drawing a winner

Hooray! We have a winner for our 20th Pair Contest/Drawing! Yay.

That was fun, everyone, thanks so much for commenting and getting involved and flashing some sock stash. Some of you have some awesome stashes, and I am way jealous.

When we go on our cross-country trip this summer, my mother said I’m only allowed to take two sock projects. Outrageous! It’s a six week trip, and I can finish a pair of socks in two weeks with distractions– with a lot driving, I’ll be finishing those in days. So I’m going to sacrifice packing underwear so I can pack more yarn.

Okay, just kidding. I promise to pack enough underwear.

Anyway, the winner of the drawing for the very sexy gradient sock yarn is…

darbyrose! Yay!

Darbyrose, email me at felinecrafty-AT-gmail-DOT-com to stake your claim on the very sexy yarn.

Again, thanks to everyone a ton. That post is probably my highest frequented, aside from the Spring Cable socks pattern.

And for the sake of having a picture, here’s Admiral Nelson taking a nap.

Icarus.

Mad Sapphire Weave.

drive-by WIP post

So, I don’t have any pictures to show you today because I think my mum took the camera to work and didn’t bring it back, so instead I’ll just bore you with chatter.

My first WIP priority (still) is the Icarus shawl for my graduation. I’m 2 rows into the last 24 row chart, and each row must have over 400 stitches on it, because they take almost half an hour each. I have 10 days to finish the shawl. I want to be blocking it at the latest next Saturday, so I’ve got to push through and get this done! It’s beautiful, though, and I’ve gotten to the beads too early, so I keep shoving them down the yarn wondering if I got too ambitious and put them on way early. At any rate, I need to do two more rows today to keep on track and at a reasonable pace.

The second thing I’m working on is The Project Sweater, which I have tried on and decided looks ridiculous, but I’ll keep going for the sake of the project. I’m very tempted, however, once I’ve shown it off and gone “ooer sweater” to rip it out and fix the outrageous short rows and stupidly huge stripes. It’s a bit silly. Anyway, it’s not as if the knitting part is the hard part, but it is a learning part. It’s all good.

Thirdly I am working on a pair of Mad Color Weave socks in the Socks that Rock in “Sapphire”, and they’re lovely. Sue at Lovelyarns was pondering trying to start an account with BMFA at TNNA next weekend, and so I pulled out the socks and showed her the yarn. She wasn’t impressed at the way it pooled, but I’m enjoying the colors and the way they get mixed up nicely by this pattern. I really like knitting with the STR. Yum. I’ve got to do a few more rows to get them to the heels for my class on Saturday, and I’m hoping both students come back. Aileen was pretty chill about the whole 2-socks-2-circs thing, but the other woman was quite frustrated with it. I don’t know. I love knitting my socks this way, but sometimes I think I forget that my brain handles engineering very well, and not everyone thinks the way I do.

Other projects are stalled out or put away for a while. I need to work primarily on Icarus before I can really pick anything back up or start anything new (like the Elinor tunic, which I am super excited for). But I will finish it! And I promise to post finished pictures-myself-included, in my dress, after graduation.

And, of course, don’t forget to check out the drawing for my 20th pair of socks, Uzume! It’s open till Friday night, then I’ll close the comments for a bit.

FO: Uzume (and a contest!!)

Start: May 5th, 2008
Finish: May 24th, 2008
Pattern: Uzume (ravelry)
Yarn: Hand dyed (by me) merino sock yarn
Needles: US size 2s, two at a time on two circular needles

Very pretty!

I have a short attention span, apparently. The repeat on these socks was only 6 rows, and so I had to do ten of them on the legs, and because I did them both at once they seemed to take FOREVER, so I was bored. But I plugged along and each little closed cable was very cute and satisfying.

I love the lace! I love how on the foot you can see my tattoo through the lacey pattern. It’s great.

Ah, so where is the contest, you ask?

Well this pair of socks is my twentieth pair of socks. I feel like that’s a lot. And as I feel like that’s a lot, I feel it also deserves a contest in celebration!

So here’s your job: leave a comment on this entry (and if you feel like it, link me a picture to your sock yarn stash, if you have one), and in a week (next Saturday, May 31st) I will put all the names in a metaphorical hat and draw one, and that will be my winner!

