the Akamai Knitter

It’s a miracle! The Mingus socks (Ravelry) are finished!

Pattern: Mingus by Cookie A.

Yarn: Wollmeise in “Spice Market”

Needles: 1US/2.25mm

Started: April 23, 2008 (!!!)

Finished: February 23, 2008

Can you believe it took me **TEN** months to finish these socks? I think it’s because I wanted this project to go on forever. I just wanted the experience to last.

I loved loved loved this yarn.  It’s Wollmeise! Wollmeise! I was blessed when Kris brought the yarn over from Germany one year.  The Spice Market is just perfect. It matches a pair of my Danskos perfectly too.

As far as all the hype concerning this yarn goes? I think it’s well deserved. They yarn isn’t splitty and it gives awesome stitch definition. It’s nice to the touch while appearing hard wearing at the same time. And the colors? The colors are amazing. Words fail me.

Still. I’m not paying $75 a skein for it.

I am just sayin’.

The pattern was a little complicated, but I loved loved loved it. I firmly believe a little brain tease is good for the noggin.  I had a rough start, but once I got into the rhythm of the pattern it was smooth sailing.

I cannot wait for Cookie A.’s book to come out. I haven’t pre-ordered it yet, but I will next week. It’s all so exciting! A whole book full of her patterns! Yay!

I had a little helper during my photo shoot.

As for my knee? We shall not speak of it other then to say I have an appointment with my doctor this coming Thursday.

In the meantime, I’m rapidly coming to the finish line on another UFO* (Ravelry).  I have something coming in the mail and I promised myself that I’d get some of those pesky UFO’s out of the way before I started something completely new.

Since I haven’t really been able to update the shop with new yarn, I’m thinking of throwing up a new line of stitch markers on my shop.  We’ll see what I can manage.

One last thing, there is now a Ravelry group for Hungry For Handspun! Come! Join us! Spread the word!

That is all.

Have a great weekend, everyone. :)

*UFO=UnFinished Object in knitting speak, for you non-knitters. I know you is out there.  :)

it is finished.

Pattern: February Lady Sweater (Ravelry)

Yarn: Patons Classic in Navy (yeah, yeah. i know that looks purple.)

Needles: 6US/4.0mm

Size: L

Date Started: February 1, 2009

Date Finished: February 20, 2009

what can i say about this sweater? there’s a reason why over 4,000 people have decided to knit it. it’s fabulous. fun to knit and fun to wear. what more could you ask for?

yes, i still haven’t attached the buttons. yes, i wore it out without said buttons. i swear i’ll do it tonight and maybe i’ll even have modeled shots on friday!

i think this would be a good project for those just venturing into lace, because the stitch pattern is very simple and easy to memorize. just the way i like it. :)

the sweater does run a bit on the large size. if you noticed, i knit the large. that was mainly due to my gauge. i’m normally a 2X, so dropping to a large was quite dramatic.  even the large is a little baggy for me.

i could not, for the life of me, get my camera to cooperate and get an accurate rendering of the color of this yarn. bleh! the above photo was the closest i could get.

there’s been a lot more knitting being done around here since i haven’t been spinning. my knee is feeling a lot better. i’m really tempted to spend a little time at the wheel. i’m trying to hold off, but i did experiment a little with it last night and i treadled the wheel with no fiber for about 5 minutes. the knee held up well. things are looking up!

happy tuesday, folks! i mean wednesday.

yeah.

it’s been that kind of day.

On Saturday I took a class called Wire Play Day at The Bead Gallery. It’s a really neat class as you get to choose the project you want to work on.  I chose to make the Doodlebug Bracelet.

The frame of the bracelet is made up of 16 gauge wire. I textured the wire with 3 or 4 different hammers. I really love me some texturing hammers. Too bad they’re so spendy.

I then chose to embellish it with Kyanite beads, sterling silver beads, and coils. Kyanite is one of my favorite semi-precious gemstones.

I think the bracelet looks a lot better on then just sitting there. It kind of looks like a train wreck on its own.

As far as spinning goes, I did manage to produce some yarn. It’s fuglier then shit and it was hellish to spin, but I was determined to use up the fiber.

I bought the batts when I was a new spinner and I had the misguided belief that I could spin this stuff into laceweight yarn. Ha! The silk was basically layered with the wool, which was four types of Corriedale X’s.  Ick.

As for my knee? It’s still giving me problems. I spun the yarn without treadling with both of my legs. Instead, I just treadled with just my right leg. Not fun! Only I was that desperate for spinning time.

The plan is to rest my knee for another week. If it’s not better by then, I’ll head back to the doctor. Keep your fingers crossed!

Finally, look what’s blooming out on my lanai! I have no idea what kind of plant this is. It looks like a rose, but I don’t think it is. I’m an idiot about things like this.

Have a good one.

In an effort to busy myself while I rest my knee, I decided to take out my jewelry pliers and bend some wire. (Did that just rhyme?) I just started a subscription to this magazine and decided to try one of their projects. Here’s what I made.

It’s great getting back into the groove with the jewelry. I really missed my tools. The only thing I disliked about this project was making all those jump rings. That was really tedious. I don’t own a diamond saw so I use my flush cutters instead.  (I know this is probably all gibberish to those of you who don’t work wire. Bear with me.)

I did tweak the design a little bit by putting a jump ring around the s-hook. I think this will make the bracelet a little sturdier. Otherwise, the jump rings might slide right off the s-hooks.

I’ve been wearing it around the house and it’s very comfortable. It doesn’t snag on anything, not even the sweaters I’ve been wearing. We all know how important this is to us knitters. And yes, it’s been just a little chilly here at night. No teasing! ;-)

My knee is doing great. I plan on spinning up a 2 oz batt today. That should only take me about 45 minutes, so it won’t be very hard on the knee. If I start to experience any pain, I’ll stop. Cross your fingers, okay?

Finally, Blogless Michelle sent me a picture of the seahorse I made for her new baby with the new baby himself. Isn’t he sweet?

Happy Friday, everyone! Have a great weekend!

I saw the doctor yesterday and he diagnosed me with good ol’ fashioned bursitis. He treated me with a shot in the knee and while I’m very tender right now, he said that after a couple of days of rest I could slowly start spinning again! I was so terrified that he was going to tell me what I really needed to do was completely rest my knees for 6 weeks.  So this isn’t just good news, this is great news!

To celebrate, why don’t I throw more handspun at you.

2ply
210 yards – 12 WPI
4.6 oz
100% Merino
Crown Mountian Farms
“We Are The Champions”

2ply
190 yards – 12WPI
4.25 oz
The Yarn Wench

I don’t think I need to tell you that I’m really itching to get back to the wheel. I think the next two days are going to go by at a snail’s pace. Luckily, I’m at the sleeves of the FLS. Hopefully the thought of finishing that will distract me.

I’ve also been busy bending wire. Hopefully I’ll have something to show for it next time. Right now, what I have done is spinning in the rock tumbler.

As far as my half hour spinning experiment?  Well, I didn’t quite stick to the half hour, but I only exceeded the half hour by fifteen minutes. So I don’t think I did too badly. :)

BTW, does anyone else watch American Idol? Or am I the only one thus making me the one who just admitted to watching “trash” TV…  :P

Go Danny! Go Michael!

Okay, I’m going to go hide my face now. :)

Happy Wednesday, folks. May the force be with you.