(another) one bites the dust!

over easter weekend i went home to visit my family. of course, i dragged my laundry along for the ride (how nice to not do laundry in a laundromat !). but, i was careless ... and accidently washed a handknit socken in the machine, ... and since that was so much fun, i even threw it into the dryer!


the poor socken was the mate of my beloved black panda sockens. i just finished them within the month, and managed to f*ck them up!



i can't remember, in my 14 years of knitting socks, having ever killed a sock in the wash. i cannot believe i did this!

the good news is that my lys still had this yarn on the shelf. i will make the mate (again). and the fulled socken? .... well ... i think i'm going to make the ultimate stupid sock creature ... i doubt john murphy has any made from handknit socks. i could be wrong ... but i think it is unlikely.

and, on another positive note, i finally took the time to finish the toe of the mate of my lovely cabled sockens. i took some pictures today, but the light source was a bit too funky. i will try to get some better pictures soon ....

on a good note ....

i finished a pair of socks! i had been working these two at a time on separate sets of dpns. it seems, that's the only way for me not to make orphans. i especially don't mind the process when it's a standard self patterning yarn ... the perfect mindless project, free of thought and counting.


the yarn is regia's arctic color, 64 sts, cpy dpns 2.25mm. i love a good basic sock. i have some pretty socks. i have lots of pretty socks, but it's the easy care ones i reach for the most.

"on a good note ..." implies a bad note .... which will follow soon enough. let's just say fulling. damn!

(k)nitting and netflix ....

how does one knit a shawl in 4 days? well ... you cast on saturday, and subscribe to netflix on sunday, and do nothing but knit and watch movies until you bindoff. seriously. that's what i did.


i was not knitting under a deadline. i don't know what possessed me. perhaps it was the needles ? perhaps it was the yarn ? ... and maybe the beautiful pattern ?

i can see knitting (perhaps) another one in the fall, out of kid silk haze, or an equivalent. maybe someday i will knit the nupps vs. adding beads ... maybe ....

netflix though ... my newest addiction. i signed up for the next to cheapest plan (1 movie at a time, unlimited, plus movies online, unlimited).

so, since sunday, i watched online (on my laptop) ... casablanca, murphy's romance, it happened one night, the year of living dangerously, super size me, and the contract ... and via dvd that came on tuesday, ghost world.

am i all "movied out" ? ummmm ... no .... and i still have a socken to finish. wonder what movie i will watch next?

ps. yarn is darker when wet ....

look at the pretty needles!

this isn't so much about the knitting as it is about the knitting needles ! i finally caved and purchased some kp's harmony interchangeables. i floundered for awhile trying to decide between the harmony and their regular nickel plated, but went for the smooth wood (even in lieu of addi lace needles).


i did not get the standard set they sell, but went a la carte, only buying the parts and pieces i would or could use. the standard set comes with tip sizes i rarely use (ie: sizes 10.5 and 11). of course, now saying that, i will surely need them in an upcoming project. instead, i bought the fixed needles in sizes 2 and 3, and tips in sizes 4 through 8, plus cables. all in all, i spent a lot less and got excactly what i wanted.

about the needles ... smooth as glass. they are so smooth, slick w/o being slippery, pointy w/o being sharp, and they have a very nice taper. these are my new favorite needles in the world!


i had been waiting for these needles so i could start a new summer sweater project, but ended up casting on for a shawl instead.

this is my 2nd string, another version of susan lawrence's spring things shawl. i'm making it just as my first one ... which someone called 'dibs' on. but, this one IS for me.

give a little ... get a little .....

so, i was perusing ravelry ... as i often do. and one of my 'friends' had queued a pattern for a lovely lovely shawl called the jessie lambdim shawl. it has one of my favorite lace motifs, rose trellis lace. the pattern is available as a $4.50 pdf download, or better yet .... as a trade.

i decided to trade. sure, i have $4.50 in my account, but i think a story is a much more equal commodity.

the pattern, all the history, and trade information, is here ....

i urge you to trade. here's (one of many of) the snippet(s) i shared with emily ....

