Mikknit

We’re upgrading WordPress here, so pardon the funky look and missing blogring buttons. They’ll be back soon!

Looks like it’s pretty much back to normal here. I’ve got a new blogring button on the left - I just joined the MDC knitters blogring.

Please let me know if there’s anything not working!

As promised, I’ve got a few pictures to share.

First of all, a pair of soaker shorts for Arlo made with the Blackberry Ridge Kaleidoscope in Tropical Fish that I bought at Shepherd’s Harvest. I just need to treat it with lanolin (which means I need to *find* the lanolin) and they’ll be ready to wear. I used the Little Turtle Knits Picky Pants pattern for this, with a size 6 needle.

Next, some handspun yarn that’ll be sent off to my Secret Pal tomorrow. This is from the Spinner’s Web fiber I mentioned the other day. It’s a blend of wool, kid mohair, llama, and silk. There’s about 6.4 oz, ~320 yards, which puts it somewhere between aran and bulky weight. I’m going to have a hard time sending this off, but I know if it stayed here it’d just be eye candy instead of getting used.

Lastly, some sockiness. These are for my mom, since it’s been a while since I made her a pair. And she was the first one to speak up when I asked who wanted the next pair! The yarn is Opal something-or-other (the ball band is buried in my sock yarn stash) and I’m using US 0 needles instead of my usual US 1’s - I found that the fabric in my last pair of Opal socks loosened/softened significantly after washing and it feels too sleazy for my liking. I think these’ll be better. Sadly, I have not worked one stitch since I took the picture this morning. Bleh.

Oh, and can you tell I finally figured out that my camera has a macro setting? I’ve been using this thing for over 4 years and I just figured it out. I still want a new camera, but I might be satisfied with a point-and-shoot model rather than a digital SLR if it has a macro setting. I was window shopping for digital SLR cameras and I guess I didn’t realize just how expensive lenses can be. Wow!

Maybe I’ll go knit a little bit while it’s quiet here. For once, there’s a kid napping and one playing quietly instead of whining at me. I could get used to this!

I checked my stats and not only am I approaching my six-month blogiversary (June 6), but I am *finally* within sight of comment #100.

I do believe that I’ll be treating commenter #100 and maybe one or two other random commenters to a skein of my handspun yarn.

I would appreciate actual *comments* and not just one- or two-word replies, so keep that in mind.

I’ll be posting pictures of some pretties tomorrow, so get your commenting fingers ready!

All right! I got a great package in the mail yesterday from my Secret Pal. She sent some cool stuff - Knitting Rules! by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot herself; a package of WintOGreen Lifesavers, some Choxie double dark truffles (so. good.), a handknit birthday cupcake, and a birthday card.

I was so pleased to receive this! Thank you so much!

Grace hovered over me the entire time I was opening the package. “Is that a birthday present? Who is it for? Can I open it? Can I have some chocolate? What’s that?” She’s so funny when it comes to presents.

I think I’m going to have a truffle with my morning coffee. Mmmmm!

Man, what a busy weekend!

On Friday we went to Sip, Stitch, & Pitch at the Saint Paul Saints game. It was a great idea and everyone I’ve talked to had a great time, but we didn’t, due to a few things. First of all, both kids go to bed at 7, roughly. The game started at 7. Secondly, I bought tickets in the General Admission area knowing that we’d have to leave early. The problem with that is that all the fun knitting-related stuff was going on in the reserved-seating section. Next time they do this, I’m going with a knitting friend and leaving the kids at home!

On Saturday, we went to a sheep shearing festival hosted by Shepherd’s Choice Farm. That was a blast! We got sniffed by llamas,

followed around some chickens,

watched and petted some lambs (that’s my kid with the pink Chucks),

and watched a couple sheep get sheared. I also brought home a lovely brown/gray/silver corriedale x lincoln fleece,

which I was not exactly planning to do. Whoops! But it’s so lovely! I got a bit of it sorted that night and washed it. It is so pretty and soft, but more gray than it appears in the following picture:

I am looking forward to spinning this fleece - it’s going to be SO pretty!

