Koigu?

A brief history. Nothing important, LOL.

Before I moved to Orangeville, I had attended one or two Creative Needlework Festivals in Toronto. Back then, around 1996/97, there was not much knitting on the internet. I was a member of About.com (Delphi back then) and spent a lot of time on the knitting forum---although not as much time as I spend on the computer now! We moved to O'ville late '98; I didn't go to the Festival that fall as we got married on Thanksgiving weekend, LOL. In O'ville, there wasn't much knitting going on either. You could get yarn at Wal-Mart and Zellers, and in a gift/art supply shop downtown. In March of 99, I saw an ad in the newspaper for a talk at a museum on the history of knitting/socks, and then weekly sock knitting classes. I thought "Why would I want to knit socks?" I had never used double pointed needles, and I"m not sure if I had knitted circularly at the time. Eager to meet other knitters, I went to the talk, and signed up for the classes. I learned about 'sock yarn' as opposed to regular yarn. We had to buy it from the teacher, who was also a weaver and got it from her supplier (people say it's like crack, LOL).



The classes were held in a little area of the county museum. It was a pretty drive up there, about 25 minutes. You could take either boring old Highway 10, or scenic but deadly Airport Rd/County Rd 18. I usually went up on Highway 10 (it was Sat. morning, LOL) and back on Airport Rd. If you go here and watch the "Main Gallery" show, you'll see a bit area between the log houses (yes, there are real log homes INSIDE the museum). This bright area is a large window which over looks Airport Rd and the farms. The view isn't spectacular; it's just a farm with a cedar woodlot, actually rather dreary in the spring. But I chose two yarns that looked like that farm---a grey/moss marl and a solid moss. Got started, knitted for a while on the 2x2 ribbing and found out the next week I was knitting inside out. LOL. Easily fixed. I finished the first sock and was so impressed with myself! I even knit the second one. The instructor handed out an old Patons/Baldwin/Beehive instruction sheet on grafting the toe, and I've never looked back.

Before the classes ended, I bought some more of the yarn, Schoeller-Esslinger Fortissima 6 ply to 'use up' the leftover yarn from these socks. A few months later, the teacher offered a few knit nights in her home and I bought a few more balls. I think this was the official start of stashing (as opposed to making the Kaffe Fasset sweaters when I bought lots of yarn but for a specific project that I then actually made).

I remember going to the Creative Needlework Festival in October 2000. I had signed up for my first classes that summer, never even thinking about the fact I had a newborn. On the Friday I took Huey and all the 'stuff' (this was pre-sling days when I was still hesitant on nursing in public--I knew I could, but it was physically awkward for me). The first class was something with Lucy Neatby. There were about 12 women around a table, in a large room that had several other classes going on in different corners (one was Lily Chin, one was a sewing class). Huey had slept all the way down of course, and woke up for the class. He was awake and active, but not crying or anything. Part way through, an 'official' came in and asked me to leave! I don't recall seeing 'no babies' in the booklet, but I didn't have it anymore. It was in there next time!

I spent the rest of the time shopping. One of the first booths was always Koigu. (It is possible I saw it before this time, at an earlier show). I bought two skeins, one cream, one brown/moss/purple. I wanted to make Rob socks. I had tried before, with some Kroy, but he didn't like them. The Koigu was $11/skein back then....it seemed a fortune to me, but there wasn't much available in 'specialty' sock yarn! There was also Shelridge Farm, and I don't remember any other ones. Everyone seemed surprised that a) I knit, and b) I knit socks. They weren't quite the hot item they are now. I popped into the afternoon class I was supposed to take, and got the handouts.

The next day, Saturday, Huey stayed home and I went to my other class. It was about how to be a knitting teacher. At one point, a woman mentioned that some stupid lady had brought her baby to a class and thankfully she got asked to leave. I spoke up and said that stupid lady was me and I spoke with the instructor after and she was not the one who complained, and hadn't minded the baby....she was more upset about being in one room with other classes going on (especially Lily Chin's bright yellow sweater). It was interesting, to say the least.

