the Akamai Knitter

I haven’t been up to much this past week. I’ve mostly been working on the sock from hell and various other small projects. One of them is a little alien cat toy (Ravelry details). It’s a little dorky but the cats seem happy with it.

dorky alien!

Since that’s all I got, I thought I’d show off some stuff I just got.

Even though I don’t sew, I recently acquired some fabric simply because I couldn’t resist. Luckily, my friend Acornbud does sew and she just opened up her own Etsy shop. So I begged her to make me one of her cute project bags and a crochet hook roll. She acquiesced and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results.

project bag and crochet hook roll

The project bag is just the right size for a ball of sock yarn and my sock project. What I love most about it is the little charm she put on it.

skully!

And the crochet hook roll? It’s perfect.

hooks!

As for what I’ve been doing with the hooks? Well, I’ll save that for another day. In the meantime, here’s a peek. (If you plurk, you probably already know what they are.)

*appendages*

Happy Saturday everyone! Enjoy your weekend!

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This weekend the postman brought many delightful goodies to my doorstep. First up is a surprise gift from someone I met while I was in Pennsylvania. Her name is Kathleen and not only does she have a lovely Etsy store called Friend of a Friend, she also makes the best English Muffins from scratch.

Kathleen sent me the cutest little stitch marker holder and the sweetest bookmark. I’m going to make a lot of use out of both of these things!

This is the rest of my weekend haul.

Wendy of WendyKnits graciously gifted me with the book Eclectic Sole once she learned of how much I coveted the book and of how hard it is to find it on Amazon. I am so happy to get my hands on a copy as there are so many socks in this book that I want to make. Thank you Wendy!

The yarn I got for myself. It’s Shibui Sock in Jonquil and I plan on knitting the Nanner Socks that Wendy has designed for her Plurk buddies. I’m really looking forward to this project as you all know how much I love Shibui.

I feel completely justified in starting a new project as I also have an FO to report. I give you the finished Burgundy Ditto Socks.

Pattern: my own 64 stitch, 2×2 rib pattern

Yarn: Universal Ditto, Color No. 4807

Needles: Size 1US/2.25mm

Started: May 21, 2008

Finished: June 23, 2008

I am so glad these socks are finished. Initially they were a very relaxing knit, but they soon became rather boring. There’s only so much 2×2 rib a girl can take!

I say that now, but I know I’ll return to it like a moth to a flame in a heartbeat. There’s something about 2×2 rib that always makes me go running back.

At least  I’ll be knitting with the Summer Of Socks gang now! Well.. except for the pair of Mingus socks that are still on the needles. But we won’t talk about those.

Instead, we’ll indulge in yet another cat picture. This time it’s Scheyer all curled up like a pretzel.

Happy Monday you all! After all, it’s almost over. :)

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I went hog wild at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. I’m a little ashamed of all the shopping I did. Seeing it piled up all at one time might just bring on an anxiety attack of severe proportions. So I thought that if I cut it up into tiny little pieces it might be more manageable and that maybe I could deceive myself into thinking it’s not that bad. We’ll see how that works out for me, shall we?

First off, I haven’t touched a spindle in quite awhile. Veronica will attest to the fact that I prefer my beloved Suzie over the beautiful spindles I have at home any day. She will also attest to the fact that I already have a nice collection of spindles going as it is. So I went to MDSW saying I would not be buying spindles. I said, “I am not a spindler. I will not buy a single spindle.”

Famous. Last. Words.

Yes. Those are five spindles you see before you. Five!

It all started when BFF Shelly had to pick up a special order from the Golding booth. Since she and Other BFF Carole know Tom Golding she just had to socialize with him and linger over her purchase.

This left me with time to browse his booth and gaze at the candy pr0n spindles. I fell in love with this one.

Before I headed to the mainland, I had been having a grand ol’ time watching Season One of The Tudors. I don’t think I could ever get tired of seeing Jonathon Rhys Meyers half naked. So what attracted me to this spindle was how much it looked like it came right out off the set.

Check out the side shot.

It’s one of his smaller spindles, so that allowed me to rationalize the purchase a little better. It still had me dumbfounded and I kept muttering, “I bought a Golding. A Golding!” all the way back to the van.

My next purchase came about while I was waiting to meet up with Alison, so it’s all her fault really. ;-) She was running a little late so I had to find something to do with myself until I could meet up with her. I ended up wandering the Main Exhibition Hall and I stumbled upon this beauty. A dragonfly spindle from Bergschultz.

Can you see the dragonflies? A *cough*male*cough* non-spinner, non-knitter friend of mine just squinted at it and said all he could were wings and not dragonflies. Le sigh. I can see the dragonflies. That’s what counts. And I love the colors of the whorl. So there.

