the boy with blue eyes would never ever notice me *like that* even though we had like, 5 classes a day together. So I have no real clue what the copy means in my mother tongue: "Stricken Von den Socken Die Space Invaders haben es, trotz heftiger Gegenwehr, geschafft, sich auf dem ganzen Erball zu verbreiten: Sogar auf Socken sind sie inzwischen zu finden. Das Strickmuster gibt es unter: http://sockpr0n.blogspot.com," and babelfish is more funny than helpful, but I like it.

[edit: Nadine was kind enough to translate for me in the comments! Thanks Nadine :) "Despite fierce resistance the Space Invaders have managed to take over the planet earth: you can even find them on socks now. The knitting pattern can be found at http://sockpr0n.blogspot.com."]

Recently, a bunch of yall were kind enough to alert me to bmp making the 10 geekiest yarn creations on the web list by threadbanger, too :) I found out before the story hit its tipping point from a post on Alyssa's blog (she has some fun photos of a Cookie A trunk leg show). All of this in addition to the other fun linkage when the pattern was first published, and its heady 224 keycard days all over again :)

(I thought it was fate that this t-shirt was printed today, so its on its way to me too:

from threadless, june 18 2007 printing)

Another fun stfu: Rachel and I were chatting and she mentioned that she heard mention of zero stitch markers on some knitting podcasts and that I should check them out. I don't have a soundcard on my pc, so podcasts are pretty much outfield for me... but what should appear in my mailbox? CD copies of Lime & Violet and Socks in the City! :) I knew the Stash and Burn ladies knew about my freshwater pearl stitch markers from their pre-Stitches West coverage of the Bay Area Knit Coop (hi Nicole!), but its neat to actually be able to hear my very first podcasts! Very cool, Rachel's a f*ing rockstar. :)



The CDs are hanging out with some of Rachel's "scratch art" yarn from her etsy store, Dyeabolical Yarns. She does custom orders if you love this colorway as much as I do. (Another, better pic of the yarn in this etsy post.) I think this hank wants to be a pair of teosinte socks (from knitspot)-- what do you think?

On another note, over the weekend I remembered why I think Cookie should be dipped in bronze like baby shoes:


(okay, so I didn't really forget why.)
Pomatomus in handspun superwash bfl, dyed by Pigeonroof Studios

Yum.

cleaning up...

I woke up this morning at 3am... my heart's on London time. I went diving in my trashtastic ziploc bag for a set of needles and I couldn't find them... so I went a bit nuts (common the last 48 hours... I'm a mess, but in a good way) and decided I'd break down and house them in a perfect present.


When I lived in southern California, I loved the sanrio store in our backwoods mall. With a passion... an embarrassing passion. Monkichi is still my favorite though. HK, least.



But wait, there's more...


This organization pleases me way too much. I'm channeling all that pentup Sunday energy, apparently.

And because someone wonders...


It *does* say "enjoy?" inside :)

Anyhow, riding high on all that I decided to clean up my wip basket. I've been working on finishing up nearing-completion projects (walkaround socks, red herring socks) and figured its time to say goodbye to a few things and frog them.


Patons Kroy in hip hop jacquard

I frogged my Devan attempt-- anyone need 4 balls of faux fair isle yarn? :) This might turn up on destash for cheap soon, need the space!


Socks That Rock, mediumweight-- Velvet Moon colorway

...and one of a beaded fingerless mitt I gave up on. I love this colorway, so it'll show up in socks soon.

I found space on my knitting bookshelves for a new arrival...


Marvelous Mittens by Charlene Schurch

I've been drooling over the mittens from this book on Rebekkah's blog... but the book's oop and going for like $100 on amazon. Miraculously, I bought the last copy from Morehouse Farms Merino for (don't hate me) retail-- 12.95. Serendipity's on my side this week! :)

[edit, 1/21: aimeedewar says... "Thanks for the tip on the book. We've had one copy of it where I work for a long time, and it was always one I meant to get sometime. I didn't realize it is OOP. So, now it's safely mine. By the way, for anyone still looking, the edition/copy of it we had was titled "Mostly Mittens". Same book, same cover. Strange eh?"]

Even with picking all of that out of my basket, it still looks like this...



