Moving....

No I'm not physically moving, we love our house and love being here in Seattle again. My blog is moving. Come on over and check it out www.ldymstmorn.com

Yarn and another quickie FO

The roving from my last post, spun up wonderfully quick. Now I wish I had more of it, because It came out beautifully. Long sections with the barber pole with intermittent sections of dark blue or light blue. Only 93 yards, but I'm sure I'll find some use for it.


I went into my roving stash looking for something else to spin and found a half pound of pencil roving. With all the sweaters I've got OTN, I decided I needed a quickie, so out came my fence poles #15 Addi's. I cast on 16 sts, knit 32 rows in garter stitche, then picked up 16 sts on the remaining 3 sides and knit away until i had about 5 yards of roving left and bound off in purl. Threw it in the washer and viola. I did learn one lesson, it seems I forgot to throw it in a lingerie bag, so I got lots of fuzz all over the washer. If you're going to felt roving in the washer, don't forget the lingerie bag, or at least throw it in something that will catch all that fuzz.

Interview and carding

I had an interview yesterday for a contract position. I felt it went real well, so we'll see what happens. I'll know more about how it went from the hiring managers perspective on Monday or Tuesday. They want to make a quick decision and are looking to moving to the next step on the process rather quickly, so in the mean time I'm plugging away on DH's sweater and Eris, and I've cast on yet another pair of socks for the SAM3 KAL, I figure now is a good time to cast them on since March is right around the corner.

So while no new knitting pics,, I'll leave you with this. I discovered that I could take 2 colors of roving, while not exciting in and off themselves, not boring either:

I chose 2 shades of blue, partially because I had 2 1oz bats sitting in my stash doing nothing, and partially in honor of PS2.
tossed them on the carder, alternating shades and ....Voila, they mix to creat this lovely mix of colors. I'll spin these then ply them back on each other with light against dark at the start and let the spinning mix them to get a lovely barber pole effect, at least that's what i'm aiming for.

The thrill of an FO...the agony of ripping

First we have an FO :)

Pattern: Angora Magic Beret, Designed by Judy Russi, purchased as a kit in an LYS
Yarn: Heirloom Merino Magic Shade: 219 (Light Blue) Laines Fonty Coeur d'Angora Color 219 (light gray, almost white)
Needles: Denise #8

This is in "training" for a future project, which I am waiting for the yarn to come in to one of my LYS's, (it's been ordered so the dye lots match). There was one issue in the pattern, but it was easy enough to figure out, just one place where they had the same color listed in a 2 color row. This will go into my Christmas pile for next year, it will look great on my bro's GF next winter.

DH's sweater has come to this, a ball of yarn and it's back to the ribbing. I screwed up the pattern again, and this time it couldn't be fudged fixed. I forgot 4 rows in the cable crossings, yet I continued on, got up to 3/4's of the back done, then discovered there was no way I could get the pattern to fit DH, to keep going the way I was going would have put a cable crossing right at the shoulder, which is not what I want. So out came be baller, and the back was ripped. I did make one alteration in casting it on again, I'm going to knit the fron and back as one piece and split it for the sleeves. So far I have the ribbing done *sigh*


Yarny goodness has come off my spinning wheel, approximately 316 yards to be exact. I finished the cabled yarn. 2nd picture has a dime to show the gauge, I haven't checked the WPI's yet, but this should make a lovely scarf.

While DH's sweater was in time out waiting to get cast on again, the collar for Eris got cast on and finished. Next I'll be picking up the outside edge so I can start the body.

Oh I found out to day that one of my LYS's, Village Yarn and Tea, will be having a special guest this Friday night at their next Knit Knight. A local artist will be having a Trunk Show, and I do believe I will be there and most likely spending some more money, they're hosting Yarn Pirate's first trunk show.

FO and other things

Wow, I just realized that checked out of blogging for a week. Well while I wasn't here, there has been some knitting going on at Chez ME

The Knitters Bowl in PS colors jumped on the needles then off again and...

