No News...

General update on my life can be found here.

On the Crafting front:

I'm plotting several knitting projects, all of which are gorgeous and perfect and charming and completely doable... because they are currently in the 'theoretical' stage that comes well before the actual 'planning' stage, and eons before the fun 'going insane in the Local Yarn Store' stage, and (blessedly) light years before the 'flinging self prostrate on the floor and pitching a fit because there is NO WAY that this #@&# thing is ever going to get finished before the end of the century' stage.

This fog of happy delusion is not the least bit dissipated by the fact that I already have two projects on the needles that are currently at the fit-pitching stage.

One is a scarf intended for my sister, made of a handspun yarn that is getting a bit ragged, having been completely knit up and then completely frogged TWICE. I do not seem able to admit to the obvious fact that there is not enough yarn there for a scarf, and I will either have to add some complimentary commercial yarn to the project or scrap the entire thing and instead knit up little tiny scarves for my sister's birds. The purchase of commercial yarn and a thorough re-design is of course the logical choice.

I'm trying to figure out whether there is enough yarn in my handspun skein to make some teensy matching beak-warmers.

My other project is an afghan intended for my aunt and uncle. I am at the stage where I am supposed to pick up 121 stitches for the edging at the top of the blanket. I have picked up 148, ripped back, picked up 89, ripped back, picked up 113, ripped back, picked up 134, ripped back.

Now, of course any sane person would have admitted defeat and divided up the edge into marked sections by at least that 89 stitch fiasco. But not me. I am made of thicker sterner stuff. It takes at least four abject failures before I cry 'uncle!' and admit that running headlong into a brick wall is not the only way to get out of a building...

Maybe there's a reason I'm not rich and famous by now. It's just possible that I'm not always as practical as I could be.

Home From the Hills

My, what a wonderful two weeks I have had. The first was spent in beautiful South Dakota with my lovely husband, and it was everything I could have hoped for. You can find a photojournal with commentary HERE. Don't you wish you could have been with us? I would, if I were you - heck, I wish I was there with us again!

After that, I spent much of another week at a retreat - I will be reporting on that on the other blog, once I've recovered my strength and fortitude. But it was educational and heartwarming and tender and bittersweet, and everything else that a retreat should be. I will be forever grateful to the wonderful women who run the Infinite Boundaries retreats, and to all the generous folks who give generously to the Breast Cancer Recovery organization.

And last, but not least, while I was in SD, I designed and knit up this exuberant pair of socks for Scott, using a skein of Trekking that he liked and a bit of orange Trekking from a pair I'd just finished for myself. As you can see, my husband is not afraid of color!

On Being the Cobbler

Here I am, a spinner and knitter - and I have been suffering the pains of freezing fingers all winter so far, because I don't have a pair of mittens or gloves!

I feel as though I don't have the yarn, which is ironic. But I feel as though the yarn I've spun is too precious to waste on myself - I want to share it!

I only have one bit of commercial yarn, and it's so BORING, just one flat color (but a deep intense color that would not lend itself well to dyeing experiments)... and I don't have a mitten pattern that appeals to me for yarn in one flat color, or have enough to allow for lots of big fun cables. Plus the resulting mitten would be too thin to be effective in our MN cold snaps.

I do have a bit of fiber on the wheel (thank you, Debi M.!), and I'm experimenting with different spinning techniques. I am hoping that something fun will come out of it - it won't be skillfully spun enough to sell, but hopefully it will be usable enough to make mittens of. Unfortunately, I am spinning so slowly that the yarn might not be done by the end of winter... especially since I am likely to be interrupted by the (possibly simultaneous) mastectomy and hysterectomy, and expect to not be in spinning shape for at least six weeks.

I may have to make do with the thin commercial yarn, if I can get going fast enough.

Fast. Me.

HA!!!

I may have to make do with either being the Cobbler (along with his family, if you want to be nitpicky), or being the proud owner of The Emperor's New Mittens...

Definitely Need a Light Box

Another gloomy day, not enough light inside to make decent photos of the yarn - I'm either going to have to get/make a light box, or I'm going to have to move to sunnier climes. Since sunnier climes are likely to make wool less desirable, I'm going to go for the light box. As soon as I can.

