The good:

I finished a big project today! Thats 687 yards out of the stash.

I also used up a whole ball of dishcloth cotton-another 100 yards!

The bad (well, not really, I guess):

I got two shipments of yarn but, in my defense, these were things I had bought long ago.

First--the second year of lace kit which included a hefty skein of helen's lace (in a lovely blue color) which added a hefty 1250 yards.

Second--my (very last) shipment of the yarn pirate sock yarn club. I loved being in the club but my sock knitting just hasn't kept up with the influx of sock yarn, so I quit a few months ago. I thought I had received all my shipments but I got one last skein! Another 425 yards in the stash.

So....... 254,470 yards.

I can't believe I'm INCREASING my yardage. dangit!!!

The big project was the dove shawl. It was sitting around almost finished for ages; I finally dug it out, finished the repeat I was working on and bound off. Its a little smaller than the pattern suggested but Its still plenty big. its blocking now but I'll take pictures tomorrow!!

Posted by fruitychick at 01:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I love being surprised. Not that I always should be, sometimes I just forget and then something (perhaps something I even planned) turns out to be a surprise.

This weekend, Mr. Fruitychick took Friday and Monday off from work to spend a long weekend together. I knew this planned time off existed but I didnt know it was going to exist this weekend--until, oh I think thursday night. Anyway, it was a lovely surprise. Mainly we just vegged around here and caught up on sleep (as an aside--how long does it really take to "catch up on sleep" after you've had a baby? Munchkin is nearly a year and a half and I still feel like I could sleep for weeks...then again, she is still getting up in the middle of the night so maybe I'm not making as much catching up progress as I thought). We also journeyed out and went to the library where Munchkin had an absolute ball. She will sit and flip through books by herself for an hour if left to her own devices and will listen to you read her a book all day. Needless to say, she was absolutely amazed by the library. We went on Friday and again yesterday because one trip to the library is not nearly enough....

While the munchkin napped and Mr. Fruitychick played on his finally-received-back-from-the-microsoft-repair-department-Xbox, I started a little knitting:

I bet we can all guess what that is, right? I've started Rogue now several times but just never really loved it before--mainly because I seemed to start it when the weather was starting to turn warm again. Not this time, baby. It was 51 yesterday and I'm in full sweater knitting mode. I will finish this thing.

Of course, I might get distracted by this:

(French Girl Patterns--Desiree)

I'm usually not a bulky knit kind of girl but this sweater just calls to me. I heard my LYS was having a 50% off sale on Gedifra this week, so I trudged over there to see if they had enough Gigante to fit the bill....they didnt and I almost caved and bought the full price Rowan called for in the pattern but I didn't. I did come home to do a little browsing and found the Rowan Big Wool in the Garage Sale over at Webs. Woohoo! The sweater will be mine!

There will also have to be distraction from Rogue long enough to knit the Chicken Viking Hat. Munchkin and Mr. FC are heading up to visit his family around Thanksgiving and Munchkin absolutely has to have a brown roasted turkey butt hat for the occassion. Yarn already purchased (cascade 220 from The Woolie Ewe).

I think those are the only distractions I'm aware of now but I'm making no promises.

In the old knits I never blogged about/photographed category this week, we have the Thrummed Socks:

A Fleece Artist kit purchased from Colorsong Yarns, I believe. Knit up during the Great Power Outage of the Winter of 06. It was sooo bitterly cold in the house we could see our breaths. It wasn't until the third day I remembered I had a pair of thrummed socks 80% done in the knitting pile. I picked them up, finished them, grafted the toe and, like magic, the power came on 20 seconds later.

I love these socks though I dont get an opportunity to wear them that often. They aren't really "walking around" socks and it is rarely that cold in our house during the night to wear them. They sure are delicious when I get the chance though. I'm even thinking of making another pair with Merino thrums instead of the kid mohair that came with my kit but I'm not sure what will hold up the best.

Have you made thrummed socks? What thrum fiber did you use? Did they hold up well?

Oh--keep your fingers crossed today. We close on our old house in Georgia this afternoon and as soon as that happens, we can make an offer on the new house we found here! The closing was already pushed back from yesterday and I'm really hoping there aren't any other problems.

Posted by fruitychick at 09:18 AM | Permalink

I've been chugging along on the garter rib socks whenever I get a few minutes to spare and they are coming along nicely...I think another inch or so then I'll start the regular ribbing at the cuff.

