I took along a new knitting project – two color toe-ups – and maybe knit six or seven rounds max. Yes. That’s all. Like I said, I was helping watch four young children. You don’t just hunker down with two balls of yarn, pointy sticks, and colorwork. Even if it just stripes. Maybe some of you are amazing and incredible and somehow someway manage to knit fair isle lace from a chart while running a daycare center (even with the exaggeration, I’m fully ready to pass out in awe), but not this girl. It only came out during nap time or once everyone was in bed. The rest of the time it hid, trembling, in my big bag on the pantry shelf. Out of reach of the two under-five year olds, and the eight-month old Boxer puppy. Safety first, you know.

I’m actually pleased with how the sock is turning out, especially the colors. When I picked the two balls of stash yarn – orange and green – I stared blankly at them for a bit, trying to figure out what I’d call them. Ravelry has changed my knitting to that extent – I must have an inventive, fun name for the project, otherwise it’s no fun. “Peas and Carrots” came to mind, as well as something of a “Pumpkin” nature, but I decided those were a little too tame. Then, keeping in mind the fall-ish tones of the colorwork, I came up with something that suited me fine. These will be my “Bushwhacked Chrysanthemum” socks, and they will be amazing.

I have grand ideas for fun and decorative additions, but first I have to knit the silly things. Perhaps I’ll take them along to Colorado. The trip on which I am leave in just a few days. (Yeah, I’m still trying not to panic over the seeming lack of time.) It’ll be a great trip, and I’m trusting that God is going to work everything out in His perfect timing. =)

But, back to the babysitting trip, I may have developed a thrift store craving. On our way back, the H, (the lady I was co-babysitting with) and I stopped at a higher end thrift store. This was a first for me, and I had little idea what to expect. What I found was lots of nice stuff – at ridiculously low prices. SHOPPING OVERLOAD!!!!

Thankfully I had a very strict budget, so I left the amazing black and lavender dress boots (only ten dollars!) and the nine dollar coffee table (where would I put the thing anyway?) and only succumbed to these little charmers.

In buying these I developed a new philosophy. There are so many give-away and throw-away mugs in this world – if I see one I like, I’d better buy it. If it’s reasonably priced. Otherwise I’d be toast.

But, I have made some rather good progress on my second alpaca sock, and I have found the secret to finishing a never-ending pair of extra-tall socks! The key is to go and stay in a rather chilly house for a few days. Take the sock knitting, and just barely enough pairs of regular-height socks. By the middle of the first day you’ll find yourself huddled on the couch watching old, instant-stream TV shows off of Netflix and knitting for your life in the hopes of warmer toes.

Unfortunately this knitting streak didn’t cross over to the other pair of unfinished socks I brought along, or the Emily Dickinson shawl that I had hoped to start again. However, I did have a lovely time resting, reading (three whole books!), and movie-watching.

If I’d been thinking I would have taken along the Fall Shawl and a large needle for “weaving in the ends” purposes. Oh well. It’ll get done eventually.
As you may be able to see, I didn’t quite finish the pattern. Due to my scandalous “departing of the text” and “altering,” the final project was smaller than I thought. So, I stopped knitting a ways from the end of the neck and left myself a handy little notch out of the middle. That way it actually stays on for the most part. I think a really interesting shawl pin or button will be in order for this. The best way to wear it is with the two edges meeting in the front like the front of a cardigan. It keeps my shoulders and neck warm and doesn’t look half bad—once you learn to ignore the gazillion and three little bits of yarn dangling off of it.

Yes, I think a button and loop would be the best way to keep it on in the front. I know of some rather fun buttons at JoAnn Etc. They’re wooden, and not quite square. Or I could purchase some from this interesting shop - We shall see what comes.

Speaking of buttons, I still don’t have them for the Sky Pirate gloves! They shall have to languish under my desk a while longer.

But, on the bright side, here’s one of my more recent yarn creations. It sold right away, but I will definitely be making the colorway again.

When I first made it, I didn’t keep track of how I did the colors, so I thought it was non-reproducible. Then a good friend asked me to pretty-please try again for her sake, and I tried, and (praise God!) it worked! So, it is now fully reproducible. Allow me to introduce, the Dawn Treader yarn!

Shortly after I recreated that, my friend with the drum carder came for a visit. We had to cut things short, due to the threat of impending snow, (Yes, snow here in the Southeast. Lots of it.) but we still got ten batts of the Iowa fleece all carded up. I have some interesting plans for these. Hopefully it will work out.

