Extravayarnza

I have a new design that I'm so excited to share with everyone.

The pattern is available free to members of the Six Sox Knitalong.
Please go check out their website, they are a great group of knitters.

I got a pretty good response for the Handspun Sock Yarn Swap so I've set up a blog & sign ups will begin in the next few days!
Go check out site~

The swap date for the Funky Scarf Swap is coming up next week, so Saturday on the way to the Tigers game I made myself focus & finish a scarf.

I used Solo from OnLine. This is one of the wide ribbon scarves that ruffles when you knit it. My big twist was I knit 2 rows with red then 2 rows with brown. Very simple, very effective, very funky!

I cast on 5 stitches, knit in garter, carried the colors up the side (they actually form a spiral around the scarf) & it only took one ball of each color.

My pal said she like Georgia O'Keefe's Poppy, & in real life the colors of the scarf evoke the colors of the painting. Now I'm all excited to send it out & see if she likes it~

My camera & I are having some issues being in the same place at the same time, so please forgive the continued lack of new pictures...

Gosh, all you Six Sox knitalongers cleaned out my sock yarn!

So, I spent the evening rewinding a bunch of my new 100% merino sock yarn... Putting the finishing touches on the superwash merino roving I dyed this weekend.... and hanking up over 6 pounds!!! of my Amber sock yarn.

I plan to dye the Amber sock yarn tomorrow evening & if any of you have any requests from my past colorways I'd be happy to dye them up for you.

Do any of the rest of you find the end of "Quest for the Holy Grail" funny but slightly anti-climatic?
I was quite appalled to see that there is a new 3-disk special edition coming out when I got the 2-disk special edition just a couple years ago...
Okay off to watch Legos sing Knights of the Round Table...


The new Merino Sock yarn and the roving should be up in the shop tomorrow afternoon barring any technical difficulties.

I've made a big update over at my shop.

You can now find Superwash Merino Roving

My new 100% Merino wool Sock Yarn

And a limited time colorway  of 'A Good Sock'

Please click on the big Orange button to the right to go to the shop!

Okay, My camera drama continues today with dead batteries....
So please use your imagination, or pop over to the shop (orange button on right) to see what the last dyelot looked like. I got way closer to the  last dyelots than I expected!

First up, I mentioned in my Iris Garden sock pattern than one of the colors was similar to my 'A Good Sock' yarn, but wasn't dyed by me. It was from the dye-o-rama swap & my pal dyed it on a machine knit blank in a workshop.
So, if devised a new way of skeining my yarn to get super long repeats and dyed up some super striping yarn in the color of my sample sock.
I'm calling this color 'Iris Garden' & I'll post a photo asap.
As far as my Amber sock yarn goes I think I covered all the colors you asked for...
I now  have Amber, Petunia, Brick, and Rainbow in stock.

Check the second half of this post for my SP9 questionnaire if you want to see the answers to the surprisingly probing questions...

So, I have been knitting while attempting to keep up with my life right now...

It is officially October, and that means...

For Socktoberfest my goal is to cast-on no new socks! Yes really, I have a stack of single socks all needing mates. So I'm currently working on the second Argyle, the second High Seas sock, and the second poor neglected teaching sock.
Little X-mas Rock was begun as my sock that I knit along as I teach magic loop socks. I used a cute knit/purl pattern on the leg that usually mixes hand dyed yarns into a beautiful sock. Unfortunately with the X-mas Rock it just looks muddy & I had no motivation to work on sock #2...
Until last week when it came time to teach the class again. Then came the big decision, knit a matching muddy sock or knit a simple stockinette sock &  call them second cousins...

I think you can see which won the battle.
I also have been quite frustrated on the Mitten Swap front. I tried 3 different yarns &  patterns before I finally found one that will work. My big problem is that I found a yarn & a pattern I liked, but they didn't like each other. Just a hint to all of you, I love Silky Wool & have knit 2 sweaters in it, but it doesn't rib well enough to make the cuff of a mitten... trust me.
I decided to nix the yarn, keep the pattern, found a new yarn, cast-on, rip, cast-on with smaller needles & I have the beginnings of a happy mitten!

My pal likes black, green, and orange (and if she's reading this now she probably just figured out who's knitting for her...) that was a tall order. I settled on Louet Gems Pearl in black & my merino sock yarn in Peacock. That will give her black, green, orange, blue, & purple mittens. I'm knitting the cuff & the background on the hand in the black & doing the patterning with the peacock.
The pattern is from that nifty mitten book "knit mittens!" (the one that's cut to look like a mitten).

