Child's French socks

Have I told you all how much I love Nancy Bush sock patterns? Well I do, and I really love her book Knitting Vintage socks. The pattern for these socks comes from that book. They are called Child's French socks. Although they are really sized for and adult. I love this lace pattern. I used a merino nylon blend called cocoon. This is normally a baby yarn but I think it works just great for socks. I think I will try other patterns with this yarn in the future.

What I have been up to

Well the past week I have been so busy. So busy that I just can't seem to get things done. I just hate that. Well this week I have gotten myself a bit more organized and now I am able to get some things done. First thing I am working on are a pair of socks. I will talk about them later, so stay tuned. Tonight I was able to finish clue 1 in the mystic waters shawl KAL. I am using a light sage green yarn called Alpaca pure from Alchemy. I have started a couple of the shawl or stole KAL's that have been all over the web. I haven't been all that thrilled with them. Not that they were bad but just not my style. Well so far I have totally fallen in love with this pattern. I think the alpaca with drape really well, so I'm looking forward to getting this one done. I can't wait until tomorrow to see what clue brings. By the way you can see some of my finished and in progress things on Ravelry. My screen name is of course Yarnsnthreads.

Finished!

Well I was able to finish my entrelac sock last night and even wear them to work today. I have to say they were a lot of fun to knit but I did cop out a bit on the pattern. By the time I finished the entrelac part of the pattern I was ready for easy knitting. So I just stuck with the blue and kept knitting until I ran out of the blue. So not to make it a total cop out I did add color to the toe. I have had several people ask where the pattern came from. Its from the book Socks! a special Spin off publication. I know you can still get a copy from Interweave.com. The book has great sock patterns. Its mostly for handspun but you can easily figure out what yarn will work. So what's my next project? Another pair but these are from the Knitting Vintage socks by Nancy Bush.

Baby its cold outside

Well the weather here in Idaho has change, in what seems like over night. As a matter of fact my husband and all his hunting buddy's came home a day early because it was so cold. He said it was snowing every day they were up in the mountains. Well its not quite that cold here in Boise but it is cold enough for my fingerless mitts. So I went to look for them in a basket that I keep all the gloves, mittens and hats for winter. But of course they weren't there. So what is a gal to do? Knit another pair. Yesterday I was looking through my stash for some yarn for projects that my daughters want to make and came across this yarn. I have no idea where it came from or what it is. I do have a strong feeling that its alpaca and maybe some wool. It appears to be hand dyed but not hand spun. I don't remember dyeing it but of course that means nothing. Anyway I used a pattern from the book One Skein Wonders ( don't you just love that book) and knit them up in about an evening. And yes they are warm and fit me like a glove. Sorry

Clue 2 complete

Well I had a bit of a slow start but I have been able to get a lot of knitting done over the past few days as my hubby is been busy hunting, or like we like to call it hiking with rifles. He never gets anything. Anyway I have been able to spend a lot of time knitting so the first thing I want to get done was to catch up with the secret of the stole KAL. I am using Knit Picks bare lace weight wool and what I would call antique white beads. I wasn't so sure I would like this stole when I saw the first clue but when clue two came out I fell in love with the design. I can't wait for Friday and clue 3.

What color next?

Well so far these are the funnest socks I have knit. Of course so far I have loved the entire process. From shopping for the roving at a fiber fair to the spinning and now the knitting. Because I have 8 colors that I'm working with I do have to take a minute to think about colors. I really don't want all the greens together or all the purples and pinks. I wasn't so sure about the orange ( not my favorite color) but I think its working out really well. I have a deep purple that will be the next color, after that I'm not sure what I will use. The Pattern calls for the entrelac only on the cuff. I plan to continue with color work on the heels and foot. After all I have lots of colors to work with. I think I may have enough left over to fingerless mits too

Can you...

As a knitting teacher I am asked all the time if I can change a pattern to fit the yarn I want to use. Or in this case I only had 648 yards of yarn and I wanted to make something out of it besides a hat or two. So here is what I did. First let me tell you about the yarn. I was given this yarn a year or so ago from a secret swap or something. Well I had never seen this yarn so I knew was I not going to be able to get more if I needed. So I have been looking for something that would take 648 yards. Well I wasn't able to find anything I liked. By the way the yarn is called Goddess Yarns Ellen. Its a deep purple and each ball has 81 yards and it suggest I use a size 8 needle.

