Busy Week!

Monday and Friday have been 'learn the new job' days and apparently the 'busy' days at the shop. RaNaye had made the comment this morning when I came in that the rest of the week hadn't been busy after my Monday for a spring break week. Today was plenty busy! There was a partial shipment that *finally* arrived from Malabrigo so I was able to pet some of the new worsted colorways that I hadn't seen before. Yummy! Thankfully for my pocketbook the sock yarn didn't come today. ;^)

I've also come up with at least four people for an afternoon class (3-5pm) on Wednesdays with a possibility of two more in the class. I plan to use my class money as a 'wheel fund'. Shelia suggested on Wednesday that I might like the Louet Julia, it does look tempting. It says single, but looks double.....

Wednesday morning was spent spinning camel and I spun more Thursday night and still have more to spin. I'm enjoying the heck out of it but really looking forward to having this done.

I've spent time washing Anne's fleece and took the 1/4 left of Bobbie's Big Bertha fleece. Big Bertha is a black and grey fleece and also has a bit of dandruff, just not as obvious as in Anne's. I'm trying to get all fleece washed by this next Wednesday when it will be our turn with the drum carder. I let Duffy go next in line because I knew I wasn't going to be ready in time.

Picked up my two twenty-four inch US 1 needles today so that I can do the Cat Bordhi two circs sock knitting. Cindy has loaned me her two books on it, and it looks much easier than the 2 on 1 circular method. I need to start these early enough Saturday so that I can take them along to Brandon's "pre-reunion" get together.

I also have some Dundee yarn from Abstract Fiber to turn into a sample of my choice. I've been hunting for patterns that aren't sock yarn to use. Leaning towards a shawlette, but have a couple of hats that are tempting too.

Late Monday and all day on Tuesday were spent on this, Burnside Winter Twilight Mitts:
It's made out of Abstract Fiber Supersock Burnside Bridge and Knit Picks Essential Black. Need to get the second one done so I can put them away for gift giving. It's a little snug on my hand and a little longer in the wrist area than I like but overall an easy pattern. The sides are mirrored so both gloves are identical.

Upcoming fun things - April 3-5 is the Gem Faire as Washington County Fairgrounds. $5 for a weekend pass and it will get you in free to the next one at the Convention Center in July. May 1-3 in the Faire In the Grove at a new location - McMennamin's Grand Lodge. If you're interested in a Mother's Day Tea, the Scholls Grange is having "Fine Feathers and Fabulous Friends on May 16th, tickets sold in advance only. Let me know if you'd like contact info for this event. (The Scholls Grange Women also have a plant sale the first weekend in April if you'd like to take a drive in the country.)

I don't believe I did that!

Have I mentioned I'm not really big on pink? Sure I have a pink tye dye t-shirt that I'll wear on spring/summery days every so often, but for the most part girly pink is not in my wardrobe. Raspberry, yes. Pink, no. So the Circling the Band socks were bugging me. I can't remember how I stumbled across it but I ran across Knitty's article on dyeing with Kool-Aid.

It's all Knitty's fault. Showing me the colors that could happen if I played with what I had in my drawer. It got me to thinking and before I knew it I was pouring two packets of Tropical Punch and two packets of Black Cherry together and looking at the deep red they made and then the socks were in the bowl and I was set.

It took all the grey/white/pink and turned them a dark red and reddened the black. I think I can live with that. Sharon forgive me! I promise the pair for my sister will stay the original I'm With the Band colors.

So I kind of felt like I killed Sharon's dyeing masterpiece so here's Murder in the Band:



Circling the Band will live on in the project page and in my Flickr folder.

Back to spinning the camel and most likely starting gloves, though I should start a pair of socks with that book......

Circling the Band Socks & more stash?

I should have started earlier in the evening last night and the toe would have been done yesterday, instead it was done this morning and all photographed with daylight instead of flash and lots of overhead lights. Not sure if that helped. ;^)

Circling the Band Socks:




They feel yummy and I like how snug they fit around my foot. I think decreasing a needle size really is the way to go, especially if you're just knitting the foot. These will be fun to wear this spring.

I started working Fridays and two Mondays out of the month at All About Yarn in Tigard. I went in last Friday to show her my work and at the end of it she asked when I could start. I went in on Monday and worked a couple of hours learning the store and getting some training from Lianne. Pay is above minimum wage and there's a 20% discount on regularly marked items. The trick will be not to spend the salary on yarn! I spotted the Noro Cash Iroha in the discount bin and loved the rich burgundy color and the feel and so looked up on Ravelry that someone made a Foliage hat with it. That's in my queue, so it was looking really tempting. Then I spotted that there was a burgundy Frog Tree Alpaca Sport also in there with the Noro and I immediately thought - use this for the ribbing and definitely have enough to make a Foliage hat. Yes, both came home with me but I'm going to be 'good' in the future and make sure that new yarn doesn't come home with me every shift. ;^) I'm justifying this purchase with the fact that April is 'hats' month on the make ahead group and I have several hats in my queue I intended for gifts. That's my story and I'm sticking with it!


