We had some of my coworkers and their kids over this weekend to carve pumpkins…
 
 
 
 

This is my pumpkin!
 
This pumpkin was Randall’s, but he didn’t want to carve it, so I used an extra ghost pattern and carved it…
 

I did meet all of my Socktoberfest goals… although not as neatly as I would have liked…
 

My bobbin got full, so I tried to unload some yarn…
 Something went horribly wrong, and it got unbearably tangled! This, might I emphasize, is AFTER 2 hours of detangling effort.

(I’m really not good with the whole tangled yarn thing.) I might note that I was interrupted by trick-or-treaters quite a few times.

I really don’t know what to do. Randall thinks I should cut out the tangle and THROW IT AWAY! I can’t do that. I spent so much time making that yarn!! How could this happen?!?!

Oh, yeah, Happy Halloween!

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I finished my RPMs!
 
Pattern: RPM from knitty.com, modified to CO 45 sts for my large guage with medium weight STR.

Yarn: Socks That Rock in Moss Agate, medium weight

Needles: US 2
 

Woohoo!
 

You might notice major pooling in the gusset, green on this side…
 

…and orange on this side!

They were fun and fast to knit!
 
I also polished off some baby socks for my coworker, whose son was born on Friday!

To recap my Socktoberfest Goals:
1) Dad’s socks: Done!
2) Mom’s socks: Done!
3) My 2nd RPM: Done!
4) Spin enough sock yarn to knit a pair of socks: Plying in progress!
5) Nephew’s baby booties: Done!
6) Coworker’s baby socks: Done!

 Only one goal left! And I think I’m about halfway done with the plying… (the wheel is safe from Mojo on the couch… at least for a few more days!)
 

We’ve got yarn, folks!

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Here he is, looking fierce!
 

Trying to get up on the couch!
 

Mid-run with floppy ears!
 

With a stick!

With a rubber chicken!
 
At 12 weeks, Mojo weighs 15 pounds, he’s 12.5 inches at the shoulder, and 16 inches long.
 He’s getting these lighter strips of fur on his shoulder blades…
I still think he’s a Rottweiler/German Shepherd/Yellow Lab mix and that he’s going to be white, tan, and black when he grows up. I think he’ll weigh 70 pounds at 1 year and 90 pounds as an adult…
 
His rump and tail are still getting darker…

Next week I think he’ll weigh 18 pounds!

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So, I finished one bobbin of red superwash singles for my sock yarn. Now I just have to spin the other bobbin and ply them together, and I’ll have yarn!

 However, I haven’t been making any progress on the 2nd bobbin, because I started spinning my soy silk!!! I love this stuff SO MUCH! Once I’m finished spinning it up, I’m going to navajo ply it into a 3-ply yarn. I can’t wait!

In other news, I’m down to the foot of my 2nd RPM sock!

To recap my Socktoberfest goals:
1) Dad’s socks: Done!
2) Mom’s socks: Done!
3) My 2nd RPM: on the foot!
4) Spin enough sock yarn to knit a pair of socks: One ply done (out of 2)!
5) Nephew’s baby booties: Done!
6) Coworker’s baby socks: haven’t started yet

Also, zipper in sweater: not yet

I’m sure I’ll be down to the wire, and I might not meet all my goals, but I just have to spin that soy silk!!!

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This weekend, Cookie and Kristi came over for a good old-fashioned dye party. We used Wilton’s Icing Dyes on a wide variety of fiber…

In this sink we have (top to bottom): Cookie’s laceweight 95% merino/5% cashmere yarn, my mystery fiber (which we think is wool with tencel in it), and Kristi’s merino.

In this sink we have: Kristi’s superwash merino on the left, my soy silk on the top, and my mystery wool on the right.

Here is my mystery wool (started out gray) dyed, wrapped, and ready to microwave.

Here is my mystery fiber (wool with tencel?) that I dyed.