On Sunday, Chris and a friend planned a brewday. I had expected to stay home from the spinning group at Creative Fibers, but my mom offered to watch the kids so I could go. I briefly considered staying home to work on my fleece, but quickly realized that with 3-4 other adults and 4 children in the backyard, I wasn’t going to get a lot done. I’m really glad I went - it was a lot of fun. I got to see Chris, Kerry, June, Shelley, and several other people whose names escape me. One of the women there hasn’t quite been spinning for a year, and she passed around some exquisite laceweight yarn. It was fun watching her spindling some more lovely thin yarn. Kerry was nice enough to pass around some of the spindles she’d brought with her (the woman has a TON of spindles!) for people to try. I passed it up, since spindle spinning is not something I want to be tempted with right now. It’s hard enough to get out the spinning wheel anymore! I talked with people about their spinning wheels and have learned that I want to try out a Lendrum and a Schacht. From June I heard about a very neat Golding wheel. Too bad it costs $5500… June was spinning on an electric spinner, and demonstrated the incredible speed that it can attain. Looked like fun!

Sadly, after such a fun weekend I haven’t done more than casting on for a new sock and knitting 4-5 rounds. Bah!

Tomorrow night is Sip, Stitch, and Pitch night at the Saint Paul Saints game! It’s sponsored by my neighborhood LYS (Borealis Yarns) and one of my neighborhood coffee shops (Gingko) - the first 500 knitters to present their needles at the gate get a free ball of yarn! There’s also a tailgate yarn swap before the game! I wonder if I’ll be able to get to that… Chris won’t be back from work yet, so I’d have to do this with the kids. Not sure I like that idea…

Ah, well.

I started spinning the orange Peace Fleece wool that I’d gotten from the co-op and had to stop - it was pretty crappy for spinning. I’ve got a friend who does a bunch of needle felting, maybe she’d like to have a big bag of blaze orange wool. Right? Once I gave myself permission to abandon that project, I pulled out my bag of Spinner’s Web that I got at Yarnover. It came from SD Natural Colored Wool Studio, and it’s a blend of wool, kid mohair, llama, and silk. It drafts like butter, people! And it’s pretty and soft and smells nice (although that could be the herbal moth repellent, I don’t know). You can buy it from them via the web, just follow that link. I’m kicking myself for not buying more at Shepherd’s Harvest, but in my defense, I hadn’t started spinning it yet - I didn’t know how nice it is!

I’m doing a little knitting but I’m not feeling the love right now. I’m working on a pair of socks for my mom in Opal Rainforest, the Toucan colorway (I think). I’m through the gusset decreases and just going around and around on the foot. Booooring! I’m using DPNs instead of the two-circular method, since I think Opal works better on size 0 needles rather than 1’s for me. I do not yet have two size 0 circulars, but I may soon. I’m also working on a pair of soaker shorts for Arlo out of some of that Blackberry Ridge I bought - the Tropical Fish colorway. I’m more than half of the way from the waistband to the crotch, so I should be able to finish these over the weekend. Hopefully.

Off to knit a little bit more before bedtime.

I managed to not find much that interested me at Shepherd’s Harvest this year, merchandise-wise. Just a couple skeins of Blackberry Ridge handpainted yarn and some dyed wool.

I did, however, run into a bunch of people I know! Tipper was the first friend I ran into. She didn’t find much to buy either. Then I spotted Knittymama, who was enjoying some music while nursing her youngest. She and I have been reading each other’s blogs for a bit now and I kept wondering if I knew her. Well, it turns out that I do indeed! Our oldest beasties are very close in age and we used to meet quite often at a certain coffee shop. I also ran into several friends from the Weaver’s Guild of MN spinning group - I used to go to that regularly before I had kids. Angie, Virginia, and a couple familiar but nameless faces. I also ran into Nicole/Pickleboot, who brought home a bunny - fiber on the hoof! How exciting!

