12/01/2008
Fun with color.
Don’t you sometimes wish you could negotiate with time? A little more time today and a lot less time tomorrow?
Over the past weeks instead of knitting up a storm, I was drawn to dyeing and color fun. Instead of dyeing the regular way, I wanted striped sock yarn. Lets just say that I had a ton of yarn all over the house because I wanted a crazy amount of color in one repeat.
First look at it.
And here it is re-skeined. It looks totally different.
Knit up, hmmm I’m okay with the colors. I was lucky to have a happy accident with the whitish stripes. They were suppose to be white sections left undyed, but I must have had a lot of dye residual and the blues/greens dirtied the white. But I think it worked out.
Another package of undyed sock yarn came in, and this time around the dyeing was so much fun. My plans were to try to do some semi-solids and only really achieved that look with my maroonish color. The blueish one turned out to be many shades of blue and I love it. Then finally my last one I went crazy and threw a ton of color everywhere and the end result is utterly my favorite with all its colors and personality.
Color: Suchin (beautiful thought)
Color: Saphira (I’ve been reading Eragon and the name was perfect for this color.)
Colorway: Safara (fire)
Yes, I’m dorky. I wanted all the names to start with an “S” after I was sure to call the blue one Saphira.
On to some not so happy knitting news…I really don’t like how my guage can be so off everythime I start the second sock. I write down pretty much all my row info and what I did to get where I got, but no matter what, the second sock is always either biger or smaller.
Austermann Step
In this case, sock numero 2 is a lot smaller. grrrr. And to add to that, for some reason, when I started the second sock, the repeat pattern of the sock reversed. Originally I wanted matched socks, but gave up on that half way down the leg when it was obviously backwards, but now the freaking sock doesn’t fit too well. grrrrrr. Thoughts… frog, or just knit another sock, lol.
That’s my craziness for the day, hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and if you’re not the holiday celebrating type, hope you had a good time doing whatever it is you do. 
12/11/2007
Quick Stash Love Post
I’ve been super busy with finals, so no actual knitting content, just more stash love. 
All yarns from Ruby Sapphire Yarns. They had a fantastic Thanksgiving sale so I had to jump and get me some of their delicious yarns to try out. 
Lallie
Treadsoft Sock Yarn
4oz / 490yds
100% Merino Wool
Tanaka
Treadsoft Sock Yarn
4oz / 490yds
100% Merino Wool
Ivette
Sapphire Sock Yarn
4oz / 500yds
75% Merino Wool / 25% Nylon
Deja
Ruby Sock Yarn
4oz / 500yds
100% Merino Wool
Happy Wednesday Tuesday (lol I’m getting my days confused)! I hope to get my knee highs done by the end of this week, yay! I’ve been dying to wear them since it’s finally knee high weather. 
11/13/2007
Stash Love
I’m a little sad I don’t have my camera so no new pics of anything. Therefore ya’ll get to see an old pic of some stash I never got around to sharing. I picked this up at Theloopyewe.com awhile back and I guess never got around to talking about it since I was a bit on a yarn buying frenzy.
Yarn: Woolly Boully Meanie superwash sock yarn
Color: Brooklyn Candy
80% superwash merino
20% nylon
~440yds
This stuff is scrumptiously soft. Yum! I kinda wished I had joined the sock club because Jenny has great color sense.
I’m happy to report that I did start my firestarters, yippee! And after a few fumbles and a lot of reading the notes from the KAL, I was able to get the foot down. But it may go into the frog pond since this is my first toe-up experience and I’m not quite sure where you’re suppose to start the increases and what not seeing as how the pattern is written for and average sized woman’s foot, I’m a bit on the shorter side. But we’ll see. Once I get my camera back I’ll definitely keep ya posted.
Happy Tuesday!
10/29/2007
Stash Love and Postcards
I haven’t finished the socks I’ve been working on yet, so here’s some more stash love. Happy Monday!
