Calloo! Callay! Oh Frabjous Day!

Ever read Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass? Well, the poem Jabberwocky:
'Twas brillig and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gymbal in the wabe
All mimsy were the borogoves
And the mome raths outgrabe

Beware the Jabberwock, my son
The teeth that bite, the claws that snatch
Avoid the ??? and shun
The frumious bandersnitch
.....
something about vorple swords

Calloo, callay, oh, frabjous day!

And that's all I remember. Well, anyway, the USB cable today presents to you:






My shipment from Knitpicks back in July. I am making socks (And could use a beta knitter!) out of the Felici, which is second from right in the top row








My unused sock yarn as of August 1, 2007. (Now I have started a sock in the Essential tweed, which is the blue yarn in the photo. The yarn in the upper left is hand dyed with Kool-Aid.










Doilies from Patricia Kristoffersen's Doilies with a Twist:

Left: Rosa in DMC Baroque, Ecru
Center: Doily #6, the same that's on the cover. I don't recall the name...
Right: Irene in Royale crochet cotton, Mint







A not so well lighted picture (plus an error with the flash) of the hand dyed KnitPicks Lace Weight I am using for a slightly modified version of Hazel Carter's Shetland Sampler Stole from A Gathering of Lace. I'd call the color Dusty Rose or Raspberry Sorbet.








Here is the sock in Felici, my own design (that's where I'm looking for a beta knitter!), taken several days ago (This sock is now finished)


And now let's see if Blogger and my exhausted camera batteries will let me upload any more pictures...






Another of my own designs, this the one being made of Essential Tweed












A Locker Hook rug I (was) working on. I think it's lingering in UFO status....












Guess what technique was used for this potholder....









Nalbinding, that's what! (Self designed nalbound potholder, in Mauch Chunky Kiwi w. Lion Brand Landscapes Rose Garden woven through it.)

An assortment of projects: The shawl back when it was in progress, my first sweater, and a bag I am making from the pattern in SnB Crochet (There seemed to be an error in the pattern, also, I ignored the instruction to turn)









A random pair of finished socks (actually, the ones I mention in this post) modeled by one of the few sweaters I like in this fall's VK










Have any of you received your KnitPicks October catalogs yet? I'm curious as to what all colorwork projects they have. I have Sweaters from Camp out from the library, and I've never done Fair Isle knitting before, and it just blows my mind!

Also, I am knitting a Tomten jacket-in acrylic. I may have more to say on this, so stay tuned

-Arachnera

P.S. As I keep hinting, I'm looking for a beta-knitter/proofreader for my pattern... Leave a comment, or email me at arachnera_at_gmail.com if you're interested...

Dilated Eyes

I have dilated eyes at the moment. I went to see the eye doctor. So not much entry today. Eyes do not feel good. Are eye medications supposed to make you not be able to write good sentences? Anyhow, I have nalbinding and knitting adventures from the weekend to put up soon.

One Complete Sock!

I completed one of the socks in Moda Dea Sassy Stripes "Storm." It looks rather cobbled together, but that is due to my design choices, not the yarn. (Er, by the way, in the review, it seems I confused the name of a KnitPicks yarn with the Moda Dea yarn. I was reviewing the Sassy Stripes. Also, I meant to say that this "almost-squeakyness" is possibly inherent due to the fiber content of the yarn. )

Sock info:

Yarn: Moda Dea Sassy Stripes, colorway "Storm"
Needles: U.S. Size 3 dpns, set of 4
Heel: Dutch heel from Nancy Bush's Folk Socks
Toe: Short Row toe adapted from the 5 st. sock pattern in Sensational Knitted Socks
Number of Stitches: 48
Pair finished: No, only one sock.

I read this review of The Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning and had to note: I immensely enjoyed this book, and I don't even actually spin on a spinning wheel. I've done some spindle spinning as you might already know, and I even tried a spinning wheel at the Wool Gathering and liked it, but I don't *really* spin on a spinning wheel. And don't ask me how I came across it; I don't really know!

Today it seems that my keyboard and me are not cooperating particuarly well, so this'll be the end.

Happy Knitting,
~Arachnera

Pictures at last! (Or not.)

A couple more things about the gray socks, then I will treat you to some pictures that were very hard to get on here!

1) Actually, the problem was that I had forgotten to transfer a cable to the heel needle, not that the heel flap was on the wrong side.

2) Another drawback occurred when I thought I lost my needle (see this post, which now has two links to it! They are me linking to myself, though.) and actually hadn't but didn't get the needle back for a while, either.

3) If you are making cabled socks from Sensational Knitted Socks, there are a few errors in the heel instructions in my book, which was order from KnitPicks in May '06. I don't have the book in front of me to tell you, but I believe one of the errors is failure to give correct instructions for the garter stitch edging to the heel flap on the stockinette stitch heel flap. Just thought I'd warn you.

