I promise

When I start playing with fiber again I will post.

Christmas projects burned me out for awhile.

On learning, cheating, syndromes and sickness.

I have the cold from hell right now. I can almost feel myself spreading nasty microbes.

Today is a day to give thanks for isopropyl alcohol, and sudafed (while simultaneously cursing crystal meth for driving sudafed behind the counter, but that's another story for another blog).

I have, however, kicked my second sock syndrome





Those are the first pair of socks I've ever knit (with part of my stash as backdrop), and I confess, they were a learning project (kind of like the classic garter stitch scarf that starts 4 inches wide and ends up 14). The left one is full of little "homemade touches, and the right, well, the right's beautiful excepet I said "screw kitchner stitch and just sewed it together. I'll learn to graft another day; I needed to free up my size two DPNs so these damn things stopped taunting me.

At any rate, they're wonky but comfortable, and as my first socks, I'm proud of them (although not proud enough to zoom in on their specific wonkiness.)

Second Sock Syndrome

I admit it. I love knitting socks. I hate grafting the toe. Hate it. So I've got this sock on the needles that I've ripped the grafting out of not once but twice, and I
just
can't
bring
myself
to
finish it.
So I'm gonna start playing with my handspun instead. I'm thinking wide entrelac scarf. Should be fun.

Spinning: the mediator

Knitting and I have been fighting for awhile now over sock v 2.0. I'm now kicking (no pun intended) a very bad case of second sock syndrome due to tricksy tricky kitchner grafting and a very unpretty scene with double pointed needles, and am ready to pick up the needles again.

Not because knitting talked first, but because spinning intervened.

Enter my as yet-unnamed but still well-loved spinning wheel.




We fought at first, bitterly. Like the kind of fights that results in balls of tangled roving, tears and the words "I said z-twist, not s-twist!"

Anyway, after much patience, we've learned to work together, and the results....well...




I started with this: 80% merino wool and 20% Tuscan silk. If I could sleep naked in a bed of this stuff, I would. But that would be a waste. That became this:



Two full bobbins of sorta slubby, but overall well-spun singles. Anyway, the slubbiness made for great texture when these became this:



Three skeins of this stuff...drying on hangers and doorknobs in my bathroom.




I love the smell of wet wool, seriously. Now the only question is what to do with it all.

Lover's Quarrel

Knitting and I are fighting. I'll only cave if knitting talks first.

As promised

Batteries? check
Working USB cord and camera? check
Works in progress, recently finished stuff and plenty of pretty yarn to photograph?
Check, check and check.

Good lighting? It's 2 am in my little apartment.

Pictures will be up tommorow

Updates (or, Hello out there...I'm still alive)

I haven't forgotten about this little corner of cyberspace; in fact, the fun is only just beginning.

Since earning my bachelors degree I have a lot more time to devote to my knitting obsession, and while I'm not entirely certain that's a good thing (from a pocketbook, social life and general apperance of sanity perspective) it sure is productive.

As the sidebar currently reads, pictures will eventually be up on this thing but here's an update.

Sock is done (yes, her name is sock.) She is my first attempt at her namesake and I grafted the toe together with a paperclip and a crochet hook at three a.m. because I didn't have a tapestry needle (did I mention I'm obsessed). The grafting and the gussets are both a little wonky, and the toe's a little too square, but I can fix most of those things, it's cute and comfortable on, and so I'm happy with the result.

Sock v.2.0 is on the needles, after I had to purchase a second set because I lost my fourth size 2 dpn (I found said dpn today.) Now I can't find sock, I think she's at my parent's, but I don't want to finish v.2.0 without her, because I want to make sure they match (they can't look too homemade, after all).

My modular short row alpaca scarf is done and beautiful and I love it.

The aformentioned alpaca/wool sweater's front is half done, but the first half of the neckline and shoulder shaping needs to be frogged because I mismeasured and the neckline is at the belly button and:

1. There's not a quick fix for that.
2. I am not Jennifer Lopez, so I'm gonna assume I can't pull off said neckline.

Other projects include the cutest baby hat I've ever seen
and my first attempt at lace knitting using a leaf pattern out of the Vogue Stichionary and a badly behaved but beautiful glittery mohair blend (she's my diva).

Dancing with Yarn (or what this 22-year old college student does on a Friday night)

Every knitter has a knitting associated task that they absolutely loathe. Finishing and adding fringe are common offenders.

Winding yarn is mine.

After an exhilarating SEX experience at Busy Hands (quite possibly the friendliest, best-equipped LYS in the area) I came home with two hanks of yarn, anxious to cast on. This unfortunately turned out not be the case, as the hanks I bought quickly turned into their respective version of cat's cradle from hell, giving me a killer headache from to form that coveted center-pull ball, and actually forcing me at one time to stand and use all of my limbs and my neck in a desperate attempt to untangle the mess. The fact that one is a superdelicate silk merino laceweight and the other is that supertwisty, stringy recycled sari silk doesn't help much.

So, instead I curled up with The Yarn Harlot and played around with the HTML (see the pretty new links? Click the buttons, you know you want to). New projects will have to wait until after said yarn is recovered from my favorite detangler (read: Mommy). In the mean time, I'm working on this using a 50/50 wool Alpaca blend in lieu of the suggested fiber (although the colors are extremely close.) Pics will follow if I find the time to post them.

PS: Concerned about my seemingly extremely out-of-context use of the word SEX? Or about what the hell an LYS is? Go here.