Debut

January 31, 2015 / shellssells / 1 Comment

I’ve talked about how Mr. Ink has requested some handknit socks, or at least decided it might be ok if I knit him some, but I don’t think I’ve taken a picture of said socks.

We came to an agreement, I’d knit a pair of very plain colored socks as long as I could knit some fun and crazy heels and toes. This serves two purposes, the first being a bit of extra interest for me, and the second is to stretch the yarn I have available for those socks. After all, his size 13.5 wide feet technically need more than one skein.

I’ve decided to go toe up with these, and include an afterthought heel. I will then be able to weigh my skein once I am at the leg in order to be sure I can use up as much as possible without running out of yarn.

They’ve come fairly far in a short time, but I tried them on him a couple days ago and they didn’t even cover where his little toe starts. This is a project that will be a long one. But, they are March socks, so that’s ok. On the other hand, it would be nice to have them done for his birthday mid February. We’ll see how that goes.

I am certainly finding that I need regular breaks though, and need to work on other projects during those breaks, just to stay interested in knitting.

The Final Howl

January 29, 2015 / shellssells / Leave a comment

For now. I think it’s high time I get back to other types of knitting. In fact, I am beginning to welcome the idea of other types of knitting.

This third howl is again out of Marja’s handspun. The fiber is from Loop! and because of this, there’s a bit more of it. Enough so that I am not feeling like I must worry over each row.

I admit it, I am hoping this one is going to be MINE. I am hoping I’ll look at it and think “YES, I do want to wear that!”

And I might even add additional embellishments to this one.

But first? First I’ll need to knit a few more rows.

Howling

January 28, 2015January 28, 2015 / shellssells / 3 Comments

Another “Howl” just came off the needles. In other words, I knit another Emergency Hat. This one is, technically, more hat than cowl, as the hat itself barely even fits an adult.

The yarn is Marja’s handspun out of Dyeabolical’s katatomic colorway, on BFL Firestar. I used every last bit of the yarn for this one, and JUST squeaked by with a full hat. So, it’s going to go to a kiddo, either mine or Marja’s niece.

Don’t be fooled though, I am still on a mission with these hats, and already knitting another out of Marja’s handspun. A loop bump, so I’ll have a bit more to work with this time around. I am not tired of them yet!

What pattern has so captured your attention that you just knit it over and over? I need another one of these in my life!

Inspiration

January 26, 2015 / shellssells / Leave a comment

I’ve been trying to motivate myself to walk more on the non biking days. I am very active, but I feel that a bit of other than biking activity is necessary. Running never goes well, though I often do it. But, I figured the best way to motivate myself in decent weather was to spin while I walk. It did motivate, in two ways. It motivated me to spin more, and I’ve taken a walk 3 days in a row now.

I’ve even been support spindle spinning at home. It’s quite a bit of progress really. Progress I am very pleased with.

Long Past Due

January 25, 2015 / shellssells / 1 Comment

There’s this hat. The Oh Snapp! hat, that I’ve been wanting to knit for absolutely ages. It calls for Black Water Abbey Yarns for the hat. I had two skeins of worsted in stash, and I bought small amounts for the colorwork. Again, this was ages and ages ago.

I recently went through all my knitting books and patterns in an effort to weed some of them down a bit. While doing so, I came across the pattern for the hat. I should clarify that the pattern is not mine, so it needs to be returned to its owner. I figured I’d whip up an Oh Snapp! hat this weekend and then the pattern would be free to be returned.

I took a quick shot of the almost complete hat, because there were so many ends to weave in! Thankfully, a lot of them were braids as well, so it wasn’t too overwhelming. I knew the hat was going to be big, even though I knit the smallest size. And it was, so I decided to throw it in super hot water and attempt to full it a little. Once I pulled it out of the water, it had grown rather than shrunk.

So, I figured since it currently covered my eyes, I’d just try throwing it in the dryer with a load of clothing. One full dry cycle later, I had an amazing hat! The yarn softened beautifully, it shrunk up nice and tight, and all of that made my colorwork look really nice.

For real, I will probably knit a few more of these. It’s super cute, and was a lot of fun, and I hate knitting hats!

