Mini Vacation! Socks done! Kitty toys!

Son and I went up to the middle of Wisconsin (Wausau) to visit friends. Originally there was supposed to be a big housewarming party. We had a hotel so we could go to the party and then have a place to crash. At the last minute, due to an unfortunate host/husband illness, the party was cancelled but our room was paid for and non-refundable so we went anyway. As it turns out, we had a great time. Although you wouldn't know it by this picture... this was how son looked at first... he did get MUCH better and had a great time, but then I forgot to pull out the camera (having too much fun to stop for that)

My only plans involved taking some quiet time, finding Starbucks and finding the local yarn shop, Black Purl. I got two lovely skeins of Mountain Colors Bearfoot sock yarn. I'm not sure of the color names, they got lost when the shop wound the balls.

But even though that was fun for me, that's the point where son was really doubting the fun of this trip. When I knew we were making the trip anyway, I had emailed friend, the wife of the sick guy, to see if she wanted to do lunch or dinner with us and their almost 4yo daughter. As it turned out, we spent the day with them. We played at the park, threw rocks in a river, went back to their place and cooked out, later took the kids to the pool at the hotel and just generally had a great, relaxing time. Even son agreed it was a wonderful trip. (sorry there's no photographic proof!)

So to the socks.... Knitty's Spring Forward socks done, converted to toe-up. I've been working on them off and on since July but the wonky baby blanket had taken priority. They are soft and warm and I love the color.

And last but not least, a package arrived today. I was actually confused by it but it turned out to be from my Kitty Toy swapper on Ravelry. But inside there was a book for me, a pretty blue dragonfly bookmark (not pictured) and of course kitty treats and toys. Tigger immediately claimed the snail....

Have a good day! - DFly

The wonky, the cute, the baby stuff.....

Ok, so it was learned that a good friend was pregnant and what do I do? I decide, this good friend needs a baby blanket. I decide on the Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason-Dixon Knitting. A very user friendly pattern and book. If you pay any attention to gauge that is.... See, it's all in garter stitch and in theory, garter stitch is a very square stitch. 20 rows should equal the same dimension as 20 stitches. Well, mine is almost square. Seriously, I did a gauge swatch, I measured, it was pretty darn close. But not close enough. when you are doing this blanket, you pick up stiches along the edges of the previous blocks. you pick up the same number of stitches as there were rows... If they are equal, this should work out great. Here's me though... "hmmm... it seems to be going a little wonky.... that's ok... I'm sure it will work out when I get to the other side, after all the other sides should stretch out the middle...." It doesn't work that way. the outside does not stretch the inside, the inside pulls the outside in and makes a weird ruffle.

So here is my weirdly wonky blanket. and no, it doesn't block out, it's made of Cotlin, which has very little stretch no matter what you do... and the little bit that can be corrected goes right back to this when you throw it in the washer, which was the purpose of using a yarn that's easily washable.

there is someone that's happy with it, every time I tried to take the picture above, I'd get the camera ready and see the picture below......

So after working months and months on a wonky blanket. I then made a baby hat and bootie set... it took just a few days and looks a hell of a lot cuter!

Stitches stash (WITH pictures)

Ok, to those with feeds, read on (took awhile to get pictures and text all aligned to make sense)
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First, the trip to Stitches was wonderful. My friend and I met at my place and then went to the bus stop. While we were waiting, we met the people in the car next to us and found out that my friend and one of them knew all the same people. I'm surprised they hadn't met before this. The bus was great, I especially appreciated it on the way home after I was very tired. Much as I love the new car, knowing that someone else was driving was great! Stitches itself was a little overwhelming but after having gone to Bead & Button a few times, I had a plan of attack. Except for stitchmarkers (see below)I didn't buy anything before lunch. I just walked the aisles and wrote things down in my notebook. (booth, approximate location, what I saw there and what I was thinking of it for). After lunch, I actually started purchasing but I knew what I was aiming for, so to speak. My original list that I had was yarn for:

1. friends/sis that couldn't make it
2. sweater (I had two patterns with me so I could pick when I was there)
3. lace stole
4. son's Maze hat
5. fair isle gloves (you'll notice I didn't buy, too expensive for small amounts)
6. knotty knice socks
7. stitch markers
8. beaded scarf kit (more info below)
9. up to three random sock yarns because sock yarn is pretty

Judge for yourself how I did....

My favorite yarn is this green multitonal. The "snowman" is actually one skein balled up into three balls. (there were two knots) I bought three skeins total. It's gorgeous, bright greens and everyone stopped me to ask me about it, but I can't get the picture quite right. The picture with the cat is there because, believe it or not, it's the best one to see the tonal aspects. It's to make the Sidelines Top from this month's Interweave Knits. They did it in red, but several perfect strangers at Stitches told me that this green was perfect for me.

