Finished Things & Other Stuff

As mentioned previously I finished up the cormo I had been spinning. This was an OFFF purchase last fall. I got it because it was ridiculously inexpensive for the amount of fiber given. Well the reason why is that it had lots of 'stuff' in it. Strands of some kind of dark vegetation and little bits of black seed like stuff. I tried picking them all out as best as I could while spinning but some did make it into the yarn. There were also lots of little nubs that I tried to pick out but a large number of them also made it in. This makes this a very organic yarn! Still very soft and sproingy though.



I also finished up the Wisteria Shur'tugal socks! Yea! Shibuiknits sock is a very soft cushy yarn and knits up lovely. Unfortunately the Wisteria line is being discontinued. This really is an electric purple but pretty nonetheless. One sock oddly, appears to be slightly smaller than the other but when lined up with the different areas are the same. Fit the same way so I'm not stressing.



Sock Summit news is that I did get the classes that I had hoped to get. It was an interesting process full of challenges to a knitter's patience but I persevered and was successful on my first attempts. I'm going to do a couple of 1 hour classes on Thursday - Chrissy's Toe Up Bind Offs and Merike's Darn It! I work on Friday so nothing that day. Then I'm there Saturday morning for Janel's Spinning a Painted Sock. I'm going to have some superwash merino hand dyed for the class too. Then I'll enjoy the Luminary Panel on Sunday. There's also a Ravelry meet-up in the works for Saturday after the classes. I'll be saving up money for some goodies in the marketplace too.

I had contemplated going down to Black Sheep but have decided to stay home and spin. There's also Tour de Fleece coming up in July that I can tie in with the Summer of Spinning going on. All this spinning should deplete the fiber supply just in time for OFFF. ;-) I've got some of the Knit Blogger ladies thinking we'll pay the vendor fees so that we can sell various items while we're there. I have various fiber related items I'm contemplating making for sale.

Works in Progress - of various kinds

I didn't take a picture of the Cormo I spun up. I still need to get it off of the niddy-noddy, then wash/dry it. Something for another day. ;-)

I worked on my second Wisteria Shur'tugal sock this weekend and made progress and frogged and am making progress again. What's up? I had started the sock, gotten the ribbing done and started the first pattern repeat and put the sock down. Picked it back up after a week or so and couldn't get a row to work out for me. Tried going back and just found it easier to frog and start over. Made HUGE amounts of progress after that. I think that was Friday night. Worked on the sock more on Saturday and it wasn't until that night that the problem cropped up again. I had the leg of the sock done, heel flap and turn done. It was the gusset decreases.

It's a 64 stitch sock. The goal is to get back to those 64 stitches while working the gusset. I actually remember getting to the point where I had 16 stitches of the sole on each of the needles and thinking it was time to switch to the smaller needles (working the sock on two circulars) but for some reason another part of my brain said no. It told me that I should have 8 stitches on each needle. So on I went. Then just a little bit further for the foot and then start the toe decreases. Well by this time its bed time so I put it down. That's what saved me. Rather than staying up and finishing the sock I put it down.

Sunday I get up and after plying the cormo pick up the sock to finally finish it all up. I'm looking at this rather skinny foot area and thinking it odd that I should compare it to the other sock but decide to do the decreases anyway. It was looking at the number of stitches that I 'should have' to the number that I 'did have' that stopped me. So instead of having a finished sock on Sunday, I spent the afternoon frogging back to that magical point that I clearly remembered.

I worked on it some more Monday night after work and this is where I am at now. Just about 12 rows before starting the toe work (there's prep before starting the decreases):

While at work on Monday I started the Herringbone Ribbed Sock that's in the Knitted Socks with Handpainted Yarn book. I got it as a free download from Knitting Daily. Mine are Dad's Sockin Herringbone Sox because the yarn is Plymouth's Sockin' Sox. I think they'll make a nice birthday/father's day gift. Just the ribbing started until I can finish up that other sock:

I also worked on a shop project the Bonsai Swing Top from the Mother-Daughter Knits book. The Berroco Bonsai is interesting to work with. It's a bamboo with a nylon wrap. Pointy needles are not something to use with this yarn! The Addi-Turbos are currently working but my hands hurt after a couple of hours so it won't fly off the needles I think. It should be pretty when done:
This is actually a sideways view of the project, it's worked sideways on the skirt of the top with short row shaping. It will be interesting to work the pattern!

I'm still just a few rows away from moving the arms off to holders while the body is worked on the Borscht Greenjeans cardigan for myself. I can't work at it while at work since its not shop yarn (same as the other two projects I'm working on) and really Monday was the only day I've had time for knitting there anyway. It's a nice uncomplicated knit so far I just need to find the time to work on it.


I took advantage of the nice weather today to take photos of other works in progress around our backyard - all the fruits in progress. Two apple trees, two cherry trees, the Asian pear, peach tree, blueberries, strawberries, grapes and tomatoes. There's other veggies started but I didn't photograph them. Here's the collage of them:

Alpaca Yarn, Tips & Tricks and a WIP

I finished up the baby alpaca yarn last week and have it all skeined up. It's here for viewing. I was able to get 379 yards of lace weight yarn. I'm not sure what I'll do with it, but I'll enjoy working with it when I do.



Linda at Guitner Road farm with her Navajo-Churros shared some of Mesa's locks after I mentioned how pretty she looked. Linda did share that if I wanted to get some locally there's a farmer in Newberg. Small world as the farmer is also a neighbor of Shelia's and she had proposed a field trip there to see the Navajo-Churros. So now have two sources of a new fleece, these being heritage sheep and cool to work with. Mesa's washed locks:


This last weekend after the monthly Portland Spinnerati meeting I had lunch with Duffy at Jake's (yummy crab and shrimp melt sandwiches!) and then the Tips & Tricks class at Knit-Purl.

