*squee*

I have Wollemeise!!

My Loopy Ewe order arrived.

I got Wollemeise sock in Gewitterhimmel.

It is really vibrant and pretty. I'm planning to knit a Clapotis with it (since I'm having a hard time thinking of using it for socks... and since, I haven't knit a Clap yet, - and now I have plans for two...)

And the Pretty as a Peacock shawl pattern.

Queen St is a wonderful place

Today I spent the morning dutifully writing in my carrel and spent the afternoon ttc-ing up and down Queen St.

I went to check out the Purple Purl on Queen E. (For the record, WAY further E than I normally get). It had a great layout, very open and bright. Not a lot of stock, which is sensible given they only opened in November. They did a better job than many a yarn shop of labeling and pricing things clearly, but still not as well as I'd like (honestly in my world, if there is no price to be found it's free people). I picked up some wool for some mittens, 3 compact needle size thing-ies, and a purty skein of pink-purple-black tofutsies (note to the world - I didn't realize there is 400+ yards in ONE skein of this!!)

Then I hopped back on the ttc and went to nearly the opposite end of Queen (well not quite but you know) and picked up a couple of things from Romni - some back fingering to heel my Bellatrix socks, some yarn for a present, and some SOAK.

From Romni (back on to the ttc) to Arton Beads, where I bought: beads for the shawl my dad is giving my mom for her birthday (score - I knit, he pays), beads for me one day to do one of the Ice Queen with the dark mohair from Aunt Shirley, beads to go with the present, some more stitch marker fixtures, stuff for St. Valentines sts markers, and some more assorted charms for sts markers. Including 2 sets of Zodiac ones, I haven't decided whether to make them all the same bead or to try to match beads to months.... I am beginning to wonder what to do with all of the sts markers I'm making. I mean, I don't use that many of them and my few knitting friends can only use so many (esp. when at least one also makes her own), so other than swaps (whereby I still end up with more markers) I'm kind of at a loss...

(this is only about half of my bead haul....)

I finished up the day with a trip to LUSH (oh - dear - they were having a sale.... is it a bad thing when you save nearly $100.... I swear most of it was for my mother!!)

Happy Christmas to all

Things have calmed down around here (yesterday was, well, what do you think Christmas in a family of 7 kids is like?!)

I finished the first of my Slippery Socks yesterday and promptly cast on for the second in the grand tradition of avoiding second sock syndrome, because it is worth xp on knit wars, and because I need more knitted socks now! I really like the pattern and it worked up nicely. I was worried about whether the darkness of the yarn would be a problem but it turned out lovely. There was some pooling of the darkest colour on the leg, and it striped vertically on the leg and horizontally after the heel - I think I like the horizontal better. The slipped st heel looks really neat with this colourway. And I did it with a heel flap, which I normally avoid, but I rather like the way this one turned out.

My Hand-dyed yarn swap package arrived from Australia - yeah my sock yarn! and fun stuff.

I got two knitting books for Christmas:

*Stunning Shawls and Wraps by Scarlett Taylor - all shawls with beads, there are a couple that I really like, and a few other that I'd like to modify into sweaters/tops. Several different techniques for adding beads are included and patterns range from simple garter sts triangular shall to shrugs and caplets, colour work, and cables.

This is one of my favourites, and as my mother rather likes it... (I think I'll have to tell dad that she wants it for her birthday... - what is it they say, find a pattern you love and get someone else to pay for it...)

I liked the creative use of self-striping yarn in this one.

And these two I'd like to take and turn into tops.

This one would make a nice pull over.

And this one I'd like to turn into a sleeveless top, but adding arm holes (between the collar and the body) and extending the body.

*At Knit's End by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee - always hilarious, my family has been enjoying it (though they haven't exactally gotten the mohair jokes...)

My Grandmother gave me the sock needle set of Harmony dpns. And two antique metal circs - they belonged to my great-great grandmother Annie (Grandma's father's mother). They are pretty heavy duty - as in if I ever needed to garotte someone... I'll be interested to see how they work.