Eek.

Aside from that, I've been restocking stitch markers for my etsy store...


Turquoise and freshwater pearls. I have some new turquoise and pearl markers to add in the morning...

...and working on a wonderful, wonderful scarf...


Hypotenuse from knitspot
Alpaca/Silk from Blue Sky Alpacas

Love it. It is just so soft, so much I'd even wear it in vegas heat. This is just shy of 2 balls-- I have another and I'd guess it'll be about 55-60" long when done. I'm debating on buying another ball for a long-long scarf, we'll see when we get there.

You just wanted to know who won the Gloss though, eh? Congratulations Kenyetta (and happy birthday!) Double luck! :)

Have a great weekend yall!

What I did with my Christmas vacation.

Long time, eh? :) I know... but nothing much doing around here lately. Christmas was great... my son actually jumped with glee a few times. And, you know its a good year when someone tells you that hearing from you was the best present of the day. I think I actually felt my grinch exterior sloughing off... I may even hang a wreath or something next year :) Finished the last 2 pair of mom's cashcotton footies...


One skein vanilla footies (specs here)
RYC Cashcotton 4-ply, 1 skein each of chartruse and sugar
US 1.5 (2.5mm) dpns, 4
Started & finished...?

The greens were actually finished up on the 25th, and the set was gifted inside the center square hat from earlier (mom has a huge head, too)...



The last FO of the year were a pair of "Socks 101" worsted uruguay socks, from larissmix's book-knitalong project.


Socks 101
Malabrigo worsted
Started & finished... end of December (took 2 days)
US 10 (6mm) dpns, 4 Clover

Secret time! I looove them. I haven't fulled them yet as the pattern calls for, but oy do they feel good and soft and fast. Three of my favorite things :) I can see myself making a bunch of these for tooling around the house in (i've got them under my cons right now)... I have a Clapotis in the same yarn and have taken to wrapping body and feet as the nights have been super cold lately. (I know, not as cold as other places, but cold still!)

I learned to spin and read at the same time...


Ender's Dragon colorway, superwash wool

I know, I know. But it is the new year, so my yarn-in-trees quota rolled over at 12:01. Its far more red than I thought it would be, but I am so not disappointed. If you didn't know, I may be red's biggest fan. So much so I've started (and frogged!) a sock in the yarn already... I wanted to spin both socks' worth, but my Ashford Joy's brake band snapped right after spinning the 2nd bobbin! I jerryrigged a solution (used wool yarn!) and was able to ply up this ball... is there a quick/cheap fix to replacing that brake band? It looks like its just heavy fishing line or something.

The reading?


"The Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Jacobs.

Yeah, its not out yet, that Julia Roberts in a knitting movie book :) As part of the book's promotion, the publishers sent me an uncorrected proof (aside: don't yall love how blogs have been acknowledged as a driving form of marketing and information dissemination? not just the knitting book blog tours --this isn't one of those-- but all over the blogosphere.)

Secret #2 of today... I didn't think I'd like it, but if you know me, I can't turn down free. When I was little I was on Ed McMahon's prize patrol mailing list, and any other mailing list my mom would allow me to return the cards for. When I moved into my first apartment, I celebrated by hopping onto fatwallet's "free stuff" forum and sending off my name, address and private particulars to oh, a thousand different retailers, all in the hopes I would (and did) have about 20 catalogs, samples, and sundry come to me a day. My mailman hated me, by the way. That obsession's petered off, but the seed is still there.

Meanwhile, back on the farm... I didn't think I'd like it for a few reasons. First, I admit my snobbery in reading-- my sister gave me a few of her "chick lit" books and though I finished them, none really grabbed me or spoke to me. (I may just be unspeakable.) I also checked out the blurb on the back of the book before receiving it and wasn't really... alrite, here you go. (I'm not supposed to quote from the uncorrected proof, but here's one from the back.) "The members of the Friday Night Knitting Club are just as varied as the skeins of yarn in the shop's bins..." and goes on to give each a little summation-in-a-sentence how quirky and individual each are. I know, it has to be tough to write up one of these back of the book things, but... (honestly!) if I read this in a bookstore, I'd pass.