Judy Wilcox was the teacher and the class was intended for advanced beginners. The two other people in the class really were beginners. I learned a few new things though! I learned how to do a purl long tail cast on that will be handy in the future for ribbing. How to do a no-step decrease - commonly found in sweaters and armholes and how to do a garter stitch seam. I have pictures of the last two:



This Saturday I'm going to ride down on MAX with Tiggywinkleknits to TKGA. I am working on my second Shur'tugal sock but didn't think it would be good for the train ride since it kind of takes some concentration to do the pattern. I have wanted to start a sweater for myself and so decided to use that destash yarn I got from Susan and decided to do Mr. Greenjeans.
Doesn't look like much yet, but we'll see after the weekend!

Things done, things started, things coming up

I finished sock one of the Wisteria Shur'tugal and after a few days of other projects in the middle, started sock two today.


Wednesday evening at Haggen's I finished up the Opal Huacayas Baby Alpaca batts. It looks light and dark on the bobbin. It's about 4.8 ounces and a single. Since I didn't have much of it, I'm going to ply it on itself and see how much I come out with.


Monday during a lull at work I started a 'Bows' Little Feet sock sample for Stitchjones. The samples will be used at the shop, so 'work' knitting. I found out Wednesday what a confusing direction in the pattern meant, so may end up taking out the toe and making the foot longer (okay, I will but this is what it looks like now):
I already have its 'mate' "Arrows" on the needles or I'd make the correction first.

Wednesday at Westside spinning I picked up from Gail the Natural Cashmere/Silk that Susan from Abstract Fiber paid me for the Dundee Babydoll. It's two, two ounce bundles of delicious roving:


I'm trying to be good and instead of diving into some of the lovely new stuff, using older things. So I'm going to work on the cormo/silk next:


This afternoon I finished Eileen's Iroha Foliage hat. It combines Noro Cash Iroha and Frog Tree Alpaca. I knew that I wouldn't have enough of the Iroha and bought the Frog Tree because it matched colorwise. I think it came out okay, but did have to transition in the middle of the last pattern repeat. I may go back and rip out that pattern repeat and just have it be the ribbing in the alpaca:



For those who may have been wondering about the 'missing' new fish. It stayed missing for a whole day. The next day it was there in the pond. Where it went I have no idea. This morning when I went out to look it was again gone. I even got some floating fish food to try to lure them all out. After watching for fifteen minutes and all the other fish eating most of the food, it finally came out from under an overhang area. Tonight when I went out for the regular feeding, they were all present.

Working in the shop Friday, Saturday plant sale around 10am(veggies, japanese maple, blueberry, creeping thyme, who knows - great buys!) then lunch at the McMennamin's Grand Lodge and the Faire in the Grove. William is planning on bringing school friends. Trtlgrl mentioned that she and her awesome husband were going, as well as A Little Weirdo and her partner. I'm bringing a camera so I can try to record who shows up. ;-)

Happy 7th Birthday Nessa!

My little girl turned 7 today. We celebrated with a 'spa day'. Shower and full body massage followed by a dry off by dad. Then a hair cut and mani-pedi. She got extra baby carrot treats, canned food and strawberries for dinner. Her special toy is a fluffy pink sheep toy that she promptly had to play tuggy with Norbert over. There's been snuggle time too, so a great day for a puppy!




Brandon also helped her with extra fish viewing time with an unobstructed view of the fish. (Sidenote: the other little fish we bought Friday showed up. We have a really good hiding place in there for the fish because one of the other fish was missing earlier in the week and reappeared.)

Brandon's happy, I let him get a new weed whacker. I'm happy because it's electric not gas operated. We'll also have to replace the lawn mower because it died today, I've got him talked into replacing it with an electric one too - score!

Finished sock number one of the Wisteria Shur'tugal. I have a photo but its all flash, so tomorrow night after work can try for a better one. Need to put a bit of time into the Foliage hat so couple hours there before bed.

This week: Monday I'm at the shop, Tuesday filling in as the health aide at Liberty High School, Wednesday is spinning at the Grange and class at the shop as well as knit night at Haggen's. Thursday I'll be able to get new tires for the car with the tax money and work again on Friday. Hopefully knitting in there too! Saturday we plan to go to the Tualatin Valley Gardner's Plant Sale (great place to pick up your veggie starts!) for veggies and a Japanese Maple for the pond. After that we'll head over to Faire in the Grove at the McMennamin's in Forest Grove. I plan to get another basket from the 'Basket Peddler'.

WIPs, an FO & new stash & fish

With everyone's vote I did go with the purple (Wisteria Shibuiknits sock) for the Shur'tugal sock and I'm at the point of doing the gusset and almost ready to do the rest of the foot. I did pick up a couple of US 0 circs so that I could finish the socks that way.


April is hat month for the Christmas make ahead group and with it almost over, I finally have a hat started! I'm using the pretty burgundy Noro Cash Iroha I got on sale from All About Yarn (the cashmere is very soft!) with the Knitty Foliage pattern:

RaNaye followed up with a suggestion I made of doing a necklace pattern using the Berroco Bonsai yarn by sending me home with the yarn and pattern. It's a fast knit and shows what the yarn will look like knit up now for shop customers:

In trade I got a skein of Malabrigo Sock in the Rayon Vert colorway. It's a pretty red-purple:


We picked up two fish to put in the pond Friday night along with some plants that we hope will work on the bottom. This afternoon we can only find one of the fish. We watched both swim out of the bag into the pond. We do have one big fish, but really, I don't think it's big enough to eat the new fish. The new one is the little white-orange one in the upper left - across from our BIG orange fish: