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 whole fiber stash, to date. Most of this fiber I bought in the last week.

 Here is all my dyed fiber. From left to right we have 8 oz. of red superwash wool I got from the Yarn Place on Friday. It was very difficult for me to not buy any laceweight while I was there. Next up we have 4 oz. each of merino and then corriedale I got from Carolina Homespun at Stitches in February. It’s laughable that I thought I would spin these on a CD drop-spindle. I’m hoping to make all of the above into sock yarn.

Lastly, on the right, we have 4 oz. of bamboo I got from Deep Color at Stitches and then dyed with RIT dye. I have no idea how difficult that’s going to be to spin, how thick I want to spin it, or what I’m going to make with 4 oz. of bamboo…? Suggestions are welcome!

 Here we have all my undyed fiber. I think I’m going to dye some of this before spinning, and some after spinning. Since I have boilable plastic bobbins, Kristi suggested I could spin 2 or 3 plies, dye them, and then ply them together to make some pretty nifty yarn. So, I think I’m going to try that, probably on some of the merino, top left. That is one whole pound of merino I got with my spinning wheel at Carolina Homespun. Moving counter-clockwise, the entire bottom row of fiber I also got at Carolina Homespun. Bottom left is 250 grams of mystery fiber #1, which Kristi and I think is wool with tencel. It’s from Louet in Great Britain. Bottom middle is mystery fiber #2, which I’m guessing is also 250 grams of some kind of wool. It’s quite soft. On the bottom right we have 250 grams of Cashgora Top, also from Louet. This is apparently from a mixed-breed of Cashmere and Angora (mohair) goats. And I apparently got an amazing price at $10/lb! Too bad I had no clue and they didn’t have more! It is very soft!

Moving on to the top right and middle, both of which I got from the Yarn Place on Friday, the top right is
8 oz. of 95% merino/5% cashmere, super soft, and the top middle is 8 oz. of soy silk, also very nice and soft.

I can’t wait to spin and dye or dye and spin this fiber up!

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Purlescence Yarns opened today!

Here’s the storefront with the ribbon before the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

 Here is the sign on top of the building (which just showed up very recently). I live mere blocks from this store, so I walked there once last week with Siena and Lilla when the bookcases were shelveless and yarnless.

Then Kristi and I stopped by there on Wednesday for a few minutes before spinning and helped put price stickers on yarn (the sign still wasn’t there then). Cookie has some great pictures from that night. It’s been fun to see the progress.

You can also see delicious yarn pictures on the store’s blog. I’m sure they’ll post about the grand opening sometime soon (and I should be in a picture or 2).

Here’s a close-up of the ribbon before cutting.

Here’s the actual ribbon cutting.
 
And this is the very delicious Blue Moon Socks that Rock that is now mine. I had to have the strongest willpower ever to resist buying more yarn.

But patience will pay off as I got a free magnet and a coupon to come back next month for $10 off a $50 purchase!
 

The colorway is
Puck’s Mischief.
 

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I officially joined Soctoberfest!

I have 6 goals for Socktoberfest:

1) Finish Dad’s socks and mail them in time for his birthday. Progress: Done!
 

They’ve even been happily received!
 
Yarn: Knit Picks Parade
Color: Checkers
Pattern: 2×2 ribbed socks modified from Cat Bordhi’s Socks Soar on 2 Circs book
Needles: US 2
 
2) Finish Mom’s socks by the end of the month (her birthday is next month).
  
Progress: One sock done! Second sock has opposite spiral pattern (harder than you would think) and I just started the gusset.
Yarn: Knit Picks Sock Memories
Color: Gladiolus
Pattern: RPM from Knitty
Needles: US 2
 
It looks so different inside out that I had to take a picture.

3) Finish my second RPM sock in STR
Progress: Well, the first one’s done, right?

4) Spin enough sock yarn to knit a pair of socks (this is by far the hardest goal)
Progress: I bought a spinning wheel! And I’m practicing… (and I’ve bought fiber!)

5) Finish up my nephew’s baby booties and mail them off to him. Not quite socks, but pretty close.
Progress: I’m done knitting and felting and making one pom pom. I just need to re-make the eyelet holes, thread the ties through, make 3 more pom poms, and attach 4 pom poms to the ends of the ties.

6) Another coworker of mine is having a baby at the end of this month, so I’ll be knitting another pair of baby socks…
Progress: Haven’t even decided what yarn to use!

 
Lastly this month (nothing to do with Socktoberfest) I plan on sewing the zipper into my Rowan Plaid short-sleeved cardigan. The sweater has been blocked, so all I have to do is pin and sew. I’m really not into basting.
 
Here’s a (not so great) detail of the top front where the zipper is going to go — you can kind of see the lace and cable pattern.

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Mojo is 10 weeks old. The other day he snuggled up with Siena on the couch and she let him! This is quite remarkable considering how many times she has growled and snarled at him when he gets too close to her.
 This is about as close as they usually get. Note the rubber chicken in the background. I think those things are both Siena and Mojo’s favorite toys. There’s a hula hoop too. Randall was trying to get Siena to jump through the hoop last week…

(Added later: rubber chicken pictures!)
 

