One Crazy Fiber Lady

Weekend Update

Saturday I was treated to another birthday celebration.  Deb had the twins and me over to her house where she made us lunch, served a very yummy home made Grandma cake and provided entertainment.  She has an excellent recap as well as fab pictures!  She gave me two skeins of Koigu KPPPM for my birthday in a beautiful colorway.  Thanks Deb for everything! 

I brought my little gem with me over to her house and spun some of the hand painted merino that I bought in MD this year.  It is the peachy color stuff at the back of the pile here.  I got to look at these pictures more often as I totally forget what I have!  Kat has requested a sweater out of it, and with 1.5lbs, I can probably oblige her.  Doing the quick fold-back-on-self method of measuring, it will probably result in a 14wpi cushy merino yarn.  I wasn't able to get a good picture last night, but am close to finishing a second bobbin.  I put in about an hour on the second bobbin last night as Sundays are for spinning (along with Tuesdays).

On the Schacht, I've been working on the first bobbin of hand dyed BFL from Painted Skeins in the Stone Fruit Sunrise color.  I bought this fiber right after the last issue of Spin Off inspired me to approach hand dyed in a different way than is normal for me.  The Spunky Tulips I spun as per my old approach:  divide the roving into half and then just spin each half, ply together.  I love the yarn, but the results were a bit odd.  I'm split this BFL in half and am spinning it as is.  The other half will probably be split in thirds.  It is almost spinning itself.

I'm showing a bit of consistency in the colors that are drawing me in right now.  No longer the pink/brown/cream of the Neapolitan that held me in its grip for so long, but now the orange/yellow/pink/purples have me. 

Witness the Lorna's Monkey Sock in Bittersweet has those exact colors as well. I can also count two other sock yarns currently in the yarn basket that have the same colors too.  I'm going to have me some brightly colored socks!  I hit the heel on this sock this morning and one stop before mine on the PATH, I pulled the needle on the flap.  I took it back to the last circular round and have decided to reduce stitch count and do a plain foot.  I'm not a huge fan of patterns on the foot (cabled socks notwithstanding) and thanks to my good friend Ms. Right Ankle, I wear closed shoes a lot.  The texture both annoys the foot and is lost inside the sneaker.  It just makes more sense to do a plain foot.

Speaking of the sock yarns, I noticed that my basket is overflowing...

This basket is almost entirely sock yarn.  There may be a couple of skeins of lace weight in there for fun (including that yummy cashmere purchased at MASW), but really, it is almost entirely sock weight.  It should also be noted that this is not by far all the sock yarn.  There is a chest at the end of my bed that also contains a goodly amount of the stuff and honestly, that floor full that I flashed during the packing to move last year is still in a box in the basement.  There are probably a few skeins not in any of the aforementioned locations as well, and no way includes the box in my closet of leftovers that can either grow to be socks for the twins or get reused somehow in a scrappy blanket.

See that cone of yarn behind the CD and next to the basket?  That coffee with cream color?  That is a cone of 1/36NM cash/silk from Colourmart that is now the lead contender for the WRS.  I swatched it Friday night and really love it.  I'll have to get a good picture of it (camera batteries were dead and I honestly forgot about it last night when rounding up other shots) but having shown both the Lacis and the Colourmart swatches to first Deb and then Mom, we all agree that the cash/silk is the one.  I'm ready.  I'm ready. 

I really am getting closer to ready to cast on for that shawl.  MS3 is no longer one of my loves.  I'm really at a loss as to what to do with it.  I finished Clue 4 in plenty of time for 5.  The theme was revealed on Friday, as I'm sure you all know by now.  It is Swan Lake.  A beautiful theme, but the remaining part of the stole is going to form a wing.  A wing?  Ugh.  I decided to sit back and let others knit this so I can see what it looks like.  Having now seen it, I can't say as I like it.  Sure there's two more clues after this one and who knows what the edging is going to look like, but I really don't like it so far.  There is a stated alternative to knit clues 1-4 again and graft in the middle.   Except I'm not that enamoured with the rest of it and really don't want to knit it again.  I'm torn now between ripping the thing out entirely or creating my own ending for it.  At least it has all be very fast to knit so if I do rip, I don't feel as if I've wasted a lot of time.  Blech.

