Socks, shells, spinning.

Well, a week has gone by and I have some more stuff to show you. First up is some pretty yarn that I should have showed you last week, but I selfishly kept it to myself.

I won this on Tiennie's blog, I wasn't trying to win - honest. But it turns out that I was the 5,000 commenter on her blog, can you believe that? 5,000 comments!? Then again, if you've seen her blog, you will probably easily understand, Tiennie takes amazing photos of her beautiful projects. I, for one, am happy to have found her.

I have a couple of FOs for you, I finally finished sock #2 from the beautiful single sock sent to me by Nova. I really loved knitting with the Shibui, and it's a really great color (Pagoda). I did have some pooling issues in the second sock, but the color differences are subtle enough not to bother me. Ravelry Details here.


The other FO is very important to show you. After I publicly shamed myself on my inability to actually finish Sheldon, and probably traumatized at least a few of you. The first thing I did was pick him up and finish him that night...

Here he is. Details here (ravelry)


And the spinning? Yes, I figured out the plying and am trying not to feel too stoopid about not changing the drive band - the one consolation is that my real issue was that the wheel had come loose from the back. After tightening the bolt at the back all was well. I couldn't get a great shot of the yarn for some reason, hopefully this will give you an idea.

An FO. And a call for spinning advice.

I finished hubby's henry while were were away, which makes it a 2007 FO - maybe. But then I didn't wash and block it (i.e. truly finish it) until we returned home, which would make it a 2008 FO, right? Oh well, either way, it's an FO and he loves it.

I managed to time the finishing perfectly for the warm spell we've had. It looks as though winter will recommence next week, so Mr B will get a chance to wear it without sweating bullets.


On the whole, the scarf is a winner for me, I love how it looks more woven than hand knit, and the fact that the recipient loves it is the most important factor - oh! and it's soooo soft. It was knit with ColourMart Cashmere 2/7NM DK weight, full details here (ravelry link). However, it wouldn't be fair of me if I didn't share the negatives. This scarf was NOT FUN to knit, in fact I do believe that it may have played a part in the disappearance of my knitting mojo.


It also doesn't have the finish I wanted. I tried the tubular bind-off, I must have done it too tight, because when I went to tug the scarf, the bind-off snapped in several places. I won't tell you how much fun it was to unravel that bind off and pick up the 450+ stitches again. There was no way I was going to risk trying it again, so I used EZ's sewn bind off. I think that the edge is so-so. Biggest disappointment for me is the ends, which are kind of... well, for want of a better word... frilly. Mr. B says it's fine, but I'm not the least bit pleased about them, and considering the special yarn and pattern, I guess I expected perfection, or something close. But no amount of tweaking, tugging, squishing or pulling during blocking could fix the 'frill'.


So, with the knitting mojo MIA, I decided to do a little more spinning. I finished 3 bobbins of some roving I bought at Rhinebeck from Little Barn. I couldn't wait to start plying, so I added the jumbo flyer and tried to get started, but this is where I need help from any fellow Lendrum owners, the wheel keeps jamming, I just can't spin it at all. I've tried all sorts of tensions but I just can't wrap my head around what I'm doing wrong. Could it be that I have to use the second belt provided? It seems to be the same diameter as the one already on there, but I could be wrong. Even if I had to change it, I can't quite figure it out, I'm supposed to take the wheel off? Or is there something else entirely different that I'm not doing? Any help/suggestions would be gratefully appreciated. It's figured out, thanks to some advice from Kristi and in the process of looking, I found that the wheel had come loose. So I changed the drive band and tightened the bolt, and have now finished plying my first 3-ply on the Lendrum :)


Since things have halted, I'm thinking that today might actually be the day I finally finish Sheldon, who has been in this sorry state of unfinished for a couple of months, poor thing.

Happy New Year

Austria is a stunning place - the views are magical. This is what I saw out of the bedroom window the morning after we arrived at my parents (it was pitch black when we arrived the night before).

There are actually too many stunning views than I could shake a stick at, even just the walk into town had views like this:


this:


and this:


you can go to my flickr set for more.