Anyway. The Koigu. I played with it for a long time. I also got a mini skein from one of the classes and thought it matched, but it turned out to be slightly different (I think Koigu has way too many 'colours' that are very similar). I ended up with many mini skeins, getting the two multi colours mixed up. I learned that I didn't want anything stranded on the bottom of my foot, and I felt that a sock yarn blend would be better for the foot. At the time, that meant sewing the sole to the top. I decided on Kroy for the sole, using leftover yarn from the first pair of socks I made for Rob (that he didn't like and I now wear). I needed more. Bought more, found out it's 4ply and I had been using 3 ply. I think I kept the heel turn and toes in 4 ply. THe guage for the sole was different than the top of the foot. A simple project took forever (I don't know. It certainly was not instant gratification. I wanted perfection.) At some point I decided they would be for me instead of Rob when he kept insisting he doesn't like wool socks. Finally, I ended up with these:

Why do my ankles always look so thick in hand knit socks? I really don't think they are that thick in real life! Anyway. There is no stretch to these socks, and they are a pain to get on. Once on, they feel great, but I never wear them cause they are so unstretchy. They also got slightly felted. I put them on yesterday when I was so cold, but realized soon that the sole was still good old Kroy, and while warmer than Wal-Mart socks, not as warm as 100% wool. Also, I was surprised to find out the heels are wearing really thin---the same coloured/yarn Kroy socks that I made Rob that I now wear quite a bit are not that worn!

So, I actually do not have a pair of 100% wool socks yet! The Shelridge Farm wool I used finally last year, they accidentally got a little felted too and I gave them to my cousin's daughter. I guess I better hurry up and finish the entrelac socks in the STR. Of course, because I'm so cold, I'm working on a pair of felted clogs. They are going good and I guarantee you that next week when it warms up again---that's when they are being felted and dried! LOL.

I find social history of knitting very interesting. Have I ever posted why/how I learned to knit? Also, knitting trends are interesting. When I started knitting socks, people were like 'Why?' and there was very little sock yarn available, mostly boring standards like Kroy. The increase in popularity of socks can be directly linked to the Internet, and probably has a lot to do with http://www.knitty.com/ too. You can see changes in sock pattern history, from lace, to plain but self-striping/hand dyed striping, to the current popularity of semi-solids paired with twisted stitches and large patterns taking the whole sock to show. THe number of yarn dyers specializing in sock yarns is phenomenal! There is a new interest in sock architecture too which is fabulous, although I do feel a little sorry for a new sock knitter trying to choose what to do! Back then, there was heel flap or short row heels, star toe or wedge toe, and all were done top down. That was it. Only a few sock books (but lots of old vintage patterns around), and the designs in some of them look quite old now, LOL. My nine years of sock knitting has been interesting, but I really wish I had more socks in my drawer to reflect this history!!!

Sorry....

I had no intentions of being 'away' for so long. I'm at the computer a lot, but I don't actually sit down much, LOL. Meg and I are still figuring out this 'home alone' thing and although we have some routines, each day is very different! I was also, I'll admit, hoping for some more comments/entries!! I know more than three people have read the blog!
Well, my random number generator (Meg and a cup) picked #2, which was ikkinlala. I don't know ANYTHING about you!! LOL. I think Marie needs to knit with some handpainted/multi-coloured yarn sometime soon, LOL, and Linda, anytime you want something, you just call me up and come shopping in my basement, LOL. So, Ikkinlala, send me an email tracykm at yahoo dot com so I can get your info!
I have nothing new to show. I'm working on a shawl. It's getting slow. My February Lady Sweater needs to be totally frogged. My entrelac socks got ripped back a bit, re-knit, and have just been waiting for when I need brainless work but not in the dark (it's short row heel time). I started Enchanting, from Fiddlesticks knitting, and it's been rough going. My Spring Thaw socks are frozen. There's a pile of little things that need buttons, etc. I can't remember the last time I actually finished something, other than the blankets I've been doing on the LK150. Oh yeah, another one to show, needs an edging though, but need more yarn for that. Sigh. And, to top it off, I'm FREEZING, so I've started a pair of Fiber Trends clogs for myself.

Now, I'm off to change from 75% wool socks to 100% wool socks (do I have some?) to see if that helps any. Seriously. I am so cold and stiff. But, I'm going to walk to get the kids---we have done it EVERY day so far, I'm so proud!!

Some Forgotten Projects

Recently my MIL asked if I had any of the cute 'flower' hats I had made a few years ago. I didn't have any left that were small enough for a newborn (and that Meg hadn't worn). But I took some pictures of a couple other outfits to show her. Then I realized that they were from before this blog started so I haven't shared them with you! I tried selling these in craft shows, fall 2003 and 2004.

