New Socks

Friday, August 31, 2007

Well those socks that I started over on 3's didn't fit either. I am trying one more time on 2's with a stretchier yarn and knitting looser. We'll see. I think I'm just not meant to knit these socks. OR I could go down to 1.5's and add stitches...

Anyway I cast on for my other Monkey sock. I need to finish the pair. I don't know why I waited so long, I love this pattern. I guess there are just too many other fun things to knit.

I also started my twisted flower socks. They are in louet gems, color willow. I wasn't sure about that at first, the pattern wasn't showing up much, but then I got further and it was fine. I am now almost done with the cuff, it went faster than I thought it would. I already tried this on too take this pic, so I know these are going to fit really well. I ordered MORE yarn from the most recent loopy sneak up. I didn't mean too...I got on there and saw there were wooden sock blockers and had to get those. There was also more Dream in Color, and Seacoast, and the newish Shi Bui. So I ordered those. Sky Blue in the DIC, Raspberries in the Seacoast, and Orchid in the Shi Bui. I had a 25 dollar credit so it didn't cost too much, but I really shouldn't have. See what yarn diets do to me??? I crash so badly.

This past week my dad has been visiting. He came over for my cousin Brandy's wedding and has been here since. Which reminds me I never told about the wedding! Ok well the wedding was average but I guess some crazy stuff happened later. The wedding party was staying at the place next door and they had moved all the stuff over there. They were being loud so someone called the cops and the cops showed up to kick them out of the hotel. They agreed to leave but as you can imagine my cousin wasn't very happy. At some point in this, her mom, my aunt, was stepping on her dress. So Brandy pushed her off and said something like, " Mom, you're on my dress." Well get this. The cops arrested her for domestic violence! Insane. They were just pissy I guess because she was mouthing off to them. Anyway the whole thing is stupid. She managed to still make her honeymoon but will have to deal with all that when she gets back.

So that's the story. It's been nice to visit with my dad though, I don't see him much. On Thursday I took the kids to see him for most of the day. We have this thing in Spokane they do every year called Pig Out in the Park. So that's what I did anyway (mmmm crepes!). We had a fun time walking around and stuff. There's a carousel there and my dad took nick on it. He loved it! We also fed the ducks/seagulls/geese but no pics of that. Oh yea and here's a sign that was posted at the place my dad was staying at. Thought that was entertaining.This is one of our does, chillin out behind our house waiting to be fed. That's what those wooden troughs are for. We feed them just about every day. Some of them are quite tame. Isn't she pretty?
Well I guess that's the updates for now. I'm still just knitting and spinning along!

More roving!

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Ok so the rest of my roving showed up today. Here are some pics. It's from Copperpot on etsy, and they are gorgeous! I'm quickly gaining experience with the spinning and it's going well. I have spun quite a bit today and the more practice the better! See how sparkly they are???This is the last of my treasures that I ordered, I went a little crazy there for a bit. I was just so inspired by my wheel. Here's an update pic of my bobbin. This is my pink merino and it's spinning up really well! Very thin. I'm not sure exactly how much is there since the white is below it, but I will have to guess when I spin onto another bobbin to have some to ply.On a sad note, the sock I showed you yesterday, well it was too small to fit over my fat foot. Ok well my foot isn't that fat, but somehow it didn't fit. So it's been frogged and I'm trying over again on size three's. I'm a little worried that it might be too big now, but we'll see. I'll try it on when I get through at least a repeat. Hopefully it fits.

Houston we are good to go!

Monday, August 27, 2007

So I took my wheel in today, to Paradise Fibers, and Bill the owner checked it out all over. He said that after talking with me that he expected a much older wheel. Apparently some people bring in these ancient ones that are in no way use-able. Anyway the good news is it's working just the way it is. He said he thinks that a previous owner left in in the sun or something which warped the wood a bit. But it's nothing serious. It's not going to interfere in my spinning. And that would be why it looks like it's wobbling I guess. Anyway, I've been getting used to it and starting to really catch on. Once I get going I can spin for a long time. It's only when my laceweight breaks that I have trouble. I'm still perfecting my joins. With my spindle it wasn't an issue, but I'm working on it. My merino has been too slippery yet, so I'm using the fiber that Lori gave me with the wheel and it's working out well. It's very long staple and sticks to itself well. So it's good practice fiber. Here is a picture of what I've spun so far. You can see some thicker spots there on the left, but for the most part it's pretty thin. I love this soooo much. Also when I do use my merino I get a much more consistent thickness because it's much easier to draft. I can't wait till I am good enough to use my pretty roving! Ooooh which reminds me, here's that roving I bought the other day. I'm tempted to go buy the rest of it too....Isn't it friggen drop dead gorgeous??? I have some more on the way from Copperpot. In celebration of the wheel. I'll show you when it gets here! I still have two other rovings to spin from her too. I just don't want to waste my pretty rovings by not being good enough yet, ya know? But I'm anxious to spin them. Oooh boy, another addiction...

