surprises all around

Handspun American Maid socks
from Simple Socks: Plain and Fancy
Roving from dyeabolicalyarns.etsy.com
US 3, 3.25mm dpns-- 4
Started: January 2007
Finished: 24 January 2007

Were they unexpected because I haven't knit socks in so long, or for some other reason? :)

I usually do have a Simple Socks: Plain and Fancy sock somewhere idling for the right moment of spare time and stockinette crave... I was updating my Ravelry project notebook and actually counted-- there are 14 pair of socks in there based on Ms. Gibson-Roberts' heel/toe recipe, not counting times I've switched in her heel into another pattern. (!!) I have lots of knitting books but none get as much use as that one does around here :)

I'm sure I'd only knit them if I could keep spinning such striking yarn...



I still can't believe how deep the reds are in the Dyeabolical Yarns roving. I like the blue, but love red-- but I never buy red roving for fear of pink. This red didn't even run when the yarn was rinsed and set in hot water (I always abuse the yarn a little, not fearing the felt it's kinda fun!)... though I really thought the blue and red would create a line of purple somewhere between my brain-eye talk.



I've been spinning a true fingering weight yarn lately, but the dk is so fun and so fast to spin and knit that I may try and spin some heavier ones soon. At only 48 sts around, these socks fly off the needles and are a nice cushion of warm against the lingering cold.

Speaking of the cold, yall will get a kick out of this. Mom came by the other day as I was leaving to run errands... she pointed to the unoriginal (handspun) hat on my head and said (I swear)-- "Oh, and I need to put an order in for a hat, like that to go over my ears, but in black." Oy.

She is my mom though, crazy is and does all, and I can do a hat. (And goodness knows I had the yarn.)


Koolhaas hat by b r o o k l y n t w e e d
Interweave Knits Holiday 2007
Malabrigo worsted, black
US 7 & 8 Knit Picks Harmony 48" circular (magic loop)
Started: 14 January 2007
Finished: 16 January 2007

It turned out great, if I do say so myself :) I couldn't get the true black of the yarn in pictures, and couldn't capture a good shot of the top to save my life, but it was way fun and way fast. It fits well; the Malabrigo must have a longer column gauge than the listed yarn though-- I thought I'd have to add another repeat to get it stretched down over my ears, but the women's size worked just fine and would have been a little too long had the ear covering part not been requested.

I did try and eke out another toddler sized Koolhaas from the leftovers... didn't quite work for my big headed boy, but would fit a baby/2 year old. I had *just* enough yarn with 16 fewer sts, 3 repeats and a hasty decrease at the top-- no matter. Some bobble headed baby will fit in it, I'm sure :)

Speaking of... So. My family (not me!! i wish, yadda yadda) is welcoming a pair of twin boys in the near future and of COURSE I have a burning desire to knit a set of baby surprise jackets for them, even bought some GORGEOUS deeper than pictured turquoise and orangy yellow Colinette Jitterbug from Article Pract for the task. After scanning Ravelry I'm pretty sure a skein each will suffice... My problem? I was planning on doing an applied i-cord bindoff in the contrasting color on each (so, yellow will get the blue icord, blue will get the yellow) and thought that was freaking brilliant!

True to form, now I'm staring at the skeins trying to decide if it's too matchy matchy.

The colors do look great together though.

Ergh. Anyways! Have a good one, see you soon!

etsy friday

I'm a big big fan of finding etsy goods thru word of mouth from my friends-- they're always right on with what they think is cool :) So when I found Jelby thru Jen of piddleloop, I couldn't help but ask for a few custom stitch marker holders... you know how many stitch markers I have around here, eh? :)

I asked for an orange sheep...

felted stitch marker holder from Jelby.etsy.com
(pictured with stacked freshwater pearl stitch markers from zero.etsy.com)

...and an amanita mushroom (the mycophile in me still burns)...


felted stitch marker holder from Jelby.etsy.com
(pictured with pale cape amethyst stitch markers from zero.etsy.com)

They are SO COOL. Cary even included a tiny felted mushroom stitch marker-- it's awesome! The felted beads are very light and I could see how well these would work as stitch markers-- not heavy like glass, but so unusual and all handmade using a combination of wet and needle felting to capture the effect. VERY high up on my admiration list. Cary is also really great to work with for custom orders-- both the orange sheep and mushroom were special requests, and they are spot on to what I wanted. You can always convo Jelby to make you something special easy peasy, too! :)

Of course, Jen is a trickster and asked Cary to send me some squid love on a stitch holder... and Cary added her own touch on the other side...


(pictured with oval amethyst stitch markers from zero.etsy.com)

...a FELTED SPACE INVADER. Holy crap on a cracker but this had me squealing when I opened my mail this morning!!!! Jen also included some glass mushroom stitch markers-- I'm wearing one as a pendant today :)

So happy!!!