Why? Partly... partly because I dislike the idea, and the summation doesn't help this, that someone picks a "trendy" setting and plops down a novel around it to gain cachet with an already built-in fanbase. Like, knitting and knitters. That was another reason I didn't think I'd like the book, that it was created in a flash to ride the tide of knitters gnashing at the bit for nore knitting books.

So I was totally biased against the book (trying to set up that whole, i'm nothing if not honest thing)... but I liked it :) I devoured it in a few days' time, and was glad to have read it. The book isn't so much about the knitting club, or knitting... but the collection of women brought together by knitting; not defining them, but a common thread (if you will!) amongst them. Reading it, I was almost jealous of the community Ms. Jacobs illustrates... it makes me think of the first time I read Stitch N Bitch (where I learned to knit!) and Ms. Stoller describes finding an/or creating your own snb and I was like... that's awesome, I want one! It did give me pause though, the almost-jealousy I felt reading about the camarederie of knitters in FNKC, because really... yall are my knitting club. :) (I'm a cheeseball, but its true!)

For knitters, Ms. Jacobs frames her book with knitting allegories at the beginning of every few chapters, and knitters will appreciate not only their truth or how they flow with the story, but also that Ms. Jacobs is a knitter who gets it. I know, we've all been dilettantes and newbies, but I admit I was afraid this book and surrounding settings was written by one-- I was pleased to find it wasn't. The book is dotted with a few knitting references, but nothing overpowering... except maybe for James reading to Georgia-- I'll admit I both teared up and was touched by the impact of the scene, and other knitters will prolly agree with me when they read this book. It rides that fine line that you don't have to be a knitter to enjoy it (though, I can see how some non-knitters may be encouraged to pick up some needles afterwards), but those of us in the know already will enjoy it as well and not just for its knitting background.

They sent me about 15-20 brochures that include a sample chapter from the book and a knitting pattern... well, a garter stitch scarf pattern yall won't want this for. :) If you want one, email me (bottom of the page) and I'll send them out later in the week (or beginning of next, my place still looks like santa claus exploded in here!)... I'll also include a sample (not these, haven't made them yet!) of *my* latest endeavor...


zerO stitch markers... by me ;)

Yeah, I've jumped on the etsy bandwagon and have started selling freshwater pearl (and other semi-precious stone) stitch markers. Oh, because I don't need another hobby ;) But there you go... zerO stitch markers. I'm feeling a hankering to dye some superwash roving in the next month, so that may show up there too if I dye too much of it.

By the way, starting a new shop (and how I got the book in the first place) has me thinking a lot about word of mouth, grassroots marketing. In my previous life I was really interested in it; in this one I was more interested in information flow and dissemination in general. It's changing back though... Like, I'd never have known about Sherry's etsy shop and her dpn point protectors if she hadn't talked about it on her blog (she's having a sale!) and yall wouldn't know about mine, either. I'd love to have a conversation with other etsy sellers (or independent sellers of items, not resellers/shops but those who make/write their own products) about grassroots, word of mouth marketing and how we can help one another out or bounce ideas off each other. Just a thought to end this too-long post with :)

Happy new year everyone!

i went to see the yarn harlot and all i got was...

A pair of clear clogs! :)

I have to say that Hollis and the staff of Full Thread Ahead really really REALLY did well in their hosting of Stephanie, you know... the yarn harlot :) From their odd sounding but fair check in system that gave you an idea when you could get your book signed (among 300+ people, this is a good thing!), to having plenty of chairs, setting up a "concierge" to hook people together, lists of eateries and just all around good planning-- oh yeah, and I'm not just saying all this cos I won a pair of clear clogs or anything ;)

Actually it was my socks but not my feet that won them-- the owner of my rainbow trekking 100 pomatomus socks won them in one of FTA's unnecessary but absolutely fun giveaways and graciously gave them to me (they didn't have honking men's sizes, i think he has more handknit socks to show off than i do!). I dunno, they're fun but will I wear them "out"? Not that I like to hide my socks or anything, but I just don't see myself wearing them much :) I loooove my socks, but mainly peeking out the tops of my cons. Maybe as the weather cools and I'm forced out of my stinky tevas (why i wasn't wearing handknits saturday! i'll be wearing them til there's frost in the afternoon, til i can stand it at least), I'll look to buy a pair of "girl's shoes" or something I can wear with a (gulp) skirt... I have lots of long socks on the brain for the cooler months ahead.

