What to do

So I was writing up our schedule for the coming months and discovered an issue. Granted of all the issues in the world this one is not bad.

I have two local fiber festivals that I like to go to. The newer one is in September (Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival - SADK) and the mack daddy one (New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck) is in October. This year they are 3 weeks apart! Have I not noticed the timing the last two years? This barely gives me yarn fume recovery time. I will still be slightly woolly. The September acquisitions will not even have made it into the regular yarn wall stash. Gus will still be bringing them one by one into our bedroom at night. (It's a weird Momma cat thing that I totally adore. Yes, he knows he is not a Momma cat he just has the urge to treat yarn a certain way.)

Oh speaking of Gus's yarn obsession, he is a yarn snob too. I received some inexpensive acrylic yarn, you know the kind most of us buy when we're starting out knitting because it is cheap and soft, therefore it must be yarn for learning on? Well we woke up the next day and Gus had clearly investigated the bag and may even have tried to pick it up in his mouth, but it did not make it very far. It is either yarn snobbery or the skein was too big for him to carry.

Anyways back to my fiber festival issue. I'm already saving up for the festivals so I don't have to worry about my budget. It is not like an extra week would allow me to replenish the coffers. I guess I am just a wee bit surprised they would choose to put the festivals so close together.

Of course Rhinebeck is becoming quite a large and cumbersome festival, so some people may not choose to go to that one. SADK is newer and less intense. If I know a vendor is going to be at both festivals, I choose to go to SADK booth instead.

Last year SADK was my heads up that sock yarn prices had increased over the past year in 2009 most of the sock yarn skeins I bought ran about $20. In 2010 there seemed to be a $2 bump for almost every vendor, which proved true at Rhinebeck also. Also at SADK I did not seemed to be overwhelmed by either the crowds or the volume of yarns and was able to find and try out some new (to me) dyers. I know I knit up the untried ones first because I was so excited. I cast on socks for D between the festivals because I felt a wee bit guilty buying more yarn. Of course last year I had three yarn buying excursions. The two festivals and in August I was at Twisted in Portland OR with a boat load of Socks that Rock and a couple of dyers I had not seen in this area.

While now I see the intelligence of acquiring a stash while the prices are lower I still don't want to let my stash get out of hand. In that spirit I did a bit of research into last year's big three purchases. At Twisted I bought 7 skeins of sock yarn, 5 of which have been knit up. SADK scored me 4 skeins of sock yarn and 2 of those have been sockified. Rhinebeck landed me 6 sock yarn skeins with 3 of them now wearable, and another 2 on the needles. Therefore I've only added 5 skeins to the stash. That is much better than buying the 17 skeins and leaving them all as stash. Hey I am doing much better than even I thought! Maybe I should go buy more yarn. Oh wait I just did. I'll show you pictures another day, don't worry it was only 2 skeins and the way I'm going one of them should be knit up by the end of this post.

Well at least I make me laugh.

Wooly and whimsical

You know how I love to wrap things in wool around here. Sometime about a year or so ago I stumbled across a pattern on Knitty for a tea cozy. This one. I thought it would be a great use for some yarn left over from a few other projects. I started it and got the wild idea that since it was felted it would be a great way to work on my colorwork knitting, and I found a cute  kitty face pattern I had long admired on a sweater in Interweave Knits magazine. Now I know this was quite a while ago because I had not even knit my Norwegian mittens yet. I knit on it till I got to the decrease section and put it away for some reason. It sat in a bag for months.

As I was looking back at my knitting and blogging I realized I never finished it so I pulled it out. Yep you guessed it I had finished it later that weekend. It was not even hard, I just don't know why I put it down.

As with many things that are felted it started out huge and floppy.


I sent it through the washer in a pillow case and it went down in size a tad. Enough that it could stand on its own but not enough for me. See how you can still see the vertical lines of the stitches?

Because I was still learning to do colorwork, my stitches pulled in on the fabric. I went in and cut some threads to give it some room to loosen up before the second dunking. I figured it had felted enough that no holes would form and if they did I would have make one of them handle sized and let it hang out.

See how we lost the stitch definition and now it is fuzzy and blurry? That is what I was going for. Now I have a backup teapot cozy that is wooly and whimsical. 

Wooly and whimsical that describes me and my cozy now too. It seems to be keeping the tea hot. I've not had a complaint yet. Then again who would complain when they have tea and scones in front of them? I mean really. Not that guy sitting there!

