Mikknit

Oh yes, I just went and quoted The Steve Miller Band. It is clearly too late for me to be up. My punishment? Having “Fly Like an Eagle” stuck in my head for the next 4 days. I’m going to cry.

So last weekend when I posted, I said I’d be back the following day to post some more pictures or something. So here I am more than a week later with no pictures for you. Sorry. I blame the long-term project I mentioned in that post. And also the danged kid having a birthday - I had to go and throw him a party and make a cake and stuff. Good thing he’s cute!

I am currently within sight of the end of that project, with about 14 more pattern repeats and a couple other things, and then the magic of blocking. I hope it’ll be done within the week, since Grace is heading off to do big kid things with my aunt this week and I’ll only have Arlo here. Since he can’t fight with himself (oh, but I’m sure he’ll try) I may get some time to knit here and there. While the majority of this project is not the sort of thing I could knit with kids around (which is why it took me 3 years to get this far), the part I’m on now is quite easy not as hard and I can figure out where I stopped if I have to put it down.

That’s as much as I’m going to say about that. I’m feeling sort of secretive about this project, probably because it’s been in the works for so long, and I don’t want to say what it is until it’s finished. I’ve said what it is in the past, so if you’re truly bored and want to search through my archives, go ahead. I’ll send you a cookie or something if you figure it out

I’ve also been working on a sock in Trekking 100. I’m finally down to the heel flap after God knows how many false starts, and I am pretty happy with how it’s looking. We’ll see if I get some more time to work on it today. It’d be nice, but if I can only work on the unnamed project that’s cool too.

I hope everyone has a great day and I hope I can be back with an FO post soon!

It’s been so long since I’ve posted that WordPress logged me out. Good thing I finally changed my password to something I could actually remember instead of the random string of numbers and letters it gives you when you reset it, eh?

As alluded to in the title, it’s been all socks, all the time around here. There are other projects started and stalled around here, sure, but the socks are the only things that get finished with any regularity. I guess it’s that they’re small, portable, generally mindless, and easy to set down mid-row - all important things when your children are completely insane.

My aunt presented me with a bag of KnitPicks sock yarn a while ago, telling me to pick out two pair’s worth of yarn. She then proceeded to point out which yarn she really liked, so of course I had to grab that one as well as one that appealed more to my tastes. What she chose was Dancing, a blend of cotton, wool, nylon, and elastic. I started the first one on our Amtrak trip a few weeks back and finished the pair about two weeks ago. I didn’t love this yarn, but it knit up into a nice fabric which I think will be very comfortable.

They look a little disproportionate, but between the ribbing and the elastic in the yarn, they pulled in quite a bit

She loves them, of course, but that goes without saying. I knit her her first pair of socks in 2002 and she’s been hooked ever since. Luckily, my cousin is a knitter too, so I’m not the only one responsible for keeping her in handknit socks!

Once those were finished, I cast on another pair in Trekking XXL, color 144. They were originally for my sister, but I remembered that I have another more appropriate pair of socks planned for her. Thank goodness my mom and my sister have similarly-sized feet - I didn’t have to rip them back when I changed my mind. These knit up incredibly quickly - I think the jacquard Trekking yarns are a touch thicker than the marled, stripey ones.

I briefly considered making them match, but eh, too fiddly. I think fraternal socks are more fun, anyhow

These took six days to knit, which definitely makes them among my fastest-knit socks. Maybe I should knit for people with feet smaller than mine more often! (Mine are 10″ around and 10″ long. Yay.)

I’ve been struggling with the next pair of socks since Tuesday. I picked out some Schaeffer Anne in a blinding colorway - hot pink, lime green, bright yellow, and purple. I think this may have been the first skein of yarn I bought when Borealis opened up in 2004, or at least it was among my very first purchases there. I swatched and realized I needed to knit it on size 0 needles instead of my usual size 1, so I started looking for a pattern to make it a little less mind-numbingly boring. Of course most patterns don’t work well with a heavily-variegated yarn like this, so I struck out twice before deciding to switch to a different yarn and try again. I picked out some lovely rose-colored wool (Meilenweit, maybe?) and knit a few pattern repeats before deciding that A) I didn’t love the pattern as much as I thought I would, and B) they were too small. B was no real surprise, since I had to leave off about 1/2″ worth of stitches to make the pattern fit. I already make my socks with 1/2″ negative ease, so taking off that extra 1/2″ didn’t do any good. I ripped that puppy back and the yarn has been added to the stash. I finally pulled out a skein of Trekking XXL in colorway 100, a recent purchase, and cast on the feather & fan-style pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. I knit on that all over the MN Zoo on Friday, only to discover that I didn’t like the look of the lace when knit from the top down. Ripped it out and started the toe-up version this morning. I still haven’t gotten past the increases there, though I’ve been knitting all night.

