Archive for December, 2007

Effing an O and a new hobby

Sunday, December 30th, 2007

I finished the Vine Lace Socks. I think they turned out very well and I’m going to wear them a lot. I think they fit the best of all the socks I’ve knit so far.

Oh…you want photos??

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Pattern: Vine Lace Socks – From theknitter.com SOM Club

Yarn: Plymouth Sockotta – the one with cotton

Needles: Size 1 KnitPicks Harmony DPNS

Oh..I also finally got a photo of the Ashford wheel I have borrowed.

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Isn’t she pretty? I like spinning on her too. I did the Ravelry yarn in the post below on her.

Ok..my family has a new hobby. We’ve discovered Letterboxing.  We got the stamp carving material yesterday and spent the evening carving our stamps.

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The stamps left to right BikerChick, Geebaloo, KnitSteph, TheLiam, TheTopher and a sock stamp that I carved for a postal letterbox.

We went out today on a hunt for some local letterboxes. We found FOUR and had a great time. It was a beautiful day and wonderful for getting outside.  I made a slideshow of some of the photos that I took, but if you’d like to view the photos individually they are in an album over in my photobucket.

Enjoy!

Handspun Yarn Pr0n

Friday, December 28th, 2007

Today is some of my own handspun.

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This yarn was spun from roving that I got from Spunky Eclectic. The color way is Ravelry.

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Definitely not my best spinning, but I really like it.

Yarngasms….

Friday, December 21st, 2007

I mentioned a post or two back that I met AMG last Saturday and loaned her my Babe wheel. Well…for a “thank you for lugging this wheel to Dallas” present she gave me this. s7301537.jpg

You HAVE to click and make that bigger. You see what that is? OMG…Wollmeise!! *squeel*

Want more you say??

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Don’t drool on my blog. ;)

Ok..one more….

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This is Wollmeise in the color Mitternacht (does that mean midnight?) I can’t wait to knit with it. I have several patterns picked out, I just need figure out which one. I really like La Digitessa  (sorry Ravelry link…) I love the unique heel construction. It intrigues me.

Tonight we are headed to Shreveport, Louisana to the Century Tel Center to see Trans Siberian Orchestra.  I can’t wait, I love to see them live. I’ll probably take some knitting if I can, but no camera’s are allowed in the arena so no knitting at a concert pics. :(   Full report on Saturday though!

Happy Knitting!

Pattern Debut

Monday, December 17th, 2007

If you haven’t noticed by now, there is a new pattern listed on my sidebar. *points to the left*  I finished up the shrug on Friday evening, wore it out to eat on Friday night and then wore it to Dallas when I met up with a fellow Raveler and a couple of other friends. More on that later, on to the pattern!

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This is the “In The Middle” Shrug. It’s called that because you start in the middle of the back. The pattern uses up two skeins of MMMMMalabrigo. I had about 6 inches of yarn leftover after binding off and weaving in the ends. If you want longer arms, you can add one more skein. It is made using an Open Twisted Rib stitch so it is very stretchy to accommodate multiple sizes. I’m in the photo and I’m a size 16. My daughter can also wear it and she’s a size 5.  The back length goes by your back measurement, so its easy to fit.

I hope you enjoy it! (it’s also on Ravelry)

Now..on to the meet up!

The manperson and I had to take a couple of friends to the airport in Dallas on Saturday, so I made arrangements to meet up with AMG . She is one of my fellow Ravelry Helpers/Soopers/Mods and I had told her that she could borrow my Babe wheel, because she is learning to spin. We met up at a little Cafe called Jay Jay’s and had lunch with her, her son and another couple that we know from the SCA. We had a great time visiting. After lunch, we went back to our friends’ house and we did fibery things and I showed her how to use the wheel. After that, we went to World Market, because I needed some Marzipan. Apparently, I also needed shortbread, scones mix..etc etc. because I came out with a bit more than marzipan. It was fun shopping though.  It was great to meet AMG and I’m sure that she’ll have lots of spinning to show off on her blog in the future. *hint hint*

While AMG and I were visiting with my friend, she brought out a wheel that needed a little TLC. It’s an Ashford Traveler and its one of the older models. We put lemon oil on it and messed with it a bit and I spun on it a while. Even though its missing the spring and correct string for the scotch tension, it spins really nicely. She let me bring it home to play with (and to make my other wheel jealous so that it will quit being persnikity).

I was going to post a photo here, but it seems to have been corrupted, so I’ll show you that one later. I did fill a bobbin and plied it last nigh, and it works fairly well considering the tension is fubared. I’m going to order a maintenance kit for it when I can and hopefully it will be even better!

More later!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmalabrigo!

Friday, December 14th, 2007

While trying to figure out something to help me blog more, I was talking to Funfairiegirl in the Ravelry Help Chat room and she told me about her and Turtlegirl doing “Yarn Pr0n Friday” so I thought I’d give it a try. My good camera is broken, so my photos aren’t that great, but hopefully they will be good enough.

First off, I have to say, I had heard a lot about this yarn, but had never tried it until I got it in a pressie from my Ravelry Summer Camp Secret Pal gift box. OMG…I am an addict now MUST. HAVE. MALABRIGO.

(click photos to enlarge)

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Isn’t it gorgeous?? This is the velvet grapes colorway. Of course, I’m a bit biased because come on..PURPLE!

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I had two skeins. I wanted to roll around in them. They are SOOOO soft. It’s a worsted weight yarn, but a single and extremely soft and lovely. I thought and searched Ravelry constantly looking for something to do with two skeins. I don’t wear hats much, nor scarves so I was having trouble finding something to use up my two skeins.  I was lamenting the fact one day when I saw  Mary-Heather’s shrug recipe and was asking her about it. She gave me an idea for designing my own. That will be the next pattern that I will share here on my blog!

How bout a sneak peek??

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The pattern uses up 2 skeins of malabrigo completely and there is no seaming! (I hate seaming!) It comes out on me about 3/4 length sleeves, so if you wanted longer sleeves, you could use 3 skeins of yarn instead.  I hope to have my shrug finished today, and get the pattern written up next week and post it here on my blog.

Have a great weekend and happy knitting!

Ok..so I’m a day late…Photo Wednesday.

Thursday, December 13th, 2007

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