I'm not sure if I knew about the Baby Surprise Jacket at that time, but I did have the pattern for the similiar Baby Surplice Jacket. The one thing that bothers me with these sweaters is the shoulder seams/top of arms is a little stiff compared to the sweater. Even though I do a kitchener grafting, it's still stitches to rows so I don't think there's anyway to avoid it.

Simple rectangular 'dishcloth' blanket with way too many ends to weave in.
Another EZ sweater that is currently very popular, the February Baby Sweater. I don't like how the ribbons are done; if anyone has suggestions for sewing on ribbons, I'd love to hear it.
I thought the bonnet looked a little big for a newborn although I'm sure I followed a pattern. But, maybe not:
What a cute little shrug it makes for an almost 3 year old!
AND! This is post #300!!! So, I think I will have a little giveaway. Last year at the K-W Knitter's Fair I scooped up one little skein of some handpainted Artisan NZ Merino Laceweight. It's so soft and pretty, but I think I'd like to pass it on to someone else who might appreciate it! Leave me a comment, about anything! and I'll draw a name. Contest closes Monday morning or afternoon, or whenever I get back to the blog, but not before Monday morning :)

Knitivity

The Internet has been a great way to connect with people from all over the world, and right in your own backyard too. Back in the summer, I wrote about test knitting some hat patterns on the LK150 for a guy named "Ray" who has a website; www.knitivity.com. Ray is an evacuee from Hurricane Katrina, and relocated to Houston, where he totally rebuilt his life. He started his own yarn dyeing business. He dyes beautiful yarns, and does custom orders too.

Well, Ray was pretty hard hit from Hurricane Ike. No power, no Internet, etc. He can't dye wool, he can't take orders, he can't process orders. Hence, he can't make money either. If you're even slightly thinking of ordering gorgeous yarn in the next month or so, please consider him. Right now he's asking people to please be patient if you have ordered yarn, and to give him a couple weeks to clean up the damage and get everything back in order. But after that, please support this hardworking fiber loving fellow!

I also have his address, if you'd like to send donations of non-perishable foods that don't need power to cook them. I'm not sure what qualifies, but let me know if you'd like it.

We're very blessed in Southern Ontario; we don't get weather (often) that can cause such catastrophic events in people's lives. So we got some rain last weekend. At least we still have our house and family.

Fustration

Ever have one of those projects that should be easy, but stupid things keep screwing up?

I was so thrilled with the tuck stitch baby blanket I just finished (even though the edging had me whipped for a bit). Then I moved on and did a whole bunch of different dishcloths to use up stash. I think I made 13, and gave my mom a couple. Then, I decided to use up more stash, and make a boy baby blanket. I choose a tuck pattern from a book and got started.

Right off, there was a problem. The pattern had three rows of the Main Colour, and two rows of Contrast Colour. Well....it's no different in machine knitting than in handknitting. The MC is never going to be at the right end. I could lift the carriage and move it to the correct end, but I didn't know if this would mess anything up with the tuck. So, I changed the pattern to have four rows MC, two rows CC. Now it didn't look at all like the picture, but it was 'okay'. It definitely was taking longer than the original blanket, but still tolerable.

Until.....I was walking up the driveway and noticed that something looked 'off'.Can you see it? When working at the machine, you're looking at the purl side, and particularly in tuck stitches, there is not a lot of definition (especially when using yarns that don't have a high contrast). It's not very noticeable, but it just looked wrong somehow.

In about the middle of this picture, you can see where the colour pattern is off from the rest. It would actually have looked neat if the entire blanket was like that, but not one stripe!So, I ripped it off, and re-wound the yarn. It's Bernat Baby Co-ordinates, so big pull skeins---to big to wind on my winder. So now I'm dealing with having to pull of enough yarn for each row.

I decided to try the simple tuck pattern I used for that girly blanket, but do three rows MC, two rows CC, and just pick up the carriage and move it to the other end when needed. I wanted the odd number of MC rows because 1) I have more blue than white and 2) I thought it would make it more interesting.

More interesting? Not nearly enough so to justify the extra brain power needed. Indeed, after about 6", I looked carefully at the pattern that formed, and found that there didn't seem to be one. There should have been if I had just been repeating things correctly. I found the mistake row, and decided I didn't want to fix it, I ripped again!

