the Akamai Knitter

Back in January, Hattie asked me to test knit a pattern for her. I was a little nervous at the idea since I’ve never test knit a pattern, but since she only needed one sock done and I had the whole month to do it. I figured I could handle it.

It took me a few tries to find the right yarn that complimented the pattern, but I finally settled on some yarn Shelly had given me as a Christmas gift. Once that was settled, I was able to get the first sock completed within the alloted time period, but I lost my motivation to finish the pair after that. It seems that if I don’t blog about my projects I sometimes lose the incentive to finish projects. Strange, no?

I finally got the go ahead to blog about the project and that provided me with the impetus to complete the second sock. So 3 months later I now have a pair to show off.

Pattern: Tendril Embrace(Ravelry link) by Hattie Adkins

Yarn: TOFUtsies; Color No. 791

Needles: 1.5US / 2.5mm

Started: January 2008

Finished: March 26, 2008

This is a really fun pattern. It’s simple to knit and easy to memorize. It also made for the perfect project to see me through a mild bout of the flu I had earlier this week.

I’m a little ambivalent about the yarn. While it’s very soft to the touch, it’s also very slippery which made it hard to pick up dropped stitches. Plus, it was a bit splitty as well, but that might have been exacerbated by the fact that I used very pointy needles. Still, it has a nice drape to it and I think it will make a great summer sock as the fabric is lightweight and airy.

I don’t think I’d mind making another pair of these in the same yarn with the exact same pattern since these babies are going to be heading to a friend. If you’ll all remember, pink is not my cup of tea. (Don’t worry. I’m not going to give my friend socks that I’ve tried on with my stinky feet, I’m washing these before I gift them.)

These will be the first pair of socks that I’ve ever made for someone else and I’m more then a little nervous about the fit. There’s a lot of stretch to them so I hope they’ll be very forgiving.

Now that I’ve recovered from the flu I had, I’ll be back at my spinning wheel. I’ve also cast on for another pair of socks, but I think I’ll save all that for another time. I’ve been running dangerously low on blog fodder, which is why posting has been sporadic at best.

I’ll leave you with a picture of a little friend I’ve made. I think he’s an Anole, but he doesn’t look like a Carolina Anole since he’s not green. He likes to sleep in a ficus out on the lanai. You can see he was a little wary of the camera inching towards him.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend! As always, thanks for reading. :-)

Where have I been? What have I been doing? Have I been knitting? No. Not really. I seem to have lost my knitting mojo. Tragic as that may be, I still have my spinning mojo.

What I’ve been doing is turning this:

Into this:

Two bobbins of merino/silk laceweight singles. The colorway is called Lady of the Lake from Enchanted Knolls.

The obligatory close-up shot:

I’m going to let the singles “rest” for a few days before I ply them together. Resting them is supposed to make them easier to ply. I can’t say that I’ve ever really noticed the difference, but these are rather delicate singles. So I’m going to play it on the safe side.

Next up on the spinning wheel is some rather dull natural colored fiber that I got years ago. I’m spinning it up into laceweight singles and then I’m going to try to dye the finished yarn. I decided not to take pictures as it’s really just a bobbin of boring.

After that’s finished, I’ll have a real treat as I got a bag of real fibery goodness in the mail yesterday. I know that I’m going to Maryland Sheep & Wool and that I should be saving my pennies for the delights that await me, but this is something I really could not resist.

I got this from Dawn at The Secret Pocket. In her description she says it’s “too darned ugly for a woman’s garment.” I’m sure there are going to be people who’ll agree with her, but I’m in love with it! I adore brown and blue together! I really think this will make a lovely pair of socks for myself.

Let me tell you that when I bought the roving, I left her a comment telling her how pretty I thought it was. I was incredibly surprised when she wrote me back offering to refund my money if I didn’t like it once I actually had it in my hands. What service! She’s definitely got a repeat customer in me. :-)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and for those who celebrate it, happy Easter! As for me, I’ll be chillin’ at the wheel with a cat at my feet.

I’ll leave you all with a gratuitous photo of Scheyer. (The white blur is Pressie trying to get in on the action. Only she wouldn’t keep still for me to actually get a good shot.)

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).

I can’t tell you how excited I am! I finished my very first pair of socks in my very own handspun yarn this morning.

Before I finished them, I was afraid that I’d run out of yarn. Even though I calculated how many yards I had, I did not trust my math. I could easily have been wrong and have been off by a couple of hundred yards. And knit and purl patterns eat yarn like wild animals, don’t ya know?

So I deployed the demon eyes of Scheyer to tame the yarn. Either he was on overdrive that day or I’m an abysmal judge of exactly how much yarn I have or my math was actually correct.

This is how much yarn I had left.

I’m thinking that I need to trust my math. I’d sure save myself a lot of angst in the future if I did. I swear I was in a constant panic attack when I was knitting on that second sock. Boy, do I feel silly now.

I bet you want to see the socks. That’s what it’s all about right?

Pattern: Primavera by natalja (available from Ravelry as a free download)

Yarn: My own handspun; roving from Yarn Wench in the colorway Napa

Needles: US 1 / 2.25mm

Started: March 5, 2008

Finished: March 12, 2008

After 3 repeats of the pattern, I decreased from 66 sts to 54 sts by reducing to 2 purl stitches between each stockinette stitch block instead of four. I hope that makes sense. If not feel free to leave a comment and I’ll try to clarify.

I loved this project from start to finish. From spinning up the yarn to knitting up the socks. I was constantly tickled pink by the fact that I was knitting with yarn that I made. Yarn. That I made! And it’s soft! Really soft and cushy!

*deep breath*

Some people say that Merino is not a good choice for socks because it isn’t strong enough. I don’t care. I’m not hard on my socks and I get such pleasure from this beautiful fiber. If they wear out faster then other fibers, I’ll just have to make more. I have no problem with making more.

I also have no problem with the fact that the stripes are more like huge rectangles of color. Nor do I mind that the colors don’t run in the same sequence on each sock. I think they look rather artistic and eclectic.

I’m thoroughly addicted to knitting with my own handspun yarn now. This spells trouble for my stash of commercial yarn. Luckily I can only spin so much, so fast. So there will be no giving away of the stash anytime soon!

Happy Wednesday, everyone. :)

It feels like I’ve been knitting and knitting with nothing to show for it. Finally, I have an FO to report.

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.

Yarn: Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino Sock in Glorious Green

Needles: Size US 1/ 2.25mm

Started: January 31, 2008

Finished: March 5, 2008

Modifications: None. Why change a good thing?

I had been searching high and low for just the right pattern for this yarn. I adore this yarn and I really wanted to do it justice. I was finally inspired to give Monkey a try after seeing Claudia‘s Chocolate Monkeys.

Now I love this pattern, but I’ve never been entirely happy with my other two pairs of Monkeys. With my first pair, I encountered some horrible pooling. With my second pair, the colors of the yarn is so out of my normal comfort zone I hardly ever use them.

But these? These I know I’ll use. I’m a huge fan of green and this is not only green, this is “Glorious Green”. Not only that, the pattern shows off the yarn to perfection and the fit is superb.

With these off the needles, I might have cast on for another pair of socks. These said pair of socks might be knit with some handspun yarn. I might have even used this pattern (Ravelry link). And I might not have enough yarn.

I’m deploying Scheyer’s demon eyes on the yarn to get it to behave.