A happy knitter

I’m feeling really content with my knitting right now. That’s a nice feeling. I did my first ever true stash-dive project and made a quick beret out of some leftover Skye Tweed I bought last year for $2 a ball. Sale yarn, good project, using up stash. That’s a happiness trifecta for me. I used the Le Slouch pattern, and I think it’s pretty good looking. I like the yarn, and the color goes well with a lot of things I own. This pic’s kind of a cop out, but I hope to get an actual wearing shot up soon. Didn’t have time this morning.

I’m also finally past the hesitation stage on my poor Heir of Slytherin socks. They just didn’t fit and no amount of stitch shifting was going to save them. I still really liked the coriolis idea, so I figured out the master numbers and I’m going to be making the Master Spiraling Coriolis to fit my crazy ass feet. P.S – The Whirlpool toe? fits really well but was murder to start. My figure 8 cast on was terrible. I’m gonna have to sew that up with the yarn tail. Feels nice to have a pair of socks back on the needles, finally.

Lastly, today I hope to begin spinning up the blue roving I bought. I think it’ll look nice with the yellow, and then I can try to ply using my ultra-high-tech Lazy Kate:

My motto is: If it can be built, a reasonable facsimile of it can be made out of carboard.

The fluffy stuff

Sunshine, Daisies, Butter Mellow

I am spinning something yellow

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Please excuse the little poem. That part of the first Harry Potter book popped in to my brain while I was spinning up the roving I got in yesterday and hasn’t yet left.

Ooooo lookittheprettycolors! I got four colors of the SemiSolids from Spunky Eclectic and I’ll be using it to try my hand at plying. I haven’t quite decided which colors are gonna get plyed together yet, but I figure I have time between the spinning and building my own Lazy Kate. I’m also going to need to learn how to make individual bobbins. If I had a wheel that wouldn’t be an issue since they have multiple bobbins, but since I’m doing this with one spindle and half a clue what’s going on I need to set up something external to hold the singles. I don’t mind making things for myself, though. I am the queen of cardboard crafting. I made my own Nostepin from a rolled up wrapping paper tube, and even part of my halloween costume was cardboard (a cricket bat. I was Shaun of the Dead for a Zombies vs Survivors party). AC Moore should have what I need.

For some reason I chose to spin the nice yellow first (not pictured above). It’s a happy color. I have a real affection for yellow, even though I look pretty silly in it (skin pale as death).  My current idea is to ply it with the pretty blue, but let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.

My singles are getting more even, but I still don’t think I’m getting it quite right. This roving is really easy to spin with, I’m just a total klutz. I’ve got most of the yellow spun up now, but need to finish up something to hold it before I can start on any other colors. This is fun! But I am nervous about plying…

All new fun

I may not have gone to Rhinebeck, but in terms of yarn related fun I’ve had a pretty awesome few days.

I went back out to my alma mater, Bucknell University, for Homecoming weekend on Friday, getting back yesterday. Now I had all sorts of serious stuff to do there in addition to fun, but I’d brought along my Monkey socks for sitting around time (which I knew there was going to at least be a little bit of), so I knew I wouldn’t be going an entire weekend without knitting. When dropped my car off downtown, I decided to take a walk in the pouring rain toward my friends’ house…not really thinking of the fact that I was literally on the opposite end of town and I hate being out in the rain. About halfway there, I was looking for anywhere I could pop in and waste time just to dry up a bit. What do you think I found?

A yarn store. There was a freaking LYS in my college’s town, and I find it two years after I graduate. Fantastic. The really interesting thing is that it’s more of a spinning store than a yarn store. Not sure we even have one of those out here where I live. I went in and saw all the pretty roving and tops on the wall and I got that spinning curiosity back again. “Why not,” I figured. “It’s just a little drop spindle and a handful of roving. It’s not gonna break the bank.” The woman who owns the shop was great! When I asked about beginner spinning kits, she offered to give me a quick crash course with the roving she was working on. She dealt with my hang ups about the whole “omg the spindle is spinning must keep up while maintaining a death-grip on the roving” and the dog that hung out with her was very cute and chill. She was a really good teacher, and eventually I ended up with this:

 ”Look, ma! Beige Kuyeron!”

That would be my snarky way of saying that my width is a mess. I go from embroidery thread to Burly Spun in less than 2 inches…but is was so much fun! As soon as I figure out how to get the above shown “yarn” off the spindle, I plan on doing some more practice with the little ball of roving I picked up along with the spindle. The owner sells roving from her own sheep. How cool is that!? The roving I bought and the stuff on the spindle is from a sheep named Karma, who has very soft wool and has gotten a little lighter with age apparently (the yarn on the spindle is older than the roving I bought). Mad About Ewes in Lewisburg is definitely going on my list of “places I have to go whenever I visit school.” Man…now I wanna try spinning again…

BUT! There is much else to discuss. Tops on the list is the fact that I got my newest sock club yarn shipment. The Chamber of Secrets colorway is very cool and I found myself so stoked about the pattern that I had to cast on right away. It really didn’t feel like a choice so much as a necesity. Kind of like breathing. Maybe I should have waited, though, since I didn’t have the called for two circs to make the toe-ups. But I’m stubborn and didn’t think there was anything that I couldn’t do on my DPNs, even if it was going to be my first time trying toe up socks…

In hindsight, the really long DPNs might have been a poor decision….

And yet I did manage to turn this pin-cushion in to a toe. And, while I’m at it, an instep. The pattern uses this crazy snaking increase and there’s a cool cable pattern that follows it. Very fun to make, but with one Monkey done I really need to focus on that pattern so I can get a full pair done before the end of the month…

 …but I want to spin…