My Christmas knitting was distributed, and much enjoyed. Mom is now wearing both the socks and the shawl and L. carried around the Dr. Who scarf all day yesterday, while T. wore his hat -inside- all day.

Whee - yarny goodness

It arrived, FINALLY!!

Those two outstanding yarn orders of mass proportions - they got here on the same day.

See ->

(photographed next to the file of stuff for the article I'm writing and season 5 of X-files - for which I only have one episode left to watch).

There is the 20 balls of lanett from Ram Wools out in Winnipeg.

And 10 skeins of Knit Picks bare

superwash fingering weight.

12 of the lanett are for Christmas knitting (as in I know what they are for, vs the others which might end up Christmas knitting but I'm not sure as what...), they are going to be hand-dyed and made into shawls (3shawls x4balls) so I played with my swift for the first time and skeined all 12 last night for dyeing next week (most of this week coming will be wedding related, as one of my girl-friends is getting married). I'm hoping to find some merino/tencel on our yarn crawl on Thrusday and dye that at the same time for the Hand-dyed yarn swap, if I can't I'll either use more of the lanett or the KP for that I'm thinking that on that crawl we also need to hit the bead store(s) and the dye store.

Pattern writing is hard!!

Designing the pattern is a piece of cake compared to writing it up (and then making it meet style sheets).

My pattern just needs a name now, which I can't solicit help for because I can't talk about the nature of the project. *sigh*

Yesterday I was looking for an old text book, and found a box of yarn I forgot I had...

varia

Socks - they are going to be knee highs for my nonna (bed socks since her feet get cold), I dyed the yarn myself and am quite happy with the way it has turned out.

And - the needles -I made them too!! How awesome is that?!

And I just finished convincing a friend to try the two in one socks - Rock on!!

Rather than read another article or book, I will post about knitting and yarn instead.

Kalamazoo proved particularly fruitful on the knitting front, as I finished the pirate socks and knit the other ball of hand-dyed into a pair for myself, which do indeed look like Christmas socks (and are already in the wash and therefore not available for photographing). I am also now approaching the half-way point of my lace shawl, I will hopefully have it done in a month or so.

This leaves me in the odd position of being a one WIP girl, I suppose I have sock yarn kicking around I could knit up, but still. I am thinking that I'll try and use up the stuff I botched the dying of last fall by designing a guernsey for my little brother. I have done the preliminary pattern planning, but still need to swatch, which is being held up by the fact that I have not decided yet whether to dye the yarn grey first or knit the sweater and then dye that. (Also, the yarn is all in skeins and needs ball-ifying before I can do anything with it.)

This project was inspired by reading (and inheriting) a book on the history and knitting of guernseys and jerseys. [The top book on the pile of inherited books]

No doubt the fair-isle book will have the same effect due course.

I'm also trying to see what to do with the yarn I inherited. This is the selection:
Three large cakes of a variegated purple/blue which I think is Fleece Artist and some darker purple mohair (one large one smaller ball) [these are the two back-centre purple things in the picture]. The texture isn't right for socks and it is a little too thick, I'm thinking some kind of lace/shawl, but I haven't found a patter that would show up the yarn to best advantage. There are 8 balls of the silver and 19 of the blue (Filatura Di Crosa, No Smoking), which I'm pretty sure will go into shawls or shrugs of some sort. The black blob in the front-left is boucle of some sort and there is a fair amount of it, I'm thinking afghan... The white off to the right is really nice mohair - sooo soft- in a natural colour, 9 balls worth; I have no idea what to do with it! The stuff in front is 100% alpaca, really soft, and a whole bag full, but the colour is - well - not something I'd have chosen... don't know what to do with that, maybe outer wear for a baby? (my sister suggested teddy bears) [Also, love that the picture captures the Icelandic law codes and box of Pop Tarts that are also on my bed right now...]

In other news, I learned over the week that one of my good friends knows how to spin (really who conceals that kind of talent?!) I will be making her teach me before the end of the year. To that end I've dredged up all my spinning links (from when I was looking into it after my masters) and have been ogling roving for the last couple of days.