Behold the great Absorba!

ETA: COMMENTS HAVE BEEN TURNED ON :/

Huzzah!! The bathroom will now be fully dressed with it's hand-knit bathmat.


Pattern: Absorba, from Mason Dixon Knitting
Yarn: Peaches and Creme double worsted in #51 Apple Green.
Needles: Denises #15
Adaptations: What I did, is essentially knit a single crochet edging - I don't have a crochet hook that big, so I picked up 2 stitches, then pass the right stitch over the left one, then picked up a st and passed the right stitch over the left, etc, etc.
Thoughts/additional info: Knitting this was no piece of cake, it was challenging to knit what is essentially [a soft lime colored] rope on fat, fat needles, it hurt my hands a bit :( On the bright side, it's a pretty fast knit. The bathmat didn't really come out as flat and perfect as I wanted - I know, I know. Anyway, I'm blocking it right now (yes, blocking a bathmat - like that makes sense), but I think that will fix those issues for me. Oh, and I could not capture the color of this mat at all, it is a more lurid brighter green than pictured - which suits me fine.

In other news, I got some beautiful stitch markers from Zero Markers this week.



Did I hear you ask what that is in the background? Okay, okay, it's 8 oz of Superwash Merino in "wild thing" from Crown Mountain Farms.


I think it's going to make me some lovely sock yarn.

Now... if you'll excuse me, I have some spinning to do.

I'm not ignoring you

I've just been busy. Unpacking, buying things, enjoying the company of friends and making the apartment our home - bit by bit. There's plenty left to do, but I'm very happy with how things are coming together.

I promise, there will be some pictures of the apartment to follow, but it's still a work in progress - with about 8 more boxes (mostly DVDs, books, knick-knacks) to unpack. But for now you will have to just be satisfied with knitting pics and stats - I forgot to ad that to the list, but I have been knitting too :)

First is a basic pair of socks for me in Regia

Pattern: I did the foot in stocking stitch and the leg in k2, p2 ribbing, with short row toes and heels.
Yarn: Regia surf in sand (color #5420). I think this yarn is great, it has a lot of potential to stand up to the machine washing, it's not as warm as 100% wool socks, clearly a better choice if you feel the need to wear socks during this heat wave. Oh! and see those curtains in the background? I made them a couple of weeks ago.
Needles: Addi 32" turbos, size 2.


Next is the most boring pair of socks ever - for Mr B - modeled by me, the man is busy organizing the spare room (AKA, the art/craft/fiber/sewing, music room) and I don't want to interrupt the progress - but here it clearly shows that he has gigantic feet.


Pattern: again foot in st st, leg in k3, p1 ribbing, with short row toes and heels.
Yarn: Knitpicks Essential Tweed in "flint" I had planned on making a pair of gloves when I ordered this yarn. However, it was absolutely not what I expected, I was hugely disappointed in this so-called tweed. It looks like a child splashed their paints on it - very primary colour-ish. Having said that, the yarn itself is soft, and Mr. B states that the socks are super comfortable.
Needles: Knitpicks 32", size 1.


Next is a couple of wash/dish clothes. I wanted simple and fast. I love the simple ingenuity of this pattern, the yarn color was inspired by a towel I was given a while back. The towel depicts Die Sendung Mit Der Maus - for which I have fond childhood memories, cute little fella isn't he? That and the green tea + aloe soap we had helped me decide that a lime green theme is necessary in our brand new white-on-white bathroom.


Pattern: 4-corners pattern by Abigail
Yarn: Lily's Sugar n Cream - in summer splash.
Needles: Denises size 7



Today I started the Absorba Bath Mat from Mason Dixon - in lime green, of course. My goodness, knitting with this stuff on the HUGE (to me) #15 needles is teeee-ough!! It will be worth it though.

no knitting here

The move is complete!! I am now longer a Manhattanite, instead I have 'evolved' into a Queenster (or an Astorian, if you will). The move was difficult, moving from a 6th floor walk-up with some very (very, very) good friends is no joke - I am appauled at how much crap we have. But the weather was beautiful on the day of the move, and we managed to make the day fun. Every muscle in my body hurts - a LOT, I'm sure our friends are feeling the burn too. It was worth it though - I love the new 'hood, people actually say 'hello' on the street, they are friendly, that will take some getting used to, it's such a major change from our old neighborhood (don't get me wrong, I loved living there, and will miss it, but people being nice is great).

We now have double the living space, with a spare room for knitting/spinning/sewing (and Mr. B's art/music I suppose). The light in here is beautiful in here. There will be photo's, but not for a little while - no internet (phone or TV) until next week (Time Warner sucks, but I'm not telling you anything new am I?). As a result, I'm writing this post on my Blackberry, which is "interesting" to say the least, I have no idea if it will work yet. I have been trying to keep up with blog reading, but you won't see comments from me for a while yet, that is asking a little too much from the little bb. Thanks again for all your well-wishes with the move, it's appreciated - and I'm sure it helped.

Okay, I must go and unpack some boxes, if I can stand up :)

Like I "need" more socks.

Pattern: Ampersand from "Through the Loops"
Yarn: Regia Surf #5411, thanks to Veronique's de-stashing.
Needles: Addis turbos 32", 3mm (US #2)
Adaptations: I added 6 stitches to the pattern, instead of 3 sts between the increases/decreases I had 4, I didn't want my socks to be too tight. I knit toe up and 2 at a time
Thoughts: I really like this yarn, I think the higher cotton content will be great for the upcoming warmer weather, the colours are nice and happy, and I think the pattern works for the yarn too.


