Doin' It In The Park

Well we did do it in the park….Spinning that is, get your minds out of the gutter. Anyway, yesterday was the second annual Spin Out hosted by the lovely Cara and boy was she glowing. I tried to snag a picture of her and Jenny but I was a little late whipping out my camera and the moment was gone :-( I had a ball and of course I lugged along my Victoria. I also lugged along my SO and DS so you could say that we had a sort of family day except for the fact that I ignored them the whole time we were there.

I was really sidetracked so I didn’t take as many pictures as I wanted to. I meant to take a picture of the wonderful fiber Anne was spinning but I totally forgot. Believe me it was gawjus. Also I’m horrible with names so there will not be a lot of commentary. Excuses, excuses I know, I got loads of em.

I got Annie to try out my wheel. Think she'll let me have a go at her loom?
I told Tawana I wanted a picture of her baby bump, I guess my camera took it literally.
The New York Spin City Meetup represented.

And so did Sit n Knit New York.(by the way, thats Penelope on the right and she doesn't have a stash, well not a real one like you and I, yeah I know tell me about it!)We had a hitchiker present. I'm debating getting one. Who am I kidding, I've already made up my mind, you'll see me lugging one of those around at Rhinebeck.

Little girls were put to work carding wool. Why else would you bring the kids along?
Look at that kewl hat! And what makes her even kewler was that she was spinning straight up lace angora (ooooo ahhhhh)
See! perfect, no?
Spinning demo in progress.

See Sandra Spin!

I’ll save the actual knitting content for my next post, but I have been super busy on that front. Til next time.

Days Gone By

Hey there, long time, no blog. Remember when you were a kid and you would get all excited about the first day of school. You had that giddy feeling of anew, new notebooks, new pens, new clothes, new backpacks, everything was new and it made you excited for the school year ahead of you. Usually the newness wore off after a couple of weeks and you were back into the homework rut but I say all of this to try and describe my feelings towards this blog. I haven’t been the most regular at posting and I would like change that so I treated myself to a blog makeover. I’m hoping the newness of it all will help inspire me to update this space more often. In case you’re wondering I have the lovely Missa of MoonArts Web Design to thank. I think they did a wonderful job and I’m so excited about my “new beginning”. And I gotsa button for you guys to steal (yay).

You’re probably wondering what I’ve been up to in these past weeks, well I can tell you that it aint sock knitting believe it or not. I know that the Summer of Socks ends today but I just wasn’t feeling in a sock mood this summer. I think I have an a-long commitment anxiety or something because once the a-long gets started I’m fine but I slowly start to loose steam until I’m just not that into it anymore. I think if I hadn’t joined summer of socks I probably would have knitted more that my lonely 3 pairs. Now I seem to be into bigger projects.

This is a Bog Jacket that I started for my son. The pattern is by Elizabeth Zimmerman and it can be found in her Knitting Around book but I’m sure all you Knittanistas already knew that. I totally plan on doing all the bells and whistles like shoulder shaping, phoney seams, and all that jazz but I’m afraid that it may be too small for my little man. I’m choosing to ignore this minor oversight until all the knitting is done. In case you’re wondering, I’m quite fine living with my knitters denial, it helps me cope. I’m trying to use up my acrylic so I just dug in the stash and saw that I had 4 skeins of Caron Natura in chocolate brown that I could use. I’m not sure what colors I’m using for the top but I know I want off white and maybe orange or tan. We’ll see how it turns out.

I know I have this tendency to write a lot when I’ve been gone a while so I’ll try not to bore you guys too much.

I’ve actually been crocheting also. Remember the charity group that I knit with at my job? Well I had this great idea that if everyone in the group donated a couple of granny squares, then we would have enough for a blanket to donate to Warm Up America. Well I got 54 squares but guess who has the great job of crocheting them all together? That’s right, the same person with the bright idea. So far I’ve done about half the blanket and it’s a pretty daunting task. Only because the gauges are as varied as the people who made them so they’re not all the same size. Plus they were not all made with the same pattern so it can be difficult to get them to match up correctly. I’m pushing through it and hopefully I’ll have it done by next week. I’m planning on giving pictures of the blanket to all that participated as a sort of thank you card.