What did I spend my evening knitting? It would be a well-aged UFO that’s been resurrected and has a deadline. I’m aiming to have it finished by Shepherd’s Harvest (Mother’s Day weekend), and I think I can do it. I’ll post more about it tomorrow (famous last words), since I’ve rambled quite enough for tonight.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter yesterday! Ours was great, aside from the fridge giving up the ghost (I’m not terribly upset, it’s either fixable or I get to get a new fridge). The kids went over to my aunt’s house for Easter lunch and Chris and I took a long nap all afternoon, it was simply wonderful. It was something I really needed, for sure. The in-laws came over for dinner and we all ate and had nice conversation, I spun a little and knitted a bit. All good.

As I posted on Wednesday, The Yarn Harlot was in town and I was one of the lucky 400 who got in the door to hear her talk. Before heading over to the event, I got to meet up with a bunch of cool knitters at my favorite Thai restaurant - Pad Thai.

Clockwise from lower left corner: Chris of Stumbling Over Chaos, Beadslut, Cursing Mama, Stephania of Moraie Knitting, Connie of Between Loads, the blogless Cynthia, and Amy of Knit Think. Also shown is Flat Vicki, representing Vicki of Knitorious, who was with us in spirit if not in the flesh. I had a fine time at dinner, it was great to meet some new people!

After dinner, we headed over to William Mitchell, which had a nice room all set up for us. The Yarnery did a great job of setting up the event and they handed out some great canvas bags to everyone coming in the door. After a period of chatting, picture-taking, and knitting, we all joined in a rousing version of “O, Canada”. Stephanie seemed quite pleased by this, as I could see her off on the side of the stage taking pictures of us all singing. Of course I didn’t get a decent picture of that… but I did get a picture of her to prove I was there, haha:

She wore the Bohus sweater!

After waiting in line for almost two hours (and I was in the first round of people there!) I got my book signed. Chris was so kind as to part with a bottle of his precious homebrew, the Imperial Stout, so I could give Stephanie a little gift. I can’t believe how much fun she seemed to be having even after signing so many books and talking to so many people - by that point I’d be cranky as heck!

It was so nice to get a few hours out by myself! It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to go out so late (I got home after 10!), since I have to be home for bedtime, normally. I fully expected to find one or two screaming children waiting up for me when I got home, but they were both peacefully in bed. And Chris wasn’t even drinking beer by the quart! Heh. I guess it went just fine, thankfully. No guilt.

I finished a pair of socks on the Amtrak last weekend and iPhoto ate the picture, which is why I didn’t share it with you earlier. I finally got them off the clothesline and here they are:

Garter Rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks, Trekking color 16

I’m very pleased with these socks - they’ve been worn several times in the 10 days since I finished them! I wasn’t excited about the hand of the yarn as I was knitting with it, it was kind of squeaky and stiff (kind of how acrylic feels to me), but it softened wonderfully with washing. Good thing!

Well, it’s taken me over an hour to write this. Guess I should just post it already and get going with my day.

I made a whirlwind tour of Wisconsin last week - over to Wausau on Tuesday to visit my sister and then attend the visitation for Chris’s grandma (sadly the kids and I weren’t able to attend the funeral). Home for one night, then Arlo and I got on the Amtrak to Milwaukee, where my sister met us the next day with Grace. Home again on Sunday. I’m still tired - that was a LOT of traveling in 6 days!

While I was in the Wausau area, I made a stop at Mielke’s Fiber Arts and picked up some pretty stuff:

An Adam’s Woodshop Emily in Purple Heart and Cherry with a Walnut spindle (I’m pretty sure Kerry is laughing at me right now)

Some soysilk top

Some yak top - not as soft as I’d guessed (of course, since it isn’t quiviut - duh)

Camel top, again not terribly soft. Should’ve gotten the baby camel.

50/50 merino/soysilk - I think this is going to get dyed in some purty green(s) and spun up for a lace project

I of course had to get started spinning on the new spindle right away. I’m really enjoying it, though I’m finding it’s not well-suited to my usual environment - when there’s an energetic 2yo running around grabbing at the spindle it’s hard to spin a consistent yarn! Imagine that.

The Yarn Harlot will be in town tonight and I’m heading out shortly to have dinner with Chris and others before the event. I expect to have some pictures to share tomorrow! I’m leaving the kids at home this time, so if there’s a kid up on stage with Stephanie it won’t be mine this time!