Ooooo, new yarn!!

My Swap partner from Knitting Help Forums package finally arrived today! Oh it is so yummy inside!! She sent some yummy Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere in brilliant pink, some lovely bright orange Berroco Cotton Twist and a ton of "little things" to help with keeping track of things. She also sent a pair of skull socks to the girls (who are now fighting over them) as well as some memory wire bracelets and a bookmark for The Boy. Here are the pics! Thanks Debbie aka doodknitwit!!

Well, obviously I DO need stitch markers

So I was working on a pair of socks last night. The instructions read, "pattern is done twice on each needle or 6 times total" OK, simple enough. I don't need no stinkin' stitch markers to remind me that I need to do it twice. The first part of the pattern went off splendidly. Looked just like the picture. Weee! This is going SO well. So then I start the second part of the pattern. It just wasn't looking right. Hmmm? OK, don't fuss with it. Trust the pattern. It will probably take a few rows before the pattern immerges. No sweat. Keep on knitting. I finish the second part of the pattern. It does NOT look right. It doesn't look bad, just not right. Then the V-8 hand comes and slaps me upside the forehead! I forgot to repeat the pattern twice on each needle. I was incorporating it into one needle (which actualy worked and I may look into doing something like it in the future, but it wasn't THIS pattern.) And of course it is lace. And of course I left no life lines and really suck at inserting life lines despite watching the video at Knitting Help. So I frogged yet another thing. But now I have it all cast on, the first section restarted and there are stitch markers to remind me that I have to do the repeat twice.

So use stitch markers and life lines. One would think after knitting as long as I have that I would know better. Bwahahahahaha!

Pay it Forward Exchange

Becka at Knitting Help posted about the Pay it Forward Exchange for knitters. It's truly a cool concept. It feels a bit like a chain letter, but I'm hoping that people really do "pay it forward." This seems to be the verbiage that is being posted on the other knitting blogs:

It’s the Pay It Forward Exchange. It’s based of the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on. You all know I’m already a PIF type of person. So here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

So post a reply if you want in and then go post a similar message on your blog! PAY IT FORWARD!

Frog Frog Frog Frog Frog

(No not reptilians. Any knitter who has knit more than 1 item should know that to frog something means to "rippit" out. I bought this very pretty Lion Brand wool a while back in the clearance bin at Michael's. Bought all they had as it is feltable and was $2 a ball. So I started knitting a bag to felt with it, but decided that it wasn't the right colors for a bag. FROG Out it came. Bleh! So then I found Silver's Palindrome Scarf which is very lovely and I've seen it done in both solid colors and in a wide variety of colorways. FROG Out that came too. TWICE! I didn't like the way the color was pooling, so pulled it out and added another set of cables to the width hoping it would A) make it a tad wider and B) get rid of the icky pooling. Nope. Didn't help. Actually made it worse.



I keep buying all this pretty yarn that I can't find the right patterns for. So it is going back in the stash for another day. I wish I could store my yarn like my friend Suna does, but because of this:

Uh, that would be Jack the demon possessed devil kitty, not Boo, the cute kid) My stash must be securely sequestered away in cat-proof plastic containers. I keep looking for extra opposable thumbs on this cat, but he is not a polydactyl cat despite his ability to even get yarn out of my knitting tote with the cinch closed top! Although that picture was taken over a year ago when Jack was still little and cute and adorable and forgivable because he was a kitten. He's no longer, well, he's no longer little, but he is still cute and adorable and I do forgive him.

Yarntard!

This is a link to a cartoon that one of the KHer's dh's did. It's priceless. This is his first knitting cartoon. I hope he does more. I like his wit!

Yarntard!

Hmmm, I'm thinking about this

Cia from Knitting Help suggested this sock for the blue and green one:
It's from Knitty. It does look a lot like waves and the colors are very similar to what my yarn looks like. Although I'd still like something that is sort of "wavy" at the top rather than the typical ribbing.

In other knitting news, I was too anxious to get the blue/green yarn balled last night. I was going to go to my mother's house and use her spiffy ball winder, but it is still in her attic and it is still too hot to go into the attic to retrieve anything. I've been looking lately at Nostepinnes which look like:


I've been looking at increasing my medieval collection of "women's tools" and have (well had, it got sat on and broke) a drop spindle. And then found out about both niddy noddies and nostepinnes. However, despite seeing them online and knowing the theory I still didn't have one! BUT I did notice that the end of my plastic recorder had the same shape as the nostepinnes if I took the bell section off the bottom! So I thought I'd give it a try.