Two Out of Twelve

January 24, 2015 / shellssells / 5 Comments

My February socks are done.

The problem with knitting socks over an entire year is gauge. This has always happened to me. I use exactly the same needles, but end up with a gauge change anyhow. It seems that for the second pair I knit quite a bit tighter.

I think it matters little in the end, I’ll never notice once the socks are in shoes and I am regularly wearing them. But at this moment it’s quite noticeable.

Has this ever happened to you in between sock one and two?

Just one night a week

January 23, 2015 / shellssells / Leave a comment

I am trying to get better at eliminating the “shoulds” in my fiber world. I’ve been shoulding all over myself lately about my lack of spinning in the winter months. But, then I went back through my blog posts over the last 2 summers and realized that there’s entire months I don’t knit in the summer. It balances out, I just have trouble remembering that.

So, I think I am just going to try to spend a night a week at the wheel. And I did that this week, working on my Smaug braid.

It’s pretty much full of gorgeous. This is just under 2 oz. out of the 4 I have of the braid.

As for knitting, I am almost done with my february socks, and I just started a new project.

Yeah, I have a habit of thinking this is a good color, it’s almost exactly the same shade as my grandpa cardigan. To be fair, it’s leftover yarn from a project awhile back, it’s not like I went out and purchased that color all over again so quickly.

I am hoping to finish the project this weekend.

February Socks

January 22, 2015January 22, 2015 / shellssells / 2 Comments

In January!

I think I’ll even be done with them in January. After all, I did the heel last night, and got halfway down the foot today. Another day with them and I think I can be done.

I am using exactly the same needles for sock 2, but clearly my gauge is tighter. You can see by the stripes on the second sock as compared to the stripes (And often lack thereof) on the first.

But, these days, I don’t get too concerned about such things. Just knit the sock, wear the sock, and life is good.

Howl

January 21, 2015 / shellssells / 2 Comments

I knit the emergency hat. I posted it on the book of faces, and asked if it was hat or cowl. It was quickly dubbed the “Howl.” So, now I can show you the howl.

I absolutely adore this pattern. I HATE knitting hats. For this? I knit a long flat strip, sew it, and have a hat. I think I am going to make 4 or 5 of these before I get sick of them. I TRULY love the pattern.

And, it is, of course, made all the better by two of my favorite things. Fiber dyed by Dyeabolical Yarns (The Kara colorway) and then spun into some awesome yarn by Marja.

This one is for Miss Marja. But, I am going to need one for me, and Bug wants one for her, and I just think that I won’t even be done knitting them at that point.

(I also need to add that colorway to my fiber stash. For REAL.)

A Little Behind

January 20, 2015 / shellssells / 2 Comments

I decided yesterday I’d take a picture of a work in progress. It’s the Emergency Hat out of Marja’s handspun.

Colorway Kara from Dyeabolical. The base is BFL/Firestar, and that firestar has a ton of sparkle. It’s completely gorgeous.

I had intended to post about this yesterday after I took the picture. I was going to say that I was nervous I wouldn’t have enough yarn for the project. And while I started it on Sunday hoping to complete it on Monday, my yarn nervousness kicked in and I set it down.

But, once I took the picture, I had a quiet evening mostly to myself and I didn’t want to put the project back down in order to blog. So, the point is moot. I had enough yarn. There wasn’t a lot to spare, but I had enough. The hat is gorgeous. It’s for Marja, but it’s one I am actually going to have trouble giving over. I’ll get pics tonight to post tomorrow.

Icordion Cowl

January 18, 2015January 18, 2015 / shellssells / 1 Comment

i had this skein of Marja’s handspun, it called to me. In shades of grey and green I couldn’t resist it. I thought about it regularly and hunted for the perfect pattern.

I found that in the Icordion cowl. A regular accordion cowl with icord embellishments.

It really looks like stone and moss to me. So pretty! You can see in the picture the 3 icord embellishments, and then the bind off on top is an icord bind off.

I didn’t wash/block this one, as I think it looks great as is. It’s bouncy and interesting and I really love it. The handspun worked really well.

This one also knit up fairly quickly. It’s not a long cowl, but it doesn’t squish the neck either. The stacked accordion with the icords make it stand up nicely, lacking the flop that some of the wider cowls have.

