Something for the Knitting Bag!

The Wallaby is under way. After all those socks, that yarn feels so soft and chunky! Auden promises it is soft enough for her. We shall see. I think I'll like knitting it, anyway. No seams. Lots of pink.

Off to my college reunion tomorrow, I think I'm only taking the socks for the car. Not ready to sit around knitting *at* reunion events yet.

More stash

This is probably when I need to know how to tone pictures. This is such a hard-to-describe color. It is definitely more purply in person.

I feel like I should make something with this yarn! But is it better to find a project I love, and not worry if it fits the yarn I have? At least for a first project for me?

In the meantime, I think I'll cast on the Wallaby.

Project Musings

Auden wants a pink hooded sweater. (Actually she wants gold or silver, but she'll settle for pink.) I'm thinking of resurrecting the Wonderful Wallaby idea with the Debbie Bliss Merino. If Auden approves. Of course then I'm worried that I'll make the whole thing and it will be too "fratchy" again like the ill-fated poncho of last year. I guess that's what smaller cousins are for.

I want to make something for me!!!

Bag Redux

This is the bag I ended up with. The Vera bag, narrower, actually slightly taller, no zipper. After much agonizing, I decided the pros of this one (I will use it often, NOW) outweighed the hypothetical pros of the other one (will be good when I do a big project) and even the non-hypothetical pros of the other one (would have zip closed for airplane trips.)

I am feeling good about this one, and I am done deciding! And if it looks worse to you, keep in mind these pictures are no longer taken by a professional.

I'm sure I don't know where THAT came from ...

A little more stash ... I couldn't resist the price. I actually like this color; I once had a sweater much like it. But I didn't get enough to make something for me, I don't think.
Herrschner's sent me 10 balls from one dye lot and two from another. Kind of annoying. I wonder if that's typical for them.

Anyway, for the record:

Debbie Bliss Merino Aran
100 percent Merino
Color: Violet
18 sts/10 cm (US 8)
1020 yards (12 50 g skeins)

Testing My Mother's Day Present (or: Why My Blog Will Look Less Pretty from Now On)

So not only did my husband get me a Beautiful Knitting Bag for my birthday, he got me a digital camera for Mother's Day, which happened to be the very next day. So now I can post whenever I want! And the pictures will no longer be beautifully lit and professionally composed. He wants me to tone them, but that seems like a lot of work. (Is it?) I'll have to see how bad they look.

It's the tiniest camera ever. It freaks me out. I wasn't quite ready for the digital age, but I did want to post on my blog. He is the Best Husband Ever.

This sock is for him. Regia wool, again, same basic pattern. I changed it to a 5-3 rib, which I like. I don't really like the smaller rib cuff. Next sock will be different. (Well, not the very next one, that should be the same. But the one after that.)

And I need to figure out my summer projects! I want to do something in Fair Isle, so I don't forget how -- I think the Mushroom Hat from Homespun, Handknit. And then something big, to put in my big knitting bag and carry around with me. Something for me maybe? Or not.

What I Got for My Birthday

It's very very beautiful. I love it! It's far more beautiful than anything I would have gotten for myself. It's a Vera Bradley "Miller" bag, from my loving husband. My only concern: is it too big? You can't really tell in this picture, but when I am holding it, it is really quite big. 24" across, to be specific.

I looked at some other Vera Bradley bags in the store today (my loving husband took the children to the circus! without me! Happy Mother's Day!!!) and there is a tote that I like a lot, but has a toggle instead of a zipper, and then the diaper bag (or Baby Bag) which has a zipper and is just about the right amount smaller.

Decisions, decisions.

Two Socks Are Better Than One

Yay! A pair of socks. They're so comfortable! I don't know why that surprises me so much. I love them. Now I need to start a new project before my parents get here (Wednesday) and I can't get to the yarn stash (in the guestroom.)

Oh and ...


HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATHY!!!!!!

My Stash

Louisa Harding Kimono Angora
70 percent Angora, 25 percent wool, 5 percent n ylon
Color: Blue/purple/teal (2) Dye lot 851
375 yards (3 25g skeins)

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky
55 percent Merino, 33 percent microfiber, 12 percent cashmere (maybe!)
12sts/10 cm (US11.5)

Color: 16019
300m (4 100g skeins)

Color: 16003
300m (4 100g skeins)

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino chunky
55 percent Merino, 33 percent microfiber, 12 percent cashmere (maybe!)
14 sts/10 cm (10.5)

Color: 17005 - bright pink (dye lot 992)
260m (4 50g skeins)

Color: 17004 - pale pink (dye lot 994)
130m (2 50 g skeins)

Lana Grossa Royal Tweed
100 percent Merino
Color: Dusky Blue (10)
14 sts/10cm (US5-6)
500 m (5 50g skeins)

