Show Me Your Knits

Right On Target

Just a quick post, in which I pretend that I really need to blog about my knitting, but in reality is just a way to procrastinate.  I've got a mound of clean laundry to put away, but I've been finishing up a book instead.  Anyway, just checking in to mention that incredibly, I'm still right on target with this 52 Pair Plunge thing.  Yup, it's about midway through the third week and I'm finishing up my third pair of socks.  Wow, I haven't fallen behind yet.  I'm amazed at myself.  Pair Number 2 are also knit out of Artyarns Merino 4 sock yarn, in a nice pink and green colorway that reminds me of English roses.  This was a quick pair to knit.  No photos yet of Pair #3 (which is sadly turning out a bit floppy) but I'll show them when they're done.  But now, laundry folding beckons.  (Unless I can procrastinate just a bit longer.)

Mission Probably Impossible

This morning when my husband left for work, I waved at him happily and sang out, "Ha ha ha, you have to go to work today and I have the day off!"  I'm oh so mature that way.  I'm enjoying my day off by knitting and watching Euro 2008 soccer matches today, with a side trip out to get a facial.  It should be a perfect day.  I'm particularly excited that American television has wised up and ESPN is showing all of the games, even though most people here in the States are completely oblivious that this soccer tournament is going on.  In the past, I've had to listen to the Euro Tournament via an audio feed from the BBC Sport site on my computer.  No visuals, just game audio, kind of like those old timey baseball games on the radio I remember my grandpa listening to.  So, you can see why it's pretty exciting that I can now watch my boyfriend, Thierry Henry, in high definition on our new giganto tv.  Plus, my pores will be deep cleaned, so I'll be looking good for him.

And I'll be knitting socks today.  (And spinning.  And knitting a baby gift, but this blog topic is about sock knitting goals, so I have to say I'm knitting socks.)  Why?  Because I love knitting socks, obviously.  And I have an impressive sock yarn stash, that is currently escaped from various plastic bins and is lounging all over the bed in the guest room, but mostly, because I signed up to do the 52 Pair Plunge II, which may be an exercise in insanity.  The goal for this group is to knit a pair of socks a week and at the end of the year you have 52 hand knit socks and a deep sense of satisfaction and a little frothing of the mouth.  The deal is, I can knit a pair of socks a week.  I've even whipped out a pair in two or three days.  But do it continuously for an entire year?  Doubtful.  I mean, I love to knit socks, but I also love to hang out with my family, read a book, work at my job, and shave my legs occasionally.   Knowing myself pretty well, I figure there are three possible scenarios:

1.  I take on this challenge as a fun goal, knowing ahead of time that it's Mission Probably Impossible, but it will still be fun to see how many pairs I can knit in a year, and it will be a great way to try all the different types of sock yarn in my "collection".

2.  I fall behind right from the start, feel frustrated, and throw in the towel and give up, much like when you vow to eat right and then have three glazed donuts for breakfast and figure the day is already shot.

3.  My weird competitive streak kicks in and I start knitting socks obsessively, comparing my numbers to the other 52 Pair Plunge knitters, posting my completed socks and count number statistics on the Plunge Blog, while pointing at my computer and shouting, "In your face, suckers!"  (Not attractive.)

Obviously, I hope I opt for the high road of Option 1, rather than the wussie quitter mode of Option 2 or the deranged competitor of Option 3.  Do I think I can knit 52 pairs of socks in a year?  Yeah, if I made it my only knitting goal, but I like to spin and have some lace knitting plans for the summer, and it always seems like I have a baby sweater in progress.  But, I like to tally things up.  (Note my cool count column on the left of my blog that I figured out how to set up.  Yay, me!)  In the past, I've counted how many scrapbook pages I've made in a year, but I've quit that tally, as I now could count them on my fingers.  I still think it'll be fun to try to challenge myself.  I'm estimating that I can pull off somewhere in the mid-thirties for a count number for pairs of socks.  I'll see my sister, Kirsten, for her birthday in July, so I could potentially give her a stack of hand knit socks for her birthday present.  (She's probably reading this blog right now and saying, "Screw the socks, Jessie!  I want a pony!)   So, the 52 Pair Plunge II runs from June 1, 2008 through June 1, 2009, putting us well into the second week.  I have one completed pair of socks so far.  Now you can't say that I'm already behind schedule, because we're still in the second week, and it's very possible that I finish up another pair.  (Remember, lots of soccer match viewing today on my day off from work.)  I'd probably have better luck if I were a bit more sock monogamous with my knitting.  Here's what I've got on my needles right now.  Yes, that is three different pairs of socks, plus a skein that's just begging to be cast on, because it's always better to have four socks on the needles than three, right?  Yeah, Mission Probably Impossible might be correct.

