Yarn! Socks! Other people's knitting!

Heide has finished a pair of socks in TwoWaters Bombay Merino Sock Yarn! They are GORGEOUS.

I've updated the shop with handspun silk, a couple of sock yarns, and two new sock yarns I knitted up on 007 before dyeing in a self-striping pattern. This, I learned, is WAY too much labor for something I'm going to sell, but it was really fun anyway. If I charged by the hour of labor for my yarns, these two puppies would cost about $65 each. But what can I say? I am a slave to my art.

In BONDage

Lookee here:



A Bond Incredible Sweater Machine, bought on EBay for $32, used. I shall call him "007." When deciding whether or not to buy it, I read that you either get it right away, or it's a huge struggle. Luckily, I picked it up pretty quickly, and produced this:


Project: Felt Bag
Yarn: KnitPicks Wool of the Andes
Pattern: Knit a rectangle. Seam it up one side and on the bottom. Felt it. Cut handles. Voila.

This little machine is my new best friend. It's not perfect, and I'm not very good at it yet, but boy, howdy, can I knit rectangles! I have great hopes for getting large amounts of stockinette knitted very quickly. This will never replace handknitting for me, but it will make some things easier.

My second project with 007 was this hat


Project: Pinky Hat
Yarn: KnitPicks Wool of the Andes
Pattern: My own.

I knit the body of the hat flat, then seamed and joined to knit the crown and brim in the round. Check out the spiral decreases:



I'm really loving this Wool of the Andes. It is softer than I expected, and felts beautifully.

I made a hat for my husband this weekend, too.


Project: Green Hat
Yarn: My own handspun, handdyed cormo yarn.
Pattern: Short-row shaped man-hat, lined with black polar fleece.

And the short-rows on the crown:



And last, but not least, the Raspberry Jaywalkers:



And, for the nerds among us, our latest PastCast is up, this one on George Washington.

Nerdification

Want a glimpse into my other life? In addition to being a knitting superhero (okay, maybe comic sidekick?) I am, by day, a mild-mannered history teacher. Go on over to PastCast.net to see the latest project my husband and I have cooked up. It makes good listening while knitting.

Tragedy

The self-striping cashmere socks are too small, *sob* so they will have to be ripped out and a new pattern found. Anybody know of a lace pattern that works well with self-stiping yarn? My sock pal specified lace, so Jaywalker won't work. At this point, though, I'm thinking of overdying this yarn a subtly variegated dark red so I can use any lace pattern I darn well please. Like Pomatomous, perhaps. Or, I could save the cashmere for another project and dye up some of my standard Merino, opening up a wider range of possible needle sizes. Choices, choices.

Speaking of Jaywalker, the hot-pink-and-green ones are going well. And Mariah hasn't been forgotten. I'll upload some progress pictures pretty soon.

One sock's struggle against all odds

The sock in her native habitat perches warily on her ball of yarn, aware that a predator is nearby.



The predator approaches. In terror, the sock jumps from the ball of yarn, flattening herself against the window sill in a desperate attempt to blend in with her surroundings.



Too late! The sock has been spotted! The vicious beast sniffs her cashmere-y goodness.



The above drama is brought to you by Sockapaloooza Sock #1, who likes long soaks in lukewarm water and dreams of becoming an actress. I dyed up the yarn to self-stripe in lavender and apple green with interludes of yellow, orange, and rose, and I think it looks okay. Not my colors, certainly, but I hope my sock pal likes them!

So I've been going a bit mail-order crazy in the last few days, and two boxes arrived today. One was dye from MisterArt.com for the dyeing business, and one was THIS:



5 ounces of cormo batts from Ebay seller Mmfwool, who is now tops in my book. The cormo is perfect--almost like cotton, it's so fine and, well, cottoney. I can't wait to spin it up. Cormo is my favorite wool to touch, but the crimp can make it a little hard to spin. I'll keep you posted.

Sockapaloooza

So I didn't think Sockapaloooza would cause this much stress, but I've suddenly turned into a knitting perfectionist. What if the yarn I dyed up (Elann's Baby Cashmere. Divine.) isn't the right color? (pictures of the dye job to come. I call it "Victoriana.") What if I pick the wrong pattern? What if I forget how to knit? What if she HATES it?

So many worries, so little time. To combat them, I have started a pair of hot pink and green Jaywalkers. So there.