Proof I was there...



More proof? Perhaps you were one of the kind ones who didn't bodily turn around when they heard the braying donkey laugh behind them. I admit it, I laugh like a donkey... not all the time, but as I get going I don't realize it til I see people turning around, wondering who is choking on a chicken bone in the back rows. I forgot to bring a camera, glad I did... I think I would have just had a cf card full of tiny dogs and beautiful women from Los Altos on it to sort thru today.

Instead, I have some of the spooky, hippo spawn roving instead...





Loribird and Rachel suggested using stockings for dying the roving, which I will be forever grateful for and never ever would have thought of myself (the merino superwash is so soft, it just wants to float apart). I used the only stockings I had on hand, black thigh highs of course (not those, silly!), so I couldn't "see" the dye in the pot-- quite fun to open them up like christmas morning or that First Time with the one you love. I was glad to see the white as I always hope for some variegation when I dye "solids".

A little of it spun up....



Delicious. I felt myself squirming with "raspberry beret" playing in my head watching it work up... Prince makes me squirm, I admit. So does spinning from the fold-- there's no real "white" sections this way, just light cranberry and awesomeness. There's about 200 gm of roving that I'm going to attempt to spin thin and 2-ply for socks, maybe enough for long socks even :) We'll see.



I finished one "knuck" listening to Stephanie and half of one on the train ride home, they're going to be much shorter than written (pretty much the length you see here, I've run out of yarn-- not a big deal, its below the wrist, so its fine). The orange is the navajo plied merino superwash I showed last time-- it's quite dense and is making a very very dense fabric, much too much for the 3.0mm needles I'm using but in a good way. I had to put them down as my hand started to cramp a bit, being so tightly knit. I was going to save the orange yarn for October; did I tell you I'm going to only knit with orange yarn in October? It's my birthday month and a perfect present to myself, I think.

I'm debating on what to put/embroider on them... I don't want anything like "sock pr0n" or "knit xxxx" just cos. I'm really liking the idea of the word "make" but can't think of what to pair with it. I also like "hand made," really embracing the idea of that lately. What would you put on your pair of knucks? (If you're thinking about making them, do it! It goes really fast, is well written, and they're really cool. Pamela has a space on her forums just for knucks, a great gallery, and suggestions for knuckle words. There's also the Knucks KAL for inspiration. I did use glove length needles for the fingers, which saved my sanity a little bit.)

One more thing that made my Saturday spectaular (at least one thing I can share!!)



I received my threadless "recycling" tshirt! :) Socks, sheep, argyle y lightning... I love it. I also love all of yall that ordered thru my threadless affiliate link (there it is again, I admit!)... is it weird to order another of the same? For you know, when this one falls apart? :) They still have "plenty in stock" in my size... ahem, women's XL if you were curious. Killer thing? I ordered another shirt that was only available in men's sizing, that size? M. Its the same pretty much, women's fits better as its not a straight body and isn't as long, but still! Women's XL = men's M?! I hate shopping for clothes, I'm built like a linebacker around but I never feel like one til I have to go shopping.

have a week that was almost as good as my Saturday, and send me "finish your stockings" vibes! :)

Mailbox knitting

(eta... check out the "random knitting theory" contest over @ Jerry & Maxy's place... :))


Thanks to Eleni's headsup, I was able to stalk Interweave's Hurt Book Sale this year with a "list" in hand and get everything I wanted (notice a trend?)...


The Art of Fair Isle Knitting, Ann Feitelson
Folk Knitting in Estonia, Nancy Bush
The Children's Collection, Alice & Jade Starmore

The books were 50% off retail (I saw only the Weldon's Practical Needlework 10 volume collection for 75% off), you didn't know how "hurt" the books would be and were warned with a 3 week shipping estimate. Mine arrived Tuesday (I wasn't home to greet my UPS man though), so it was only a week from order to shipment arrival-- not bad :)

The sale's not great if you're looking for only one book, when you figure in the shipping (4.95/1st book, 1/each add'tl.) and compare to Amazon. The Feitleson Fair Isle book was 17.48 + 4.95 = 22.43, where Amazon has it for 22.02 + eligible for free shipping. I approached the sale with an eye to the books I wasn't able to find for a good price direct from Amazon, namely Folk Knitting in Estonia & The Children's Collection... I knew I could buy FKiE from Nancy Bush's Wooly West (+ free autograph!) and TCC from Virtual Yarns (the Starmore enterprise), but both purchases thru Interweave's sale were less expensive.