The Socks I Forgot To Blog About

Several weeks ago, I knit a pair of gorgeously soft socks and held off blogging about them, because I didn't want the recipient, Laura, to see them beforehand.  Laura bought her first spinning wheel right before I did, so we've sort of been checking out each others first spinning attempts.  I had Laura's name for the second Loopy Ewe swap, and what was nice, is that I got to meet her in person at the Loopy Ewe Spring Fling.  She is lots of fun and I wish she lived nearby so that I could knit with her and jump on her trampoline all the time.  Laura also teaches 6th graders and as I've got one, we would entertain ourselves endlessly with "sixth grade speak", including all the proper eye rolling and intonations.  Some examples?  "Whatever."  (insert eyeroll) "You're not the boss of me."  (Umm.  Yes, I am.)  Anyway, I like Laura, mucho much, and I knew she would be a challenge to buy for, since quite frankly, the woman has a yarn stash that could choke a horse.  Luckily, we shopped together at the Loopy Ewe during the Spring Fling and at one point, filled with shopping guilt, she laid three gorgeous skeins of Handmaiden Casbah on the floor and had us pick out the one she should keep.  Naturally, I surreptitiously put one of her sadly rejected skeins in my basket.  It was a spectacular colorway called Teal.  Normally, I am ambivalent about the color teal, but this skein was amazing.  And it was also the first time I was introduced to the Casbah yarn, which may be my new favorite type of yarn crack.  It is so unbelievably soft, that, as always when I am faced with a wonderfully soft yarn, my first urge is to tuck it in my bra.  Yes, I realize that sounds weird.  I don't mean it in any sort of kinky way.  Really.  If you mention this wish out loud, which I may have done at the Fling, someone may nickname you "Yarn Perv", even though you know perfectly well that you just said what they were all thinking, but they all had that special filter that let them keep comments like the weird "yarn in the bra" comment to themselves.  Anyway, this Casbah yarn is unbelievably soft.  I have no idea how it will wear as a sock.  It may be total crap and pill immediately, but the tactile pleasure of knitting it makes that practicality unimportant.  I knit Laura these socks, using the Charade pattern by Sandra.  (Oddly, I knit socks for Sandra during one of the Sockapalooza swaps.  Yeah, no pressure there, knitting socks for someone who has designed them.  Also, small knitting swap world.)  Charade is a lovely pattern.  It's basically just a two row pattern and immediately memorized.  I will definitely knit it again.  I loved these socks.  In fact, I loved them so much, it was really hard to part with them.  Lucky for Laura, we have different foot sizes.  These may be some of my favorite socks that I've  knitted, and that's saying a lot, not only because I've knit a lot of socks in my knitting lifetime, but also because I tend to forget socks I've knit once I've finished them.  I'm fickle that way.  (Seriously, I've glanced at friends' feet, admired their handknit socks and had the friend look at me oddly and then after a pause, remind me that I had knitted those socks for her.  What can I say?)  I do love these Casbah Charade socks, though.  Lucky for me that I've fattened up my Casbah sock yarn stash.  I may even be able to knit myself a pair.

People Give Me The Coolest Stuff

Have I mentioned how lucky I am?  Fiber people, like other knitters and spinners, just feel this overwhelming urge to send me cool stuff.  I don't know what it is, good karma, maybe, or just dumb luck, but I've been visited by the mailman gods.  Sherry, who lives in Alaska, had my name in the second go-round of the Loopy Ewe Swap.  She sent me what can only be described as an unending box of treasures.  I just kept pulling out wrapped packages.  I'm not even sure everything fits in the photo.  The first thing I saw was wads of Monopoly money tossed in the box, which completely cracked me up because I had been teasing her that she was supposed to send her swap partner money.  Har har.  There's tons of goodies in there, including a skein of buttery soft Handmaiden Casbah yarn in a to-die-for Mahogany colorway and some handknit socks out of this fantastic pinky/red yarn.  Now I've yet to travel to Alaska, although I have eaten moose stew, but Sherry sent lots of Alaskan stuff.  The kid and I are posers in the Alaska hats she sent along.  Thanks Sherry, this was fantastic.   

