Thank goodness I have a jumbo ball winder ;) I've cast on and started my endless garter stitch - I forget how slowly garter stitch grows, but at least it's going smoothly :)
Look! Knitting Content! I turned the heel on these wonderful socks, designed by Blogless Erika. I love the way the little scales are incorporated right into the gusset. Unfortunately, it looks like I might need to rip back to the heel turn and work out some pattern modifications for myself - I appear to always have this issue (baggy ankle syndrome) with socks with lovely non-ribbed patterning around the ankle. Apparently it has something to do with the shapeliness of my leg - or that's what I'm sticking to ;) I have flat, somewhat wide feet, quite large calves (as was evidenced in with my Kilt Hose) and dainty ankles :P I had hoped that the scale pattern would help draw the sock in more, but it didn't do it enough, and as soon as I got into the lace pattern, I realized that pattern modifications were going to be required.
...and also by following my routine. It's the beginning of the month, you know what that means, don't you? 
Safe, dance!
includes 20 richly photographed patterns that make use of various techniques in their creation. The first section, Surrender to Shibori, primarily makes use of hard "resists" like marbles, corks, golf balls, and cabochons to create bubble-like textures in the felted fabric. The second section, Shibori Creativity, makes use of fiber/yarn combinations of felting and non-felting varieties in an interplay of colorwork to create windows or sections of differing texture (a fine example is the hat on the cover of the book). The third section, Subtle Shibori, continues the play with felting and nonfelting fibers, to create ruffle and spiral textures in the finished project.
. After a very brief primer on fibers and felting, this book jumps quickly into its 25 projects. The projects are broken down into 4 chapters - from quick and simple beginners projects (small ornaments/accessories/cases), to intermediate projects (hats, scarves, purses and a softie), to advanced projects (sweaters, cardis and a skirt), finishing with three projects that you knit and felt back down to size.
cats, as usual, included for scale - Finished in less than a month...actually it appears (according to Ravelry) that I may have finished in about a half a month! As you can see, the blanket is rather non-aggressively blocked - I figure as a blanket, it will just wind up relaxing back down rather quickly, so I didn't bother getting out all the pins to pin it out like a trampoline - though I'll bet that if I did, I'd gain another foot or more of diameter...in case you're wondering, that blanket is already just over 6 feet across - my cat is very very long. As always, you can find more details on the finished objects blog :)
Lovely, isn't it? There were deer bounding around on the slopes late in the afternoon - apparently there are also moose and antelope around also. We were also treated to a tram ride over at Snowbird, where the view from the top of the mountain was quite nice (and hey, it sure beat hiking all the way up there ;) )
Stay tuned, I'll have Hemlock Ring progress to post soon :) and tomorrow closes the door on the Taste of Sweet pass it forward book "contest" - enter now if you're interested!
. A fun, relatively quick read (unless you keep getting distracted by bringing your knitting to bed like I did), it provides a glimpse into the science and history of Sweet. 
I don't know where all the time is flying to, all I know is I don't seem to have enough of it (it's times like these that I wish I had a time turner...or a clone of myself)! August is here already...and you know what that means? The shop is freshly restocked...the last two weekends saw me covered head to toe in fiber - which means that big pile of wool that was due to be fed to the Beast has all been processed :) There is, of course, a bit more blending to be done now that the fresh box of merino came in...but August will be dedicated dyework - both yarn and fiber, if I can manage it.
What good lightweight backpacker isn't in love with anything Titanium? ;) And it takes nice photos too...and at 10MP it's a nice upgrade from the previous cameras....
I finally had a chance to taste a cupcake from Sprinkles...it was quite tasty - I haven't had a chance to do a side by side with Melati's Sugar Blossom Cupcakes, but they are both tasty, and are apparently both in Scottsdale!
Or my Mitten's Guts anyhow. I love how floats look, don't you? Nice neat floats on fair isle projects always make me happy.
Aren't they looking lovely? The fern motif shaped up nicely - the little color additions on the stem are little bits of yarn from other mittens in the mitten-along. I think it makes them even more special :)
uh, yeah. it is fair to say we have a problem. No amount of blocking or felting is going to shorten these babys up. I noticed that my Vs are rather upright and long...rather than being short and squat. I think this is what is to blame for my ridiculous mitten length...or that's as far as my brain can figure it out.
I've cruised on past the snails on the mittens and am working my way up the fern motif. Things are going relatively speedily and I'm still working on making my gauge behave when it comes to carrying the yarn across long stretches and then having to knit with it on the first or second stitch on the other side of the mitten (we'll see how successful I am when I'm finished). When looking at the palm of the mitten it appears I have fairly even gauge/tension between hands (I make this statement because both colors appear to show up fairly evenly on the 1x1 stripes). Tonight, I curl up with the mittens while watching the Hell's Kitchen finale...or whatever else I can find on TV...or maybe I'll watch something on the computer. Either way, I'm going to get a little knitting done :)
here's all the lovely yarn (except for Illanna's - since she was joining us virtually from far far away) about 5 minutes before the designated start time of High Noon on the 4th of July....
