Lots of Stuff Done

I’ve managed to get several projects finished lately, freeing up knitting bags and tools to start more projects. Two pairs of self-striping socks – one pair from Opal Zirken and one pair from Cervinia Forever, have joined my sock drawer. I promptly started another plain stockinette pair from Plymouth Rockin’ Sox, which is a wool, bamboo and nylon blend. I like it – it is soft, smooth, and knits up well. It’s not very splitty, which I always appreciate. I also have a pair of Flat Feet on the needles – I am putting a small cable up the sides of these, so they aren’t my knit anywhere socks. I have to keep count of my rows when I cable.

Forever Socks

Opal Socks

I finished the sweater vest for my hubby, too – it came out wondfully – just like I had hoped. I used Berocco Ultra Alpaca in a reddish-brown color called spiceberry. Pat picked the color out as one that probably wouldn’t show coffee stains. Smart man. The yarn was delightful to work with,  and I made a v-necked vest with plain stockinette to where I divided for the armholes and seed stitch above that. The ribbing is all 2×2. Pat already wore it once, the day after I finished it, but had to take it off at noon – it was too warm. I was still delighted that he wanted to wear it right away and that he bragged about it and showed it off at the office. That’s a really good way to get me to knit more for him! I was going to knit him another one right away, with a slightly different pattern, like a really wide rib – k4p1 or something like that, in a dark earthy color. But then the eldest son asked for one. He wants a sweater vest with cables running up the sides. Nothing fancy, but with something interesting to knit in it. I refused to knit it in black, so he’s considering grey, and maybe Cascade 220, which will be a better yarn to show off the details in the cabling.

Sweater Vest

 

I have also almost finished a gecko from the Fiber Trends Gotta Get A Gecko pattern. I knitted him in Brown Sheep Lanaloft and Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride. I wanted to compare how the two knitted and then how they felt. The knitting on the first gecko is done – next I need to felt him. I plan to make several in all sorts of fun colors. The first one is varigated yellow and lime green. I also have some pink, so this will be one wild bunch of geckos.

I have the spinning almost done on the yarn for a shawl. I used roving from Alpine Meadows, and I think I’ll have plenty. I still need to finish plying it. I kind of stalled out here, because plying isn’t my favorite thing. I’d rather spin. But then I like to knit with plied yarns, so….I really want to start spinning up some more of my fiber so I need to free up the bobbins and finish plying. Or I could buy more bobbins….

I do have the pattern for the shawl, but I think I want to spin up the next batch of fiber and see if I can get Mom a shawl knitted first – she’s 87 and I’d like for her to be able to enjoy it. She chose a beautiful deep red with sparkly angelina in it from Alpine Meadows. It should be a joy to spin. The shawl pattern is the Spinner’s Lace Shawl by Fiber Trends. It uses a sport weight yarn, which I figured I could get pretty close to in a two-ply. At least with a shawl, it doesn’t matter if the the gauge isn’t perfect!

Twisted Flower and the Swap

I do love to knit socks, as anyone who knows me can attest. I mostly knit plain ones with self-striping yarns. These are lots of fun in the color department and easy to knit – just go around and around. They are great take-anywhere socks.

But sometimes I like something with a bit more substance to it. So, when I signed up for a swap in the Ankh-Morpork Knitters Guild this past spring, I started looking around for something a little bit more fun to knit. I settled on Twisted Flower, by Cookie A. And I chose the Nightwatch colorway by Dream in Color Smooshy to knit it with.

I found that knitting half asleep, like I do with my plain socks, wasn’t a good idea, and that I did need to concentrate on the charts and the pattern. There were several sessions of frogging and a good amount of tinking, especially on the first sock, but finally they were completed. They came out just like I hoped, and they were fun to knit, too. And I really liked the colorway. I’m going to have to do another pair for me.

It was interesting – completely independently, my swap partner also chose a Cookie A. pattern and Dream in Color Smooshy. Not the same pattern or colorway, but still, with all of the options out there, how cool is that?

 

The finished socks

 

-She Wolf (c) 2008

THE PRATCHGAN

I am delighted to post that the Pratchgan, the project that I was part of in Ravelry’s Anhk-Morkpork Knitter’s Guild, has been presented in person to Mr. Terry Pratchett himself at the Edinburgh Book Festival. Shirley (whom we know as Cherryred in the guild), the lovely woman who was brave enough to sew the whole thing together, got to meet the man and give over the Pratchghan. Thanks to her, I can also post the pictures of this wonderful event.

