Extravayarnza

I've been participating on a few swaps on swapbot lately.
Today my mailman brought a fantastic package to me today.

Inside was not a treat for me, but I treat for Trent and Siouxsie.

Thank you Sherry!
I forgot they were in my bag when I got home and went to work on a few patterns I'm editing. I heard a big thump from the kitchen and found Trent on the floor with the dumped over bag, caught red pawed with the new toys. The strawberry is fantastic. I can't believe she took the time to sew on all those beads! It was worth it... for sure Trent's favorite so far. Siouxsie really likes the ball and the fluffy mouse. Trent also likes the pillow, but instead of playing with it he's carrying it around and licking it. How odd!

First up I guess it's now Tuesday.
Which makes my Saturday Sky really late, but the pictures were taken Saturday, so...

This was the very beginning of it getting unbearably hot and humid this weekend. It looked as if it was about to storm, but no... Soon it cleared up and we got direct sun added to the mix. It didn't start to let up till about 3 hours ago when severe thunder storms rolled through.

I also packaged up my KSKS package and sent it out today. I think there is a small chance my pal may know who I am, but  she's been nice and not mentioned it if she figured it out. Oh well, she'll know by Friday!

You can also see my new sock design. If I can finish my sample (and the test knitter also finishes hers) the pattern should also be ready next week.

I also picked out fabric for bags and got a couple sewn up. I had been searching for buttons with no luck. Tonight I had a brainstorm and checked out the scrap booking section of my wholesale catalogs. I found the cutest buttons! Most of these buttons are almost an inch across.


I'm so happy! These are the perfect buttons for the fabrics I'm using. I have this great black with multi pokadots that I'm lining with a cherry print. I think the apples (not really b&w) will be perfect.

Okay, and now for something completely different...
I'm upgrading the shop to use a shopping cart system. It should have been done yesterday, but I was caught off guard by typepad maintenance. I should have enough time Tuesday to finish the updating!
I learned how to make buttons in Photoshop. Check them out.

I apologize in advance for doing this on my blog. I hate to make this public, but I don't seem to be getting any help otherwise.

I'm searching for my Secret Pal 8 pal.
If you have emailed me I never got the emails. I have all my spam filters turned off, but if you have an odd email (such as an virgin.com email) sometimes they still get blocked.
It's 2 months into this thing and I'm starting to feel just a tad bit forgotten.
Please leave me a comment with your anonymous email so I can add it to my safe list. I just want to know that I haven't been forgotten.

Thank you!

Let’s get the allergy part out of the way. Are you allergic to any fibers?
Not that I know of. I don't do well with scratchy wools like Icelandic.

Do you prefer any fibers over others?
I do like softer fibers & natural fibers

Thinking back to Scout’s post about what funky means to you, post an image of something that you think is funky!
ok, these are both fabrics from repro fabrics...

Both funky, both really my style

Would you prefer funky yarn or a funky pattern?
I guess I'd a funky colored yarn and/or a really interesting pattern. Please no eyelash type yarns...

What are your favorite colors?
I'm fond of purples, greens (olive mostly), blues

What is your favorite piece of art?
I love Kandinsky, French Impressionists, Dada (especially LHOOQ, but mostly for the story behind the name...)

What colors would you never have up close to your pretty face?
I wouldn't want a lot of orange or yellow, but they would be fine in small amounts

Would you prefer an actual scarf or a cowl?
Probably a scarf, I do have a few moebius scarves that I'm fond off.

When you wear a scarf do you prefer a wider/shorter scarf or a thin/long scarf?
I do like a scarf that I can wrap once around my neck and still go down to my waist. I'd prefer a medium width (I probably wouldn't use a super skinny scarf)

What is the climate like where you live?
It gets really cold here in the winter. & winter is my favorite time of the year so I spend a lot of time in the cold.

