Sunday, February 17, 2008

Yet another hat

I finished another baby hat yesterday, mere hours before the baby shower:

nodvi closeup

Emli Bonnet in STR Nodding Violet. I started it on February 11, but a crisis struck: I did something to my arms and shoulders shoveling, and I could barely move them for two days. On Saturday morning I woke up with movement in my arms, so I immediately started knitting. I didn't have a chance to block it, but I think it looks okay anyway.

I'm still plugging away at DP's orange socks...10 stitches per inch is slow going for me.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Biscotti, three ways

Today I just finished spinning and plying the third installment of fiber from Susan's Spinning Bunny. I bought three types of fiber in the same colorway, Anshan's Biscotti, to see what they look like spun up.

The first is merino/tencel, the second is merino/silk/angora, and the third is targhee:

anshans biscotti

The merino/tencel blend is noticeably shinier, and it has a silky hand. The angora blend is duller and redder, for some reason, along with being a bit fuzzier. The targhee is dull (or matte, if I don't want to hurt its feelings) and very springy. This isn't surprising...I think targhee is a down sheep, and the suffolk I've spun feels similar.

My plan is to make socks out of the tencel blend, fingerless mitts out of the angora and something out of the targhee. Exciting!

DP's new socks are coming along nicely:

orange socks

This pic was taken yesterday, and I've put another 2 inches on these guys. They're very lightweight, so I think they'll be good spring/summer socks for my easily overheated DH.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Life is unfair

Today it's a snow day! I decided not to go into work, since no one else was coming in. Unfortunately, we went for a walk in the blizzard and had to help someone push their car out of the snow. I hurt my shoulder and left arm, and I haven't been able to knit all day. Argh.

Right now I'd like to working on the CoH shawl v.3 and DP's orange socks...but instead I'm just drinking tea and reading the Unfinished Tales.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Moving right along

I finished another pair of socks this weekend! They're for me (for once) :)

reduced monkeys side

Reduced Monkeys
Started January 29, finished February 2
Yarn: Bellamoden Watership Down (sport weight)
Needles: US3

Knitting socks on big needles is a strange feeling...I'm glad they went so fast, but I'm going to go back to regular sock yarn and needles.

I also finished my mom's socklets:

posh socklets

Cast on 1-18, finished 1-27.
Yarn: Posh Laura, Applause
Needles: US2

The yarn-over short row heel still left me with holes…Misocrafty’s short row method is the only one that gives me a hole-less heel. I substituted a 7 point star toe for the short row toe in the pattern.

The yarn was tightly spun, and I only snagged it a few times. There was a fair bit of veggie matter in it though, and more came out when I washed them. I handwashed the socks in warm water and had a touch of bleeding; my guess is that in cold water they wouldn’t bleed at all.

Now I'm back to working on my shawl and some bright orange socks for DP!