Either way, it is in timeout and I'm going to move forward on Tina, 7 repeats of the 9.5 are now done and finally cast on for WRS.  Though... there's always a though isn't there?... I'm tempted to use a slightly heavier cobweb (snicker - J&S 1-ply) and knit the Bridal Shawl as a warm up for WRS.  Decisions decision.

I did get over the inertia of which piece of lace to knit by casting on a baby sweater for my new niece.  It is the Simple Stripes Baby Sweater in the Dream in Color yarns. I've finished the first two stripes.  Sweet little sweater.  I'll probably use some of the leftover to knit her the Saartje's Bootees(pdf).  Those things are sooooo cute.

I'm tired today.  Kat crawled into my bed sometime during the night after I turned in and proceeded to have an accident.  Ugh.  1:14AM and I feel wet.  She's standing on the bed crying.  I get her changed, grab my pillow and head to her room.  She curls up in the usually spot on the floor and I took her bed.  Glad I got her a nice bed :)  Not quite as cushy as my pillow-top dream, but comfy enough.  Oh well.

Dad took Alex for a haircut on Thursday.  Got another summer buzz cut (timely too as the weather has been beastly hot).  I love this cut on him!

Deb is right, they don't look like toddlers anymore.  I blinked.

FOUR MORE DAYS!

Craft on!!

Moving On

A big hearty thanks goes out to everyone for the faith they showed in me during my job hunting.  I really appreciate the support from all of you and the outpouring of celebratory comments really made a happy time even happier.  I really don't know what I would do without y'all.  And for the curious, the offer came from the callback interview last Thursday.  It was a whirlwind romance there.

Tues:  First round meet and greet.
Wed:  They decide that want a second round ASAP and not wait until the rest of their first rounds were over on Friday.
Thurs: Second round 2.5 hours of tech questions and personality check to see if I would fit with the team
Fri:  OFFER AND ACCEPTANCE!

I won't name names, but the company provides an "online learning environment" designed expressly for K-12.  I'll be working on Systems Integration between the company systems and those of the school systems.  The work sounds challenging and rewarding in the end.

I gave notice yesterday.  Not to the evil-director, but to my manager.  Haven't talked to the director yet and honestly, I doubt he'll even speak to me.  He's probably just as happy to see me go.  The manager, on the other hand, did not look very happy at all.  Kept running his hands through his hair as we spoke.  Poor guy.  Trying to re-platform and redesign with a continually shrinking staff.  They finally hired a new Java Developer, probably to replace the guy who left in early June, who started yesterday.  Meanwhile, they need to replace my buddy who left on Tuesday.  Now they'll have to find my replacement.  Hehehe.  Because of the whole .NET v. Java, there is no one already here that they can pass these duties onto.  NMP.  Anyway, I'm happy as a lark.  The countdown has begun and I have until next Friday to stick it out.  I didn't take any time between the two positions, but I feel a sick day coming on this week ;) 

Now that the drama of job hunting is over, I can back to some serious knitting.

Another pair of socks went down.  I started the second sock between the first round and callback interview on Thursday.  With the help of over an hour sitting and waiting before the last interview of the day together with a train that broke down on the way home that night (it was a really LONG day) wherein I didn't get home until 9 (that's why I didn't show to the SnB ladies), I finished the sucker Friday.  Details are over in the album, here.

Do I need to mention that I cast on for new socks almost immediately?  Yeah, didn't think so.  Sunday night I pulled a skein of Jitterbug in the Mist and did the first couple of rounds for the toe, tucked the works in my purse and headed off to bed.  By the time I hit Hoboken yesterday, this is the state of that sock:

I'm using US1 as the yarn is a tad thicker than my norm, very similar in texture, I find, to STR.  I was up a little early this morning so after dressing, curled up on the comfy chair in my room and worked on the sock while watching the news.  Here's the sock as I waited for the train in my patent-pending dashboard shot ;)

When I tucked the thing into my bag as I got off the PATH this morning, I was about an inch shy of the ribbing for the cuff.  This baby is going down today.  :)  I'm not super thrilled with the yarn.  If I used it again, I would give a US2 a try.  The fabric is a tad stiff with the 1's.  Still, you have to love a small foot and a 52st sock for speed knitting!