As for other things about the trip, the beer and food were plentiful. And over the holidays the neighbors bring home-made cookies and highly alcoholic orange punch.



I managed to bag myself the cutest slippers ever.


I gave gifts of socks to my parents and a hat to little brother (never got a picture of the hat, sadly).

Childs first Socks for Mum (Lazy ravelry link - sorry)


Dads Earl Grey Socks (another lazy ravelry link)


All were well appreciated.

I even made some mitten ornaments for the parents:


The trip was a lovely and relaxing one, we saw Salzburg and even got a half day in Munich. I had no idea how stressed I'd become before we went away, with work being full on, and all the sewing during my free moments. I'm still on wind down right now, it's great!

I did a bit of knitting while away as well, but that's for another post.

Froche Weihnachten

From Austria...

It's about time

I wanted to write something before I go away to visit my parents in Bad Ischl, Austria for the holidays. But I'm not so sure I have that much to write. You see, I've been sewing a lot of bags for the shop (shocking huh?), people have been keeping me busy with this sewing. There are a couple more days left before the shop will, effectively, be closed for the holidays, so I'm trying to keep as big a selection in there as I can. As for my personal favorites, they change pretty frequently, although currently it's the blue version of the mini matryoska's cube and the monkeys cubes- how adorable are they?

Anyway, I promised myself that this blog wouldn't be about the shop, so onto the knitting. Believe it or not, knitting has happened, much of it will need to remain a mystery since the recipients haven't received yet. But I need to show you something, more of a tease than a show and tell.



I'm really excited about our trip, first of all I get to see family that I haven't seen in such a long time, and it will be in beautiful surroundings. I think that we will even get to visit Munich (as that's where we fly in to and out from) as well as Salzburg, which is just an hour away - I'm hoping that there may even be some yarn shopping to be done, but then, I have no clue what's out there, since the last time I was in that neck of the woods all I cared about was spaghetti eis and haribo jelly sweets (esp. the bears and sour chips). If anyone has any 'must see' suggestions while there, I'd happily take them, I don't know what our free time will be like, since we will have some painting and decorating to do...

One of the other essential parts of vacation planning is deciding what knitting to bring. Well, I'm currently knitting Mr B a Henry scarf in a tweedy colourmart cashmere:


I'm really happy with how this looks, I'm hoping this will be finished before we leave - first of all, he gets to wear it in the chilly snow, secondly, this gives me more room for new projects. I have been swatching for a sweater to bring. Of course I will make sure that there will be socks on the needles for travel time (I ambitiously plan on bringing enough for 2 pairs). I've no idea what travel is like to Paris and then to Munich, but I'm hoping that they will be nice and let me knit.

Last weekend was the spider's holiday party, where we friends got to celebrate the upcoming holidays and everything knitty, as well as silly songs, wonderful food, lots to drink, knitting and great company.


We also had a Secret Santa exchange. Sandra was my SS and she did good:

These earrings are some that I had my eye on in her etsy shop for ages, so you can imagine how happy I was to open this box.


Also from my etsy wishlist, was this adorable sheep button:


And, the pièce de résistance... fiber!! I love fiber and it makes me think that, someday soon, I'll be spinning again - stoopid full-time job getting in the way of real life.


4 ozs each of fiber-loveliness. Thanks Sandra!! And big thanks to Jess and Veronique for the wonderful job hosting such a wonderful party.

I have one last thing to show you before I end this longer-than-should-be-post. Yesterday was one of the more stressful days in my life - I don't remember ever being so scared, I'll spare you the details, as it looks as though things will be okay. But before the proverbial hit the fan, I did have one, big, up.


The. best. boots. ever! arrived from zappos, at work. I've heard great things about this shop, but had no idea that overnight delivery would count ordering at 7:30pm the night before!! Going to a snow-filled place for the holidays was the perfect excuse to buy these boots, well, that and the fact that they are adorable.

Okay, I wanted to wish you all very safe, happy and healthy holidays and I will see you in the New Year!!!