Mr. Pratchett is enjoying the Pratchgan.

You can see my square in this one. It is the second row from the bottom and five squares in – the Dried Frog Pills square.

Pointing out different squares

A view of the whole, wonderful thing

All packed up and ready to go

 

Dried Frog Pills square

The Pratchgan was begun in winter 2008, after we heard about Terry’s diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s. We wanted to do something special, and as knitters and crocheters, we thought an afghan would be just the ticket. So the Pratchgan was born, with about 99 or so of us contributing. We decided to put the immortal words of Granny Weatherwax, “I Aten’t Dead” , in the middle, as Terry himself said this when he first spoke about his diagnosis. Then each of us came up with an idea (or two) for our squares, based on the Discworld books. The ideas were many and varied and all creative and wonderful.  I chose Dried Frog Pills – those strange and magical pills that the Bursar at the Unseen University takes that keep him (sort of) sane. I figured if they can help the Bursar, they can at least cheer up Terry!

The finished squares were then sent to Scotland, where the brave Cherryred sewed them all together, put a border on them, and then backed the whole thing with some soft warm checked material. Then Rob, Terry’s publicist, arranged for her to come to the Edinburgh Book Festival to present the Pratchgan in person.

Cherryred said that he really liked it, pointed out different squares and laughing. When it was all packed up and ready to go and he was leaving, Mr. Pratchett said, “And I still aten’t dead.”

Hooray!

Thanks to Cherryred for the use of the photos of Terry Pratchett receiving the Pratchgan.

 

 

 

What Am I Doing?

Really, I’m not sure. I’ve got three sock projects on the needles, one set of mittens, and a sweater vest for my DH, and I need to cast on some socks for a swap. I also need to figure out which yarn and pattern I want to use for the swap sock. I’m thinking some more of the handpaint I’m using for the Rivendell sock, or maybe some Dream in Color Smooshy…and a Cookie A pattern I like. Nothing like making something for someone else as an excuse to go yarn-and-pattern shopping! My swap partner likes the same sorts of colors I do, so that makes it even more fun!

I’ve been spinning, too. I’m spinning up the Alpine Sunset I got from Alpine Meadows Fibers into something for a shawl. Then, before I knit the shawl, but after I finish the spinning, I’ll spin the gorgeous red-with-angelina-sparkles yarn my mom chose for a shawl. I’ll get it spun and then knitted, so that she can have it.

After that, it will be time to spin up the Monkey Farts roving I got from Spunky Eclectic, so that we can have nice new University of Wyoming colorway hats for football season. Yeah!

I’ll need to add some photos next time.

Tagged!

I guess my first post over here will be a meme, becuase Qutecowgirl has tagged me!

The rules: Are posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. What was I doing ten years ago? I was working nights in a donut shop, making donuts, so I could be at home during the day for the kids. ( Yes, I’ve had weird jobs!) I had one kid in high school, one in middle school, and two in elementary school. We only had two dogs then. I wasn’t knitting much at the time – mostly mittens for the youngest who was losing them as fast as he could, but I was just winding down from a few years of smocking and sewing pretty little girl dresses. The little girl in question was in fifth grade and was getting too old.

2. What are five things on my to-do list today? Let’s see. Consult with hubby and figure out what to take to youngest son’ sports banquet/potluck – he is getting letters in both indoor and outdoor track to go with his letter in cross country! Vacuum front room to remove vast quantities of Labrador hair (I just vacuumed it yesterday) and de-clutter it for tomorrow afternoon’s yoga lesson. Write at least several pages of either a short story or an ongoing maybe-a-book-someday story. Go to the grocery store for my mother. Practice yoga.

3. Snacks I enjoy  – Ummm….I like Goldfish crackers, popcorn, anything with cheese in or on it, and of course, chocolate!

4. Places I’ve lived – Georgetown, South Carolina; Boulder, Colorado; Laramie, Wyoming.

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire -  Pay off everything for me and for the family, buy houses for the offspring and pay their college debts, and find some great charities. Spend a lot more time writing and knitting.

I am going to tag – Plainswoman!

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