dawn of a new day

I am a new woman. PeeWee slept for 7 hours last night. I just might conquer the world today. I'm also back on the computer because I scavenged a keyboard to take the place of the Cordless Wonder keyboard. What happened to the Cordless Wonder? A few days ago, PeeWee threw it to the ground and then jumped on it. Do you think she was trying to send me a message? Hmmm. It worked. I had to go cold turkey and haven't read any knitting blogs since Tuesday! It was very good for me.

About a month ago I asserted that I had developed some self-control and was limiting myself to 15 minutes of reading blogs per day. Hahahahaha. That lasted for about a week. I gradually slipped off the wagon until I was lying on the side of the trail. Thanks to PeeWee's intervention, I sprinted to the front of the wagon train and caught up with the laundry. I CAUGHT UP WITH THE MOUNTAIN OF LAUNDRY! I even had time to knit--and spin! I lived my own life. How about that. I won't bore you with my self-analysis of why I'm avoiding my responsibilities and letting myself spend so much time in other people's "lives" as represented by their blogs. I will just say this: I think that sleep deprivation is at the core of the issue. Is it really that simple? Yes. Why? Because I decided it is.

Now that I've confessed all, I can talk about my sock. My first real sock! I started out with the 2x2 rib sock that's in Cat Bordhi's Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles. I don't like knitting ribbing in the round very much, so after 1-1/2 inches, I changed to stockinette in the back and a leafy rib in the front. After knitting the heel, I switched to 2x2 rib on the instep and stockinette on the sole. It's a little slouchy around the ankle--I should have kept the 2x2 rib on the back of the leg. And I wish I'd continued the leafy rib on the instep. I love it anyway. I'm going to knit the second one the same way, much as it pains me to not make the needed improvement on the ankle. I took a gazillion pictures of it with my foot angled every which way. I discovered that there is no flattering way to capture an image of my, um, shapely ankle. I broke it on a skateboard when I was 12. Yeah, it has nothing to do with any subcutaneous adipose tissue. The invisible-high-heel look was my favorite, although it accentuates the baggy ankle.

I finally plied the Elfin Snow Forest merino roving from Nettie and Tuddie. It's just a regular two-ply. (I had thought about doing chained singles--Navajo plying-- but I decided I couldn't wait until I had someone to properly show me how to do it. This little video clip on the Joy of Handspinning website is helpful, but I want to see someone do it in person.) I LURVE IT! If it hadn't been wet last night (to set the twist), I'd have slept with it.

It has some strange, nubbly areas and you can see that my spinning is still quite uneven, though getting finer. I'm thinking of knitting an Argosy scarf out of it, though it might be a little bulky for that.

Or, I could hang the yarn in PeeWee's room by the two Max Hammond paintings at the top of the post. PeeWee likes to hug the yarn, stroke it, and say, "Pitty-arn!" Where does she learn these things?

fire-bellied toad

In the interest of full disclosure (encouraged by dear Julie) I must let you all know that while I mess around with dye and yarn, my laundry is languishing, the bathrooms are science projects, and we ate on paper plates last night. There. I feel somehow lighter. It's amazing what confession will do for the soul.

This toad was Middle Brother's Christmas present. His name is Hopper. Taking a picture of the aborted Trekking sock with Hopper made me want to dye some green yarn (plus I need some green sock yarn for the Green Sock KAL).


I gave myself Knit Picks' handily packaged "Socks Gift Kit" for Christmas so I pulled out the hank of Bare Sock Yarn that came in the kit and tried to dye it green. I used an unbelievable amount of Kool-Aid to try to get a mottled-toady green. A batch of cookies, two packages of tamarind Kool-Aid and six packages of green later, I had this:

I think I'm ready to graduate to real dye--I was trying for a more intense range of colors and if I'm using 8 packages of Kool-aid and still not getting what I want, it's time for the serious stuff. You can't see much from this shot, but I dumped in the emergency package of evening blue Rit dye that I've had in my cupboard for about 10 years.

The end result is a little more blue than I had originally envisioned, but I'm SO PLEASED! Now I just have to find the right sock pattern for it.

swatching and soaking

Yes, Oh wise Yarn Harlot. I read it. I giggled when I read the post (didn't we all?). I nodded my head repeatedly, affirming your sage advice to never become smug about swatching. Then, (brain like a sieve) I promptly forgot it and cast on a sock. I knit for a couple of inches on really tiny needles with yarn that looks like crochet thread. I gleefully spread out the stitches on the four needles and tried to put the sock on. NOTHING DOING. I transferred the knitting from the needles to a piece of yarn and tried to put the sock on. NOTHING DOING. I pulled the yarn out, rewound it into a tidy little ball, and stuck it back in the skein. Me? Socks? NOTHING DOING. I call this "Aborted Sock Attempt with Toad".

Don't worry. I'll try again in a few days. And I'll swatch first. But right now I've got this wrap going and I really love it. It has beautiful hand-painted yarn and soft furry baby alpaca on nice BIG needles. You see, I don't know if I can use my precious moments to produce the fine-gauge stuff. I have to squeeze in the knitting when I can: a few rows in the laundry room when I should be matching socks, a few rows in the kitchen when I should be loading dishes, a few rows in the bathroom while PeeWee has a bath--or if I can get Eric to go to bed before me, a whole bunch of rows after everyone is asleep and I should be, too. Don't worry, I like my husband and all, but sometimes a girl just needs to knit. And sometimes she needs to be able to finish projects in less than three years.

Guess what? I'm taking a spinning class!!!!!!!! I'm so excited that I'm overdoing it with the exclamation points again!!!!!! We'll learn how to take the wool all the way from fleece to yarn. I came home from my first class with a pound of greasy fleecy and I've been soaking/washing it out in my bathtub. The water that drained off from the first cold soak was downright disgusting. I soaked and drained it 5 times and there were still mats of mud on the tips of the fleece that were not budging. I don't know if I was supposed to do it or not, but I got irritated at the mats and snipped them off. After I did that, the fleece started to look reasonable, so I finally stopped soaking it and it is now hovering on a sweater rack, trying to dry. PeeWee and Middle Sister are feeling very proprietary because they helped drain the tub and swish out the crap each time we changed the soaking water. Next week: carding! I'm all giddy.

yay for socks

I'm (ever the joiner, despite protestations of needing to be "original" and "unique") adding another knitalong button to the sidebar, not only because I've cast on for a pair of Socks (thin yarn, skinny needles), but also because that button is way cool. Yes, I've cast on for another project; no, I haven't actually completed the wrapalong project.

Wait, did I never publish that post in which I agonized about the pink and blue stripes in the Rusty Wrapalong? Well, in summary, I shoved it into a bag and tried again with the purple and brown--and I'm feeling the love, baby. No worries about abandoning this ship for the third? fourth? time. I'm sticking with this color combination and this time I mean it. How about a picture...


I haven't figured out the white balance thingy on my camara yet--but the yarn colors are accurate. See why I love purple and brown? See why I love Mountain Colors? See why I love Mountain Colors' Red-tail Hawk colorway? All right, maybe not everyone is dying over it like I am, but if you could only see the way those colors slide by on the needles, so individually and collectively gorgeous. The colors are muted--but intense at same time. Confession: I bought the Mountain Colors yarn with the intention of knitting a scarf for a friend, but kept it, as I was quite certain that noone could love it the way I do. Sad, I know, but there we are. :)