Here’s the incentive:

This is hand-dyed yarn, by me, in a gradient pattern. I’m actually going to dye another ball so the gradient matches (this one only goes light to dark) and you can knit two socks that will look similar, instead of one being all light and the other being all dark.

If you don’t want the purple, I also have teal, turquoise, and green. I’m using them all for my sweater, so I have more dye than I can use (except for all the bare sock yarn I bought).

Leave me a comment!

it’s a rainy sort of day

It’s raining something fierce out today. If it clears up I might head down to the yarn store, but otherwise I’m going to watch The Tudors and entertain the cats and knit on the project sweater.

(taken this morning in bleh rain light)

SPINNING WHEEL

(among other things)

Do you know, gentle readers, what this is? This is my spinning wheel. This is my spinning wheel that I built. This is my spinning wheel that I built with my own hands. I MADE A WHEEL. Okay, okay, I had help, and I used power tools, but… it’s my baby! And it’s not from a kit! We didn’t have a kit, or plans, or anything. Just lumber and something to copy.

Man, it’s so beautiful. I think it needs a name. I think it’s a boy, and I think it needs a name. Help me out here. It also needs a single pilot hole drilled in one of the treadle supports because the leather strap (a.k.a. my dad’s old belt) needs to be connected and isn’t yet (and I don’t want to split the wood (again)).

I’ve spent months on this baby, and it’s so wonderful. It’s smooth and it’s pretty and it’s cherry and it’s mine. In every sense of the word. It’s a “copy” of an Ashford Traditional, but it’s my creation.

I’m showing it off at school tomorrow, and I’m excited to use it for the first time. I want to spin on it (but I can’t, see above not attached treadle).

Ooh, man. I love it.

My favorite part is the maidens that don’t match. On the right you can see the maiden I bought at Sheep and Wool. On the left is the maiden fashioned as a substitute until I get another one that matches the one on the right. I think it’s so funny that one is beautiful and round and turned and one is SQUARE. It rocks. The flyer and bobbin I did not build. I did build the mother-of-all and the base, though, so they match the cherry wood.

Squee!

In related news, I have swatched for the Project Sweater. I think the 7s gave me the nicest fabric, so I think I might just cast on the final stage tonight!!!!

The yarn I dyed is ready…

(mostly…)

And I can spin and dye more as I need it. Oh boy!

Also today, I pulled this little bastard…

off of the roof of our house. Picture me hanging out my sister’s bedroom window for half an hour trying to lasso a kitten out of the gutter with my sweatshirt and the handle of a bag. I have bruises all kinds of places. Freak. I love him. He’s fine, by the way.

Help me name my wheel!

The Carnage

I’m amused by myself and the references to Sheep and Wool being somewhat akin to lions eating an antelope. Maybe that was just me, but that’s a bit what it felt like, maybe. Really lovely, peaceful lions, eating a wonderfully sunny, breezy, fiber-filled and wholesome antelope.

Friday:

The stalls were half-up and empty of people, but they were beautiful. I spent the day with the Skein and Garment competition and learned more about yarn and spinning yarn than I literally thought there was to know. Insane. And amazing. I got some incredible critiques on my yarn and know what to do next time. My spinning has already improved.

Saturday:

I arrived…

… to a parking lot full already, and made a bee-line for The Fold’s booth, which was full of Socks that Rock, and also full of knitters. Being bound for a 9:00 start time selling t-shirts for the festival, I stood in line with my two happily acquired skeins until about 9:30. No guilt.

I visited my socks.

And bought some yarn.

At lunch I met up with Molly, and we watched the sheep dogs for a bit (but I had to go back and sell more shirts).

There were emus. And alpacas. And llamas.

I saw lots of people I knew, and took pictures of none of them. I saw Jessica, Erin and Michelle of The Sweet Sheep, and Coleen. I also saw my Spanish teacher and her daughter/my friend who is coming with me to Haverford. I saw Lolly at the Ravelry meet up, and I saw Jacey admiring her yarn at the skein and garment (she won first place for her hand spun yarn with eyeballs).

Did I mention I LOVE this festival?

