Eleven Stitches

Meet ---?

We brought home a really cute ball of fluff today!

She's only eight or nine weeks old (we're not certain, she's a rescued cat). She's gorgeous and really likes people.  She's been climbing all over us ever since she figured out how to get up on the couch.

We haven't come up with a name for her yet.  Do you have any suggestions?  We're leaning towards unusual people names instead of something like Floofy or Scamp. 

This leads me to one knitting-related musing: Which is bigger? Kitten or sidewinder-in-progress?

For all of you who have been using Google...

... to search for Wollmeise yarn, I've got something for you today! 

My yarn arrived from Germany, and I was so excited to see it!  It got here in time for me to deliver the skein of Rittersporn to Jessica (for winning my second sock contest) at a local SNB last night, and all of the yarn was passed around the group.  This was my first time to attend the SNB, incidentally, and it was a lot of fun!  It's too bad I'm going to have a class on that evening during the fall semester.

Anyway, back to the yarn!

This is Granatapfel in the strong intensity (you pick a color as well as an intensity when you order). Actually, all of the yarns are in the strong intensity.

This is Kurbis. I think this is my favorite of the bunch, but it's hard to really decide.

Poison Nr. 5 

This is Veilchen.  I was actually expecting it to be more purple than this, but the blue is growing on me.  It's also not the regular sock yarn.  It's a softer, non-superwash fingering weight yarn.  I was curious to see what it felt like, so I threw it in with my order. ETA: I just visited the web site, and it looks like this yarn is going to be discontinued, and there will be a new sock yarn available in September.  That sounds like a good reason to order more yarn!

I also wanted to point out to those of you who want to see more Wollmeise yarn (I get so many hits on this search term!) that there's a Flickr Group with lots of great pictures.

On a completely different note, one of my best friends, Sara, just started a blog.  She's a fabulous cook and an avid knitter, so her blog is about both.  Stop in and say hello!

Whew, Finally!

My Sockapalooza socks are done!  Just in time, too!  OK, I had some time to spare, but deadline knitting makes me nervous.  It invalidates the point of knitting (in my opinion) to be stressed out about it.

Pattern: Loksins! by Cassie of Too Much Wool
Yarn: Socks that Rock Lightweight in Sherbet, 1 skein
Needles: Susan Bates DPNs 2.75 mm (US2), Addi Turbos #1 2.5mm (first sock), Knit Picks DPNs 2.5mm (US 1-ish) (second sock)
Time To Knit: June 8 - June 25, and July 15 - July 22
Modifications: I started out with a picot edge. I knit the first two repeats on 2.75 mm needles to give a little more room in the top of the leg. I also grafted the toe when I got down to 16 stitches.

I liked the pattern a lot.  It's clever, pretty, and fun to knit. I was originally expecting to knit this pattern in a solid color, and I'm pleasantly surprised at how well it worked out with a variegated yarn.  I found that getting the Knit Picks DPNs made the second sock go much more quickly than when I was using the Magic Loop technique.

I'm planning to package up the socks soon so they can be sent off to my Pal.  I really hope that she likes them and that they fit!  It's been fun to knit socks to a different person's specifications.  Thanks, Alison, for putting together a great swap!

Figures

I finished the 8th repeat on my Shetland Triangle shawl last night.  I had 20g left on my 3rd ball of yarn, and an entire 50g ball after that.  It felt like I would have enough yarn to do an extra repeat on the shawl and still have enough to do the edge chart, but I wanted to make sure.

Wow, I hadn't done algebra in a long time!  My (PhD in math) fiance checked over my work, and said it looked pretty good.  I should have plenty for a 9th repeat and the edge chart.  Yay!

Another number to report: 1000.  Stacey won my comment contest this morning!  I discovered Stacey's blog a few months ago, back when she had just finished her fabulous Turkish Stockings.  We've been blog friends ever since, and I even got to meet her in real life at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.  Congratulations, Stacey!  You've got 2 skeins of Artfibers Hana coming to you.

I also wanted to thank everyone who stops by my blog.  This has been so much fun-- even more than I imagined it would be before I started.  The knit blog community is such a creative, inspirational, and supportive place, and I'm glad we're all a part of it.

Deluge

It seems that my packages arrive in bunches.  I'll go for weeks without seeing a box on my doorstep, and then then I get several over the course of a few days.  Recently I've had so many on the way to me that I made a list to keep track of them all!

First of all, I got my first installment of the Yarn Pirate's Booty Club!  I had never been able to get any Yarn Pirate yarn before, so I thought it would be fun to join the club.  It's a monthly subscription that I can cancel anytime, so it's fun to have the club without a serious commitment.  If you click the picture you can see the real colors-- I didn't want to spoil the surprise for anyone.

I also took advantage of the Knit Picks 40% off book sale.  I also picked up some things that I'd been meaning to get from them but never justified ordering all on their own.  I got a chart keeper, a great needle sizer that measures in millimeters so there's no guesswork on which size 1 it is, and a few needles that are in between the normal US sizes.  And the Selbuvotter book, of course.  It's got a lot of content as well as patterns, and it does a really great job with both.

I have to say that I really like the Knit Picks DPNs.  They have pointy tips, and they're shorter than my normal Susan Bates DPNs.  I think this helps me knit even faster!

I was also lucky enough to be a runner up in Peaknit's recent blog contest!  We have very similar tastes in yarn and projects, so I've had a lot of fun reading her blog.  She sent me an awesome package.

There's a little bag sewn by Stacey herself, some cute martini stitch markers, a really cool tape measure, candy (yay), and some beautiful yarn!  I've never used the Twisted yarn before, and I like the more muted colorway.  It's a merino/tencel blend, so the yarn is very shiny. 

