the Akamai Knitter

Have you ever wondered what Opal was going to do with all that yarn she’s been spinning? Wonder no more! Announcing the opening of Opalescence!

Now I really ought to get some sleep since I was apparently talking in third person. :-)

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I’m writing with only 3 hours of sleep so please bear with me. I really shouldn’t have had that Chai last night, but it was so good! Let’s see.

Wednesday was plying day so I  Navajo plied the singles spun from Lori’s gorgeous fiber. I’m calling it Midnight Sky.

I decided to turn the fiber for my swap partner into a 2 ply. This one is going to be called Chocolate Espresso. I really hope she likes it.

With the Beijing Summer Olympics drawing near, Ravelympic fever is running rampant. So a few of us on Plurk decided we should do the Handspun Heptathalon. It was only natural that we set up a team for us Plurkers, thus Team Splurk was born!

Since the Heptathalon isn’t just for spinners, we’ve had some knitters join us as well. All they need to do is find some handspun to knit with!

I’ll have 11 days of rest between the Tour de Fleece and the Ravelympics. The spinning never ends and I like it that way.

I really hope that was coherent.

Happy Friday everyone! Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!  :-)

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KnittyOtter is holding a contest on her blog. It involves a questionairre. I normally don’t do these sort of things, but since I’ve got nothing I thought I’d give it a try.

1.) How long have you been knitting?

I learned how to knit when I was 7 and living in Korea. My neighbor taught me and I proceeded to knit many “blankets” for my teddy bears. Then when I was 12, I knit a few sweaters that not only did not fit anyone, but also fell apart without much urging. Yes, I was a knitting child genius.

I picked up knitting again in my late 20’s after a brief stint with the crochet hook. I dabbled and started but didn’t finish many projects up until 2006, which is when I had a knitting explosion. At least that’s what I like to call it. I think I knit 9 shawls and a 5 pairs of socks that year.

2.) How long have you been knitting socks?

My first pair of socks used the pattern Joan’s Wool Ease Pattern and I knit them way back when they first came out so that was in 1995. At least, that’s how I figure it.

3.) What do you do with a problem like Maria?

Who the heck is Maria?

4.) What is your all time favorite sock yarn?

Oh my gosh. Let me think. Gee. Could it be Shibui Sock? Ya think?

5.) Toe Up or Cuff Down?

I used to be all about the Cuff Down sock, but since I tried Wendy’s Toe Up heel I’ve been thinking twice about my commitment to Cuff Down.  So I’m kind of on the fence about this one.

6.) What’s your favorite color (this week or for all time)? Do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can’t stand?

Apparently my favorite color this week is blue, but I still have much love for the greens. My bedroom is done in sage green and I have yet to tire of it.

I can’t stand orange. This might have something to do with the fugly carpeting in my home.

7.) Do you have a pet(s)?

I have three cats: Pressie, Quincy, and Scheyer. They seem to be avoiding me at present though. I think they have an aversion to air conditioning. Weirdos.

8.) Babies: Oven Roasted or Barbecued?

Barbecued. Definitely.

9.) Besides socks what is your favorite type of thing to knit?

Now this is a hard one. :-P

Lace.

10.) What’s your favorite scent?

I love lavender, but I also have a soft spot for sage. Oh yes.. I still use Anais Anais perfume. It’s so retro-chic. Kind of like my carpet. :-P

11.) What music are you really loving right now? Like a song or a band?

Gosh, this is seriously a hard one. Right now I’m loving Jack Johnson, Cold Play, the Foo Fighters, Nickelback, and Velvet Revolver. Oh yes.. I’m also all happy over Duran Duran again. I am nothing if not eclectic.

12.) How many pairs of socks have you hand knit?

I think I’ve knit at least 33 pairs of socks. That’s rough figuring.  And now I’m asking myself “Wtf am I going to do with that many socks?!?!”

13.) What’s your favorite treat? Salty or Sweet?

Salty. I adore Salt & Vinegar chips. In fact, I’m severely addicted to them.

14.) What was the most interesting thing you smelled yesterday. Not good or bad necessarily, just the thing that stuck out most so that you actually took notice of it.

Squid luau. It smelled yummy.

15.) Needles - DPN’s: Wooden, metal or plastic?

Circulars please. Metal. Knitpicks. ‘Nuff said.

16.) What is your favorite sock pattern that you’ve knit? What do you recommend?

Sheesh. Do I have to choose? There are so many! I guess I’d have to go by how many times I’ve knit a pattern, so that would be the Pomatomus.

17.) The last Question: If you were stuck on a deserted island who would you want with you, what knitting would you want with you and would you ever want to leave?

Oy. I’ve thought of this before, but I’m the most indecisive person I know. I -never- choose the same thing twice.

Today I’d like Jason Statham with me and a cone of Zephyr along with my shawl patterns. Plus some Shibui Sock and both my spinning wheels. Let’s not forget the butt load of spinning fiber. And let it be an island like England, not like Hawaii. Otherwise I’d have no excuse to share body warmth with Jason.

Yeah, I don’t think I’d want to leave. :)

Well.. maybe I would for this guy.

Happy Thursday everyone! Friday is inches away. :)

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You all know that since I finished a pair of socks I’d have to start another.  So just because there has been spinning does not mean there has not been knitting. It just hasn’t been around in abundance.

The new sock is being knit with some Trekking XXL I bought from The Knitter’s Underground while I was on vacation. The pattern is the ingenious Twisted Tweed and I loves it.

I took the sock with me to the graduation party I sweated at. I should have gotten a picture of the sock with the graduate, but to tell you the truth I didn’t know the graduate all that well. I’m friends with his mother and she was sweatier then I was, so I didn’t want to bother her.

Still. The sock received much admiration from the other folks at my table. Despite the wonderful hula show and the eating and the chattering and the eating and the endless raffle prizes and the eating and the wonderful music and the eating, I was able to get some knitting done.

The colors in this sock cheer me to no end. A good thing too since my current spinning project is rather monochromatic. But I’m on the second bobbin of two which means I’ll soon be done with it.

I really hope my swap partner likes it. It’s not very exciting. I’m painfully nervous about the whole thing. This is my first swap in years and I really want it to go well. I’ve been gathering various Hawaiian good in addition to the fiber I’m sending. Gosh, I hope she doesn’t hate Hawaii. :-o

Here’s a few non-sequitors. Did anyone see the Home Run Derby? Josh Hamilton kicked ass! Twenty-eight home runs in the first round! I was really sad that he didn’t take home the trophy, but he still went down in history.

Also, it’s really humid here. I washed five skeins of yarn yesterday and they’re still not dry.  This makes me growl in a sad, pathetic way. I know that’s rather self-contradictory, but there you have it.

Finally, it’s a rare shot of the three amigos. So rare that I had to take it at night and adjust the exposure to accommodate the super crappy lighting. You may all laugh at my horrid 70’s orange carpeting.

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Thanks for reading. :)

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I’m all about the pictures today. It’s Monday and I have no words.

Remember these?

I finally got around to plying them together. I’m extremely pleased with the results.

Gratuitous close up shot.

I also finished the first bobbin of the Berry Pie Filling from Moonlight Baker. It’s like spinning buttah.

I would have continued on with the Berry Pie Filling, but I need to spin up some yarn for my swap partner first. I got some Superwash Merino/Alpaca from All Spun Up for her.

More buttah. My arteries are hardening with all the buttah going on around here. Heart attack city, people.

And for your viewing pleasure, the resident Buttah Ball.

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you have more words then I do.  O.o

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