Further on the happy tip...


Blue faced leicester roving from pigeonroofstudios.etsy.com -- Loganberry

I don't know if you know (but judging from the speed at which her updates sell out, probably!) but Krista from Pigeonroof Studios is taking her shop on as her fulltime work-- a big leap of faith that I'm so excited about! There have been updates almost every day, and with the help of her new Schacht she's also updating her handspun yarns every Saturday. This is definitely the best time to add her shop to your rss feed, or get onto her email list for a headsup on her updates :)

One more shop I visited before the holidays...


Card case by sweetheartsinner.etsy.com

SweetheartSinner makes lots of things using kitsch, pop, punk, robot, pulp, and traditional images-- including this card case I bought for mom for the holidays. My mom had been carrying her essentials (id, cards, cash, etc.) in an ancient metal Camel case I'd given her back from when I was in undergrad (ages ago ;)) and it was literally held together with a rubberband and a prayer. SweetheartSinner's shop to the rescue-- she has over 70 (!!) pages of card cases and such to choose from, and this Hokusai print was perfect for mom. (Another Hokusai dream print would have my choice, but it can't always be about me ;))

The card case is really quite deep, made for holding cigarettes on each side...



...and the hinges inside are perfect for that, and for holding cards and cash securely.



Another etsy hit for the handmade holidays :)

Ah, I'm running out of time, so more next week!! Have a good one, I will ;)

fiber to yarn...

I was a little excited this time to document the different steps and changes these fibers took to get to a finished yarn...



...so lots of pics :) Apologies in advance!



I started with about a little over 2 oz each of 2 different fiber blends, dyed at the same time by me (when dyeing for my shop)-- a 70/30 superwash merino/seacell blend and an 80/10/10 sw merino/cashmere/nylon blend. The cashmere blend took the dye much more like a straight superwash merino does-- striking fast and brilliantly where the effect of the seacell blend was more muted, more even across the fibers. Perhaps it was cancelled out with the seacell not taking the dye when spinning...


sw merino/seacell blend

The seacell blend is quite fun to spin-- I enjoy the *cel fiber blends, the slip and the shine are really interesting and feel good in the hand. At this point I enjoy the way it looks but don't really like the idea of knitting with a 2-ply of this blend... it looks to have too much drape for my desire to knit this into socks, and I just am not really drawn to yarns with shine. This seems to have less shine than other tencel blends I've spun-- but those were 50/50 and this is 70/30, so... :)


sw merino/cashmere/nylon (left) and sw merino/seacell singles

Surprisingly, the singles don't look that much different. I thought they would be vastly different looking, but apart from the mild sheen of the seacell blend they are a bit hard to tell apart at a glance. The seacell blend still looks slightly more muted and even in color compared to the cashmere blend, but spun at this fineness it is less of an issue than it would be if I spun this into thicker weight singles.

The bright cherry red of the original fiber can be seen to have drafted to pink in both the seacell and cashmere blends; I usually don't like this, but in this yarn I like the effect with the grey (that had drafted from black).


sw merino/cashmere/nylon (left), plied singles (middle), and sw merino/seacell singles (right)

Plying them together was noneventful; my seacell singles may have been slightly finer, but it really didn't make a difference in the finished yarn overall.


75 superwash merino, 15 seacell, 5 cashmere, 5 nylon
2-ply yarn, spun from zero.etsy.com roving-- "mercutio"
approx 440 yd, 110 gm-- fingering weight

I'm really happy with how these turned out. There is still a lot of bounce in the yarn, and while there is shine (these finished pics were taken outdoors under sunlight), the effect of plying helps it not look as jarring as I usually find it. It's really interesting how well the plies look together, despite being different fibers-- I thought it would have been more dissonant looking, but I don't think so. Dissonant's not bad, but this is better.



The seacell ply does stand out when under direct light like this, but it's not as pronounced under natural ambient light. I can't wait to see what this yarn looks like knit up... I think I want to use a pattern-- pomatomus? :)




Have a good one, welcome back :)

but, i'm not a garment knitter!

35 skeins of Malabrigo
(tortuga, frost grey and red mahogany in bags; chestnut and black chunky loose)

I think the grey'll be knit into grandma's Christmas afghan... but the rest?! (Pattern suggestions, anyone?) Judging from his expression, my son's sure it'll just be more fiber chaff hidden in the recesses of his closet :)

Off to knit a Koolhaas hat... you know, journey of a thousand miles and all that jazz.

etsy friday

Always good to start with yarn... :)


Alluring sock yarn by illusionyarns.etsy.com
"Clementine" colorway

I haven't added much new yarn to the stash recently, but how pretty is this?! (It's actually prettier, Meghann's etsy photos are better and more true than my cloudy day one.)

