Magic Socks

I purchased a skein of Zauberball, a multicolored yarn that changes hue throughout the skein. Decided that I wanted to use it to do two socks at a time on one circular needle. This is my first full attempt at doing this although I have done some "practice" baby booties, but not to completion. I figured this yarn didn't need some fancy pattern to make it interesting so it was a good choice for a first attempt. We'll see how it goes!

I divided the skein into two equal balls for easier handling. You can see that they look different and therefore I will have mismatched, though cooridinated, socks.

Felted Slippers

Felted Slippers
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ

My old, much-loved, felted slippers have worn out. The soles are completely shot. I am giving them to Nora who likes to hold the slippers in her front paws and kick them with her back legs. And, no, she is not responsible for the slippers' demise. That was all me.

Anyhow, started some new ones. The Christmas madness got in the way so it took me 10 days to finish them even though they really only take an evening or two to actually knit. But when you are laughing it up with the family, you usually aren't accomplishing any knitting.

So here they are, as pretty as can be. They need to dry which will take a couple of days since they are really wet, but it will be worth the wait.

This is what they looked like before they were felted. Clown shoes. As many of these as I have made, I still think it's funny to see the "before" picture.

Lorna's Laces

More Handspun
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ

I bought some roving by Lorna's Laces from WEBS. The color is bittersweet. I've been spinning it obsessively. This is the first skein. I'm really happy wit how it came out. It's more orange and red than the original roving which seemed to be more purple. I guess this is because are the fibers are opened up and drafted they appear lighter in color.

I have no idea what I'm going to make with this. It's gorgeous and I have 10 ounces. I'll have to see what inspires me.

This Spinning Thing

This Spinning Thing
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ

Well, it's true: spinning is addictive. I bought some blue-faced Leicester and silk roving at Rhinebeck and found it was a joy to spin. Since I'm still a rank amateur, the results were a bit irregular. I call it lumpy. Julie, my teacher, calls it "textured." I'm making a scarf from that yarn.

So off I went to the Etsy store of Gale's Art whose roving I had purchased and bought some more. This was without the silk, just BFL and dyed in cotton candy colors. It's also a dream to spin--easy to draft. The color combinations are fun too. I did half a bobbin, and I've started a second bobbin. (For those not in the know, unless you have a giant fly and bobbin, you can only ply two half-bobbins because two half bobbins will fill up a whole bobbin when plied. Giant bobbins are on my list for next year.) I'm not sure what I'm going to make with it. I keep saying fingerless gloves, but who knows. It's going to be even more colorful when it's plied. Perhaps a tad loud? Yarn can never be too loud for me!

Stay tuned.

Little Debbie Handspun

Little Debbie Handspun
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ

Here's some of the handspun yarn I have made from Little Debbie's fleece. The wheel in a Bayne's.

This is some of the first spinning I've done and the first on this new wheel. I have to do a bit more and then I'm going to ply it. Not sure what I'm going to do with it afterwards. Perhaps I will do some Kool-Aid dyeing. And maybe I'll make a hat because I'm not going to have a whole lot of this, mostly because I'm impatient.

I have also spun some of the roving that I dyed and I love it. I'm being disciplined about saving that until I have this plied. That yarn is really lovely and cries out to be a scarf. Stay tuned.

Toxic Socks

Toxic Socks
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ

Finally started these "Toxic Socks." I promised myself I wouldn't start them until I finished the Hibiscus for Hope socks. I did and here are the Toxic Socks. The urge to start the next project can be overpowering as every knitter knows, but I was strong!

So far the pattern is pretty easy. It's written to be done on one circular needle, but I'm doing them on 5 double-points so I have to do a little amending of the pattern. That's been fairly easy thus far. These socks are going to be a bit wide, but I think they'll be good for winter. They are longer than most of the socks that I knit with a length of about 10 inches above the heel. Not quite knee socks, but higher than most of my other socks.

The game plan is to finish these and start on some more socks with my hand-dyed yarn. I have shown great restraint in not getting any of that on some needles. Startitis, the curse of the avid knitter!

Hibiscus for Hope

Hibiscus for Hope
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ

Well, I finally finished these socks, started in April. Way too long, but I took up spinning, started a sweater (still unfinished) and did a lot of other things. I finally forced my self to finish them because I'm dying to start knitting the pattern Toxic Socks, black and white socks with skull and crossbones. How can I resist that? But I was disciplined enough to finish at least one project before casting on another. You knitters know how much restraint that took!

This pattern was given to me by Mezzodiva who gives you the pattern when you donate to her breast cancer walk. So these are good deed socks.

With fall coming, at least I have new socks to look forward to.

Hand-Dyed Yarn

Hand-Dyed Yarn
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ

Just a note to show what the hand-dyed yarn looks like when it was wound into a cake. The one on the left is merino and silk while the one on the right is superwash merino and nylon. I definitely prefer the way the merino and silk took the dye although I'm very happy with both outcomes.