I also finished the first cashmere thrummed mitten a few days ago...

That fluff is pure cashmere. I cannot describe how good these feel to wear and keep this blog rated PG. Just trust me, you need a pair.

Okay, I think I'm going to leave it off there right now except to say that the yarn I dyed Tuesday is now up in the shop.
A Good Yarn in the Iris Garden colorway (almost sold out already!)
and Amber in Dahlia, Brick, Rainbow, and Petunia.

My box of roving is now traveling onto it's new home. I had a bit of a time getting the roving just right. My first attempt was to dye 'watermelon' roving; red & pink with spots of black & green. It looked fantastic when wet, blah when dry. So I finally decided to overdye the whole think with a deep purple. Gosh, I think it's the best roving I've dyed! There is a neat rose color at the very center of the roving that I think will blend in when spun and give the yarn a nice glow.

There is 6oz of Blue Face Leicester (extra roving for a very cool pattern). I sure hope my pal likes it!

Well first I just have to shout, The Tigers won the Division Series!!!
They didn't just win, they beat the big bad Yankees. More like they creamed them, completely shut them down. The Tigers are just a great team with lots of class. They hosted Leland up on their shoulders & brought the Champagne celebration out to the field to share with the crowd.
I celebrated by doing two things:
First I went out & got myself a Tigers Jersey (it looks like it might get quite a bit of wear during playoffs)

Second I watched the Red Wings get their first win this season. I realized that I might have a chance of getting Wings tickets this early in the season & hit the jackpot! I have a ticket (yes just one...) for a February game sitting 7th row center just behind the box! I've been trying to get Red Wings ticket for 7 years now with no success. I almost got playoff tickets once, but they won the series one game too soon. This season I might actually see them twice. My mum can occasionally get tickets through her work & we think she got her name in in time.  Yippee!

This all came in a day that started just wrong. We lost power & my alarm clock reset. I only made it into work because my cat Trent was really persistent in waking me up (he went so far as actually pulling my blanket off me.)

This funk was turned around when my postman noticed several blocks after he delivered our mail that I had a box (an actual brown paper box in fact). He came back to deliver the box. My usual postman acts like I'm asking the world of him if I so much as give him a letter to mail (he never delivers us mail on Saturday even). This guy rocked.

So, I have a big Thank You to Tawana

She was my pal in the Spinning Roving Swap. I was totally spoiled!

She sent 8oz of Sock Hop roving from Crown Mountain Farm in Twist & Shout, a skein of STR in Red Rock Canyon (a color we don't have at the store so big kudos there), and some yummy white roving.

I made lots of progress on my mitten swap mittens during the Tigers games this weekend. I get so nervous that I have to knit, it's impossible to just sit there and watch.

The first mitten is now done & the second one is started. The first pic is the top of the mitten & the second one is the inside cause I know you all want to see it.

I was a bit to defeated yesterday to put up a post. I was moving merrily along on my second colorwork mitten & realized that I was knitting a second right mitten! Then I walked off to calm down a bit, came back and knit 5 more rounds before I remembered I needed to frog back to the ribbing.
Sigh...
I made up the time though~

I did take some lovely pictures on Sunday that I didn't get a chance to share with you, a rare piece of Michigan blue sky peaking through the last of the Fuchsias.

And a big surprise for me. Three years ago I put down seeds for Blue Morning Glories, Mixed Morning Glories, and Moon flowers. The Morning Glories all came up & have reseeded themselves each year, but those Moon Flowers never showed up. You can imagine my surprise that 3 years since those seeds went in the moon flowers finally arrived.

Normally I love winter. I look forward to curling up in all my favorite sweater & socks. Sipping hot cocoa while wishing we had a fire place. Waking up and seeing everything all perfect & white. Watching my favorite sport, Hockey. (better yet playing hockey, but that hasn't happened in a few years...) The winter means working a few weeks at the Wharton center meeting all sorts of interesting people & seeing some fantastic plays. I don't even mind the cold that bad. My theory is  that when it's cold I can do something to make myself very warm, but when it's hot I can't exactly go stripping off everything to cool myself off. Hot & humid just makes me miserable.
However, Michigan has a special type of winter day that does just make me depressed. It's called gray. Gray skies, light never  reaching above a dim haze, if we had snow it would all be driven over & gray. Just basically nothing to inspire, nothing to wake you up & get you moving. Today is like that. In fact we're expecting it to snow the next two days. Yes you read that right, snow the first week (okay second week) of October!
So, I'm a bit of a mood... My heel spur is acting up in my left foot so I'm in pain when I walk. My household was hit with a wicked stomach flu & although I may have been spared, my stomach has been upset since yesterday morning & seems to getting worse. Plus add in that weather.
Sigh.
I can't just bitch at all of you though, good things have happened to. The Tigers killed the A's in their first playoff game. I got a swap package from England! I finished spinning up some sock yarn. & sign ups are going well for the swap I'm hostessing~

Thanks Alison (you didn't leave me an email address or a website so I hope you stop by to see that they made it here find) I love the Jo Sharp yarn!

I spun up another hank of my superwash merino roving, this time in the Weber colorway. My last batch was just over 300 yards & I really want a true sock weight, so here's round two.

4oz & 415 yards! That makes me happy. I'll have to measure WPI & get a better pic (no sun what-so-ever at 2 in the afternoon....) after I finishing setting the twist.
Before any of you ask me, no I don't spin a balanced sock yarn. I quite on purpose do not. I'm with Eunny attempting to make something a bit like Koigu. I spin a softer single & then  ply it really tight. Before setting the twist my yarn looks a bit like this~

But it's nice a straight after a soak & some drying with a weight holding the hank tight.

Just a  quick reminder, it's not to late to get in on my Hand spun Sock Yarn Swap!

Hello from Michigan, if you hadn't gleaned from other blogs yet, we got snow today. Not just the usual early season light flurries (early season as in like 3 weeks from now), no we got serious accumulating snow. I took pictures all day, but  this one from when I came home really took the cake~

Snow October 12, 2006

To add to the freaked out first snow driving (apparently Michiganders forget how to drive in snow over the few snow free months we have each summer), there was some loose wire that caused random power-outages all over East Lansing & all the traffic lights were out in the worst engineered group of intersections in town. I (and most of my customer this morning) almost got hit attempting to time the 4 lanes of cross traffic stopping at the same time at the sign so myself on my little one lane road could floor it and pray I make it across. Apparently they didn't realize that the fact that they had a stop sign not only meant that they needed to sort of slow down before blowing through the intersection, it meant that I should get a turn to cross too.

I did get my first pair of Socktober Socks finished. My tactic for socktober is to only knit second socks, I can't start any new pairs.

FO #1 Your brother is your uncle socks.

These socks have a tangled genetic history you don't want to even start to untangle.

Yarn: Socks That Rock Light~ X-mas Rock

Needles: size 1 CPY 26" circular, magic loop method (these were my socks I knit along with my magic loop class)

Sock 1: Railroad rib (from Vintage Socks), short row heel v2.0, short row toe, 1/2" too long

Sock 2: stockinette, short row heel v4.0, swirl toe, correct length, but I didn't do enough rows of the heel & it's a bit snug over the instep

Result, they fit well enough that they will get worn. This colorway has too much contrast to look good in a pattern with lots of purls, they just muddy down the color. I like sock 2 better all around. I learned some new tricks for short row heels & if I hadn't stopped so soon it would fit fine.

Sock Lineup:

My next two socks to be worked on are the second Here Be Dragons socks out of BMFA Sock Candy~

The other sock is the second High Seas sock in my Romeo & Juliknit colorway~

I hope to add at least these 3 pairs of socks into the winter rotation if not a few others before the end of the month.

The dangerous thing though is that finishing socks means emptying needles. An empty sock needle is a very tempting thing.

FO #2

My mitten swap mittens are now finished. I wish I could keep them.

I did find the most amazing mitten pattern today. I'm talking with the designer & I hope to have these in the store soon...

Check out the Fiber Fish!

They really don't get any cuter than that! I'm down scaling the pattern a bit & knitting these for my cousins kids. The oldest is around 5. I think they will go nuts over fish mittens.

I already cast-on for the first one (cause if I don't use that size 1 circular socks will be cast-on)

My big change is that I'm starting with 4 mitered squares instead of 5 & making the numbers work to scale from there. So far I'm finding the pattern well written & a great design.