Socks, contrary to popular opinion, are not the only things I've been working on.  There's Tina that I try to work on at least every other day.  I've completed 6 of 9.5 repeats of the center pattern.

The Mystery Stole KAL did not have a clue this past Friday, which is a good thing.  Thanks to all the studying and excitement of last week, I didn't work on it until Fri/Sat.  I blew through most of the two charts on Sunday.  I'm a few rows of finishing the second chart and should have it done either tonight or tomorrow.  (I'm making Tuesdays and Sundays spinning nights).

I really like the stole so far, but am just a little bit tired of the current strawberry section.  I was tempted to just cut it a few repeats short but decided to keep going.  Each week when the clue comes out, I take advantage of Adobe Photoshop and combine the two half charts into one and with the help of a highlighter, keep my place for each row.  The system has worked so well that when I was prepping the Tina Shawl pattern for usage (I always photocopy and work from that), I combined the two half charts into a single chart and printed on one sheet.  Fortunately the eyes don't mind the smaller block size.  I would have liked grid lines for the 10 marks like I've seen on other patterns, but adding with a fine point pen the stitch count for plain knits has made it much easier.

I think that's about it for now.  I'm in a wind down phase now at work.  I finished and deployed my last big project this morning and actually documents the administration of this monstrosity called the intranet around here.  I'll have to find something to amuse myself :)

Craft on!

Another Year

Thanks to everyone for their birthday wishes.  We spent a nice quiet day at home yesterday.  Unlike previous birthdays, including one where I came home from work running almost 104F fever (thanks to the monkeys giving me coxsackie virus), this was a more comfy day home.  Unfortunately, we were limited in what we could do because Kat has had a bad reaction to a sunblock.  She has lesions on her face and arms.  The pediatrician, who conveniently lives across the street, recommended keeping her out of the sun until they healed.  That meant no boat this weekend and limited outdoor playtime.  We spent some time out in the early morning and late afternoon, with a good amount on the porch where she and I played Memory for about an hour.  The kid is good at it!

I took this picture of the poor little face after a day of using a prescription cortisone cream.  It looks way better here then it did.  She's handling it very well and putting up with twice daily smearings. 

Anyway, the day was spent with my parents, my children and my knitting.  Mom made my favorite for dinner, lasagna and served up some yummy chocolate/chocolate cake!   I swatched one more time for the WRS. This time using a US1 and the Lacis.

I do think this is the winning swatch.  It has the nice open background with an ethereal feel to it, paired with some pretty sharp lace.  Here's a quick link to the other swatches.  It also helps that I heard back from Lacis that the knots aren't the norm.  I checked out my other three skeins and they have none.  Now to see if I can exchange the knotty one. I'm itching to get started on this shawl!  The poll, as of last look, wasn't much help, y'all split pretty evenly on the two yarns with a 13/12 in favor of the Lacis.

I spent the rest of my knitting time split between Tina and the MS3.  Sorry no pictures of either one.  MS3 is now 10 pattern rows into Chart E and Tina is 5 of 9.5 repeats of the center.  After working with all that cobweb-y yarn over the weekend swatching for WRS, the Zephyr for the other two feels so THICK!  Unbelievable huh?

To prevent this from turning into an 'all lace, all the time' channel, I did work on the current pair of socks this morning.  I've now made it into the cuff. Socks are definitely the purse knitting, with the lace taking center stage everywhere else.  For only knitting these socks on the train, they are coming along quite nicely.  I lost some ground this morning though as I futzed around with, wait for it, a lace rib for the cuff.  But frogged it right before pulling into the station as it just didn't look right.  It was getting lost in the short color changes in the yarn.  It would be great with longer color runs or a more solid yarn, of which I definitely have both in great supply.  Sock yarn is going to count soon.

Back to the grindstone now....

Craft on!

Balance

First, the dark.  That 2.5 hours of torturous interviewing was for naught.  They loved my personality, but thought I was light on the tech.  Sigh.  Maybe not for naught, I did stop on the way home and picked up a few books so I could buff up the tech.  There's still two more companies still in play, including the project over tech torture where I place #1 so far.  And I have another interview with a different company on Tuesday.  With a little studying of the concepts rather than the application, I can land one of these.