Took a break, and made the longies from the Briggs & Little from the K-W fair. Started the blue and white baby blanket AGAIN after school yesterday. This time, the same simple tuck as the girl blanket, but 4 rows MC, 2 rows CC. It seems to be going great, even if the pattern is a little boring. Sometimes boring is the winner.

Yarn High

If you see me on Facebook, you would have read my status last week as "Selling off Baby Items to get Cash for K-W" or something. Didn't sell off as much that week as I would have liked, but the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter's Fair was still great.

They made some changes, notably---using two ballrooms. The aisles were HUGE, so you're less tempted to jump back and forth, and to be more orderly, but the booths were still the same size, so they tended to get just as crowded as before. But, if you wanted to stand in the large aisle to chat with someone, there was plenty of room. It made it harder to run into friends, but I still spotted a few people I knew.

I got there just before 9:30, and by the time I organized myself, the line up was almost gone. I started with the room on the left. The second booth was "The Sweet Sheep". Now, at the end of the show last year, I ran into Zehava and Sharon, who took me and Cindy to that booth. Nice stuff, but I was at the end of my budget. I've look a few times at the website, but I'm not a big online shopper. Nor do I pay full price for many things :)

Well. Wouldn't you know. I spotted their "Boo Boo Bin" right away. Oh boy.

Can you see the tag? Superwash BFL (BlueFacedLeicester), 800yds, $20! But, you say, it was in the Boo Boo Bin. I couldn't find the booboo at first, but upon closer examining:I am thinking that I will cut out those bits as I come to them, and splice the yarn. There's about 14 really bad strands. A small annoyance, but worth it to me.

These are superwash Merino, 370yd, 430yds and 420yds. One of them feels a little different than the others.I assume this is the 'flaw' in the rosey skein (other than it's skimpier yardage). However, I think that once knitted, it will look fine. Definitely fine for $5. I could not find flaws in the green or the brown, although I could see knots and I heard the lady say some skeins had 'too many knots'.More superwash Merino. The pink is bright and a little thicker than the sock yarn. Their flaws?The ties on the green one were too tight, resulting in bits of bright green. It goes quite deep, but I think it will be fine when knitted. Visual interest.The bright pink has some blue speckles through one section. It might look fine knitted, or maybe I should add some more blue speckles? Before or after knitting? I'm thinking a hat or mitts for me :)

I'm excited to finally have some of The Sweet Sheep yarn, but after I found out she's from Oshawa (Rob's hometown), I felt bad that I didn't buy anything full price!

One yarn I really wanted to get is the new Noro Kuryeon sock yarn. Early on (right after The Sweet Sheep), I found the Purple Purl's booth, and they had it for $11 (an earlier booth had it 'on sale' for $18). The colours are all crazy bright mixes, or boring men colours. So I went crazy.

The bottom is 1375yds of Merino Lace by Skacel. It came in a creamy white too, and I thought maybe I'd buy it instead, and dye it myself. However, the thought of skeining up 1375 yds of yarn.....and at $16.95.....The hard part was choosing the colours. There was a gorgeous green and purples mix, but I choose this one as I've really been in a pink streak lately, but it also has brownish colours.

Every year I see a 'booth' with bags and bags of Briggs & Little, all on the floor. People always seemed excited at the price, but I never looked. But now that I've been making longies, I knew I had to stop and check it out. I bought 6 skeins of Regal, which the lady said was softer than the other one there. The pinkish coloured ones are not very soft compared to the other 4 skeins. But, they were only $1.50 each! It's 272yds, 20sts/4.5mm. I'm making a pair of XL longies for Meg, and I'm almost done and will have to dip into the second skein for a bit. The lilac, purple and whites are softer, but were $3 each! I'm planning to dye the whites. Maybe Meg and I will do it together one day. Would that make her more eager to wear them? LOL. It's definately not Merino wool, but it has a nice heathery effect, and feels like it will be a good, sturdy yarn. Great for a rugged sweater or mitts (but not a hat). There is even a bit of VM in it still.

I had really wanted to spend my money on books this time. But still, every time I looked at the sticker, I just couldn't get my wallet out. Not even for the softcover version of Victorian Lace Today. I REALLY want that book! There were other books I'd really like too, some I might be able to get through the Crafter's Choice Book Club, but others are too old. It was just 'easier' to grab $65 of booboo skeins, than two $25-$30 books.

But I did find, at the Shelridge Farm booth, many patterns by Cookie A. I got three that I really wanted, so that's cool.