That’s not how it was supposed to go!

January 17, 2015 / shellssells / 3 Comments

My morning looked like this, initially:

That would be me, waiting with my coffee for the light to get reasonable enough to show off my latest two finished objects.

I went outside in my shirtsleeves to photograph them. Bug, who had been playing nicely in another room, decided to be all up in my business and come outside too, with no shoes on.

That’s when the trouble started. You see, we are waiting on the landlady to fix my screen door latch. When Bug came outside, she made it impossible for us to get back inside without my keys. I’d been counting on her being inside to let me back in.

Thankfully, I do take my blog pictures on my phone, and thankfully, it isn’t as bitter cold as it has been. I called my landlady and she sent her daughter over with the garage key. I tucked my arms inside my tshirt and we waited while shivering, but feeling pretty grateful it was something that wouldn’t last.

And thankfully, while the daughter was over here, she noticed a few more things that needed to be fixed, took measurements, and promised to get it all fixed.

So, now for the photos we took right before realizing we were locked out of the house.

This is pixie baby hat #2 this year, the other one looked exactly the same. Yarn is collinette jitterbug and I have enough for one more baby hat. I also finished this hat at the same time I found out that one of the expecting friends is having a girl. So, the rest of that yarn will be used up. You can see a ball of yarn in the first picture, that’s the one that will be used for a boy hat. But, that baby is due at the end of March so I’ve got a little time.

And…socks for my mom. Yarn is Opal, pattern is Gentleman’s Plain Winter Socks from Vintage Socks. One of my favorite patterns. This is complete pair #1 for my 12 pairs in 12 months. I think the yarn is entirely wearable, I think she’ll be pleased. A dark neutral to pair with various clothing, yet fun pops of color.

I am kind of hoping for another finish today, a handspun cowl. But, I also have tons to get done around the house today, so I am not going to push it.

And then, I REALLY need to get started on Mr. Ink’s socks. He’s got men’s 13.5 wide feet. It’s gonna be a long haul.

January Spinning

January 16, 2015 / shellssells / 3 Comments

Here’s the thing. Every winter, I get spinning angst. I start to feel like I’ll never spin again and nothing is inspiring. It’s quite distressing every year, and I often threaten to sell my wheel. Thankfully, I’ve been through this often enough that even though I don’t always remember it from year to year, my friends do. And they remind me that as soon as the weather turns and the spring begins, I’ll be back to spinning and being inspired about it.

But for right now? Every bit is a struggle. I started an energized singles project before the holidays, fully intending to finish it and make a collapse weave scarf during the holidays. Well, I couldn’t be bothered to actually finish the spinning, AND, the holidays turned out to be incredibly busy. So, that flew out the window. And without vast quantities of time for it, that project became supremely uninspiring.

So, knowing that I would need something that would make me WANT to spin, I chose my Smaug braid from Inglenook. It’s gorgeous, it’s a combination of merino, superwash merino, and silk. It spins like a dream. I’ve managed about an ounce of it so far.

I grumbled the ENTIRE time.

Winter spinning = winter angst. Not for me.

Oops!

January 15, 2015 / shellssells / Leave a comment

It’s been one extremely busy week at work. There were days where I didn’t think it was possible to get through everything being thrown at me. And none of it was for the usual reasons, it was just all the tiny things combined with some bigger projects with deadlines being thrown at me left and right to create the perfect storm of work. On the bright side, I could see major progress each day on these tasks, so I would leave work feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and yet still satisfied.

But, I’ve forgotten to blog. Even though I’ve been knitting.

There was a baby born this week, a baby of a childhood friend. I spoke of this in the last post, and baby has now arrived. In fact, I was at this point in the hat when I saw the first pictures of her being posted on social media.

Just one little tie left to knit. You may remember that I started when I heard my friend was in labor.

This will go in the mail today, and I’ve got another on the needles as a commissioned project for a local photographer. And then I think I’ll take a break from baby hats and get back to my mom’s socks. I am SO CLOSE to a finish on a pair!

Distraction

January 13, 2015 / shellssells / 5 Comments

I got distracted! By baby hats.