Most of my first socks were unlucky enough to be 'only children' I was so excited that after one sock I just wanted to go on and try something new. I also knit a lot of samples for both my yarn & for the store . Samples only need to be a single sock. The plan was to knit a second one whenever I decided the sock didn't need to be displayed any longer. (I thought ahead enough to set aside enough yarn in my stash to knit that second sock)
I found 2 socks in my collection that the yarn is no longer in the shop so it's time to knit up a partner. Today I pulled out a sock I treasured when knitting the first one, made lots of mistakes in the knitting, cried when shortly after finishing it I found out I could no longer get the base yarn that I had been dyeing, then buried in some pile to be lost for several years.
I want to introduce you to my lovely alpaca sock. I was really worried about it wearing out so I doubled the yarn in the heel & toes. This made the toes really uncomfortable so they had to go!

Then when I started knitting the toes again I remembered that last year we had used a bit of this yarn to knit a Barbie poncho (don't judge!) & somehow the outside of the ball got lots of little  cuts in it. So after I found 4 or 5 less than 2 yard pieces I pulled out my progress & started over from the inside...

In the end I fudged a 3 part swirl toe & started the second sock before I forgot how many stitches I had on the first one.

BTW: alpaca sock yarn on rosewood double points is very very slippery! My stitches kept popping off the end of the needles & the needles completely falling off in my knitting bag. I rediscovered a toy my mom got in a vintage needle auction on ebay. At the time we had no idea what this needle case with a hole in it is for, then luckily Stephanie (Yarn Harlot) enlightened us all when she received one of these sock in progress cases. It's just what I needed for this project!

I also got a very cool package today, My funky Scarf~

Trent insisted on helping photograph it.

I totally love the scarf. I wore it all day (due to the single pane windows that give no insulation at the shop & early snow). The colors are perfect, The yarn is super soft, (the chocolate was yummy & long gone), and I totally love Lucy Neatby scarf patterns (which I think this is).

The only thing is, Funkier Scarfimus, who are you? There was no note in the box. I'm sending you a big Thank You anyways & I hope you clue me into your identity.

My swap host for SP9 posted an extra set of questions & they seem kinda fun, so here's the answers!
List your favorite:

Actor -Gosh  that's a super hard question! All time: Johnny Depp Recently: really into Christian Bale & Jack Black ( I can't leave this question without throwing in Harrison Ford & Sean Connery)
Actress -Renee Zellweger (mainly because she's not super skinny & we're okay with that)
Animal - Dragonfly (tatoo on shoulder)
Band - The Cure, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Book - The Bell Jar, Starship Titania
Bubble Bath - double whammy on this one, itty bitty tub & allergic to artificial frangrences. I do like Bath & Body works True Blue spa foot soaks though.
Candy - White Chocolate Covered Oreos from Southern Candy Makers
Color -Green, Purple, Brown
Drink- Jones Soda, Strawberry Lime
Flower - Trillium & Liloc
Food - Roasted Chicken
Lip Balm - Blistex, anything berry flavored
Lotion - anything with only natural scents, aveeno is a safe bet (Victoria's Secret & Bath and Body works are on the big no list, hives...)
Movie - Don Juan DeMarco
Place- Edwards, CO
Song - Catch, The Cure
TV Show - Law in Order (especially Major Case)
Yarn- handdyed 100% Merino Sock yarn
Vacation Spot - Amsterdam (great people, big city with a little city feel, liberal culture, and OMG the fabrics...)

I found a bit of time for some spinning today. Bev sent me a fun little bit of roving with my KSKS package. It was about 2 ounces of hand dyed wool. The roving had gotten felted a bit when it had been dyed, so I decided to try a fun & funky technique for spinning it up, coils!

I managed to get 63 yards of coil yarn out of 2 ounces (way more than I expected) Now I just need to figure out what to knit with it...

I also took a better picture of the sock yarn I spun up for my mom's birthday. We still haven't seen much sun, but it did peak out a little today~

I also finished up a project that needed so little work, but waited months to get it's attention. I knitted up this Entrelac pillow for the class I was teaching & today we had the last session, so I got to sew on the backing & put in the form!

(the secret to sewing knitting? fabric to the feed dogs/knitting to the presser foot & lots of pins. Went through the machine like butter)

Tonight I made tons of progress on my Sock Candy Dragon Socks. I'll probably finish these tomorrow~

The first sock has been through the washer & dryer so that's why it's so much lighter. I wanted to check on shrinkage before knitting the second sock up (no shrinkage noticed).

So, after I finish these I'm casting on for a new pair of socks... Yeah I said I wouldn't, but I need some of those Baseball Socks from Interweave knits with a big D embroidered on them before next Saturday. Why?

