Knitting Update

I finally finished my blue Koigu striped sock! Just the first one, but you know, still an accomplishment.



I lovelovelove the colors in this sock. Very vibrant.



I also finished the bridesmaid shrug. I'll get some pictures of me modeling it later. For now, a sneak peek.



I really wanted to work on Dawn's Summer Lovin socks, but I decided that the yarn I was using wasn't working, so I switched to Smooshy in Cocoa Kiss. As I knit the cuff, Jenny wound the yarn into a perfect cake. It was a beautiful thing. Then, we went to dinner and I forgot to lock the yarn away. Now, this is what it looks like...



So, I'm taking a break from that. And also, Vera is a whore.

A Knitting Tragedy

Remember a couple of posts ago, when I talked about learning with knitting? Remember how I said that I was going to be more careful and crap? Well, I forgot to be careful.

I wish I had a picture to insert here, but I think Jenny has the camera. I'm knitting the Cable Vest. It is a child-size sweater vest with a cable down each side - on mine, just on the front. It has a V-neck.

That's the part I forgot. I did the body in the round, split it and knit the back. All good. I knit the front. I bound off. I admired my work. The next day, I picked it up and it didn't look right to me. I was trying to figure out how to join the front and back sides at the shoulders and I figured out what was wrong. I had a lovely boatneck cabled sweater vest. No V-neck. No neck shaping at all.

Today, I had to CUT my knitting and rip back a few inches. I can rip a project like there's no tomorrow - I've never had a real problem with frogging a half-knit sock. I've done it on several occasions. But CUTTING a project? Oh, it's like murder!

I will never again let it get that far. I will check and re-check and check thrice that I have not made any critical errors before I bind off.

Fiber Festival Swag

This is everything Jenny and I got:

From Marlene's Felting Madness:
-2 2oz. balls of white merino roving for me to dye!
-2 2oz. balls of a green stripey merino roving for Jenny to spin.

From River's Edge Weaving Studio:
-2 braids of BFL roving

From Creatively Dyed Yarn:
-1 skein Calypso sock yarn in colorway Lord

From Carriage House Woolens:
-2 skeins of Cool Wool - this stuff is so soft and yummy!

That's what we scored! Not a bad haul, I'd say!

Learning

My knitting break is over. I started a vest for my ex's son's birthday at the end of June. It's the Cable Vest from Lion Brand. It's looking pretty good so far. I'm learning from my mistakes... If I notice that something isn't quite right or doesn't look good, I rip back and re-knit. Otherwise, when I make a mistake halfway through the project, I'll just frog the whole thing, telling myself it sucks anyway. So, fixing mistakes as I go and actually trying to pay attention as I go... I'm learning.

The Great Lakes Fiber Festival rocked today. I got a gorgeous skein of Creatively Dyed sock yarn and some roving. Plus, I got some Pigeonroof Studios sock yarn from a swap in the mail today. I will post pictures of my new goodies within the next couple of days!

The Knitting Blues

Knitting is starting to bum me out. I had to rip out my blue Snake River socks tonight. I was frustrated about not being able to find my spot when I went back a few rows, so I decided to rip back to before the heel to make it easier on me. I figured I would then do a short row heel to simplify things. But when I ripped back, I noticed a couple of mistakes when I went to restart and my perfectionism kicked in.

It seems like all I've been doing lately is knitting and ripping, knitting and ripping. I know I shouldn't be so picky and just keep knitting through the mistakes, but I just can't help it. On top of all that, the projects that I currently (still) have on the needles aren't exciting me. They're all so boring.

I'm in a slump. I just have to wait for my next knitting surge. Until then... the card making bug bit me again, so I've been keeping myself busy with that.

Spinning

I haven't been doing much knitting lately. Ever since I messed up my Snake River sock at knitting last week, then spent a couple days trying to figure out where I was in the pattern, then throwing the darned thing aside... Well, I'm slightly perturbed with the knitting, so I'm taking a break.

But! I did spin my first yarn. Other than the couple of times I tried spinning when Jenny got her wheel, it was my first attempt. It is by no means a great finished product, but I'm proud of it. And the good news? I got the hand of it a little more toward the end, so next time I try, it'll probably be way better! Hooray! Anyway, here is my very first handspun...



See those huge lumps of poorly drafted fiber on the left there? That was totally toward the beginning of the process. Improvement, I tell you! :)

Double Crap

Two of the fancy online yarn stores that have the hard-to-get yarn updated today. AND I found out that I had a positive balance on my Paypal account. (How'd that happen?) Everything just lined up so well and... Oh goodness. I'm so weak. So very weak. But, since I had that positive balance, I only really spent like $15.

I know. There's no excuse. And I really hope Jenny doesn't read this blog...