(Grumperina just posted a link where you can get Folk Knitting in Estonia for a good price new; I've been watching the ebay listings for the book & they regularly go over retail... maybe since people don't know you can buy from Nancy Bush herself for the retail price + shipping?)

The books weren't very badly "hurt" at all...



The worst was the Art of Fair Isle, which had a small slit/indentation in the front cover that made an impression on the hardcover inside (the cover isn't torn but just indented), perhaps from a knife opening a box and this was the 1st on top?



The edges of all were slightly scuffed as well, nothing I wouldn't pass over at my local bookstore myself. Interweave has a high bar for its books (pretty cool!), these aren't really badly hurt at all. The Folk Knitting in Estonia book is the 1st edition like Stacey's-- the Juta stockings directions are incomplete (I've been borrowing my library's copy til now), I need to poke around for errata, not sure what else needs updating.

I also received my acid dyes...


One pound of Henry's Attic Kona Lightweight Fingering for thigh high stockings
(+ Sodor aquarium car for scale, this is my favorite of the Thomas the Tank Engine cars)

I went ahead & dyed the entire pound-- just so I wouldn't have to worry about running out. The extra will be good for something! I've decided to go toe up on them, so I can use the lace panel that I really like... I'm going to use the stocking formula Severina referred to in making hers in order to help me see where to place the increases... I like the shaping of her finished stockings quite a bit. (She is also the designer of the Asphyxiation pattern in The AntiCraft's new edition, I love it. Need to learn to crochet. Someday.) I think my alterations will officially take these out of the vintage knitalong category though :)

Closeup...



I like the "pouf" of the yarn once dyed and washed.

And finally (I promise)... finished one toddler Wyvern sock...



20 gm of yarn goes a long way for little feet.

A pic of the new-to-me m1 increase from my last post...



You can see the ridge of lifted sts along the center of the photo and also to the right hand side. Also, another shot of the short row heel from Simple Socks: Plain & Fancy... no wrap and turn, no holes. :)

Off to go wind a monster ball of black yarn...

Distracting you from no knitting...

(Looking for the sock yarn and Holz & Stein needle contest?)



Long time, no nothing eh? I have a good excuse, though not NEARLY as distracting as Dave's!!! (trust me, click the link-- I'll wait)... been a little naughty with no knitting.

First example.







Is there anything naughtier than pulling apart a perfectly good sweater? I had no idea how much delight I would take, picking apart seams, using SCISSORS to take apart impossible binds, winding it from the pieces directly onto my ball winder... this could be addicting.

I've always half-heartedly poked around the thrift store looking for sweaters to frog but without much luck (I do admit leaving behind a 100% cashmere laceweight that I regretted later), even though I'd always poked around on my way to their book section (I always bring home like 4 or 5 books, can't resist! I'm so close to my old university that I can get great books for next to nothing, no tax...)

The sweater was perfect, except XS (!!) and had a small hole at the fold over collar, perhaps the reason the owner had gifted it away. No felting, no pilling, very well taken care of garment... now 11 oz. of 50% angora, 50% lambswool dk (swatch on US 4's though a US 5 would probably be good too) wondering what I'm going to do with it. Its not that super fuzzy angora (think sweater girls!), but just soft. I was going to go for some socks (of course), but I think its not sturdy enough-- it's comprised of 5 seperate strands without any twist (not hard to knit actually, it sort of "sticks" to itself), but not hardy enough for workhorse socks. Huge decadent scarf? Calla from Magknits? Suggestions?

I am so going back to the thrift store's sweater racks, this could be the start of a new addiction.

Second example of naughtiness... buying an absolutely luxurious yarn for not nearly as much as its worth.


Fearless Fibers 55% mohair, 45% wool
Silvery Grey color
2 oz, 120 yd -- 4 skeins.