After I got off selling shirts at 6, I went to (got lost en route to) the Ravelry party!

I met the lovely Jess and Casey, and coerced the adorable and fashionable Mary-Heather into a photograph:

(she’s way cuter than I am).

I met Pam (right) and Julsey,

and won some yarn in the raffle(!).

(thank you Webs/Ravelry!)

I didn’t expect to stay until 11PM, but I was having such a good time that I did. It was lovely. Everyone was so fun and interesting and wonderful. Then I went home and crashed.

In order to return on Sunday! I came back with my mom and sister on Sunday for the shopping. We saw a lot more of the barns than I’d seen the day(s) before, so that was good. Also we ate funnel cake. Then I picked up my items in the skein and garment competition, and we came home. I forgot to take pictures all day, but pictures of me shopping really aren’t interesting.

Pictures of what I shopped FOR, however, clearly are.

Five skeins of Brooks Farm Yarn Four Play (wool/silk) for a sweater (pattern as yet unchosen) for me.

Six skeins of O-Wool for the Elinor tunic from this summer’s IK.

Two skeins of Koigu for socks.

Two skeins of superwash merino laceweight from Tess Yarns for a shawl of some sort (I’m loving knitting lace).

Two skeins of Socks that Rock mediumweight in “Sapphire” and “Chapman Springs.”

And finally, parts for my Ashford knockoff spinning wheel.

Now I’m beat. I started a pair of socks with the STR Chapman Springs, but the yarn was too exciting for the pattern. I loved knitting with it, though. Yum.

There are, of course, lots more pictures in the Flickr set, so please click on through to see like 15 more pictures of those alpacas (among other things).

We’ll see about next year. S&W tends to fall right in the time of serious studying for finals in the college world, and I might not make it (sob!).

I loved it.

Oh, also I got a photo with Jess and Casey– my sister pushed me to ask because I was being shy. I’m glad she did!

Holy crap!

Will you look at this please?

This is a booth FULL OF SOCKS THAT ROCK.

I will be here. I will finally get some. I will turn into a consumerist monster this weekend, and I just don’t care!

Also, I might be wearing my (new surprise) Haverford sweatshirt, and/or my green Sheep and Wool volunteer t-shirt. Come buy a t-shirt from me. I’ll find a name tag. And a Ravelry button!

Sheep and Wool!

Yaay~! Tomorrow I begin the descent into madness that is the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I’m working at the Skein and Garment competition from 9 to 1 doing intake, I suppose, of entries, and I’m also entering a handful of stuff myself (omg!). I’m going to enter a skein of my undyed project wool (the second skein is washing, and is much, much prettier than the first), as well as a skein of blue merino I spun (extra points for a Maryland farm), my Diagonal Rib socks, and a new skein I’m spinning now (when I should be spinning for the project, yes).

I’m really excited.

Yesterday I tried to go through my Ravelry queue and pick out things I wanted to buy yarn for. The “final” list looks like this:

Sheep & Wool
-STR
-Smooshy
-Claudia Handpainted
-Koigu
-Louet Gems?
-laceweight, 2-3 shawls?
-600-700 yrds DK/sport (ballet cami)
-1300 yrds worsted (tubey)
-1000 yrds worsted (snow white/wicked)
-1400 yrds worsted (SKB)

I might end up dropping a couple hundred dollars on yarn. Ouch. But you know what? I’m excited. I want yarn for sweaters and socks and shawls and everything. I also want some fiber to spin (yes, okay, I have some of that too).

On Saturday, I’m going to be helping sell t-shirts from 9 to 11, and then from 11 to 1 I’ll be strolling the Skein/Garment competition to see that nothing walks off, and from 3 to 6 again I’ll be t-shirt selling. So from 1 to 3, I’ll have some time to look around and probably buy things. Then I’m headed to the Ravelry party at the Sheraton in Columbia. Sweet!

SUNDAY I’m coming again with my mum. To buy things. And look at animals. Oh boy oh boy.

I think I’ll wear Rogue, and please do come say hello if you’re there and spot me. I’m not terribly famous, I know (ha!), but I’d love to be approached.

(in case you’d forgotten)

There will most definitely be a yarn p0rn post. Mmmmm. Yarn.