In spinning news, here’s the finished yarn from my last post

Crown Mountain Farms Superwash Merino Roving

Happy Together Colorway

Approx 4.5 Ounces, 414 yards, 18wpi

Method: Short Forward Draw, 2ply

I love this yarn and I’m waiting until I find the perfect pattern to cast on for a pair of socks of course.

I also spun up half of the fiber I received in my last spinning swap. A while ago I started a swap on swap-bot for hand dyed roving dyed to resemble a flower. My partner Jennifer sent me the most gawjus merino/silk blend roving inspired by pink gerbera daisies. I think she got the colors spot on and I split the roving in half and spun one half up. I loved the colors so I decided to Navajo ply it and it turned out around a lace weight. I think this yarn wants to be an airy lace scarf of some sort so I’m on the hunt for any patterns. I’ll post this one properly with stats and all once I’m done spinning it.

In other knitting news, I’m still plugging away on my first sweater that I’ve been working on since January. I’m trying to have it ready for Rhinebeck but I’m not keeping my fingers crossed. I’m not stressing it because I know I’ll have a good time regardless of how I’m dressed. Just to recap, I’ve finished the back and one sleeve and I am currently working on the left front. The pattern stated that you should knit the cable band that goes around the fronts of the sweater separately but somehow I don’t picture my self knitting a 40”+ cable strip then sewing it to the sides.

I think that’s all for now. Hopefully I’ll catch some of you NY spinners at the Spin-Out next Saturday. I’ll be the one with the Louet Victoria and the Afro so don’t forget to say “Hi”.

Happy Crafting

p.s. Is it just me or did anyone else absolutely fall head over heels in love with Tim Gunns new show on Bravo? I’m ready to throw all the clothes in my closet out and shop for new ones. Undergarments includedJ

Remarkable Feats in Spinning

Favorite Quote from the TV Show Martin:

If I say a duck could pull a truck, then shut up and hook the sucka up!

-Jerome

That quote loosely translates to “If I tell you something to be true, then take my word for it”.

I accomplished my own remarkable feat this evening that I had to come out of blog hibernation to share it. Drum roll please………I SPUN 4 OUNCES OF FIBER ALL ON ONE SINGLE LOUET BOBBIN!(and the crowd goes wild, yaay!) It may not seem like anything out of the ordinary to the mere mortal but this is a great accomplishment for me. I spun the singles on one bobbin, then wound it into a center pull ball. I then took an extra step and wound the two ends together into a two ply ball (using an empty tp roll). Tonight I plied it and I was so determined to get this whole thing onto one bobbin so I wouldn’t have to split up the skein. Well I'll let the picture speak for itself.

I haven’t taken any stats as of yet but this is the fiber I started spinning at the sistahfriends knitta-que. I started out with 4 ounces of Crown Mountain Farms Superwash Merino roving in the Happy Together colorway. I’ll have more details once it’s had a good washing. As you can see it’s roughly 20 w.p.i (sock yarn, woo hoo!) but that will slightly change once it’s gone for a dunk .

Since I’m already blogging, here’s my last FO.

I made these socks with yarn I won on Nikki’s blog. The yarn is Elann Esprit which is a cotton and elastic mix. I believe it’s comparable to Cascade Fixation but I may be mistaken. I used the seeded rib pattern from the Second Sensational Knitted Socks Book, toe up of course. I fittingly call them my Pink Zebra socks. Dare I say that the color pink is really starting to grow on me (I’ll deny I ever said that later). I think this marks my second pair of socks knit for the Summer of Socks. See, I not only slack on blogging but on sock knitting also, I'm well rounded that way.

Well I’m off to catch Tim Gunns' new show but I couldn’t resist tooting my own horn if you know what I mean.

Happy Spinning!

Nothing of interest...unless your my secret pal

I know I've been a little m.i.a. as of lately but I have been keeping myself busy. Since my last post I've finished a pair of cotton socks, and I'm currently spinning up some Crown Mountain Farms fiber (ooo la la). I need to update my pics to flickr before this month is over so I should have a proper post in the very near future.

