of carrots, horses, needles and yarn.

I am shocked at my devotion to Lizard Ridge over the past few weeks...


Lizard Ridge, 2nd panel
(about 3 squares, 1/2way thru)

...so I made a deal with myself that I could satiate myself on some selfish socks if I had finished up a few projects that woefully only needed finishing.

***click link for pics and details***
Baby sweater for Kristi's babies in waiting (via: Warm Up the Dutchicans triplets' virtual baby shower)
Started: September 25, 2006
Finished: October 21, 2006
more details re: yarn & needles on the flickr link
(keeping pics off in case its supposed ot be a secret :))

Its really silly, this sweater didn't need anything but seaming, blocking and buttons (still need buttons!) from the last (and only) time I posted about it, but its just sat here staring at me til this weekend and those babies aren't going to wait forever! (woohoo for +28 weeks, Kristi! :))

The babies and the virtual baby shower (can I say TRIPLETS again? the idea gets my bioclock going crazy!) can use more handknits-- check out the virtual baby shower link for ideas and inspiration if you're inclined :)

One seamed baby sweater wasn't quite enough to let me off the lizard hook, so...


Knucks from Knitty Summer 2006
Started: September 11, 2006
Finished: October 19, 2006
Handspun, handdyed superwash merino
US 2.5 (3.0mm) dpns, 4 (Holz & Stein 7" and Suzannes 4")

Terrible pic, I know. Better ones found in lower links-- its hard holding a camera with your chin! :) Again, another "just needed finishing project." I ran out of the orange handspun to do a proper cuff with, so I knit one round in a black handspun of mine and did a regular bindoff for the little black edge at the cuff. I've decided to not embroider them, at least not right now, my skilz are sorely lacking and I kinda like the plain. As I wear them more as the weather cools, I may decide otherwise.

They're very thick and hurt my hands a bit to knit-- pushing a heavy dk/light worsted yarn with the sock-ish sized needles was a bit of a pain. I'm happy though, how tightly knit they are-- and surprised the cuff doesn't roll as I've omitted any ribbing or anything to keep it taut. I started them early on the morning to see the yarn harlot's talk (I vacillated between writing "stephanie's" & "tyh" here! such a dork) @ Full Thread Ahead, and finished them the same day-- again minus the finishing! I think they're great and hold a nice memory of the day in my head when I look at them. Great, fun pattern and I'm not afraid of glove fingers anymore (though the 4" needles were a godsend to me)... thinking if I will knit a pair as a holiday gift. These are MINE though! :)

Previous post on Knucks:
September 8, 2006
September 11, 2006


After the finishing fest, I was going to knit (another??!) pair of Pomatomus socks from the regia bamboo Kristen sent me for her Vintage Knitalong pics project (thanks again Kristen!!)...


Regia Bamboo color 1065

...but I still had a bit of the colorwork bug from my class last week so...


Red Herring from Knitty Fall 2006
(thanks again for a cool pattern, Cookie!)
Started: October 21, 2006
Knit Picks Gloss in Dusk & Pumpkin
US 1.5 (2.5mm) 32" Holtz & Stein ebony circular for magic loop

Can I be in love with colorwork? Over, under, round & round... where I'll stop, nobody knows.

The magic loop isn't my favorite (the loops bug me as they "hit" the palms of my hands, I greatly prefer 2 socks on 2 circular needles, but I also started/learned that way so its not too surprising), but the joins on the Holz & Stein circulars is quite nice-- not as slide-y as the Addis, but I think that's quite a tough bar to meet. I'm not nearly good enough to know why Wendy and others prefer ebony for colorwork, but hey! it works for me so I can't complain too much. (I will try it on Addis, sometime.)

I do wish the "turns" weren't as pocky as they are; they're not bad, but I can definitely see the "fold" where one needle ends and my latest goal is to figure out how to lessen it. Other than that, I think I'm the most surprised of all how nice and non-oddball the colorwork looks... like I said, I've tried it before and it was SO uneven because I thought it was "easier" to knit one color, drop it, and pick up another. Now that I'm getting the hang of 2 colors in one hand and consistent in the over/under (pattern color goes under, background color goes over according to The Art of Fair Isle Knitting by Ann Feitelson), its greatly improved the tensioning.

For all yall that like the up the skirt shots (admit it!)...



Color's much more true on this one, but I couldn't resist the mag pic above :)

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! :)