Quiddity

Socks and Horses

Not that the two necessarily go together, but I've been focused on both lately.  Recently, someone asked me how many pairs of socks I've finished since hitting 100 late last year.  Because I'm obsessive that way, and keep neat records of everything I knit, I know that this is my 110th pair.

• The yarn is Regia 4-ply "Atlantis Color" #4224, and was a gift from Claudia, who brought it to me straight from Germany.  Mittens tried to make it his own soon after I got it, but no harm was done, and I'm so happy with how great it looks as socks.  (That's socks, not Socks - the other cat.)  The Internet tells me that the colorway name is "perlmutt."  Hey Claudia, what does that mean???
• The pattern is "Beth's Double Mock Ribbing Socks," from the Mountain Colors pattern booklet "Knit Night Socks."  Everything in it looks like fun, and there is a nice mix of both lace and ribbed patterns.

As for horses, well, I am heading off to Colorado on Sunday to meet up with my best friend, who happens to live in Minneapolis.  Katie is the friend who knows where all the bodies are buried, and we always have a hilarious time, no matter what.  She suggested we take a trip, and somehow we ended up deciding on a dude ranch.  I don't know why that struck such a chord with us city gals, but we signed up and now are doomed to be in the saddle for a good part of three days next week.  There are other exciting activities at the ranch, but goodness knows if we'll be pain free long enough to enjoy them.  Also, there are no phones, cell service or televisions.  There is wi-fi, but I'm not taking my laptop, so the only thing happening for me on that front will be the ability to read my email via iPhone.  But I will have my camera, and there will be LOTS of pictures when I return. If I don't get back here before I go, have a great weekend.  I'll be posting again sometime around the 25th or 26th.  I've got my cowboy boots and hat, so off I go into the great equine unknown.  Hopefully, I'll come back in one piece!  LOL

Wow, You People Have A LOT of Sock Yarn!

That was really fun!  I hope you enjoyed visiting your stashes, big or little, and maybe finding some long lost yarn that has sparked inspiration.  Before I get to the contest winners, a little knitting stuff.

I recently traded some knitting books to Knit Witch for some of her beautiful llama yarn.  I think I came out the big winner in that transaction!

So soft!  I don't know what I'm going to knit with it yet, but there might be enough for a lace shawl.  Be sure to drop by Knit Witch's blog, she's holding a contest to celebrate her new yarn and fiber company.  Click the link under to the icon to check it out (there are some great prizes.)

Contest Link

I've had several projects on the needles for a while, one of which will be my 110th pair of socks.  Knitting so many socks means lots and lots of leftover sock yarn (because I don't knit from the toe up, according to several well-meaning friends.)  In a fit of, well something, I thought it might be interesting to see what making an afghan out of some of that yarn might be like, so I made one 9" block.

The process itself was fine.  Relaxing, even.  But the thought of having to sew all those little blocks together made me a bit queasy.  Maybe mitered squares would work better, then I could just build one off another.  Or maybe I should just toss all those bits into the recycling bin and call it a day.  Until I decide, the yarn will continue to rest in the attic.

Now, I suppose you want to know who won the contest, as well as how many skeins of sock yarn live in MY stash.  I decided there should be a winner for least sock yarn and most sock yarn (as if you really need more, but hey, it's sock yarn!)  Of course, the person who correctly guessed my number will win a prize, and then, just to be fair to everyone else, there will be a random drawing.  So here goes:

Least amount of sock yarn - there were three people who said they own only enough for two lonely pairs.  The random number generator gives the prize to blogless KRISTEN!

Largest sock yarn stash winner has to be ELIZABETH, who stunned us all with her record breaking number of 419 pairs.  Better get busy knitting, Elizabeth!

LA VERNA is the winner picked from all contest entries.  She has enough sock yarn to make 52 pairs, and now she can make one more. 

I loved seeing all the guesses as to how many socks I could knit with my stash, and was amazed when the fourth entry nailed it on the head.  Congratulations to DEE, who correctly guessed 95 pairs.  She's working with 70.5 pairs of her own.  Guess I'd better get busy knitting, myself.

Thanks, everyone, for playing along.  And keep an eye on my blog, because at some point in September, it will be time for the Annual Show Me Your Socks Contest.  I have a great idea for a theme, and for the first time, the contest will be sponsored by a wonderful yarn company.  Oooh, hand-dyed sock yarn! (And NO guesses in the comments as to who it is, please!!)