Meghann and I swapped and this was hers to me... I think I got the better end of the deal :) I asked her to surprise me with a semisolid yarn in an orange, yellow or grey and this lovely was made for me! I really dig the semisolid yarns lately, and this beautiful bright one makes me think of the sun hiding behind the clouds outside. It may be too pretty for socks-- I haven't lighted on a project, maybe some bright mitts to ward off the cold? I've been getting a lot of use from my knucks (still unembroidered) outside playing with the kid and my new toy at the same time...


ipod touch cozy made by thelovelyteaspoon.etsy.com

Of COURSE the moment I had my new ipod I went looking for etsy stuff for it :) I know I can knit my own cozy (and there are a lot of sellers who make and sell handknit ipod covers on etsy), but I am a sucker and fell for the pop loveliness of this vinyl cozy. I wanted something super light to slip into my back pocket, no bulk but something that would help protect against coins and keys and whatever else inevitably ends up in this purseless-girl's pants.

Hm.

Moving on-- I always check out the whole store of an etsy seller when I find something I like, and I'm often right that they'll have something else that's absolutely necessary. The Lovely Teaspoon has a *bunch* of stuff-- seriously, a shop that consists of lego jewelry, handbags, this tv neckace that i want-want, and a catchall everything else section that had this gem...


"Abandonment" definition flashcard greeting card by thelovelyteaspoon.etsy.com

Alicia has taken 5x7 word definition flashcards and mounted them on cardstock as one of a kind greetingcards-- pretty big, and really really cool :) She still has "baggage" and "abuse" cards in stock-- believe me I held myself back from purchasing those :)

And now for something completely different... My friend MaryLou of time2cre8.etsy.com (the same who supplies me with all of the supercool recycled paper envelopes I use in my packaging for my shop's shipments) does her own spin on etsy fridays. She features etsy sellers who have purchased from her shop, picking out favorite items to share with her blog readers. I think it's a really interesting way to find new shops-- so I'm going to copy her and include an item in my etsy fridays from shops who have purchased from mine :)

First up, actually my most recent sale at this writing...


Peonies Handcarded batt from theyoyo.etsy.com
photo by theyoyo, used with permission

Notwithstanding the hot jealousy over Alyson's new drumcarder (you can read about her holiday surprise here, too f*ing cute)... her newest shop offerings of batts alongside her handspun yarns actually have inspired me to put her shop's rss feed into my bloglines read. As soon as I pare down my fiber stash (ha!) you can be sure this'll be one of the first places I look for a batt fix.

Alrite! Happy weekend, miss you :)

lemonade...

Instead of doing lots of intended things (etsy friday, secret knitting, listing new freshwater pearl stitch markers in my etsy shop), my past week was sidelined by the crazy rain here in the bay area (mom had a leaky roof!!) and my son's first bout with the flu ever-- meant lots of no sleep for me and lots of juggling, but thank goodness for our hobby... it calmed my nerves quite a bit over the past few days.

During the night hours where I'd watch my redfaced son try to suffer thru sleep, I worked on my Casino shawl project.


Casino Shawl by Anne Hanson of knitspot-- petite size
Elann's Lana Cash
Started: 28 December 2007
US 6 (4.0mm) Knit Picks Harmony needles, 48"
faceted freshwater pearl knitting stitch markers from zero.etsy.com

I know, doesn't look like much! :)

I started this shawl soon after Christmas for someone close to me who needed something akin to a comfort shawl... something to be wrapped up in where each stitch was made with a good thought of warmth and love. Of course, my mind flew instantly to anne's pattern shop and I remembered how much I liked this shawl when she debuted it a while back. It's interesting and not mindless-- one of the things that scares me about lace is the monotony of patterning and my tendency to get bored with the familiar, but the casino shawl is "knitted lace"-- patterning on both sides; the WS patterning is simple but it's not just "purl across." There is a provisional caston for the upper edge's border, but the side borders are knit as you go so I'm not as intimidated as I thought I'd be.

The Lana Cash (not carried currently by elann, the link above is to my short review of it; 70/30 wool/cashmere) is a 2-ply of black and brown with white tweed flecks; I worried that the shawl would look too... shabby? in this yarn, but figured it would be more wearable on more occasions than something dressier like a solid or silk blend. I also really liked the way the Lana Cash ended up after a good warm water soak-- it feels like rowan felted tweed and gained quite a bit of softness, so we'll see in the end :)

I did keep making some sort of mistake on the row 18-row 1 transition so I put it down for truly mindless knitting...