The pixie baby hat, to be specific. I knit two of these last year, and they were so cute on their recipients. One of the hats went to a photo shoot and the child in that hat looks so adorable! And it was quite special for me that the hat went to a photo shoot.

I’ve got a childhood friend, she’s been in labor since yesterday morning at 3 a.m. No baby yet. I decided I’d surprise her with a baby hat as well. And since there are 4 more pregnant women in my life, I figure I can just keep knitting baby hats.

The yarn picked here is Colinette Jitterbug. It’s been in my stash since I first started knitting seriously. Forever! It’s probably my oldest yarn. I am not a fan of baby stuff that looks overly girly for little girls, and am often found creating pretty things out of blue. I dressed my Bug in a ton of blue and yellow too when she was a tiny thing. This yarn just struck me as something pretty that would be great for a girl but not scream PINK.

There will be 2 of these, then I’ll have to switch to a color more appropriate for a baby boy, and then I’ll have to wait for some gender confirmations before I continue. Maybe someday I’ll get ahead!

Back to Business

January 12, 2015 / shellssells / 2 Comments

One of the hold ups on the Grandpa Cardigan was that I wasn’t feeling it. The other hold up was that I had messed up just one 4 stitch cable and wanted to go back and fix it. Despite the fact that it was an easy fix, I had to muster the energy and motivation to get it done. I mustered the motivation to find double points for the repair, and brought the project along with the double points to work.

Bringing it to work and leaving it there makes it so that at least an hour a day, 4-5 days a week, I can make some progress. This is often a fabulous way for me to jump start a lagging project. Soon I’ll realize I was closer than I thought and I’ll bring it home for the final push to finish.

An odd thing happened when I took lunch. You see, I sit at my desk in front of my computer watching netflix and knitting most days for my break. And I picked up my project, and just then noticed that Umme Yusuf posted a link on the book of faces. You may remember that she and I were doing KAL with this cardigan, and I knew she was quite close to a finish so I clicked on that link and read about her finished object. What a fun coincidence.

So, I figured since she is done, I should take a picture of where I am right now. And really, it’s not that far.

But, it contains a repaired cable and a little progress. And I’ll call that win, and her finish I’ll call my inspiration.

Again, not socks

January 11, 2015 / shellssells / Leave a comment

Before I started all the socks, I had pulled out a skein of Marja’s yarn that I am just obsessed with. It’s grey and green and wonderful, I love all the subtle tones of it. I’d decided to knit it into a cowl, I wound the yarn, and then got distracted by all those socks.

But, as is usual, after more than a week solid of socks, my hands were done in. I did a bit of spinning, but then I wanted to cast on for this cowl for some easy knitting.

I am still working on the socks, but this was a fine little break yesterday.

I also took a pair of socks, some ankle socks I knit awhile back, and frogged them. I wore them maybe once, and the yarn was nice opal yarn, and if I am completely uninterested in wearing them, it’s better to claim back that yarn for a pair of full length socks. After all, I’d saved the rest of the skein.

Mr. Ink’s house project has moved along quite nicely as well. In fact, my part in it is done. It took up loads of time, but it was also quite interesting. He comes from an entire family of artists, and there were so many beautiful things. One drawing really struck me in particular, it was stuffed in with his mom’s art school work. We were both taken with the self portrait, and when we calculated it out, she was only 16 yrs old when she did it. I am going to take the opportunity to ask her about some of those things the next time we spend some time together.

All in all, a pretty decent weekend. Tonight we celebrate on of Mr. Ink’s kids birthday, he’s picked out a dinner menu and we will all get together and make it. We plan to trick the kids into sorting through their stuff in the house while they are there. 😉

Not All Socks

January 10, 2015 / shellssells / 2 Comments

Ok, I know, it’s been all socks all the time around here. But, just to prove I am not all about socks all the time, I’ll show off my latest spinning project.

This is a merino wool from The Dyeing Arts. It doesn’t specify on the tag, but I am willing to bet that it’s superwash. It’s got that superwash feel to it. It’s spinning up just beautifully and I suspect it’s going to be far lighter than the fiber itself. It kind of has that Crown Mountain Farms look to it!