Now for the light!  Thanks to fleegle, I now how a registered legit copy of the WRS!  Share the love with her!  She saved my head from exploding.  I took advantage of the summer Friday yesterday and headed uptown to Habu to check out their superfine lace weight yarns for WRS swatching.  I found two possible contenders.  I've spent the lace day and a half swatching and have narrowed it down to two contenders.

1.  Habu Fine Merino A-33 2/48 (top) on a US1
Pro:  Softer, two ply, cheap, blocks nicely
Con: Lace doesn't seem quite as crisp

2.  Lacis Shetland Cobweb (bottom) on a US0
Pro:  Crisp lace
Con:  Single, very fragile, found a bunch of knots in the single skein I went to wound.

The Habu is on the top and the Lacis is the bottom.  I really can't decide.  The Habu, being merino, is way softer than the Lacis and seems more airy.  However, the lace just seems sharper in the Lacis.  I dread dealing with all the knots and hope the one skeins is just a defective one.  See Ina, I did swatch!  There were more swatches, but these two are the leads.  The first was a Habu Merino on a 0 that, while nice, just wasn't very um....

I don't know.  I also picked up some silk from Habu - Tassar Silk Organzine Twist N-13 35/6x2, which is really close in weight to the silk sold by HK in the cone.  I'm not a huge fan of lace with silk and found the swatch to be crunchy.  Its definitely out of the running.

I can't decide so I'm asking for input.  Time for a poll.  Please only vote once ....

Which yarn should I use for the WRS
	Habu Merino A-33
	Lacis Shetland Cobweb
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Craft on!

State of the Knitter

Time for the weekly (or so) progress (or lack thereof) update.

I.  Job stuff -

The project was very well received and has put me at #1 or 2 on the fellow's short list.   The bad news is that the company's HR department has demanded one last attempt to find a qualified candidate without going through a recruiter.  This would be v. bad for me as I was there through a recruiter.

Other good news though, I had two more first round interviews in the interim.  Both of which went very well.  Yesterday's was a telephone/tech round which ended with the gentleman saying that he'd report back to his manager and that they "would probably, wait, no, definitely have me in for a face-to-face meeting".  I got feedback email from my recruiter that I'd done very well.  Yay me.

So yes, prospects are there.  I'd be very happy with either of them.  I just want it over.  Soon.  In my ideal world, I'd get an offer as a birthday present, though I doubt with how the pace on this all is moving that I'd get it before Sunday.  Yes.  This Sunday.  Big companies just don't move that fast.  Nice to be marketable though.

II.  Fiber stuff -

a.  Begging -

Okay, before my head really explodes, I HAVE to knit a particular shawl.  I've fallen for it.  Hard.  I WANTSSSSS IT.  I NEEEDDDSSSSSS it.  Sadly however the damn thing is not available again until 2010.  What is it you ask?  The Wedding Ring Shawl from Sharon Miller.

I MUST have it.  I'll buy it, trade for it, rent it (if legal), swap my children for it.  I must have it.  If someone has it and has either finished it or put it on the shelf for future knitting, maybe I can purchase it from you and then sell it back.  I don't need to keep this pattern  I need to knit it.  Please.... I'm begging....

Oh well.  In the long wait for this, i placed an order for the Unst Bridal Shawl and some cobweb to knit it in.  I've also ordered more cobweb to knit the Unst Stole from the book.  Yep, there will be lots of pictures of lace around here in the future.

b.  Actual Knitting

I really have actually been knitting.  In between incessant googling of the WRS to see if someone might be willing to part with the pattern, even temporarily, I have knitted if only to justify further acquisition.

Socks.  Saturday night, in a period of insomnia, i finished the first of the loksin and immediately cast on for the second.  I'm now into the gusset for the second as of the end of lunch today..

Cool sock.  I have made a few mods in that I cut the stitch count from 60 to 56 for my midgy foot, as well as used a US0 instead of the prescribed 1's.

Thursday night I brought the MS3 to the SNB so I could catch up and finish Clue 2 before 3 was released on Friday.  I came close.  I finished 2 Friday evening and started #3.  I spent a leisurely day on Saturday with the monkeys and the folks.  I had a horrible headache the fortunately did not prevent me from finishing clue 3.

I like it very much so far.  I'm more than ready for clue 4 to come out on Friday.

Saturday night I gave in to a long project calling and finally cast on the Tina Shawl. I'm using Zephyr in Vanilla.  The center is pretty easy and as of last night, I have 3 of the 9.5 repeats done.