Here is my mystery fiber (wool with tencel?) that Kristi dyed for me. It turns out that 250g of fiber needs to be dyed in 2 batches… who knew? So, since I had 5 batches of fiber to dye, Kristi had 2, and Cookie had one, Kristi helped me out and dyed one of my mystery wool/tencel batches (while Cookie knit her sock).

Here’s my soy silk.
(Rainbow!)

This is my 2 packets of mystery wool (started out gray).

Here is my mystery fiber (wool with tencel?) that I dyed, being rinsed in the sink.

Here is my mystery fiber (wool with tencel?) that Kristi dyed, being rinsed in the sink.

Here is my soy silk, very wet still…

Here’s Cookie’s yarn.

Here’s my mystery wool, quite wet still…

Here’s Kristi’s merino, almost dry!

Here’s my wool/tencel mystery fiber that I dyed.

Here’s my wool/tencel mystery fiber that Kristi dyed.

Fiber snails!!!

Here’s my soy silk, which dried MUCH slower than all the wool.

Cookie’s yarn all done.

Kristi’s merino all done. Check out her blog for more pictures…

Here’s one batch of mystery wool (started out gray).
 
I’m going to spin the above batch of mystery wool and the mystery wool to the left, and then ply them together to make sock yarn.
 

This is my mystery wool/tencel batch that I dyed.
 
This is the mystery wool/tencel batch that Kristi dyed for me. I think I’m going to spin these separately into sock yarn.
 

Here at last, we have my soy silk…
 

I LOVE it!
 

It’s so shiny and soft, I want to spin it right now!!!

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I finished my mom’s socks, one month before her birthday!

That’s a first.

 Pattern: RPM from knitty.com with modification for opposite spiral direction on 2nd sock.
Yarn: Knit Picks Sock Memories in Gladiolus.
 

Siena tried them on.
 

So did I. Her feet (my mom’s) are a half size smaller than mine…
 

I hope she likes them!

Here’s an update on my Socktoberfest Goals:
1) Dad’s socks: Done!
2) Mom’s socks: Done!
3) My 2nd RPM: On 4th repeat of leg
4) Spin enough sock yarn to knit a pair of socks: Started!
5) Nephew’s baby booties: Done!
6) Coworker’s baby socks: haven’t started yet

Also, zipper in sweater: not yet

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A few days ago Mojo, for the second time, got to take a ride around the neighborhood in Lilla’s backpack…
 
However, he tried to escape! So, I had to carry him the rest of the way home. He’ll just have to wait until his last puppy shot to go exploring now…
 
Siena actually decided to play with Mojo!
 Mojo tried to play with Lilla when she was in her crate… Lilla seemed a bit like she wanted to play too, but judging by Mojo’s excitement, I’m sure she was glad she was in her crate.
 

Here he is all super cute.
 

Here he is playing with Siena again.
 

He fell asleep with his nose through his crate.
 

His face is starting to widen…
 

He’s getting big!
 

And he’s getting darker…
 

every day!
 
He currently weighs 13 pounds, he’s 11 inches at the shoulder, and 16 inches long.
 

I still think he’s a Rottweiler/German Shepherd/Yellow Lab mix and that he’s going to be white, tan, and black when he grows up. I think he’ll weigh 70 pounds at 1 year and 90 pounds as an adult…
 
And next week I think he’ll weigh 16 pounds!

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Homespun
in
the
wild!
 
 
 

Roving: Blue Faced Leicester from Deep Color Studio, dyed by yours truly with Kool-Aid and RIT dye

In honor of Socktoberfest (or something like that), Kristi came over to drink beer and spin sock yarn! That would be the beginnings of my red superwash wool from Yarn Place. You’ll have to check out her blog for her Sheep 2 Shoe progress.

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 Here is my tiny sock yarn stash. Top left is Cherry Tree Hill, clockwise from that is Socks That Rock in Blarney Stone, Knit Picks Palette in Black, STR in Puck’s Mischeif, Knit Picks Memories in Gladuolus (I got 3 skeins for my mom’s socks because the pattern called for it, but I’m totally not even going to come close to using 2 skeins), leftovers from my dad’s socks and my first pair of socks (see Q&A below), and Knit Picks Dancing. In the middle is some Knit Picks wool I dyed with Kool-Aid.