This brings me to a funny story. When Bug was small, she’d often give me the choice of a few things, and then choose what she wanted. I’d regularly have to say to her “What’s the point of asking ME when you are just going to do what you want anyhow?”

When I decided I needed a new spinning project, I pulled out a couple of fibers and asked which one she thought I should do. She gave me her opinion, I ignored it, and chose this one.

Prompting me to wonder if she learned that trick back then from me….

There’s hope

January 8, 2015 / shellssells / Leave a comment

There’s hope for seeing a complete pair of socks some time next week!

My mom’s first sock is done. I am going to cast on for the second one immediately.

It seems like I am having my own personal month o’socks despite saying I would not. I suppose that’s ok, there are no rules about those 12 skeins, I can knit them as fast or slow as I like.

Third Sock

January 7, 2015 / shellssells / 1 Comment

Still no pairs! My mostly sock knitting most of the time has been highly productive thus far. I am past the heel on the first sock for my mom. This is the first pair you’ll actually get to see completed, as I’d like to get them in the mail very shortly.

The yarn is Opal, not sure of the colorway. I like it, it sort of looks like water color, or painted brush strokes. Very cool stuff.

I love Opal yarn for socks, mostly because it’s just a really lovely hard wearing sock yarn. With Mom being far away, I am not around to attempt to repair socks, even if I wanted to. And I rarely want to. So, making sure her socks are out of hard wearing sock yarns is a way to be sure she gets to enjoy them for as long as possible.

In other exciting news, I got Mr. Ink to agree to fun heels and toes on his socks. This is great for two reasons. First, his feet are quite large, and I’ll need every extra inch of sock yarn I can get I suspect. Different color heels and toes are great yarn stretchers. Also, his color is as muted and sedate as can possibly be, so the different heel and toe colors will be a way to break up the monotony of a really boring knit.

Second Sock

January 6, 2015 / shellssells / 2 Comments

In yesterday’s post I talked about how I wanted to work on socks for my mom and socks for Mr. Ink before continuing my RPMs. Unfortunately, the needles I wanted for socks for my mom happened to be in my partially finished sock I worked on bit by bit all last year. So, in order to release the needles, I finished that sock too.

This one is out of Socks that Rock Lightweight, and it’s just lovely. I am really looking forward to having the second sock of this set as well. All I needed for completion was a heel and a foot and a toe, and since I worked on it while I was still on vacation, it went quite quickly.

The sock pattern is Gentleman’s plain winter sock from Vintage Socks. It has a dutch heel which I love, and has become a go to pattern for a plain vanilla sock for both the ones I knit for me and my mom. It just fits beautifully. I love the way the heel wraps around the foot and cups my heel, and I’ve yet to have a pair wear out on me.

You are going to see a few of these, since I’ve started my mom’s socks too, and they are the same pattern. I’ve yet to figure out what I will do about Mr. Ink’s socks. I’ll save that for later.

After a long absence….

January 5, 2015 / shellssells / 3 Comments

A sock!

(For the record, I swear I already wrote a post about this sock and scheduled it to post this morning, but it is Just Not There. So, if you see this sock twice, it’s not my fault!

I finished the first RPM sock.

It has an afterthought heel because I find I wear out my heels first, and I do actually repair them if the heel is an afterthought heel. I tried a new to me heel, the Thumbjoint Hat Heel. It was good fun, but I am not sure if I’ll like it on my foot. We shall see once sock #2 is complete and I get an opportunity to wear them. The best part? If I don’t like that heel, it’s an afterthought, I can always rip it out and go back to a traditional afterthought heel.

You know, it’s kind of funny, back when I started knitting socks, I tried an afterthought heel immediately. And, I really could not understand why they hadn’t caught on, I loved the technique so much. It took a couple years and the fad of really good striping yarn, but they did catch on after all.

I don’t think I am going to start the second sock of this pair right away. I really would like to get a handle on the socks for Mr. Ink and the socks for my mom. Then I can go back to the ones for me.

First spin of 2015

January 4, 2015January 3, 2015 / shellssells / 4 Comments

That 2015 might be hard to get used to!

I finished the falkland wool I was spinning on my support spindles and got it all plied up. A worsted weight 3 ply of which there are 150 yards.