Until a sunnier day or a day full of monetary fulfillment, I am unable to show you the first scarf I made for Mitch Carlson's benefit auction - the photos all just look like a long dark blob.

So for now, here's the second scarf, currently a WIP*.

For the sock knitters among you, this is the same stitch used for the Leyburn Socks, but I reversed it so that the caught-up yarn travels over the stockinette side, rather than the reverse stockinette side. I did this because I think the yarn (a discontinued KnitPicks merino) looks prettier on the smooth side.
And because I can do what I want.

I think it kind of looks like all sorts of little excited people, jumping in the air and cheering Mitch on - which seems appropriate. If you want your own tiny squad of soft woolly cheerleaders, come bid on this scarf at the Benefit Auction (and yummy Spaghetti Dinner) on October 18, at the Kraus-Hartig VFW in Spring Lake Park. There will be all sorts of other wonderful things on auction there, so it will definitely be worth attending!


* Work In Progress, for the non-knitters among you. That would be you, Mom.

Sock Knitting Meme

I got randomly tagged by Sarah (she didn't even know it at the time), so here is my Sock Knitting Meme. If you haven't done it yet and you wouldn't mind, consider yourself tagged by me!

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When did you learn to knit socks? Not sure, exactly. Sometime between late 2005 and early 2006, maybe?
What's the first sock you ever knit? A plain sock, according to Ann Budd's basic pattern.

Favorite sock pattern? Um. Cuff down, definitely - other than that, it depends largely on the recipient. Plain old vanilla is really useful for Zen knitting. I prefer cables and lace to color stranding, generally, but mosaic is fun, so... I just love socks, is all!

Favorite sock yarn? DH loves the Trekking XXL - which is a great yarn for plain socks, being good looking, long wearing, easy to knit with, and comfortable to wear. I like *wearing* socks with a bit of bamboo in them. For knitting, I don't know - it depends on my mood and the sock pattern, I guess! I'm not big on unmixed cotton, though - too inelastic, tends to be problematic on my fingers after a while.

Fave needle method? For socks, dpn's, definitely.

Favorite sock needles? Oddly, my fave dpn's for socks are the cheapie Susan Bates colored aluminums - they are light, the surface doesn't degrade, and they don't bend too much. I love the feel of bamboo needles, but they tend to snap after a couple pairs, which is annoying. I think I must knit very tightly. I want to try the KnitPicks wood dpn's, see if they are any stronger than the regular wood ones...

Who do you knit socks for? I started knitting for me and a couple others, but then my DH got hooked, and now it's mostly for him. (Hi, sweetie!)

How many pairs have you knitted to date? Lots. At least 30, probably more. Unfortunately, in spite of care, they still manage to get lost in the wash or the hamper or something... so I've got several unmatched pairs. Someday I will get a sewing machine and see how handknit socks do for sock animals. (Yeah, because I don't have enough stuff that I plan to do 'someday'...)

What's on your sock knitting to-do list? For the near future: another pair for DH, since the last pair turned out to be a 'dress pair' and so is not usable for work, which he needs socks for. Currently I am needle-felting repairs on the holes in his old socks.

What kind of socks do you like to knit -

Striped? Is okay

Colorwork? Is okay

Plain stockinette? I am somewhat embarrassed to say that, going by the vast majority of socks knitted, plain stockinette must be my favorite. Socks are a great traveling/knitting in a movie theater/knitting in line/catching a few minutes here and there/etc. project, and having to keep track of a complex pattern gets in the way of much of that handiness. I enjoy something more complicated once in a while though - variety is the spice of life, after all!

Cabled? I love cabled

Lace? I love lace, esp. for summer socks

Anklets? Nope. I have longish legs, and hate having a gap between the hem of my pants and the top of my socks when I sit!

Knee socks? Not yet, but I may someday.

Solid colors? I like solid, but prefer varied colors - I love the way the Trekking XXL fades from one color to the next, and enjoy tweeded or striped or even the 'faux fair isle' yarn. I do have strong preferences about which colors I work with, though.

Bright & crazy? Sure, if the colors are right.

Faux-Fair Isle? Sure, if the colors are right (unfortunately, they mostly don't seem to be colors I like, but there are a few) - I made a really cute baby sweater/hat/socks out of faux fair isle in lovely sherbet colors, it was a lot of fun.