Well after looking and looking I found a really neat vest pattern from Plymouth. The pattern called for Turino Silk, which by the way is a discontinued yarn. The pattern called for a size 5 and 7 needle with a gauge of 18 stitches for 4 inches. It also called for about 900 yards. So what to do. Well I did a swatch with size 9 needles and it turned out to be a gauge of 14 stitches to 4 inches. The fabric was a bit looser but not bad. The yarn is a55% cotton, and 45% wool so its very soft so a soft fabric is just fine with me. Now that I had my gauge I needed to adjust the pattern to get the fit I was looking for. I usually wear a 44 because I am a 42 1/2 well I knew that if I made the vest with my gauge my regular size would of course end up way to big, so what I did was knit the small instead of the large. What was the result. I had plenty of yarn for the vest, I was even able to make it 3 inches longer then the pattern called for. The best part was its fits great and I have about 1 1/2 balls left over to make that hat some day.

I have learned over the years that for me its easier for me to change the gauge to either larger or smaller then the original pattern called for then make either the size smaller or larger to get the end result I want. The beauty of doing it this way is I don't have to change any of the numbers of stitches and I usually have some yarn left over. One thing I do when using this method , when the pattern tells you to knit for say 10 inches for a small I will knit for the length of the larger or even the extra large. I want it to be sure its long enough.

And the socks keep spinning

I am still working on the yarns I need for my big enterlac sock project. In reality I have all eight skeins done and am taking them to work so that I can wind them into balls so that I can get started on the socks next week. But first I have to finish up a couple of projects. I'm working on a purple vest that I should have finished today and then I need to finish up the I love gansey socks. I need to get them done so that I can have the needles for the enterlac ones. I really love how the yarns came out on for these socks. I would compare it to Jitterbug or Loute's little gem yarns. Soft but still spun tightly. Which I think works best for socks. Well I'm off to get a few things done so that I can get started on the new socks.

And the winner is...........................

Well after read all the names that were entered in the spinning wheel contest, and after everyone thought about we have decided on Amy's idea of CLEMENTINE! We must confess we all love a good western here so Clementine just seems to fit with our family. Thanks so much for all the wonderful ideas. I will try to think up another contest before the year comes to an end. Amy please leave me your email address so that I can contact you for your address so that I can get the skein of handspun out to you.

ITs beginning to look a lot like fall?

I'm not sure why I like fall so much. It could be the changes of the leaves, the cool crisp mornings, Halloween. No its really the fact that the hot temperatures are gone for another year. This year in Idaho it seems like we are about a month ahead. Its already been cool enough for me to turn the heater on. OK it was just one time but still I had to turn it on because it was so cold in the house. So in honor of Fall's arrival here in Idaho I needle felted this little guy. I picked up the orange roving while I was attending a fiber fair in Salt Lake last month. I just love the color and I think he works well with my other fall decorations. Enjoy.

I've been socked!

Over the past couple of days I have been socked! I received two boxes that contained socks and other goodies. First I received a neat pair from Lisa Ping. These are part of the Sock it to me swap. They are made from Brown Sheep Wildfoote in the color of deco lime. She designed these herself and are just wonderful and fit just great.

Then I got a box from Suzie Racho. These came from the Monkey sock swap. If you have not tried to knit the monkey sock from Cookie A. then you have missed out. This is one of my favorite sock patterns. Suzie knit these with socks that rock yarn and I just love them. She also sent some monkey goodies and of course some chocolate. Part of the swap was to send yarn and another Cookie A. pattern. She sent a skein of socks that rock yarns as you can see in a wonderful colorway. In the little white bag are some brown stitch markers.

The best part of both of these swaps are the socks and the both fit like a glove. Thanks ladies.

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name that Wheel Contest

Well the name the contest is now over. Thanks so much for all the wonderful names. There are 56 entries and they are all wonderful. As a matter of fact its going to be hard to choose just one. So what I'm going to do is talk with my daughters and let them help me choose. So check back in a day or so and see which one we chose.

Name that Wheel!

As I was cleaning and oiling my wheel I got to thinking that I should name it. I have a friend who has named his huge BBQ grill Beverly, I have another friend who named her wheel Rosaline. So I'm thinking its time I name my wheel. But I'm not the best at coming up with names so I come to you to get your ideas. So now you are asking yourself well what in it for me? How about a skein of handspun yarn on the newly named wheel? I will be running this contest for the next two weeks. So starting today Sept 24th through October 8 I will except names for my single treadle matchless wheel. On the 9th I will announce the new name and also the winner of the handspun skein of yarn. So please leave your ideas in the comment area of this blog. Good luck and I can't wait to see what you all come up with.