I am never a fan of spinning the singles of really bouncy wool, but I am ALWAYS a fan of plying them. This was no exception.

I am also a huge fan of greens and browns together and while I wasn’t crazy excited about the fiber itself, once I started plying it, it all came together beautifully.

Now back to my socks!!!

A New Year in Spinning

January 3, 2015January 2, 2015 / shellssells / Leave a comment

Well, I didn’t make any spinning resolutions this year. Maybe my resolution is simply to spin more. I took a long break from support spindles but just as soon as I started again, I fell in love all over again. I truly love spinning on support spindles and need to just keep a project on them all the time.

I started my Potted fiber from Spun Right Round. This was from a fiber club offering, and it’s falkland wool. I decided I wanted something a little thicker than I usually do on support spindles, so this actually feels like it’s going pretty quickly.

Two full spindles (I consider a support spindle full when it starts to feel boggy, regardless of how much yarn is on it.)

I’ve started a third spindle. I am anticipating a 3 ply on this one, the colors are fun and I think they’ll mush together very nicely.

Resolution

January 2, 2015January 2, 2015 / shellssells / 4 Comments

A new year requires a knitting resolution.

Let’s start with that. As you may know, I’ve got two sweaters on the needles. And quite frankly, I don’t want to knit either of them. I have been attempting to substitute spinning for my knitting angst, but even that keeps feeling underwhelming. I am just not feeling it right now.

Mr. Ink says this is because the current project occupying my brain is his house, and he may be right. In the same way I completely obsess over knitting and spinning and biking, I obsess over other projects, and we’ve got a rather large one this month at his house. It has taken over my brain, and the planning of the project and the to do lists to get it finished are constantly in my head.

When I was a catering manager, my mom came to observe me once. She said that management, for me, looked like I had this ticker tape in my head that was always running spitting out the next detail that had to get finished in order to work on the following detail to get the entire event to happen on time. I am no longer a catering manager, but the ticker tape has never left my brain. And right now, that ticker tape is spitting out the steps for a house project, not for my favorite hobbies.

I suspect that until the project is done, or at least until it’s well under way, my brain space will continue to be occupied by the ticker tape and I won’t be overly interested in my hobbies.

That being said, I was able to move that ticker tape from the forefront last evening by making a knitting resolution. Instead of Month O’Socks, which didn’t even happen last year, I think it’s going to be the year of socks. If I look back on last year, I don’t think I even made one pair of socks. Not one. For an avid sock knitter with a good 90 pairs created in her knitting career, that seems really strange. But, I haven’t missed them at all.

The trouble is, I’ve lost a fair number of my socks this year to holes and general wearing out. It’s time for new socks.

So, like Yarn Harlot, I pulled out 12 skeins of yarn and I am going to attempt to knit one pair per month.

That there is yarn for 10 pairs. There’s yarn for a pair for Bug, yarn for a pair for Mr. Ink, and yarn for a pair for my mom. There are things that have been in my stash for ages as well as my most recent sock yarn acquisition. What about the other two pairs?

Well, I’ve got a pair already on the needles. These are from Socks That Rock Lightweight, and they’ve been on the needles for a very long time. I started them last year when needing something to keep in the car and knit on when I wasn’t willing to ride dirt as long as Mr. Ink wanted to ride dirt.

I figure it’s only fair to complete them since they’ve been on the needles for so long.

And the 12th pair is a pair I started last evening after sitting around not knitting and not spinning for far too long.

These are Socks That Rock mediumweight, colorway Basan. I’ve had the color in my stash for ages, it looks like the current color is a bit lighter than this. But, I like this very much, I’ve always liked yellow and this has my favorite yellow color in it.

I am knitting another pair of RPMs. I knit a pair in 2009 and they are my go to socks for cold weather riding. They’ve held up beautifully, they fit beautifully, and I appreciate them every time I put them on. Another pair will be most welcome.

Discerning BMFA addicts may note that in the stash photo there’s another mediumweight skein, The Cookie Next Door. That, too, will be a pair of RPMs.

Happy New Year friends, do you have knitting/spinning goals for this year?

Suzy Sells Sea Shells

Month: January 2015