Randomly:

It's a little late to hear the news, but Smoke Free Ohio's Issue 5 passed and Issue 4 did not this last Election Day. This means that there will be no more smoking in restaurants! (If you have no idea what I'm talking about and want to know, visit the website. If you don't want to know, just ignore it.) I am very glad! I detest smoking and think it is idiotic.

Random note to self:

If spellchecking in Blogger(at least Beta Blogger), left click the errors and click on "Done Spellchecking" when you are finished. Right clicking works but brings up another menu that obscures the spelling options.

Okay... I just accidently pasted something into this message, causing momental confusion, but it was cleared up when I realized I had pressed Ctrl+V instead of Ctrl+T. (In other words, I did the keyboard command for "paste" instead of the command for "open new tab in Firefox so that I can find the URL for the post I want to link back to"). Yes, if you read what is enclosed in those parenthesis, sometimes I write text that I want to become a link and continue writing, randomly stopping to find the URL.

Ignore that(the paragraph that begins with "Okay..."). Anyway, here are the hard-for-your-author-to-get pictures:

Sorry, but due to unforseen technical difficulties, the pictures may not ever get up. I apologize.

New and Improved (Or not?)

You may notice, if anyone has been reading this blog, that the blog has changed a bit. I have added some links, a list of my WTMs, WIPs, and FOs, and have switched to Beta Blogger. This blog was originally located with Bloglines, but was moved due to typing problems. I have not had any typing problems with Blogger as of yet (Except for mistakes due to hitting random keys that Windows sometimes interprets as a command and that sounded somewhat awkward, but I can't put my finger on it and this sentence is.... EEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!) To be continued....

Seen these?

Okay, there are pictures of a very lovely sock here. And those socks are the ones featured at the Tsock Tsarina website here. What's with the long hyperlink? I haven't many knitting related things to say. I am working on the second sock of the Ash Gray Braid and Garter Bead sock; the shawl now has.... Well, let me work the arithmetic, so there's more here than just a tiny entry.

1*2=2
3*2=6
5*2=10
7*2=14
9*2=18
11*2=22
Total: 2+6+10+14+18+22=72 snowdrops.

So, I have knitted 72 snowdrops. I've been reading a lot lately, and not knitting too much. I just hit random keys that brought up Outlook Express. Huhh?? As I said in a comment, I have been calling it Foxfire when it is actually Firefox. Odd.

More Randomness!

The digits "512" occur in pi starting at the 1842 digit. *Grin*

I have started socks using KnitPick's Telemark with the "2 socks at once on dpns" article in Knitty. I am using the colors Drift and Pesto.

Why is www.newvoyager.com designed by Supercalifragelisticexpealidocious! or something like that? Odd name.

It is 26th September.

I am using Foxfire this afternoon for the first time.

I cannot find the audio for "American Pi" (The one that goes "Find, find the value of pi, 3. 14159...)

Typing approximately 31 l's into Mozilla Foxfire's address bar results in a pdf coming up!

I am listening to "Everywhere I Go", or at least I was.

I am horribly random...

Busy-ness

I haven't forgotten my blog, I've just been busy. All three pairs of socks in progress are at least half done. I learned to spin on a spindle last night. (Needless to say, I still have slubs.) I tried nalbinding using this tutorial: Phiala's Nalbinding page. I have been taking swimming lessons at the local Y(MCA). I have been to the Weaver's Loft. I got a latch hook kit (Rainbow Flyer from Caron, but I call it Odonata [toothed; the order to which dragonflies and damselflies belong. Because, at least I think, that's a dragonfly.]) I have been working on watchbands for a watch face I got at the local Jo-Ann's Fabric Store. Unfortunately, I still have problems getting pictures up. (If you must know, 1.44 MB, the capacity of a floppy, isn't very much space for pics of socks, bracelets, etc. )

About spinning(And nalbinding):
A good friend of mine very generously taught me to spin on a (very tiny) spindle and gave me some fleece to get started last night. I think the fleece still has some lanolin in it, making it soft on my hands (and face!) (also, my hands aren't that sensitive to scratchiness), but the yarn is slightly scratchy. I already love spinning, though my yarn is thick and thin still and I am not spinning on a wheel, which I thought I would prefer. By the way, don't ask, but don't try spinning using cotton balls and a homemade spindle, or nalbinding using a small tapestry needle (similar to ones I used for needlepoint on 7 count plastic canvas) and Wool-ease. That nalbinding does not work out too well because I get the impression that you need slightly loose stitches and you will get small ones with this, plus somehow the process seems to be contrary to the twist of the Wool-Ease and the Wool-Ease won't felt. Nothing wrong with the materials, they just didn't work for my purpose (With the spinning, however, not so.)