 Isn’t Mojo cute!?! At 10 weeks he weighed 11 pounds. At 9 1/2 weeks (4 days earlier) he weighed 9 pounds. I’m going to chart his growth progress. Randall suggested that each week I project what I think he will weigh the following week, at one year (ok, I added this one because it’s sooner to measure than the next one), and as an adult. Additionally I shall predict what kinds of dog I think Mojo is, and what colors I think he’ll be as an adult.

 Ok, so I think next week, at 11 weeks, he will weigh 14 pounds. At one year, he will weigh 75 pounds, and as an adult he will weigh 90-95 pounds. Previous to this week I thought he was a Yellow Lab/Rottweiler mix. The picture to the left was taken on Thursday.
 The picture to the left was taken today (Saturday).
It seems EVERY DAY he gets more black hair along his spine, so now I think he’s a Rottweiler/German Shepherd/Yellow Lab mix. I think he’ll keep the white on his chest and tips of 3 paws, keep the tan on his head, and have a darker back and tail with some tan but mostly black.

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 Kristi came over to SPIN yesterday!! We’re going to try to make this a weekly thing so we have some dedicated spinning time…
 
My wheel looks so tiny compared to hers! SO much fun!!! (You can see Siena the couch potato lying next to me.)
 

Here is my second bobbin of home-dyed homespun yarn!
 
And here is my setup to ply my singles into actual YARN!!!

How exciting! (If you’re me.)
(Ignore the tangled mess that happened when I had to stop plying to stop Mojo from eating the carpet.)

 Here’s a shot of what I was plying last night. I finished spinning just before Kristi left and I stayed up way too late trying to ply all the yarn while Mojo got into trouble and I had to stop many times to get him to play with his toys and not eat stuff. I still have more to ply and then I have to set the twist and wind it into a ball before knitting…

 Oh, and here’s my very first handspun that I spun on Kristi’s wheel and she so kindly plied, set the twist, and skeined for me. I have no clue what to do with this small amount of very unevenly-spun yarn…

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 So, I felted the baby booties for my nephew. I think they might actually fit him now.

However, they were supposed to have ties through eyelets near the top with pom poms on the ends so you could tie them on so they won’t fall off. The eyelets I knit in closed up during felting.

As I see it, I have two options. The first is to try to re-create the eyelets and thread the ties through (I already crochet-chained the ties and made one of the four pom poms for the ends). The second is to forget about the ties and just hope they don’t fall off as is. What do you think I should do?

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Meet Mojo!

This weekend saw not one, but two life-changing additions!

 
First is Mojo,
our new puppy!
He’s a Rottweiler/? mix.
 
Smiley Dog Rescue, who we adopted him from, thinks he’s a Rottweiler/Shepherd mix, but I think he kind of looks like a lab, although he does have some black on his back and tail.

Here he is with the other two dogs! They’re still learning to get along…

 
Secondly, after once again spinning on Kristi’s wheel (a Lendrum), this time while Kristi and Siena hung out on the couch…

 
Kristi and I went up to Carolina Homespun (where she got her wheel) and I bought a SPINNING WHEEL!!!!!! YAY!!!!!

It’s a Majacraft Little Gem 2!

AND, the dogs even let me spin! without trying to eat my wheel or my fiber!! Mojo was a little scared at first, but then he relaxed…

 
And here’s my hand-dyed Bluefaced Leicester homespun!!!! Remember when I dyed this roving??

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So, I’ve divided the “On the Needles” sidebar into projects actually physically on the needles and those that are unfinished, but are not currently occupying needles. I still hold that the combined total of these two catagories will be less than 5 items before I start anything new, with the exception of socks for my mom’s birthday (in November).

With that said, I finished knitting the Rowan Plaid short-sleeved cardigan yesterday. I used up all 4 balls of yarn, with about a foot to spare. I did not add bands because I’m putting in a zipper and it’s already large enough around (and I didn’t have enough yarn). There are some aspects about it that I really like and others (THE SLEEVES) which I don’t.

I’ve considered ripping the whole thing out, or just the sleeves. I already had to rip out one sleeve and re-knit it because the ribbing was too tight. The ribbing at the bottom of the sweater is too tight too. But the thing that is so weird about the sleeves is the under-the-arm room — there’s a lot of extra fabric there (yarn which could have been better used elsewhere), but I swear I followed the Sweater Wizard pattern exactly for the sleeves (I diverged elsewhere and added a lace and cable pattern on each side of the front and back). When I bought the yarn (40% off) at Knitting Arts they printed out a pattern for me so I could see how much yarn I needed. The pattern said I was 36 yards short, which was fine, because I don’t need button bands. Anyway, I’m not taking pictures until I sew in the zipper, because somehow I think that will make things all better…

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I finished up my dad’s socks tonight. No pictures until his birthday! Next up I think I’ll try to finish the Rowan Plaid short-sleeved cardigan for myself.

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