At 9:45 this morning, I got this package.  I've just finished chapter 5!

There is one eagerly anticipated package still somewhere between Germany and New Jersey!  I figured the Wollmeise yarn deserves a post of its own, so there will be one when it arrives.

WIP Rundown

It's been a while since my last post!  It's not very nice to announce a comment contest and then not give you anything to comment on, is it?  Sorry about that.  I've been doing some work on gifts recently.  This has been fun, but not (yet) bloggable since the recipient might be reading.

I've been working on my other projects too.  My second second sock is for my Sockapalooza pal.  The deadline is approaching!  I'm only one repeat away from turning the heel, so I think I'm in pretty good shape.

I got a lot done on my Ming sweater while I was in Rhode Island.  It's not very interesting knitting, so I've been ignoring it at home.  But it's great for those times when I'm sitting around and talking with other people!

I've completed the sixth repeat on my Shetland Triangle.  It's still a lot of fun to knit, although I can really feel how much longer the rows are getting now!

I'm hoping to get a lot of knitting done this weekend, although I'm also hoping to read a lot of Harry Potter.  I haven't gotten that knitting-while-reading thing down, so we'll see which one wins more of my attention.  Have a great weekend!

Two

Two socks of the same pattern and yarn.  You haven't seen that here in awhile!

Pattern: Merino Lace Socks from Favorite Socks
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle in Brombeere
Needles: US1 Susan Bates DPNs
Time To Knit: April 16 - 28 and June 28 - July 14
Modifications: Continued the purl stitches down through the instep (Note: This is not really a modification-- the chart in the Favorite Socks book is incorrect.)

The Wollmeise yarn is wonderful.  I was a little put off by it at first because it isn't as soft as say, Socks that Rock, but it is really smooth and strong.  I think in the long run, this yarn will wear a lot better than the softer yarns.  And the colors are so incredible that it's hard to describe.

One really cool detail from the Merino Lace Sock pattern is the heel.  The lace is carried down the flap.

With the strength of this yarn, I'm not too concerned about how it's going to wear.  And it's so pretty!

Another great thing about the Wollmeise yarn is the yardage.  Look at how much I had left over!

Something New

A quick update on a new project I've started.  This is actually my first shawl.  I've been meaning to knit this for awhile (I bought the yarn last Christmas), and it's finally made it into the queue.

Can you recognize it from the blobby picture?  It's Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style.  I'm using four skeins of Artfibers Kyoto, which looks like it should be plenty according to the research I've done on Ravelry.  I'm finding it interesting to see how far a skein goes.  The first skein is almost used up, and I'm almost done with the 4th body repeat.  How long will the second one last?  Will it only go for two repeats?  Finishing four repeats feels like I'm halfway done, but I'm only using up a quarter of the yarn.  Clearly all those YOs add up!

The Kyoto yarn is fabulous.  It's a combination of silk, mohair, and wool, and each of the fibers take the dye differently.  This gives the yarn a wonderful color depth and a gorgeous sheen.

Speaking of Artfibers yarn, I've got two skeins of Hana to give away!

Within the next week or two, I should get my 1000th comment!  These lovely lavender silk skeins could be on their way to you very soon!

Surprise Completions

I'm back home again.  This trip is an annual thing, but it came up on me so quickly this year that I didn't get the chance to blog about it before we left.  David's family gets together every summer for a New England clam bake in Rhode Island, and this was my fourth trip. 

It's hard to think of a better way to spend the fourth of July weekend.  Lots of food and drink, the beach, water skiing, family tradition (the bake has been going on for tens of years), bonfires, fabulous backyard fireworks, and about 70 people who I'm starting to sort out how they're actually related to David. I also had no contact with the internet for three entire days.  I think the last time that happened was at last year's clam bake!

Something else I didn't get to blog about before it was completed?  Shedir.

Pattern: Shedir from Knitty
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Olive, 1 ball plus a smidge from the second
Needles: US 5 Addi Turbos and Fiddlesticks DPNs
Time To Knit: June 26 - July 6
Modifications: Bigger yarn and needles

David's father has been very sick recently, and Shedir seemed to be an appropriate gift. I knew that he had a large hat size, so I sized up the pattern by using Malabrigo Worsted and size 5 needles. This made the finished size 21" in circumference (perfect) and 10.5" high (too long, but the hat looks fine rolled up).  I used 1 ball + 1 yard from the second ball.  Given that I should not have done the last main body repeat to make the hat shorter, this could easily be made from one ball of Malabrigo next time. I finished the hat with only minutes to spare on the train ride to Rhode Island.  Do you recognize the lovely Amtrak seat fabric?

David also wanted to point out how this hat is similarly shaped to the bonfire.

I was planning to get a modeled shot once the hat had been gifted.  It's such a gorgeous pattern and a gorgeous yarn that the hat felt almost like a work of art.  But something strange happened for me once David's father tried the hat on.  It suddenly shifted from a thing of beauty to a thing of warmth and comfort.  It seemed like an intrusion to take out a camera, so I didn't.  I kind of like having it end up this way... not as a moment shared with the public, but one shared with those closest to you.

Care For A Glass?

Collinette 2007 Jitterbug
of the Velvet Plum variety

On the fingers the first impression is of a seductive suppleness; the yarn then expands nicely, enlivened by a crisp, judicious stitch definition and concludes with a regretful finish generously marked by fruity, complex hues. Marked fragrances of soft sheep, such as fluffy, superwash and merino, which harmonize appealingly with complex feelings of contentment. A fairly deep cranberry color in appearance.  An easy clean up if spilled.