I'm also getting really good at my short-row heels (if I do say so myself), thanks to Gleek giving me a little pointer, and me knitting a little tighter. Overall, these socks make me smile.



Not sure when I will be posting again, with ensuring Mr. B. doesn't pack all my yarn careful planning I will be able to continue knitting, but my internet access might be rudely interrupted after the move next weekend.

You Spin Me Right Round Baby...

The song has been going around my head over, and over again while knitting these socks. I'm actually really relieved the that socks are finished so that the bloody song can finally stop. Oddly enough, when taking the pictures, the only place I could get decent light was on Mr. B's drum stool (well, apparently they are called 'thrones', but that makes me giggle). At least the pictures are in keeping with the music theme.



Pattern: RPMs
Yarn: Trekking XXL in color 105
Adaptations: None, that I recall.
Thoughts: I really didn't like this yarn at first, not sure if it was the color or slight scratchiness of the yarn, but the subtle striping and warm colors won me over in the end.


I also thought I would try the pointy toe in the pattern, um, not convinced I would use it again. Although I'm still keen to try the star toe.

Oh yeah, I'm sure you've figured out from this post that I'm still breathing and all that. We had a 10 day visit from Ma & Pa Schrodinger [the socks were a big hit for Mum btw]. And have been hunting for a new place to live, we are actually anxiously awaiting to see if our application was accepted for a place we fell in love with. In amongst all that, and the blogging blahs I managed to forget my 2nd blogiversary, and barely kept up with bloglines. I'm sure services will resume as normal sometime in April once we have moved - wherever that may be...

Monkeying around

I didn't really think I had much to post about this weekend, but then I thought "I finished the socks". So here you are, Mum's Monkey socks are done, finished yesterday - and with the folks not arriving until Friday, there was bags of time.

Pattern: monkey socks by Cookie.
Yarn: South West Trading Companies "Tofuties" colour #722 "Stand on Your Own Two Feet".
Needles: Pony Pearls #2 dpns.

Made in a week, I have to agree with other bloggers that these really are a quick and easy knit, it clearly helps that my Mum has tiny feet (size 3/5-4 US) hence I couldn't pose in them, destruction of the socks was not an option :)



I'm feeling a bit of "blogging blah" at the moment. While there's other stuff to post about, I just can't be bothered. Oh well, I'm sure this will pass. Hope a great weekend was had by all.

Revival!

I am so glad that I finally got the guts to rip out those jaywalkers, because now I have in my possession a fully functional, actually going to be worn, pair of socks. HUZZAH!


Pattern: simple toe up (psso short row toes and heels, Ala misocrafty) in 3 x 1 ribbing, I just knit until I (nearly) ran out of yarn.
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill, supersock # 325, a bargain from that auction site.
Needles: mostly, 32" addi turbos #2, but I switch out to # pony pearls for the leg of sock number 2.


Before I could bat an eyelid, yarn for a pair of monkey socks was on the needles. These socks will be for my wonderful Mum, who has a very special birthday coming up and has chosen to come and visit Mr. B and I for that birthday.



The yarn? South West Trading Companies "Tofuties" 50% Superwash Wool 25% SOYSILK brand fiber 22.5% Cotton 2.5% Chitin (made from shrip and crab shells!). The colour is #722 "Stand on Your Own Two Feet". I quite like the feel of this yarn, slightly silken, it appears as though it will be pretty hard wearing, and the look is very "Trekking"-esque. However, there is no give to this yarn at all, it is very much like knitting with cotton, which I'm okay with, but this can be bothersome to some.

On other news, yesterday was a Spider Baby shower, for 2 preggers spiders. A great time was had by all, I just wanted to give a shout out to Kaitlyn for organizing and to Jess for keeping us spiders in line with the blankets. I (to my shame again) did not manage to bring my camera, but you can check out Jess's post to see some photos of the event, betcha can't spot me :)

Dizzy! I'm so dizzy my head is spinning!

First of all, thanks so much for your enthusiasm about my bags, I'm pretty excited about them, and will be working on perfecting the design over the next few weeks.

Please excuse the rather barren look of the blog as it goes through a metamorphosis.

I missed my usual Sunday post yesterday because I was busy at a spinning party at Marie's. Yes the Spiders met up for an afternoon on fun, food, films and flying fiber. Sadly, I forgot my camera, so you'd have to check some other spider sites to see photos. I have a picture of what I succeeded in spindle spinning...

Some Brooklyn handspun spinning batt on my turkish drop spindle
.
Pretty pathetic no? I concluded yesterday that I'm not a fan of drop spindle spinning, although it was my first time, I'm not patient enough to wait the hours, days, years it would take for me to produce enough knitworthy yarn for even a scarf. I will stick with my wheel thank you very much. Speaking of wheels, I did get to play with Marie's Lendrum, ooooooh what a dream! It was a pleasure to use and I actually think I was a better spinner with it than with mine. I did go home and spin some of her lovely fiber, freshly carded and a pleasure to spin with.



Don't worry, I haven't completely neglected my knitting. I have a few things on the go, but the progress shots are not worth it, but I did knit a sock.



This is actually from the yarn from the 1 1/3rd jaywalkers. Well, I finally frogged them!!