Would you prefer a functional scarf (to keep you warm) or one just to funk-up your wardrobe?
functional scarf please

What else would you like your partner to know about you?
I've had a couple swap partners get intimidated and worry they won't make me happy... please don't feel that way. I'm quite happy to please. My two favorite scarves at the moment are pretty simple, ones out of Noro Silver Thaw in the Feather & Fan pattern, the other is a strand of Olive Mohair & a strand of wide ladder yarn in a seed stitch. There are a bunch of scarf patterns from iknititive that I'm excited to knit this winter!

I've felt for a while that I get the short end (too often the non-existent end) of the stick on quite a few swaps... Lately my luck has been changing. My Dye-o-rama, Magic Yarn Ball, Sockapaloooza, and One Skein have gone really well. (we won't go into Secret Pal right now...)

However my Knit Sock Kit Swap package arrived today and it totally kicks ass!

Thank you so much Bev!

I think the hardest situation in a swap is if your pretty sure who your pal is & you see what she's getting together and it's so perfect. You hope your right, but you don't want to get too attached in case your wrong. Luckily this time I was right.

Check out this bag & accessory case.

Lots of little accessories... Chibi, folding scissors, stitch markers, a super cute little hand bound booklet...
Plus a really neat pattern. The socks spell out my name in Morse Code! How cool is that?

Check out the great yarn that goes with (and the color coordinated card)

I already pre-drafted the fiber, it got so soft & the colors intensified when it was drafted. This is my first skein ever of Koigu. Yes really. It's quite lovely & I'm thinking yet another pair of wrist warmers is called for. I live in them all winter since my hands freeze but I need my fingers free to knit. I think I can get a pair from one skein.
Plus the green merino sock yarn is so soft. Now guilt may force me to finish up one of the 4 or 5 pairs of socks currently in progress so I can get knitting on this pair.

So Thank You Again Bev, everything is perfect & you hit my favorite colors head on. I couldn't have done better myself.

First Big Thank You goes to Debbie in Hawaii.
She sent me the Vasco De Gama Yarn Aboard II box!

I wasn't expecting this so early in the swap, I love being surprised...
The handdyed (By Debbie?) sock yarn is absolutely lovely. I have nothing like it in my stash right now & will look forward to knitting it this winter!

Thank You Debbie!

Next up, today brought a second package from Jennifer, blogless in Canada.
Jennifer, all those comments you left on the blog made me incredibly curious. You certainly didn't disappoint!

I totally love the pattern. It will be fun to knit a square shawl the traditional way rather than the backwards way my last one was. I've really been itching to knit a Shetland shawl the last couple of months so you really hit this one on the nose!
And The Yarn!
I think that is the thinnest yarn I've ever seen. 1000 yards in that tiny 20g skein! I think despite the label it blows right past cobweb and is easily in the gossamer range. My thoughts at the moment is to dye one skein light gray. The Shetland shawls I've been looking at knitting use 2 colors. I'm thinking of doing the center and the edging in natural and the border in the gray.
*Smile*
Thank You Jennifer!
I also went right to work at the "extras" in the package solving the game on the back of the smartie box (not the same as US smarties more like M&Ms or Sixlets) & diving into the stack of Origami paper.

Also: My Lace Swap package made it all the way to Rhonna in Norway. She has so many nice things to say & I'm happy she enjoyed the swap!

Other News
I'm so happy because sign up for my classes are going really well this fall.
Two classes & particularly looking forward to teaching are Beginning Crochet & Design your own Christmas Stocking.
I haven't taught crochet before, but I've gotten tons of compliments on the bag I designed for the class & if all goes well I'll be offering the pattern for sale. I'll also design a knit version of the bag...
I'd been looking for a good solution to color in the chart for the Stocking class & found it today.
Colored pencils are great and all, but they never erase well enough....until now!

These erase like a dream. The color just comes right up!
Since the theory for the Stocking class is I wrote out a basic Christmas stocking pattern then created a chart that goes along with the written instructions. Students decide how difficult they want the design to be... simply contrasting heel & toe, easy stripes, fair-isle, aran, or possibly even intarsia. Any way we will work out the design & help you get going.
For new designers (or any designer really...) these colored pencils might be a life saver.