And then, as you might know, I've been struggling through the beginning stages of being a very beginning spinner.  A few days ago I  mentioned on my blog that some fibers, like the merino, were a bit more difficult to pull a good draw out and get a consistant spun fiber.  So out of the blue, Jess, who reads my blog, up and sends me some Shetland roving to try.  It was so generous of her and the absolute best confidence builder.  Look at that perfect skein.  Go ahead, admire it.  I don't mind.  I made my husband admire it for about ten minutes straight.  (I could tell he was forcing the love after the first few minutes, but he knew it was best to humor the crazy spinning woman.)  I am abnormally proud of this skein.  I kept running into the bathroom where the hank was hanging to dry every couple of minutes, just to look at it.  The Shetland was really rustic and rather rough, with little bits of hay and stuff in it, but really easy to spin to get a consistant size yarn.  My plying improved this time, too.  It was the first time using the niddy noddy that I just bought.  Talk about a comedy duo--it was a two person job winding on the thing.  My husband and I kept following the schematic directions and dancing around the thing, trying to get the yarn looped correctly.  I hope that one gets easier with time.  Look at that hank of yarn, though.  Isn't it gorgeous? 

Booties, Baby!

Grumble.  I wrote this nice, long blog entry this afternoon, did a spelling check, and the Typepad, my blog publisher, completely locked up and I lost the entire entry.  Ugh.  It's not like I wrote brilliant prose that's lost to the masses forever.  It was more just yammering on about baby booties I've knit lately, but still, I'm still irritated.  I don't know if the problem was with Typepad (they've made some changes lately and I'm slow to figure it all out) or my computer, but I doubt that I use spell check at the end of typing this.  Please pretend you don't notice anything amiss if you see a bunch of moronic spelling errors.  I live in fear of another blog post freeze-up. 

So anyway, I finished up the final pair of baby booties for the Baby Bootie Swap on Ravelry.  These are the Jester Booties from the Zoe Mellor "50 Baby Bootees to Knit" book.  The recipient has an interest in medieval history, so I thought these might be appropriate.  I don't know how historically accurate they really are, but I think they're pretty funny.  I used leftover Debbie Bliss Wool/Cotton yarn from my stash.  The knitted cuff trim looks quite a bit bigger in the sample photo of the pattern book than this pair of booties.  If I knit these again, I'd either use a larger gauge yarn for the trim or modify the trim pattern to get that bigger ruffle effect.  Still, cute booties.  And jingle-y.  I sewed on the jingle bells really well, but it wouldn't be any big deal if the recipient wants to snip them off to prevent a possible choking hazard.  No problem.  I just thought it made a cute presentation.  Speaking of presentation, I got a little Martha Stewart-y with the packaging of all the swap bootie packages.  At the last minute I got a wild hair and  knit up a bunch of Magic Slippers, which I attached like little party favors to   

the outside of the packages and felt very fancy.  Great pattern, because it uses up the little balls of leftover sock yarn (and I have a lot of leftover sock yarn) and there's no finishing to these booties.  You just weave in the beginning and end of the yarn.  Plus, they're adorable.  I can think of tons of ways to embellish them, i.e. with buttons, knit bows, pom poms, tassles, etc, but I left these plain. I used   some Koigu, some Socks That Rock, and some Zen String for these booties.  And just for kicks, I took a photo of all the booties I've knit   lately, mostly because it looks like a whole bunch and it makes me feel like the Bootie Queen.  Not all of these booties are for the swap--I knit several duplicates as gifts for expecting friends/family.  I suppose it's pretty goofy to knit so many booties when I'm not even pregnant (although it was entertaining to see how freaked out my husband got when he saw me knitting them) but they were lots of fun to make.

