Extravayarnza

I'm now the proud owner of 18 feet!
Kinda Creepy...
I've updated all the sock yarn over at The Shop with the new colors & a paypal shopping cart!
Please check it out, I think I'm pretty happy with it!
Lace Yarn, Patterns, and the New Knitting Bags will be added over the next few days.

Yep, I'm officially a joiner...
I attempt to resist going with the flow, knitting the hot pattern, picking the "in" colors.
For example I have neither Jaywalkers or a Clapotis (the horror!).
But, a few days ago I popped over to Stephanie's blog (btw T minus 4 days and counting till Yarn Harlot lands in Michigan!) and saw her Argyle Socks...
Then I made the mistake of following the link (despite the clear warning that it was infectious) and landed over in Moth Heaven. Yep I crumbled under the drunken argyles & the spectacular ARRRRgyles.
So, I whipped up a chart to fit me, found a retro colorway (either very eighties or very eighty year old grandpa cardigan... I can't decide), and cast-on.

The main reason behind my choice of colors was that I was searching for an excuse to use the fab butter yellow we just go in. It's so gorgeous! This sage green & brown are just the right shades to go with it (we have 3 different sage greens, trust me the other two didn't work).
I am knitting them flat & seaming, but I am using a bit different construction. More on that as I get to the heel...
Just in case any of you are still in denial about this, argyles produce lots of ends... Lots! You can see 2 of 4 hair clips holding all my ends out of the way. I can't weave them in till I double check the requirements for the Argyle socks in the Master Knitters program. I'm 90% sure they want the ends woven in, but I know they don't want them seamed, so I playing it safe for now.

And the ARRRRgyles are definatly being knit this fall. I'm thinking arm warmers...

I hit a big check point on my first Argyle sock. The leg is now finished!

I love this point in a sock because you can really see the pattern and how the colors are working. I'm quite happy with this sock. I know my skills have improved already. The second diamonds are much nicer and the diagonals are night and day in person.
I've decided to mark these as my practice pair for the Master's Program. I'm just finishing up level one & argyle socks aren't until level two. I don't think I could wait that long to wear them! Plus, given the improvement on just this sock, the third sock should be stellar!
Tonight I jumped on a rare event... an empty house!
I was going to spend it at the guild knit-in, but with no AC in my car I just couldn't bring myself to drive that distance.
Instead I left all the lights off, curled up on the couch with a glass of wine and my argyle socks. I suppose I'm lucky they didn't inadvertently turn into drunken argyles~
Life is so good sometimes...
(don't worry it balances out eventually *smirk*)

Today, hopefully was the last day of this miserable weather for awhile.
I saw some really interesting cloud formations on the drive home.

The skys were filled with two layers of clouds. Big fluffy lower altitude clouds & large flat mid altitude clouds. Just pretty to look at. Unfortunately the severe weather rolled in after dark, so no cloud spotting then...
Thursday... 70 degrees+almost 0 humidity=1 very happy knitter
Thursday will also bring a finished Argyle sock.
I snapped some really bad flash shots of the sock minus a heel.

You can see the lovely seam running along the side of the photo on the right (or you can if you look really hard, the seam came out quite nicely).
Since the outdoors will be unlike an oven tomorrow I'll take some way better pics.

Okay, I've finished a single Argyle Sock. I'm calling it a finished object. I'll knit a second one... probably soon... but I've got a few other things to concentrate on right now.

Pattern: basically my own... I used a 31 stitch wide diamond, an afterthought heel, a footed toe, and ran the seam along the side of the leg rather than the back. (this is as much for my benefit as yours since I'm being risky and took no notes!)
Needles: size 1 26" circ. Knit flat to the end of the last diamond then knit magic loop
Yarn: Brown is Lang Jawoll; green & yellow are from Universal Yarn (so far I give this sock yarn a big thumbs up)
I weighted out the remaining brown & I will need two balls to complete the pair (I used about 35g for this sock). One ball each of the contrasts is plenty though.
They fit so well. I'm pleased...I seamed them up quite loose so they would keep their stretch. The seam still closed up well.

The second pic is for all of you sadistic knitters who want to see the guts of the sock. This is a pretty crowded spot with lots of ends woven in.
We did get cooler today, but it was dark, cloudy, and at times the rain poured down. I'm talking about a major rainfall.