Landed in the washer. It felted wonderfully and is basking in the afternoon (just barely) sun light.

Pattern: Knitter's Bowl by Cat Bordhi from A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting
Yarn: Cascade 220, not exactly sure what the colors were but they were hanging on the wall.
Needles: Denise #10 & 11 condo style for the mobius and most of the bowl, #11 for the pockets and the base of the bowl.
Alterations: None, well at least none that I consciously made.


OTN is My So Called Scarf in Malabrigo, surprisingly I'm really liking the pink, and I don't do pink.
A repeate peformer is OTN, this is the same sweater I did for Dad, but I'm staggering the cross for DH, he requested white, I'm about 1/3rd up the back.
On the spinning front. I'm in a plying black hole, this is 50%merino/50% tussah silk. It's only a total of 12 oz, 4 oz of 3 different colors, but I spun it so fine it's taking forever to ply it. Once it's done, I'm going to ply it back on itself, my first venture into cabled yarn. I'll finish this yarn some day, I'm on day 3 of trying to ply it the first time.

Another FO and I fell off the wagon

So here's a pair of socks... it's just that a pair of socks. They were knitted toe up 2 socks at a time on a Magic Loop.

Yarn: Regia Jacquard Color
Needles: Addi Turbo's #3

I'm not particularly pleased with this pair of socks, it was a love hate knit all the way. Now that they're done, I find that they are a bit large, ok way large, about 3 or 4 sizes to large for me. They may fit DH, but I'm still not sure how I feel about the socks. We'll have to see what happens with them, I'm sure they won't get frogged, since I'm fairly sure I won't knit anything else with the yarn, but where they will live remains to be determined.


I made the mistake of thinking I can go to a yarn store during Super Bowl and still be good, so off I went to Cultured Purls. It's a lovely little yarn store in Gilman Village. It's also where I bought the yarn for Rogue oh those many months ago. I opps'd and fell off the wagon, smack, right on my arse. Oh no, I didn't fall off small either, while there are only 8 balls in the picture, there really are 15 balls that came home with me. Cascade Yarns Cloud 9 (50% Merino Wool/50% Angora). This yarn is destined to be knit into Eris. I will most likely knit this up as a cardi.

Wicked

I was inspired by Sknitty to knit this. I saw it on her blog looking so wondeful on her, I just had to have it. I dug into my stash, and voila, I have Wicked. Yes I've been on a Stash Bustin' binge as of late, and I'm still going.


Pattern: Wicked by Rachel Iverson/Sara Johnson Available at: Zypher Style
Yarn: Mountain Colors Mountain Goat, Colorway Mountain Twilight
Needles: Options #7
Size: 40-43(for bust etc.) & 32-35 (Decreases for a shorter length, but even further modified)
Mods: Again, shorter in the torso, by about 2" to accommodate my petite stature, they don't make patterns in Size L Petite, so most of my knitting is modified in this manner.

Rumor has it Dim Sum Knitter has also cast on Wicked, so in a round about way, we were knitting together for a bit.

What kind of Knitter are you?

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Purist. You are an accomplished knitter producing beautiful pieces with a classic feel. You sometimes lament losing half of your local yarn shop to garish novelty yarns. Perhaps you consider fun fur scarves the bane of knitting society and prefer to steer new knitters towards the wool and cotton blends. Some might call you a bit of an elitist but you know that you've been doing this craft long enough to respect the history behind it and honor it with beautiful piece that can last a lifetime. http://marniemaclean.com
Take this quiz!

Project Spectrum Kick Off

Today is the first day of Project Spectrum II, and in honor of that one of my peg boards has changed colors to the blue white and gray of February/March.

I will be using these yarns in someting in the next 2 months, the 2 on the left are Cascade 220, and I'm thinking maybe they want to be the Mobius Knitting Bowl from Cat Bordhi's A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting, the lonely skein on the right is sock yarn and has all 3 colors in it, what a wonderful coincidence this was found in my stash.