My next big project

Well its time to start to think about my next big project. Well let me confess I have been thinking of if for awhile. One of my knitting students has a copy of Spin Off's Sock special that came out a few years ago. So She has been looking through it and wants to make these socks. We have in the past worked on the same project together, so I said sure, but I want to spin the fiber. So I have been thinking about this for a couple of months. I told my friend that I was planning a trip to a fiber fair and I would look for fiber to spin. I looked through my stash and found that I only really have hand paints no real solids. So I wanted see if I could fine some really neat bright colored solids while I was in Salt Lake for the Great Basin fiber fair. Well as you can see I have found a few. The pattern calls for 109 yards of a fingering weight in 6 different colors. I bought 2 oz of 8 different colors so I'm thinking I will have plenty for the socks. So keep you eye out for more details to come. I need to go now and clean and oil my wheel.

Have you monkeyed yet?

So the question of the day is ....
Have you monkeyed yet? Or in other words have you knit a pair of Cookie A. Monkey socks yet? I have to say this is my second pair in as many weeks. This is a really fun pattern to knit and they really do knit up fast. I just jitterbug and size 2.25 needles. The really cool part was I had no idea that this colorway would strip like it did. You sure couldn't tell from the hank. I was am to get the majority of these socks done on my road trip to Salt Lake. I wasn't sure if I would have enough yarn so I cut back to five repeats instead of the 6 the pattern calls for. I was able to get both sock knit with a little bit left over to maybe make some mini socks for Christmas ornaments. Like I will get those done this year. Oh well. By the way you can find the pattern free on line at Knitty.com or just google monkey socks and you will find the link.

What's next? More socks

While I was on my trip to Salt Lake we took a small detour to Ogden and the Needlepoint Joint. Now this was a shop that I have herd about for years and was rather excited to visit, and not just because I was ready for a potty break. If you every get a chance to visit please do. The shop is set up really nicely. Very good lighting so its really easy to see the yarns and the buttons. Wow do they have lots and lots of buttons. As a matter of fact I picked up 6 Paddington Bear ones for some future project. While I was looking around I finally found the perfect sock yarn for my daughter. Her high school colors are green and gold and white. We have been looking for some sock yarn so she can knit some socks. Well it doesn't have gold but the green and white will be perfect. I'm thinking that she can add gold to the top of the cuff and the heels and the toes. I also had on my list to find a sold so that I could make the I love gansey socks from the Six socks yahoo group. I have quiet a bit of sock yarn in my stash but very little sold colors. I first saw the really nice slate green that thought that would be perfect. Then I saw the Rowanspun 4ply and just fell in love with the color. So I had to add that to my stash as well. As a matter of fact, later in the weekend I picked up some roving in just about the same color.

Its kind of funny, for the last year or so I have been trying to get to where I pick other colors besides green. I am noticing that I'm more into jewel tones these days. Or maybe its that fall is just around the corner. As a matter of fact one of the ski lodges locally reported a half an inch of snow yesterday. Can it be that its going to get cooler and become perfect knitting and spinning weather? But I sure hope so, I have so much to do and no time to do it in. I think I will start a sweater, now what colors should I use....

Natures Bounty

Last week, just before I left town I received my Natures Bounty swap box. The directions for this swap was to send 6 or so ounces of fiber and then any other goodies to express fall. Then once you get your box you are to spin up 3 ounces or so and sent that on to another partner. Well I took the weekend to think about what I wanted to do with all the goodies I got. Yes the roving is as soft as it looks and it was really fun to spin up. I first thought about making a three ply, using one of each color, but I also wanted to add the black eyelash. So I went back to the drawing board and thought some more. So this is what I came up with. What I did was spin a rather thick single of each. Starting with the orange I spun about 30 or 40 yards, then stopped the orange and added the grey and spun 30 or 40 yards, then stopped and finally added the brown. So I ended up with a ball that started orange, went to grey and then ended up with brown. I then plied it with the eyelash. I wasn't supposed to use anything other then what was in the box, but rules are made to be broken sometimes. I added a strand of black glitter. I think it came out well and its still really soft. To finish it off I tied the skein with the ribbon that has beads on it. I think it screams fall don't you.

Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair

This past weekend I was able to attend the Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair in Salt Lake City. I went with a friend who what scheduled to teach a class on wool combing. It took us about 6 hours to drive down. When we arrived a storm was beginning to brew. This is a picture of the mountain on the edge of town. This was the start of the storm. It did get much worse. As a matter of fact while we were in out Hotel room for the evening some of the vendors were trying to hold down their tents. A few were not successful. Many had to run out in the morning and buy new tents. One vendor was so upset she just went home. There is no telling what the weather will do.