This teal is from Creatively Designed Yarns. Not only is it lovely seacell/silk combination, but the designer (creative on Ravelry) helped explain what to expect at Stitches and gave advice that I think helped greatly! I was happy to meet her in person. I'm planning to use it for the Biased Eyelets Stole in Interweave Knits.























I bought this kit because I thought the teal yarn is pretty and the cable pattern on the socks is interesting. The teal is a tonal which I love because it's not super solid looking. This morning as I was preparing for pictures and blogging, I looked up the yarn and found out that its actual color name is Dragonfly, how perfect is that?

This is a pretty yarn called Unwind Yarns Zinfandel Sock. It's a bit more orange than this picture shows but it's close. It's designated for the Knotty or Knice Socks from Interweave.

When I went to the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee in June, I bought and finished a knitted bracelet kit. The same vendor had these beautiful scarf kits that I loved but didn't buy at the time. I saw she was going to be at Stitches and knew I had to stop. I got a chance to talk to her, she used me as a model for one of her shawls (I was wearing a nice black blouse that apparently made a good background) and I bought a scarf kit this time. I don't like the picture that comes with the pattern, but they are lovely made up. I got a pretty multicolor ribbon yarn and green beads in my kit.

I'm fascinated by this kit. This was not a planned purchase but I did tell myself I could buy three sock yarns so I'm counting this as one *laugh* It is a kit that teaches you how to dye yarn with Wilton dyes that are used for cake icing. Because you paint the yarn with the dyes rather than soaking them, the woman I talked to said you can do it in a small space. I can't wait to try it, the samples were incredibly vibrant. There was another woman that stopped by, she had taken a class with the seller and wanted to show the socks she's working on. She said that her 8yo granddaughter got to pick the colors and then paint the yarn herself and now she (grandmother) was knitting them into socks for her. They were really pretty and I loved that story. But also, if an 8yo can do it with supervision and have it work, I certainly can!!

I've been planning to make the Maze hat ever since I saw it in Knitty. I'm planning to make it for son for Christmas but I'm fairly sure I'm safe posting here as he ignores my blog now. I've been looking for this yarn (allhemp6) ever since because I didnt' want to buy it sight unseen for the first time and I didn't want to pay the shipping costs. But I'm glad I found it. supposedly hemp washes up soft. machine washable and supposedly won't mildew which just sounds like something a boy heading to his teens should have.

Ok, dragonfly cloissene stitchmarkers from a vendor with a kitty theme, I knew i was going to try to find stitchmarkers and I couldnt' resist this set.




















Last of the items, miscellaneous group... The book's author was there and he autographed it. I'm not sure if it's any good yet, it's a murder mystery, someone is killed by Addi Turbos, yarn shop owners become detectives. But I like the fact that it's autographed. Supposedly it will only be sold at yarn shops, on his site or at independent mystery book stores. Anyway, next things... a medium-sized Go Knit Pouch. I love my smaller one, I like how it snaps to my belt loop or a neighboring chair with ease. I've wanted a bigger one but they don't sell on Knit Picks and again, I haven't wanted to pay shipping. When I saw the medium, even though it wasn't on my list, I got it anyway. (it would have been on my list if I had thought of it!) and lastly, two mini sock things, one a christmas ornament and the other a keychain. One was won as a prize on the guild bus, the other one was basically free when I bought the Wilton dye kit and the teal cable sock kit above.
















I also bought some lovely yarn for local friend, Apryl and mojaveSis. They've seen their pictures. I am happy to say that really the book was the only totally unplanned purchase so I did well with that, no buyer's remorse. Although between Stitches and the car, I'm not buying any new yarn for quite some time! (although you will see items from sock clubs (sock yarn cinema and new Lord of the Rings) but those were paid in full up front.

I loved Stitches and hope to go again next year, hopefully even take a class.

Stitches... but no pictures

I went to Stitches and had a marvelous time! But the available light is not helping me get accurate pictures of the stash I aquired. It was late evening when we got home and so the sun was low in the sky and casting weird shadows. I tried indoors and outdoors, with and without flash and most of the colors come out weird shadowed, crazy neon bright (when they shouldn't be) or totally washed out.... so I'm going to wait on posting pictures.

The picture here is what I brought to prepare myself. My Ravelry tote customized to me, my Selfish Knitter's pin, my blue kitty/chair bag with a project for the bus, a folder full of pattern information to keep in mind, with my list of what I wanted and information on things like yarn standards and needle sizes, pen and paper to take notes, headache medicine, an additional fold-up tote and of course wallet, with money!!

I'll try again on pictures of the stash tomorrow. It's WAY too pretty to put it up with coloring!

-DFly