In the meantime, here is the questionnaire for this fiber swap that I'm participating in, Happy knitting everyone.
1) When is you birthday?
December 25th
2) How long have you been spinning?
1 year
3) How long have you been blending your fibers?
Less than a year
4) What types of blends do you like to make and spin?
I'm mainly a color blender rather than a fiber blender but anything blended with angelina/firestar makes me happy.
5) What types of fibers do you NOT like? Are you allergic to any kinds of fiber?
I'm not a fan of the short stapled stuff, like cotton and the like.
6) What are your favorite colors?
Green, Green and, um, uh, Green
7) What are you least favorite colors?
I don't know if I have any. It used to be pink but that's starting to grow on me.
8) What type of yarns do you like to spin? (singles, plied, novelty, fingering, bulky, ect.)
I luv spinning 2ply sock yarn.
9) What type of blending equipment do you use?
I have two sets of hand carders and a Strauch Petite drum carder.
10) What type of wheel or spindle do you spin on?
I have an Ashford Traditional, a Louet victoria and about 5 top whorl spindles and 1 bottom whorl spindle.
11) What do you do with your handspun yarn?
I mainly pet it and use it for small projects.
12) What are your interests outside of spinning?
I knit, crochet and I used to sew but I kinda fell off. I also like making wire jewelry.
13) What types of music do you like?
I like all types but mainly R&B/Neo-Soul
14) What types of movies do you like?
Comedy's
15) Do you collect anything?
Yarn (of course)
16) What types of candy and snacks do you like and dislike?
I love everything except for butterscotch and licorice.
17) Do you have any food allergies to common "goodies"? (ie: chocolate, nuts, etc.)
Nope.

Who's a little piggy?

I'm a little piggy!

Sahara and I hosted our second annual Sistahfriend Knitta-Que this past weekend in St Nicholas Park and I have to say that I ate entirely too much. Oh man, the food was sooooo good I'm ready to slap everyones Mama's. We had a such a ball and I definitely want to give a million thanks to everyone who made this event such a resounding success. I haven't had this much fun in a long while and I'm already looking forward to next year! So on to the pics........

Once again, a million yarny hugs goes out to Sahara! This was her brainchild last year so without her there would be no Knitta-que. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such a triple threat (Confident, Creative and Classy) sistah as yourself. Mad props! And just in case you thought that we all sat around stuffing our faces, there was knitting going on. Here is our co-Hostess working on her marbled sweater, you have to see it in person to get the full effect. (yes her fingers were going that fast)

Here's my favoritest coworker Kim working on about her third pair of socks. Dontcha know she had the nerve to bring a carrot cake made from scratch no less, with a cream cheese icing. I think she was trying to out do the chocolate cake she bought last year. I can't wait to see what she brings next year.

I finally got to meet Iris and her beautiful daughter Cheb. She was working on some Pomies in one of my favorite colors. Of course I was too busy stuffing my face to get a picture of them. BTW, she's not mad in the picture, I so called was trying to take a candid shot and this was the only one I could get.When I saw Hope whip out her camera of course I had to take one of those whimsical "I see you too" photos.
I'm trying my bestess to convert her into a sock knitter, baby steps and all so go on and congratulate her on finishing her first pair. They were made for her grandson Brandon and what a cutie pie he is. Here he is pictured with his mama.
Our sistahfriend Sharon was visiting all the way from Toronto and was able to make it out to our little get together. I thought that I had gotten a shot of her but we must have been to busy talking about Koigu. I only happened to get a shot of her backside and I don't think she'd appreciate me posting a picture of that for all the world to see. She happened to be working on socks also which seemed to be the theme.

Njoya was there and I got a pic of her in her favorite pose,telling it like it T.I. is!

She showed up with a steaming hot pan of Mac and cheese and it was incredibly scrumptious. Don't believe me? Take a look at the evidence and this was just an hour after she arrived!

