FO: Fishscales Socks

~ laura ~ 5 Comments

By now everyone has already knit this pattern or at least knows where to find it so..

I give you, Knitty’s Pomatomus, by Cookie A, knit in dyed-by-me, spun-by-me, merino-tencel. I am well pleased about how they came out, though I was worried about yardage towards the end. This is a full 4ozs of fiber, and as you can see from the photo below, it was a bit close. Oh, and I got some sock blockers a while back that I forgot to post about. I won’t be keeping them; I am a sock savior. As soon as they are dry, these babies will be winging their way to someone who was in sockapalooza4 whose pal did not knit them socks. I hope that she enjoys them and likes them as much as I do. I hope that the handspun makes them special enough, since I didn’t have time to design a pair of socks just for her.

I do plan to do this pattern with more handspun for me sometime later, but first I have a few Christmas hats to knit.

Fall Felted Bag Exchange

~ laura ~ 4 Comments

The final FFBE question is “How was your experience in the exchange? Did you enjoy the folks you met? Did you just love the bag you received? Please share any thoughts, criticism, and things you loved!”

Honestly, my experience wasn’t outstanding. I did find some new blogs to read, and the person who is my bagmaker is really nice, but I think the fun in these types of swaps is really getting to know your pal and then creating a great package for them. Unfortunately my pal’s first language is not English, and her blog isn’t generally written in English. Now this in and of itself is fine, but it makes it really really hard to get to know your pal when you can’t read most of the blog or the archives. I am happy with the bag I created, and think I did a good package for my pal, but that’s about it.

Speaking of the package I sent my pal, here are the photos of the contents. [Despite the fact I haven’t heard from my pal that she got my package OR the pattern I emailed her, I am going ahead and posting this, as it’s time to wrap it up.

EDIT!  My pal received her package and posted about it  here.  I am so happy she (and her cat and son!) liked it.  I have been very worried.]

The bag, the bag’s lining, a close up of the lining, a package of mints, Spunky Eclectic fiber and some Merino/Tencel that I dyed, some Kool-Aid (and the generic version because my grocery store is the suck), my favorite tea, and some Hershey bars, because if you are sending chocolate to another country, that seems like the most American one to me.

And……I’ve received my package as well. My pal was Vickie, and she made me a wonderful bag and sent nice goodies to go with it.
Here are the photos of the bag, the liner, and the goodies it held.

And this concludes my obligations for the FFBE!

Skyscraper Socks.

~ laura ~ 16 Comments

My sock pal’s socks are complete. I have named them Skyscraper Socks, and am very pleased over all with how they came out. There are a few things I will be tweaking for the next pair and the pattern I am writing, but the over all look has made me really happy.

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And this is what will be in the package for my sockpal when I mail them off on Thursday.

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Most likely I will add a bar of soap from the last batch I made, and I will be adding the remaining yarn I used for these socks as well. That way, should they need a repair, she’ll have the yarn to do it.

Most of all I hope that my sock pal will love the socks as much as I do and that she is happy with her package.

LM knockoff bag, part duex

~ laura ~ 4 Comments

I’ve done a second bag and I am so much happier with how it has come out.

I still think the first one looks amazing but that’s mostly because of the fabric combo. This bag has a good fabric combo, AND its construction was a lot cleaner. I changed the way I did a couple of things, and ended up with the outer bag and the liner better matching in size. I did a two-tone strap, which is great, but then had a few problems with my machine while doing them and so one of them is a bit messier in the stitching than I would like.
On the bright side, I can make one with just two fat quarters, which I LURVE buying, and I use the cardboard from the quarters to reinforce the bag’s bottom.
Anyway, here’s the bag.
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And a fabric beauty shot.
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Finally, Wendy my dear, if you like this bag, it’s yours. :)

What’s Lantern Moon got….

~ laura ~ 5 Comments

That I don’t got?

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Well, better seams for one. But I have a liner!
This is my knockoff of their small project bag. Admittedly I didn’t use the silk they do, nor is my bag as refined, but it’s pretty, serves the same purpose, and I am proud of it.

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It holds the same amount of stuff, and I think the liner works well with the outer fabric.

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And what it’s currently holding? The prototype of my toe up on two circs Skyscraper Socks pattern.
Here’s the top and bottom of what I have so far.

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I still need to finish my sockpal’s sock mind you. (It’s in the red LM bag.) And then I need to get a nice picture of my sewn LM copy bag, with the socks in it, and the trial sock cuff that became a beer cozy, because after that I won’t be seeing any of them anymore without a trip overseas. The pair of original colorwork socks, the matching drink cozy, and the small project bag are all going to my sock pal!

Hopefully this excitement about the project bag will give me the spur I need to finish the last 4th of her sock, as we are closing in on the deadline in just two weeks, and I’d like to be ready to mail out first thing the morning of Aug. 2nd.

Recipe: Elk Run Sangria

~ laura

I have noticed that most of my search engine references are people searching for the Elk Run Sangria recipe. And then shmoo and I noticed today that they’d taken it down again. But I happen to have saved to to notepad, so I have it, and I’m going to share it. (Unless I get notified by them to do otherwise of course) And then I am going to share how we make it, now that we have test run the recipe.