Anyhow, I never got the Macreme Pouch up to my website, nor did I ever get to do the neccesary research for the other item I wanted to write. But I am starting something: yarn reviews! These are not yarns I buy specifically to be tested, and thus may not be exactly periodical. They are just yarns I happen to encounter in my knitting life. And another new feature: yarn splurges.

I have to be allergy tested today. Blah.

I am not, contrary, to what my comment on acrylic might have lead you to believe, what you'd really think of as a fiber snob, nor do I really have anything against Red Heart or the company that makes it. I simply find that certain colors/types of Red Heart are very scratchy and that the plain colors can get a little boring. If you can believe it, though, for most of the first years that I knitted (not too long ago; I learned during '00 or '01) I used plain, untextured acrylic. Now I use some of Lion Brand's yarns and plan to order some more yarn from Knit Picks. Which brings us to the first yarn review. If only I could keep from jumping around.

Dancing
From www.knitpicks.com

Color:
Unfortunately, as you can guess, I don't have a picture, but you can see it at www.knitpicks.com. I ordered the color Swing, which ended up as my Swing(or Dance) over the Rainbow socks. I believe they no longer have that particular color available, but it, if you wish to know, it has most of the colors of the rainbow. It does have one problem, or at least it might seem that way to some people: the colors make little pools, and sometimes the yellow and purple in the yarn made pools of stripes. This wasn't much of a problem to me. I would not advise using a complex pattern that you want to be able to see with this yarn (or at least not with this color). I used Elongated Corded Rib from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks; though I couldn't see the pattern, it made the sock lacy. Oh, by the way, there is a white strand of something or other around the yarn, which gives it an interesting look.

Quality:
Well, this yarn is soft. It's a Cotton/Wool/Elastic blend, but I didn't really notice the elastic. (I don't know... I've never knitted with Cascade Fixation(cotton/elastic), but this didn't seem to behave like I thought elastic blend yarn would.) I personally thought it behaved like slightly stretchy sock yarn. It's from KnitPicks, so the value is pretty good to me. I had one minor problem: I bought two skeins of course, to make a pair of socks, and each skein had at least one knot in the yarn. To me it didn't matter a whole lot, but to you it might. I did have a comment from a fellow knitter at last night's knitting group on the softness of the yarn. I do, although I didn't mention it previously, have what's known as atopic dermatitis, also known as ezecma, and it's really bad on my hands and feet. Ironically, the dryness makes the palms of my hands pretty tough, but the other parts of my feet are pretty sensitive. These socks did not bother them at all. I knitted the socks on size US. 2's. I have a bit of a problem with gauge on socks, more on that later, but I didn't measure the gauge.

Overall:
I'd give it 8 on a scale of 10, 1 being "Don't buy this stuff, it's the worst yarn in the world" and 10 being: "You must have this yarn."

First splurge:

At www.knitpicks.com:

1 ball of every color of all yarns except sock yarn and

2 balls of every color of sock yarn except those in 100 gram hanks=

As of 8/8/2006

547 items

$1,878.33!

Wow!

This is how the splurge works:

I go to a website, look at the stuff and place it in a cart. Nothing is bought, however. Then, I record it here at the blog. This feature should run until '07 at which time, ASAP, I will tally up what I would have spent and bought with these splurges. Also, I may revisit a site to (suposedly) buy more. I thought about writing down each and every item, but I don' t think that would work too well since today I had 547 items. Plus, I, not thinking about it, closed the window after writing down the price, so I don't have an exact record.

To be continued...

I really have too many WIPs. But I am trying to finish them. These coming up are posts that I have more to add to, so I'll show them to you. Thus I feel that "To be continued..." is an appropriate title. Read on for sock info, and rants on not-helpful yarn company websites and swastikas in knitting.

I just moved from bloglines because their window is causing my keyboard to exhibit an extremely weird syndrome of disabling the capability to type various letters in capitals or lowercase. Thus, I am showing you the last few posts because they needed to be continued:

(posted July 13, 2006)
This blog is going to be moved! For some reason, this window for typing blog entries keeps triggering the weird keyboard syndrome...

Yarn Websites...
(Last Updated July 13, 2006)

Gosh darn it!

Where could I find the pattern for the Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino T-shirt I have seen advertised in several magazines (which might have been rather old, but *shrugs*)? I'm curious about this pattern. I don't particularly care for their website, either.

Sorry, to be continued...


So...
(Posted June 28, 2006)

Unfortunately, I have no pictures, but I have wonderful news!

