two knits of ivory

If my latest project were a body part, it would be Jazz Hands . (That's directly from the creative loin of my muse. What the fuck does that mean? And is she right? LOL.) I finished the German Fish socks yesterday and by last night I had given birth to these new socks. The yarn is Wollmeise. Oh, yes kiddies. The one, the only (colorways Kurbis and Schwarz), the no longer selling for $90 so I can feel safe to use it, Wollmeise. I lost hours of sleep stashing this yarn. It was the beginning of the end in the aught-not madness, very much like Tulip Mania , but with less men. You know I sometimes wonder how many indie dyer's reputations and businesses were built on the toxic assets of the aughts. (I totally have a little person complex , so forgive my haughtiness in advance.) I am perversely proud my husband and I kept sane when it seemed the whole world was refinancing their house, or flipping houses, in order to make fast cash that was turned into tropical is...

So, how are you darlings? I'm fine; even very well, thank you. I had some splendiferous knitting time this weekend, turning a knitting frown upside down. (I love that original corny saying!) A couple of weeks ago I broke down and splurged on a tub of Cascade 220 (mostly heathers ). I felt an instant, but short-lived relief. On it's heels came the compulsion to begin knitting the yarn fair isle. It ran so hot, I wound a few balls at work during my down time. I was possessed and it wasn't entirely pleasant. In under 48 hours I had picked out a color chart I like, chose my palette and began knitting something. Will it be a swatch? Or an afghan panel? Or a Sweater? All I know is that whatever it is, I'm not knitting on it now. The palette I chose is a mirror of the German Fish Socks and it wasn't long before my jagged passion bled out of me like the pulp of a crushed grape. Pffft...blech. The pattern I chose is Eunny Jang's Ivy League V...

For the lovely German Fish socks I am working on I am using some fine, but sturdy, coarse 75% wool/25% nylon yarn from a German dyer, Tausendschön . I got this and two other colorways from a rav trade a year or so ago. I loved the colors, but wasn't particularly impressed with the texture. The German Socks natural base color is a fingering weight yarn of the same material mix from (gasp!!!) Red Heart, called Red Heart & Sole. It's got aloe in it. LOL. But red heart? Oh yes, my stranded fascination knows NO bounds. I had to start another stranded project, and it had to be the fish pattern, and I had no other base yarn. I never rav'd this yarn, so it was by accident I found it hidden in my yarn scrap bin when I went scrounging there in desperation. Really, I feel no shame knitting with Red Heart. A year or two ago that may have been the case, but no more. I mean I love my Sundara socks, but they are knit at a gauge (maybe 6 or 7 stitches to the inch) ...

Finding I have acquired the patience, the quieted soul, the inner peace, the karma, the whateverthefuck it is that I have now that allows me to really enjoy stranded knitting is an extraordinary milestone. I love knitting stranded so much, I'm enjoying knitting these socks on size US 0/2.00mm needles. Oh, yes, this is a vibrant infatuation. Infatuation? Or real abiding love? Only hindsight will confirm. But I'm so enjoying this knitting. LOL As if I really needed another reason to stash sock yarn. As if I really needed to get the new Knit Picks catalog with all of their cheap, rainbow colored yarns begging me to knit a fair isle sampler afghan. I'm still holding out. But it won't be for long. Their yarn is cheap. And colorful. And I have Alice Starmore's fair isle book . The future is bright!

We interrupt your normal broadcast to opine on some crazeh. Sundara Sock, Wood Studies #? Now, I don't know about you, but I am prone to outlandish thoughts. (I used to berate myself on this tendency, feeling it a necessary postmortem. I embrace it now, letting my fancy go where it may and then marveling at its produce). For reasons I won't bore you with, my mind always assumes the worst, fulling the details where needed. Ever since I invested in my second Elizabeth Zimmerman book and saw the same biological material reiterated alongside just one pearl of her wisdom I was after, only to find I needed another one of her books to get another one of her pearls of wisdom, and pay for another iteration of her "I am a knitting heretic" biography, well, I've grown a little bit ornery towards the old dame. Oh, yes, I thought the biographical material was fabulous. The first time. But the second and third and fourth time, I felt violated by an unctuous ...

