no pictures today…

good morning all. yes, i realize it’s 4:45 pm….i worked last night and slept all day. yarn. yawn. heh, check out what i accidentally typed when i cyber-yawned!

unfortunately i have to work again tonight (boo!)…maybe i’ll have some downtime to knit a few stiches on my denmark sockezze (yeah!)…but most likely not (boo!)…but i probably will tomorrow (yeah!)…so tomorrow, folks, i will post more of “the great picture experiment”…and some of the resources that i found about great pictures on the web.

did i forget to mention…

that i brought myself some knitting momentos from my newport trip?

i was only able to visit one lys on my newport visit (i tried! really! but like i said, my family really packs it in…). newport is a beautiful town on the harbor. from the hotel, we had breathtaking views. plus, we were just steps away from shopping, eating and….um….is there anything else? df and i also went to two local skate parks. that is, for skateboarding. (yes, i have a skateboard. yes, i do use it. yes, i am very bad at it. okay, i can at least ride around.) we visited the original water brothers surf and skate. so did rachael ray (not at the same time)!

back to the yarn. we took a special walk down thames street just to visit knitting needles, the lys. the selection of sock yarn was skimpy, mostly of the self-striping variety. but they had many beautiful yarns, including and entire wall of embroidery yarns that took my breath away. i requested ‘something local’…and the nice lady helping me pointed to this:

needles handcrafted in rhode island

aren’t they beautiful? i tried to select a pair of needles in the smallest size they had available. but as you can see, the smallest size offered is 8.

the fine print reads: adult supervision is recommended (ha!)

i ended up with some 11′s. i plan to display them when df finishes our joint office/craft room. oh, and that ball of yarn in the background?

kfi cashmereno
55% merino wool/33% microfiber/12% cashmere
2 balls (135m/50g)

i scored some of the legendary kfi cashmereno (now discontinued, i believe), enough for a deliciously soft pair of socks. yeah! i’m thinking a simple cable pattern for these…what do you suggest? and while i’m asking, what do you think of the photos? i’m having white balance issues…and lighting issues, but that is another post for another day…

denmark sockezze in newport (Yarnsmith’s sockezze yarn review)

since i was on vacation, i took full advantage of the travel time to knit. (did you know that knitting needles are on the tsa permitted items list?) i’m a big fan of nancy bush patterns/books, and knitting on the road is no exception. while some people make the travel experience a bit easier with a photocopied pattern, i tend to bring my pattern books with me. because of its small size, it’s the best option i have to take on short and long trips. i always carry a different ball of yarn and extra needles in case i grow bored of what i am currently working (is it any wonder i don’t venture out into bigger projects often? ), so carrying a book full of patterns for a new sock makes sense to me. wanna see what i am working on?

yarnsmith’s sockezze in jazz colorway

this yarn was difficult to photograph because of the dark colors…but on my monitor, the colors look spot on. gena gifted this yarn to me for christmas last year (thank you! my first gift of yarn!).

yarnsmith’s is a fiber business out of spingfield, ohio. the website says they offer spinning, felting and knitting supplies. the yarns are offerred in handpainted colorways by the fiber artist danette taylor (out of north carolina)…i have yet to visit their yarn shop, but i hear that may be worth it. interestingly enough, sockezze is not mentioned on the site. hmmmm. i know of only one lys that carries yarnsmith yarn in columbus (and it’s sockezze). sockezze is a 90/10 blend of wool and nylon. the hanks are 2.0 oz with about 145 yards, so at least two skeins are needed for a pair of socks. the ball band recommends a handwash in cold water and laying flat to dry.

here’s a sneak peak of my socks:

 

denmark socks, knitting on the road by nancy bush
yarnsmith’s sockezze in jazz
2 oz/145 yds; 90% wool/10% nylon
started: august 17, 2006
needles: set of 5, #2 lantern moon ebonies

the yarn has a nice feel to it. the twist is somewhere between baby ull and cth supersock. i found that i rarely spit the yarn. the fabric it creates is quite sproing-y, somewhat denser than i expected, but still soft and supple. i think it will make a good winter sock.

i’ve knit about 1.3333333 socks and so far, i enjoyed knitting with it. i’d use the yarn again and look forward to my next pair of sockezze socks. however, a big drawback is the size of the skein. at a puny 145 yards, you’ll be sweating if you’ll have a enough yarn to finish the toes! i was especially surprised since i have small feet…this was the first time i ever worried about yardage. mental note: toe-up socks for this yarn.

i’ve been messing around with the camera and my studio lately….i think i’m getting a little better. in the picture below i was exploring the “manual” focus on our fully digital camera. rita gave me the second volume in the vogue knitting stitchionary series:

 

vogue knitting stitchionary, vol i & ii
thank you rita!

i’m back!

hello again! the trip to newport was great. and in my family tradition, after 5 days on vacation, i am exhausted. we went to a beautiful wedding, did ‘newport’ things, and ate ALOT of food. but instead of relaxing…we had to pack in as much as we could into the short time that we were there. my df and i, however, have different ideas than my family of what vacation should be like. that is, no long car trips and lots of relaxation. suffice it to say, we took a vacation from our vaction with my family. i must admit, it was my favorite day of the past week.

much to my chagrin, traveling through logan airport in boston was a nightmare: going there wasn’t bad at all…but coming back was a NIGHTMARE. picture a 1.75 hour drive, 2 cars, boston traffic, boston detours, rude and aggressive drivers, returning two rental cars, hopping a bus to get to the airport….then being dropped off at the wrong terminal…the clock is ticking…finding a way back to the right terminal…managing 12 suitcases for 8 people .…only 45 minutes until the flight departs…losing the boarding passes…waiting in a hellishly long line….stupid people…getting a boarding pass…getting into the line at security….realizing that you only have one boarding pass instead of two…then getting the pass and going through security….confiscating $20 lip gloss x 2….then getting on the plane at the last minute. whew! these things didn’t all happen to me…but to the collective group i was traveling with…talk about stress.

since we’ve been back i have been lazing around, browsing the web and trying to catch up on my blog reading. (you blog-land folks write a lot)…and i have yet to upload any vacation pictures, but i promise they will come. i’m also playing around with my mini-studio.

it’s good to be back…

cankle socks

(boston accent:) ev-ah feel like a sock goes on forev-ah and ev-ah? the combination of this yahn and stockinette made this pai-ah take for-eh-vah. lion brand was the only sock yahn that i ev-ah saw when i st-ahted knitting.  of course, i only thought you could buy yahn at the craft store at that time, too.  my first ev-vah pai-ah of socks were lion brand (if you check to the left of this photo you can see one peeking from behind my presents)…anyway, here they ah in all of theiah glory:

cankle socks, my own basic pattern with larger ankles
for lisa, pregnant and suffering from swollen ankles
lb simple stripes in sea blue stripe
100 gm/ 300 m; 75% wool/25% nylon
started: august 2006
completed: august 2006
needles: 4 – #2 metal dpns (?brand)

 

they don’t look all that different from a normally proportioned pair of socks…but on the model:

 

 

ahhhhh! sock relief!

 

i’m still experimenting with my new mini-photo studio. as i’ve mentioned before, i’m no ansel adams (probably a bad comparison since my ‘work’ is in color)…i’m also missing a few pieces to the studio…like a mini-infinity backdrop and, um, photo talent. anyone know a good, beginner web resource?

 

why the accent? i’ll be taking a break from the blog over the weekend and then some. we are off to newport (via boston) for a wedding…and i need to plan my lys tour! i’ll try to take some worthwhile photos to share…and i’ll have a cuppah chowdah for you since you won’t be able to join us! bye for now!

birthday post…

it’s a bit early to be celebrating even a one-month blog birthday…but today is my birthday! no, i didn’t have a big hoop-la, i did have a fantasticaly chill day (aside from the fact that i was scheduled to work the graveyard shift on my birthday-eve!). i was greeted this morning at the garage door. my fiance, redbull in hand, planted a big kiss and hug, then stepped aside to revealed a pile of presents in coordinating wrapping paper. i was too excited to grab my camera…but here is the aftermath:

 

omg!! how perfect is this present? (thank you baby!) i gotta say that i am the luckiest girl in the world. (i posed $$ restrictions on all purchases cuz the budget is tightening up and he still managed to get me something above and beyond my expectations) now why would a girl be excited about a mannequin foot, a lightbox, a mini-tripod and a lamp? most people out in the real world wouldn’t be excited but i do know that you blogland folk know just how exciting my present really is. well, duh, it’s a photo studio for my knit blogging adventures!! wanna see my first pictures?

 

aren’t those preetey? my df’s parents got me a mum to plant in our mulch beds.

 

…and this camo-goodness is a gift of shephard’s sock from gena (what a great knitting buddy)!

you know, once you get to a certain age, the thrill of getting another year older starts to wear off (my bsd turned nine this year and a few short months later she is already looking forward to being a pre-tween, wearing make-up and miniskirts, and getting a cell phone- i’m getting heartburn just thinking about it). this year marks my passing into “the thirty-something club”. while i don’t feel that thirty-one is old…i am keenly aware that my perspective at 21 was much different than it is now, and my priorities have changed. for one, it’s not ‘all about me’ anymore, it’s about my family. a decade later, i’ve learned it’s not about the destination (the job, the money, the ‘whatever’)…it’s about the journey. i’ve slowed down and started to enjoy life. i highly recommend it.