Colinette JitterBug
100% merino wool
Size: 291m/110g
Recommended needle size: 3.25mm
Summer Berries
Slate
And something really nifty I came across yesterday. Gosh I wish I could recall who this info came from. I know if was from someone on Flickr. The site is called Postcrossing and it’s really interesting. You send postcards to random strangers all over the world and someone random will send you postcards too. It’s just something nice to do and who doesn’t love getting mail that isn’t junk or spam. Here are my first 5 cards. I was lucky to get all different countries such as Finland, China, Austria, Netherlands, and Germany. The cards were picked for each person’s likes and wants.
What are you waiting for, go check it out.
10/23/2007
A few updates
This past week of being sick made me realize how much I missed my knitting. I actually thought my love affair with it was over. The thought really freaked me out. Especially since I have a nice size sock stash. LOL. I kept trying to knit a few rows here and there but I was so tired from all the medicine and all I wanted to do was sleep. I lost a few days there. I’m still not fully back to my normal self, waiting for my voice to come back. I sound super squeaky and weird. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to wish me well. Your thoughts are deeply appreciated.
Now that things are slowly getting better, no worries, I still love knitting and it’s here to stay. Yippee! 
Alright, onward to a few updates…
Last weekend I had a great opportunity to go check out The Knitting Nest. Thanks to Janet for informing me about it, seeing as how I have no idea what goes on here in my own city. It is a cute little place with a nice cozy area to knit and chat. Kinda far for me to go on a regular basis but if I ever needed any cascade 220 in any color, they stock it all. There is an amazing wall of pure cascade goodness for ya’ll cascade lovers out there. I didn’t go home with any yarn since I’m more of a sock yarn lover right now. But I didn’t go empty handed. I snagged a cute little project bag and my current sock is in it now. The bag is by Knitting Ewe On The Go.
Here’s the latest Yarn Pirate Sock Club enhancement. This time around Georgia included some extra goodies. Two circular needles; US1 and US2. They are cute and pink. Don’t know how much I’ll like them since the cord isn’t quite as flexible as my current Knit Picks needles. The colorway is called Killer Bees. Perfect for the Hallow-day season. Can I just say that it is super hard to photograph neon colors. The yellow and green are actually neon in real life. And I mean super bright neon colors. Picture a green and yellow highlighter, that’s exactly how they look.
And finally, here’s what’s gonna be going on the needles next. This has been sitting in the stash for some time now and I think it would make a nice pair of Firestarters. I did sign up for the KAL, I really should cast on soon. LOL. The colorway is called Pantomime and I picked it up at The Loopy Ewe.
Have a good week. Off to take more meds.
10/01/2007
Sock Club Stash
More stash love for ya on yet another fantastic Monday.
I’ve been a bit behind on posting my goodies from the sock clubs I’ve luckily been able to join. Here’s the first shipment of the Wool Girl Sock Club. I like it! Very pretty shades of blues, greens and purples. It’s a sport weight, so I don’t know what I’m gonna be doing with it. I may knit the pattern, but then again who knows, it’ll probably be in the stash queue for some time, hehe.
The yarn is really squishy. 
Next, September’s Yarn Pirate Booty
It’s a Merino/Tencel blend and wow, this stuff is super soft and shiny. I’m really glad I joined this club. The colors may not be what I’d normally go for but this club has exposed me to a lot of different types of yarn blends/bases that are just amazing.
Yarn Pirate
Colorway: Butternut
Fingering wt
400yd Merino/Tencel
And last but not least, I do have to knitting to show. Yippee. And just in time for Socktoberfest 2007. I’ve already cast on its mate.
Pattern: Waving Lace Socks from Favorite Socks
Yarn: Interlacements Tiny Toes
Colorway: Mardi Gras
09/24/2007
Araucanía Stash Enhancement
I don’t have much progress to report, so I’m just gonna share some stash love. Happy Monday!
These are some beauties I picked up at my local yarn store (the awesome Hill Country Weavers) a few weeks back when they had a sock yarn/natural fiber sale.
From the information on the card, I believe the yarn can be used as sock yarn, but it’s squishy enough to make other pretties. There’s a great story about how the company was established. I love this part: “Each hank is different; its individual beauty emerges as the artisan blends color in the kettle to create several unique shades.” That sounds so pretty. And it is, there are so many colors mixed in each skein.