Oh, and keep those comments coming to enter the drawing! I'll be drawing names tomorrow afternoon...

Okay, everyone the dukes are up in Sock Wars!

I've finished my first pair of Socks and first thing tomorrow they are off to their target. She's a dead man walking! Lucky for her she's in Belgium & will have a bit of time for the socks of death to reach her.

Vital Stats

Standard Socks Wars Sock Pattern

About 80g of DK weight yarn on size 4 needles (26" CPY magic loop)

I used a yarn I'd never really given much thought to before (possibly because it only ever came in 1 color and is now discontinued). Maggi Knits DK Tweed in color 1.

It's 100% machine washable wool & has lots of loft. It feels a lot like the 3ply CVM I spun up. In fact I had a friend who I was still searching for the right thing to knit for him & he saw these socks and really like them. I think I may knit him a pair out of this yarn too!

I also finished up my wrist warmers.

I think if you are all interested I may write up the pattern for these. They are so nice for walking out in the cold. The trick was to use light enough yarn that I could fold them over and not have them be too bulky. I worked in them all day today & didn't get them caught up on anything.

So, spinning has been high on my list lately. Especially spinning for socks.
I am joining a new knitalong called Twisted Knitters dye/spin/knit & my supplier just came out with a new superwash merino & tencel roving blend... got to order a ton of that!
I dyed all that superwash merino roving last night & got right to work spinning the first of 3 planned hanks of sock yarn.
This is my  first handspun sock yarn & possibly the thing I've spun that's made me the happiest.
Here's bobbin one lounging on a pillow of unspun roving..

And here's that roving almost completely turned into a second bobbin....

Do you see on the left where the bobbin is so full that it hardly  clears the flyer?
That's where I had my possibly stupid idea.
The idea itself isn't stupid... I have a feeling you all will think it's pretty good.
The fact that it may (hopefully) turn into yet another thing that eats up more time than I have to get it is the part that makes it stupid...

Let me lay it out~
How does a handspun sock yarn exchange sound?

I think it sounds very delicious.
I would have a beginning spinner and an 'expert' group so everyone could give it a go.

Please leave me a comment if you think I should go ahead & flesh out some rules and get a blog going....

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~

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.

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)

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!

Well...
I have some big news for those of you here in Lansing. You soon will be able to find Claudia's Handpaints, Regia Sock yarn, Nashua, and Rowan at my shop!!!
I can't even convey how happy this makes me. I've never even knit with any of these lines!
My big decision right now is whether I'm knitting a sweater out of Creative Focus worsted first or out of Rowan Tapestry. (Of course the first line of business will be knitting myself a pair of Regia Silk socks... the rep had to practically pry the poor sample ball out of my hands.)

BTW can I just say that having great reps is one of the things that makes running a yarn shop so much fun. As much as I liked our rep this morning for being honest & fun to work with but... all the ladies who stopped by on Tuesday morning said that Thom can come back any time. (I almost feel sorry for him, they spotted him from the car ) I totally agree with them but that's a whole other can of worms.

So, I still haven't got much to show for knitting, but I do have a swap questionnaire to answer. So here's yet another round of questions! This time for the Handspun Sock Yarn Swap.

Do you prefer sock yarn that is a solid color, variegated, or striping?
I can like each for a different thing... I love color work especially using a multicolor yarn with a solid. I love socks with all sorts of quirks and details, so sometimes a solid is called for or sometimes a multi can best show off the way the stitches are being distorted.

What are your favorite colors & are there any colors that you do not like?
Socks are pretty much an anything goes. I like purples and greens best. The only pair of socks I've knit that I don't love are my STR X-mas Rock sock (AKA the fugly socks). I guess combining fluorescent yellow, peach, red, and a deep green just isn't pleasing to my eye (despite this fact they happen to be the socks I'm wearing right now so, go figure)

How long have you been spinning & knitting?
I've been spinning on a drop spindle for around 4 years now, I've only had my wheel since August.
I learned how to knit in 4th grade & got really serious about it about 6 years ago.

