Three Little Purls

Aside from boring slog-worthy WIPs, I pride myself in being a one main project at a time kind of girl. Well, my day has come.

I have three sick and bored children to tend to. No one is horrendously ill, but we are holed up here at home. We’ve gone into sick mode. Legos are being stepped on with bare feet, Nancy Drew computer games are being solved, bookmarks are placed, crayons are rolling under the couch and little Nintendo game consoles are being linked.

In order to survive another day of Ice Age 2, Racing Stripes, and straight to video Disney movie sequels, I’ve been casting on like a crazy lady. I’ll fill in the details later, but here is a sampling of the current WIP pile.

::deep breath::

Okay everybody, here it is… Squid the Socks and Ink the Yarn.

| click photo to see bigger |

Many many thanks to Ulli, fellow indie yarn lover and the fastest and kindest knitter ever, for being gracious enough to test knit these for me. My Squid and Ink socks are not quite to this stage of completion, but I have a zillion half knit Squids and Squidlike swatches behind me.

If you would like to make your own Squids, here’s the details:

Squid and Ink sock kits will available in Limited Edition numbered kits in my esty shop as part of the Creature Edition update, on Friday, November 7, at 6pm Pacific Standard Time. Each kit will come with a printed copy of my new Squid sock pattern, and a skein of Simple Merino Sock in Ink. Squid is a cuff down, gusseted heel sock, and ability to read charts is required. Knitting needles and other notions are not included in the kits. Recommended needle size is a US1, but I don’t have to tell you that’s just a suggestion, right? Ulli used a US0 for the socks you see. I’m using size US1 for mine.

When the kits are are gone, they are gone. Not to worry, though, both the Squid sock pattern and the Ink colorway will become available separately in early 2009.

The Ink colorway was tricky for me to photograph accurately as socks, but this yarny shot is perfect on my monitor. Well all agree that your screen, browser and eyeballs may see it slightly different, yes?

Phew… I didn’t think it would be so nerve wracking to show you this project.  Here’s a bit of what has been going through my head all week:

When is the sun going to come out? … Why, oh why, is it so hard to photograph this stupid yarn? … I hope the pictures are clear enough. … They’re not, I know it. … This is the best I can do. … Oh no! This is the best I can do!… I hope they like them. … What if they don’t? … What if they hate them?… If they hate them, what am I going to do with all these sock kits?! … They are going to hate them. … No they won’t. … Yes, they will. … Well, you can’t please everyone all the time. … Man, I need to chill out. … How about I eat some banana bread and make myself a cup of tea? … No, there still too much to do. … I hate that my house is full of wooly dust bunnies. … People who come over prolly think I never clean. … Well, I do! … How dare they! … Today the wool bunnies are blue, Ink blue. … Maybe I should clean more often. … What if something I haven’t thought of yet goes wrong? … Aaaaaahhhh!

Many thanks to my nine-year old sock photographer, Stinkerbell, who set aside a herd of Breyer horses to brave a cold tile floor to bring you these images. I like this outtake best.

(on Ravelry)

Pattern | Humble Sock goes Toe Up (Rav link) - modified for 44 sts
Yarn | my handspun - spun from Superwash Merino roving from Squoosh in Peach Pit
Needle | Addi Lace US2 (2.75mm)
Gauge | 7.5sts = 1″
Started | October 10, 2008
Finished | November 3, 2008

Super easy socks. I’ve been spending a healthy chunk of my time winding (and winding and winding) yarn for the shop update, and these were the perfect brainless project to save me from going insane.

Now back to winding…

While I was waiting and waiting and waiting for my shipment yarn to arrive, I restlessly worked here and there on my ongoing projects. (Good news, the yarn is here, and I’ll be dyeing on Tuesday! Yay!) I don’t know about you, but I find it incredibly difficult to knit when I feel like I should be working on something else.

That said, I think stockinette is a great outlet for fidgety hands, don’t you? That’s how I finished the humble little handspun sock that I had started. It went pretty fast and kept my hands occupied while I concentrated on doing schoolwork with the girls.

I’ve also been working little by little on The Blanket. This is a slow growing project, since I pretty much only work on it at crochet class. I wish it was a little farther along, but since it’s been crazy hot here, I can’t really say I’ve had much desire to have a wool blanket on my lap. Mark my words, as soon as the weather cools down, I’ll be motivated to speed up the pace, I’m sure.

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PS. I’m turning comments off for now. Not to worry, there hasn’t been any problems or anything. I just wanna see what it’s like.  xo

The dyeing for this week is done. Everything that came out of the dyepot this week is earmarked for a special upcoming project for the shop. Things are moving along well, and I’ll have more details in the next couple of weeks.

I’m also waiting for the FedEx man to bring me two big boxes of undyed yarn. I have tracking numbers! Yay! Once it’s here, I’ll be able to fire up some Made To Order reservation spots for the shop and finish up the dyeing for the next big shop update. I have high hopes that this next update is going to go much smoother and with faster listing of yarn. I’ve learned a (total-hassle-but-worth-it-if-it works) trick for listing several things all at once and my shop update dye schedule is planned a little different, too. When the update is finalized I’ll be sending out the newsletter with all the details.