But the flowers were quite happy to receive all that rain!
BTW~ for those of you confused about this mornings post... check out The Amazing Lace.The latest challenge was to photograph your work in progress hidden in plain sight. So two of my shawls (including the dragon who is slowing getting finished) are hidden in the drumset!

I hope you all had a lovely Labor Day weekend.
I know I did.
Laying around the house, knitting, watching Baseball games...

In fact Sunday I went to my first Tigers game at Comerica Park. I used to go all the time at the old Tigers Stadium. I loved Tiger's Stadium. When the crowd got excited the whole place shook.
I had been apprehensive about Comerica Park. It just seemed wrong to move the team.
After Sunday I think all those feelings are put to rest. Maybe I just wish that they had kept the name of the park. I don't like big buildings that have corporate sponsored names. Comerica has nothing to do with baseball...
The park is just beautiful. The seats are comfortable & raked steep enough that even all the way at the top you can see the field.

We had tickets about 2/3 of the way up the upper deck right at 3rd base.
Despite what many think I don't find baseball boring at all. I watch a lot of baseball & find it quite captivating. Double so in person. I didn't find time to knit the whole game.
A big deal right now is saying that you were a Tiger's fan before 2006. Seeing as how they are #1 in the American league right now a lot of fans have come out of the wood works.
I have rock solid proof of my long love for the Tigers.

I was a cute kid... *blush*

I celebrated another of my favorite sporting teams this weekend by dyeing yarn.
Although I don't like football I root for any MSU team & have dyed up a bunch (10 skeins!) of Green & White stripeing sock yarn.

It's cooling off right now...

I did get lots of sock knitting done this weekend.
I got to the toe on my first Snake Skin Sock (for the Six Sock Knitalong)

I also started some new socks. Something I was attempting not to do. I need to knit some second socks...
But, that new Sock Candy was so tempting... and the Dragon Sock pattern was so perfect...

This colorway is knitting up really cool. It's so rare for hand dyed yarns to behave so well. The pattern is deceptively simple. I knit 3 repeats in the car on the way to the game. I'm itching to finish the leg so I can start of the nifty heel details that are written into the pattern.
Stay tuned to see how the colors behave in the heel!

I've felt that the blog has been a bit short of pictures of Trent lately. So, I'm warning you know that there's lots of cat pictures ahead! (lots of knitting stuff too, don't worry!)

Come on, You know you love him.... He's so cute when he's sleeping!

He attempted to help me show off my progress on the Sock Candy Dragon Scales socks. I was forced into hiding last night (guys over watching wrestling = Rae cowering in basement with beer, popcorn, movie w/ a hot guy in it, and knitting... perhaps a dangerous combination). Plus I had some frustration to work off earlier today, so I'm past the heel!

I love everything about this sock. The yarn is so soft & squishy. It's just the right size to hug my leg (I'm on size 0 to size the sock down to fit). The instructions for the short row heel were so easy to follow. I still usually get one pretty side & one icky loose side, but not on this sock. Plus the pooling on this colorway is behaving so well. More stripeing than splotching. I'll probably have this finished in a few days & I'll take some better pictures then (probably after I cast on for the second sock because I'm eager to wear these).
Many of you have been asking at the store if this yarn would sag because it's mostly cotton. I've tried them on several dozen times & they are just as snug as they were the first time. I think all signs are pointing toward the elite doing it's job very well.
You've also been asking if it's as difficult to knit with as fixation (gauge issues). To be frank I hate fixation. I knit with it once & pulled on it so much that my hand just hurt for days. It took me months to find the reserve to finish a wrist warmer. This yarn is nothing like that. I don't know why. It doesn't have quite as much stretch in the yarn as fixation. I found fixation to have almost no stretch in the fabric after it was knit. Sock Candy has lots of stretch after knitting. My opinion is simply that it's a whole different construction & therefor a whole different feel to knit.

I did finish one other sock...
(lots of knitting in the last 2 days...I also got quite a bit done on my shawl, but I'll post about that when I reach the next lace pattern)

I love the yarn, I'm not so crazy about the stitch pattern.
The yarn is Fortissima Colori, Disco. The one with the bits of silver sparkle in it.
The sparkle doesn't scratch at all when it's knit up. The yarn is quite soft.
Unfortunately the neat slip stitch pattern in the cuff just wasn't for me. With all the yarn-overs & passed stitches my gauge was just all loose. I didn't change needle size or stitch number between the leg & the foot and you can see the huge difference in size. The foot fits like a glove, but the leg is way way too big.
This sock is destined to be a display sock at the store. It does show the yarn off quite nicely.
Luckily it only used 24g of yarn so there is plenty for me to find a new pattern & get a pair for myself out of the yarn. Until the perfect pattern is found it's headed into the stash...