This is where having children comes in handy. Forced labor. I made Boo hold my yarn for me (lacking also a swift) and started wrapping the yarn. To use a nostepinnes you secure one end at the base and then wrap towards the middle (this will allow you to have a center pull ball, if that isn't important you can just start wrapping in the middle). You wrap in a diagonal direction towards you all the while turning the nostepinnes (or in this case the recorder) away from you. It took a bit of coordination to get it right, but I finally got the hang of it. It took around 40 minutes to wrap a 440 yard skein, but I think I could get faster as time goes on as there is a fair amount of coordination that needs to be learned as with any new task. After the yarn is wrapped you simply slide the ball off the end of the nostepinnes/recorder and use it. The center where the nostepinnes was sort of closes up a bit, but loose enough to be able to get your center pull going well.

New Yarn

I just got in this LOVELY yarn from an etsy shop ( Handspun and Dyed Too). It is scrumptuously soft and squishy!! I'm having a hard time coming up with a pattern (socks) for each of them. I'm thinking something nautical or ocean-y for the blue/green and something lacy maybe for the pink/orange.

Doesn't it just scream cotton candy, sunset, fluffy clouds in front of the sun? It really needs something girly and sweet and lacy, right?

See why I'm thinking something oceany? My son thinks that it looks like seaweed in the ocean. It was the first thing he said when he saw it. I like that thought.

Leave a comment if you can think of a nice pattern. If I use one of your patterns I send you a set of row markers.

Close to home

IN case you don't get the paper like I don't, I present for you today's Close to Home cartoon. How many of us can relate to this?

Knitting Cartoon.

One mitten down

And one more to go. Since I want to fall into the SSS (single sock syndrome) with socks (but I'm good and haven't done that except on the first sock I ever knit which was way too large and has become my "I don't feel good sock" since I can't wear two socks to bed even in the winter even when I'm sick) I'm persevering in casting on the second mitten. I'll post pics when I get both done. Most likely will have E either pose with them or pose M in the mittens. She is so photogenic and has a wonderful eye for photography.

Besides hanging out at Knitting Help's forums probably more than I should today, nothing new is happening in the knitting world for me. (And yes; for those of you who popped over from my SCA blog, I do have things ready for the event - well, mostly.)

Pictures of past works

I've never been successful at blogging, but am trying to give it another go. I may end up getting good at it since I have three Learning Around the World our homeschooling blog; Melbrigda's Medieval Ramblings my SCA blog; and of course this one.

So now I finally got around to finding or taking pictures of my past works and getting them uploaded to this computer. Hope you enjoy.

This is one of the many cosplay gloves that I have made for the kids. This one is for a Yuffie from Kingdom Hearts costume from several years ago. I've made several for the kids' friends as well.

These are my beloved Caruso Socks from Knitty.

The self-designed comfy shrug that I made 2 winters ago. It's yummy soft and machine washable.

The Hermione Bobbles and Cable hats from Charmed Knits.

And the mathcing gloves which (as you can see) are still on the needles. Should finish this one tonight and then get the next one cast on.




This is
Coronet also at Knitty. I've done this hat in fuschia, blue and green as well for friends.


And the Animal Cracker Hats also from Charmed Knits. I also have a matching hat, but someone had to take the picture. The kids love their hats!

OK, if I find more I'll take pictures. It's funny walking around the house going, "Hmmm, what all have I knit that I haven't given away?"

The Hedgie

This was floating around on
Kintting Help's Forums a year or so ago. Must have been a year and a half because I'm wearing my fluffy yummy alpaca wrap (woven not knit) in the pics. It ended up being a gift for a little friend of mine who turned 3! Three is such a wonderfully magical age.



Here's another view of it on the floor:


Hopefully when I get the camera back from its trek to Atlanta I can take some pics of the Hermione Hat and mittens (still on the needles) and the Animal Cracker hats.

Help me find my yarn

Yes; I know two posts in one day. A bit obsessive. I mentioned earlier that I want to knit a tank top. I'm looking for the perfect yarn. So if you can think of a nice cotton or cotton blend (preferably with natural fibers) that is DK weight and not too terribly expensive and comes in a nice bright pink or orange color leave me a comment. If I choose the yarn you recommend I'll send you a little "candy" as a thanks!

Welcome to Knit Stuffs!

I call this knit stuffs because I'm always knititng "stuff." (But fortunately, for my friends, no stuffed toast). I especially love knitting socks, but find myself more of a Dobby sock knitter. I have to force myself to knit that second sock (yes; I know about knitting two socks at once on circulars, but love my dpn's too much and am too stubborn to change!) Right now I have on the needles Hermione's Cable and Bobbles mittens in forest green that match the Hermione's Cable and Bobble Hat which I made earlier. I also recently finished making 4 Animal Crackers hats. They are all from Charmed Knits by Alison Hansel. After I finish these mittens I really want to knit up a new felted bag and then to make a nice cotton tank top that I found at Knitty. I like Soleil, but am also looking for other tanks that fit a larger size. Perhaps I'll break down and purchase Big Girl Knits while it is still on sale at 40% off at Knitpicks.

For just a little eye candy, I'll post a pic of the first socks I knit: