Manzanita Twist

Lovely, aren't they? I didn't knit them - they were knit by Vanessa (whose blog, I believe, is being revamped) out of Spritely Goods Sprite yarn in the Manzanita in Bloom Colorway.

The Pattern is for Cable Twist Socks by Adrian over at Hello Yarn

Right Around the Corner!

It's Back! Project Spectrum 2.0 this time :D Starting in February and with Triads of colors for each month!

I've even thinking of my opening post, tho kicking myself because I never seem to have a camera to take the appropriate photo. *sigh* I better get to planning, eh?

Shins.

Well, I appear to be effectively hobbled with regards to my shins - at least for the time being.

New shoes did not do the trick (is it bad to say thank goodness? After all I only have 200 miles on the first pair and running shoes don't come cheaply!) I'll be taking a brief break from the running, and will try a little bit of cross training next week.

Sorry for the diversion from the Fiber content, the running bit and a semi-secret project have had me occupied of late.

Avast Update: not much to say, other than I'm working miles of stockinette stitch. With no shaping - too bad it's not in the round or I'd be zooming along ;)

Beaudelaire: I'm back at the gusset increases after having to rip the poor socks back and cast back on - hopefully I can make the heel a little more snug - the plain knitted heel flap was decidedly baggy and unkempt looking.

In the meantime, I've been trying to figure out to do with a short skein of Globe Mallow Sylph Fine Fingering - anyone have any favorite patterns to recommend?

BitterSweet

No, I'm not a Stephanie Popsicle - it did snow up in the great white north while I was there - I had no idea just how many different "colors" they spray on a plane during the de-icing process.

200+miles. I've run 200 miles since I started running at the tail end of last year. Can you believe it? Not too bad, if I do say so myself! Unfortunately, it appears I may have overdone the training - since coming back from my trip, I've been plagued with shin splints on my two recent runs. At first I was hoping it was simply a failure on my part to warm up properly - but it seems they're here for the time being. Looks like I'm going to have to visit the gym again and make friends with the equipment *sigh* I've not yet decided what this means for my race schedule, but if any of you have advice, I'd love to hear it :)

Shameful. Again.

No, not because I've halted progress on Avast - it's moving along quite nicely, it's mindless knitting at this point as it's miles of stockinette with no shaping.

Shameful because I'm a knitter, and once again I'm caught with no warm handknitted accessories for a quick jaunt to the cold white north. I think the Arctic leak has been stoppered, but still, highs are in the mid 20s, with lows either below 0 or low single digits where I'm headed. Yes, I do realize I have a perfectly good Meathead Hat and a ginormous pile of scarves, but those items are tagged for sale/trade, so they aren't "mine". More annoying, I'm wishing I had some gloves/glittens/fingerless mitts - ah well, I'm sure i'll manage - I'm in the process of making piles of wool to take with me :)

Thank Goodness I'm a Knitter :)

It's downright cold down here - it's actually gotten below freezing!

The good news is it means I get to haul out the knits and swath myself in wool - the bad news is I'm a wuss when it gets down to a certain temperature and having to run outdoors - so far, I've managed to reschedule my runs to once the sun is up and the air temp has had a chance to rise. Unfortunately, I'm supposed to make a trip to the frigid north in the not too distant future and am not quite certain as to what I'm going to do (temps currently up in that direction are in the negatives for the lows, and low teens for the highs! eek!). While I do have technical apparel, it works fine for hiking, but I'm not so sure about the running - especially if there's snow or ice on the ground (as is likely). As it is, I'm going to have to scrounge for mittens/gloves (no, I don't have any - how embarrassing for a knitter!) If any of you are runners and you have suggestions on how to cope with the cold, I'd love to hear it.

Oh, I did get the swatching done, and a good thing too - I've discovered through the magic of swatching that I had to go down 2 needle sizes, but miraculously, on US5s I hit gauge right on.


See? that's about 4 inches of Avast - I did the cable band, picked up my stitches (somehow managed to pick up too few, and had to resolve the issue on the next row), and have been knitting away on the body - I'm not sure what I think of this mindless back and forth of stockinette - as this is a mens sweater, there isn't even any shaping to keep me entertained! The good news is, given a few nights of intensive tv watching, I should make fast progress. The sleeves, once I get there, will both be knit at the same time - I'm trying to decide if they will be done in the round or not. With some luck and fast knitting, I hope to have this jacket done before the season for sweaters passes.

Shameful.