Sometimes you just can't think of a title for a post... It's hard coming up with a couple hundred of those a year!

Besides this is just a progress report...

I love how the Sock Candy is knitting up. The carbon colorway isn't one I probably would have chosen had I gotten to pick the colors for the order. I only even choose it to knit with because of the name of the pattern (Here Be Dragon Socks). I'm really happy that all this came together & I'm using this yarn/colorway. Just check these out!

This sock is so soft, doesn't sag at all, and it really hugs my foot. Possibly the best sock I've knit this year!

I'm also whittling away at the Peacock shawl. It's so good to take a picture every once in a while because it shows off the lace motifs better than when  it all scrunched up on the needle inches from your face. Currently I'm about 2/3's of the way through the medium feathers...

For any of you in the Lansing Area.
My store (Rae's Yarn Boutique near Frandor) is having a sale today.
Closeout yarns are 40% the marked down price for today only!
Plus some great new fall yarns are 10% off.

So stop by between 11&3 to pick up some great deals!

Yes, I'm officially finishing up my SKB. I pulled it out today & knit about 6 inches of the first sleeve. I don't think I ever did post a photo of how it's fitting. I hope you all enjoy the photo because of course as soon as I put the half knit needles hanging out sweater on & had the camera ready with the timer.... the first customer I'd had for over an hour walked in & I was stuck wearing it for about 20 minutes. (answering questions like..."How much for this poncho here?" "Do you have a catalog?" "Where's the fabric?") So without further ado~

At this point I had knit the lace, but hadn't done the purl ridges yet. I finished those up right before my class. I like the way the sweater is fitting. I was quite worried that the sleeve would be too big above the lace & way tight in the lace section. No fear, it fits really well. I also took time to weave in the 16 or so ends that I had so far. I am a big fan of weaving in ends as you go (once you're pretty sure your not going to rip the whole thing out).

I also finished the first Candy Dragon Sock~

Just a quick review, the yarn is Blue Moon Sock Candy. 96% Cotton, 4% Elite (for stretch) in Carbon.

It takes 2 balls for an average pair of socks.

I knitting the scaled up version of the Here Be Dragon Socks designed by Teresa at Keyboard Biologist.

The pattern is wonderful, she carried the stitch detail into the heel & the toe shaping. Very clever! I've mentioned before how much I enjoy knitting this yarn. I wore it all evening & it still felt pretty snug, then I tossed it into the washer & dryer before putting it on temporary display (until the second sock is finished... then they're all mine!)

Speaking of sock yarn... how about a little yarn porn?

Yum! This is the "Karma's a Bitch" 100% merino sock yarn I picked up over at Scouts. The green just pops. She's had a tough day... go buy some yarn! It's for a good cause ( how can a blogger live without a car or a laptop!)

Tonight walking to my painting class I decided I just had to have some hand/wrist warmers that covered my fingers better. Luckily Bev gave me a lonely single skein of Koigu in the KSKS swap. I split it in two & pulled out my favorite needles, size 1 Rosewood double-points. I'm just knitting them as long as I can...

The theory is that I can wear them down when walking outside....

And then flip the ribbing up when I need more use of my hands (i.e. knitting....)

Now I just need to finish these by my next class on Wednesday...

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.

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.

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!

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)

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)

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...

Okay,
I took a night for myself last night & decided that I'd skip blogging for a night. Which means I've got a bit to cover today because for the first time all week I've really been knitting!

First off, I finished the sweater for the Dutchicans. We'll have to convince Kristi to give us the cute baby in sweater pictures in a few months. In the mean time here's the not so exciting baby sweater sans baby pictures...

& the little button I added along the waist band.

The buttons are all for show. They are very securely sewn on & the two closest to the neck have snaps behind them that open up the neck line to expedite the stuffing of the child into the sweater.

Now I just have 2 hats & a pair of booties to knit in about 2 weeks...

I also started my second Iris Garden sock the day before I got hurt. So, today I picked it up and almost got through the end of the foot.