Holiday Weekend and.....CONTEST!

We had a nice, if mostly lazy, July 4th weekend.  On the 4th, Jim and I puttered around the house for most of the morning, and then walked over to a favorite place for lunch.  On the way, Jim spotted this beauty.

The Ace Hardware is next door to the restaurant, so we stopped on the way home and bought some little flowers for our front porch planters.  I had gotten some pretty yellow ones, but Jim apparently put too much fertilizer in one pot, and those all died.  These are the replacements.

Jim had no more than put them in than it started raining.  Fortunately, it didn't last and when it was time to walk into town for the fireworks, the sky was clear.  We met up with our son and his girlfriend, as well as ESC and her husband, and blogless Diana.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Sage, and then settled in to watch the pyrotechnics.  The show lasted for almost 30 minutes, and despite some debris hitting us in the head, it was a lot of fun. 

Saturday, Jim and I had planned to drive to the mountains, but the forecast wasn't so good, so we worked around the house for most of the day.  In the afternoon, we went out in search of cowboy boots, a necessity for my upcoming dude ranch trip.  The pair I bought has brown leather bottoms, and blue tops with white embroidery.  Sorry I forgot to take a photo, because they are very nice.  This week, I'm going to take a riding lesson.  Jim wisely suggested it might be better to be sore here than while on vacation, and I'm hoping to ride as much as possible between now and when I leave. 

Sunday, I went to Knitch for the weekly knitting group, and then Jim and I walked across the street to our neighbors for a party.  It was primarily for their baby's first birthday, but we enjoyed visiting with everyone, seeing the kids, eating pizza and cupcakes, and then coming home when the noise level got too loud.  All in all, it was a nice, relaxing weekend.

On the finished objects front, I have two.  First, some spinning.  The singles have been sitting on their bobbins for quite a while, but when Chickengoddess came over last Wednesday, I got to plying.  The result is 440 yds/7 ounces of about a dk weight wool. 

It's a bit more purple than my monitor shows, and is very soft and squishy.  I don't know what kind of wool it is, because the label didn't say.  It's a very rustic yarn, with a lot of white fiber among the purple.  I'm contemplating several shawl patterns for it.

I also finished the felted entrelac tote I was working on for several weeks.  After a rocky start, it became a very enjoyable project.  I don't know that I'll do much entrelac again, but I'm glad I learned the technique.

It isn't quite as vivid as my monitor shows, and still needs to have grommets attached around the top so that the drawstring can be threaded through.  It's a nice size, and should be good for carrying projects.  The bottom is very cool.

I also recently won a prize for donating to a good cause on Deb's blog.

 

Oooh, hand-dyed sock yarn! Isn't the color fabulous!  Thanks so much, Deb and Lora.

Now, the contest.  I'm been struggling to get my act together lately, and thought it would be fun to have a little summer contest.  And because I love giving away prizes, it will be very easy.  Here's the rules:

• Tell me how many PAIRS OF SOCKS you could knit from the sock yarn in your stash.  Be sure to count any that are on the needles.
• When the contest is over, I'll tell you how many I could knit with my stash.
• There will be ANOTHER PRIZE for the person who also guesses closest to how many that number is.

So, that's two numbers - yours and mine.  Leave your guesses by midnight U.S. eastern time on Friday, July 11th. 

And just because my husband was trying to show his mom recent photos of our cats, and because I haven't posted too many lately, here are Socks and Mittens.

Hanging out on the back of my chair, right before a huge crack of thunder scattered them.

Socks, looking moody.

And Socks engaging in some sleeping calisthenics.

   

 

 

Genetic Programming

So, the other day I was sitting here doing nothing more than cruising through the approximately eight zillion channels we have courtesy of satellite tv.  I stopped on the current movie rendition of "Charlotte's Web" because I hadn't seen it in the theater and wanted to find out if it was any good or not.  It's live action, except for Charlotte (the spider) with all the animals having appropriately cute voices and anthropomorphic attitudes.  Mittens was lounging on the back of my chair, but when he saw the rat, Templeton, he snapped to attention.  After checking out the action for awhile from the safety of the chair's arm, he then spent the next twenty minutes doing this.

He thought the sheep were pretty cool, too.

It was really funny to watch him, especially when the rat was moving around the screen.  He followed every movement, tail twitching and on high alert.  Jim says I should have taped the movie for him to enjoy again, but he'll just have to wait for it to come around the rotation.  Oh, and I enjoyed the movie, too.