I have to roll up the roving too. It will be interesting to see how that looks when it's spun.

Dyeing Class

Dyed Yarn
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ

I went down to Stockton, NJ, to take a class in hand dyeing fiber. We were lucky to have lovely weather--not too hot and the threatened thundershowers never materialized. All to the good since we were working outside.

I dyed two skeins of yarn from Knitpicks--one superwash merino and nylon and one merino and silk--and four ounces of pure white roving.

The yarn in the foreground is the merino and silk. It took the dye really well. Almost nothing washed out during the rinse. The superwash also worked well, but more dye did rinse out. I'm not a pastel girl, but I really like the merino and silk which I think looks like spring flowers. It will make some really terrific socks.



Cousin Dan thinks the roving is reminiscent of a t-shirt from a Grateful Dead concert. This is not a criticism. I'm looking forward to seeing how it spins up. Of course, with the Little Debbie project, I don't know how much time I'm going to have to spin it. Maybe when I have a wheel and don't have to spin it on the drop spindle...

Little Debby Project

Little Debby
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ

A group from the Essex Spinners decided to buy a fleece from Julie Gerow and divided it for each of us to use it as we see fit. I am documenting my "sheep to finished object" sojourn.

This photo shows the fleece as it looked when I took it out of the bag it came in. Little Debby is a coated sheep so her fleece is very clean and free of vegetable matter. Julie skirted the fleece so the yucky parts were eliminated. This is one pound of fleece. It has brown and grays and some lovely silvery parts. This is a "dark" portion of the fleece. Some spinners got lighter portions.



I pulled off a section of fleece and washed it twice. It is now drying in the powder room. I plan to flick card it and spin it on a drop spindle since I don't yet have a wheel. I'm a complete novice at spinning so the progress of this project should be interesting and perhaps a little trying.

Knitting Olympics Afghan

Olympic Afghan-2/18/2010
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ

So here's the afghan I started as my entry in the Knitting Olympics. I started it during the opening ceremonies and here it is after a little less than a week. Now since the Olympics are nearly half over, this should be nearly half done, but it's about 25% complete. I guess I'm hoping that I will experience "negative splits" which is a term we use in running when you run the second half of the race faster than the first. I'm putting on a full-court press today because I'm busy for a couple of evenings this week so I'll need to put down some rows to keep up.

Stay tuned for more progress.

Olympic Knitting Stash

Olympic Knitting Stash
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ

Okay, folks. The Knitting Olympics (the Yarn Harlot's invention) and the Ravelympics start tomorrow at the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics. I am planning on making an afghan using the yarn in this photo. The deal is you have to finish by the time they extinguish the Olympic flame. Wish me luck. I'll be firing up the old Addi Turbo tomorrow night. Pictures to follow.

Finished Port Orford Sweater

Finished Port Orford Sweater
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ

Well, I finally finished this sweater after losing the instructions, losing the replacement instructions and resisting sewing it together. The knitting is rarely the hard part for me. It's the associated stuff that gets me down.

I like the sweater a lot although I don't find it slimming. And today it caught on everything--a cat's claw, a nail at work, my bracelet. So it's going to have a lot of little threads sticking out if I'm not careful. But, hey, it's for wearing, right?

I still have a hoodie that needs sewing up. I did a little less than half of it during the first of the 2008 presidential debates. I finished the Port Orford by taking it with me to the Wednesday knitting group at the Village Sheep in Washington Depot, CT. The company was great and the tediousness of the sewing was thus mitigated. Maybe the hoodie needs to go with me next week.

Turns out my friend Cathy made a couple of very similar sweaters for her kids. Maybe the similarity of our taste is one of the reasons we've been friends for over 40 years.

Onward and upward to new projects and the Ravelympics!

Well, you never know where you're going to find useful information on matters of national security. Seems that the place for me to go is Ravelry, the all-important knitting site. That's where I found this terrorism alert. Apparently the threat level is somewhere between Bert and Ernie. No one comes between Bert and Ernie! Couldn't figure out how to get the whole chart. The most serious level is the Elmo (red) level. Watch out if the Department of Homeland Security calls an Elmo!

Here are some socks that I barely finished in time for the holiday. I'm working on a hat when I'm not studying the terrorism threat. I can finish the hat tonight, but it still needs to be felted. I'll have to dry it with a hair dryer. Hmm...

Shoulder Cat

Shoulder Cat
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ

Tortellini likes to get up on my shoulder for brief periods. I think it helps her in her role as lookout. She is a very cute and loving cat. I'm lucky to have her.

She's not the only adorable cat around here. Abby and Nora are pretty wonderful too. Torts and Nora sometimes fight--not in a friendly cat wrestling kind of way, but like real antagonists. So it's nice to see them sitting sweetly together even if it's only because it's cold.



