two knits of ivory

The second half of my Saturday trip to the NHSW festival was spent focusing on spinning supplies, albeit with copious amounts of gratuitous fiber fondling thrown in. Chris gave me guidance on what type of roving to buy and I settled on an 8 ounce bag of natural colored Correidale. Ascribing to the William Morris maxim, " [h]ave nothing in your homes that you do not know to be useful and believe to be beautiful ," I was overjoyed to see Golding Fiber Tools had a booth. When I considered getting a drop spindle, I immediately envisioned buying one of their intricately carved whorls. I found more than one to fall in love with, but easily settled on a hand carved vintage spindle ( #13 ). When no one came promptly to ring up my purchase, I began to rethink the purchase and found myself returning the spindle to it's display. I had been hypnotized into gratifying every whim at the festival up until this point. The extravagance of the purchase finally awoke my slumbering pragmat...

I want to thank everyone for the very sweet comments on both my blog and my sock. My social awkwardness looms large at moments like these. People say nice things and I have the urge to send expansive emails thanking them but I never do. There is a wall between me and the world wide web that I haven't yet learned to traverse. Emotionally, I feel like I know many of you intimately. You let me glimpse your own lives. I read about your good days, your bad days, and the fabulous knitting that happens either way. Intellectually, I feel very distant, as if you are like my favorite TV characters and so I shouldn't bridge the gap with even the minimal human contact of an email. Part of me thinks this is my way as an aspy, but part of me thinks that doesn't cover it. Other bloggers must feel exactly as I do. We are so intimate, yet we are strangers. Some people can befriend strangers easily, others, like me, cannot. I'm living and I'm learning and I'm very thankful for th...

That is when my Knit Picks needle order is slated to arrive and that is when I think I may be done with my La Digitessa socks, which is une belle cause c&#233l&#232bre! My Knit Picks order has been stalled out in Grove City, Ohio since Monday, but my first La Digitessa was finished last night. It was just in time to catch the last rays of sunshine to photograph. In mine eyes she is beautiful. I had thought the criss crossed traveling stitches would make for an intractably stiff stock, but it hasn't.

Knitting Kris called me out on my literary allusion in yesterday's post, and I'm sad to say I have so little memory of the either the Milan Kundera movie or book, The Unbearable Lightness of Being . I devoured a handful of his books a lifetime ago but the melancholy they left in their wake has proven easy to resist. They did survive the great book purge of aught six because I do look forward to reading them again, this time with the lens only age and experience bestows. So long story short, Kris? I can't say with any certainty, but maybe someday I may. :-) Someday. Well, as soon as I stop knitting with all my free time, that is. I must admit, I did not finish my first Digitessa sock. Nope. I'm just on the cusp of done. Today, though, I wanted to confess my binging ways, and with a woot! Over a week ago, I put in some time on my Log Cabin Afghan . I finally decided which direction to go with the color integration, only to be hampered by my needles. This projec...

My Knitpicks package came Tuesday. Our mailman left it on a heap of snow next to our mailbox. I was a little pissed off to see that some snow had adhered to the box and in melting had saturated the cardboard. I was ready to get real pissy, as I all I could think about were the precious books inside being ruined by the moisture. I stuck it in the sink and pried it open and was relieved that everything inside was in perfect condition. Whew! So, what do we have here?! Clara Parkes' Book of Yarn. I had seen this book and consigned it to the novelty category, as far as level of wanting it. However, as soon as found out it was written by Mrs. Knitter's Review , it was immediately converted to must-have status. I'm not a regular over at KR, by any stretch of the imagination, but whenever I wanted some info on a yarn or needles or something, I have found it a fabulous and more importantly, reliable, resource. I expect nothing less from this book. Then there's Cat Bordhi's ...

Once upon a time there were 15 balls of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran in my stash. Abracadabra (aka four months later) now there are four! I had been using classic Clover circulars to knit this up, with a dpn for cabling. That is up until this Sunday when the unrepentant nature of the joins finally made me switch to straights. I haven't used straights in a long, long while. My recent conversion to toe up socks has resulted in an unexpected conversion to using Addi Turbo's which in turn has spoiled me for my Clover circulars. I'm still not fond of the metal but I looooove the placid joins, so much so I've lost all patience with the obstinacy of my Clovers'. This project has definitely become a slogalong, but not a bad one. No. The yarn's texture is akin to Malabrigo so it remains a distinct pleasure to knit. It's just the unending length and absence of visible progress that saps my interest. I thrive on visible progress. Who doesn't? I'm convinced that'...

I finished my Seal Rock Socks last Thursday and they are gorgeous. I haven't really worn them other than to model them in the frozen sun Saturday morning, but I'm looking forward to it. Atreyu, my Australian Shepherd, was kind enough to inspect the bridge before I crossed it to stage my socks. Isn't he handsome? Ripley gets all the photos here b/c he's the one who needs my woolen expertise, but Atreyu is the beauty of our canine family. Between our two remaining felines it's a toss up. Grissom is the king of the castle and Hunter is our scaredy cat. My socks? Not so cute, but there is something about them... I finished the first sock using a tubular cast off. I went back to Montse Stanley's Knitter's Handbook and using her advice I put the stitches on two needles and kitchenered them together. It worked like a charm. A week later, and about 10 stitches in on the second sock, the technique lost it's appeal. I decided to frog back on both socks and jus...