And, as a fun note to end the post on, my knitting sister (who is also my amazing yarn photographer for the Etsy sites) put together a collage of all the products I made and listed last year. Quite a few, eh?

There. The painful bit is over. And so is the silence of the blogger! I didn’t have many projects of a fibery nature going, therefore I had nothing to blog about, therefore I didn’t blog, which led to more ventures into non-fiber hobbies, and you get the idea. It really was the Bermuda Triangle there for a bit. But, everyone needs a little lull from life-consuming hobbies at least once in a while, and I’ve had my lull. Now clear the pool, I’m coming in!

I spent a fairly decent portion of the last two weeks spinning the above result. Feast your eyes on the first skein of indigo dyed merino! Yes, it’s actually there. This is not a photoshop stunt. I finished skein number one. And it’s five ply. And it’s in the proper weight. (I think.) Yay! Triumph!
The rest of the project is on hold while I send this one to its new owner so she can test knit it and see if it will work.

Remember the dilemma I faced about what to take on the Texas trip? Well, I wound up taking along some gorgeous stormy blue sock yarn and the Hedgerow sock pattern. On the trip I wound up with a grand total of the leg of one sock. Now I’m waffling between knitting away on the almost finished pair of brown socks, and the really pretty but not nearly begun blue sock, resulting in a virtual stalemate.

And do you like my cool, double sock photo? It caused quite a bit of humor in the house when the batteries in my camera died right after I wrangled the socks on. I had to pick up an attached ball of yarn in each hand and walk clear to the other side of the building with my spiked anklets. I felt rather like a dangerous marionette.

By the by, if you’re wondering what non-fibery hobbies distracted me, here’s one of them. I took up bookbinding and made these two journals.

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!

Really, though, I am even more excited about these sock yarns because of the amazing events leading up to their completion.

I had planned to place a large bare sock yarn order early in October, but the website said they were out of that kind of yarn and they wouldn’t be getting more in until the sixteenth of October. I was leaving home on the twenty-first of October, so even if I ordered them on the sixteenth and rushed the shipping on them, I wouldn’t have had enough time to dye them before I left.

Well, I happened to check back on the website a few days later and the yarns were already in! Way before they were supposed to be. And third day shipping was really not that expensive, so I ordered a bunch of them, thinking I would make time to dye them as soon as I got back from my lovely trip. Lo and behold, time opened up and they were finished before I left! Praise God!

All the indigo dyed fiber is carded up and turned into roving. I like to handle home-washed fibers as much as possible before spinning because it helps get any extra dust or vegetable matter (VM) out. Some of this fleece was very dusty. (Small wonder, it had been in my closet for a few months.) I kept having to clean off my “dust catcher.”

This is a nice little plastic bin that I put under my carders for the protection of my carpet. I card, it catches, and I occasionally dump it out into the trash. Handy all around. (You can see it under the fleece, there.)

It worked well except for the very last batch of dust. I had just finished carding and went to dump the dirt into the trash and somehow it caught on the edge of the trashcan and scattered dirt all over my nice clean soysilk. See all the dark speckles around the edges?

You can imagine my frustration.

The indigo fiber is intended for a variegated sock yarn, but the perfect pattern I had planned is rapidly working itself out of my good graces. The closest I can get to gauge with my sample yarn is six and a quarter stitches an inch. Not six. And the pattern has cables. Gulp.
My knitting sister says she’ll do some calculating for me. Supposedly the sock is for smaller feet, so my current six-and-a-quarter might do the job. If I ever get around to knitting them I’m sure they’ll turn out to be soap opera socks. One thing after another until “the saga continues. . .”

I took it along to work, and the best part was a small friend’s conversation with me while babysitting.

Sam: “Why does that have so many needles?”
Me: “That’s just the way they need to be to help me knit this sock.”
Sam: “Whoa, that’s a sock?”
Me: “Yes. Wait just a minute (the row needed to be finished) and I’ll show you.”
*time lapse while row is finished and sock wriggled on*
Sam: “Whoaaaaa, that’s cool. If I’d known you made socks I’d have had a pair by now.”
(I don’t know what he was implying by that statement. Just because I made that red scarf for him earlier.)

Anyway, it’s currently giving a great impression of a hobo’s sock, and if I can just figure out where the pattern went I can finish it up and knit the second one. It’s been long enough since I started the first one that I’m not worried about the second being the same old same old. Definitely a bonus.