Actually, Mittens spent an unusually large amount of time with me last week, because Socks was in the hospital for most of it.  On Monday last, he stopped eating, and by Wednesday evening was extremely sick.  He was in and out of the vet on Thursday, but went back in on Friday, and stayed until this Monday afternoon.  He's lots better now, and VERY glad to be home.  He won't let us out of his sight, and while he's still not eating all his food, is definitely on the mend.

Would that I could say that same for my knitting mojo.  While I did complete one project successfully (photos to follow in the next few days,) the sock I was working on got frogged from heel to cuff this evening.  I knew when only a few inches along that it wasn't going to fit me, but decided to ignore that and just kept knitting.  After finishing the gusset decreases, I tried it on.  Or rather, tried to try it on.  Darn thing wouldn't go over my heel!  I really like the pattern I was using, so will increase the number of stitches and try again.  But first, I might try something else, like the cable and bobble hat that's on my Mission Possible 2008 list.  Actually, I'm in pretty good shape with that, mostly due to what I'm NOT going to complete.  Here's my list.

1. Small penguin toy for my penguin loving son.  It's in time out because the little teeny tiny feet are making me NUTS!
2. Baby blanket.  The knitting was done long ago, and now I just need to sew on a fabric backing.  Except my sewing machine is not working.  I think it's a simple fix, but I haven't taken time to look.
3. Baby cashmerino socks.  What on earth was I thinking??  I do not want cashmerino socks.  The yarn was put into the yarn swap box that's circulating around Atlanta. (Otherwise known as "The Great Atlanta Yarn Redistribution Project.")
4. Bird's Foot Scarf. FINISHED
5. Sweater for my mom.  Well, obviously, not doing that.  Yarn was sold.
6. Shawl with black handspun.  Still waiting to start
7. Wool hat.  FINISHED
8. Another wool hat.  FINISHED
9. Braid & bobble hat.  More or less started.  Mostly less.
10. Kilt socks for my son.  Also waiting to start
11. Paws To Remember Shawl.  This is one of those "it was a better idea in the making than the doing" things.  It was supposed to be knit with yarn specially dyed for the project, but once started, the variegation was too much for the lace, so I frogged it.  The yarn is back in stash.
12. Felted entrelac bag.  FINISHED!  This is my latest finished project.  Photos soon.

Looks like I might complete what can be completed by the end of the year.  If I can get my knitting mojo working again, that is.

If I don't make it back with finished project photos beforehand, have a wonderful July 4th day and weekend, if you celebrate it.  I'm really looking forward to the fireworks!

Meme

Ok, here I go again.  Famous Steve tagged me, and I'm not one to ignore Famous Steve.

The Rules: Rules are posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people and posts their names. Then the player goes to each of the “named” people’s blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. If you’ve been tagged, you do the same, letting the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer. Your answer, of course, is the answer to the following questions. Here we go!

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

In June of 1998, I was relaxing before starting graduate school in Fall.  I attended the University of Georgia, and two years later, came out with a Masters in Social Work.  Then I had to go to work. For a while.  A little while.  Then I retired.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today?

1. Call the pest control company.  I just saw an ENORMOUS bug on the ceiling.  He was unceremoniously ushered outside with a broom.  ICK!
2. Call Vanguard.  Still fussing with financial stuff from my mom.
3. Go to the local antique shop to see if anyone there wants to buy about 30 pounds of costume jewelry.  My mom, she loved her jewelry.  Me, not so much.
4. Backup my computer to the external hard drive.  I have to wait until August to buy my Mac and this laptop is getting very weird.  It ate Photoshop 6 the other day and won't spit it out.
5. Print out some knitting patterns I have saved.  See #4.

The rules say I have to tag 5 people now, but I'm not going to. If you want to do it, leave a message in the comments so I can find your answers.  If not, well then, just be that way.  Heh.

3. Snacks I enjoy: Starbucks Double Chocolate Chip Frappuchino Blended Cream - Grande.  Popcorn. Potato chips.  Apples (see, I'm healthy sometimes.) Ice Cream.

4. Places I’ve lived: Danville, Illinois; Chicago, Illinois; Loveland, Colorado; Pelham, New York; Atlanta and Decatur, Georgia.

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Give half the money to charities that benefit children, both here and abroad.  Renovate and pay off my house.  Ditto for the house my son rents from us.  Buy a new car. But Jim a fancy motorcycle.  Take a LONG trip.  Save the rest for later.

