In with the New

I wore these to sleep in the other night and my big toe kept getting caught in that hole.  I didn't mind the heel being gone since I didn't feel it unless I was barefooted, but the toe capture was problematic.  I think the problem is that Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn is superwash so it doesn't felt in areas of wear.  It was time to say goodbye to this pair.

I finished this pair from BFL/silk handspun yarn that I bought at Black Sheep last summer and spun last fall.  It's been so warm that I haven't felt like knitting socks.  As always, Charlie had to investigate.

 I've decided to give the Noro Kuryon sock yarn another try, even with the thin bits wearing out at the heels on the socks I've knitted.  I think their colors are fantastic and the socks are so much fun to wear - until they wear out.  This time I'm continuing the traditional slip stitch heel pattern on down to the sole of the heel.  I think that might be the ticket.  I'll get back to you on that.

I finished the Charlie towels today.  This is the first time I've tied onto a steel dowel at the back like Rae does instead of securing with a lead and larkshead knots.  When I cut the warp off, I slid out the dowel and the loom was clear.  I'm hooked - that's my new method.  Seconds - that's all it took.  Thanks Rae!

 This is the hardest part for me.  The towels looks disgusting when they come off the loom.  They're stiff and misshapen, so I decided to get them hemmed and washed right away.  The problem is that I hadn't changed the clock upstairs for daylight savings time and forgot all about it.  I like to relax before dinner and I ended up washing and drying them while I cooked.  They were still pretty ugly after they were washed so I ended up snipping the threads and ironing them after dinner.  I've had more relaxing Sundays.

I'm glad to have them done - it was a fantastic learning experience in block weave.  I'm not sure I'm a fan, but these are going to be thick and thirsty towels.  For one thing, I know that block weave isn't enhanced with a myriad of colors.  If I do it again, I'll choose two colors and stick to it.   The back towel was my experimenting towel, the first one I wove.  The front two will be gifts for our friend who babysits our car and takes us to and from the airport.  There's an error in the threading but that's my spirit in the weaving.  I needed this pattern to get my mojo working.  Thanks Beryl!

I finished Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi last night for book club.  Amazon gave it four stars out of 366 reviews, I gave it five.  How we enjoy a book is always subjective but that book was my cup of tea - I can see why Oprah chose it for her book club.  I think our group is going to have a very good discussion on Tuesday.

Ah yes, the trip knitting

I didn't get the trip knitting done that I usually do. I had decided ahead of time that I'd use a ten-stitch repeat called Fishtail that I found in a lace book. It seemed reasonable for a 60-stitch sock. I cast on and had the sock underway in time for our return flight. The trip takes all day so I was prepared with books and knitting. Somewhere midcontinent, I realized I was just about to the point of my toe. I measured on my leg and couldn't believe my eyes. The sock was torqued off to the left. I pulled out the needles and smoothed it on my leg. The sock is definitely twisting to the left. I hadn't been paying any attention at all, just knitting at different points in the travel. I thought about pulling it back to the heel and continuing the pattern as a twist as though it was intentional, but I think the bumps in the pattern would be uncomfortable to walk on.
I don't know if this image helps you see any better - the stockinette is partway on the sole and partway on the instep. I didn't give this pattern a second thought when I chose it. I guess I should do that in the future. And I have no idea why I'm obsessing on these socks when I have two sweaters in progress from handspun. I guess I don't like to be flummoxed. Isn't that a great word?? I frogged it.
I've knit four pairs of socks from Noro sock yarn and I know this because I'm making these socks from four remainder balls. I thought since the colors are so crazy that I could just knit them up and they'd kinda go together. They're not cooperating. I've decided to finish the project and then overdye them with something that will unify the colors. I was thinking blue in the beginning but now I'm leaning more toward a raspberry. I guess I'll have a better idea when I actually have two socks.

I'm a little stunned at the attention Nevada has gained in the National limelight with the Senate race between Harry Reid and Sharron Angle. The latest New Yorker even had an article. One wonders how objective a candidate can be when suddenly her whole party pours funds into her campaign, as well as the Koch brothers and Karl Rove. With the report of neck-and-neck results in the polls, I've come to the conclusion that the general population in his state doesn't read. One of the campaign voice mails that I had to delete when we got home was from a man urging us to take back control of our state from big money in Washington. He urged us to vote for Sharron Angle and in the course of the message said Na-vaugh-duh at least eight times, something no Nevadan would ever do. It clearly identified him as an outsider, and yet the polls, well, the polls frankly depress me. I don't understand why Nevadans would concede Harry Reid's position of power in the Senate for a community college art teacher cum politician, whose state legislative record is abysmal. If only Nevadans would read.