I have been slowly but steadily turning my elbows and wrists into aching, tender remnants of themselves while transforming the indigo dyed fleece into these lovely balls of roving. These are going to be spun into a variegated sock yarn and knit by yours truly into a recently discovered sock pattern on Knitting Daily.

Assuming I can get the gauge figured out. It’s supposed to be six stitches an inch on size five needles. And the pattern calls for a heavy worsted yarn. Figure that one out.

I plan to spin it on the Walking Wheel. Hopefully it will be a reprise of the great success of the Gawain batt. That yarn made the nicest pair of socks I’ve ever worn. (I’m sure pride in my work has tainted my view of them, but they are very comfy.)

I cleaned my fiber and yarn stash and reorganized it, thus foiling its attempts to take over my closet and dominate the earth. In the process I came to the conclusion that I have way too much yarn. I need to destash! Now, some of you may have just passed out at the suggestion of having too much yarn, but I only have so much space to store it in. If it’s not going to be used and isn’t extra special, out it goes.

And another thing, I’m getting a little tired of knitting things and crocheting things just for the fun of doing them. I want the fruit of my hands to be useful! At some point I need to stop impulse making and work toward filling needs. Maybe I should look around for charity stuff, but I’d really like it to be more personal than dropping something off at a donation box. I want these projects to be made for specific people and go to them with love. But then, can I find enough needs to support my insatiable crafting appetite? I don’t want to just start flinging scarves at everyone I know.

Yes, I’m planning to finish it. And its mate. This one will have some queer little lumps and bumps in it. Things like “repeat rows A and B until x amount remains on the needles” should not be listed after “continue.” What do they think I am? A knitting guru? Ahem. Well, anyway, it seems to be turning out despite the difficulties. I can get it on. And off.

I’m enjoying knitting something that small. I like tiny things. Tiny stitches, tiny needles, tiny yarn. I even have a pattern picked out for the next pair! It’ll be a very special pair due to the fiber choice. (More on that later.)

Here’s something I did with the Iowa fleece during a movie. I had a drop spindling urge and some roving handy, so why not?

Two and half hours on the drop spindle made this little skein of a lace weight single. It does have slubs in it. We’ll pretend they’re in there for interest. I want to dye it in some rich jewel tones and knit it into a hair scarf/bandanna thingummy. I think emerald green and royal purple, with hints of gold, copper, and light blue would be nice.

And here’s the dark Lincoln batts all spun into singles. It came up to one spindle full on the Walking Wheel, and I can’t remember if that was one ounce or two. Anyway, it’s a nice amount. Just very very fuzzy. I think I’ll have to scratch the cowl idea. At least with this yarn. It’s gorgeous stuff. I love the color.

In the meantime, quick, take a guess. What new knitting project have I plunged into? Anyone? Anyone?

It is not a garden hose cozy. I haven’t quite gone off the deep end yet. I am merely dipping my toe in the water, so to speak. (Although I’m not doing it the toe-up way.) Behold the beginnings of a sock. And before you start pointing out that the yarn isn’t one of mine, let me explain. I was going to try to knit my first socks out of handspun, but the only handspun yarn I had was too thick. My knitting sister very kindly shared from her stash, so while you see before you a completely commercial yarn, it is still a nice yarn. Could I have waited to spin my own? Of course not! When you have the urge, you knit.

The first bobbin of soysilk is off the wheel! I just love love love this stuff. Aside from plastering itself to my shirt and flinging tickly little filaments far and wide it’s behaving beautifully.

I can hardly wait to see it plyed, and then to see it in indigo. I’ve been creating a list of things I want to indigo dye. Hopefully I’ll have enough indigo and time to do them all. The soysilk is one, then I’ll be doing a skein of silk (yet to be spun) for one of my sisters, and I’d love to dye some stash yarns (which also need to be spun), and perhaps I’ll try dyeing some fleece locks for later use.

The biggest puzzle at the moment is where and with what to do the actual dye pot. Because of the nature of indigo I have a feeling it will be rather messy, so I really don’t want to attempt doing it in the kitchen, although the air conditioning would be nice. That leaves outside. And unless I try heating the big pot on our gas grill, I don’t have anything with which to bring the dye temperature up to where it needs to be.

A crock pot has suggested itself. As has the wild idea of a hot plate or camp stove. And I visited the old “build a fire” idea. Don’t worry. There’s very little chance of that last happening. For one thing our backyard isn’t big enough. For another it will be summer and the heat would be terrible. So, I basically need a giant crock pot that has very finely tuned temperature controls. Anyone have one languishing in their basement? Borrowing the neighbor’s hot tub is out of the question.