Title? I Got Nothin'

Time flies when you are having fun, I guess.  Here's the recap.

A week ago Saturday, Jim and I took a walk to one of our favorite lunch places.  Along the way, we saw lots of critters.  There was a very dead squirrel, caught in the entrance to a drain pipe.  I'll spare you the photo.  (Yes, I did take a picture.  Shut up!)  There was a cat sitting high up in a window, and one with cute orange and black markings who eyed us from his driveway.  And then there was this very long guy in a creek.

Many types of snakes are common around here, and identification isn't always easy, but I believe this is a mole king snake.  If you know otherwise, speak up.  He was at least four feet long, and seemed to be enjoying swimming in the creek. 

Even though we are still deep in a drought, we do get showers from time to time, and we had just sat down when the skies opened.  Jim spotted this woodpecker on the tree and rushed out to snap its picture.

I hated having to break it to him.  It's plastic.  Hahahahahaha! 

On the way home, we stopped by the community garden to see if anything was blooming.  Because of the drought and subsequent watering ban, many of the vegetable garden plots were empty, but a few intrepid gardeners had persevered.  We saw some lovely tall sunflowers and thriving squash plants, among others.  There were also quite a few flowers, if not so many as last year.  And quite pretty after their sudden bath.

Our route home goes through a small wooded area, part of an urban forest adjacent to the stream where we found the snake.  Last year, we saw a beautiful butterfly resting on the railing of the bridge over the creek.  This time, we were startled by a huge pair of wings passing overhead.  Our eyes finally found their owner, a magnificent barred owl high in the tall trees.

It's amazing how large these birds are in flight.  We watched him for quite a while, but he finally left after being harassed by some angry mockingbirds.  It was a nice afternoon.  I'm always so thrilled to find such wonderful wildlife in such a populated area. 

I've been busy with my knitting, too.  Here are three of my latest projects.  First, two chemo caps for my cousin, Pam.  She's been through a lot lately.  She had a double mastectomy a few months ago, and then almost immediately a further surgery to try to get more of the cancer.  However, subsequent scans and tests have determined there is no discernible cancer in her body at all.  She's taking chemo just to be sure, and is now at the point where she's had to shave her head.  I'm hoping these little caps make her feel a bit better.

The pattern is Shedir, from the special breast cancer edition of Knitty.  Both are made from Rowan Calmer, in Drift and Kiwi.  This very soft blend of cotton and acrylic should be soothing on her tender head.  The pattern says you should only need one ball, but I ran out about eight rows from the finish of the second hat, even though I left out one of the eight row repeats.  In the future, I'll make sure to have two balls on hand, as I had to mail order the second one.

My other knit is also a hat, but this one is for me.

This is the Sunflower Tam from the book, "Knitting Nature" by Norah Gaughan.  The yarn is Skye Tweed from Classic Elite.  It's a very rustic and somewhat scratchy yarn, but was perfect for this project.  In fact, I have enough left to make another hat, although most likely not this one again.

Last Wednesday, the adorable Chickengoddess came over for a little lunch and a lot of spinning.  We had a great time!  I definitely don't spin enough, and having a buddy really helps the process along.  She also very generously gave me this.

   

This amazing roving is the very same, down to the dyelot, as that which the Yarn Harlot spun, donated as a prize to a worthy cause, and which I then won.  I knit it into a very fine scarf, and Alma thought it would be fun to see what I could make of the identical roving.  Stay tuned for that!

As you know, this has not been the best year for me.  I really need a vacation, but since Jim has just started a new job, that's not going to happen for us until fall.  But I can go away, and that's just what I'm going to do!  My BFF, Katie, moved to Minneapolis last fall, and after enduring a long Midwestern winter, she's been ready to get out of town for quite a while.  After pondering the beach (boring and normal) and New York City (loud and expensive,) we settled on something much more exciting.  A DUDE RANCH!  Yup, I'm heading for the hills of Colorado in July.  We'll be ridin' and ropin' and watchin' hunky cowboys in chaps.  What's not to love?  Hopefully, my quickly aging body will be able to take being in the saddle, but if not, rumor has it they have an antique bowling alley on the property.  Set 'em up, boys!  Yee Haw!!!

Mittens says, "Wake me when you get back."

Good Grief!

I can't believe it's been over ten days since I last posted.  I'm afraid I'm going to lose all my readers if I don't become a better blogger.  It seems that lately, nothing is getting done on quite a few fronts, much less not blogging.  I don't know why, but it's been very difficult getting things started, much less finishing them.  It might be the heat - it's been so hot and dry here for the last couple of weeks that everything seems to take twice the effort.  It might also be the letdown following my mom's passing.  But whatever it is, I wish it would go away, because I'm usually a very organized person and this is beginning to make me a little nuts. 

So, let's play catch-up!  Two Saturdays ago, I went downtown to this year's edition of the Indie Craft Experience. It had to be the hottest day of the year, and I lasted only about an hour.  It must have been horrible for the vendors, and I hope they all had a great day.  I know I did, despite the heat.  This year, they had the booths much closer together, which made browsing a lot easier.  There seemed to be a lot of sewn items, particularly totes and bags, and many jewelers.  I love pottery, and was disappointed to find very little being offered compared to last year.  Because I'm in a destashing phase (more on that later,) I tried to focus on gifts, rather than things for me.  Some of what I bought will have to remain a secret, but here's a bit of what came home with me.

One of the booths contained a potter with out of the ordinary goods - lots of different types of animals, all about 1" or so high.  I bought a sheep for my desk herd, a penguin for my son and a cat for his girlfriend.

         

Before I started knitting again, I was BIG into rubber stamping.  I won't say my rubber stamp stash rivals my yarn one, but it's close.  As part of my destashing, I'm going to get rid of (read SELL) about 90% of my stamp collection (and if you are interested, let me know.)  Despite that, I couldn't resist these little things - and have the perfect project in mind for them.

         

Another craft I've enjoyed in the past, albeit in a limited way, is stitchery.  I'm thinking maybe a little muslin and embroidery floss might be better suited to our current temperatures.  Maybe this book of transfers will spark my creativity.

A trip to a craft fair wouldn't be complete without the purchase of some lovely handmade soap. 

There weren't many fiber offerings, either, but I was excited to find some lovely roving.

   

There isn't much of any of these, but the small amounts will be perfect for trying out the new WooLee Winder I bought for my Joy!  And just to show how unmotivated I am, it's been in the house for three days and I have yet to take it out of the box.  See, told you it's bad!

When last I posted, I was bemoaning my spinning misadventures. The tangled yarn is still waiting to be sorted out, but I washed and whacked the overplied stuff and this is what I got (it's slightly less neon in person.)

It started out as Louet Northern Lights pencil roving, and while it's still a bit tight, I think it will knit up okay.  I have another ball of this roving, in a different color, and I'll take more care in the plying so I get a nice, soft yarn.

My further stash reduction plans include a big yarn/book sale.  I'm going to start by selling it from my car's trunk, so if you in town and interested, let me know and you can take a look.  There is a big bin of yarn, and a box of books - all in new or like new condition.  And the prices can't be beat.  Depending on how this goes, I'll list what's left on the blog in a couple of weeks.  I find that my things are starting to weigh me down, and it's really time to start living lighter.  To that end, I'm also cleaning out the attic, a job that would go a lot faster if it would ever cool off outside! 

As an incentive to blog more regularly, I'm saving some actual finished projects for the next post, which I promise will come a lot sooner than another ten days.  Thanks for hanging in there with me.  Oh yeah, and I'll tell you about the dude ranch.     

Coming Off the Rails

Lately, it seems like my projects are out to get me.  To wit:

1. How Not To Knit A Sweater

• Choose perfect short-sleeve cardigan pattern
• Decide to use yarn that has already been listed for sale because you don't like the color.  After all, it's the same stuff called for in the pattern, and maybe the color won't be so bad after all, right?  Right!? (It's white.  What could go wrong?)
• Knit gauge swatch
• Start first sleeve
• Look at sleeve over and over again, trying not to hate it because of the color
• Knit more of sleeve
• Still hate color
• Admit defeat, frog, and put yarn back in bag.  It WILL be sold! (Only one ball was used in this endeavor.  The rest are totally new.)
• Knit gauge swatch with completely different yarn.
• Wash swatch
• Start sleeve with smaller needle
• Knit sleeve almost to completion before checking gauge again.
• Frog sleeve.
• Stuff pattern deep into knitting bag and yarn in back of closet.
• End of that project!