"ignacita: she fell off a crate box and sprained her ankle. as a child she was full of energy and always jumping everywhere. a short time later she fell off a tree and sprained her ankle again. mother used to rub volcanic oil and wrap her ankle but she used to take the wraps off. volcanic oil was used for everything in those days and is the equivalent to the bengay of our day. when she was 11 years old she was limping. at the time there was a person called the "senor". dad and mother said that he must have been an apostle or jesus himself. ignacita was staying with tio tomas and tia teofila casuas. prescilliana was staying with them also. they liked to go visit them. tia teofila was limping so tio tomas heard that the senor was coming down the road in a wagon with some indians and tio tomas told tia "let's go to the road to meet the senor and we'll ask him to heal ignacita and you". so they went. the senor got off the wagon and talked to them. tio told the senor we want for you to heal ignacita. the senor picked ignacita up, put his hands on her ears and picked her up and asked her if she had faith in god. ignacita was 11 years old and she didn't answer him. the senor put her down and said you will never walk. you will be like that until you die. the senor told tia teofila she was born with one leg shorter than the other that's why she was limping. he said he couldn't do anything for her. the place was fifty miles from blanco called lajara near govenordor. ignacita said that the senor was dressed like the pictures of the sacred heart of jesus and wore sandals. "

that snippet is the recollection of my grandmother, benina horta.

ps. i just made the connection that emily johnson is also the designer for the marjorie pattern on the latest knitty.com.

the workings of a pixie

i was hoping to have a lovely picture of my pair of tyrolean stockings ... but no! yesterday morning, as i was nearing the end of the leg, i noticed that i was missing a purl stitch (all the cables are flanked by a purl st.). gasp ! shit !

upon further examination, as i tried to find the location of lost stitch, i finally found the bugger hanging out, inside the sock, on the 3rd round! good grief!

"don't panic! how does it look? is it noticable? .... YES !" ... so i ripped. and cast on again.

sigh of resignation .....



like any adult, i'm going to blame wee stuart.

i'm sure i saw him in my knitting bag ...

here's another lesson to share: when you have such a knitting "accident" don't tell your mother. thus begins the inquisition, "were you drinking ju-ju juice ?!" (that's what she calls wine) ... crap! i don't remember. (which is likely an indication to her that hootch was involved) (but, i think this error was made sober) (i think all of socken #2 was sober) (maybe that's the problem?)

... and i did cast on for the mate ....

i finished up socken #1 yesterday afternoon. i like the fit, but suspect that i will eventually need to crochet some elastic into the cuff. though, part of me also thinks that the fabric is so firm that they may stand up on their own!


i checked my 10 day weather forecast ... and wouldn't you know we're on a trend for milder temps?!

i really love the look of this sock. i've always wanted to tackle a pair of kilt hose, and i guess this is the closest i've come ... i think highly textured knee highs are hot.

making mates

i went on a little trip, and decided that it would be a good time to make some mates. i was especially motivated to finish these koigu monkey socks, as they were my entry for the january sockdown on ravelry. they were finished just before the deadline ... feb 29th.


it seems i've made at least 4 pairs of monkeys. and, i have a jitterbug monkey orphan somewhere around here. i find that kinda funny, considering i don't really like to do the same thing more than once. but, i think the monkey sock pattern falls under a different catagory ... as for me, it's in the realm of mindless knitting.


this pattern too i've done (now) more than once. this is roza's socks from IK spring '07. i really loved how my first pair came out ... and decided i needed more basic socks in my drawer. the yarn, like the first pair, is panda wool in 'jet black'. the dyelot i have looks more like a black and blue mix though.


and then, of course, i had to cast on for something new. i am loving this sock! this is ann budd's tyrolean stocking from IK fall '07. this is also an entry for ravelry's sockdown kal.

the yarn was purchased on a roadtrip through minnesota years ago. this yarn is the best thing i took from that experience. it's called original homespun by bemidji woolen mills, in minnesota. it's a coarser version of cascade 220 (with 5 more yds). it definitely has that rustic feel.

i thought this would be a quick knit due to the gauge, but cabling isn't exactly a quick process. and, at this gauge, it makes my left hand tired.

the good news is that i am almost finished with the leg portion (and the cables!). my intentions are to go ahead and cast on the mate as soon as this one is finished, or i fear it too will become and orphan.