The Spinmaster

I'm in love with my Lendrum spinning wheel.  Deep, serious, passionate love.  Somewhere in the last few days, the spinning coordination thing kicked in and I started feeling more confident and looking less constipated (hopefully) when I spun.  What helped immensely was all the unbelievably fantastic handpainted fiber that I got in the mail from etsy buys.  I tried to get a variety of blends to experiment with.  I ordered this vivid pink/fushia/orange/yellow merino corriedale blend from a seller called Copperpot Woolies and the roving was so incredibly soft and fluffy, it made spinning seem easier than it had ever seemed.  I may even have told my husband, "I am the Spinmaster!" while I was spinning.  (Okay, Dorkmaster is more like it, but it really was pretty exciting.)  I spun up the whole four ounces on two bobbins and you could even see my improvement from one bobbin to the next.  Plying was a bit harder, but I really don't know what I'm doing in that arena, so I experimented a bit.  Obviously, I didn't get the plying as even as it should be, but like my spinning, I figure that it can only improve, right?  Yeah, this skein might be a bit on the ugly bumpy side, but I love it and I'm proud of it.  It's funny, though, because when I was spinning it, I thought I was spinning it very thin, but it seems so bulky when it's plied.  The kid even said it looked really good, which is high praise from a 12 year old.  I've started spinning up some of my other etsy purchases, a merino roving from Enchanted Knoll  in a gorgeous colorway called "Wood Elves".   Yes, I know my photo is crappily out of focus, but trust me when I say that the colorway is well named.  I look at it and want to frolic with Legolas and the other elves and perhaps a hobbit or two, when I see it.  It's very pretty.  This merino seems harder to spin somehow.  Since I'm such a novice, I don't know why that is, whether it's because the roving was prepared differently (the Copperpot one seemed really combed out and easy to spin) or if it's the difference between 100% merino and a merino/corriedale blend.  Any ideas? 

Since I've caught the spinning bug big time, we took a road trip over to Lawrence, Kansas today to visit one of my favorite yarn shops, the Yarn Barn, today.  The boys agreed to this trip because I agreed to go to the bike store in Lawrence and also the big Cabela's sporting goods store on the way home.  I picked up more bobbins for my wheel, plus a niddy noddy, since winding the yarn around the back of the dining room chair got really old really fast.  I may have picked up some more roving while I was there, too.  The roving on the left is a multicolored merino and the natural roving on the right is 10 ounces of a New Zealand roving called Jacob.  I was so dumb that I thought that was just the name of the colorway or something, but the lady ringing me up kindly informed me that it is a breed of sheep.  Who knew?  The owner of the store was so nice, too.  I bought my wheel secondhand from an individual (who actually initially purchased it new from the Yarn Barn) but he spent quite a bit of time with me showing me things on the store's demo Lendrum, like how oil it and all sorts of other questions that popped into my head at the time.  I was very impressed.  And lest you think that I'm all about the spinning and none about the knitting, I made a total knitting impulse purchase while I was there.  The store had a mannequin up with a breathtaking hexagon swirl lace scarf called "Swirl Shawl" from Jojoland in a fingering weight superwash wool called Melody.  It has long color changes, which is what adds to the shawls magic.  I think it was brilliant marketing for the shop to have a sample displayed, because honestly, if I had just seen the pattern, I wouldn't have looked at it twice, but seeing it knit up, it was a total selling point.  In fact, there were two other women there at the same time I was, buying this pattern and yarn.  I'm anxious to start knitting this.  But I'm also anxious to spin up some of my new roving.  That's the only drawback of spinning that I can see so far, is that it competes for my knitting time.

Last Day of School

Today is the kid's last day of school.  It's a half-day, the Tuesday after the long Memorial Day weekend, which seems a little ridiculous, but they had snow days that they had to account for.  Our son says that all they're really going to do today is clean out their desks, sign yearbooks, and pick up their report cards.  He's finishing up sixth grade, which means he's officially done with elementary school and will head over to middle school in the Fall.  I am so glad that sixth grade is coming to an end.  This has been a rough year.  The kid and his sixth grade teacher were a horrific match and the mutual dislike between teacher and student has made for some long school days.  We're going to play up the "fresh start, new beginnings" aspect of attending middle school in hopes of getting back some of his love of school, but until then, I suppose we're going to enjoy a summer full of baseball, swimming, and me telling him to get his feet off of the furniture.  I stopped him this morning from taking a  whoopie cushion to school.  Sigh.  I didn't check to see if he left the fake vomit at home.  (As an aside, I'll never forget the time my husband and I stopped in a magic shop in Las Vegas and he asked the clerk if they carried fake vomit, to which the clerk replied, "The small fake vomit or the large fake vomit?"  Boys are gross.)

On the fiber side, I love, love, love my spinning wheel.  I've been spinning every day and my yarn has progressed from the ugly-ass stuff to the merely homely.  I'm making strides.  I don't feel like I have much control yet.  I hope that comes with practice.  My yarn goes from thick to thin with puffs of nubby fiber that I haven't pinched tight enough and sometimes I overspin it and I get that curly pig tail fiber.  Following the adage of "fake it until it's real" I've been trying to emulate my spinning hero Stacy from Tempted Yarns, and try to look zen-ed out and relaxed.  So far it's not working, as I mostly look a bit constipated instead.  Again, practice, right?  I haven't bothered plying any of the yarn that I've spun yet, because it's just practice stuff.  Mostly, I fill up the bobbin and then I yank it all off and try again.  And again. 