Still amazed

So last week I made myself do something out of character. I put a knitting limitation on myself. Since the plain socks are so easy to work with and I don't have to carry and mark a pattern I made them only On-The-Go knitting. I was not allowed to knit on them while I was sitting pleasantly at home.

You know what happened? I finished a sock I've (not) been working on since May. My first Spring Forward sock is done and I have cast on the second one too. It is amazing to me that some things take so long because I simply don't spend any time on them. All you monogamous knitters out there can stop laughing any time now.

I have also finished my first plain sock too but that's ok because I followed the self imposed rules. OK I knit on it a bit tonight at home because I was casting on and that requires attention and focus for a few rounds. I'm not going to beat myself up.

I took my car in for its first oil change this weekend. As I walked by the waiting area I noticed a lady knitting. So I used my time in the restroom constructively, trying to figure out how I would approach the situation. You know it is tough being a shy knitter that wants to meet other knitters. I decided I would sit near her but not next to her and pull out my knitting to see if she noticed. Which she did!

Yay, for the purse sock doing its job and getting the conversation started. She was very nice and was working on a wrap sweater out of Noro Silk Garden yarn. When she asked about local yarn stores, I recommended a few that I know. I eventually asked if she is on Ravelry and was a bit dismayed to find out she is not. I tried to explain the concept which is quite difficult given my descriptive skills. You know how hard it is to describe something when you don't know the person and have no idea what their internet usage is? I tried the 'it's a bit like Facebook' line but she is not on Facebook so no frame of reference there. You can look up yarns, books, designers and see what people have made, was my best description. But as with explaining why a cell phone is useful to someone who has never had a cell phone, you don't really get it till you see it. I was able to tell her the most enticing bit, Ravelry is free! So maybe she will get in and have a look around to see what kind of a tool it can be

That was my knitting week in a nut shell, how was yours?

Lookie

Today here on the blog is Work In Progress(WIP) Wednesday. I finally remembered to get a couple of pictures. First up we have my slow and unsteady Pink Spring Forward socks.

I would probably have a second sock or even a first if I actually worked on these instead of letting them sit next to me on the couch when I mock them with other things I am knitting. It never ceases to amaze me how much a project jumps ahead when I work on it instead of thinking about it.

I really like not having to think about what to do next and having something to carry around in my purse. Only plain socks fit this bill. I can carry more complicated ones with me but I don't. There must be a huge WHEE factor in it for me, whee, round and round, whee! Yes carousels amuse me quite a bit too. They have fancy horses and go round and round, whee.

Anyways, I did not even bother to fight my case of startitis. The same night I blogged about it I cast on three, yes three things *ahem* socks. One did not make it past around when I knew it was not what I was looking for, another had around two inches knit before I realized I am not digging how it is turning out. The last one has cashmere in it so it won.

I am calling it my Green Tea sock. The yarn is Fiber Optic's Kashmir in the Sage colorway, I believe. I should have know the stash would attack with another green yarn, it worked so well for them last time. I was having a hard time deciding if this should be socks or mittens. I thought the color would remind me of spring all winter long. Then I realized I can never keep light colored things looking clean enough. Spots and stains find me when I am not looking, and sometimes when I am looking. So now my feet will know what cashmere feels like. Is it wrong that I am jealous of my feet now? I know it is odd but is it wrong?

Hubby Love

D was away for work and I am not the only one that missed him. Since I was the one that took him to the airport Gus decided to punish me by ignoring me. He skulked under the office chair most of the time Daddy was gone. He did come out for tuna at night, well he was punishing me not himself. He make allowances for his own needs but definitely not for my comfort. He would hop up on the bed but ten minutes later be gone. Once I even thought I heard an evil laugh followed by "That should teach her!"

And for my suffering D thought I deserved yarn. Well, he told the sales lady that I would not let him back in the house without yarn. (Not true but I don't want to nitpick him.)

What does any woman need? Red Wine and Dark Chocolate from The Sassy Sheep. Socky Sheep is 80% superwash Merino and 20% Nylon. It weighs in at 4 ounces and has 420 yards of wooly goodness to play with.

You know how somedays the colors are just not quite right? This is one of them. It photographs a bit on the hot pink end when in real life it is just under brick red, and the purple is more brown and deep. It is really quite lovely and something I would have picked out myself.