Moving along with the spindle saga, we find ourselves hearing that even though Hatchtown Spindles weren’t on the vendor list, they were able to bring some spindles to sell in kits with another vendor. A little background story is needed here.

Back when I first learned how to spin from Carole, I learned on a drop spindle. Carole is a spindle collector. We won’t even mention how many spindles in her collection we managed to count. My little spindle collection is a drop in the bucket compared to hers.

Anyway, she’s the one who turned me on to the Hatchtown Spindles and I have been in complete and utter love since. I had at least 3 of them before she moved back to the mainland. Unfortunately they got damaged in a move. I have been without a Hatchtown since then and I haven’t had any luck getting my hands on another. These spindles are really popular.

I came away with one this weekend. Isn’t she pretty?

Next up is the Bosworth. Without the Hatchtown spindles to use for so many years, the Bosworths quickly became my favorites. It was an extra treat to be actually meet Jonathon Bosworth, the maker of the spindles.

I just knew that any spindle I chose from him would be special. This one really is as it’s also a sister spindle to the one BFF Shelly got as she bought one in the same wood. It’s a featherweight in Zebrawood.

My final spindle was also my final extravagance. I had fallen in love with this one on Friday and I kept returning to the booth to see if anyone had bought it. On Sunday it was still there, so after not much urging from Shelly, I crumbled like stale bread and bought it.

All that prettiness is sterling silver, so she was a little pricey. I think it will be worth it though because I’m really in love with it and Alison has the brass version of it. So I have another sister spindle! Not to mention she’s really well made and she spins like a dream. Shelly calls Golding spindles the Lamborghinis of the spindle world.

When she’s right, she’s right.

How could I resist?

Now I usually have pictures of felines to share, but since I’m vacationing I thought I’d share a picture of another type.

Pixie girl Rochelle and the German Shepherd Cheyenne. Gotta love the hellhound look on that dog. Doggie love sure does ease the absence of my darling cats.

Happy Wednesday you all! Thanks for reading. There’s more to come! :)

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It all starts with a couple of gadgets. First it’s the phone, because the decals are so pretty. And there was a limited selection. And.. and… well.

Then there’s headset. I bought it because it was the very last one of it’s kind in the store. That’s the truth! Pinky swear and everything.

After that comes the roving with the slightly interspersed bits of pink that hardly shows once its been spun.

But you know it’s there.

(I didn’t really notice the pink when I bought the roving. I was more attracted to the blue and brown combination that is now, hardy noticeable.)

Finally, there’s the yarn that was gifted to me over Christmas.

My friends know that I don’t care for pink. It’s not that pink is a bad color. Nor do I think that all people should ban pink from their color palettes in an effort to save my sanity. I even like pink in its own time and place. I would just never wear pink. Never. Ever.

Still certain people seem to think my world would be a better place if it had more pink in it. So while I’ve started knitting with said yarn, that doesn’t mean I’m going to be keeping the product for myself.

No. These socks(Ravelry link) are going to be gifted to a friend.

Not only that, the pink is being guarded by ferocious finger puppets.* Surely these little guys can stop the invasion.

Wish them luck. I have an insane urge to knit pink lace. Thank goodness I have no pink laceweight. I have absolutely no plans to acquire any. Pinky swear and everything.

Have a great weekend everyone!

*DPN holder generously gifted to me by the fabulously talented Teri (Ravelry link).

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I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! I was especially blessed this Christmas. My day was filled with cooking (a roast), eating, installing a new DVD player, watching a movie (Spiderman 3), knitting, and opening presents! I thought I’d share a couple of my favorites with you.

Jeanne and Chris got me the most beautiful yarn. It’s Fountain Hill from Kraemer Yarns. I think it will make a perfect Wing O’ The Moth Shawl. I wish I could cast on right away.

The ever generous duo didn’t stop there either. They also included a set of gorgeous stitch markers from Chris’ shop, Scotts Mountain Crafts. Chris does beautiful work, you should see her lovely shawl pins!

I am so touched by this gift. Not only because I love the yarn and the stitch markers, but because they actually thought of me this Christmas. To say the gift was a complete surprise to me would be an understatement. Thank you so much, Jeanne and Chris!

The other gift that I was totally thrilled with was given to me by my mother. I’ve been wanting this all year, but I’ve always held back as I told myself that I didn’t really need it. Without further ado, the Chocolate Brown Bloom.

I’m so in love with this bag. It has so many great pockets to put all kinds of odds and ends in. It somehow manages to be roomy and compact all at the same time. So not only does it look great, it’s also extremely functional.

Christmas isn’t quite over for me as I’m still not through with all of my gift knitting, but like Karen said, gifts are appreciated year round. Still, I’d like to get them done by the Chinese New Year in February. So it’s back to the grindstone for me. My little helper is raring to go!

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