Fiber Exchange

I went over to Mim's this afternoon. We had talked about making a trade - we likes the barter economy. She loves hand knit socks but hates to make them. She hasn't finished the pair she started last September! I love to knit socks and only have three wethers and thus three colors of fleece. So we made a swap.

She got two pairs of socks and I got three pounds of wool: a variegated wheat, red and slate gray (it's the brillo pad, Laura). It was relaxing to chat on the sofa and pick through the fleeces. I love the smell of fleece. I had already started washing Wilson when I realized that it was almost too late for a picture.
A lamb was born shortly before I got there, probably not more than a half hour. The ewe is Tru but her baby ewe is still unnamed. Tru is still cleaning up her wobbly baby girl - all legs!
Mim weighed her at seven pounds, one pound less than Charlie, who BTW, ran from me like a crazy cat for the first hour after I got home. I can only surmise that I smelled scary.
I took this picture, hoping to show the relative size of the lamb to Jo Beth, Mim's Jack Russell Terrorist. This little wobbly girl was already frisky and had us in stitches, pun intended. I felt so fortunate to have stumbled into this special event. We just stood and watched - it's awesome in every sense of the word.
I took some cuttings from Mim's yard and was getting ready to leave, when we decided to take one last look at the lamb. Will you just look at that face. She's such a funny girl. I can't wait to see how her fleece grows in.

Experiments with Sock Blanks

I was finished at the dye day and cleaning up when Lindsey said, here - try these. She pulled sock blanks from her soak water and challenged me - go for it. Lindsey is a life force. We need more Lindseys.

I picked three colors -I'm a Fibonacci kind of girl. My colors of choice were turquoise, gold and red violet daubed on with stencil brushes.

After I got home, I rinsed the blanks, let them dry, then pulled out the yarn and wound it onto my knitty knotty. I know that some people knit as they unravel, but I need a little more control than that.
I am happier knitting socks from these center-
pull balls. I hope this doesn't label me as a control freak. Oh wait.
And here they are, the fraternal sock twins. It was a fun project, from start to finish. After seeing how harsh this path is for sock color, I'm not sure I'd take it again. The yarn showed obvious signs of stress. Just the same, it was fun.

Lost in Space and Time and Snow

First of all, I want to thank you all for your sugges-
tions. They were thought provoking - just what I wanted. I wake up each morning with my mind in full gear - most irritating. This morning I awoke knowing that her name was Miss Millie. I think the Miss is result of my discussion last night with Lindsey, a nod to Mr. Gilmore. When I picked up my loom in Stockton, Judy Allen of Gilmore Looms told me that not even she knew his first name. So, a little formality is the nod. I have no idea where Millie came from.

I was stunned when I came back to Compose to see that I hadn't uploaded a picture of socks, but of firewood. I have decided to leave it since it's what we're all about these days, around the clock. I had intended to show you the unmatched pair of Noro socks from while I was spinning this morning. Only spinners take off their shoes in public, but you already know that so you get firewood instead.
On another sock front, DIL Missy's socks are this far and they are coming down from Oregon this weekend. Knit or weave? Knit or weave? Or sleep? She vill take zem home mit her dis weekend.
A fiber aside, I want to share Jan, our mail lady with you. This morning Ian found this now half empty dish of cookies in our mailbox. When we need packages mailed, we leave them for her in our box with an envelope and money. (We are in a locked clusterbox.) She ships them and then leaves the change in another envelope. Ian loves honey. When he runs out, he leaves the clean quart jar in the box with $12 and Jan delivers a full quart of honey from another person on her route. She delivers through snow, sleet, etc. For all of this, Ian always leaves her tip at Christmas. Today she brought us cookies in thanks. Ironically, there are two kinds: chocolate chip - Ian's favorite and Mexican wedding cookies - mine.

Earlier this week I discovered a problem with getting updated blog notifications. Bloglines just won't update some of my subscriptions, but those same blogs seem to show up in my Blogger Follows. The ones Blogger won't display, Bloglines does. I don't get it. It's like quarreling prom queens. I have missed so many posts, I don't know where to begin. I've been playing catch-up for days. I wondered where you guys were and some of you had anything to say.

I have been asked if I still play the accordian, and alas, I no longer own one. Maybe that's - thanks God she no longer owns one- I don't know. It does seem to be having a come back. For a long I refused to tell anyone that I had taken years of lessons. I could play Myron Florin polkas, oh yeah baby.

Just Read:
Plainsong by Kent Haruf, a National Book Award finalist. I loved that such a complex story could be told through a handful of characters. Wonderful characterizations; prose spare, yet rich. I went to read the sequel tonight and realized immediately that I was disapointed. I decided to let it be a stand alone book for me. Plainsong is one of my favorites this year. I know it's only January, but I still think it'll hold. I almost said the prose was lyrical but after reading the book below, I realize just how over-used that term is when applied to fiction.