After the show (I actually left the hall at 11:50 after running into Sharon), I had a long lunch and touchy feeling session in the back of my truck :) Then I went to Value Village and bought a variety of stuff for the girls, and making diapers. I asked for old polyester (satin) clothes on Freecycle, but apparently no one in Orangeville wore polyester. Then I went to Lens Mill and got some small size circulars. And one ball of sock yarn. Plain white. To dye. Someday.

There is one ball of yarn that I got but didn't show. More on it later.

Knot Much Happening

Absolutely nothing new to show. Nada. Zip. Zilch. I'm knitting away, every day, but nothing is finished, and somethings are going backwards. So, instead, I'll leave you with this:At first glance, you might think it's from LionBrand. But no! The Madonna lookalike is sporting a hat 'designed' by Teva Durham, featuring a new yarn by her, and offered free (the pattern, not the yarn) at http://www.tahkistacycharles.com/iwkf08/ . I didn't know we needed free patterns for ugliness. Teva's a great designer, a little edgy, but this?! Ick.

A Finished Blanket!

Oh, how I love the LK150! I decided to make a baby blanket using that giant skein of Bernat Baby Soft, that I wrote about previously. In an issue of KnitWords magazine I have, there is a pattern for a tuck stitch baby blanket for the mid-gauge, using James Brett Marble. I think the Marble is a tad thicker, so I used T6. Wow, is this a fast way to make a blanket!!!! I think it took less than 2 hours!!

There wasn't the obvious colour patterning that there was on the swatch, but that's okay. It took 247grams and I have 378grams left. That was all as one skein. Yes, it was big! After washing, this blanket is SO soft. Much softer than the Baby Soft I bought two years ago, that doesn't have the same sheen either.

This is what the tuck stitch looks like on the knit side. It was every other stitch, every other row. Very easy with the needle selector card and the Russell levers.

Of course, the down side is that you usually have to add an edging afterwards, to stop the curling. This REALLY slows me down! The pattern had an edging I've never done, little triangles that get attached as you make them.

This is the purl side, where the unknit stitches get caught up.

Often, the purl side is considered the 'right' side with tuck stitch.

Well, when I first tried the pattern, I could NOT get them to work. Then we went away, and when we got back, I asked for help on the Yahoo machineknitting group. Someone saved the day and I realized I needed to cast off every triangle and then cast on those stitches again. D'OH!

One day Meg wanted to go in her pool and hot tub, so I decided to bring the LK150 to the deck. Well, by the time I got it set up, and fixed the error I had made (with all the short rows in each triangle, it took some time to get back on track).....she was done in the pool. So, the next day, seeing the portable table was in the garage after our camping trip, I set it up as a knitting station. Even when I was sitting out there handknitting, there wasn't anyplace to set things down, or leave them. But I got the machine set up, and finished off the edging while my kids played outside. Gotta love multi-tasking!

Some Knitting Going On!

I do have some knitting happening! I started new projects for our trip, and things are going smoothly. I'm still working on the Green Mystery Project for my mom, but I'm concerned about length vs yarn supply. Getting the dark cloud that was a bathing suit coverup off my Singer 327, and then making my mom's shawl has restored my machine knitting mojo. I don't often show pictures of WIP, but I don't have much finished, LOL.

Last year at the Spinrite sale, I bought a 'tangled' skein of what I thought was Bernat Baby Soft, a DK yarn. It's shinier than the other Baby Soft that I have used. I thought it might be Bernat Satin, but it doesn't match the colourways. It does match one for Baby Soft though. It took me an hour or two to wind it up. Not bad work for $3 or whatever.

Inspired by the great shawl, I swatched some punchcard designs. Variegated Bernat yarns are notorious for creating their own patterns as you knit, which can be neat if the item has no shaping, and you're very careful about how you join the next ball of yarn. This time, I had a huge ball (and some smaller ones; there were a few knots I cut out) so I wasn't worried about that. I sort of liked the pattern, but felt that the yarn was a bit much for the Singer 327 when doing tuck, and the tuck sort of blurs the pattern.

I decided to use a 'real' machine knitting pattern (although I'm substituting yarn, LOL), and whipped up a blanket on the LK150 in oh, an hour! I'm working on the edging right now.