Handspun American Maid BFL socks
roving from dyeabolicalyarns.etsy.com
Started: Jan ? 2008
US 3 dpns, 4

Another pair of handspun socks based on Priscilla Gibson-Roberts' Simple Socks method, another beautiful showing of handdyed roving from etsy sellers. I'm still amazed at how red they are (and this is the more blue skein)-- I shy away from buying red roving destined for socks since it usually drafts finely into pink, but this is red-red and you guys know what a red fan I am :) The blue also holds its own, not purple which is a nice change for me.

You can see what I mean here from last time-- my long draw spinning's becoming less fuzzy in yarn and FO from the last pair, which looks better but doesn't feel as good on the foot. I'm definitely a feel-girl, so I may start to try and make some more fuzzy yarns :)

In the wake of the week I also started spinning the 50/50 rovings from my last dye session-- I dyed 2 oz of 70/30 sw merino/seacell and 2 oz of 80/10/10 sw merino/cashmere/nylon together, intending on spinning them into singles and plying together to see what they'd look like in a finished yarn.

The seacell blend:


"Mercutio" colorway

I usually don't like on-the-bobbin shots since mine always come out blurry and weird, but I tried since I really want to get pics of how the different fibers look individually to compare to the finished yarn plied together. The seacell in the blend didn't take the dye (I use acid dyes), and my method of dyeing will often leave white spots of undyed roving, so the finished singles were almost ethereal in their shine-- fog stains of the original colorway. I bet if spun into a thicker yarn you could see the streaks of whitish seacell, but here it just lends a sheen to the overall single.

I have come to the realization that I don't really like yarns with sheen/shine, but I really like spinning tencel-seacell-*-cel fiber blends. I'm hoping that plying with the merino/cashmere single will leave me with a yarn I can enjoy knitting into socks... I'm getting nervous about running out of handspun sock yarn for my mindless knitting :)

*Finally* regarding diverted time, I did manage to make lots and lots of new knitting stitch markers for my shop, though I am wrestling with the weather for better pics. New shapes for old favorites (tiger's eye stone bricks, silver leaf jasper in square pillows), new pearl/garnet combos and amethysts to be listed sooner than later. I will be restocking regularly over the next weeks-- I have a lot of sets that I just haven't even taken pics of yet.

Okay! Little boy MUST be feeling 100% better because he's crawling all over me, so miss you and talk to you soon :)

unoriginal hat and new original colorways

Spinning's slowed down quite a bit in the wake of travel and holiday/secret knitting, but since I haven't written for a while it seems there's a lot to catch up on!

I didn't even have a chance to share the roving on etsy friday for this one, so I get to (for once!) share a walkthru of roving to FO :)

I have a tiny crush on orange, and when Krista introduced her "harvest" colorway I couldn't just stop at harvest yarn :) (Her "bitter orange" is my new fav colorway though... I didn't buy that one, I swear!)


Corriedale by PigeonroofStudios.etsy.com -- "harvest" 3.5oz

As pretty as this is, I had no idea what to make... socks were out since I have no desire to handwash any new knits, probably not quite enough for a scarf (though, you'd be surprised how far 4 oz can go!)... I did have a deep love for the hugeness of Stephanie's new "unoriginal hat," despite my 100% failrate on knitting them for myself, and I attempted to spin a yarn to mimic Blue Moon Fiber Arts' Leticia to break that streak.

Leticia is a handspun yarn, bulky and thick and thin-- 80 yd per 3.5oz. I've never seen it in person and online it looks more thick than thin, so I aimed for a thickish side single that wouldn't be too weird/variable when knit up into cabling. I ended up with about 95 yd for my 3.5oz, so thinner than BMFA's going by the numbers. A very fast spinning project-- completed in one nite!



In addition to ending up with slightly thinner yarn, I also had no appropriate 7mm needles called for by the pattern so I decided to change the cable up a little bit to account for all of that and my truly oversized head. A simple change-- I increased each cable's "leg" by 1 stitch; so the 4 st right twist cable became a 6 st, and instead of 2 sts for each leg of the other I made three. Odd to describe, easy to see:


Unoriginal Hat by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Handspun corriedale, dyed by pigeonroofstudios.etsy.com
Started: Dec 2007
Finished: Dec 2007
US 10 (6.0mm) dpns, 5

Like everyone else has said, a fast, fun hat. I was surprised that I used ALL of the yarn... this is a heavy, dense, WARM hat. Awesome for the local weather, and despite being slightly loose (esp. from being worn daily), it doesn't look bad. Maybe a little too ostentatious colorwise on my (giant) head... attracting more attention when I should be toning it down, but it's grown on me. I'm also glad to have made yet another project out of only 4 oz of roving; it makes me look at my fiber stash in a new and less daunted way-- I may be able to work thru it all eventually ;)

Speaking of fiber, I'm going to be listing several types today in my zero.etsy.com store: 80/10/10 superwash merino/cashmere/nylon, 70/30 superwash merino/seacell, and one 100% superwash merino. I dyed some old colorways...