Do you have any fiber allergies or preferences?
My only fiber allergy that may come into play for this swap is Angora. I can wear it, but not for socks. I'm also very allergic to acrylic, but I'm thinking there isn't to much of a chance you'll be spinning with that.
I only ask for something rather soft. I love wool, but things like Icelandic wool still make me itch.
Feel free to get creative with the fiber content if you wish.

Are you willing to hand wash your socks or are you a machine wash only knitter?
I'm steadily growing a 'hand wash only' collection of socks, so I'm happy either way.

Do you have any favorite candy or treats?
I love chocolate. Especially white & milk chocolate.

Anything else you’d like to share with your pal?
Have Fun!

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

Okay,
It's the time of year that I have to figure out a few things & provide a wish list for the family. To make it a bit easier to get it to them I'm posting it here. Feel free to peak if your interested....

A Big Thank You to my Secret Pal! You've once again come through with a fantastic package. I was so excited to unwrap the gifts.

Once again I totally love the yarn you sent. It looks really nice with the blue from the last box... I may see some colorwork in it's future.

This time the postman got a fair trade as my newest pair of socks got send on a bit of a vacation. The little hank in the corner of the picture is all the yarn I had left! Isn't the mini sock so cute?

My Dad's Christmas Stocking is just about done. I have to wait till Saturday to add a hanging loop & duplicate stitch on his name. This pattern is so hard to photograph because the face goes all the way around the stocking. But I hung it up with the others to try & give you an idea of how it looks~

Dad's is the first stocking to be knit completely in Wool rather than acrylic. It's all wool for all future stockings!

Lastly, you all got to see the storeroom renovation in the last couple of posts. The next major project at the shop is to reorganize the patterns. Were going to the system of having one of each pattern in the binders, then you find them in the filing cabinet to purchase (like getting a sewing pattern at JoAnns). If you stopped at the shop anytime in the last 3 days you most likely saw this view~

By the end of the day Wednesday all will once again be well in the world of patterns.

So, I needed a bit of a blog break... I had nothing to say for a few days, then I've just been so tired I just wanted to crawl in bed. Tomorrow I'm having an EKG to try to determine what, if anything, is wrong with my heart. I may have blood drawn too, just depends on how I'm feeling. I hate having blood drawn.

Anyways... I have one last installment of Christmas Stockings for the year. This weekend the 'Design your own Christmas Stocking class I taught finished up. Check out these awesome stockings we designed!

I also started up a class that's a hat pattern designed to use any size yarn with no gauge swatch & that's sized to fit as you go. I have knit myself so many hats that didn't fit. When I came up with the pattern for this hat I was just so pleased to finally have a hat that stayed on my head. I am currently working on refining the class notes & writing up the pattern.
The first hat was knit with 2 ball of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky~

The second one is knit with 2 hanks of Noro Silk Mountain for the brim & Alpaca w/ a Twist Highlander for the crown.

I've already started on a third hat with Socks That Rock Heavyweight, one of my students is using Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran, and another is using a worsted weight wool blend, so I think we've got a pretty good spread of gauges tested.

In other news, I received my Bottle Swap package today from the Sock of the Whenever group. My pal (I'm so sorry, I left the card at work & I can't remember your name) really overdid herself. She made me these amazing note cards & send some great spa soaps & lotions. I absolutely loved it!

As a last thought I'll leave you with a view of the amazing Banana bread I baked last night. I ran out of some ingredients, so I improvised a bit. I only had half the needed brown sugar, so I used regular sugar as a replacement. Then I added a few dashes of cinnamon, used 1/2 olive oil & 1/2 vegetable oil, then since I was a tad shy of the needed about of bananas I used a bit more milk. I don't know what did it, but the bread was so good. I think from now on I'm definitely using the cinnamon & the olive oil.