Brand: Araucanía – Ranco Multy
75% wool
25% Polyamide
Yardage: +/- 376yd/ 344m
Weight: +/- 100g/ 3.52oz
Reccomendations
Gauge: 24sts = 4inches
Needle size: 3.25mm (US-3)
Instructions say to hand wash. (I’m not a big fan of this 
)
Color 307
Color 310
Color 303
Color 301
08/29/2007
Fugly Socks
I had to see how my Kood Aid dyed sock yarn would turn out. And well… pretty darn fugly. LOL But they are mine so I’ll still love them. The only problem I have is that I was a bit off on my guage and they turned out a bit loose. That’s what I get for not properly swatching once again. 
I hope they’ll shrink a bit in the wash. We’ll see.
Pattern: Alternating 2×2 Rib From Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Knit Picks Bare
Colorway: Kool Aid Dyed
Start: 8/24/07
Finished: 8/28/07
Needle: 32” Knit Picks circs US2 (2.75mm)
CO: 56sts
Heel Flap: Eye of Partridge
Total Foot Length: ~8inches
I bet ya’ll are tired of me doing all these patterns form SKS, but gosh, they are super easy and quick. No worries, the next pattern isn’t from SKS. I’m about to start knitting up the Vintage Apron. And on that note, I’ll leave you with Dream in Color…
Yarn: Dream in Color: Smooshy Sock Yarn
Colorway: Ruby River
Info: 100% Australian merino superwash wool
Size: 450yds/4oz
08/24/2007
Fraternal Footies, Kool Aid Dying, and socks to be…
The Footies are done . What do ya think? Crazy how a continuous hank/skein can produce such different results. I had posed a question or should I say made a remark on my Flickr photo about the debate I read somewhere about how dyers should dye up 100g skeins instead of having us get two 50g skeins since those would create somewhat different looking socks. Well as you can see and 100g skein can do the same thing too. Plus with two 50g skeins, I can wind them up and knit two socks at once instead of having to split up my big one. 
Pattern: Plain Stockinette with a K1P1 mini cuff
Yarn: Fleece Artist Nova Sock
Colorway: Tiger
Start: 8/10/07
Finished: 8/22/07
Needle: Addi Turbo 32” Circ (2.5mm)
CO: 64sts
Heel Flap: Eye of Partridge
Total Foot Length: 10 inches, made to fit a US women’s 10 shoe
I’ve been having fun playing around with sock yarn and Kool Aid. I keep seeing such amazing creations out there and keep hearing about how fun it is. And it’s all true. This was really fun. I know my first dye job really isn’t that great, but I feel quite accomplished so I’m gonna share, lol.
I used the microwave method and just poured the colors on top of the yarn and soaked up all the excess water and what nots. There are a lot of tutorials out there. I used THIS ONE. Just three colors, black cherry, blue raspberry, and lemonade. The base yarn is Knit Picks Bare (75% superwash wool, 25% nylon). And here it is all wound up and ready to go…
Another yarn all wound up and ready to knit is the Madeline Tosh Vintage Apron. I just need to pick out a pattern and just go at it. 
I also picked up two balls of sock yarn from Knit Picks. They had an Essential Special because these did not turn out as they had wanted. The company is test dying their Essentials line and considered these not as bright or deep enough. I kinda like them. Head on over and get yourself some.
That’s my novel for now, I hope to get back to ya’ll with some nifty new socks for show and tell.
08/22/2007
YP Booty, Interlacements, and a Footie
The second Yarn Pirate Booty Club is here! I don’t think this would be a colorway I would normally pick out but that’s the point of the club. The colorway is called Calamity, isn’t it a cute name? It’s Superwash Bluefaced Lleicester (BFL), another texture I’ve yet to work with so who knows, I may knit this one up sooner.
The pics I took sort of bleached out the colors, it actually has gorgeous purple and teal segments.
Ahhh my first fancy yarn to work with; Interlacements. Knitting this stuff up was just a fantastic feeling. So after hearing about the sale at simplysockyarn.com, I had to get me some more.
A pile o’ yumminess…
English Garden (410)
Mardi Gras (408)
Poppy Fields (216)
Last but not least, I’ve made some progress on the footies. One down, and I’m working on it’s mate. These socks are looking quite different. I should have it’s fraternal twin done in a few days.