Anyone else noticing a theme?  All lace, all the time.  If I could find where I put Essential Tank, I'd work on that lace piece.  See, I knew I was a sock/lace knitter and recent knit activity is proving it!  I was so close to rooting out all the non sock/lace yarn from the stash on Sunday.   It was amusing.  I still might whittle it down as really, the yarn monster is getting way out of control.

That's the current state of the knitter.  Hopefully there will be some changes to report soon.

Craft on!

Catching Up

Another week, another post.  There's been alot going on.  Including spending Saturday with our favorite BronxGirl to celebrate her birthday.  Met/Saw again some wonderful knitting/blogging people.  It really was a wonderful time.

I spent the remainder of the weekend cramming and reading up on VB.Net so I could sparkle on a tech test Monday.  The results came in today.  I did very well on one portion, so-so on another and downright poorly on a third.  Oh well.  Not up to snuff for the senior position the company was looking for so that option is over. 

It isn't all bad news.  I'd told my headhunter my concerns regarding the law firm who then, very diplomatically I might add, communicated those with the firm.  Tuesday afternoon the I got a call from the fellow I'd interviewed with at the law firm.  He wanted to answer any further questions I might have had and to clarify the misconception I had.  After getting the no today from the preferred place, I realized that any company that would be calling/meeting to give me more information must really want me.  I gave the associated recruiter the go-ahead.  I would like to work there.  There's flexibility, independence and room for growth.  And hell, if it sucks, I'm not married to them and can always move on with the explanation that I took the position wasn't what it was billed to be.  I should hear tomorrow.  The hiring fellow needs to get signoff for upping the salary range for the position to meet my requirements.  Good huh?  I might just be able to go back on Monday and give notice.  That would be sweet!  4 days of vacation (kids are off this week) and then end it.  Ahhh.

Yes, there's been knitting!!!

Yesterday, sandwiched by a long outing to the mall, I started and finished this sock.  It is my standard recipe toe-up (you can see its mate started), on US1 over 52st.  The yarn is STR Lightweight in Red Rock Canyon colorway that I bought last spring.  Don't think I blogged it though, but I remember ordering it after reading about the STR event at MDSW.  The couple of clicks was way easier than standing in line.  Remind me to show my MDSW 2007 t-shirt that I ordered off their website a few weeks ago ;)

Also on the needles still is the Essential Tank.  I'm just shy of the armpits still though getting awfully close.  I really should work on it, but the whole SOS2007 has me distracted by socks.  Not to mention the timesuck that is Ravelry.  I finally got my invite on Friday and have been terribly distracted!  My name over there is, not surprisingly, crazyfiberlady.  Go figure.  I've opted not to upload all my finished projects, but like others, will be treating as tabular rosa and will start new there. 

That's about it for now.  I have to go fish the monkeys out of the pool so they can go to bed.

Craft on!

Cookin...

In a very rare two-fer posting day, here's the second :)  I had the computer, cameras and a free block of tv time.  Figured it was time for a real posting.

First up, a couple of finished objects.  No time to toss em in the album if i want to finish this before Hell's Kitchen starts.

The knee socks in the STR Silkie - Walk on the Wild Tide colorway.  I actually finished them  Thursday before Memorial Day Weekend.  I just got around to taking the photo.  In th end, each sock took me about a week to finish.  I got both socks out of the one 100g skein of the very yummy and highly recommended Silkie.

In the quickie pile is this baby blocking last night.  It is a Flower Basket Shawl (small/shoulderette size) in one skein of Louet Gems fingering weight, Crabapple Blossom color.  I started it Thursday at the SnB and finished it yesterday.  I needed something pink ;)

Do you think the spinning thing is genetic?  I'm really glad I have multiple wheels.  Not to mention these folk are providing a use for the DT wheels!

Finally...

Just to show that I do provide these children with the proper clothing!  I do have to admit that they both wound up in the pool quite naked not to much after these pictures.

And for some excellent news.  The boy is potty trained!  Woot!  He went for the first time, the Thursday before Cummington (too tired to dig out the calendar).  He skipped using the potty for the rest of the holiday weekend but started back up late Monday.  Surprisingly on Tuesday, he went to school wearing panties!  And didn't have any accidents!!!  He's been in panties since with a minimal number of accidents!  (Except he did pee on my bedroom floor this evening but we won't mention that.)