Because of work I now have to teach myself how to knit socks two at one time - ala one needle and magic loop or two needles at one time. There are people who want a class or currently doing a class that make socks this way. Hopefully I don't find this too difficult or fiddly so I'm willing to teach others. ;^) There's also another project I've been tasked with but I don't want to spill the beans until things are more firm.

The cranes were blogged at Knit-Purl, unfortunately they also wanted my picture!

ETA: I really didn't mean to do it, truly. She reduced the price though and I started thinking 'little girl' something - cardi, dress, girly. #42 is mine.

Same yarn, different looks

As mentioned I'm trying out the Circle Socks pattern, check previous post for link. It's a nice fast knit with cool results. I'll probably try this sock again with different yarn, one with wider more even color repeats. I also did a different heel and that showed up in a pooling factor. It will be interesting to see how the second sock pools at the gusset point.

Circling the Band:



Closeup of the 'circles', it's surprisingly difficult to take good closeups of your own leg/foot wearing a sock. ;^)


Check the previous post for what the Band Stoppin Boot Socks looks like if you haven't seen/don't remember what they like.

Band Stoppin Boot Socks

They're done! Using Stitchjones superwash sock yarn in the colorway "I'm With The Band" and using Stitchjones "Traffic Stoppin Boot Socks" pattern I came up with "Band Stoppin Boot Socks". They'll be a gift for my sister Jennifer for Christmas. (March is 'make a pair' month.)



At 450 yards and only using 53 grams of it, I have plenty for another pair of socks. I've already cast them on too! The pattern is Circle Socks by Anne Campbell. I'm going to use the leftover pink from the Booby Socks on the cuffs, heels and toes.

Cranes & yarn

I finally finished sewing up the cranes for the KnitNotWar 1000 crane project. Found that they folded better when still damp and stayed in place with a couple of straight pins. I then used some sewing thread to keep the folds where they were supposed to be. Just fussy and a few minutes of work but I procrastinated doing them. I had the incentive to get them finished up because of the Portland Spinnerati meeting downtown, just blocks from Knit-Purl and a spring sale there. Here they are:


Sandy said this brought their count up to 38 cranes - they were hoping for 300 by the end of the month. They only take about an hour to knit, have any scrap feltable yarn in your stash?

I picked up a second cone of some Habu Soft Merino Lace - 10% off. I had one already and planned to carry it with some of the Habu Bamboo Lace and make a shawl, possibly that Adamas Shawl.

In other stash acquisition I helped out KnitFemme with her destash by having some come live in my stash. I got some sport weight brown that I think will make a nice pair of socks for my BIL. There's also five skeins of cotton and enough I believe to make my mother a Hey Teach.



More spinning of the camel was accomplished this morning at Spinnerati, but it looks much like the previously posted stuff so nothing new there until it too is a complete single. I took pictures of Tammy's and Bobbie's wheels while we were there so that I can add them to the other Westside Spinners wheel pics to make a logo for the group. You don't need to see those though. ;^)

The rest of the weekend will involve more sock knitting, watching movies and a dinner over at the MIL's Sunday. Hope yours is just as lovely!

Spinning, shearing, spring

One of the things I hadn't reported earlier was the home shearing that was done. I had decided that we were close enough to 'spring' that the dogs could go back to their non-winter coats. So trimming Norbert back into a more Scottie cut and Nessa into a modified Schnauzer cut. Nessa ended up a little shorter than planned but is looking good, well she's showing that we both need to get our butts out on the walking plan. ;^)

Norbert:

Norbert showing he doesn't like getting photographed with a tongue flick, but if you didn't know that you'd think he's dissing the camera:


Nessa:


If you've ever looked for a ball that you're dogs will love, look for a Cuz ball. They have feet and look odd but they have a tough rubber exterior and squeak.

I finished up on Wednesday spinning the first four ounce single of camel. It's deliciously soft and I've already started the second four ounces. There's more spinning on Saturday with the Portland Spinnerati at the Central Library. The camel:


In other shearing news I've been working the white alpaca and have 3.5 ounces. I'm going for a little more than one more ounce so that I can possibly ply it together with the apricot. Not fully decided on that plan of action though.

I've found out that my Icelandic fleece has something called 'scurf' - the dandruff that some may have noticed on the fleece. I've washed some of it and it cleans well and I think that a little work with the cat flicker and I can get it out and still let the fleece be usable. That's the hope anyway.

The bit of spring, my crocuses when they are shivering from the snow:

Couldn't resist taking pictures of the camel with them. ;^)