I bought some Trekking XXL last year....I blogged about it back then. I decided to finally use it, as I wanted a brainless project. I started them toe up, 64st on 2.5mm. But after a little while, I wasn't enjoying them too much. The yarn felt like twine. They were TOO mindless. LOL. I decided to make them up on the Singer 327. The first attempt was too large, the second one I thought was perfect, but maybe a touch too long. I thought they might shrink a little in the wash, even though my online MK friends said they wouldn't. I handknit the ribbing.

After washing, they did get nice and soft. However, after wearing them a few times, the foot is definitely too long. And, I noticed that the ribbing of one sock is slightly less than the other! So, I can ripped them out and re-knit them on the machine quickly, now that I have the numbers worked out....or I can reknit them by hand now that the yarn is soft and I have no other brainless project on the go! LOL. What do YOU vote for?

And finally. The STR saga continues. I cast on for Eunny Jang's Entrelac Socks. I used the needles I had been using before, which are bigger than the pattern calls for. The pattern calls for 72 sts. Now, I KNEW that 72 sts on my needles would be too big. So I increased to 66 because I knew I needed a multiple of 6 for the entrelac. But then I started thinking (because I don't do it continually) about the split for the shortrow heel. Wouldn't I need an even number of blocks top and bottom? 66/6=11; 11/2=headache. So I increased a few more sts, found a 2mm circular in my bag that I had just bought at Spinrite (I was working on these while on our recent trip), and got going on the entrelac. It's going along pretty well, although I don't know whether to slip the first st, or knit it, of each block.

But as the sock grew...guess what I saw? Pooling!!! The colours have very short runs...maybe 10sts each, so there's no way to get each block having it's own colour. Nor would it be a gradual shift of colour up the sock, like those people using Noro's sock yarn. But what has happened is that there is a diagonal pattern going on, almost obscuring the back-and-forth of the basket weave. Totally weird in a good way, LOL. I'm NOT ripping these out. I think there's enough happening between the entrelac and the pooling that I will still be happy!

I Finished Some Things!

Last year, two women that I know through the Internet (and one I met briefly) had still births. One was at about 6-7 months, the other one was full term. When the first woman announced her angel baby, I had just gotten started using the Singer 327 and said I'd knit a blanket to donate to a local hospital. The knit side and crochet edging.

The blanket took hardly any time to make....but doing something to the edges to stop the curling?.....15 months?! Okay, it took me about a week.

The purl side, which is usually considered the 'right' side with a tuck stitch pattern.

Over last summer, I made a couple tank tops, somewhat successful. Then I started the big white shawl to take on our cruise. Once I had that finished, I started a bathing suit cover up. I knew right away I wouldn't have it done before the cruise. After the cruise I was too sick, then it was Christmas...........I finally decided recently to get it finished. I worked really hard for a few weeks and made progress, but I needed another break. Once I had finished a big section and it was off the machine, I couldn't wait to knit something.

Then my mother phoned and talked about being freezing while waiting at a hospital for a pre-op appointment for my Dad. A few days later I saw a lightbulb....I could knit up a quick, lacey shawl using a tuck lace stitch. I took photos of all my cone yarn and had Mom pick out a couple---none of which I wanted to use, LOL. I did some swatching with a possible yarn, but after remembering some http://www.elann.com/ laceweight marinating in the stash.....almost 6000 yards of it.....This is Singer Card 3, every other needle out of work, 1L out of work, 1R in work (opposite to what the manual showed to do). I really liked it when it was weighted down/stretched on the machine.

I noticed after a bit that one needle latch didn't seem to be working properly. I had to constantly watch it and correct the issue when I could. Then there were two near fatal incidents where I learned to re-set a punchcard!

I like both the knit side:and the purl side: I did nothing special to the edges. I used 93grams, or almost 1200 yds of Elann Peruvian Baby Lace Merino. It's as light as a feather. The colour is "Parchment" I think, a soft creamy colour, and combined with the errors, gives a vintage feel. I swatched it to be 21" but ended up pinning it out to 19" wide and about 8ft long.
I draped it around myself for awhile, petting it, stretching and playing with it. Being so light, it can be bunched up skinny like a scarf, or spread like a stole. If Mom's not careful, she might discover it stolen..... ;) This would be a great project to use up some coned mystery yarns I have.....now that I know how to do it, it should take only a few hours to make one! (It took me one evening + one morning to swatch, and the afternoon and evening to knit, then I blocked it out around 11pm. MANY thanks to Rob for taking care of the kids and ordering pizza so I could concentrate; I couldn't have gotten it done so quickly without him!).