From the Elk Run Site, it was as follows:

Two parts Sweet Katherine, 2 parts tonic, 1 part orange juice, add oranges and limes. Chill, serve on the deck

From our kitchen, we made the following adjustments: We did not add oranges and limes. We did however add the juice of two medium sized limes. As a side note, we did not fail to add the oranges and limes because we did not have them, we did. I just thought the orange juice taste was too strong already to add to it. Shmoo said he thought our version was better than what we bought from Elk Run at Wine in the Woods, and it goes great with the asian ginger dressing fruit chicken salad I like to make.

Faceless.

~ laura ~ 5 Comments

My grrr, he has no face. And while that really fits the mood I’ve been in lately, it’s not the reason he is without. He’s without because he’s already had his first bath and I am waiting on him to dry before filling him in.

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My thoughts on the pattern? I’m so glad you asked.

First, I used the single strand version, because the yarn I was using matched the suggested single strand yarn pretty closely, if anything it was a tidge thicker. That being noted, I found the washcloth to be both smaller and thinner than I would have thought based on the pictures shown. You do realize this pretty quickly when you go to cast on and see it’s only 24 stitches, but still, I just expected something larger, thicker, and just having more substance. On the upside, I have already road-tested the little bugger and have plans to make another with the remaining yarn and try it double stranded with another. At the very least, it’s a super quick (only a few hours), super cute knit, that makes a great gift for kids of all ages. Especially if you throw in a nice bar of handmade soap to go with it.

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I finished up spinning the hot red (you know, hot pink + red) BFL and believe I have a little over 800 yards of it. I have no current plans for it, so it’s just going into the stash. I have concluded that I just don’t love BFL, and I want to love the fibers I spin, so I probably won’t be getting any more of it.

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But I do like the Merino/Silk 80/20 that I picked up at MSW. I’ve started spinning on the purple.

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The green will be started almost as soon as the purple is done. I originally planned to do one of those chevron scarfs with these two fibers, but now, I am not so sure. I’ll need to test my sockapalooza sock pal pattern once I get it written up, and these colors would do just as well for a pair of those socks as they would for the scarf. Or maybe even a different pair of stranded socks. Decisions decisions……

MS3 swatch. Red handspun bottom, Elderberry Zephyr top, Addi Lace Needles, US3.

In other news, I’ve signed on for MS3. That would be Mystery Stole, not Mystery Shawl. I’ll never do another Mystery Shawl again after my previous experiences with them. The Mystery Stole however, is run by Melanie. And the result from MS2 is a pattern I purchased a few months back, but just haven’t gotten around to making. (Like everything else I have patterns for I might add.) So when I saw that MS3 was happening, I jumped on it. I don’t know that I’ll get it done on time, or even that I’ll start it when everyone else does. It really depends on how complicated the pattern is. If it’s a small easy repeat, I’m on it. If it’s not, well, I just don’t have the concentration needed for long non-repeating rows right now, so it will have to wait until I do. Other than that, I say if you are interested, come join us, but be warned, the group is HUGE, and the emails produced by the group right now are…. overwhelming in numbers.

And finally, yesterday, I took a class with Lucy Neatby. It on finishing and it was lovely. You haven’t lived until Lucy Neatby looks at your grafting and calls it beautiful. The only negative thing about the class was two women that would just not shut the hell up. And to these two women, I have only this to say…

I don’t give a rat’s ass about you and your health care situation, or who you think is politically responsible for it, or what Oprah says about it. Nor do I think a knitting class is the place to discuss it. Furthermore, stop arguing with teacher dammit. I didn’t pay to hear you talk. I paid to hear Lucy talk. So kindly extend the rest of us the courtesy we have extended you and shut. the. fuck. up.

And honestly, I wish I could have said that to them, but as an employee at that shop, even if it’s just one day a week and every now and then, I can’t. But I can sure as hell think it.

FO: Shedir

~ laura ~ 10 Comments

I meant to post about this 3 days ago, but I didn’t get around to snapping some pics until this morning.

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Shedir is complete. And I am in love. The pattern is just so well written and clever and not near as hard as I thought it would be. I marveled at Jenna Wilson’s cleverness as I was knitting it, and again when I was done. I admit there were some slow going rows, but once I got the hang of it, things moved along nicely. In fact, I have already cast on for a second Shedir and will be sending this one to my brother since he likes shorter tighter hats and I shortened this one up a bit with him in mind.

As for the yarn, it’s Jaeger Roma, in color 006 (Fern). It’s soft and stretchy and and nice to work with, if a little splitty at times. If I were doing these hats as actual Chemo caps, I would certainly use it again in the future.

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I also completed the Pinwheel Baby Blanket, except now it’s a Pinwheel Doggie Blanket. I got tired of doing it and Daisy kept trying to steal it every time I went to knit on it, so I finally gave up and let her have it. She was very pitiful and non-photogenic this morning, but you know how tetchy models can be.

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And last week on the non-fibery front, I made a batch of soap. It was a spa bar type, (this means I added a lot of salt it, and it used to be sea salt that I added, but I have found that kosher does better, so it’s just a “spa” type bar now) with Coconut, Babassu, Macadamia Nut, and Castor Oils, and Mango Butter. I scented it with Black Pepper FO, Sweet Orange EO, and then I added Oak Moss as a botanical and ground Luffa for a little scrubbiness. It turned out lovely and smells divine.

And that is about it. As I’ve said, I already have another Shedir on the needles, and I’ve started a doggie sweater for Daisy in the leftover blankie yarn, and am basing it on a dog jacket thing she already has, which really means I am winging it as I go along, so it’s entirely possible it won’t turn out. But hopefully it will.