I hope everyone had a nice Mother’s Day! Mine wasn’t too spectacular, but my mom brought over bagels and gave me a ride to my concert. My MIL and FIL came for the concert, as did my aunt and my grandma. After the concert, MIL and FIL took us out for an early dinner at the Longfellow Grill. While we were there, I mentioned that I was wanting to look for a new, better violin. FIL mentioned that he has his mother’s violin, which is apparently a very nice instrument, and I’d be welcome to use it. Awesome! I’m so excited! They should be coming back to town for my birthday (only 11 more days!), so maybe they’ll bring it then. Who knows, I might actually *practice* if I had an instrument that doesn’t sound like ass. Ya never know.

Once the kids were in bed, I did a little swatching - I’m plotting a cabled cardigan out of the Peace Fleece I bought, and I swatched the first cable last night.

And now, off to Trader Joe’s! They just opened today, it looks like. And maybe to Costco, I’d like to look at digital SLR cameras in the hopes of taking some decent pictures.

Shepherd’s Harvest is this weekend! I am so excited, but rather unhappy with the fact that I have obligations on both days. My orchestra rehearsal is Saturday morning, but it should be over by 12:30 or so, so I can (probably) head right out there. Sunday, I won’t be able to go since our concert is at 1:00 and I’ll no doubt have family stuff going on in the morning.

It’s looking like it’s once again going to be a cold and rainy Mother’s Day weekend, so we’ll have plenty of opportunity to wear our wool. The kids will get to wear their Robin Hood jackets, and they’ll undoubtedly get plenty of attention for it. Good thing they’re both incredibly sociable - they’ll eat it up. Me, I’ll be wearing wool socks - I don’t have any sweaters other than a Lopi one that’ll probably be too warm.

What am I going to shop for at the market, that’s the important question. There’s a vendor who sells “naturally machine washable” sock yarn (it really isn’t, as it shrinks even when washed in cold water in a front loader) that makes the softest and cushiest socks I’ve ever had. I have a pair that’s 2 years old (I think) and I just discovered a hole in one of the heels. In the past, I’ve tossed socks for that infraction. These ones, though, are getting darned, once I find the yarn and figure out how the heck to darn the hole. The other one will be getting reinforced with duplicate stitch before it develops a hole - it’s looking thin now but still intact.

I also want to get some yarn from Blackberry Ridge. I simply adore their yarn! I’ve used the handpainted stuff for soakers before, and it’s great - soft enough to go next to skin, but it holds its shape well and is very waterproof once lanolized. And the colors, oh my goodness! Arlo needs some soaker shorts, so I’ll probably get a skein of Tropical Fish and one of the Firecracker. I’ll have to restrain myself from buying more, since it’s so costly. But so worth it!

Of course I’ll buy spinning fiber, that’s a given. I’m shopping for prepared fiber, though (I think) - I don’t have the time now to wash and card a fleece and have it ready to go anytime this decade. Although if we end up catching chicken pox from some friends’ kids (still undecided about this), we’ll be cooped up in the house for a while - I could do that while rotting my kids’ brains with television. Things to think about…

There’s a small boy demanding my attention here and a pot of coffee to be made. I should go tend to that.

Well, they actually got here on Thursday, but between not being able to find the camera cable and a hectic weekend, this is the first I’ve gotten to post about them.

My Sockpal was none other than FluffyKnitterDeb, whose blog I read regularly. Imagine my surprise when I opened the package and it was someone who I read - it’d be like getting a package from the author of a favorite book. The yarn is Twinkletoes Handpaint by Over the Rainbow Yarns, I don’t know if this is a commercial pattern or one she made up. I’m betting on the latter, she’s a pretty creative knitter! The pattern is Lacy Scallops (PDF) from Sockbug. I just love the colors and the lace pattern, which totally doesn’t show up in my picture. She took a much better picture of them before she sent them to me.

Here is the obligatory modeling shot, though!

Thanks so much, Debi!

My SP8 Questionnaire can be found here - I don’t want to clog up my front page with that.