I won't tell you how much I paid (I'd hate to start getting hate mail!), but Deb over at Fearless Fibers has been running some super rockstar yarns at very low starting bids thru her ebay shop (she also keeps an etsy one, too) and I was lucky enough to score these. Lucky, because she let her blog readers in on her listings, and these were just calling my name from the get-go... she has a few others with low starting bids on ebay right now, too :) (You may remember I won some Fearless Fibers sock yarn from Deb when Anne held a contest at KnitSpot...)

I had my eye on them since they're going to be *perfect* for when I design a pair of kilt hose, with a little help from the esteemable Ms. Veronica Gainsford and her book-- "Designs for Knitting Kilt Hose and Knickerbocker Stockings," now out of print. I don't wear kilts, much less skirts, but hey! Kilt hose!

Third thing before I go polish off the rest of the dark chocolate M & M's in the kitchen (its been a decadent past few weeks here)... I swatched up the yarn for my long-awaited Morale Builder Stockings...



You may ask why the yarn looks suspiciously like the peaches and cream * dreamsicle * creamsicle * 50/50 bar yarn my too rad for words dyepal Adrienne sent me... you're right, it is :) Adrienne used Henry's Attic Kona lightweight fingering for the base yarn, same yarn I'm planning to use, and I had scads left over from my left-leaning Cloverleaf sock (whose mate is so behind it still needs a picot cuff!), so I thought it'd be a great idea to swatch it up.

I'm glad I did, I've been thinking about how big to make them and purrl from The Kitchener Bitch is right, I need these suckers to stretch-- otherwise they'll be baggy. (I'm terrified they'll look like they're hanging on for dear life across the wide expanse of my thighs, still!) I'm getting 8 sts/inch on US 1.5 (2.5mm) (per my guess, I might add!)... and think with a little tugging on this swatch and guessing, I think I'll allow for 5 sts/inch stretched, incl. the lace pattern. For all intents and purposes, I'll be casting on 120 sts. No one do the math and figure out how big my thigh is, please :)

I've also been swayed by severina's long legged vintage stocking to replace the lace panel with another, (hers is a skull and X pattern, too cool!)-- I swatched the lace from the Morale Builder Stockings (bottom part of the swatch, above) and it does little for me. I want to use the fountain stitch above it in the swatch... but (there's always a but!) knitting from the top down, the "leaves" look like they're pointing upward as in the pic, where I really want them to be facing downward. A true smartarse, I tried knitting the lace from the bottom up (starting with the bottom dx and working up), but the st # changes and I don't know how to account or change for it. So, it may not be this lace panel... though I wish it were! (Any advice on reversing it? I'm terrified of lace, know nothing about it...)

I won't be able to start til I get the dye... I've also decided *not* to go for red (been *almost* getting enough red in my life lately, thanks!), but a black or grey with purple tinge.

The pattern, cos its pretty:
(from Mon Tricot 1500 Patterns, 1985. p 127)

Fountains:
Motif worked on 15 sts + 1:
Row 1: K1, *yon, k1, sl1, k1, psso, p1, k2tog, k1, yon, p1, sl1, k1, psso, p1, k2tog, yon, k1, yon, k1*
Row 2: P1, *p4, k1, p1, k1, p3, k1, p4*
Row 3: K1, *yon, k1, sl1, k1, psso, p1, k2tog, k1, p1, sl1, k2tog, psso, yon, k3, yon, k1*
Row 4: P1, *p6, k1, p2, k1, p4*
Row 5: K1, *yon, k1, yon, sl1, k1, psso, p1, k2tog, k2tog, yon, k5, yon, k1*
Row 6: P1, *p7, k1, p1, k1, p5*
Row 7: K1, *yon, k3, yon, sl1, k2tog, psso, p1, yon, k1, sl1, k1, psso, p1, k2tog, k1, yon, k1*
Row 8: P1, *p3, k1, p3, k1, p7*
Row 9: K1, *yon, k5, yon, sl1, k1, psso, k1, sl1, k1, psso, p1, k2tog, k1, yon, k1*
Row 10: P1, *p3, k1, p2, k1, p8*
Row 11: Rep. from Row 1.

Have a great weekend!