"No She Did-dnt"

knit me socks for my birthday!Trish knit these totally awesome socks for MEMEMEME! Its my birthday soon and she sent them as an early gift.

Can you believe it? Look at how great they fit! Look at the awesomeness of the pattern! Look at the beautiful color!I've had them on the table where I can show everyone who comes into the house- "Look! Look at the socks my friend knit for me!" Lots of ooohhhss and ahhhhsss from all.

The pattern is Gracious (Ravelry link)and the yarn is Miss Babs Yummy Superwash Sock & Baby Yarn - 2 ply in Suede Roses. Its crazy how much I love this color, its just perfect.

These are my most treasured socks and I cannot wait till cool weather comes back so I can wear them. Meanwhile they are on the table where I can see them every day and remember how lucky I am to have Trish as a friend.

Trish, you rock! Thank you for making my month!

Fursday

Everyone finally got a bath this week and another big brush out today. These puppies are so clean they sparkle!

Wednesday catch up

I need to catch up on some FO's !
First up my Mara Shawl- done in Cascade 220 superwash. It blocked out to 68" x 28" which turns out to be a great cuddle size for meUnfortunately, while blocking I found a thread that had been split and was hanging by a hair. I fixed it but it seemed that no matter what I did, it looked botched in that spot. Oh well, I love it anyway and its for me so its ok.

Next I finally finished his Steelers Socks. These were a carry around project for a while that just kept getting set aside. I finished the up just in time for Father's Day.This is the Slipped Rib pattern that I've used before. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Sport I did another weaving project too! I went the next size up on the loom and used some Schaefer Miss Priss in Greenjeans colorway

The finished and lightly fulled shawl is 50" by 22". More like shawlette size. It will be good for under a coat in the winter. After I show it off, it will go in the gift tote.This took about a week to do, and that was with me only weaving a row or 2 here and there.Next time I'll leave extra yarn to finish off the edges more- maybe a crocheted border or fringe.

I started another pair of socks with my Impulse of Delight yarn (socks of fraternal happiness, rainbow!!!) and have already upsized the loom again and started weaving some Lamb's Pride worsted in the "aqua waves" color. Depending on how it looks, I make make another small blanket. hhm, maybe.

Has anyone started their Christmas knitting?

Fursday (on Friday)

"I can smell YOUUUUUUU!"
or
"Never mind that I chewed a hole in the other crate, I'm just cute"

meanwhile, she has trashed this crate so with 2 coupons in hand we purchased a metal one for puppy girl. She likes sleeping in her own room.

Weaving Wednesday

A while ago, Sandra (blogless) showed me some squares she did on a weave-it. They were beautiful, took very little yarn and had a wonderful drape. That is all it took, the seed was planted and slowly I became obsessed with weaving and especially triangle looms.

Well, I ordered a 7 foot adjustable loom and it came last week. Knit Boss came over for the set up and first weave. We did a tandem weave thing and this is what we did in just 2 hrs...This is Knit Boss doing a crochet edge before we took it off the loom.

Next try is more of the same yarn, but with 2 colors of blue. Check out how it automatically makes a plaid !This time I did 2 tri's, one on top of the other, sewed them along the hypotenuse and made a small plaid blanket. Its 45 inches along the straight corners, made out of Plymouth Encore. The weave is pretty open and since the yarn is not all wool, it won't full/felt so it will snag pretty easily.I'm still trying different yarns and want to explore different weaving methods. I'm doing a continuous weave right now. That means I can weave from a center pull ball, no pre-warping the loom

Here is the seam along the center of the blanket.

Next I'm trying some Schaefer "Miss Priss" worsted in Greenjeans. You can see the weave is still pretty open, but since it's 100% wool, I plan on fulling to get a more cohesive fabric.

I'm looking for a worsted that is thicker, but don't want a bulky yarn. um, at least I don't think so. I'll try some Lamb's Pride worsted next. And then doubling the yarn for a basket weave. And then maybe pre-warping + continuous weave. And then making some smaller tri's and putting together for a quilt..

And then...

And then....

And then.... :)

Entomology

Laura Nelkin is having a contest! A kit to knit her shawl, Entomology. So much fun! Go here and leave her a comment to enter

Fursday

Ever play lacrosse with a German Shepherd?
A photo essay

you learn to move fast!

Puppies are recovering from spay/neuter surgery on Monday. Of course they are acting like nothing ever happened and I fear every day they will pull out stitches.

In fiber news..... I'm weaving on a tri loom! wheeeee!

To Pool or Not to Pool. That is the question

When you knit with a hand painted type of yarn do you worry about pooling? I knit this for Schaefer yarn in their new "Nichole" yarn "Aung San Suu Kyi" colorway. The pattern is Marinero Hat (Ravelry link)- a slouchy style newsboy hat.Fun pattern, great yarn cute model (that's NBB, M4's little one). But as you can see, it pooled. I usually don't worry about pooling, I like the effect. BUT it was a no-go for the yarn company. Whoops, my bad.

So. I ripped and re-knit from 2 balls changing yarn every row.The 2nd set of pics are a little blurry- rainy day and wiggly model, but you can see the difference

I can tell you the yarn handled the re-knit well and looked as good as when it was first knit without even blocking.

But what about you? Do you care if a yarn pools? or are you like me and enjoy the designs in the colors as its knit up?

Anyway, the hat looks great and the yarn is delicious. I highly recommend the pattern if you like this style hat.

In other news, took the puppies to get "fixed" today. "Fixed", hehe. as if they are broken. The house is strangely quiet and poor Gunnar does not know what is going on ;(

Well, they come home tomorrow, I'm sure they will make up for all the quiet and then some.

Fursday

What is going on out there?

Actually I think NBB (Not Bad Baby- here for a week of preschool camp) called them up for some kind of lesson. She's been putting the dogs in line and playing school all week!