I snagged a picture of Zahraa and her niece as they were heading out. Isn't she just the cutest thing you ever did see?
I snuck in a shot of Mommy-To-Be Tawana. Wanna guess what she was knitting? Yup, the cutest, tiniest little baby socks .
As you can see Sherrin was keeping an eye on her work and her son Chase at the same time.
Boy has this kid got energy! My son would have been rippin' and runnin' right along with him but he went down south for a couple of weeks to see relatives. Can you say Mommy vacation (woo hoo)?My buddie Marva was the very first person to arrive toting along her precocious granddaughter Amie.
Just hearing this little girl talk makes you say "wow". Once they got settled after their arrival, she turns to me, and in her most grown up voice asks, "So, how have things been with you?". She just recently learned how to knit and is already working that yarn like a pro.
I met fellow Harlemite Donna who happened to be knitting a non sock item. Bandana's to be exact. We both have children of similar age so I mostly picked her brain about schooling information. My son's about to start kindergarten and I'm a nervous wreck. I put off picking a school for him last year so this year is it for me. I'm feeling all the pressure of making sure I find the most nurturing environment for him. You Momma's out there know what I'm talking about.

I started the day out with camera issues so I didn't get a picture of Saunielle. She stopped by for a hot minute and I wish she could have stayed longer but there's always next year. By the way Saun, I got one of your tupperwares. I'll give it to you next time we meetup. I also managed to not get a picture of my girl Shameka. She was nice enough to design our flyers for us and she bought the most amazing rice and peas. Not one but two pans. I didn't forget about you either.


Last but not least, I must thank our grill masters. Thank you guys so much for signing on to spend a whole day surrounded by us "crazy" knitters. We definitely couldn't have done it without you guys. Check it out, I actually scored a pic of Mr K relaxing in his cool hat. I wonder what's in that cup?
Here's my sweetheart on the phone when he should be watching the grill. I'm just bothering him, he did a wonderful job on the grill . Especially since he only had 4 hours of sleep the night before due to a gig. What a trooper. Well that about sums it up. I'm predicting that next time we'll be even more organized and have even more attendees. As a side note, I really did miss my girl Necia. She had a prior arrangement and she truly was missed by all. Well there's always Rhinebeck right? Did you guys happen to see what the sheep is this year? BFL baybeeee!

Before I forget, in my last post I promised some give away some stitch markers so the prize goes to
Nancy. Holla at me with your info and I'll send it right out. I'll update you guys next post as to what I've been up to. Sock on people!

Where did July go?

I don’t have any clever excuses why I’ve been MIA lately. Well, there was the bout with tonsillitis again but my hands were still in working order so that’s hardly a valid excuse. I just haven’t been in the mood to do anything crafty lately. I actually took a whole week off of knitting if you can believe that. Yeah, I know. I didn’t knit a stitch or draft some wool or crimp any wire for a whole week. Weird huh? I seem to be edging myself back into a full diagnosis of my usual cantkeephandstillitis. I apologize to all you guys about the sidewinder stitch markers. I just haven’t had the time or the energy to make them but I made a partial set last night so there will be some available soon. To get over my guilt and because Nona gave me a kewl shout out, I’m going to give away a set of Sidewinder stitch markers (or markers of your choice). Do I even need to make the ubiquitous “leave a comment” or “random number generator” statements? Ya’ll know the deal right? I'll pick a winner by my next post whenever that may be.

My Sidewinders are about 80% done. I'm using Maia’s method, magic loop style so I won’t have to graft the toe. The only down side is that the rows are sooooo long but I reworked the numbers anyway to accommodate my medium weight wool so it’s not that bad. Basically I magic casted on 77 stitches, separated them accordingly, did my heel and toe increases , knit plain for a while threw some short rows up in that mug and now I’m back to decreasing to my original 77 stitches. Sorry for the suckie flashy picture but it’s kinda hard to straighten it all out on 32” circs.

Side A

Side B

I was (emphasis on the word “was”) a member of the Tour de Fleece but all I managed to spin was this bit I was working on before the spin-a-long even started. I’ll have to dig around for the stats but all I can tell you off the top of my head’s that it was spun from one of Abbys Luxury Batts in the Easter color way. I spun three separate bobbins for a 3 ply and here is half of it. Again, sorry for the flashy picture.

This is how much I have left and once it’s all gone through a wash and set, I’ll give it a proper photo shoot.

Well that’s all for now. By the way, I finished The Book in 1 day and you all know what book I’m talking about. Thanks Maribel, Nancy and Tisha for making it a fun event. Nancy, tell Injury I’d pay him double to baby-sit for me anytime.

