What is this?

This, ladies and gentlemen, is my first toe up sock.


It's gonna be a vanilla sock and I'm going by guidelines on a pattern by Wendyknits. Her Nanner pattern to be exact.

I tried the double knit cast on, the figure 8 cast on and I even tried to comprehend Judy's magic cast on. I couldn't quite get any of them. The double knit on looked terrible. If I had some time alone and quiet I could probably figure them out. While I was on youtube I spotted something called Turkish cast on. It looked promising but the video didn't quite do it justice. So I searched on the net and came across this blog which had a great picture tutorial and explained everything. The video I was watching for the other cast on's didn't do a very good job of explaining the beginning and end of the cast on.

But the Turkish cast on. Oh I love it! And so simple. Why aren't more people singing the praises of this cast on?

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone.

I'm the cook this Easter. First time making an Easter dinner. It's gonna be unconventional to say the least. But it will be yummy.

Last night we colored eggs. DS blazed through the eggs so fast. Next year I will have to boil more so it lasts a bit longer.

I still have the dye jars sitting on my counter. I'm going to use them on some yarn I have and try my hand at Easter egg dye dyeing. I'm still working on a project that can't be mentioned just yet. Would you believe the last time I worked on it was Friday? I looked at it once or twice but I didn't touch it.

We still have to do the egg hunt. That will happen as soon as grandma wakes up.

Today is supposed to be another gorgeous day out. I think another bike ride is in order. Yesterday we went out on a trail we had never been on before. It is nice. Asphalt path and it goes through the woods and past a field. There were even a few creeks running. I'm proud to say that DS can ride his bike for one mile and not be tired out. When we got back home he wanted to ride his bike some more. I love that he's so active. I can hardly keep up with him though. :-)

I love this sock!

Can I wax poetic about this sock? I'm serious.


I love it. It fits me perfect! It's a vanilla sock pattern.

I took this photo last weekend. Since then I've decreased the gusset on the second sock and I'm on the home stretch. I'm a bit perplexed by the second sock though. The heel flap on the first one had 20 stitches on each side. The second on had 15. However, it is the same length as the first one. *shrug*

This month I also knit up a hat for a friend to give to charity. I finished it at the tail end of the month.


Yup, it's another "an unoriginal hat" I really do enjoy knitting this pattern.

I also knit up a mess of washcloths this month but I can't take any photos of them because they are all being used. Shocker huh?

I did some spinning this month. I managed to fill a bobbin full with some colonial top. I think it's about 6 ounces spun and I'm going to try navajo plying the whole thing this weekend. *This* is gonna be a treat. I've got the general idea on navajo plying down. Now I've got to learn to keep everything even and not over spin it.

Just because. :-)

DS's green socks

Well, here's a photo. Remember I made these for his birthday at the beginning of February. I mentioned them here. Well, the didn't even last 19 days. He never took them off, and I had to sweet talk him into taking them off twice so I could wash them.

And he's already wearing the first one I've made him from the second pair. He's so silly. I've just finished decreasing the gusset on the second sock. I should have it finished by bedtime tonite.

March projects

In an effort use up my cotton yarn and be more "green", not to mention the fact that I want pretty colored dishclothes I'm going to go on a dishcloth making binge.

Also, one of my buddies had sent out a request for kids hats. I promised to make at least one. So I'm gonna work that in somewhere as well.

In anycase I guess those are my goals for the next month. :-) I do want to work on another pair of socks for myself. However, I think I may just make a pair of vanilla socks. Now just to decide how many stitches to cast on ...

Updates!

I was hoping to do this at the end of *last* month. But I guess March 3 will have to do, lol.

Spinning

Oh I'm still in mad, mad love with my spinning wheel. I'm practicing spinning from the fold and long draw. Not sure if I've got the long draw part "right" but I"m loving spinning from the fold. Or what my version of it is. My yarn is getting much more even and thinner. Oh wow is it getting thinner. I thought I was doing pretty good before. But I've impressed myself.

I'm still practicing with my colonial top in "bluebell."

I've got only one spot on the bobbin where it just overspun and I never noticed until it was too late. All things considered I'm not too worried about it.

I want to figure out Najavo plying next. I tried it this weekend and thought I was missing something. After watching more videos again and thinking about it I've come to the conclusion that I had the technique right *but* I wasn't holding the twist at the beginning of the loop (make sense/) I was letting it run right up the loop and basically letting it get away from me.

Knitting

I finished my Hedera's. About a year in the making and I finally did this pattern. I love them. Just love them.




Naturally, the photos don't do them justice. A lot of people at work were oohing and ahhing over them :-)

For my February washcloth I did just a kind of plain jane one. I was a combination of knits and purls to make a modified ridge-thingy.


It was kind of nice to just do a no-brainer knit. I'm using up my scrap cotton yarn and it's just about enought for a washcloth. I did the cloth 35 stitches wide. Not sure how many rows though. I'm getting better at guessing when I should start doing the edges on them and not running short.


I've been working on a second pair of socks for DS. I've got one done so far. I've just turned the heel on the second one.



I can't remember if I mentioned this before but I'm not going to dye these ones. As soon as I dig out where the first socks have been hidden I'm going to take a photo.

For whatever reason he doesn't seem quite as excited about these ones. Maybe because I'm not going to dye them green ???? If he really wants green one's I guess I would. I would definitely soak them longer before dyeing them this time around.