"Fermina Daza"-- 80/10/10 sw merino-cashmere-nylon

...as well as some new ones...


"Skin Storm"-- 80/10/10 sw merino-cashmere-nylon

I received an ipod touch over the holidays so of course the first things to be added were the (few) cd's of Morrissey and The Smiths that I held onto (easier to misplace a cd than a record; who knew I'd give up my turntable?!)... so there are a few colorways named for moz b-sides scattered in the update as well :)

I did pair the seacell and the cashmere blends together for a few batches...


"Mercutio"-- 2 oz of each

...I'm keeping this one to spin as singles and ply together. Can't wait to see how *that* turns out :) I also have several "mixtape" scrap bags to list-- bags of more than 4 oz of one fiber type in several short color runs and in different widths (for a good price!); fun for stripey skeins or blending/carding or whatever your heart calls for.

Enough with the shilling... they'll be listed about 12pm pacstandard later today in my etsy shop! :)

Have fun, be back (etsy) friday!

Totally Autumn Throw and Mystery Blanket

Totally Autumn Throw by Anne Hanson of Knitspot
Fall Knitty 2007
Interlacements Merino Worsted, 2 sk (560 yd, 4 oz @)-- large size
US 9 (5.5mm), Knit Picks Harmony Options 48"
Started: 17 November 2007
Finished: 2x December 2007

If you remember from last year, I decided to try and make my grandma an afghan for Christmas every year (last year was Lizard Ridge)... perhaps I'll get lucky and find another knitty afghan pattern catching my eye this year :) Anne has such an eye for beautiful stitch patterns and I was lucky she thought to put this one into a blanket. I was also lucky to have a simple, easycare yarn in the stash.

The yarn is Interlacements' Merino Worsted (superwash), I can't find it on their website and it may be a one-off for shows only (I bought these at Stitches West 2006, a steal @ $15 each-- their dyers' choice sale bin is always worth checking out if you have a show they're attending in your neck of the woods). To be honest I don't know how much use Lizard Ridge is getting (I know gma loves it), but wanted to make a throw this time that her Boston Terrier could curl up on without fear of not being able to wash it every time.



The 2 skeins of Merino Worsted were not dyelotted, so I alternated the skeins every pattern repeat for a slightly striped effect. You can't really tell when it's in use, but prone on a table is another thing ;) It's large enough for a person to cuddle under and have their feet covered; my gma may not even break 5' so it may cover her even more :) It's the larger size-- 8 pattern repeats (just shy of a full 8th), and slightly shorter garter st borders @ the bottom and top.

I was lucky enough to see my family during this month, but didn't have gma's throw done yet-- I did knit on it in front of her and she loved watching without knowing it was for her. She told me she "had to give me credit for knitting something so patterned," that she preferred simple things because she lost track of patterns too easily. Then I showed her my simple universal row counter and she was blown away; I could see how useful she would have found it, knitting all those years ago.



She said they looked like pineapples, and one of the best gifts of the season was her telling me how much she loved it.

Yay :)

Malabrigo afghan next year for gma... need to find a pattern sooner rather than later! Why Malabrigo?

Cos I've been enjoying snuggling with my son's Malabrigo Mystery Blanket myself.


Mystery Blanket by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Knitter's Almanac, April
Malabrigo/HandpaintedYarn.com merino worsted-- "pollen" (3 skeins)
US 10 (6.0mm), various circular lengths
Started: September 2007
Finished: November 2007

Secret time: I sleep with a baby blanket. Not just any, but the one the hospital sent me home with after I was born. A yellow thermal waffle pattern that was edged with satin-- loved off sometime around year seven, that I slept with throughout my childhood and was one of the non-essentials I stuffed into garbage bags and dragged behind me once I left my childhood home and went on to college, that has been in every bed I spent any goodly amount of time in for my entire life.

That I swaddled my son in when I brought him home for the first time, whispering that it was his now-- one of the few things that was truly mine to give away.

And it means the world to me, and kinda eh for him :) Which is fine! But I kinda wanted him to have something special, the chance to fall in love with something tangible... he isn't really attached to anything like a favorite toy and thought maybe a blanket of his own would be the ticket.

So far? Eh. :) Soft, cuddly, but not... It. Perhaps it's just me, perhaps I didn't get attached to mine til I was old enough to understand attachment and look at it from a distance, appreciate something I could hold away and bring back.