I have bloggers block. I have all these things to say, but the post I wrote to post today disappeared and I can't seem to focus on all the zillion things I want to write about. So let me break it down. That should help. Yarn. As I mentioned earlier I did buy more yarn. But this is gift yarn so it doesn't count right? I only managed to take pics of two of the three skeins of this Araucania I picked up Saturday afternoon at Wild and Woolly. I have never knit with this yarn before but it came in colors I thought perfect for it's recipients. It's also a gift-friendly 75% superwash wool/25% polymid blend. I'm already about 25% into the first sock but I don't have pics so I'll wait on this. So next up? Lime and Blue Malabrigo. I cast on this yarn Saturday morning and whipped up a replacement sweater for Ripley by night's end. Isn't he handsome? You'd think we were holding his kibble hostage with that latter mugshot, eh? As expected, the Malabrigo was a...

I have the best sister ever and I know so because this is what I got to open on Christmas morning: Yessireebob, that thar is four (FOUR!) skeins of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that friggin' Rock . Like the ingrate that I can be, I was a bit disappointed in the Downpour colorway. I even blamed BMFA for sending her the wrong colorway. But we have email proof that I myself picked out that dull, rainy day skein. I don't know what I was thinking. When you see the little circle, with all the color strands represented, I kinda, maybe, sorta can see what intrigued me, but with that colorway looking just like the dreary woods outside my dining room window, I'm thinking it may take the red hot heat of summer to kindle any desire to knit with it. I apologized up and down for the poop I was about it. It's in my nature to say exactly how I feel. Though I totally know how awfully rude that is to the gift giver, I just wasn't in control of that all important facility known...

What I was afraid would happen did. I purchased two sets of size US0, US1, and US2 KA circular bamboo needles at Now and Zen Yarns on Long Island this summer. On Thursday night I confirmed two of the three sets are worthless. Worthless. The size 0 and 2's metal connectors snag anything that crosses their path. I've known about the size 2s for a while, but I've never had an occasion to try out the size 0s until last night. I had planned to begin La Digitessa socks on the plane but I had a feeling I'd have to deal with snagging so I decided to cast on the toes before travelling in case I had any problems. This is not something I wanted to deal with at 30,000 feet. My hunch was on the mark. What do people do when they buy defective needles? It's not like I can return them to the store, I wont be down in that area until next summer at the earliest. A helpful booth owner at Rhinebeck implored me to contact the manufacturer directly, but I think I'm too lazy for that...

I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not but my husband and I scoured Rhinebeck for sock blockers. All we found were vendors selling the teal colored poly variety. I was a bit dejected, but only for a spell since the money set aside for the blockers was soon diverted to a yarn purchase. :-P. It was only natural that I would have to succumb to the dreaded Internet to find the polished oak type I covet. After seeing countless blog references I headed over to the site of reputed ebay vendor, Chappywoman, and picked up a pair. They came in the mail Saturday and they are quite lovely. It would be easy to make these haphazardly and sell them but the Chappys do a beautiful job. They are as perfect as you would hope them to be. The vendor even snuck in a little bit of swag in the way of this pretty little stitch holder.

I can't believe how addicted I am to the Firestarter pattern. Before I knew it I cast on for a second pair Saturday using the Madelinetosh Sock yarn I had stashed for the Last Minute Knitted Gifts Chevron Scarf. I've never used this yarn before and did not anticipate it being designed to have the pinks and greens pool separately, with the the evergreen and lime striping as they pool. So before I had knit enough rows to see the pattern emerge I tried to nip it in the bud with some stitch increases, three on each side of the sock. After about 15 or so rows it was obvious the pooling was intended, so I frogged back to remove the increases. I can't help myself, I just have to brag that I haven't looked at the pattern once since starting this second pair. On the other hand maybe I shoud be embarrased at the pattern details being burnt into my memory as it is a testament to how much diffulty I had the first time around. La! Either way, I'm enjoying knitting this soc...

We had beautiful, if unseasonably warm, weather for our trip west to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY. Although it didn't start out as well as it finished. When we left our house around 5:15 am it was very dark, 60 degrees, and muggy. Bleh. Hubby was understanding and let me knit by car light until the sun came up. We were deeply rewarded when in full sun we could see the blaring fall visage of the Berkshires. I forget, from lack of travelling, how fabulous the view is from the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90). The mountains sported every vibrant, fall shade imaginable, moss green, yellow cab yellow, fiery red, and a panoply of every hue in between. The Taconic Expressway in New York was as beautiful, if not moreso, since the woods and rolling hills were much closer and gave us a far more intimate view than the Turnpike. Even with one missed turn, we made it to my Aunt's house by 8:00 am. Her favorite pastime is rug hooking. She's really good. She won a r...

Months back I lamented the state of my circular needles: Even with the good advice that commentors left I was reluctant to make a decision on which system to invest in. On the one hand there was the cost of investing in a system and on the other hand there was the fear I'd invest in a system I was going to detest. You see I lack the skill to know what I actually like. I am notorious for going all out on an organizational scheme only to hate it because it is inefficient or inaccessible or something or other. Then I'd have to spend another small fortune on a wholly different organizational scheme. So a few weeks ago when I was binge spending I made a wise decision to utilize my loss of inhibition to buy something useful. I bought circ holders and lots of them. You know there's nothing more disappointing about an organization project than not having enough of whatever you need to finish the job. So waiting until I was all about throwing caution to the wind and buying more tha...