KnitSteph

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??

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.

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.

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!

Today is some of my own handspun.

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

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

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.

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

Want more you say??

Don’t drool on my blog.

Ok..one more….

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!

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!

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!

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)

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

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??

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!

Joy is doing a little remodeling for me around here so things may be a little bit wonky.

All will be back to normal (ha!) in a day or so.

Steph

So..this evening I finished the Over the Knee Socks from Handknit Holidays.

They are both the same length, I just need to make some garters for them.

Pattern Specs

Over the Knee Socks from Handknit Holidays

Yarn: Elizabeth Lavold Silky Wool - purple (3 Balls)

Needles : Size 2 dpns (knitpicks harmony)

Notes: I really like the pattern. It’s not too hard, yet challenging enough to keep my interest. They went pretty fast too considering how long they are. The only thing that bugs me is that I got laddering really badly. I tried all the tricks I know and couldn’t stop the ladders. I don’t ever get ladders normally so the only thing I can think of is maybe that I should have gone down a needle size. I think they’d be better in a bit firmer gauge, but they fit perfectly so I’d have to add some stitches if I wanted to do them again in this yarn.

Oh..and I said I used 3 balls. This is what is left from the 3rd ball.

Yeah.. I measured it and it was about 10 yards. I had a 4th ball just in case, but I never had to get into it.

Now..off to start the stockings for Plimoth Plantation.

So..that last post was a bit of a downer, but I’d like to thank everyone who posted comments to me and to BikerChick and to those who sent her private emails and cards in the mail. I know she’s not posted anything yet, but she is deeply greatful. She said that she understands now why I blog and about the great community of people who are out there in Knitblogland.  She was overwhelmed with the kindness from basically total strangers.  I was too. I thank you all.

In other news, my laptop has died and the repairman said that it would cost as much to fix as to purchase a new one. There’s issues with the place where the power cord plugs in and it involves the motherboard and stuff which makes it cost more in labor and parts. Luckily BikerChick has a PC and a laptop and is letting me use her PC until I can figure out what to do. I have no clue exactly what I’m going to do, because I don’t have the money to replace it right now. I guess it will sort itself out eventually.

BikerChick and I have both been knitting. I’m *almost* done with my pair of Over the Knee Socks from Handknit Holidays and she’s finished a pair of socks and a LOVELY wrap.

I don’t have any photos right now, but hopefully I’ll get some in a few days and post them here and on Ravelry.

*hugs to you all*

BikerChick’s husband, my stepdad was killed last night.

http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20071031/NEWS01/71031009

Please think about us.

The obituary and the guestbook

I’m just testing a new plug in. It’s called Post Avatar and should work something like LiveJournals user avatar pics.

More later…I finished a Vine Lace Sock yesterday.