Jaeger Luxury Tweed
65 percent Merino
35 percent Alpaca
Color: Cardoon, a dark heathery purple (828)
21-23 sts/10cm (US6)
1800 yards (9 50g skeins)

Debbie Bliss Wool/Cotton
50 percent Merino
50 Percent Cotton
25sts/10 cm (US3)

Color: Charcoal (507)
920 meters (8 50g skeins)

Color: Orange/apricot (105)
575 meters (5 50g skeins)

Sophia by Tivoli Spinners
cotton/nylon/mohair/acrylic
Color: burgundy (774)
900 meters (10 50g skeins)

Debbie Bliss Merino Aran
100 percent Merino
18 sts/10 cm (US 8)

Color: Blue (701)
1368 yards (18 50 g skeins)

Color: Violet
200-plus yards (2.5 50 g skeins)

Sock Yarn:

Cherry Tree Hill Supersock
100 percent superwash merino fingering weight
420 yards/4 oz
Color: Winterberry

Lang Jawoll Color Superwash
75 percent wool, 18 percent nylon, 7 percent acrylic

Color: 0107 gray, white, blue
760 meters (4 45g skeins)

Color: 0067 red, multicolors
760 meters (4 45g skeins)

Wildfoote Luxury Sock Yarn
75 percent washable wool, 25 percent nylon
2 50g skeins (approx 430 yds)
Color: Vanilla (10)
Dyelot: 036
Purchased April 2007
Plan: Socks for Mom.

Regia 4 ply wool
75 percent wool, 25 percent nylon

Color: 5033 "Lampion" multicolored (dye lot 44135)
2 50g skeins (420m)

Color: 5160 "jeans" Norwegian stripes(dye lot 44133)
2 50g skeins (420m)

Color: 5159 gray and white Norwegian stripes (dye lot 31942)
2 50g skeins (420m)

Color: 5379 "Multi Effect" (dye lot 36876)
2 50g skeins (420m)

Color: Self-striping 5219 (dye lot 44148)

Look Ma, Two Hands!

Here is the lovely headband I made in my Fair Isle knitting workshop yesterday, courtesy of Lynne Sherwood and the Rochester Knitting Guild. OK, the headband itself is questionable, due to some iffy color choices (not sure I have any affection for "Snickerdoodle") and some highly suspect casting-on, but ... I learned how to do Fair Isle! With two hands! I'm very excited about this.

Knitting with my left hand was not *nearly* as terrifying as I had feared, in fact it seems almost intuitive, though my fingers were very tired afterward. And Fair Isle itself ... do-able, though it will clearly take me lots of practice to get the wrapping down and figure out how not to get all tangled up.

I'm inspired to try, though. I think I'll start with a hat. Steeks still terrify me; I don't think I'll go there for a long while.

Yarn: KnitPicks Wool of the Andes
Needles: Inox Express US6 (16")

This is the Stash a Skein Built

My sock yarn stash. Entirely acquired in the past two weeks. The front row is the cotton blend yarn that came in the mail today from Little Knits. The rest is from my local yarn store, where it was on clearance ($3 a skein! How could I not?), except for the skein at the top right, which is from eBay, because I thought I needed it to finish the first pair of socks I started (see below). That's what started the whole sock yarn shopping spree in the first place ... only it turned out in the end that I already had the skein I needed. Oh well.

There will be many socks in my future. Someday I may even try another brand.

Auden's Rainbow Socks

Wool socks, just in time for summer.

Pattern: Classic Socks from Yankee Knitter Designs
Yarn: Regia Ringel, 1 skein
Needles: Clover Bamboo #2

(Those toes look awfully pointy, don't they!)

First Sock (Singular), April 2006

Pattern: Classic Socks from Yankee Knitter Designs
Yarn: Regia Mini Ringel
Needles: Clover Bamboo #2

Auden's Super-Soft Heart Sweater, Spring 2006

Pattern: The Simple Sweater from Jo Sharp Family
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Denim Aran (heart in Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille)

Baby Sweater, 2006

First Intarsia!

Pattern: Mickey from Rowan's Pipsqueaks, by Kim Hargreaves
Yarn: Stork by Dale of Norway

Eli's Hobbit Sweater, January 2006

Pattern: Fletcher from Rown's Pipsqueaks by Kim Hargreaves
Yarn: All Seasons Cotton

Eli's Vest

Pattern: Billie, from Rowan's Pipsqueaks by Kim Hargreaves
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed

Auden's Sweater, January 2004

Pattern: Haiku, from Knitty.com
Yarn: Mission Falls Cotton

First Sweater, October 2003

Pattern: Easy Bulky Sweater from Yankee Knitter Designs
Yarn: Sirdar Stampata, Super Chunky