Halloween Treat

I'm a little behind in my knitting but I finally started my Halloween Sock kit from Wool Girl. When I received this package it was such a treat! I felt like a little kid again. The pattern is called "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown", and it uses yarn from White Oak Studio called TV Yarn. I love knitting with this yarn. It feels nice on the hand and flows off the needle. There is even enough yarn to do an optional orange toe. Also included in the kit was the cute little Charlie Brown bag to store the socks in while knitting them. If you look REAL close, you will also see a little tiny pumpkin stitch marker sitting on top of the ghost character. There WAS one more element to the package, but sorry, I ate it all before I took the photo. It was truly a wonderful Trick or Treat for me the day this kit arrived!
Now, I just have to think of a costume that has only one foot, since I won't have a pair by Halloween! lol

A Pair With a Week to Spare!

I finished my second sock from the Rockin Sock Club. This pair of socks was fun to knit and because they were anklets, they worked up fairly fast. At least they seemed to work up faster! My next kit should be shipped next week, so I'm ready. Meanwhile, I started a Halloween sock from Woolgirl. More about that in the next post.

One down, one to go......

I finished the first of my August shipment of the Rockin Sock Club. I love this pattern! It is called Summer of Love Lace and it's knit in the colorway Flower Power. I knit this on two circular 2.5 needles and I will definately knit more of this pattern. They knit up so quick! Part of the reason I joined this club was to learn techniques, but also to discipline myself to finishing things on a deadline. So, I have forced myself to have each pair done before the next shipment. So far, I'm on track! Yippeeee. Now, I'll start the second one today. Happy knitting!

Crocodile Rockin Sock!!!!

I've decided that this is the year of the sock for me. I have knit lots of socks, but always stockinette stitch on computer dyed yarn. I love knitting socks so much that I wanted to learn some different techniques and use some different patterns. Through my surfing, I discovered the Rockin Sock Club through Blue Moon Fiber Arts I will receive a pattern and yarn every two months for a different sock! What fun. I received my first shipment and as I worked on it, it kept reminding me of SOMETHING. At first I thought it was a Hammerhead Shark. No, wrong color, wrong texture. Then if finally occured to me it was a crocodile. Well, to expand on this story, the Blue Moon Fiber Arts company decided to let it's members name a color range of yarns. You could send in ONE suggestion that had something to do with the "Tides". They had already named one "Tidepool". After all the suggestions were in, they would choose ten for the 2000 members to vote on. Well, a bit of discussion broke out on the Blog, because the owners picked all light hearted names like "Socktopus" and "Show me your Mussells". Several members wanted some choices of serious names. I submitted a serious name, and NO mine wasn't chosen, but I felt it wasn't world peace. The prize was yarn and it's not like I have any shortage of THAT in my house. Well, I decided I just wanted to show that I DO have a lighter side to my personality, so I decided to rename my sock for February! Instead of Inside Out Sock in color Monsoon, mine is NOW Crocodile Rockin Sock! Just my attempt to bring a little lightheartedness to the matter. Keep rockin in your socks to the Crocodile Rock!

PS. My sock didn't really grow eyes, I couldn't resist!

OOOPS! I did it again!

Well, anytime I have a day off, it's almost a guarantee that I will get into some sort of yarn trouble. I got an email from my LYS that they had a new book in, so two minutes after the doors opened I was there to purchase it. First, about the shop. If you live in Washington State, or are planning a trip here, then this is one shop you won't want to miss. It's called , Renaissance Yarns and it is an absolutely beautiful store! It feels very welcoming and the owners and staff are friendly, helpful and make you feel they appreciate your business. This is not your messy little yarn shop. It is beautifully decorated and organized to show it's beauty. I went there today to purchase my copy of "Favorite Socks, 25 Timeless Designs" from Interweave Press. This book is a sock knitters MUST. It has twenty five designs, mostly knit in fingering weight yarn. There are a couple of patterns for slightly heavier weight yarn. I fell in love with each and every pattern. I was especially intrigued by a "resoleable sock". I may have to try that one out! I do want to confess that I also bought two balls of Trekking sock yarn while there. One is the "Neopolitan" colorway, so it stripes in pink, brown and white. Soooo Coooool! I love it, the other was a boring man color, but my husband loves his socks knit from this yarn. I'm taking a class in another yarn shop tomorrow, so I'm sure I will get into some sort of trouble there too. Yes, I'm "sick" too. I guess between Jo seeing sweaters in manure, and Flo standing in the cold staring, and my yarn and rules addiction, well, it tells all of you why we are good friends!

A Milkbox Surprise

My milkbox amazes me! I thought it was the greatest that it actually fixes knitting problems, but the other night, I opened it and there was a GIFT inside! Maybe the "fix it fairy" thought she should pay rent? Anyway, it was a beautiful ball of sock yarn! It's called Tofutsies and made by the South West Trading Company

The amazing thing about this yarn is that one of the fibers is "Chitin". This is a fiber derived from Crab and Shrimp shells! It is very soft and knits 8sts/1". Of course I immediately had to get out my needles and start using it. My color is lime green, turquoise, and hot pink (#718). I absolutely love it! Thank you "O" magic milkbox!

Sockless in Seattle

Sockless is not the correct term but it sounded good with Seattle so that is what I put. No rules, remember? The lovely handknit blue sock on my right foot was finished when the "3 bags" and 1 guest knitter, we'll call her Virginia, gathered for our annual SnB getaway weekend. We try to do it once a year and it typically involves a stop at a destination yarn shop. Once again we visited Fancy Image Yarns in Shelton, WA. The owner Myra Hansen dyes several of the yarns herself and the shop is well worth the visit. (There will be upcoming posts about this shop). Back to the lone blue sock... I purchased enough of the Plymouth Odyssey yarn (for a pair of socks but the first sock wouldn't fit a normal foot, that is a foot with toes. If I didn't have toes it wouldn't be a problem. I couldn't walk but my sock would fit.

A Peek Inside my Knitting Bag...and My Psyche

Note the beautiful hand dyed yarn from Fancy Image Yarns. I'm going to combine the blue and the coral and make a pair of socks on size 6 dpn, if/when I finish my current project. I must confess. I have a tendancy to start projects and not finish them. I'm completely comfortable with this though, since I know I'm a "multi-tasker" at heart, at least that's how I prefer to view myself. Well, if you must know the truth, this isn't a knitting specific disorder it is just how I am. If nothing else, knitting will bring out your authentic self and you might be surprised at just how much you'll learn about your inner workings, especially if you knit with friends who are "Rhonda Rulebooks", like I do. Jo gets anxious if she has more than one project going at a time and it stresses her out so she doesn't enjoying the process because, after all, that's the rule. If you start something you finish it before moving on to something else. But I musn't diss my friend because she has been known to knit some beautiful projects and since we often knit the same project, (because we go shopping at the yarn shops together and both just have to make the same thing), well, it kinda forces me to look at my tangled mess of a project that is still in my bag, long forgotten, jockying for position to be the next in line. Now if this doesn't provoke guilt I don't know what will. So one must look at how we handle guilt. That's easy for me. I don't need to be a Junior Psychologist to figure this one out. I look for a diversion; I start a new project.