In the interest of full disclosure, I did buy some Romney fleece and a pair of hand carders.
The hand carders are considered tools and not fiber so they are obviously not breaking my fiber fast, but the Romney fleece, well that's pushing a very fine line. See I just completed a class in Spinning at Weaving Works. And in that class we not only learned how to spin, but we learned about a fleece, what to look for in one, how to clean it, card it and spin it. Well, this fiber was purchased, not only because I wanted it, but because it was in the grease, which means I can take all the skills I just learned and further imbed them into my blond little head, so I'm more likely to retain what I have just learned. Therefore, since it's all in the interest of education, I'm not counting this fiber against my fiber fast, besides, it's only 4.75 oz and that's in the grease *wink*

Something ______ this way comes

Next up is.... Wicked. For what ever reason my camera is taking blurry pics. Wonder what DH did to it when he took pics of Rogue.


Wicked is a raglan top down sweater. It's done down to the join beneath the arms. After miles of stockinette I'm knitting more. At least now I'm out of the never ending increase rows. I do love the way this is turning out, now hopefully the yarn will hold out, I'm stash busting again, so once it's gone it's gone.

With great pleasure I present..

Rogue.


Pattern: Rogue, by the girl from auntie
Cast on 12/24/06, finished 1/28/07, a little over a month, but there were extenuating circumstances, we moved, I knit a sweater etc, etc, etc...
Yarn: Alpaca with a Twist Baby Twist (8.75 oz, 549 yards) I love the way this turned out, I thought the yarn may be a little soft, but cables pop, and the drape is perfect.
Needles: Options #6 and #8
Thoughts: I absolutely enjoyed this knit. While the instructions can be a bit intimidating (19 page downloaded PDF), once you start getting into the charts/cables, it's a quick knit. I will likely knit this again. The only alteration I made was in the length of the body, I knit one less cable repeat than the pattern called for, but then I have a short torso and it worked out perfectly.

I say if you're thinking about knitting Rogue, go for it, if you weren't, go for it.

Rogue on the Blocking Board

Rogue is in the final stretch, finally. That trip to Sleeve Island was a long one.




This should be an FO by Monday, Tuesday at the latest, depending on how long it takes to dry and how long it takes me to do the seaming and weaving in of the ends. Oh yeah, can't forget how distracted I get by casting something else on.

Geisha called and I answered

Ok, yesterday when I was at Madrona, Blue Moon Geisha called to me, but I left without it. I slept on it and I could still hear her cries, so I went back again today. Let me tell you now, I'm not going back again this weekend, you can't make me. I think after this 2 day binge I may just have to go on a yarn and fiber fast.

Blue Moon Geisha in Blue Brick Wall Blue Moon Sheep to Shoe Kit, 8.5 oz of superwash merino complete with instructions on how to spin the wool to STR standards. The kit doesn't tell you exactly what color way you picked, but this looks like Lapis, or maybe Rooster Rock. all I know is it's beautiful.

Blue Moon STR in Lucy, yes I know I just bought top in Lucy yesterday, but I really really couldn't resist. In the baggy is 4 oz of yak.
These are silk hankies from Crown Mountain Farms. On the left is New Blue and on the righ is Abalone.

I will not go back again this weekend, please someone forbid me from returning, pretty please.

Not my fault...

This morning I drove my parents to the airport, which is half way between Seattle and Tacoma. Well, this is the weekend that the Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat is running in Tacoma. So since I was half way there....

KnittersAnnonymous.com had a booth and look what I found.

The t-shirt just had to come home with me.


I've been in search of this bumper sticker since I saw it a few months ago while driving on the freeway and nearly got in an accident because I was laughing so hard.


Oh yeah there were fiber vendors there too.



Hanging on the outside are rovings from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, on the left is the Lucy colorway and on the right is Rose Quartz. In the middle there, si some more sock yarn, no it's not STR, I figured I'd left enough of my money with them. The sock yarn colorway is Sky and it's from Angora Valley Fibers, a local artist, it's the same yarn I knit the neon socks I gave to Mom for Christmas.