In less exciting news, I threw my neck out earlier this week. I’ve been spending the last couple of days putting around the house like See-Threepio and muttering to myself about how I should go to the chiropractor. Instead, I think I’ll take it easy this weekend and try to knit a few rounds while I have a heating pad on my neck. I started this pretty little handspun sock about a week ago, and I’d love to see what kind of stripes are going to appear next.

Well, it’s done.

(on Ravelry)

Source | Top Down Raglan Cardigan from Knitting From The Top by Barbara Walker
Yarn | my handspun from the undyed Louet Corriedale that came with the purchase of my wheel
Needle | Addi Turbo US6 (4.0mm)
Gauge | 5sts = 1″
Started | August 23, 2008
Finished | October 9, 2008

Details | This was my second attempt at making a sweater from a recipe rather than a pattern. (The first was EZ’s Hybrid Pullover for my honey.) This time the results are kinda meh. The biggest issue is the itch factor, but my youngest doesn’t seem to mind at all. Whew. Add that to some poor choices in edge treatments, poor buttonhole placement, and only 6oz of yarn, and you have a blah sweater.

One nice thing is that it fits two little persons. (Yay for petite middle children. ) Now they both can hate wearing it.

Knitting From the Top is an excellent resource, even if I did find the ‘pause’ and ‘continue’ detours frequent and lacking in subheadings. Nothing a highlighter and a pen can’t fix. This book is definitely an essential part of my knitterly library and I will be referring to it again and again for future projects, I am sure.

My knitting projects have been spoiled with all the attention they’ve been getting this past week. The honeymoon will be all coming to an end soon - Tomorrow is a big dye day.  Add to that a huge shipment of undyed yarn, including a new base yarn,  making its way to me very soon, and the knitting basket is going to end up going into hibernation. That’s totally fine with me, I love dyeing as much as I like knitting.

Originally knit for my oldest daughter, who subsequently refused to wear it, this Tiny One Skein Wonder is seeing new life on the shoulders of one of her little sisters. I’d forgotten that I made it!

(on Ravelry)

Pattern :: One Skein Wonder by Stephanie Japel
Source :: Glampyre Knits
Yarn :: Manos del Uruguay, one skein of Mist #22 over dyed by me
Started/Finished :: early 2006

I haven’t heard a single complaint about itchiness. Yay! Let’s hope it lasts…

(on Ravelry)

Pattern :: Bluebell Rib Socks by Charlene Schurch
Source :: Sensational Knitted Socks, page 49
Yarn :: Mama Blue Knitting Goods, Troika Sock in Canary, 1 skein
Needle :: KnitPicks us1.5 2.5mm 24″
Gauge :: 8sts = 1″
Started :: July 21, 2008
Finished :: September 28, 2008

Modifications :: My sock is worked over 60 sts. with a 1.5″ 1×1 ribbed cuff a the top.  The cuff is 7.5″ long (12 repeats). Then I moved the sts so that 29 were on the instep and 31 sts to be worked on the heel. The heel flap is a generic slipped st heel with 2 sts of garter at each end. The foot length is for me - a size 7. The toe is my generic toe that I always do. The finished socks weigh exactly 100g, and I have a healthy pile of yarn leftover.

The evenings here are just starting to cool of enough to wear socks. The days are still warm, but I suspect my flip flops will begin their hibernation in the back of my closet very soon. Bring on the wimpy Southern California autumn!

There’s a KAL (knit-a-long) going on right now over at the Mama Blue Yarn Love Group on Ravelry. It’s going until the end of November, and there yarn to be won! Everyone is welcome to join! Yay!

Even though knitting didn’t actually occur on my vacation, I had prepared for the occasion. Of course, I brought along my almost finished, very portable, Birdcage Socks. I’m looking forward to wearing them, so I’m eager finish them up.

The day before I left, I received a pretty braid of fiber from Black Ethel Cash. I was very curious to see how it would spin up, so I used it for my maiden voyage into the waters of singles yarn. As you can observe, I have a number of adjustments to make in my spinning methods. Eeep. I was so eager to bring this along on my vacation that I sped up the drying of the freshly washed skein by hanging it in front of a space heater. (I’m feeling tremendously guilty about that. Bad, bad me.) Anyhoo, I brought it along to make a February Baby Sweater minus the gull stitch.

Fiber :: Superwash Merino Combed Top in Heart
Source :: Black Ethel Cash
Quantity :: 4 oz, ? yards
Weight :: Sport-DK-Worsted weight

I also brought along another freshly begun project. This is hopefully going to turn out to be a top down sweater for my littlest. We’ll see how it goes. Sweater design may be a bit too ambitious of a project for someone with so little time to knit. I’m taking good notes though, so I have high hopes that I will be able to pick it back up where I left off.

and I did not knit. I’m shocked. I wanted to, but it just didn’t happen.

Instead I:

• went for a long walk
• was stupid threw caution to the wind and took my good camera waist deep into the tumbling ocean
• made smores
• came home briefly on Wednesday to see a show (Radiohead = happy husband)
• applied sunscreen about a million times
• ate artichoke hummus (yum) and drank kombucha (ew) in the sand
• slept in a tiny tent with my three littles
• talked about knitting (just a little bit)
• rode a boogie board like a screeching idiot (Ha! The surfing husband was not there to disapprove.)
• watched my oldest daughter learn to ride a bike sans training wheels

It was glorious, even if I did miss my knitting.