I think I figured something interesting out. It's not good luck or bad luck. It's how you react to the world around you. I don't think the last few days have been that much better than last week (in fact I found out that my last connection coming back from Seattle was rescheduled to 4 hours before my plane gets to the airport... obviously not going to work, but they said they'll fix it the first week in January so I'm not stressing). The secret is just that I'm back to being a duck.
Time to picture Rae being really odd bouncing her feet around singing~
*Twas just a little bit of luck that I was born a baby duck
With yellow socks & yellow shoes so I can go where ever I choose
Quack quack quack quack quack Quack quack quack quack quack*
No seriously I pride myself on my duckiness.
Stress & bad stuff just rolls off my back (like water on  a ducks back). I just go through life splashing around having a good time.
Warning... jumping tracks here momentarily...
I do have a pattern for adult size duck feet socks. I always have wanted to knit them! Got to love 80s knitting books...

Okay back to the whole good mood thing. Maybe it was just a change in the weather. Sunday when I went to work the sun was just shinning. One of the most ideal beautiful days ever! I could have laid out by the pond for hours (much better than being inside a windowless cinder block building). In my mind I was out there by the pond all day.

Did I mention that I just discovered that I have Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill on my iTunes. That's some feel good music!

I also finally am having a good round of Secret Pal!
My SP9 pal send me a fantastic package today.

The sock yarn is soft & absolutely gorgeous. I'm totally in love with the yarn. There's over 500 yards there so I'm thinking knee socks. Plus there was lip gloss with no artificial crud in it, both hot chocolate & white hot chocolate (how did she know that white hot chocolate is my favorite!), some tropical drink mix, a magazine, and more chocolate! I'm blown away. Thank You so Much!!!

I also am zipping along on my second Iris Garden sock. If I remember to bring it with me tomorrow I may even finish it up.

I'm trying to decide what to write across the front of this one. My plan was to put my name in (RAE), but I'm leaning toward maybe ZEN or KNIT. Maybe I'll go see which letters look coolest and find a way to use them all. (I swear I haven't been drinking tonight... Just letting my guard down a little too much).

Last thoughts, tomorrow is going to rock! I'm voting on my way to work. Tomorrow night... The political ads stop! It has been just stupid the last day or two. Tonight I saw a Granholm ad, then a De Vos ad, then another Granholm ad, then one more De Vos ad all right in a row. I'm voting for the end of political ads.

But seriously, Go Vote!!!! It's important, I don't care what party your for or what you find important. The important thing is to use your chance to be part of the system. If that's not good enough chew on this. If the person who you don't like wins at least you can then say "Don't look at me, I voted for the other guy!" This phrase really helped me out in Europe right after Bush was reelected. (I was there the week they renamed French fries, Freedom Fries.)

BTW, expect to hear Alanis Morissette tomorrow at the store. I'm really grooving to it

So, I had to slow down last night. I've been letting myself get so stressed out the last few weeks. I actually got upset enough on Friday to make myself physically sick. So, my rule for the next weeks until I see my Doctor is that I need to stay calm, be the duck (see a post about a week ago if you didn't get that one...), the calm pond, visualize myself in my happy place (on a lake up in the mountains), what ever it takes. The deadline knitting (chart riddled black lace scarf) just had to go on the side lines. I can't handle a deadline right now. I also can't handle knitting that particular project at the moment.
So, what to knit?
I found my most pleasurable knitting projects, decided to use those magic words like Alpaca, silk, and cashmere & I became the finisher!
(lots of pictures in the rest of the post... just to warn you)

First off, I finished my Cashmere thrummed mittens~

Yarn: 2 balls of Louisa Harding Grace (Wool/Silk) & 1oz of brown cashmere from Ashland Bay (the best cashmere roving I've found... so soft!)

Pattern: Thrummed Mittens from My Bagatelle

I love these mittens! I wore them all day today. Can you tell which one was finished a month ago & had been tried on by God know how many customers & which one was finished Friday? I'll be so happy when they both have that lovely cashmere halo.

Then I dug into some new products & knit these little dragonfly adorned wrist warmers~

Yarn: Elsabeth Lavold Silky Cashmere (55% silk 45% cashmere... this is a truly magic combination!) 1 skein made a pair with leftovers.