You can kind of see the change in stripe sequence where I changed needle size. I usually go up a size an inch or so into the leg of the sock. It is my personal pet peeve when ribs/patterns aren't evenly stretched down the sock so I change needle sizes to make myself happy...

I've also been doing a little spinning....still working on that Celebration from Spunky Eclectic. I get a double helping of each month's yarn because I like to have enough to complete a (somewhat) substantial project with the yarn I make. Of course, I haven't actually knit with my handspun....but I'm about to change that.

I've been swatching...and I'm in love.

This is a little design I've had in my head while I've been spinning up this yarn. Its super simple but I think it highlights the handspun's long color changes quite nicely (and also disguises the few thick and thin spots in the yarn).

I still haven't decided on the final design. Either a v-neck pullover or a zipped cardigan. Either way, it will have deep corrugated ribbing at the bottom and at the cuffs. The other yarn is Rowan Yorkshire Aran Tweed, which I like ok. I have a skein of Debbie Bliss tweed I might also swatch up if the mood strikes.

Theres also a little project I've been working up...dyeing some of my own yarns. I get a lot of inspiration from munchkin's kiddo books. They are full of such amazing color combinations--here is my first skein:

The colors come from the Dr. Seuss books and the base yarn is a really soft Merino-Tencel Blend (from Paradise Fibers). I can't wait to start knitting it up!

I also caved and signed up for the Sumptuous Sock Yarn Club by Zen Yarn Garden. I just couldnt resist the potential of silk and cashmere sock yarn. yum!

Posted by fruitychick at 05:30 PM | Permalink

I just haven't been finishing anything. I think I have to many things on the needles at the moment...

No Bake Cookies

Did you see the episode of knitty gritty with Cookie A on it? She made some pretty cute socks using STR Heavyweight, which I had not yet tried. So, I ordered up a skein and cast on!

These are super easy and are a quick knit, unlike Cookie A's other sock patterns. There is a leaf pattern on the top of the foot that you can't really see in the picture (or really with the yarn at all--there is a little too much variation in the colors for the pattern to stand out) Since these are way easy to knit and way faster, I've dubbed them the "no bake cookie" socks.

Georgetown, Take 2.

I found this yarn squirreled away in the sock yarn dresser--a sad little sock with only a ball of yarn for a mate. I had already completed one sock but wasn't a big fan and, because I am awful about writing things down when I am knitting, couldnt duplicated it if I had wanted to, so it got ripped and reknit into:

Pattern from More sensational knitted socks--called something like trellis? not sure on that one. Its super easy to memorize though and I am completely loving the look of this sock. The yarn is subtle but yet has just enough color for my taste...

Big Cookie.

We shall not speak of my lack of progress on this sock:

In fact, I am thinking of ripping it and knitting it smaller. The instructions have an option for a shorter sock and I think I may take the easy way out on this one and knit it that way.

Elizabeth's Flourescant Socks

I am so almost done with these. I need to just wrap them up and deliver them to the new owner. Its only about 2 1/2 more inches of ribbing--surely I can get this done in the next week, right??

if only I could knit as fast as I could buy yarn....

Heres some of the stuff thats arrived at my door recently. Theres some chewey spaghetti, yarn love, dyeabolical yarns, claudia... and thats not even all. I broke down and ordered a sweater kit I've been admiring for ages...

So much for the knit from your stash, eh? I'm going to get back on the wagon though--that was my one get out of jail free card--so no more (non sock) yarn for me until september.

with so many socks in waiting--whats a girl to do?

sigh...cast on for a cardigan... I am never going to get 52 pairs of socks knit in a year if I keep losing focus and knitting sweaters. This cardigan is the dropped stitch cardigan (a little more than half way down the page) from Interweave Knits Spring 2006. I even cast on for it ages ago but, looking back at it now, its way to big for me. I'm planning on knitting this a touch smaller than I normally would so it will fit me as I continue to lose weight. Yarn is Debbie Bliss cotton angora in red.

Speaking of IK--anybody have any idea when the summer issue ships? They have the teaser up on the website but I dont know the date they usually ship... I love the oriel lace blouse and the spiral boot socks....

I also got my new Spunky Eclectic sock club yarn and the second RSC shipment but I'll avoid pictures for those that haven't received theirs yet--I hate to spoil it for someone!!

Posted by fruitychick at 11:40 AM | Permalink