Because after 12 years of losing baseball & only 3 years after being the second to worst team of all time the Tigers have done the impossible~

They won the American League Pennant and are going to the World Series!!!!

(and I need some special socks to cheer them on)
(plus I just heard that my favorite Tiger, Sean Casey, who got injured the first game of the series is planning to be back for the World Series. He's just the nicest guy in baseball)

I've finished the second second sock for socktoberfest (what a mouth full!)

A bit of motivation goes a long way, it took well under 30 hours to knit the second Dragon Scale Sock.

Eyes on the prize

You can really tell which sock is the new one & which one was washed & dried.

It's a good thing that I like the color in the washed sock better.

Pattern: Here There Be Dragons Scaled Up Version

Yarn: 2 skeins of BMFA Sock Candy in Carbon

Needles: CPY Bamboo 35" circ size 1 (magic Loop)

No changes from the pattern. I did use toe option 2 just because that's where the repeat ended on the foot. (this may be the first sock I've just knit from the pattern with no changes) I love her short row heel btw. Best looking one I've knit. Probably will become my go to short row heel.

New Socks,

So my reward for finishing up 2 second socks is to knit some Detroit Tigers socks for the World Series next weekend. My goal is to have them finished for the first game on Saturday. So far that's looking good. I started them Sunday night.

Here they are before my class this evening~

And after the Red Wings game (they are looking so good this season! They scored 3 goals tonight, a short hand goal, a power play goal, & a even handed goal. Talk about variety)

I created the chart for the Old Fashion D using Knit Visualizer & Photoshop. I needed to squish the chart before filling it in to ensure the proper dimensions (knit visualizer makes square boxes in charts, perfect for colorwork, fine for stitch pattern charts, not so great for creating intarsia or duplicate stitch charts). Then I overlaid an image I 'borrowed' from their online gift shop & filled in my chart. I opted to use duplicate stitch because the other option was intarsia & that just wasn't going to happen. Plus it gives the design a raised look to mimic the embroidery seen on most sports memorabilia.And for the World Series, we still don't know who were playing. The Cardinals & Mets are tied 2,2 with 2 rain delayed games so far in the series. So another travel day without rest. When a sportscaster was asked which team the delay benefited he easily responded, The Tigers. Who ever manages to win the National League will have been battling it out all week and their pitchers will be exhausted.  I wish I wasn't working this weekend!

I couldn't believe how tired I was last night. I started working on Pippin yesterday & it just took it all out of me. The only thing I could figure to explain it was that we're the first real stop of the current tour & my department head is still sorting/planning & basically freaking out. This really put me on edge the whole night & I crashed for 10 hours. I actually found myself nodding off at stop lights (cue coffee for the 10 minute drive home & an open window).
So, needless to say there was no blogging last night. I hope that tonight goes a bit better.

I had a nice surprise today at work. One of my customers brought in a sock she's knitting out of my yarn! "A Good Sock" in Knitters Guide to the Galaxy.

It's so great to see my yarns knit up. (and you know...see that yes, they really stripe)
I also am working away at my Tigers Socks. Yesterday was  a bit slow due to loading IN Pippin (ie sewing for 5 hours then learning the show). However, I still feel in pretty good shape to finish the pair by Saturday Evening.

Now it's down  to the home stretch for that first sock...

One of the best things has to be seeing the USPS truck stopping right in front of your door. Our postman usually stops at the end of the block and just hand delivers, but today she drove right up to the door!
Then she brought in two wonderful packages!
The first was a box all the way from Germany.
Luitgard sent me a wonderful Hot Socks Swap package, Thank You!
I was first stuck by the lovely wrapping & candies.

Then I got the fun of unwrapping all those packages & found lovely yarn & what looks like a yummy hot beverage. (plus more candy...)

The sock yarn is the perfect colors & I think I might have to dig into that cappuccino mix tomorrow..

The second box was my long belated SP8 box. There was a labeling mishap & it was lost in the mail for a while...
Lots of fabric goodness to see from the top!

And inside there were gifts for all sorts of craftiness. Fabric, a handbag book, lovely sock yarn, fun scarf yarn, a pretty wool batt, and a super cute little quilt kit. Thank You Bev!

Okay, I'm rounding second base & running home on my Tigers Socks! The first sock is finished & the second is just past the top ribbing. I'm totally in love with these socks & they're really helping me pass the week off between them winning the ALCS and the beginning of the World Series. Then it's back to tense nervous knitting during the games on my second Alpaca Sock (an alpaca sock can't be too dense so it got volunteered for playoff knitting)
In the mean time I'll show you some eye candy from the first sock!