This was my first visit to Salt Lake. I have to say I really didn't seem much because I was more interested in the fiber and the fair then the city. On Saturday my friend Lynn set up and taught her class. I decided not to take any classes for two reasons. Lynn will be teaching the same class in January here in Boise so I decided to wait until then, the other reason was I wanted to spend my money on fiber. Which I of course did. I do have to say the Wasatch Woolpack Handspinners guild were so much fun to meet and get to know. Also the ladies that planned this event were so welcoming to me a total outsider it made the whole event that much more fun.

One of the fun things of the fair where two guys dressed in Scottish attire and spinning. They were so fun to watch. They brought a great walking wheel which they showed how it worked and then they brought two of the smallest wheels I have every seen. Just a little note The older gentleman spun and then knit his socks.

Because I didn't take any classes I was able to shop and then spin all day. What can be more fun then that? One thing to mention, it was really windy all day. So there were bits of fiber flying through the air but it still was pleasant to sit out side and spin. So you are asking "So what did you buy?" Well the first thing I did was make a list of things that I have been looking for the first on the list was roving to make a pair of enterlac socks. The pattern that I'm planning on using is from the Spin off book called Socks a spin off special. The pattern calls for 100 yards of 6 different colors well I found 8 colors. So my socks will be a bit more colorful. Oh well.

The next thing on the list was some thrums from http://www.spinderellas.com/ . I have bought a couple of thrums before and just love them so of course I just had to add to my collection. The one that looks like its yellow is really chartruse with glitz. This is one that I saw last spring and thought about it all summer so I was really pleased to be able to get one.

I also wanted to add some exotic fibers to my collection. I'm thinking on starting a Spin-A-Long in January. Where each month I plan to spin a specialty fiber. The reason is to get better at spinning different fibers. So on this trip I added some alpaca, llama, pagora, and angora.

When I got to a fiber show and sale my plan is to first walk around and take a look at everything that is there, then go back and buy what really strikes me. Well I went to my second booth which happened to be Woolly Wonka fibers. The first thing I saw I just had to buy on the spot. I bought all she had in the dark blue colorway. Its alpaca, silk and glitz. I also bought a few ounces of grey pagora/wool.

While I was in Salt Lake I did have a bit of an adventure. I was able to meet and get to know the owners of http://www.greensleevesspindles.com/ at 3 AM. You see we were staying at the same Hotel and at 3 AM the fire alarms when off. So we got know each other as we waited for the fire department to give us the all clean. I'm not sure what happened but there was no fire and no yarn or fiber was lost. But they were so fun to talk with while we waited. I have to say not a word was said about my mohawk hair style. I did take time to dress but not comb my hair. Anyway on Sunday I stopped by and pick up some fiber.

I really don't like to spin on spindles so I bought fiber instead. But who knows I just might pick one up next time I see them after all there were a couple of gals out side waiting for the fire department spin on a spindle. After all you never know when you have to wait out side in the middle of the night for the fire department to let you back in to your hotel.

And the world just keeps on spinning

It seems that I have recently had the privilege and joy to do several spinning demonstrations. I first started at the local state fair in August. Then I did an all day demo at my church. Each year we have whats called Round Up Sunday. This is an all day kick off for the fall and winter activities. First I brought my wheel and spun during services and then in a tent after. We usually have around 1000 to 1500 people attend that day. I'm not sure what the final number was but I do know I had lots of questions. I did learn that its best to spin a very colorful roving when you are demonstrating, it helps to get people excited about spinning. So the first skein below was the skein I did at church. I the roving what one I got from Spunky fiber in the fiber a month subscription. I can't remember what the wool is but I have to say I really like how it turned out.
The second skein is 4 ounces of superwash that I also got from Spunky fiber. I spun the majority of it at the Great Basin Fiber Festival in Salt Lake City last weekend. I will talk more about that soon. Anyway the real exciting thing is that I came up with 360 yards. Enough to knit a pair of socks. I have never spun superwash, I didn't find it much different then regular wool. I can't wait to knit this up.

Sock it to swap parnter really did sock it to me!

Yesterday in the mail I got the very coolest box. My Sock it to me partner really knows how to spoil a person. In the picture you can see all the great goodies. Let me tell you about them. First there are two skein of Louet Gems in the prettiest shade of lavender, along with that there was some lavender soap, some lotion to pamper me with, monogram stickers that match the lavender theme of this box ,the neatest thread cutter ( its the small wooden disc on the book) and finally a sock book I have been wanting for along time but just never picked up. Nancy Bush's Folk Socks. Wow I just can't wait to get started on a pair of socks with this yarn. I think I will look through the book as see what I can come up with. Thanks so much for all the great goodies , I can't wait to see the next box with the sock in it.