Sock On

Spreading The PerpenSOCKular Luv

Just popping in to let you guys know that Sidewinder stitch markers are now available in my shop.

Sock On!

Well I Told Yall I Was Gonna Knit Like This

Sorry, I got Kelly Rowland’s new song in my head right now. Dare I say that I kinda like her better than her former Destiny’s Child counter part (shut yo mouf). Anyhoo, this is a knitting blog so lets get down to the knitty gritty (pun totally intended).

Since this is the Summer of Socks and all, I have no choice but to bombard you guys with multiple pics of socks, socks and more socks. Although this pair didn’t qualify for the SOS, here’s my finished Jaywalkers.

Started: May 25, 2007

Finished: June 22, 2007

Pattern: Jaywalkers by Grumperina

Size: Smallest size

Needle: Inox size 2.25mm / US1

Yarn: Regia 4ply Patch Antik color# 5753

Comments: Of course I knit these toe up with a reverse heel flap/gusset. This was my first time doing this pattern and using this yarn and I would definitely use them both again, no doubt.

Now moving right along to my first pair of Summer Socks

There is a story behind these. I had been drooling over Scouts handpainted yarns for a while so I finally came up with an excuse a good reason to order some. I wanted to make a pair of socks for my dad so I ordered some of her sport weight custom dyed in New York Giants colors. Needles to say, I ended up using a different yarn to make my dads socks so the yarn just sat in my stash for a while. Then the idea hit me that I should make a pair for the upcoming holiday because the colors are so similar to the American flag. So here are my July 4^th socks finished just in time.

Started: June 23, 2007

Finished: June 27, 2007

Pattern: Made it up as I went. It’s 6 eyelets that move across the fabric with either k2tog, YO or YO, ssk.

Size: 56 stitches for my size 8 feet.

Needle: Addi Turbo size 3.25mm / US3

Yarn: Scouts Swag sportweight superwash merino, custom dyed in NY Giants colorway

Comments: These were knit toe up, magic looped two at a time. I absolutely loath short rows but I had knit too far to do a gusset/flap and I wasn’t froggin so I had no choice but to do it. Of course this was knit toe up and other than that it was a pleasant knit.

I had a bit of yarn left over so I made a pair of shorties for my shorty (that was funny)

Started: June 28, 2007

Finished: July 1, 2007

Pattern: Loosely based on the Thuja pattern although you can’t really tell.

Size: Around 48 stitches around for his size 12’s

Needle: Addi Turbo size 3.25mm / US3

Yarn: See above

Comments: Really quick knit. I was rushing a bit so the toe is a bit pointy and I refused to rip back. And the good news is that I always thought he was allergic to wool but these didn’t make his feet bust out in hives. Maybe the superwashness has something to do with it.

I started my new sock pattern as part of a knit-along with my meetup group and guess what? I’m actually jumping on the bandwagon kinda early on this one. No, I’m knitting Monkey’s (I’ll get to those some time next year), I’m knitting Nona’s Sidewinders. Again here are the specs because I’m just too lazy to make it all fit nicely into a well worded paragraph.

Started: July 1, 2007

Pattern: Sidewinders, a Perpensockular Pattern by NonaKnits

Size: 7/8 Wide

Needle: Addi Turbo size 3.25mm / US3

Yarn: Socks That Rock Mediumweight in the Lucy colorway

Comments: I’m actually knitting these at a different gauge so I’m making the calculations as I go along. I could’ve went down to a US2 and probably gotten gauge but I think the fabric would have been a bit too tight for me. (and yes Hila I did the short rows)

And here’s a closeup of the markers I made just in case you can’t see them in the pic above. After I do the toe, I’ll make some that also say LEG and FOOT.

Well that’s all for sock news right now. I have been spinning a bit but I’m waiting for this upcoming weekend so I can have a whole post devoted to spinning. You know the whole Tour De Fleece thing. Did I forget to mention that I’m a part of that knit-along also? Star did it last year but I was just learning so I jumped at the chance to join this year. I’m going to attempt to spin a little every day so wish me luck.

Sock on people!

P.S. You do know I’m addicted to swapping right? Well I started a new fiber swap on swapbot here in case anyone’s interested.