I also just finished How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely. While I consider this to be a Nick Hornby-ish book, i.e., dark comedy, at the same time, Hely parodies big name authors and the book industry as a whole. The writing is insanely brilliant. It is a one-man show where he has to all the characters, all the voices. I laughed, and while I'm not sure it's funny, I can tell you I will be thinking about it for a very long time.

Calcetines

Yup, you got that right. Si, eso si que es. And if you say that outloud, it sounds like socks, which is exactly what I'm dealing with today. It's a horrible, no good, very bad sock day. I finished my second pair from Noro because I like the way the first pair feels. However, there were two breaks in the yarn at the instep of the bottom sock and it threw the color sequence off. I think I'm going to reknit one of them so they look a little more like a pair.

I'm also knitting a second pair of Falling Leaf socks from 19 micron Merino that I dyed and spun. I love the first pair - they are my favorites. I realized that when I got to the instep, I added a stitch on one side, but didn't decrease a stitch on the other side of the pattern so gained about 10 stitches by the time I caught on. Another rip out, do over.
I knit these socks about a year ago from Knit Picks superwash. They're soft and don't abrade the sole of my foot when I walk. I wear them often. I've thinking about what pattern I will use for DIL Missy's socks and when I looked more closely at these, I realized that I changed patterns between socks.
I think you might be able to see it better here. The left sock is Double Eyelet Rib and the right one is Little Arrow-
head. Both patterns are from a Harmony Guide and I have used both several times in socks. I cannot imagine how I managed to change patterns from one sock to the next. Pretty crazy.

Trip Knitting

Jimmy Bean's had some sock yarn earlier this year that was custom dyed by Indie Dyer. I bought two skeins. I took both with me, not expecting to knit two pair of socks, but I did. This pair is for me.

These are for Little Sharon. I wasn't able to finish them while she was with us but did finish them before we got home. I've since put them in the mail to her.
I used the same pattern for both pair and really like how it makes a little ripple effect. I use a basic sock pattern that I have memorized and cast on 60 stitches. It's a six-stitch pattern over four rows.

Chevron Lace:
1. k2, k2 tog, k2, yo
2. knit
3. yo,k2, k2 tog, k2
4. knit

Sockapalooza at Home

When I ordered my dyes from Carolina Home-
spun, I said - oh, and by the way. Do you sell sock forms and she said yes, two kinds: a molded plastic one, for more than I wanted to spend, and also a cedar form, which just came yesterday. They're kinda funky but for $14.00, they smell great and do what I want them to do - form socks.
And what a co-inki-dink, I happen to have a pair of socks to form. These socks are a gift, but I really like this yarn. It's tightly spun and the color runs don't cluster and puddle like I have experienced on some other sock yarns. It was called Indie Dyer, a custom colored sock yarn for Jimmy Beans. I thought - right on. Next time I'm in town, I'm going to get a couple more hanks - one hank makes a pair with plenty to spare - great deal.
I kept looking through the sock yarns until I finally realized that the reason I couldn't find it was that it wasn't on display. Jeanie said that they had sold it out but she'd check to see if there was any inventory left. I was able to get these two hanks and now I'll have to find a new favorite sock yarn. When they said custom dyed, they meant it. Sigh.

As for our trip to New York, we're going October 13th through the 22nd. Ian chose these dates so we could be there during the New Yorker Festival. This will be their 1oth anniversary and they still haven't announced the line-up. Meanwhile, tickets go on sale September 18th - oh so New York. We're staying at my BIL/SIL's place on the Hudson - a genuine treat. SIL Rochelle thinks she might be able to join us. It couldn't be more up in the air.
Ian is having a lot of fun with this sign. Is there such a thing as re-pranking? I think Carol and Tamra have unleashed a monster. He's already planning the next "internet station" - don't hold your breath. It's not that exciting. This might be the garden gnome in every picture - until the sign wears out. I hope he isn't planning one of me sitting in the snow with it. Oh - I'll bet he is.

Bonus

Thanksgiving weekend was so full of family, tree cutting and memory making that I didn't think there was room for one more thing and I was wrong. We were putting up the tree, trying to align it in the stand when the phone rang. It was Laura. She had come down to have Thanksgiving with her family, was headed back up to Oregon but was having car problems - could she spend the night. Does the bear sleep in the woods?!