A closeup of the chart~ (mmm... duplicate stitch)
(note: I used the old fashion D they paint behind home plate rather than the version on their uniforms. This is also the one on most of the fan gear)

And possibly my favorite part, the end of the toe.

Of course I love it because it meant the sock was finished because of the details I used in the toe decreasing. I pulled the rib all the way to the end doing decreases right at the rib's edge. Then when I kitchenered stitched it closed I used both a knit & purl graft to create a look that the ribbing just bends back into it self. It's all in the small details!

(there are two posts today so look below for news on recent Swaps)

So, I'm knitting along on the second Tigers Sock & could bore you with pictures that will look remarkably like the ones I showed you at the beginning of the week, or I could just give you yet another rendition of this meme to read...

48 Things You Could Care Less About

1. FIRST NAME? Rae Anna

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? My middle name Anna is my paternal Grandmothers name.

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Oh gosh, I'm a crier. I'm not sure I can watch a movie without crying.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? I like it, but most people (occasionally even myself) find it difficult to read.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Turkey

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I sure hope so.

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? The blog is the closest I've ever come to a real journal. I do occasionally write my thoughts out when I need to, but then usually destroy the evidence.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yep

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? I wouldn't bungee jump, but I would skydive in a heartbeat!

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Just started eating Special K, not to bad.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Only if I have to to get them off my feet.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? maybe, depends on what kind of strong you're implying.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Edy's Whole Fruit Raspberry Sorbet.

14. SHOE SIZE? 7 1/2

5. RED OR PINK? If I have to choose one of those, I suppose it would be red, but a dark red or burgundy. Neither one looks especially good on me

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? really easy to gain weight, not especially motivated to exercise...Thinking about a cardio striptease class for the spring though.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? I'm skipping this one because I don't want to confront the truthful answer to this question.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Nah, that's okay, I don't care  either

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? I'm in backstage blacks due to working Pippin this week. I do have my purple Amble socks on though.

20. LAST THING YOU ATE? A bowl of special K.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Barenaked Ladies

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Deep Purple

23. FAVORITE SMELL? Lilacs in the spring

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? A customer signing up for a Thrummed Mitten class...

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Honestly, hair. Especially a nice beard & curly locks.

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON you stole THIS from? I like all the people I stole this from. 

27. FAVORITE DRINK? Raspberry Vodka Martini

28. FAVORITE SPORT? Hockey, but Baseball is a close second.

29. EYE COLOR? Brown

30. HAT SIZE? 21"

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Nope, Glasses really compliment my face.

32. FAVORITE FOOD? Roasted Chicken from a road side stand in Southern France.

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy Endings

35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Fall

36. HUGS OR KISSES? I'll take either when I can get them.

37. FAVORITE DESSERT? Either Baklava or Fruit Pizza or Russian Tea Cakes

38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Pass

39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Pass

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Crusader's Cross by James Lee Burke

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE Pad? Don't have one, Logitech wireless optical mouse

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? The Cardinals manage to eek out a win to face the Tigers in the World Series.

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Thunder

44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Beatles

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? Belgium & France

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? Self analysis, I can break everything I do down in my head & mull over my mistakes for years.

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Michigan

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Snagged from a bunch of knitting blogs...

So, Pippin is officially on it's way to Toronto. I have my normal life back (for a week anyway... who ever scheduled Wharton Center's season is an evil person. 5 shows in 6 weeks then 3 months off!)
I finished a whole lot of knitting this weekend. I also saw Pippin 5 times in 50 hours, drank 4 glasses of wine, slept every free second I could get, watched 2 baseball games, got food poisoning, and I think I may have been hit on (really hopeful on that last one but not entirely sure because I was in the worst part of the previous item & attempting to be charming while deciding if I could make it to the restroom before my next cue).
For the record, I liked Pippin. It's my type of show & I know I would have had a great time in the audience. At the same time I know it's not the right type of show for Lansing & I totally understand that many of our patrons hated it. Perhaps if we could get more MSU students to actually buy tickets...

As for the knitting...
The Tigers socks were finished Saturday Afternoon (hours before the first pitch!). Didn't help much that night, but I think for me the key is to wear my jersey. I had worn it every game since the first one (the only other post season loss) & couldn't wear it Saturday because I was backstage. However I wore it Sunday because it was an early show & late game. So, Socks & Jersey for every game the rest of the World Series!
(Got to do what you can for the team even if it seems silly...lol)

I made a few finesses to the chart between socks & now that I'm happy I'll try to post the chart in the next few days.