He found it at a farmer's market in Idaho Falls. Which is lucky because the yarn store he went to was by appointment only on the day he was there. He thought about calling the number but decided it would not really have been worth their time. He was not there to get a sweater's worth of yarn. He did say it was a nice shop from the outside, with a nice window display.

He explained to the lady at the farmer's market that his wife is a knitter and showed his socks that I had knit. (Another reason he gets more socks.) He knew she was a knitter when she pulled out a skein and offered it to him, saying "feel this." He was even smart enough to ask if the skein was enough for a pair of socks. (The wool fumes must not affect him like me. I can only think of things like Oooo and pretty when I am around yarn.)

I had forgotten that he does not know how much yarn is needed to make a pair of socks. When did this become basic knowledge to me? If I can look at a skein of yarn and know if I need one or two to make a pair, does that officially make me a sock knitter? Is that when they hand out the knitting badges? 

He even gave me his little notebook from the conference too. Because he knows I love notebooks almost as much as him and yarn. It has a loop for a pen, awww, such a cute little notebook.

It is nice to be loved...even if the cat does not.

Jealousy green?

Well let's see what I have to show you today. Oh look another pair of socks. I am so surprised. 

Gus totally tried to photo bomb me. Oh was that a picture of your socks you was trying to get? So sorry, have you seen how silky my fur is? Yes, it is very nice.

This is Dye Dreams Luster socks in Pine. It is a Blue Faced Leister (BFL) yarn, my first from that sheep. I bought this yarn a couple of years ago. Guess where? Yes, you're right Rhinebeck, NY Sheep and Wool festival. I do so love finding new yarns there. Sadly some months after Rhinebeck the partnership dissolved, so they are no more. I think I held on the yarn because of that. But I am trying to get over it.

I don't think I am an oh no there is no more of this particular yarn kind of person. I have yet to buy yarn because it is being discontinued, but I did put this one off because I wanted it to be used for something special. But then I thought how will I know if I like BFL yarn if I don't use it. I am trying to plan ahead and try some yarns so I will know more of my likes and dislikes so I can make an informed purchases at Rhinebeck and other festivals/stores. I like trying new yarns, but if I can find yarns that really work well for me and I enjoy knitting, I would like to keep them in business too.

You can just make out the bands of coloring at the toes. They have a nice banding of lighter and darker greens. I had a bit of trouble with the yarn, the way I wound it and knit with it added more twist. I had to stop and let it unwind every so often. It is a thinner yarn than most that I am familiar with. I do like a plump bouncy yarn, but with the added twisting I lost bounce.

Well, all's well that ends well and I have a nice new pair of socks. And really what more could a sock knitter ask?

Summitless

Turns out I like a bit of a challenge once in a while. I don't want my knitting to be a source of stress for me but it is nice to know what I can accomplish every once in a while.

Introducing my socks named Summitless. I did not go to Sock Summit so I joined in on Ravelry to knit these. I chose to knit A Good Plain Sock from Knitting Rules. I figured these would give me a fighting chance to finish them. 

I wore them for the first time today. I did not wash or block them first, I never do. Somedays I can barely get the ends sewn in before they are on my feet. I figure they ride around in a plastic bag in my purse and  get knit by my hands, how dirty could they be that they could not go on my feet? I would have a bit more cause for concern if I still lived on the farm, but here? No, I am not worried.

On Saturday after I finished the first sock I cast on the second sock and started to knit when I found my sock had finished in just the right place.

I had cast on, joined and just started to knit when my hands told me something was off in the yarn. You see right where the two strands cross? The upper strand has a one inch-ish area of unspun/oddly spun funkiness. I cut it off and started anew. 

I must admit it was odd to focus on only one project for a few days. I am such a project wanderer. Normally I like working on different things. I find each one fills a certain slot in my brain. Sometimes I like to switch between texture and color. Some times I like to go on auto pilot and others I like to need to think about what I am doing.

I know that I am currently down to two different socks on the needles and that feels really odd. I am feeling a bout of startitis coming on. I also have a hair appointment tomorrow and feel I would be letting them down if I came in with no knitting. 

So what to cast on? Fiber Optic's cashmere blend in lovely soft sage green or Socks That Rock in blacks and reds? Or I could go yarn basket diving and see what else is out there.

Of course I could always knit some on what is on the needles...but what is the fun in that, I know what that looks like.