Okay, since this is post v.2 (thanks to a power outage) you're getting the short version of the store this time.
I've had basically no voice for 2 days now. Luckily I'm on the mend, with any luck I'll be able to teach my class tomorrow morning. (and do inventory all weekend) Thank goodness that I was finally in a position to take a sick day. Thursday I spend the whole day silently cursing the phone every time it rang and helping customers the best I could with head nods and pointing. The thing I feel really bad about is that Thursday night Trent kept sneaking on the table to get my chicken noodle soup & even going so far as to drink from my water glass. Now he's been sneezing all day. Ever see a cat sneeze? It's pretty funny, but I feel really bad that he's sick too.

So, what does a knitter do when she's sick & her defenses are down? Spin of course.

I spun up an entire 400 yd of sock yarn on Thursday!

This yarn is headed off to my HandSpun Sock Yarn Swap partner on Monday. It's from my new Superwash Merino & Tencel roving. I'm (Gesundheit! Trent) so in love with this yarn, I'm glad I dyed up 8oz so I can spin up a hank for myself. Actually I dyed up 4oz each of 2 different versions of the same colorway, same proportions but the colors were in a different order. Then I spun up random chunks, one bobbin from each version. That way if the colors ever lined up in plying they changed differently so that the final yarn is really random. I really like the final yarn (did I say that already?, old formula Nyquil rocks)

This morning afternoon I turned my attention to finishing up my Crown Mountain (Gesundheit!) Farms Sock Hop roving.

One bobbin down, the other's about 1/3 full.
BTW. I need to say Thank You! to my Secret Pal. She outdid herself again with a fun package of Sock Yarn & one of my favorite albums (one I'm very happy to now have on CD).

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I'm probably a bit of a yarn snob... I knit with alot of machine washable merinos, alpaca, silks, cashmere blends. I will knit with just about anything though. The only yarns I won't knit with are super scratchy wools & acrylic (I have a severe allergy to acrylic... lots of hives...)
2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
My circular needles are in a butter cookie tin, the double points & straight needles are in various glass containers on the mantle. I have a Yazzi case, but it's just to big to carry around, it's perfect for vacations though.
3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I've been knitting on & off since 4th grade. My Grandma B taught me on a rare visit from Jersey. I probably would consider myself an advanced knitter.
4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I do have an Amazon wish list and somewhere in the archives is a wish list.
5. What's your favorite scent?
I'm allergic to artificial frangrances, but I do enjoy a natural liloc or lavender
6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I love chocolate! Lots of chocolate
7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I spin, crochet, sew, paint, and dabble in Polymer clay
8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I listen to just about everything except rap or r&b. I love cajun music, jazz, blues, 80's music, & modern independant.
9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I love green, purple, brown, black (pretty much anything in the natural range plus purple is safe). I can't stand yellow or orange in big doses (can be nice as an accent)
10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Ummm.... I have 2 cats, Trent & Siouxsie Sioux. Trent's my bestest buddy in the whole world! Isn't he cute!

Robin & I took a very long walk today. I think it may have been upwards of 2 miles right at dusk. By the time the sun set (and we were still at least 1/2 a mile from home) it got quite blustery indeed & the temperature dropped about 15 degrees. I started to think it may start down pouring any moment. Luckily we made it home dry, if a little tussled from the wind, and relaxed on the couch for some knitting & a little Mythbusters. Robin loved tonight's episode, it was all about dog myths.

I'm working away at my sweater, it's not too much different from yesterday... I figured it was more interesting when Robin was helping show it off.

The bananas I picked up this weekend finally archived the perfect level of brown so I whipped up some banana bread. I am the Queen of banana bread. I basically use the recipe out of the Betty Crocker book. I don't use nuts (allergy) so I have a few other additions to zip it up. First, I use Olive Oil instead of regular vegetable oil. Then I add 1 ts