He started going potty the same day that he got that big boy summer buzz cut.   Maybe it was the haircut.  Maybe it was going in the pool later that same day that spurred him on.  Whatever it was, amen!

Time to go relax with my knitting and Hell's Kitchen.  Not too sure what the computer situation will be tomorrow as we're going FIOS.  We'll see if I can get my wifi devices back online.  Down side is that the conversion is happening before the final episode of the Sopranos next week.  Should I add that we aren't getting HBO?  Crap.  It's going to be a L O N G wait for the DVD's :(

Craft on!

Moving along

While I'm not getting around so well, I am getting things done.  This weekend was a good one.  Saturday, Deb came over.  We were going to give Kim a spinning lesson, but unfortunately motherhood (Kim's not mine) intervened and it turned into a spin-in on the porch.  Deb has a great picture of our wheels on the porch. 

I was pleasantly surprised that I could spin one footed on double treadle wheels with varying degrees of success.  Friday night I gave the Lendrum Saxony a try and was quite successful, especially if I just put my right foot (the bad 'un) on the right treadle to counterbalance.  No work being done by that foot, just really letting the treadle bank off of it.  Sort of. 

Next up was the Lendrum Upright where I've been spinning some Crown Mountain sock hop roving in Big Yellow Taxi.  Unfortunately, I wasn't so successful.  It might be because I have the band on the smallest whorl on the Woolee Winder making treadling more difficult.  I'm going to give it another try with a different fiber and the largest whorl.  We'll see if that helps.

Saturday, two more wheels got the treatment.  Since Deb came over with her Little Gem, I had to pull out mine so the two could reacquaint themselves.  I was easily able to treadle one footed, in a method similar to the saxony.  The right foot sat on the treadle and didn't move.  I was playing with some romney that's been in stash since last spring.  Come to think of it, it was the inaugural roving for the Suzie when her Woolee Winder arrived, as well as  for the Fricke E-Spinner.  Now its serving the same role for the Gem.  I'm liking that wheel very much.

For giggles, I gave the Tina a spin.  I haven't used her since before I moved last April.  Until a short while ago, she sat in a storage unit and only recently moved to the house where she took up residence in the entry foyer.  I've forgotten how nice it is to spin on that wheel.  Initially I had to keep the right foot on the treadle, like with the other two, but in no time, I had her going entirely one footed with the right nowhere near the wheel.  Sweet.  Good Tina.  Anyone who might have thought she was going, forget it.  I'm in love with her all over again!

Sunday was spent knitting.  I want to rest up the ankle for next weekend and opted to not push it yesterday.  I kept it elevated and iced.  It was a day for finishing.  First, two pictures of long since finished items.

Forest Canopy Shawl.  Project details here.  She's reposing on the Lendrum Saxony yesterday afternoon. 

Trekking 126 socks.  I finally remembered to take a picture of these babies.  Love them.  I like the faternal twinness of them, even though that makes others nuts.  Project details here.

After a couple episodes of Mega Movers on the History Channel, I finished up Icarus.   The bonus knitting time in the waiting room on Friday left in sight of the finish line.  In what is probably a first for me, I blocked it the same day.  I got to use the new exercise mats blocking pads I bought.

It took 5 of the 2x2 interlocked mats to block this.  I have wires at the top and quilting pins in each of the points.  In no time at all, she was dry...

I'm wearing her today.

That's about it for now.  Time to go silly walk for lunch.

Craft on!

Floundering

I feel like I'm floundering around looking for a project to work contentedly on.  It happens periodically after finishing something that I really enjoyed.  I cast on, work for a while and then discard in favor of something else.   Must have enjoyed those Trekking 126 socks more than I thought.  I finished (well except for grafting the toe) the first of the Duet socks on the train last night.  Not sure how I feel about schlepping two skeins of yarn around to work on those.  I'll have to do the toe and walk around in the sock for a while to find out if I love it or not. 

In keeping with a new day/different commuter project, Icarus came to work today.  I was actually able to finish 3 rows on the way in.  I'm now on row 11 of 24 for the fourth and final chart.  No point in taking a picture of the whole thing, but here's a focused in shot on the edge as I sat on the train this morning.