Front side shot can be seen, along with way more information about this sweater over here on the finished objects blog.
Thanks to several friends who have much sharper eyeballs than I do, I realized I can be seen amongst the "famous" knitters in photos that currently grace the front page of Ravelry! My head is down, not because I'm ignoring them all, but because I was busily flipping through a sock book :)
little tiny snippets of my koigu sweater...which, I am happy to say, enjoyed a nice bath in some Aquae SOAK before being spun dry and laid out flat to block. Clockwise from the top: the v-neck with applied i-cord trim, notch on the back of one of the cuffs (I have 1/2 length sleeves on this sweater and the notch accomodates my elbow quite nicely) and finally, a closeup of the applied i-cord over the epaulet. 
...which would be picking out the hem of a sweater by snipping one stitch and unraveling it, stitch by stitch in order to get access to live stitches (as in a provisional cast on) to add length to the body. Above in the photo you can see that I have just finished liberating the hem :)
Now then, if you've ever wanted to deck out your child (or someone else's child - or perhaps even someone who is *not* a child (by age anyway)) but didn't know how to go about it, this is a nice book for inspiration and basic instruction.
Here you can catch the detailed shot of the stitches - it's working up very nicely. Of course, it's one of my own yarns (Sidhe, limited edition colorway, if you are wondering) on US1s. At this point, I have this much sock done, and I'm about ready to head into the gussets :) Not bad for a few days of knitting.
As the evening progressed more and more knitters took over the lounge space of the Hyatt - I had a chance to talk knitting late into the night with knitting folks from all over the country. It's a wonder my brain didn't explode just with all that stimulation!
Having been to various tradeshows before, I had a feeling I'd be a bit overwhelmed with product - but its fair to say I completely underestimated the people and networking aspect of this particular tradeshow. Maybe I was just lucky, but everyone was very welcoming and friendly. It was great to put faces to names/blogs/ravatars/companies. It was fantastic to be able to talk knitting and yarn and not have people looking at the group funnily (well, there were a few, but they were in the minority, since the knitters had taken over the place for the weekend!) It was exciting. It was amazing. It was tremendously energizing. I relished every moment and hope to do it again next year...Now then, if I could just do something about this day job ;)
Well, May flew right on by with barely a shop update. I've made up for it this month. Over 20 pounds of fresh yarn and fibers have hit the shop. Most of the new yarn is limited edition colorways. I hope to develop some new colorways as I decide which of the "regulars" to tag for discontinuing.
The latter portion of this week, I will be at TNNA :) Not to show, but to hunt down some new lines and products to add. I'm still undecided as to whether the computer will be making the trip with me, and also trying to figure out what knitting project to bring.
Saw some evidence of really cool wildlife (that would be a 5-6" diameter paw print - relatively fresh, seeing as it didn't appear to have rain speckles on itand the sand was still damp from the prior rains...yes, I do think it's a bear print). The season seemed to be still too early (or perhaps a smidge cool) for snakes - and surprisingly, the few lizards I saw were fairly large. The Blue River area also happens to be the location of Mexican Wolf reintroduction (didn't see any, I'm afraid). The area, like many riparian regions, has lots and lots of birds of all sorts of varieties - unfortunately for me, I don't know my birds anywhere near as well as my plants - and I also don't carry a telephoto lens, so getting photos to aid me in my learning quest can be quite the trick! While out hiking, we also saw plenty of bunnies, hares, a couple squirrels, and some deer in addition to the already mentioned lizards. The most amazing animal we saw on the trip was seen from our car - a mature mountain lion. It was calmly walking down the road, looking for dinner (rabbits or perhaps deer) no doubt. I've lived and hiked in the area for about 11 years now, and this was the first time I've ever seen one of these elusive big cats - it was magnificent.
After finishing with the backpacking trip, we checked out a small canyon on our way home - the slot was a pleasant surprise, especially as it carved from conglomerate rock.
Look at the difference in the way the yarn behaves with 2 different needle sizes! I think it's pretty neat myself - and it's a great illustration that you can indeed "control" or manipulate a yarn if you are afraid of pooling or flashing.
Look what I got! This is the first All-Clad cookware I've ever owned (or used!)...yes, I know, All-Clad is stainless steel, not aluminum - but these happen to be aluminum all on the outside, lined with stainless - makes em lighter than the classic stainless line, I think. Anyhow, most of the pots and pans in the kitchen were either inherited or were picked up way back when I was still in school. I think a lot of it is Revereware, and Scanpan with a couple of Le Creuset pieces and of course a regular old Lodge cast iron pan thrown in. I'm looking for cooking with these in the years to come :)
- now, I have to admit that I don't subscribe to any of the myriad of Martha's publications, nor do I frequent the Martha Stewart website (I seem to prefer Food Network, Cooking Light or America's Test Kitchen) - with that said, several other individuals have pointed out that if you are a big fan of Martha's, this book may not have a whole lot of new recipes to offer you.