1. How Not To Spin Yarn.  Part One

• Spin lovely roving into over twisted singles
• Double ply
• Badly.  In fact, parts of it aren't plied at all
• Run it back through spinning wheel
• MUCH better
• Soak, whack, hang to dry
• Oops, not quite out of reach of cat
• Close bathroom door
• Put dry yarn on swift
• Discover that neatly tied yarn is not so neatly tied
• Yarn left to sit on bed, pending untangling.  Drat!

    3.  How Not To Spin Yarn. Part Two

• Spin lovely yarn into slightly overtwisted singles
• Decide to Navajo ply
• Read directions on how to Navajo ply
• Ignore parts that say "SLOWLY"
• Wind very pretty, but insanely overtwisted, yarn onto niddy-noddy
• Walk away from scene of crime

    4. How Not To Line A Bag

• Spend hours knitting mitered square tote bag, in the round, seamlessly.  See?

• (It is awaiting delivery of leather handles)
• Go to quilt store and buy a yard of freakishly expensive, but absolutely perfect fabric
• Do not look up how to make a lining, just wing it
• Two hours later, wad up fabric and shove it in drawer
• You like the bag better unlined anyway.

Even though the lining was a disaster, this bag is absolutely fabulous.  Nell figured out a very cool way to make it seamless by having you knit the mitered squares in the round.  It took me a while to make sense of it, because I have a big problem with spacial relationships, but it was worth straining my brain.  All of you, on the other hand, would have no problem at all with this pattern, and I highly recommend you give it a try.  The yarn is Noro Kureyon.  I'm going to use some braided leather handles on it.  Very cool!

And because 90 degree heat is perfect for handling wool yarn, I knit and felted something else.

This little bag (about 10.5" x 6") is from a kit I bought when visiting Boston last year.  It's a Bully Woolies Knit Knit in a Box Striped Zip Bag.  Even though it's not listed in the pattern, I believe the yarn is Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride.  It was a lot of fun to knit, and despite earlier meltdowns, I didn't have any problems at all seaming or felting it.  No way am I using it any time soon, but it will be nice to have this fall and winter.

And on a completely non-knitting note, while waiting for a friend the other day, some ducks ambled over from a nearby pond.  Clearly, they were looking for a handout.  Too bad I didn't have any duck treats in my purse.  (I'll have to remember to restock my bag.)

This guy was definitely the head duck.

He had quite a harem, too.  These ladies are just two of many.

 

Bringing up the rear was this chap, who was doing his best to get the rest of the crowd to notice him - with no success.  Clearly, one of his parents was NOT a duck.  Or at least not the kind of duck that hangs around the pond.  Poor guy, he seemed to be having a bad day, too. 

On the plus side, the lace shawl I started last week seems to be going well, as are the sock begun this evening.  But given how things have been going, I'd better knock wood.  A couple of times! 

Have a great weekend.

To Knit or Not To Knit

Two Fridays ago, the Chickengoddess kidnapped me.  Benignly, of course.  Off we went to the wilds of Alpharetta to visit Only Ewe and Cotton Too, and our friend Katey, who works there.  Now Katey is a fabulous designer and yarn dyer, but she also turned out to be one spiffy sales person.  We hadn't been in the store two minutes, and she began enticing us with soft alpaca, beautiful hand-dyes, luscious roving, and all kinds of other fibery things.  And believe me, for a little shop, there was a lot to tempt us!  With a little help from Katey, who kept shoving yarn into my hands, I came home with these.

Sheep Shop hand-dyed.  Really, really soft.

Paca-Peds alpaca sock yarn.  Mmmmm, alpaca.

8 oz. of Coopworth roving.

And 8 oz. of roving from a type of sheep I hadn't heard of before.  And which name I neglect to write down.  Katie?  Help!

The only thing I missed out on buying was some of Katey's beautiful sock yarn, but that was only because the stock was low and there wasn't a color that grabbed me.  Which means Chickengoddess and I need to take another road trip.  If you hadn't been to this shop, you really should pay a visit.  But if you value your checkbook, maybe you'd better make sure Katey isn't there.  (just kidding!)

I've had my Ashford Traveller wheel for about two years now.  The poor thing hasn't gotten as much use as it deserves, and while it came with a Woo-Lee winder, I didn't take the time to put it on.  I thought it would be better to learn to spin first, and figure out the gizmo later.  Now that I have the Joy, the Traveller is going to be set up for plying, and the Woo-Lee winder is perfect for that, so on it went.  Before plying, I thought it would be prudent to see how it worked, so I pulled out some roving and started spinning.  Wow!  What a great invention.  Here's the result of my first try.