Today after getting my wheel checked I spent a couple hours hanging out with my dad. It's nice to have him in town, we don't often get to talk. Usually when he visits it's only for a few days and he comes out here one day to see the kids, and that lasts maybe two hours. So we hung out in his hotel room and just chatted about whatever. He's coming out in the morning to see the babies, and then I'm taking them in to town on Thursday to see him again, and we'll go to the park downtown. There's a carousel and he likes to take them on it.

I started a new pair of socks, the pattern is Zephyr. Melissa and I are doing them together. I like them but my yarn-overs keep disappearing. I'm debating frogging to knit the stitches around them through the back loop...it's seriously bugging me that much. Anyway it's a super fun and easy pattern. The first pic is more accurate color, the second one shows off the pattern.I'm also going to start my twisted flower socks. I'm excited about those, I just know I'm going to need to concentrate on them. I also have plans for quite a few other sock patterns, including Pembrokeshire, Hedera, Cablenet, Mad Color Weave, Clessidra, Anastasia, Pomatomus, Snowflake Lace, the Seduction socks from IK, and not to mention that I have a second monkey to knit...I don't know why I've put it off, it's such a fun pattern. Maybe because I'm debating frogging and knitting on smaller needles. They would fit better if I did...

I wonder if I need more sock yarn... ;)

Packages!

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Today I got up and tried to make it to the post office before they closed. I didn't make it, so I was unable to mail the two yarn swap packages that I really needed to mail. Ugh, Monday I will. I did get some things in the mail though. The lady let me get my boxes since she was there still. I got 4 ounces of roving, which I forgot to take a pic of. I will later. I also got a package from my other swap pal, for the getstitchy one. Pixie sent me some awesome stuff! She musta been reading my blog. ;)I got a very large hank of very pretty green sock yarn, which is super soft. A little box of chocolate. Some Bath and Body Works lotion and waterless hand cleanser foam in Cucumber Melon. Annnnd the Lace Style book I wanted! I was so surprised. I seriously had it in my hands to buy yesterday and got the other book instead. Thank you so much Pixie!

Also, wheel update. I've gotten some great tips from a whole group of people. I figured out how to adjust the thing to line up the other speeds with the wheel. Unfortunately the wheel started to wobble really bad. On monday it's going in to Paradise Fibers, where Bill the owner will inspect it for me. Hopefully it's fixable or I'm going to be calling the woman I bought it from...

My cousins wedding was today. It was fine, tiring with both kids and hubby had to work so no help there. But my dad was there and the whole rest of the family helped me out too at the reception. Nick twisted his ankle though, and is having a little trouble walking on it. If it's not better by tomorrow we'll take him in, but it's not really swollen or anything. So we'll see.

Ok so other than that, not much else to report!

My new baby!!!

Friday, August 24, 2007

Here it is! I got it yesterday but I didn't have time to post about it. It's an Ashford Traditional with an updated three speed flyer. I'm doing ok on it so far. It's very different from the spindle, but also so much better! I seriously love it. If I could only figure everything out...
Here are the pics, ignore the mess, I swear I'm cleaning!
The flyer:
Here's the back:
The front:
So in other news, my Spiralling socks are finally finished! Great easy pattern! I need to block them, but unfortunately I don't have any sock blockers...I was going to buy some from The Loopy Ewe but they sold out too fast...darn it!
Today I went browsing in the book store, I meant to get a sock book, but instead I came home with this:
It's Romantic Hand Knits by Anne Modesitt and I bought it mainly because I fell in love with this:
There are some other really cute things in it too. Here are pics of my favorites.And these ones would look really cute with maybe a few personal modifications.
Hmmm what else. Tomorrow is my cousins wedding. I found shoes today for my dress, because I have NO dress shoes. So I had to get some, and had an impossible time of it. I'm happy though because my dad is coming out for the wedding from Massachusetts. So it will be nice to see him.

I am going to start some new socks now that I'm done with those spirally ones. Melissa and I are doing these Zephyr socks. I love them, still not sure what yarn I'm using...