I have now finished three pairs of knitted socks and one pair of crocheted socks. I seem to suffer from severe SSS. However, I seem to have recovered somewhat. Forgive me for the out of place capitals, but my keyboard is doing something weird and will not type certain letters such as S, M, K, R, and F, unless I press the Shift key while doing so. Whatever could be wrong? Let me try the Caps Lock. IS THIS BETTER? YES, IT IS BUT IT SEEMS LIKE I'M YELLING! OH DEaR. Great! I can only type lowercase a's and only capital S M K R, and F. What is wrong with my keyboard? Oh, well....

To be continued...

Continued:

Hey, my keys are working correctly again!

Okay, now to explain about those socks. My first pair of socks took from December or so of '04 to April or May of '06 to finish. I did however, finish two other pairs of socks while between sock 1 and sock two. The first pair were a plain vanilla sock pattern given to me in a knitting group at my local library, in Bernat Sox Jazz Hot. The recipient of these has worn them once, I believe (It was not me!). Then came a pair of white socks in Patons Grace, I believe the color was called Snow, mostly out of the same pattern, but with a clover-ish (Actually, I think it's called cloverleaf lace.) lace motif inserted at the top of the foot over the heel. My crocheted pair were made in white acrylic... (Yeah, right, blah! But I had to use the stuff for something. I can agree with whoever it was that explained about large stitches digging into your foot; those socks HURT after a day on your feet wearing them.)

Most recent pair finished were started the week before May 12, 2006, and finished last Thursday during a power outage. Luckily, I was able to see enough to complete the toe decreases and graft the toe. These socks were made in KnitPicks Dancing Swing and with the Elongated Corded Rib on 64 stitches with very slight modification to the pattern from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks. Sorry to this wonderful author for this weird capitalization, but my keyboard is acting up yet again. Luckily her name does not start with a, or I'd have a problem. Embleer Keyboard!

To be continued yet again...

Note: The Weird Keyboard Syndrome (WKS) has been edited out of this post. Also, I would like to add that the white acrylic mentioned is worsted weight Red Heart. I also corrected a few minor spelling errors.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And now that you've heard all these: Here's today's post:

As for the socks:
Now that the swing socks(64 sts., by the way) are finished, I have 3 more socks in progress. One in the Ribbed Lace Patterns in Parade Daffodil from Knitpicks on U.S. Size 3's (48 sts.), one in Braided Cable with Garter Bead in Ash Essential on U.S. 0's (77 sts.) and one in the one chevron pattern with garter ridges with Sweet-Tarts Simple Stripes on 1's (66 sts.).

Now for a sad(or not so sad) sock story:
I had started a sock in Patons Grace Lavender with the 5 st. Laburnum pattern on 50 sts, size 3's, toe-up, because I was following the directions. Unfortunately, my foot will not fit in 50 sts at about 6 1/2 or so sts. to the inch nearer the heel. This is because I am one of those "Gauge Swatch? Blech.... Embleer Pattern!" sort of people and because I cannot seem to measure my foot. All I know is that a 56 stitch plain vanilla sock in Snow Patons Grace on size 2's fits my foot. When I made my bit of a gauge swatch (or did I? I don't even remember, and it was only March of '06!), I sort of pretended it was 6 sts to the inch. and proceeded. So I frogged the short row heel, which I had done against my better judgment and created a sort of half foot sock with a ruffly edge, a little similar to the front part of one of those slip on slippers with no heel. This, at first, I had no purpose for, but I am going to turn it in to a water bottle holder for carrying on walks with an I-cord strap as soon as I find my French Knitter thing (or at least I think that's what it's called...) I don't like making I-cord with dpns, but once it saved a science project, which you shall hear about later. So I am going to start anew with the other 2 balls of yarn, 2's and the 60 st version. But not yet...

Future Sock Plans:
I also have Pansy sock yarn just waiting to be made into socks. I dyed some of their Color Your Own Sock Yarn with Kool-Aid and it turned out fairly well, though not quite as I intended. This is intended to become socks, but who knows. I am wanting to try some of the Fair Isle and Mosaic sock patterns from Sensational Knitted Socks, so that might be in the future, too.

Yarn Websites:
As I said, I don't particularly like Koigu Wool's website. In fact I don't like many yarn manufaturers' websites. Why? I do not feel they are helpful. I have nothing against them, I jsut wish their website were more, um, extensive. The only website of a yarn manufaturer that I really like is that of Lion Brand, which, I think, does a good job of having patterns, yarn info, etc. And there are others that do a good job of this, that I haven't heard of or either don't visit much because I don't use their yarns.

Site Updates:
I am hoping to put up the (Nearly) Seamless Crochet Slipper Pattern and the Macreme Bag pattern on http://www.geocities.com/celitmarifiatricoter . Also: I posted a really long comment on the Yarn Harlot's question about Which Three Knitters?

Check back in a bit for info on an issue I feel deserves discussion.