Wow! Its been a while!

 I haven't been very good at posting things I'm working on lately. Mostly its because there are limitations in using the iPhone Blogger app and I didn't want to use up data by posting via the Mac. Now that our data limits are lifted I would prefer to update via the Mac. I have several items I need to enter into my Ravely projects and to blog about here.

First of all, let me update my Carnival Houdini socks. I have finished them and then they sat waiting to be washed and dried. I had several skeins of yarn I had spun as well as socks and shawls, scarves to wash and I finally did it all last week. I like the fit of these but not sure I will be doing this process again. I'm just not sure I like the look of where you knit up from the footprint. I do think my next pair of socks will be done using an afterthought heel as I have not done that yet. 

I also finished the dishcloth I was doing for my DD with the raindrops pattern. I have another ball of yarn and am looking for a different pattern to use. 

I also finished my weaving sample, cut it off the loom and then washed and dried it. After it was dry I tied the fringe on the edge with a simple overhand knot. I need to learn to hemstitch I think. I like the pattern, it was a type of waffle stitch using pick up sticks done on my Cricket loom. After washing it measures 6.5" x 6" not including the fringe. Its 6.5"x9" including the fringe. I like the stitch pattern, I like the yarn. With only a 10" weaving width I'm guessing I can't get dishtowels, but I believe I could make something useful other than scarves.

Another thing I have been working on this summer is a Summer Solstice Mystery Shawl by Wendy D. Johnson. This is a lace shawl that was released in sections starting on June 20th. It is a crescent shaped shawl and I really love it! It was fun to knit. I think I will start knitting some more shawls of other shapes rather than triangle.  I have a few pics in process and then finished. It helps to have a light colored couch! 

The pattern called for 420 yards/100 gms. I had 15 grams left over. I did the shawl as written except it had optional 5 stitch or 3 stitch nupps. I did not do the nupps and I did not do any pattern repeats. It looks very nice on and sits well on the shoulders. My shawl pin looks really nice as well.

I had picked up one of my drop spindles, the resin Mother of Pearl looking on by Butterfly Girl and had continued spinning some fiber I purchased at DFW Fiber Fest back in 2010. Its a lovely soft mix of several fibers that drafts wonderfully and has been spinning very fine on this wonderful spindle.

I am knitting socks also. I started a pair of Waterfall Socks by Wendy D. Johnson as toe up socks. The yarn is some lovely sock yarn that I cannot remember the fiber content. I purchased this yarn from Mary Berry at Fancy Fibers Farms. It was an oatmeal color and I used some acid dye and dyed them a lovely dark purple.

I guess thats enough for now. Sorry for the photo overload, I figured I would get these up and then try to blog as I go along. I'm still mad at the Soay Cardi, but I will be getting it out of time out soon and ripping out the sleeves and doing them again. I'll probably do them at the same time so they come out even. Pics of that then. Until next time, thanks for reading!

Winging It Sock Update

They are just flying along. Sometimes it's good to work on something that is simple as a break from more complicated projects. Plus I have LOTS of sock yarn. :)

Winging It Socks

I'm starting some new socks. I've wanted to use this yarn for a while that I got from my friend Amanda Truan. It was during one of her destash sessions. I am not using a pattern, hence the winging it. I didn't want to use any pattern stitches because the color changes will make a great pattern. I did not do a swatch with my 00 addi turbo circular needles so I will just have to try on the toe cup to see how much to increase. I love the gusset heel that Wilma Becker uses so I will use that heel. I'm also doing two at a time which is my preferred method. I did make an effort to match up the color repeat so these should be fairly close to matching. I only did that because I only had to sacrifice about 18" of yarn. This yarn is Maxim Prints and is very soft. It is 80% Lana Merino Superwash and 20% nylon. As I said, very soft. No matter how many projects I have going I have to have socks. This will be very portable as they don't have a pattern to concentrate on.