Bank Holiday

One of the nice things about working in a bank is Bank Holidays...today was one of them. :) Columbus Day was not recognized by the school but it is a federal holiday so I had it off. Pity about the whole having to get up to make sure kids are off on time part though.

Clue 2 for TTL Mystery Socks 2009 is done - terrible picture of what is a very nice pattern in an incredible yarn.

Most of a Dalek...I was waiting on stuffing which I now have, just need to knit the bottom. Hopefully the little Dr Who fan out there, the one who can't go past a pinstripe suit in the menswear aisle without calling out for the "Doctor!" will like it.

~M

Almost Pictures

The mittens have just finished soaking and are (badly) pinned out to try. I think that really I need some mitten blockers!!!

Better pictures to follow once they are dry enough to model.

~M

Not Mittens

There are sayings about good intentions and how sometimes they lead you places that you really shouldn't go...good intentions led to mittens not quite finished but a pair of socks well on their way.

My Mystery Socks are knit with Land O Lace Steffi, in Bruno...you HAVE to feel this yarn! Soft and squishy yet firm enough for a lace pattern. I split my hank by winding what I thought was half on my ball winder and then weighing what was left on the swift. My scales say that each ball I wound is half the total, but I will find out for sure when I get to the toes. :)

In an effort to ensure that I continue spinning some friends have been sending me samples. Here is a little of one of those samples on a Golding spindle. Camel, Merino and Silk that spin like gold on a hummingbird of a spindle. I that that this hobby is a keeper!

Today I promise to finish the mitten and knit some more on my Summer Squares blanket projects..really I mean it this time....I swear!

I missed the start

It is that time of year again..Socktober started on Thursday and I neglected to post about it.

Many knitters around the globe are knitting, if not exclusively maybe predominantly, socks.

There are probably more, but I found this Mystery Sock Knit Along and have got as far as winding my yarn. No knitting yet, I got distracted by some mittens, not to mention spinning and knitting toys and shawls and....there is already enough on my needles but it wouldn't be Socktober without some socks, right?

Yarn...yarn which yarn to use? Well I will tell you which I am using, Land O Lace has the perfect yarn for socks! Steffi comes in Just Abouts (my fav) and Varigated (my second fav) and I am knitting in Bruno, one of the Just Abouts. I think what I like about those best is the very subtle variations in color that seem to highlight what ever pattern I knit.

If I can get my act together, tomorrow there will be mitten pictures, I am half way through the second, but dying, just dying I tell you, to start that Sock Knit Along. :)

~M

Fall Project

My Fall Project this year started with learning how to spin. :) Andrea, of BadCat Designs, and her daughter (BadKitten) dyed some fiber and sent it around the country to several of their spinning/knitting friends. You can see the original fiber here and what I have started doing with it above. This is my first attempt at spinning for a specific project, in this case a scarf that Andrea has "gestating" as I type.

In knitting news I am slowly progressing on my "green blob", no picture this time it is at a point where I can't stretch it out and when you have seen one blob of lace you have seen them all. Soon I will be working on the color change and you might get a picture then. :) My Dark Star has come out of her time out, I hope she has learned her lesson and will behave for me now.

I also have a couple of stealth Christmas Projects on the needles, you will see them later in the year.

~M

Anna Dalvi has another design in the works. She is the creator of the Mystic knits, Mystic Waters, Earth, Air, Light, Meadows, Roses, Star, Ice and now Mystic Embers. I have knit all of her designs, many of them twice or three times!

You should check it out. :)

~M

Holiday Mystery Knitting

Holiday Mystery Knits officially started on September 19th, as always there are some full patterns with pictures and some quickie mystery knits. I missed taking a picture of the first part of this mystery, here you have clues 1 and 2. It looks suspiciously like a thumb on the one edge, but with one more clue to go I am still puzzled about what it really is!

When the paper was pulled off it revealed two Golding spindles. These both have 2 inch whorls and weight less than 1/2 an ounce. They spin for miles, if only I could draft that well!! Please excuse the bad pictures I took and run over to the Golding website for better ones.

~M