This was Corridale pencil roving that I bought at Knitch.  Pencil roving is so much fun to spin with, especially for this beginner.  I don't remember how much there was, but somewhere between 6 - 8 oz, all of which fit on the one bobbin.  I don't have anything specific in mind for it, but plan to Navajo ply.  Using the Woo-Lee winder, of course.

And here's my first bobbin spun on the Joy.  Again, this is from pencil roving.

There is 2 oz on this bobbin, and I have another 2 oz hank of roving.  Again, no idea what it will become, but it helped me begin to get used to the new wheel.  I'm really glad I bought the Joy.  It's so easy to use, and will be much better to take to spinning guild than the bigger Traveller. 

I've been knitting, too, and will show my latest finished project in a day or so.  I'm also working on a mystery project.  This one is not for my cousin, but for a friend.  Surprisingly, I'm actually knitting for others - something which should happen a lot more around here.  I mean, really, how many more pairs of socks do I need????

One thing I'm not good at is planning ahead, but in this case, I've made an exception to that rule.  I'm going to RHINEBECK!!!  Yup, plane tickets, hotel room, and rental car all reserved and paid for.  It's so exciting.  Now, I just have to figure out what sweater I'm going to knit.  After all, I can't show up without my Rhinbeck Sweater.

For The Birds

Sorry to be missing for so long, but I've been having Photoshop issues.  They aren't resolved, but an interim fix has finally been put in place.  There's a lot to show, and it just didn't feel right to post without pictures, so here goes.

Thursday was such a pretty day, that I walked into town for a little Starbuck's treat.  Hot in the sun, it was lovely and cool in the shade of the big trees on the town square.  I headed for one of the picnic tables, but as I set my stuff down, I noticed this little guy.

I don't know if he fell out of the tree, was just resting after a tiring flight, or if he was sick, but the poor thing looked so sad, and never moved so much as a single feather.  I took a couple of pictures, and then moved to another table to see if mom would show up.  She did, but didn't stay long.  I don't know if he ever decided to take flight or not, but as long as I was around, he stayed right there.  On the other hand, one of his siblings came looking for a handout.

This little one was a pretty wobbly flier, but made it across the lawn to land right at my feet.  Sorry, no food today!

It was a beautiful week, mostly very cool and sunny.  Much of my time was spent on the front porch, enjoying the new furniture.  Thereby, lots of knitting (and spinning!) got done.

• Bias Scarf from Handmaiden "Rumple," a 100% silk boucle.  The more I knit, the softer it got.  It's basically a rectangular shawl, about 14"x65", that biases a bit because of the stitch pattern.  And nothing could be more basic than the pattern.  This was so fast and easy that I'm having a hard time not starting another one. 

Here's a closeup.

Next - socks.

• Woven Stitch from "Sensational Knitted Socks."  Lots of fun to knit.
• Trekking XXL, colorway 144

And finally, one sock.

• Thuja from Knitty.
• Crystal Palace "Maizy," 82% corn fiber, 18% nylon elastic.  "Earth" colorway. 

This is an interesting yarn.  I was a bit dubious about the elastic part, because I've knit with Fixation and really don't like it.  While the yarn is stretchy, it doesn't take any effort to achieve an even gauge and it flows easier through your hands.  It is a bit heavier than most sock yarns, but not as heavy as Fixation.  The fabric is somewhat suede-like, and while the yarn is a bit splitty, it's not annoyingly so.  This would be a good choice for summer socks.  There's only one, because it is a sample sock for Knitch.

I spun up two bobbins of yarn last week, as well.  After having my Ashford Traveller for two years, I finally put the WooLee Winder on it.  Wow!  I love how much easier it made spinning, how much it holds, and how evenly the bobbin fills.  There is also a full bobbin spun on the Joy, and I think it won't be much longer before I buy a WooLee Winder for that wheel as well.  There aren't any photos yet, but look for them in my next post.

On Saturday, Jim and I walked into town for the annual Arts Festival.  Purchases were made, much browsing done, and we had a great time.  Once again, although we didn't eat it, Alligator On The Stick was available.  The Festival wouldn't be the same without it.

Next time, I'll also tell the tale of my kidnapping by The Chickengoddess last week.  Yarn and Starbuck's were involved, so there are no regrets.  Wait 'til you see what followed me home!   Happy weekend, everyone.  I leave you with a pretty flower from the community garden.