 Some of this yarn will soon disappear, as the ball on the right will become the rest of my mom’s second sock and the ball on the left will become my second RPM sock. However, I’m sure I’ll have leftovers of both.
 Here is how much sock I got from one 50g ball of Knit Picks Sock Memories! See one 50g ball in the photo above and imagine how much left over I will have.

Now it’s time for the Socktoberfest Q&A:

1) When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?

I started knitting my first sock in January 2005 and finished it about a week later. I taught myself from Cat Bordhi’s book, Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles.

2) What was your first pair? How have they “held up” over time?

The second sock took me quite a while longer…
You can see the pair here. The pics of the first sock were taken right after I finished it. There’s a good story about how Randall proposed to me by tying my engagement ring to some yarn in the middle of that skein… I’ve worn them a number of times and they’ve gotten a bit fuzzy, particularly in the heel.

3) What would you have done differently?

Finished the second sock sooner!

4) What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?

Socks that Rock and Knit Picks Sock Memories, so far.

5) Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?

I’ve only knit them on 2 circulars, and I like it that way.

6) Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?)

I’ve only knit heel flaps.

7) How many pairs have you made?

Well, I’m done with 2 pairs of adult socks. I’ve also made 2 pairs of baby socks, some baby booties, one RPM for me, one RPM for my mom and a second one through part of the gusset, and a Pomotomous just about to the heel. If you’re curious, just look though the sidebar on the right side of the webpage for socks and click on the links.

Speaking of the baby booties, I threaded the ties through and attached pom poms to the ends, stuffed them in an envelope with 2 stamps and I’m putting them in the mail today.

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 Here is my tiny sock yarn stash. Top left is Cherry Tree Hill, clockwise from that is Socks That Rock in Blarney Stone, Knit Picks Palette in Black, STR in Puck’s Mischeif, Knit Picks Memories in Gladuolus (I got 3 skeins for my mom’s socks because the pattern called for it, but I’m totally not even going to come close to using 2 skeins), leftovers from my dad’s socks and my first pair of socks (see Q&A below), and Knit Picks Dancing. In the middle is some Knit Picks wool I dyed with Kool-Aid.

 Some of this yarn will soon disappear, as the ball on the right will become the rest of my mom’s second sock and the ball on the left will become my second RPM sock. However, I’m sure I’ll have leftovers of both.
 Here is how much sock I got from one 50g ball of Knit Picks Sock Memories! See one 50g ball in the photo above and imagine how much left over I will have.

Now it’s time for the Socktoberfest Q&A:

1) When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?

I started knitting my first sock in January 2005 and finished it about a week later. I taught myself from Cat Bordhi’s book, Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles.

2) What was your first pair? How have they “held up” over time?

The second sock took me quite a while longer…
You can see the pair here. The pics of the first sock were taken right after I finished it. There’s a good story about how Randall proposed to me by tying my engagement ring to some yarn in the middle of that skein… I’ve worn them a number of times and they’ve gotten a bit fuzzy, particularly in the heel.

3) What would you have done differently?

Finished the second sock sooner!

4) What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?

Socks that Rock and Knit Picks Sock Memories, so far.

5) Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?

I’ve only knit them on 2 circulars, and I like it that way.

6) Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?)

I’ve only knit heel flaps.

7) How many pairs have you made?

Well, I’m done with 2 pairs of adult socks. I’ve also made 2 pairs of baby socks, some baby booties, one RPM for me, one RPM for my mom and a second one through part of the gusset, and a Pomotomous just about to the heel. If you’re curious, just look though the sidebar on the right side of the webpage for socks and click on the links.

Speaking of the baby booties, I threaded the ties through and attached pom poms to the ends, stuffed them in an envelope with 2 stamps and I’m putting them in the mail today.

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