Believe it not, I haven’t forgotten about my knitting projects. I just pulled this sock project back out from the closet and started back in. Since then I’ve turned the heel and gotten a ways into the foot part. This is the “Hedgerow” pattern, and I rather like it. I ran into some trouble on the heel flap, but that was probably an operator error as opposed to a glitch in the knitting pattern.

The yarn is knitting up really nicely too. All these deep grays and blues. Lovely!

And I’ve got another pattern begging to be made. I’ve never really been big into fingerless gloves.
I mean, they’re neat articles of clothing and all, but they didn’t do much for me personally. Then I saw this pattern. And my non-glovey self said, “Self, if you were to wear fingerless gloves, those would be them. So you might as well buy the pattern.”

Ta-da! “The Last of The Sky Pirates” fingerless gloves. Cool, no? I’m particularly fond of the little buttons down the side. (I borrowed the photo from the Etsy listing.) The construction looks pretty unique. At least as far as my experience goes. You use straights and DPNs.

Once I got the pattern I wasn’t sure what yarn I’d want to use for it, and then I dyed this.

Oh yeah. Thankfully it was a two-skein batch, so I’m keeping one of “Beryl,” and the other goes in the store. I’ll be taking this project along on a trip to Missouri. And I have extra incentive to finish it while I’m gone, as I’m borrowing the needles from my knitting sister, and she’ll want them back as soon as we return. No pressure! Thankfully my knitting time includes the lengthy car ride.

At this point in my post I would like to show you photos of the progress I’ve made on my Fall Shawl. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find it to take photos. I know it’s around here somewhere. And I managed to find the extra “not in-use” skeins of yarn for it. But somehow it’s vanished. I sincerely hope it’s not in the depths of my closet somewhere. This may call for a full-out closet reorganization. With new storage facilities.

I may as well admit it. My closet is a mess again. A jungle of fiber and yarn. I’m seriously considering doing another New Year’s Dash spin-a-thon this year, but with a catch. The yarns I’m spinning have to be spun with a final project in mind. Otherwise they’ll just increase my yarn stash and I won’t be any better off. Time to start finding projects for smaller batches of thick yarn!

And, to complicate the issue, I did just buy more fiber. I know! I know. But wait until you see it. I mean, you can’t pass this up, can you? Four ounces of art batts with glitter and beads and neps and absolutely amazing stuff in them. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Gorgeous.

No clue what I’ll do with them. But gorgeous. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. These are from PrancingPixel, and she is one of the nicest people ever. Look what she gave me as a bonus gift!
This is a kit from her “Spin a Steampunk Necklace” contest. It’s a lovely little batt, and I can’t wait to do something with it. Probably not a necklace, as I’m not a big “spun necklace” person, but I think I might turn it into a coffee mug cozy. Particularly as it comes with these adorable little charms and beads. Coolest mug cozy ever? I think so.

Actually, it would be a hot chocolate and tea mug cozy. Still can’t get into coffee. I tried again the other day and could barely finish half the cup. Too bitter! I need my sweet.

I’ve already had my signature gauge snafoo and had to unravel a full sixteen repeats of the lace edging so I could start over. I was very careful to start over right after unraveling — sort of a “get back on the horse after you fall off” idea.

I’m knitting the shawl pattern called The Crow Waltz Shawl (the triangular version) and using a variety of yarns from my stash. The idea is to actually use some of those one-skein yarns I’ve been hoarding for over a year.

The yarn combination is rather amusing. Of the eight colors, two are completely store bought. One is commercial, but hand dyed. Four are hand spun and hand dyed. And the last one is someone else’s dye work, but I spun it. They also range in weight from fingering to heavy worsted, so this will be an adventure.

And, get this, I found the translation only a few hours after using a part of one of the reserved sock yarn balls for the slipper project. Argh. I was sure I had a third ball of it laying around somewhere, but now I’m not so sure.

Yes, I said the slipper project. They still weren’t quite big enough and had to come home for some alterations.

And to prove how nuts I am, go take a look at my queue and favorites on Ravelry. (I’m LoveFiber on there.)
Not only am I knitting my first big knitting project now — and here’s a picture of my lovely sweater so far — but I have plans for another sweater, two or three giant shawls . . . no, four or five shawls, and a myriad of socks, wraps, and various things that will only overrun my closet. Which is already overrun. Although hopefully I will be able to use things from the closet to make things which go back into the closet and therefore pioneer self-sustaining closet environments.

My goal is to not. Buy. Any. More. Yarn. Until I’ve used up at least some of what I already have. Not too much. Just enough. *cough cough* Will someone please take the KnitPicks and Webs catalogs off my desk?

And this includes fiber! As few personal fiber purchases as possible. Not until I turn a good sized chunk of what I have into yarn. And that just got larger with the arrival of an unexpected and large box of new fleeces from Iowa. Yay! I have lovely fiber now. At least, I’m sure it’s lovely. I have yet to be able to open up the box because it persists in raining outside. And I’m not hauling a delicate fleece (three fleeces, actually) out onto the wet back porch and exposing them to the dangers of the elements. I’ll just have to wait a bit, because there’s no way the other inhabitants of the house would look kindly on my spreading the as yet unpicked fleeces out on the kitchen floor. Bad idea.