Once the Tigers socks were done I made quick work of my 3rd Second sock for Socktoberfest. My hand dyed Alpaca socks.

The yarn is doubled in the heel & there are slip stitches every row for the flap. I'm never wearing through those puppies. True luxury socks! I can't believe I went almost 2 years before knitting the second sock. What was I thinking?

I was going to get going on another second sock, but decided to knit up my handspun sock yarn first (only one more week to get in on the swap! link over on the right ~>

I can't believe how squishy & soft this yarn is. It's also surprisingly sturdy knit up. It's only a 2 ply, but I'm not too worried about wear now that I see it knit. Of course I'm totally in love with the sock. I decided to use a k3,p1 rib all the way down the leg & top of foot.

The first & last yard I spun was much bulkier & even had a coil for no apparent reason. I was going to just scrap that bit, but then decided to use it as part of the cast-on. I'm glad I did because it's the first thing knitters have wanted to know (What cast-on is that?). I think they're being nice & like the look. I know it's really stretchy & very fun looking.

So, the sock knitting continues~

We had a bit of sun this last few days & I can finally show off the Orchid I gave my mom for her Birthday. I don't do terribly well with houseplants, so I leave that to her, but I sure love looking at the end result!

I had such a hard time choosing. Her request was something unusual looking. It came down to the frilly purple spotted one (above) and a odd green one that reminded me of a pitcher plant w/ spotted leaves. The purple won simply because it had an unopened bud so it would last longer.

I also finished up the first orange handspun sock!

All I can say right now is that there will be many handspun socks in my future...

I also was a bit bad & started a new shawl (because the peacock shawl is really trying my patience right now...).
I want to introduce the Adagio Merging Colors Shawl (kit from Candice Eisner Strick) The shawl uses 8 colors of lace weight, 3 strands at a time, for a total of 24 color combos. This allows you to slowly shift from one color to the next!

I like the extra increases along the neck edge in the beginning of the shawl so it stays on when you wear it. Here's a closeup, I've gotten into the 3rd color combo... can you see the changes?

(it's only slightly more noticeable in person)

This morning I unexpectedly found a yarn in my stash & a pattern that seemed kismet. My first yarn for my mitten swap was orange & a green Silky Wool. It didn't work for the mittens, but I found this absolutely cute baby set in E. Lavold's Take Five Collection (oddly enough knit in orange & green in the book...) I have been looking for a sweater to knit for Kristi & this was the perfect project. After making a few modifications to the pattern (knitting in the round to increase speed...) I easily made it through the garter stitch edging by lunch.

Then I read some news that made my heart pause & my whole day just seemed to stop. I ask for you to go visit Kristi at her blog & read her post if you haven't yet already.

I spent a great deal of the afternoon in reflection feeling a bit powerless & just knowing that I needed to do something. Then I realized I had found the answer this morning. Although we can do nothing but offer our love & well wishes for Kristi, knitters have one other option. We can show our love is though knitting.

So, I funneled all of my nervous energy & feelings into the sweater. I hope all the knitters who are knitting to warm up the Dutchicans can find some solace in knitting as well & we can show Kristi and her family how much we love and care for them.

I'm knitting lots of orange right now. Orange is not one of those colors I love, but I don't hate it either. Perhaps it's just one of those colors that can go wrong very quickly... (like some especially fugly green & orange sock yarn I was gifted once) Right now though, Michigan is mostly cold, wet, and gray so the orange is a nice bright spot in my day. We had a nice break in the cloud cover on my way home so I snapped a quick Saturday Sky picture in my side view mirror.

Tonight I went to listen to an evening of Mozart. This called for a mobile knitting project (don't worry I put it away during the concert). I remembered that I had been knitting those handspun socks up until a few days ago. So out they came & I knit about half a sock!

On the first sock I was still a  bit worried about yardage and it's snug but not too small. Now that I see how much yarn I have left & think I may rip the first toe and knit about another 1/2 inch just to be on the safe side.

I also spent a bit of time on the orange baby sweater. The body is all finished & now I'm fudging my way through the sleeves. It's such a simple design that I'm changing it to picked up stitches (rather than seams) and knit in the round where ever possible. The big stalling point now is finding those pesky size 5 double points...

What is it about Cell phone companies (well maybe just Sprint) that they have the ability to reduce me to a blubbering pissed off tear soaked madwoman. At the moment I am so angry that my best course of action might be to close the shop putting up a sign that due to the complete incompetence of a corporation and all of it's employees I'm way to angry to be able to help you today. Trust Me.

I miss my Nextel phone. I loved my Nextel. I feel guilty that I ever betrayed my faithful phone of 5 years and let myself be swayed into the evil clutches of Sprint.

In the time since I switched to sprint (a grand total of 15 months ago) I have had 3 phones. My first 2 had manufacture defects. In the 5 years of Nextel I had 1 & it still worked fine except for the alarm on the calendar.

When I had Nextel I never had even 1 dropped call. With Sprint I have had about a 98% dropped call rate. Usually they don't even make it to the 10 second mark. You see... both live & work in these magic bubbles of practically no Sprint coverage. A quarter mile North, East, and West of my home my phone would work fine, but not my home or anywhere on the bike path I use. I know that both from the coverage map & from when I was dating this Summer and in a desperate attempt to actually speak on the phone with him I was willing to bike miles! but still had no signal.

And why don't I switch back to Nextel? Well, long story short I have no control what so ever over my phone coverage because it's a business thing & part of a family plan.

This morning Sprint was especially evil by showing me a glimmer of hope and then stomping all over it. When looking at coverage maps I noticed a new option of a Sprint/Nextel hybrid phone. It showed the top level of coverage where I live! It also said that they will begin to be available next week. I promptly called the closest Sprint/Nextel store and listened to the phone ring for 5 minutes with no hope of being answered (yes, they were open). Then I called another store, braved the automated system, got on hold waiting to talk to a person, then apparently they mistook me for a fax machine.

I gave in and called the National 800 number, choose the wrong thing & was told to dial from my phone (that has no coverage). Called again & after failing the SSN test still managed to talk to a real person. Who know absolutely nothing. Couldn't even tell me if my area was one of the ones the phones  would be available in next week. Transfered me to a person who doesn't work on Sunday. Big Help...

Finally it took the Internet to break the bad news to me... The hybrid coverage is going to use Sprint for voice and Nextel for 2-way. That doesn't help me the slightest bit...

Sigh...

So, I made every effort to make today a better day than yesterday. I think the fates are just against me right now. Parts of today were absolutely wonderful, unfortunately parts were a sharp contrast. In an effort to make up for my rant yesterday I'll try to focus on the good parts.

Okay the good parts edition~

1: I booked all my transportation for my trip to Friday Harbor for Cat Bordhi's Visionary Retreat! Getting to this wonderful little island will involve 3 flights, a 3 hour bus trip, a 2 hour ferry, and a ride in a car (getting home involves all of the above plus a couple of extra shuttle rides & an extra night in an airport motel). I'm told it's well worth the effort & I'm totally ready to believe it from what I've seen. It feels really good to get this all booked and I'm ready to go in January.

2: I had my mid-semester chat with my painting teacher. We saw much improvement in my work and despite my attendance issues (theatre work related...) she saw no reason I shouldn't get a 4.0 in the class. Big sigh of relief there. I really feel like I'm starting to find a few things I like in my paintings and that I'm hitting my groove. We also chatted about my final project that involves a series of thematic paintings. I want to use yarn or knitting somehow as a theme. My plan is to paint abstract style paintings that focus on color and texture. She was worried I was going to do paintings of people knitting (she thought this might be boring...) I suggested I could get my favorite male model to pose nude with strategically placed balls of yarn & scarves. Much thought went into that and her face got really red...

3: We figured out a solution for the cell phone thing. Nextel will only cost us 10 more a month for 3 lines. Plus I was told there not only will be no fees to switch, we actually even get a discount on our first bill. The only downside is buying new phones...

4: I finished my first pair of hand knit hand spun socks. I wore them all day to try to improve my mood. I think they helped. They are the best pair of socks ever! I even sent them through the washer & dryer (because that's how sadistic I am). Look how well they held up~

They even helped me spin up my next sock yarn from the CMF roving that was gifted to me.

5: I won some stitch markers!

So, it seems in writing to be a darn good day. Just imagine what must have gone wrong to squash my mood. The hints are some of it involves a computer printer, travel sites, my favorite drink being discontinued and a green eyed bad boy who has made it so I can't knit and can barely type. He just looks so innocent.

Deep Breaths & A Good Nights Sleep are my plan for a better tomorrow.