(Yes I can wear jeans to work ;)  Aren't those colors gorgeous?!  As a reminder, it is the Claudia Handpaint Silk in Just Plum colorway.  I so love this yarn. 

I think part of my discontent with knitting is related to my ankle.  I really want to be spinning, but the darn thing isn't letting me.  I tried last night, but since all my wheels are double treadles (with the exception of the electric), I've had mixed results.  I'm relieved that I ordered the ST Schacht.  I just wish it would arrive sooner.  It isn't even scheduled to leave the factory until May 7, which really is around the corner, but doesn't feel that way.  I'm tempted to try sell the Lendrum Saxony in favor of a single treadle saxony style wheel.  I would LOVE a Canadian Production wheel.   While I do love the Lendrum, I really don't need 2 saxony wheels.  Anyone have a canadian wheel they aren't using? :)  Anyone want a Lendrum? (Sorry, not the upright, she's not going anywhere.)  In the meantime, I'm going to hope that Friday's appointment with the orthopedist reveals something fixable.

My father reminded me that I still have a storage unit full of stuff, including my loom.  I haven't mentioned it much because I really haven't touched the thing since long before I got pregnant.  But its there.  It is a LeClerc 24" 4harness compact jack loom.  I put it up for sale on the Housecleaning pages with the offer to deliver to Maryland.  Honestly, I'm mixed on selling her.  No, I don't weave much but that is related to the whole dressing the loom but I learned a new method (before folding her up and tucking her in the living room corner to bring home babies) that did speed things up considerably.  I can't say that I don't want to weave again either.  Looking at the prices of a new loom makes me even more indecisive about getting rid of it.  Funny, I bought both the Saxony and the loom with stock options from bn.com back in the day (before the stock tanked).  I guess if someone wants it before Maryland, I'll put it in the back of the car and if not, I'll tuck her in the basement for some future day.

Time for some tedious crap work.

Craft on!

Sunny Days

Having finished the last pair of socks (and sadly I have once again to snap a shot of the finished Trekking socks) I had to find something else to knit.  Knit time knitting has been Icarus as I'd like to finish that long term lace off.   I'm 6 rows into the final chart so the end is almost in sight.  Down side is that each row is over 400 stitches.  I'm a glutton though as I just bought the Sarcelle pattern and actually have the Merino D'Oro in stash which I think has sufficiently marinated.  We won't even begin to mention that Tina and a cone of Zephyr is marinating at present.  I'm just so excited that Modern Yarn finally received their shipment of Addi Lace needles.  I'm getting a selection of them (2,3,4) on Thursday.

I did start a basic cuff down sock in Lorna's Black Purl but quickly tired of.  Could be that I went for the flap/gusset version instead of the short row and just couldn't see myself working a second one. So I pulled the needles out Sunday night.

Yesterday morning on the train I cast on using some Opal Petticoat.  Again working cuff down, but with the goal of doing my standard short row heel.  I got a few inches into the cuff and by the time I headed home from work, I was so discontent with the colors that I just couldn't work any more on them.  While the yarn itself is fabulous, the colors are just a shade too sherbert-y for me.  It is 1295 and the skein is going onto either eBay or Destash.  I just can't knit with it.

This left me with no socks again for the train.  I did pack Spring Things into my bag, but then remembered the Duet Sock yarns that I've been stashing and haven't tried yet.  I picked one out of the box (Fire Dancer is the colorway I think).  I started the heel last night while reading after 24.  I took this picture this morning in the car on the way to the train.  By now I'm half way through the foot.  Sweet.  By the way, she's now got fingering weight Duet.  I've ordered my first skeins of it and am eagerly awaiting its arrival.

Has anyone else noticed that I'm primarily a lace and sock knitter?  Funny it only recently struck me that that's what I really am.  While I do knit other things, those two are where I really find my inspiration.  Sweaters kind of suck.  Maybe the next one should really be a lace one.  We'll see how that fits into the love of lots of little stitches that I seem to seriously enjoy.  Next up is the Katherine Hepburn from Lace Style and I have the Knitpicks Merino Style in Moss currently marinating.

Finally, I want to share a few more photos from this weekend.  First up is one of my father and the little man.

I love this one of the little man. 

Craft on!