I love getting parcels

I felt like I had a lot to show you this week, then there was the realization that there are people reading this blog who'd have their holiday surprises spoiled (hi family!).

So instead, I'll show you something that I've had absolutely nothing to do with making.

These goodies arrived yesterday. They are from Nova, who made that fabulous project pouch there. I'm so happy with the Green & Blacks chocolate - and am astonished that I still have some left. In case you're wondering why she only sent me one skein of that beautiful Shibui, it's because one skein has already become this:


Nova knit me a Pony Express sock by Audrey Paquin. The sock yarn is Shibui in Pagoda - from which I'll knit its mate. The sock fits perfectly, I love the yarn colour and pattern - I'm a happy bunny. Thanks Nova!!

I hope I'll have some more stuff to show you next time.

Catching up

I just wanted to re-introduce myself to the blog. I'm so behind with blogging and bloglines, oh well, it's a sure sign of a busy life :) Everything is going well, lots going on, and much to show you. I don't want to bore you with a bunch of writing, so I'll catch you up with some photos.

First up, the dress - which I'm finally getting around to show you:

And the shawl, which I completely forgot to take a picture of actually *with* the dress, sorry for the crapola photo, I really struggled with this one:


Pattern: Muir from knitty
yarn: Yarn Place "Gentle" a cashmere, merino mix.
needles: US #6, denises
adaptations: I did one less repeat on the row pattern, making a narrower shawl, since I only had 690 yds. Worked out well for me.

I've knit a bit, and frogged a lot, so all the knitting I have to show today is this sock:


Pattern: It's the Honeybee socks by Stephanie van der Linden. The sock is available (in English as well as German) from a Yahoo German sock Knitting group. You need to join the group to access the pattern (yes, it's all in German, I used Altavista's Babelfish to help with translation, it's not perfect, but it gave me the gist). Once joined, click "Dateien", then the patterns are in the folder "Monatsmuster".
Needles: Knitpicks 32" circs us #1
Yarn: Opal in some yellow (obvious huh?) color
Thoughts/adaptations: I added some extra stitches in the purl part of the pattern and some extra pattern repeats for a longer foot. I'm very worried it won't fit the recipient (despite this being the 3rd sock pattern attempted for them), but I can't do another sock now, I. just. can't. As for the pattern itself, I've really enjoyed knitting it, but it took some time to figure out.

Other stuff: I went to Rhinebeck last weekend with Sharon, Cindy, Colleen and Nancy, we had a blast! I scored a good amount of fiber, a spindle and enough yarn for a sweater/cardigan, sorry about the bland photo.


(click pic for flickr notes on what I bought)

I had planned on buying a new spinning wheel at Rhinebeck, but the prices were the same as online, so I figured I would wait to get one delivered to my home, so my Lendrum Double Treadle arrived this week, and had some fun playing with some of the fiber bought at Little Barn.


It was fun, and so much smoother and quieter than my other wheel, I love it so much, I'm a very happy bunny now.

Just popping in to say hi

Some of may have wondered what my total silence over the weekend actually means. Did I make the dress fit? Was the shawl finished and blocked in time? Well, both were a resounding success - despite my "add darts", "change darts", "remove darts", "remove zipper partway at the top - re-sew", "remove zipper partway at the bottom - resew", "completely remove zipper, re-press, re-sew", I ended up with a dress I was pretty much happy with. Although I did have to make an emergency stop at the drugstore on the way to the wedding for safety pins when Mr B kindly pointed out that I revealed a lot more of myself than I would want to, to anyone stood on my left, and I didn't feel like pulling a Janet Jackson in the church.

My ability to wear a cashmere/merino shawl was somewhat hindered by the 85+ degree weather on Saturday. The wedding itself was beautiful and touching, and the celebration afterwards was an incredible amount of fun (it helps that the groom is a bar owner in his real life). Sadly a picture of the dress in action has not been forthcoming - unless you count the picture of me and a bunch of drunken friends in the back of a limo at some ungodly hour, no. I won't be sharing that. Hopefully I will have a photo this weekend, in daylight.

In the meantime, here is a shawl teaser.