Pattern: wrist warmers from E. Lavold Book #10

In fact I liked them so much I made a second pair out of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran~

These are for Sunday (the big Opera & dinner). You can see that I actually painted my nails to coordinate with my shoes. I know my wrists get warm & then that causes my tendinitis to flair up so I needed some fancy warmers that went with my outfit. Today I also found these fab 100% cashmere gloves with little cables on the cuffs. The best part is that the fingers aren't too long for my hand. If you can see in the picture above, I have freakishly short hands. Here's a better view of the accessories for tomorrow.

I love the whole thing... Aren't those shoes so cute. I even like the purse. My dress has a beaded ribbon belt, so the purse really picks it up. I'm looking forward to a big day.

My big finished project is my Iris Garden socks!!!

Yarn: My Amber sock yarn in Dahlia & the yarn my dye-o-rama pal dyed for me using a machine knit blank (this yarn inspired my Iris Garden colorway)

Pattern: My Own! Iris Garden socks, pattern currently only available through the Six Sox Knitalong on Yahoo Groups.

What can I say. I love the socks, how couldn't I? I did better keeping the leg loose on the second sock so it goes over my heel better & the pattern distorts less when I where it.

Why put YES! on the second sock?

1~ I need something to help me remember to stay calm & happy. YES! is a very positive message.

2~ There were three letters I really wanted to use in my alphabet chart, K Y S. I figured out that YES was a pretty good way to at least use 2 of the 3. (KEYS could have used all three, but would have made even less sense)

I needed some portable knitting for the ride to and from Detroit tomorrow, so I cast-on for a new pair of socks~

This yarn rocks! Meet 'Karma's a Bitch' from Scout's Swag. I'm going to knit myself some toe-up knee socks. That will really cheer me up.

I'm so tired. Today was absolutely fabulous & so much fun. Barber of Seville was so funny. I think that if you're interested in going to an Opera it is probably a very good first opera. It's only about 2 hours long, it's very funny, you'll recognize several of the pieces, and no... there are no large ladies wearing Viking hats.
Dinner was delicious, the company was entertaining, and I didn't fall off my shoes.

I even got a bit of knitting done in the car~

Nothing wrong with bringing a bit of Karma with you!

Okay, I have a bit more to say, but first I need to ask my family (that's you Mom) not to read the rest. No, it's not juicy or anything...

Okay,
First off... sorry to disappoint you all but no photos were taken Sunday of us all dressed up. It was a hectic day & pictures just didn't happen.

But, I tonight I did get a chance to break out a toy I purchased a few weeks ago. My new light box!

Now, I know they're easy & cheap to build, but I don't have room to store one made out of PVC or a cardboard box. So, I purchased one of those collapsible Nylon ones off ebay.

I think it still works pretty well, my favorite photo so far is my mom's Yarn Aboard goodies~

I only am using the overhead light in the room & one compact fluorescent lamp. For the record the backgrounds that come with the cheap light boxes are completely useless. I went and got myself a few nice art papers at Michaels.

We also got the new Pink Denise kits in today. Part of the profits are going to an excellent Breast Cancer research charity (they pay their own running costs, so all the donations go right to research!)

Plus, don't they just look so pretty in pink?

(if you already have a kit & want pink cables they also released the accessory kits & longer cables in pink!)

I've had a full day... I hope yours were all filled with food & family.

We had a big family get together. A grand total of 15 people & 4 generations. We would have had about 20, but some of the menfolk were having the more manly festivities at the Lions game. You would not believe how fast my cats disappeared as soon as those kids walked into the house. They went to that super special hiding space that they can hide in for hours without you ever finding them ( no matter what you bribe them with or where you search). Now we're all settled in for the evening & relaxing a bit.

My other excitement right now is working on our local production of The Nutcracker. This entailed over 14 hours at Wharton Center wednesday, another 14 Friday, plus shows on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Add that to working at the store Saturday & Monday, a second Thanksgiving meal on Sunday night, and class Monday night. Please excuse me if you don't hear from me too much over the next few days.

Yesterday I luckily had some down time to knit. My socks are mere inches from being finished! (the first one at least)

Our break room for the weekend is actually pretty posh, we even have a small couch.

I also started a last minute entry for Norovember. Just a Silk Garden scarf. 2 rows in each of two colors in a 2x2 rib. This was great knitting for a family day. Almost mindless...

One last little thing. Our local knitting guild had a sale night this week. I was there representing my store & had a wonderful time! I also picked up a special little cone of yarn from another local shop.