 

 

brown paper packages….

tied up with string…these are a few of my favorite things….

okay folks…look what i am dropping off at the post office today!!!

 

no that’s not me…the lovely model is my beloved step daughter

no pics of the cankle socks yet…but hopefully i can get them up tonight!

old fo, mamluke update and cankles (not necessarily related)

what do you do if you have bad pictures of an old fo that are unsalvageable even through the magic of photoshop? post them.

well, technically you don’t have to post them. but admittedly i haven’t made much progress on my mamluke socks. so i am filling the void with past projects.

the socks, below, were a gift to one of my first knitting friends. i love this pattern. it is complicated enough that it is interesting, yet mental gymnastics are not too tough…good for tv watching. these were knit during a marathon of ‘lost’ episodes. my df and i decided that we should figure out what the hype was about….so the ONLY logical thing to do was watch from the first episode until we caught up with season two. well, we’re hooked…and i have a very cute pair of socks (and a very bad picture – hey i gave you the best i could with what i had to work with) to commemorate it:

child’s first sock in shell pattern, knitting vintage socks by nancy bush
for gena, just because
cth supersock merino yarn in indian summer purchased on ebay
113 gm/ 370 yds; 100% merino wool
Started: April 2006
Completed: April 2006
Needles: 2 – #1 addi turbo 24″ circs

gena says that she is afraid to wear them and muss them up. honey, i say go ahead! enjoy them, throw ‘em in the washer….but pull them out to air dry. if you superly-love them. give them a good handwashing/air dry. my cth socks have survived my ‘no hand-washing’ rule…heck, even survived a few trips through the dryer. (but i would definitely recommend the air dry for longer-lastingness).

speaking of longer-lastingness (of knitting hell) the mamlukes, meh,i am so discouraged!! last week i went to a sock knitting group (yeah! first organized knitting social i’ve had the privilege of attending) where i was told i could solve my tension problems by carrying my floats (boo! bad student!). i’ve never been very good with strict instruction (sorry lynn!)…i need more of a process where i get the gist but then ‘wing it’ from there. this is why the internet and books are the first place i got to for instruction…then i just ‘figure it out’. up until my attempt at fair isle knitting, this has been a successful process for me.

i think that i’ll put down the two-color knitting for a bit and get some mindless knitting in (don’t worry, i won’t give up…we’re just on “a break”)….i’ve been currently working on a gift started at the request of a pregnant friend.

let’s not beat around the bush. she has cankles (albeit temporary…oh come on, calf-ankles!). so i set to work at making a pair of slouchy socks to accommodate her…and hopefully a matching pair for the little bundle of joy set to come in about a month or two…let’s hope he doesn’t have cankles too (i only have 100 g of yarn for the both of them). any pattern suggestions for the newborn? it’s one of the last two balls of lb simple stripes in my stash. i hoarded this stuff when it went on sale at the local craft store. i have since ‘graduated’ to a more expensive yarn habit (hence the current yarn diet), but cankles wanted blue socks and that’s what i have in my stash! pictures of the wip in my next post if there is any progress…

belated prize post

time to announce the winners: odds were good if you entered in the contest- 66% of the entrants won swag.

congratulations to dave and bethc!! please email me your information so that i can send this your way!! dave gets first choice, since he guessed correctly first.

by the way,i apologize for the lateness for this post. not only have i found myself in a tired funk (not much knitting in the past week)…i also am devoid of the digital camera. i decided that i cannot put this off any longer; so i grabbed the yarn booty and my trusty camera phone…here are the choices:

prize #1: “to dye for”

the recipient of this prize will have the pleasure of owning a ready-to-dye hank of knit picks 100% merino fingering weight (100 g) and 4 packets of kool-aid. design your own self-striping socks or express your inner artist by handpainting an original

or

prize #2: “cherry brights”

edited to add: dave says: “i think i’ll go for the cth bright, since i’m likely dangerous with anything
that might stain “

who can resist cherry tree hill? grab this prize and you’ll own 4 oz (a full hank) of cth supersock potluck yarn. the ball band is marked ‘water’ but i think this is ‘bright’

congratulations to the both of you. thanks for playing! i’ll be posting my update on my mamluke socks…stay tuned!