Zimmermann's Msytery Blanket is meant to be knit into several squares and grafted together using Kitchener stitch... mine is just one perfect mindless knitting square :) Being stst, it curls at the edges, but I don't care. I'm also in the minority about all kids' knits being machine washable-- I handwash infrequently, but the fine things I make for my kid I just don't mind handwashing. I don't dress him up to roughhouse at the playground-- handknits or not. He wears and uses my knitting far and between, mostly as occasion knits, and even though this blanket's getting much more wear and tear than a special mom's-showing-me-off sweater, I haven't needed to wash it (yet). It was a pleasure for me to make, and a pleasure to curl up with, so mmmalabrigo it'll be for grandma's next year.

...Which is almost here! Happy new year yall!

etsy friday

I missed sharing etsy fridays! :)


Merino/cashmere/nylon sock yarn from PigeonroofStudios.etsy.com
Harvest colorway

I've had this Pigeonroof Studios yarn for a while (relatively!) now... I loved it before both in skein and knit up, and Krista's new batches have more cashmere than before! Her etsy updates can still be hard to jump on but she does maintain a mailing list-- you may want to contact her thru etsy to get on it and get a jump on being ready in front of your computer when she updates. (Or, subscribe to her shop's rss feed!)

Normally I don't ball my wool til I'm ready to knit with it, and have tipped my hand here. I've been knitting with this new formulation, the dread secret knitting, and it's wonderful stuff and really does look great worked up-- no pooling. I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to make my next pattern for sale (one of the samples is knit in this yarn) thru Ravelry's pdf pattern delivery service when it goes live. A good friend, Jen from piddleloop, has a secret identity as a pdf pattern designer extraordinaire and I'm trying to convince her to make her services widely available to other designers like me who are all thumbs when it comes to things like that... I'm sure you'll hear more in the coming weeks on all points :)

Speaking of designing, a lot of my holiday gifts were handmade (purchased)-- including this beauty from a famous designer:


Designs By Romi sterling silver shawl pin

You guys know the giant brain behind Muir and Ice Queen (and an upcoming BOOK about beads and fiber and yarn oh my!) also has a shop selling handmade shawl pins, yeah? (Just checking!) Rosemary's not an etsy vendor but I can't keep this one hidden for any longer :) It was a gift for mom along with the Hanami stole and the red glass shawl pin from TexturedTurtle-- and I had a *hard* time giving it away!

It is supercool though-- the spiral is slightly raised so you can actually draw your knitted fabric in without having to dig down with the stickpin to secure the knitting; a really spectacular detail only a knitter could think of. It's also heavier/sturdier than I thought it would be, but in a good way-- not heavy enough to drag down your knitting, but enough so you don't feel like you're going to bend it out of shape using it.

It really is breathtaking.

(And I really did give it away!)

:)

Another holiday gift...


Handdipped incense from FooberryIncense.etsy.com

My mom has been on a huge incense kick lately, which is funny since she always accused me of ulterior motives when I burned it as a teenager :) Water under the bridge, I'm all about the watching the gap-- which is the reason I chose to buy a grip of incense from Fooberry Incense for mom this year.

This is the freshest incense I've ever experienced, leaning more to the blue boxed dry as a bone Nag Champa for my fix. Since Julie makes your order when you place it, the sticks are just heavy with scent. Not only heavy but varied-- Fooberry has over 200 items/scents for sale including unusual ones like BACON and TOMATO as well as standards like dragon's blood and patchouli. Being made to order, it does take a bit to receive but FooberryIncense was sure to let me know each step from creation to shipping so I didn't worry about it arriving in time.

One other custom holiday gift from an etsy vendor was for my son...


Child's vinyl and fabric apron from DesignsByNanaHome.etsy.com

My blurry child :) Seriously though, he WANTED this-- he's been on a "helping" kick in the kitchen lately, washing dishes and "cooking" alongside me, and we have had a throwdown or two over who got to wear (MY) red apron... so I searched etsy for his own. I knew exactly what I wanted (vinyl coated, for wipedowns-- we're messy round here!; not feminine looking; something size and age appropriate) and DesignsByNanaHome had this perfect one! :) Actually, she custom makes these aprons from several different fabrics, all sandwiched with vinyl-- I picked the perfect surfer one for my crazy haired kid :)

I have to say how impressed I was not only with the apron (it has a toggle at the neck so it'll fit as he gets older and taller, the pockets are a really nice touch), but with the packaging. I don't really go for a lot of fancy packing stuff since it just hits the recycle bin, but DesignsByNanaHome *flatpacked* this so the vinyl wouldn't get creased during transit-- and I was just thrilled with that minor detail. The fact I don't have to share my apron anymore is a plus, too :)

Good to be back :) I'll be back next week with new FOs and some pics of dyed rovings I'll list in my etsy shop (I have a new blend of superwash merino/cashmere/nylon, along with sw merino/seacell and my standard superwash merino to dye... wish me luck!)

holiday knitting

Handspun Blue Faced Leicester (superwash) socks
roving from pigeonroofstudios.etsy.com -- blackthorn
more woolen than not-spun, 2 ply dk weight
Started: 23 October 2007, walkaround
Finished: in time for Xmas 2007
US 3 dpns, 4

I did a lot of holiday knitting (for me) this time around, everything having a special place in my heart. These socks I carried around with me for months, sneaking in rounds standing in long lines at the grocery store, waiting at the broadway curb, fighting sleep on the red couch in the living room... wherever I could sneak in the reified prayers of love and longing onto my needles I would. At this point, knitting's a reaction of my hands; the thoughts while knitting these instead were love, wishes of warm feet and a good year ahead and behind.