It's Habu Silk Stainless Steel. This was on my list of cool yarns I want to use in my book. The problem now is finding some inspiration for a mens knit in this lace weight yarn... ( I already thought of lots of knits for me, but all way to feminine for the book) I guess it gets to sit out looking pretty for a while!

A Toast to the end of a long hard weekend & to a well earned day off!

So, as many of you know I had a hard weekend. I worked a bunch of 14+ hour days, had a fun bonus Thanksgiving dinner, and topped it off with a 5am wake up call this morning.

Nutcracker was fun. I will be looking forward to working it again next year. It's really nice to work in the theatre a few times a year. Nothings better to just give me a bit of energy (well, all but that early morning show today). The kids & parents really were just terrific & since I hadn't seen Nutcracker in probably 10+ years sitting through a few shows was a breeze.

I did find some knitting time.... My 'Karma's a Bitch' socks grew just a tad~

I had no scale with me at Wharton, so I got a bit nervous about how much yarn I was using. The longer sock is on stitch holders & I'll knit the second sock up to that point to see how yarn usage looks. I'm hoping to add about 2 inches of 1x1 ribbing to the length of the first sock.

I also started a new pair of socks today now that I can knit in something other than complete darkness (that second sock was knit completely backstage except for the heel!). Luckily Theresa released her Whiskers & Paw  Prints sock pattern.

This is a fun technical pattern filled with her terrific little details. I especially love the cat paw for the toe. I cast-on with the lovely Claudia's Handpainted sock yarn. I noticed in my swatch this weekend that this yarn simply doesn't pool. You'd need to knit a sock with like 130 stitches around to make this yarn pool. Totally cool! In fact each color is only used once per repeat, but it lasts for about 2/3 of a round. It's working really well for the stranded 'cat whisker' stitches on this sock.

Unfortunately I did have one tiny issue with the yarn. After knitting the picot cuff & 2 repeats of the stitch pattern I noticed my hands were completely purple! I still haven't gotten it completely scrubbed off. So, I reskeined the hanks & started washing...

A half dozen washings & a vinegar soak didn't do the trick, so into the microwave it went!

My sock got to just hang out for 10 minutes until the dye was exhausted~

Now, as a dyer I understand how difficult it is to get the dye exhausted in this saturated of a colorway. I doubt this is an issue in most of her yarns. If you ever have this sort of trouble in any wool (or any animal) based yarn it's really easy to solve. Soak for a while in a water and vinegar bath (I used about a half cup of vinegar in a sink of water). Then place in  a glass dish lightly covered with plastic wrap. Microwave in 2 minute intervals until the water at the bottom of the dish is clear. Then let it completely cool & rinse.

I love this sock pattern with this yarn. The picture at the top of the post shows how far I got tonight.

So, I have Tuesday off & I know I'm looking forward to a trip to Ikea and a bit of rest! Then time to get back to my absolutely wonderful routine.

We now once again have working Internet service!
I think the biggest news from this week is our new shelving unit for the store's back room. Previously we had a hodge podge of shelves that didn't hold boxes well, now I have a customized unit that holds at least 4 times as much as the old one did!

It took 2 days to get all those screws in and the shelves up, then I got down to filling them up. I wish we had taken a before picture, the difference is truly amazing.

My other really big news is a finished pair of 'Karma's a Bitch' knee socks. Scout dyed this yarn a month or two back & I've really enjoyed knitting these socks. I had about 500 yards & used all but the last yard or two on these socks. They were knit toe up with a short row heel on size 1 needles. Despite the fact that I have shapely legs I only increased 6 stitches on the legs. The amount of spring in the yarn makes these stay up quite well.

To keep in the vein of socks, I have been working on some Christmas Stockings.

This first one is a store bought stocking I customized for a customer. I don't usually show this sort of thing on the blog, but I'm really happy with how the duplicate stitch worked up.

I've also finally started knitting the next wave of our family Christmas stockings. My Grandma (the one who taught me how to knit) used to knit these for the family. Now I'm attempting to knit a few for new members of the family plus one old one. My dad lost his stocking before I was born & his mother wouldn't knit him a new one. I am knitting him one for Christmas, but like her, I'm only ever knitting him one. He looses it again & he's out of luck!  So, here's his new stocking with one of Grandma's. The eye's and nose will be duplicate stitched on later... (I also choose to photograph is with a different stocking than I based the pattern off of so it's not exactly the same as this one anyways)

Next, I had a new session of my thrummed mitten class start on Thursday night so I took advantage of some new yarn at the shop. This pair is knit in Rowan Tapestry with Camel/Silk roving!