DH has asked for a sweater at long last, and have I cast on for the swatch yet? um... no.
But at least I haven't cast on, knitting willy nilly to find that I'm completely off gauge either :D

With some luck, all the things above "Knit The Swatch" on the ToDo list (can you believe it? There are things *above* Knitting the Swatch on the ToDo list - how wrong is that?) will get done before the weekend is over and the swatch will get knitted and washed and the sweater will be on its merry way. It better be. Spring, believe it or not, is not too far off.

Mint Mocha

Mmm mmm. Mint Mocha is my favorite holiday drink - and now I can make em from home from TraderJoe's mint cocoa powder :D

Anyway, inspired by my favorite drink, I spun this up:


for Steve's birthday - go wish him a happy one :) I'm really enjoying blending by hand at the wheel, or in some cases, just playing with the fiber and making a bowl of pre-prepped handblended rolags ready for spinning. I think I might have to do just a mocha/latte colored yarn - I'm in love with the browns right now.

Matcha Power!

Trader Joes strikes again - and now they have Matcha Latte mix. I had read what a pain it is for those Starbucks Baristas to make Iced Green Tea Lattes and I can say that this stuff also does not like to be turned into an iced latte - it just doesn't dissolve properly - and then I couldn't get over the gobs of mix that were floating around - I'm going to have to give the hot latte a go, and then try my hand at a blended iced latte - you know...Frappuccino style :)

Lucky Me!

How cool is this? I go knitting and I get an awesome belated christmas gift, complete with hand-decorated bag and card! It's a jar of Chocolate Chip Cookies - well, a jar with instructions :) So I can bake a bunch of chocolate chip cookies! From Luscious Gracious Lily! The jar is most welcome and treasured - and it couldn't have come at a better time - I have just run out of homemade cookie dough in the freezer (yeah, I admit it - I freeze portioned out cookie dough so I can have fresh cookies whenever I want - it also makes it harder to eat a ton of cookies since I usually just bake one or two at a time). Thank you so much Lily!

Stop the Presses!

My DH has decided he wants a sweater!

After consulting all my books and all the online sites for patterns and inspiration - I was about to get ready to go out and buy Knitting with Balls for inspection - but then I found Avast at Knitty and figured it might be just the thing. Simple, but with one happy cable. I printed the pattern out, and ran the photos by the DH - and it passed muster! Hunting in the stash turned up a cone of Karaoke in the Black Sheep Colorway - DH patted the cone, asking if it's scratchy...uh - it's Soysilk and wool. It's not scratchy - the man is going to have more luxury knits than I do! And *I'm* the knitter! LOL - anyhow, I've taken the appropriate measurements, I've weighed the cone to make sure there's enough yarn, and now I have to knit the dreaded gauge swatch. *sigh* all in the name of love right? ;) After all, I didn't even knit myself a gauge swatch for any of my own sweaters!

What to do with scraps of wool?

Well, some people make thrummed mittens...

I recently discovered a hole in one of my first ever projects - a pair of felted slippers, Fuzzy Feet pattern, from knitty. I first noticed a "cold" spot when I walked on the tile floors in my home - I kept forgetting to check on that spot - well, it eventually wore through, and I was able to get my whole big toe through the opening in the bottom of the slipper!

I was thinking I might have to figure out how to creatively darn the hole, but because the slippers are felted, I was worried I'd feel the repair - then it struck me - I'm a spinner! I have lots of soft wool about! Almost all of it felts! I grabbed a tuft of wool, and my needle felting tools, and needle felted a repair right into the slipper :) It's as good as new :D Well, except for the nonmatching color of that spot now (the slippers are kind of tweedy, but the repair is a solid tan color), but I figure it's on the bottom of the slipper, so no one will be the wiser! (sorry, I didn't take before photos, and I'm not sure I want to take a photo of the bottoms of the slippers now either - it's like taking photos of the bottoms of shoes LOL)

Spinning in the New Year

In addition to doing some dyework, I was really happy to be able to spend some serious quality time with my wheel between Christmas and the New Year.

I still have two more skeins I need to set the twist on and photograph once they are dry :)

From the upper left, going clockwise:

Misty Meadow - handspun singles from Blue Faced Leicester handpainted roving that I received from Marie a while back in a fiber swap - it's just gorgeous. I'm lamenting the fact that I have no more to spin!

Merino Raspberry Truffle - my own handpainted merino wool roving spun up into a nice squishy single

Domino - mixed black and white wools in a jumbo (and I really mean jumbo - the monster skein is 7.7 oz, 575 yards!) skein

Globe Mallow - my own Globe Mallow batts spun into a bright and happy yarn. I really like the subtle sparkle in this one - unfortunately I couldn't get the sparkles to come out for the photo!