Sorry DimSumKnitting, I totally forgot to bring the camera, I had to leave here before 7 this morning to get my parents to the airport.

Yarn, Rogue and Alpaca

Look what showed up in the mail. We're not very good about checking our mail, so this may have been there for a few days. A while ago I helped KnitDevil add a button to her side bar, and in return she sent me these .2 balls of Mango Moon's Pash-Mohair.


Rogue hood is finished:
See it really is a hood.
Just had to have this 2nd shot to show the detail.

2 sleeves for Rogue, I'm just past the cabling, and the rest is Stockinette Stitch, so we'll see how long it takes. I'm still targeting the end of this month to complete it.



DH and I went for a drive Saturday, and guess who wanted to stop at Misty Ridge Alpaca Ranch, DH. Well he decided that these little alpaca needed a home, there was a 3rd one, but DH claimed and accosted him before I could snap a pic. There is hope for him yet.

I just joined Knit Off '07 over a Yarn Monkey. Am I becoming a Joiner? This looks like it's going to be an interesting challenge, and should be lots of fun. Come on everyone, join me in this.

Rogue Hood is done and the sleeves are cast on, I'm just to lazy to take a pic of the hood right now.

It's just a hood....right?

Here's where I'm at with Rogue, I'm about half way up the hood. That's it, only half way up the hood. It's only a hood, but the cabling, it's some mind boggling cabling. A pure joy, but there's lots of it. I love seeing it come to life as I knit, but I swear this hood is taking longer than the body to knit, and I sitll have the sleeves left. I do believe I'll be taking a day or 3 before moving on to the sleeves, whend and if I ever finish this hood.

A UFO...Rogue

Knitdevil really is a little devil in my ear, but you can thank her for convincing me to put up a pic of an actual UFO. Don't know why, I just never have posted UFO's, it's become like a little superstition to me, if I post it I won't finish it type thing. If I finish this one, then it's likely I'll post more.

Ok her she is in her unfinished glory, Rogue.

The body is done and I'm off to work on the hood.

Here's a close up of the neckline, I'm a knitter not a photographer.
And more detail on the side cables.

What color purple are you?

Saw this over on Mehitabel's blog, and since Purple is one of my favorite colors it seemed appropriate.

Dark Purple

To others, you seem a bit dark, mysterious, and moody. In truth, you are just a very unique person who doesn't care what others think. And you really enjoy your offbeat interests and friends. You've decided that life is about living for yourself - simple as that.

What Color Purple Are You?

An FO and something in the mail

Ok, so I'm being a bit on the lazy side here. Look what I've got, and FO and a new set of Denise needles from San Gabriel CA. Mehitabel bought this set of Denise needles a while back, but really didn't like them so she sent them up here. Good thing too, I was just thinking I need to get some more needles *wink*.

The FO is a bottom up Raglan, it didn't start that way, I just started knitting from the bottom following a Ball Band pattern that I had altered to knit in the round, then I decided that I didn't feel like doing any seaming, so I turned it into a raglan.

The Yarn: Bernat Solo (yes I'm aware it's acrylic, but I was stash busting)4 balls.
The Needles: Options #10 and #10.5
The Pattern: Didn't use one.
This was a very quick knit, I decided a week ago Thursday that someone who's been a great help to us in moving needed a sweater, she'll get it tonight, hopefully I'll get pics of her wearing it. Found this yarn in my stash as I was unpacking it and voila, 8 days later I have a sweater.

EDITED TO ADD: It's snowing, so this sweater is just in the nick of time for yet more snow.

New House - Down stairs

Part II

The living room. The fish tank hasn't been set up yet, but the fireplace works. Louise is sitting on top of the futon, which we will be replacing with a couch one of these days.

And here's Louise wondering if it's time to run yet, behind her is the dining room. It's a small space, but it's under the master bedroom, the dining room is under the walk in closet to give you another idea of how lare a master bedroom we have.
And the kitchen, much smaller than the one we used to have in Azusa, but it's a very nice kitchen, that door leads to the laundry room then another door to the 2 car garage.

Part II