spin me a river...

I love spinning. It is so calming. It is even closer to meditation than knitting is.
I'm getting better at joining roving (insert technical name here) while spinning and this last bobbin (the one shown) didn't break at all when I wound it off the bobbin. I'm going to wait until I have more before I ply it this time. The little cake of yarn is my first bobbin of hand spun ever. It is so full of knots where the singles broke it's unreal. I don't think I'll use it for anything. I'll just keep it for posterity. What I really need is more than one bobbin. My friend is ordering another, but I'm hesitant to get too many for this wheel because I'd like to get a different one at some point. I'd like to try something other than Scotch tension to see how that works. Also there is much to learn about ratios and other stuff that concerns numbers. I hate the numbers.


This is how interested my cats are in yarn. I love this picture because he looks very bashful. His shiny black fur makes and excellent backdrop for pictures.
This should be evidence to everyone the kind of environment I live in. If you get anything from me that is knitted, chances are it has some cat hair in it. Not because everything snuggles with my cats, but because they snuggle everywhere and then the hair ends up in my knitting...


Here is a finished object picture for the latest One-Skein wonder. For hers Yuki picked Crystal Palace Bamboozle (bamboo/cotton/elastic) in "royal purple". This yarn is perfect for shrugs. It is nice and stretchy, so you don't have to worry about straining your back while shrugging into your shrug.


And I love how great the raglan shaping looks. Many people at work complemented Yuki on her fabulous new look. I can't think of a better home for a cute purple shrug!
I've ordered some Knit Picks Shine Worsted for the Two-Tone shrug from Fitted Knits. Hopefully it will get here soon. I'm not super excited about knitting cotton again, because I've heard it can be difficult to knit, but we shall see. The Shine colors were lovely.


And now to the sock! The first Anastasia Sock is finally done! Hurrah! It is knit in Knit Picks Palette in Rain Forest. The toe and heel are reinforced with Fortissima Socka thread #1088, it didn't match perfectly, but gives the sock a little extra green in the heel and toe.
I swear to you dear, sweet sockpal that, though it may appear otherwise, I will not let you down! You will get a pair of socks from me! I really like this pattern, size ones take a long time but I think it is worth it. My boss (work 1) said this is the first hand knit sock she'd seen that she would actually put on her foot.

The sad thing is I've knit so much in the past week that my shoulder hurts. That's right, I've got a knitting related injury. When I move it around it twinges and is all hurty. I need to cast on the next sock today though. I tried last night, but the provisional cast on was giving me problems... again. I like how this cast on works later, but getting it going in the first place makes me a little crazy.
Now on to pressing questions. How does one block socks without those fancy sock blockers? these desperately need to be washed (!!) and blocked before they are sent. Should I just pin them and put a fan on to facilitate two layer drying?
That is all for now.

OSW

This is what the OSW looks like on a charming model. A co-worker was nice enough to model for some pictures. I still love the color. I'm going to make this co-worker one despite her protests, probably in the same color. I need to pick a color for myself.


Work continues on never-ending sleeve the second. I have about 2 inches to go until I can begin the decreases. I feel like I'm racing the weather now. I want be able to wear it when I'm done.

And some pictures of the dogwood. I've been remiss in my goal of posting interesting pictures of Eugene, but it is pretty so I feel like posting spring wonderfulness. I love that dogwoods blossom before putting out any leaves.

finished OSW!

Hoorah! The One Skein Wonder that actually took about a skein and a half is done! Ready to be shipped off to parts unknown. I wanted to keep it for myself but it doesn't fit. I really like the colors, and it is super stretchy because of the elastic, it was really fun to knit. I realized about 2/3's of the way through the body that I was supposed to be knitting it on a circular rather than straight needles. That's what I get for starting a project while sick! But it turned out okay, it was just a tight fit for all the stitches towards the end. When I do one for myself it will go much faster with circular needles.


Picking up the stitches on the two fronts was kind of a pain... I couldn't get the right number of stitches... either ten or twelve too many or twenty short. There ended up being a small picked up stitch deficit on one side, but everything turned out fine. If I can find someone to model this, I will post a picture of it in action.


Now back to the pink hoodie. I have about 6 inches done on never-ending sleeve the second.
Yay. I really want to make some socks. The pattern for the clessidra socks on knitty is amazing. They are the sexiest socks I've ever seen! So I need to start practicing, practicing!!

sleeve the first of hoodie the first

Never-ending sleeve the first is done!! And looking much better I might add!
(notice the lively ornaments in the background)



I also like admiring the fabulous seaming on this sleeve, hopefully it goes that well for the remainder of the hoodie.


I'm also working on the "one skein wonder" from glampyre knits. The Knit Shop didn't have the yarn asked for in the pattern, but they steered me towards Crystal Palace Yarns "Bamboozle" which is 55% Bamboo 24% Cotton and 21% Elastic Nylon. I choose rainforest and I love the way it is knitting up! What I don't like is how loosely it hangs together as yarn. It kind of unwinds all by itself, so I tied a knot in the cast-on tail to keep it from continued... unraveling? It behaves pretty well after you start kniiting it, but it tends to catch if you aren't careful, and the yarn shop ladies said they wouldn't suggest wooden or bamboo needles because it snags.

Luckily I started off spring break with a nasty cold which gave me a good reason to sit on my butt almost all day working on this little beauty. I need to get through it quickly, because I need my pair of 8's to begin never-ending sleeve the second. Do I have the patience for a full size sweater I wonder?? The hoodie is taking FOR. EV. ER. I guess the secret may be sprinkling in lots of smaller projects during a large project?
I need to learn to knit socks.