And Abby? She loves to sit on the (formerly) neatly folded packing paper. I finally had to get rid of this paper since tomorrow is recycling day, but if I ever empty another box there'll be a new pile for her.



No knitting posts today, just kitties. They do seem to go together.

I Can Haz Bukkit?

I have many, many works in progress so of course I had to start something new. I needed a hat since I have gone about three years without a usable hat. (I had some commercial knitted berets with elastic that was completely shot. Tossed them when I moved. Good idea.) So I looked in some books at the Village Sheep and found directions for a felted bucket hat from Chic Knits. I pulled some purple Cascade 220 out of the stash. Figured if it came out okay that Zoe might like it since purple is her color.

It was easy to knit, but the adult size requires 220 yards of yarn, the exact yardage of the Cascade. What did you think the 220 in the name meant? I found my gauge was okay on the stitches per inch, but short on rows. So when I tried to knit it to the exact directions, there wasn't enough yarn. I spoke to an employee at Modern Yarns in Montclair who told me that if you follow the instructions and knit to 5.5 inches in the body of the hat, it will be too deep when you felt it and come down past your ears. So I pulled out some rows and squeezed out the whole hat out of a single skein.

The next area of anxiety was the question as to whether my new front loader would felt the finished hat. The front loader has a pause button that allows you to open the door and check your project (or add newly discovered laundry.) Well, the energy efficient, super gentle washer did an excellent job of felting! I was very pleased. The hat is drying on a Farberware sauce pan. I think it's going to be great. The hat is not too deep. I've already started one in red. And maybe I need one in black. And how 'bout one in Noro? I see holiday presents! It takes about one evening or a little more to knit.

Grazing Sheep Bag

Grazing Sheep Bag
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ

I finally sewed up the Grazing Sheep Bag and felted it. I also felted the i-cord handles. Just have to sew them in. A friend foolishly offered to line it for me, but I think that may be too much to ask. As someone who disdains sewing, it is hard for me to understand someone volunteering to do it, but maybe she will.

Meanwhile, I like the bag very much. I made one adaptation. Well, two. I added a black sheep on the back of the bag on the theory that one has to have at least one black sheep. I also did seed stitch on the top edge because I was afraid the edge might roll.

A Perfect Blendship

A Perfect Blendship
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ

"If you're ever up a tree, send for me,
If you're ever down a well, ring my bell.
If you ever get so happy, you land in jail,
I'm your bail.
That's friendship, friendship, just a perfect blendship.
When other friendships have been forgot,
Ours will still be hot."

Or so said Cole Porter.

The kitties seem to concur. Here Abigail and Tortellini enjoy some window time together. Two matching catloaves.

And here is a completed Kitty Sock. The full pair is done. Alpaca is soft (but you knew that), and all is right with the world.

The iPhone Cozy

iPhone Cozy II
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ

I knitted and felted an iPhone cozy. This is a little project, one you can knit in one evening with any suitable (i.e. feltable) scrap yarn. To make it work you have to knit a swatch that is nearly as big as the finished project and then felt the swatch and do a little Algebra I to get the sizing right. You always wondered where that algebra was going to come in handy and it turns out that it's useful in the domestic arts! Who knew?

Anyhow, I quickly knitted this up, sewed up the bottom and ran it through the washing machine. I decided it was a bit too roomy so I felted it in the bathroom sink using hot water, Soak (a soap for washing woolens) and a bit of wringing of the cozy. It came down in size (and got a bit thicker too, a good thing) quickly. Then I had to find a button. I couldn't find anything purple so I took this grey job which I like a lot because it has a grain look. I'm happy and the iPhone is happy too.



Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, Abigail took it all in stride.

Grazing Sheep Bag in Process

Grazing Sheep Bag in Process
Originally uploaded by PhoebeJ

Long time, no post. Here's a work in progress. It is a felted bag from the book "I 'Heart' Felt" by Kathleen Taylor. It was featured in last month's Knit Picks catalog, but alas, Knit Picks was out of the book when I tried to order it as well as some of the colors. I had a gift certificate from Amazon and free (and available) trumps 40% off any time. Tortellini approved of the Amazon box.


Of course, Wool of the Andes is a lot cheaper than Ultra Alpaca, but when they don't have it, the price doesn't much matter.


This design sshould be easy. It's all stockinette, after all. But the chart has been harder to follow than I would have predicted. I suspect that's because it is 100 stitches wide, and that's a long line to follow. Also it's sheer "easiness" makes one less meticulous. So I've done my share of frogging. And it will not be fun weaving in all those ends! I was toying with the idea of not lining this baby, but 1) a lovely person in my knitting group offered to do the sewing for me and 2) a lining will hide a multitude of unwoven ends so I will probably go for a lining.

The good news: I'm more than half done. Only 3 sheep to do and then it's truly easy. The bad news: the ends and making i-cord since I want to be able to carry it over my shoulder.