The Cool Cult

Now that I've got my own wheel, I feel sort of cool, like I'm running with a new crowd of fiber people.  I even joined a group on Ravelry called the "Cult of Lendrum", populated by spinners who own Lendrum wheels.  I love this wheel.  I don't have the slightest idea what I'm doing, but I've actually spun some stuff that looks like yarn.  Ugly-ass yarn, but I'm pretty excited about the whole thing.  It actually looks better than the even uglier-ass-ier yarn I spun in the second beginning spinning class I took.  (Yes, I said second beginning spinning class.  I was so totally inept in the first beginning spinning class that I don't think I even made anything that could remotely pass for yarn.)  I've got a wad of natural, undyed roving, so I've been playing with that.  I've spun for about 20 minutes, and I haven't dropped one "f-bomb" or even felt slightly like kicking the wheel.  Quite the opposite, actually.  I'm excited about the whole thing.  But, following the advice I've been given of doing small daily increments of spinning, I'm going to call it a day, put the wheel up until tomorrow, give myself a little "atta girl" pat on the back, perhaps pour myself a glass of wine and pick up the knitting.  Perhaps tomorrow my yarn will be slightly less ugly-ass.

And I totally went on etsy today and ordered two dyed hunks of roving.  I'm not a fool.

The New Baby

I bought it.  A used Lendrum double treadle spinning wheel.  I can't believe it.  It seems like it's in excellent condition and I got it for a great price.  I haven't spun anything on it yet.  So far I've just cleaned it, oiled it, treadled it, and admired it.  I'm waiting till a friend gets through with work, so I can call her and ask her some questions about the bobbins and stuff.  And okay, if we're going to be perfectly honest here, I might just be a little scared of the thing.

Yeah, go ahead and laugh.  It's just a little intimidating.  I've been reading tips on the spinning groups on ravelry.  One of the best tips seems to be to just spin a little, maybe 15 or 20 minutes every day.  That short amount of spinning time, daily, seems to be a good idea.  It's pretty, isn't it?  A little scary, but pretty.  My goal, spinning-wise, is to one day spin like Stacy, the dyeing genius behind Tempted Yarns.  I met her at the Loopy Ewe Spring Fling and she is so sweet and nice and an unbelievable spinner.  Most spinners I've met (and granted, I don't know that many people in person who spin) look a bit tense, with their shoulders sort of pulled up, and their teeth a bit clenched, while they spin.  There might even be a curse word or two in there somewhere.  Not Stacy.  She makes spinning look like the easiest freakin' thing in the world.  It's almost mesmerizing to watch her spin.  That's my goal.  One day I want to hypnotize and amaze people with my spinning skills.  I just need to stop being scared of my wheel first.

Socks and Maybe a Spinning Wheel

These are the socks that I finished several days ago.  They're knit out of a yarn that I've never used before, Artyarns Ultra Merino 4.  It's soft, cushy, and sproingy.  Love it.  Yarndex says that you get gauge for this fingering weight sock yarn on size US 4 needles, which makes no sense, as it is sock yarn.  I used size US 1 needles.  I picked up this yarn at Abundant Yarn and Dyeworks during my last (I think) trip to Portland.  The tag creatively calls the colorway "Avocado/Cream/Black".  No doubt the company stayed up late thinking up that  one.  Uncreative names aside, I really like this yarn.  I knit up most of the pair while at the Loopy Ewe Spring Fling and I could tell the socks were winners, because lots and lots of knitters came up to my knitting, rubbed my socks, and asked me what yarn I was using.  (Although, come to think of it, we all did that to nearly everyone's knitting there.  I don't think my socks were unique in that aspect.)  Anyway, love this yarn.  Love it so much that I've added a few skeins to my yarn stash this week.  Good times.

And speaking of good times, tomorrow I may own a spinning wheel.  Maybe.  One of my girlfriends in my knitting group found a Lendrum DT for sale by a coworker.  I called the woman up and she said that she bought it several years ago and never really got into spinning and can't even remember how to do it, so rather than have it collect dust in her basement, she's selling it.  For a really good price.  A price that will alleviate any guilt I may have spending money on a wheel that I may or may not use very much.  She says it is in excellent condition.  I'm going to check it out tomorrow and see if it really is in good shape.  Cross your fingers.  I hope, hope, hope.