Hypocriping - the act of discussing a state of being as a constant, because it is, only to be overtaken, as a constant, by the opposite state once the state of being is consciously considered. Now that I got that crazeh out of my brain, lemme get to the point. Yummeh yummeh yummeh. What a difference a week makes. For a few weeks now I've been cleaning up my knitting. I've reorganized my yarn and gone through my works in progress. This mojo started to coalesce right about the time I wrote my last entry about how I wasn't knitting that much. Shortly after that was written I kicked the pernicious Facebook gaming habit that developed over the heat wave last summer. (Yes. It was that addictive!) My knitting ennui all but disappeared when I took up stranded sock knitting last week. Now all I can think about is stranded knitting and buying more yarn for stranded knitting projects. As the tendency to hypocripe is strong in me, I've got the irrepressibl...

The congealed mess that is my mind and craft desires sieving. Can sieving be a verb? It can . It says so much more than sift. Sift is for feathery, weightless, white powder flour. Sieved feels more appropriate for the act of clarifying the chunky monkey that is my congealessence. Don't forget to breathe, the latter is not a word. I'm not knitting during the week anymore. Or barely. I don't have the time and I mourn it's absence. I finished the little project I started a week ago Sunday: It's a flat swatch of the in-the-round Rivendell pattern by Susan Pandorf (rav link has better pics). The top half has some mods. I tried out a few borders, starting with five stitches of moss, and ending with two six-stitch cable variations. It is a gloriously architectural pattern. Aptly named. I bought the yarn specifically for this project, which I envisioned being a large, wide, rectangular scarf rather than the cowl of the original pattern. This was t...

Yesterday afternoon I bought yarn, came home, organized it and some other yarn I purchased over the last month, bagged it, caked some of it, and finally took a moment's rest on the couch. Five hours later I woke up. Surprisingly, I wasn't too cranky. Really. Not too cranky. It was a small miracle. Hubby went upstairs early to bed, taking the animals with him, giving me space and time to commune with my knitting in a way that has not happened in a good long time. My knitting life is backed up. It needs to be aired. Without momentum it's devolving into a congealed mess, a failed alchemical trial that is clogging my subconscious, caking up the gears of my existence. I wish this wasn't just 10 to 25 per cent hyperbole. One mystery has finally been solved. Eight billion left. Lemme share this one, as it may effect some knitters. I purchased seven skeins of some beautiful limited edition sock yarn (Storm Studies #35) from Sundara a couple of weeks ago and...

I'm behind. Behind. Waaayyyy behind. S'okay. Right? I'm an adult and there is no one but me to berate myself. Lol. My photos suck. My knitting slow. Who am I letting down? Me. Why? Why? Elena got her socks in time. Score one for the home team. Why is this a competition?

It's December 23rd and I know where my happiness is. I've got 178 days to the longest day of the year and the beginning of the heat. Yeehaw! The sky was pretty gray this morning as I walked the dogs and cat. Yet it was awesome not wearing socks and needing only a light jacket. I look forward to this time of year when the days start to get longer and the ground freezes so that the animals don't track in muck. Oh, here's to the simple pleasures in life: a little less muck. Malabrigo Worsted in the Applewood Colorway It won't be long until I'm despairing the lack of vibrancy and color in the outside world. Until then I will extol the freedoms that winter brings: Remarkably less feelings of guilt while sitting indoors watching movies/knitting/playing video games. The 45 minutes it now takes to blow my hair out will be wasted 5%, rather than 95% of the time. Woolly socks and sweaters every day if I want! Yeah! And Christmas. It's almost Chri...

(Me and the swift and winder aren't on the best of terms.) Several variables of the Evenstar project have fallen effortlessly (cough, cough) into place. One of these is the yarn I have chosen to use, Madelinetosh's Pashmina . Pashmina is a fingering weight yarn in an intoxicating concoction of 75% superwash wool, 15% silk, and 10% cashmere. I am using the Filigree colorway. How I became the owner of six skeins of this yarn is a tale as old as Christmas. I purchased a crapload of Pashmina from Kaleidescope Yarns - the most excessive being three skeins of the Filigree - on September 5, 2010. On September 11 I began an Ishbel with a skein of the Filigree and became so intoxicated with the yarn and the colorway I was moved to buy the three remaining skeins they had in this colorway. Now was three all they had left? I think so, but my memory is shit. I just remember thinking that I had to have enough of this yarn and 1080 yards wasn't enough. Not enough. 2160...