But, on the subject of fiber and the uses thereof, I’ve been making some more progress on the handspun sock yarn destined for Etsy. I should guess I’m about two thirds of the way through spinning the singles. Once they’re spun the plying goes much faster. I dyed this fiber myself, and I’m really enjoying using it. I think I shall have to get more. . . aha! Caught myself. No. No more fiber for awhile. Not for personal use at least.

See, one of the benefits of running a fiber company is that you can purr over plenty of fibers and yarns without the guilt of adding to your stash.
And I’ve got some gorgeous new products planned and in various stages of production. And they enable me to get a fiber rush without spending my money. I get to oogle things like this boucle I dyed and know that, while it’s pretty and I love it, it’s not going to be trapped in my closet forever while I feel my way through a sweater pattern. It’s going to go up on my Etsy store and make someone else happy. A definite bonus.

Oh, yes. I promised pictures of the Baroness Beret. Here you are. A nice large shot, complimented by a close up on the yarn.

I just wish the yarn had been spun a little more recently. It came before I had grasped the concept of a pre-planned, and therefore gorgeous, yarn. It was a bit dense to work with, and the gauge made it stiff. However, the colors are beautiful.

You know, it’s been awhile since we’ve done a Beginner Series. I wonder. Should we do one on dyeing? I could go into acid dyes and natural dyes. Various techniques and tutorials. Or I could do one that focuses on some of the kinds of spinning fiber available. Bamboo, silk, soysilk, angora, that sort of thing. And, come to think of it, doing either of those would involve purchasing some nice new dye stuffs or fibers. I think I’m liking this!

As my wonderful aunt is here visiting, we got to go to the Yarn Garden again. And I definitely splurged. I’m afraid I have been bitten by the knitting bug and will never fully recover. I didn’t buy a single skein with crochet in mind.

This brown yarn is alpaca fingering weight, which I plan to use for a glove pattern I found on Ravelry. It’s called Knotty Gloves and has some beautiful cable-work on the wrists. I think they’re cables.

Then I wandered back into the bargain closet and found this skein/ball of laceweight.
You can’t really see all the light blue in it, but it’s there. The colors make me think of sea foam and beaches and summery days and . . . Ahem. I’m thinking it should become an airy sort of scarf/wrap/cowl when it grows up.

And, speaking of wraps, while we were there I tried on a beautiful Braided Wrap. It’s knit in worsted weight, and the front is actually braided as you knit. I really want to make it. The pattern is available as a download. Now all I need is several skeins of turquoise yarn.

And, as I’ve had the sock itch even worse since the lack of translation on a gorgeous pattern, I bought sock yarn. Two kinds.

Here’s the first. It’s a gorgeous single ply. Very smooshy and soft, and the colors are amazing.

I got two balls of this, since they were only fifty grams each, and because I like having tall socks. Or, at least I think I do. We’ll find out once they’re done. I like the idea of having tall socks.

Then I got this hundred-gram batch, which is a lot darker and subtler in the color shifts than the above sock yarn. It’s sort of a charcoal with pale blue, brown, and gray streaks.

I wanted an almost solid because there’s a pattern (on Ravelry again) that is a pretty version of all over ribbing. The yarn is a little darker than I’d like, but it should knit up nicely. There’s no real problem with dark socks.

I had the perfect pattern picked out for this. I downloaded it from Ravelry and everything, and then I opened it up and found that it was all in German.

Stunned silence.

Thankfully my sister stepped in and found me a German/English knitting terminology translator thingummy online, and I got to work deciphering the stitches. The pattern is in a chart, but the explanation of the symbols is in German. And things have come to a screeching halt.

I really wanted to make these socks. Really really really. But the pattern has defeated me. At least for now. There’s a possibility that it will be released in an English version sometime in the future. I’m going to stash the yarn away and hope for the best.

Every single scrap of Iowa fleece I have left (except for one chunk that had lots of VM) has been pre-soaked twice. All of it. Excuse me while I go collapse.

I spent I don’t know how long outside in the backyard hauling pots of water, wrestling fleece, spinning out the excess water, and shooing away any curious insects. It wiped me out. I have this feeling that the neighbors think I’m some sort of odd person — constantly lugging pots out there, whirling around spraying water in every direction — yeah. Well, if they want some wool they can have it. I just want to get it all washed by the second of August.

Why the reason for this sudden haste? A certain special friend is coming to visit next month, and she’s bringing a toy with her. Something very beneficial for those who have lots of fiber to process. Any guesses?

A drum carder.

Ta-da! Cymbal crash. Wild applause.

And, on the knitting front, (while it’s not quite as exciting as a drum carder) I threw the potential sock pattern out the window and started spinning the indigo yarn the way I wanted to spin it. If I really want to use that pattern once the yarn is done I’ll go dig around in the roses until I find it, but in the meantime I’m having fun.