They're so simple though... but just between you and me? After conquering lots of technique, yarns and FOs it feels the best to just knit... round around round, left alone in the circularity of silence and reaction, reflex. I love learning and trying new things but it's the home of stockinette, the simplicity of things, the calm after the storm in one's arms that I find true solace and joy in. It is the simple pieces that shine in my heart because I'm not thinking of patterns when I knit, but the loved ones they're intended for.



I feel spoiled being able to not only knit gifts, but to use yarn I've spun myself for it. Relatively, this is one of the older yarns from my handspun sock yarn stash and lately I'm spinning a long draw that has more tension in the singles, less soft and poufy, much less fuzzy/woolen looking than this one was. As much as I like the look of smoother/worsted spun yarns, both in pictures and in that nagging sense in the back of my mind that my yarns like these are less "professional" than the slick examples across blogland... lord they are warm. And fuzzy soft. And a joy to squish your toes around in. Perfect for colder weather than the one I'm enjoying (pray no rain today for me-- my son's getting a shiny new red bike that I didn't handmake ;)), for those times one needs to feel held and warm and loved.



I only worry they're too similar to a better photographed pair, despite being dk to the fine fingering of the previous. Too much purple, too easily influenced, too eager to please. Doesn't matter, doesn't matter since both come from the same place in me, that same reaction that has become reflex with time, deeper seated in my heart and hands.

Merry Christmas. Miss you.

:)

Noro Kureyon sock yarn

...or, how Article Pract rocks all yall's socks.


New Noro Kureyon Sock yarn

I went to the monthly Article Pract yarn tasting yesterday against my better mindset... it was sock yarn, can you blame me? In addition to being laden down with lots of sample sized skeins and a 25% off coupon (!!), Christina gave the attendees who were there in person each a mini-sample of the new Noro Kureyon Sock yarn that she had hooked up from her Noro rep. Knowing so many were interested in it and thinking about placing a pre-order, I thought I'd share a few pics and quick observations.

The yarn is a very tightly spun single with no bounce-- it's finer than any sock yarn I had on hand when not under tension. It still had a lot of twist energy in it as a single like this likely will; I'm usually not concerned about knitting (particularly socks) biasing but if you were working a pattern that needed to lay absolutely straight, it may be important to you to swatch and make sure it will. It is not soft like so many mass marketed sock yarns-- the combination of no bounce/squish in the yarn, being tightly spun, and being spun from a coarser wool than most (merino) sock yarns is likely a factor. I didn't get thru much of knitting it, but didn't see any "hay" or VM in what I did knit :) It was very, very slightly thick and thin (more like occasional slubs/thicker parts in the yarn)... very much in line with my worsted Noro experiences, but nothing that would throw your gauge off wildly or would even be noticeable when viewed as a whole knitted piece.

I'd guess that it'd do best (plain stst) on US 0's... I prefer knitting finer sock yarns like Lorna's and Schaefer Anne on US 0's, so it does depend on personal preference. I probably wouldn't go over a US 1 with it though for stockinette socks-- I think the fabric would be too open. I haven't knit it up in plain stst and washed the swatch though; it may plump up and be appropriate for larger needles, but unwashed like this I would reach for my finer sock knitting needles.




Left to right:
Noro Kureyon sock yarn, Lisa Souza Sock! yarn, Schaefer Anne, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, Louet Gems Pearl (fingering), Trekking XXL, Koigu PPM, Socks that Rock lightweight

One gauge to its fineness is the yardage to weight-- the Noro Kureyon sock yarn is 462 yd/100 gm. To compare, Lisa Souza Sock! would be 398 yd/100gm, Schaefer Anne would be 495 yd/100gm, Lorna's Laces would be 430 yd/100gm, Louet Gems fingering would be 370yd/100gm, Trekking XXL is 462yd/100gm, Koigu PPM would be 370yd/100gm, and Socks that Rock lightweight would be 283yd/100gm. Keep in mind that the Noro Kureyon sock yarn is more dense than the other yarns it's pictured with-- it may look thinner than the Trekking where they are the same weight/yardage, but it's much more solid.

When I first heard about the Noro Kureyon Sock-- both seeing the pics of knit up socks and samples and knowing it was a 70/30 wool/nylon blend, I was convinced that it must be a dyed yarn and not one that was semi-handspun in blocks of color. Now, seeing it and knitting with it I don't think it's a yarn dyed into stripes but one prepared/spun like Noro Kureyon (separate colors of wool spun together into a striping yarn)... but I can't be sure. The pics of the knitted up socks show the yarn has definite repeats (like a dyed or printed yarn), where Noro yarns with their semi-handspun qualities are not so consistent with their colors matching up... but from what I knit, it doesn't look dyed and has definite color gradation/transition between color blocks more in line with traditional Noro yarns. Then again, I thought I read someone on Ravelry saying that her Noro rep had only *undyed* Noro Kureyon sock yarn to show off (of course I can't find that now)... so, I guess time will tell! :)

Speaking of knitting, where I don't know if I'll jump at the first chance to knit up socks with the yarn (I'm just really averse to US 0's lately, but I'm sure I will sometime), Christina and I both had the same thought about other potential Noro Kureyon Sock projects...


Toddler mitten* in Noro Kureyon sock and Louet Fingering yarn, inspired by Kauni Cardigan
US 1.5/2.5mm 4" glove needles

We both thought it'd probably be a good stand-in for the super popular Ruth Sorenson Kauni cardigan (pdf!) and other colorwork applications. I think the Noro Kureyon Sock yarn has a shorter color striping than the Kauni, but for someone like me who wants to knit the Sorenson cardi in a toddler size, it'd definitely work. These mittens were knit over 54 sts, and you can see that the purple, while changing slightly from grey to deep purple, is a very long repeat. (I had no idea how much mitten I'd be able to get from this little ball of yarn! I expect to see lots of toddler mitts with it in my future...) The above mitts were knit on US 1.5's since that's the smallest 4" needle I have, and the Louet is heavier than the Noro but it was the only scrap I had enough of to make a set of mittens with... worked okay :)

The Noro Sock would also be easier care than the original Kauni yarn for colorwork cardis, I don't think it'll felt as readily as the 100% wool of Kauni and should be easier to find stateside once it's shipped to retailers... I washed/abused/rubbed/smacked/shocked the above toddler mitten by trying to felt it (the white/green yarn was leftover Louet Gems Pearl) and it didn't felt or bleed. That was all done by hand in very hot tap water and Kookaburra, the real test will be machine washing... but the yarn withstood my immediate felting test well imo. Sue from littleknits has a scan of the label and it says handwash only, so the real test will come with a real sock in a washing machine :)

I know Article Pract has ordered every color (!!) of the Noro Kureyon sock, so you can always call and ask them to hold onto a colorway (or five!) you need to have when it makes its way into the store :) As you can see, Article Pract *rocks* and it's where I'll be shopping for my Noro sock yarn :) (It'll be pretty much the same price everywhere, so support your local LYS!!) I'm definitely going to use some for colorwork knitting in my near (post-holiday knitting) future, either for myself or my son. Can you wrap your mind around how striking Pomatomus would be in this yarn?! :)

Okay, NOW I'm off into the vacation sunset. See yall, miss you already!


* No real pattern for the toddler mitten. Fits my almost 4 year old, mods easy as far as length (continuing/reducing patt repeats) and width (either remove patt repeats or use smaller needles.) Assumes knitting on 5 needles, 4 holding sts & 1 working-- with an even # of sts over n1&n2 and n3&n4.

RH mitten: CO 52 sts, k2p2 for 2". Using chart from Kauni cardigan above, start chart and inc 2 sts evenly across rnd for 54 sts. Follow chart, knitting til 2" of colorwork is completed (or, where thumb separates from toddler's hand). K1, k8 onto waste yarn, replace waste yarn back onto lh needle and continue knitting in pattern. Knit in patt til desired length (tip will add approx 1" in length), break colorwork yarns and k1 rnd in cuff color. K1, ssk, k to last 3 sts on n2, k2tog, k1 across 1st 2 needles (repeat for n3 & n4-- 4 sts dec each rnd.) Work dec rnd until desired length reached (mine was 6-7 sts?) cut yarn, draw thru remaining sts & weave in. Pick out waste yarn for thumb and divide onto needles, picking up 1 st at each "turn" for a total of 18 sts. Knit in stst until 1/4" shy of length desired, k2tog around for 2 rnds. Cut yarn and draw thru rem sts & weave in.

For lh mitten, you can place the waste yarn thumb by knitting to last 9 sts of thumb placement rnd, k8 onto waste yarn and replace sts onto lh needle, k9 in patt and create thumb as above. (This'll keep the rnd change/stripe jog on the inside palm of the hand.)