To close things up I'm issuing a warning to make sure small children aren't looking at the screen.

My brother decided to break out his old Teddy Rupskin. He needed a bit of work to clean up the tape deck & get all the workings of the face going. Teddy needed some major surgery to get going again & I couldn't resist a few pictures.

Teddy was a pretty complex toy, especially for being 20 years old. Now we just need a new cable to connect Grummy, a Christmas hat for Teddy, and we get to listen to the wonderful Christmas story book.

Okay,
I'm I'm my Mom's laptop for a while while the main computer is being repaired. So, blogging will be happening!

I want to let you know about a couple of my new patterns.
First off,
My Streamers Hat that I designed for the SWTC Karaoke hat book is currently making it's way to your local yarn stores. You can find photos & more information on this post.
I hope to have copies by the end of the week.

Second,
I want to show off my Thrummed Sock Pattern I designed for the Tofutsie Sock Book.
It's called Tufted Tofutsies~

I had a mini photoshoot this weekend, but alas the photos are locked on the broken computer. Let me tell you though, the look great with the Danskos (and they are so warm!)

The Tofutsies sock yarn is amazing to knit with too. It has enough wool to be lofty & lovely to knit with, but the soysilk adds a wonderful gleam. All the colors should be arriving with the Hat book, I can't wait to choose the color of my next pair.

I'm leaving you with the view from my Dad's house Sunday night. He lives in this quirky old house on the river. He's the last house on the street & right next to his house is a cool round swimming pool in the park. His whole backyard overlooks the river & the power plant. To some it might be a big turn off, but the 3 smokestacks have always fascinated me since I was a kid, plus the power plant makes the most amazing reflections on the river at night.

Next time I need to do a photo shoot for a pattern I need to remember the wooded park, the round pool, and the amazing view of the river. Sometimes I forget that there really are beautiful places in Lansing.

The mighty Trent glooms over his prey. With great intent & stealth his moves in for the kill...

Poor little Ms. Mousie pincushion doesn't know what danger lies only feet away~

Will she escape or will it be off to Mousie death camp?

Trent & I noticed this afternoon that the supply of his favorite toy was running dangerously low. Due to the apparent shortage of fur mice with the all important rattle inside we stooped so low as to clean! A few mice here, a few more there, then we hit his favorite hiding hole.. under the oven. Over 50! little toy mice. At least I don't need to worry about buying any for a long time.

Tonight I finished a big project for me & here's one more quick photo before they get packed up in the morning & sent off to SWTC.

Now it's down to a few last minute Christmas gifts to finish & I can get knitting on my very own pair of Thrummed Socks (they are so warm... I need a pair to keep.)

Today is the Winter Solstice. The day when night is at it's longest and light begins to once again win the battle. I can sure tell you it's not winning today, but slowly it will return.
On this short gray winter's day it seems like a good time to look at a few year end projects & give a bit of an overlook of 2006...
My last bit of Christmas Knitting is officially finished; knit, ends tucked in, blocked, and even has my tag sewn in.

This spring I came up with a basic Double-knit scarf pattern. It features a 'color in your own pattern' chart & when it's released I'm planning to include sample charts for the 4 scarves I have/will knit from it. The 4th and final Double-knit scarf is now sketched out & will be the most complex of them all. I'm planning on using 3 or 4 colors (2 at a time) in a water garden design.
This scarf was knit in Alpaca with a Twist, Baby Alpaca, 2 balls each of white & black.
This particular scarf would be a great first double-knit scarf. There is very little switching of colors in one row. Only 2 of the 3 black key rows require you to switch the main color once in the row. The pattern is also really easy to memorize! Especially if you're familiar with the order of keys on a piano.
I'm also working away at my very own pair of Thrummed Socks...
It's Socks in a Box~

I'm using my own hand-dyed Superfine Merino Roving & Art Yarns UltraMerino 4.
The box is from Namaste Needles. They come with a big candle, but my circular needle & all my sock stuff fit in it much better (plus the candle can't be used while in the box)...

Okay, and if you'd like to see my answers to the Year in Review Meme just click for the extended post.