"Awe Nuts" Treasury on Etsy

My yarn has been included in another treasury on Etsy by TheEarringBoutique:



Thanks, TheEarringBoutique!
 

Marie Antoinette Sock

The past week I've been knitting a pair of socks, the first I've made for myself in quite some time. I'm using another pattern by Anne Hanson of Knitspot called Marie Antoinette. It's a fun pattern.

I had a false start in size 1 needles using some pale yellow Dream In Color Smooshy yarn.



It's a very pretty colorway, but it's got kind of a hard hand, especially for a yarn called Smooshy, and I didn't really like the feel of the yarn, despite what its fans say. Unfortunately I have three skeins of it now - two in the same colorway bought at different times! - because I was beguiled by the photography online. Maybe I'll put it on destash. It was also too small on size 1 needles, or I'd probably have kept going anyway, but instead I pulled out all but the top bit. You knit the top of the cuff sideways across 8 sts back and forth, and then graft together before picking up sts along its side; I liked this as a little bracelet, so I rinsed it and blocked it and kept it.



I then went out and looked for some nicer sock yarn in a colorway close to that in the picture in Anne's pattern. I don't usually feel constrained to choose the same color as that shown in a pattern picture, but this was such a good honey gold color that I had to have it, or something like it. I ended up getting a great yarn that I can't remember the name of at the moment, but I'll add it here later. It's not exactly the same yarn, but its colors are in the same family, and I've really been enjoying working with it and watching its colors change. I also am using size 3 needles. I didn't have any size 2's, so I said what the heck. It's actually a tiny bit big around the heel, for me, so size 2's would probably have been better. Live and learn. Besides, they'll probably tighten up in the washer/dryer (no delicate treatment for handknit socks in our house).



The colorway appears a bit greenish in this light, but still very warm. I'm almost done with the first one. As you can see, we were driving (to work) when I took this picture, on Rt 3, behind a Honda CR-V.

This is the third pattern I've bought from Anne and I've really enjoyed them all. This sock is varied enough that you definitely never get bored; the various parts of the pattern are intricate enough to be a challenge, yet fairly easily memorized - I will probably be able to do the second sock without looking at the pattern. I've never done a pattern where you do yo's and then catch them back up in a knit stitch, the way the pattern does in the half moons along the cuff and down the back of the leg. My picture doesn't show this very well, but you can see it in the pattern. I am looking forward to the second one (none of the dreaded second sock syndrome here) and expect it to go by as fast as the first (if not faster)!
 

The Fiber Photo 365 did me in.

I ought to have known that that was biting off too big a bite to chew. There are very few things I can do EVERY single day, and posting to my blog clearly isn't one of them. I am involved with some fiber art every day, or almost every day, whether it's spinning or knitting or just pawing fiber, but documenting it is not my strong suit. Not even close. So that was an experiment, let's call it, that gave back some information. No blame, just, let's move on.

This weekend I don't know what happened but I decided to finish a bunch of things. I actually finished the Juno Regina Stole, which has been in my not-progressing-very-fast-at-all pile since I started it in Dec '07. That's an extremely long project life for me. Things usually get done a lot faster than that, although I do have the occasional black hole. Here's a pic of it being blocked on my office floor right now:



I did the entire bottom part, from where the diamonds start back up, between Thursday night and last night. It was a lightning-fast completion, considering how slow the rest of the damn thing was.

I also finished a pair of socks I started about four months ago for my sponsor, Nora; I knitted them in about 2 weeks, maybe less, and then they sat uncompleted on a side table. I knitted an edge that I wasn't crazy about, but today I took it out and sewed it down so it's a really sweet picot edge that it always wanted to be.



I made a hat for the new baby of some friends of ours out of some leftover cashmere - I finished knitting it on the bus on Friday, and tucked in all the ends today:



I hope it fits her; that teddy bear has a pretty big head, and it's a lot stretchier than the photo shows. It's blue, which usually people reserve for boys, but it has a big bow on it, so what the heck. It's cashmere, and it's incredibly soft, and I hope they like it and put it on her once or twice.

And finally, I decided once and for all to give up on the Rowan Botticelli sweater, which was so draining once I realized the pattern was printed with the flower charts upside down. I lost all my interest in the project. Last night I ripped out all of it and threw out the bits and bobs of yarn that can't be salvaged because the pieces are too short, and am putting the rest away to be used in something else in the future.

All of this is to make room for a new project, a sweater in Interweave Knits that I quite like, the Alpaka Tunic by Deborah Newton. I got the yarn for a song at KnitPicks.com, and it's really nice yarn despite it's low price. I'm very excited to begin!

BUT WAIT ... Errata from Interweave:

Alpaka Tunic (page 110)

The yardage for the Schoppel Wolle Baby Alpaka Naturbelassen yarn was listed incorrectly. The correct yardage is: 219 yd [200 m]/100 g.

I knew 880 yards was mighty short for an entire tunic! Even one that is short-sleeved. Fie on them! Now I have to order the same amount again. I hope I can get the same dye lot! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
 

Fiber Photo 365, day 22

These are two sport weight yarns I spun that I realized would go together well when I was packaging them up to put on Etsy. The lighter is merino wool, 433 yards, and the darker is 564 yards of wool of unknown breed. They both have browns and golds and plums and pinks; the lighter has some lavender running through it, and the darker has some silver in its place. I think together they'd make a really lovely shawl, or perhaps a vest. I may keep them for myself instead of trying to sell them...
 

Another Etsy Treasury!

I have a piece in another Etsy Treasury. I'm always very flattered by being chosen for these.

The Etsy seller who composed this Treasury was CaitlinSainio. Thanks Caitlin!!
 

Fiber Photo 365, day 20

This is so frustrating - the color of this yarn, which is handspun (superwash BFL, 333 yds, 2-ply worsted weight yarn), is a deep midnight blue color. Here it washes out to a gray. It's my camera, or my photography, that is doing this. When I take pics for Etsy, I color-correct them, and the blues reappear. But that's kind of FAKE, and I don't like it. Anyway, it's nice yarn.
 

Fiber Photo 365, day 19

More mystery - this is the project from a few days ago, but it's now finished. Ravelry users can see it here.