This is Laura and this is our tree. We fell into bed early from exhaustion but got up early and visited the heck out of about two hours before she had to hit the road. It was wonderful and the frosting on top of a very rich cake.
I showed her the cones I had been weaving with and she ended up helping me sort out the cones that I have acquired over time but don't know what they are. I have three of these red tubs and now, while I don't know what I'll weave, I at least know what I can weave. Somewhere sometime I acquired two very large cones of white 8/2 unmercerized cotton. I placed an order with Webs before Thanksgiving for 8/2 cotton which I'm still waiting for. I might finally have my very own stash.

A lot of this stuff came from Robin and Russ's buying club, when there was still a Robin and Russ. Laura said that I could knit with these two cones. The left one is silk and right one is cashmere. I'll need to skein and wash them first. I guess I could dye the silk, but first I need to see a swatch before I decide anything else. I'll do it next year.
With all the driving for Thanks-
giving and tree cutting, I had plenty of time to knit and the socks are done. I decided you all were right, but I had knitted too far for the corrugated rib so just added the contrast heels and toes.
The UNR sweatpants notwith-
standing, I think these socks turned out to be quite nice. The pattern is Double Eyelet Rib from The Harmony Guides, volume 2.

Disappointment

I was really pleased with how my Box Car Willie socks were looking. My shoulder ached from me patting my back on the cool corrugated ribbing on the rib and heel. Then I tried them on. It did not fit like a glove. It felt like an overcoat on my foot. I was stunned. Would these be my favorite socks? Would I even wear them? Ever??

The yarn was really expensive. This is now my socks looked when I left for work.

A FO - Finally!

Yesterday was a day of errands, starting with the lab because they lost the sample from three weeks ago. Earlier this week I had worn short pants and sandal s to work. Nevada weather is so unpredictable. We came out from Costco to this.

We've gotten our first dusting of snow this year and the trees haven't even turned yet. I object. It's supposed to autumn, then winter.
Even the llamas got a dusting of snow and they loved it. It's so cold outside - brrrrr.





As a passenger and then waiting for appoint-
ments, I finally finished the socks I started in June. It's so cold, I'm asking myself why anyone, me in this case, would knit socks with holes. The yarn is Tofufootsies - something like that. The yarn has soy and shellfish and felt kinda creepy and oddly crisp while I was knitting, but washed - ver' soft and niza.
They fit too - that's the best part. This is Gayle's lace ribbing pattern, knit in the round as a 5 stitch pattern.

Row 1: K3, p2
Row 2: K1, yo, ssk, Ps
Row 3: K3, P2
Row 4: K2 tog, yo, K1, P2

Sock Yarn

We had a demon-
stration on using knitting machines following our guild meeting today. One of our members brought four machines and took us through all the steps and uses of these machines. Those of us who brought yarn were then free to try it ourselves. I had some 80/20 wool/nylon yarn that I bought many pounds of from the Robin & Russ yarn club, when there still was a Robin & Russ. I made balls of two skeins, but being in a hurry, I didn't weigh them. They are now knitted into this one strip. Allison did this last year with two "blanks" she bought from Nancy Roberts, which she dyed in stripes, unraveled and then knit into socks.
I made this pair of socks from that yarn some time ago, and after I got home, weighed them at 3 ounces. The strip of blank weighs 14 ounces! I think I'll zigzag it on the machine into three or four sections and dye each one a different pathway. I look forward to seeing what I get from this, besides more socks that I don't need.

I haven't been able to transfer my files from my old computer to my new one. It requires a special cable which I need or order. Until then, I'm having to rebuild my address book one address at a time. I am frustrated at having no addresses at all. I have to open both computers and then type them in, one at a time. This new computer thing sure takes a lot of time and provides many occasions for bad words. I've promised my old one to my daughter, but at this rate, it's going to be a while.

One Done

I finished the first sock from my handdyed sock yarn and the Harmony Guides pattern, Double Eyelet Rib. It looked terrible all the time I was knitting and I was sure it wouldn't fit. I tried it on after I had washed and blocked it, and it's quite a handsome sock. The lace looks just right. I'm so pleased that I'm knitting the second sock with quite a different attitude.

In spite on the fleece purchase on Saturday, this year continues to be the year of stash reduction, which is challenge when each year we add four more fleeces to the stash.
I'm spinning to weave a lap robe and have decided to do it in three of our Shetlands' colors: brown, oatmeal and white. My loom has a 42" weaving width so I can weave 2" stripes of each color, then repeat this in the weft. I used the McMorran yarn balance this morning to see what kind of yardage I'm going to need, and I'm going to need to spin a lot more than I already have. Driving home tonight, I realized that I can substantially reduce loom waste by using a dummy warp so I need to recalculate my yardage with that in mind. Even so, I have a lot of spinning left - lucky me. I love to spin Shetland.