Lucky Yarn

The other night, after I successfully wound up the Sea Silk on my tempermental 'cone' winder, I tried to wind the STR so I could get re-started on the entrelac version. I could not get it to wind, and I spent HOURS untangelling the yarn. Finally, I decided to try a different yarn to see if it would wind. I was beginning to think that the winder had an attitude and would only do specialty yarn. I got some plain old worsted acrylic, and figured out in minutes that the issue had been operator error! And no, I had NOT drunk that beer....although by the time I took the picture I was really craving one! Back to the STR, and it went fine, although I don't really like the 'cones' this

winder makes, once you take out the center tube. It's okay if you leave the tube in though. It's nice to be able to wind slower and more in control than the electric winder, but when beer bottles get enlisted as my 'helper'....

Buzz!!

Back when I was in university and studying music, I had to have one year in choir. I was scared! to audition and put it off as long as I could, because then he couldn't say no, LOL. I really enjoy choir, but sing only with a piano and others with me! One song we sang was written for traditional SATB harmony, but the only words were 'buzz'. It was a homage to the North American mosquito, and I think it ended with us slapping our arms. It was actually a difficult song to sing!

Anyhow. Back to the Socks That Rock. I had been searching for a pattern for STR lightweight; most that I liked said 'mediumweight' or were too patterned. I found one I thought I could do "Drunken Bees". The day I dropped the apple juice on my toe, back in February, I printed it up and took it with me to the ER. I got started, but found out after the ribbing, at about row 3 of the pattern, that it would NOT work with my STR. That's when I switched to the ribbing only I showed recently.

I was still intrigued by the Drunken Bees. I haven't done socks like that---twisted and travelling stitches. I decided to give them a try using some of my endless stash of Kroy 3 ply.

I started them either the first weekend in June, or just before then (I know because the lifeline I put in the Sea Silk scarf that I just showed, was a piece of the Kroy, and I know I did that the first weekend in June when we went to my parents'). Gosh, my ankle/foot look quite wide with that extra wide heel flap!

The first sock started out interesting. Then I got a little tired of having to refer to the chart so frequently. I started suffering a different version of 'Second Sock Syndrome"....I couldn't wait to START the second sock, LOL. So....I decided to alter the pattern to mainly ribbing as it got closer to the toe on the first one:The one of the right is the first one I made. That colour is horrifically wrong. It's a dark olive/mossy green. The heel flap is wider than normal, meaning that there were fewer gusset sts to decrease and it looks odd to me. And even though I tried them on, it still looks like I didn't make the heel flap long enough (a pet peeve of mine).

Just as I was finishing, a post came up on Freecycle for sock blockers. She said they were man's size, but I thought they might work for me, but not quite, they are definitely too long in the foot:They weren't washed/wetted for this photo, and they really need a good block to show the pattern. But they are done, and I have been wearing them as my feet get very cold with the air conditioning on! Wool socks really make a difference!

PS: Thanks "Steel Breeze" for the advice with the labels. It seems to have worked and I'm in the process of going back and fixing all the old posts!

Adding Labels

I used to add labels to all my posts, but I have a problem. Say I put sewing and knitting in one post. In the label box, I put "Sewing; Knitting". It shows on the posts as being ONE label, not two. In the example on the create posts page, it does show separating them with a , so I tried that and it changed the label to something I didn't want. How do I put two separate labels on a post?

Sea Silk Sigh

The green thread is a life line I put in, the first weekend in June, when I decided to morph the Montego Bay scarf into something a little more interesting. It started out okay, but then I got to a tricky row. And so it sat until I could look at the chart and figure things out. It went from being a boring but brainless project to needing a chart and brain cells and still....I lost interest. I'm not easy to please, am I?
I looked at the Diamond Fantasy scarf/shawl some more. Then I looked at Ravelry and saw how many people made it in Sea Silk, the yardage of one skein is more than the scarf requirements, but less than the shawl. The YarnHarlot made one in the scarf size that was more like a shawl. Being short as well....

I got out my Royal 'cone' winder and gave it another try. This stuff will NOT wind on my little electric ball winder, it's way too slippery. The cone winder did a great job, although once the toilet paper tube comes out it goes a little funny, LOL.

I still have to order the pattern, but at least I have a plan. For now....