Mandi Knits   » Knitting, spinning, crafts, and being a geek.

When I got home from my Easter vacation home to see my family, I posted about my grandma teaching me to knit her “famous” dish scrubbers. I finally got a chance to type up the pattern to share with you all. You can find it on Ravelry and you can download it here: Grandma Rita’s Nylon Dish Scrubbers (PDF).

I just added it to Ravelry on Friday and 15 people have added it to their queues, and 23 have added it as a favorite! That’s so exciting. I hope soon people will share pictures of ones they’ve made because I’d love to be able to show my grandma next time I go home for a visit. I’m sure she’ll be tickled to see how many people enjoyed her pattern.

It also makes me want to design some things myself. I’ve been experimenting with some things, but of course I always have so many things on the needles that it’s tough to find time, I guess. (And besides, I’m still a relative beginner with this whole knitting thing! — Maybe advanced-beginner?)

I’ve been working hard on finishing my spinning wheel…

I’m using Minwax Polyshades (stain and polyurethane in one) in “Bombay Mahogany”. (I’m a sucker for red-colored wood!) Most of the pieces in the photo I’ve just finished 1 coat on, except the treadles — they have 2 and you can get a better idea of the color from those. I think it’s going to be really beautiful. Unfortunately, the weather just isn’t cooperating at all — it’s cold and damp and the pieces just aren’t drying fast enough. *sigh* But hopefully it will be done soon. I can’t wait to start spinning!

Guess what I ordered today? Here’s a clue:

No, it’s not psychedelic cotton candy. It’s wool: merino, merino-tencel, merino-colonial, blue-faced leicester, and corriedale.

You may have also noticed that my little “Spinning Wheel Fund” section has disappeared from the sidebar of my blog…

YES, I placed the order today for an Ashford Kiwi spinning wheel! I ordered it from The Woolery and took advantage of their deal to also get the high-speed kit. (Not that I’ll be good enough to use it for a while, but ya know…) I ordered it this morning and it already shipped this afternoon. The projected delivery date is Friday! I’m hoping I might be able to spend the weekend in the garage finishing the wheel with some pretty cherry-colored Minwax.

I can’t wait to use it. I bought a copy of Start Spinning: Everything You Need to Know to Make Great Yarn and I’ve been studying it. Ultimately, though, it seems like it’s a “practice makes perfect” sort of thing. So I’m hoping to spend lots of spring and summer weekends on my back patio learning to spin. Wish me luck. (And send advice!)

Being crafty, that is.  I spent a lot of my weekend at home for Easter doing crafty stuff. My mom, grandma, and I sat around the kitchen table knitting and crocheting:

Mom and I are working on sock-knitting, Grandma is crocheting.

Grandma Rita originally taught me to crochet when I was about 7 or 8, I think.  This past weekend, she taught me how to crochet dish-scrubbers made from strips of nylon netting.  They’re seriously the best dish scrubbers ever! (I’ll try to post her pattern later.)  The nylon netting is a bit hard on the fingers.  I made three of the scrubbers: the first one was pretty bad.  I never realized I crochet so tight!  I switched to a bigger hook and had a lot better luck.  By the third scrubber, they were starting to look pretty descent.

I have really talented (artistic, crafty) friends too…

Check out the felted monkey that Melanie made for me!  (I actually got her to pose with it — she hates having her picture taken.)

She needle-felted the head and body and the arms, legs, and tail are wet-felted.  It’s about the cutest darn thing ever!  I need to find a fun place to display him — somewhere on a high shelf or something so the cat can’t get to him.

And I have to show off one more thing…

My mom finished the double wedding ring quilt that she made for Nick and I.

I love it.  I’ve wanted a double wedding ring quilt since I was a little girl and my mom quilted a wall-hanging version for herself.  I remember my mom telling me that it’s a traditional wedding gift.  I’m not sure if it’s an actual myth or if I invented it in my head, but much as I wanted one, I told my mom not to make me one till I was married because I considered it bad luck.  So finally, here’s our quilt!

Happy Easter!

Our Easter holiday so far has been great. It’s so good to be home. I’ve gotten to see my grandparents and I’ve been enjoying lots of home-cooking. My mom made moose-steaks last night, which was freakin’ awesome. (I’ve never tried moose before and it was quite good.)

We also got a chance to go to the local yarn shop here and I found some goodies:

I got two skeins of Trekking Pro Natura, one red, one green. Then I got a “slip-slip-knit” magnet for the Element. I’m sure lots of people will wonder what on earth it is, but that’s ok.

My mom also surprised me with an Easter egg dyeing kit, so I dyed eggs last night. I haven’t done that in years…

I think I wound up with more dye on my fingers than I did on the eggs. That’s OK though.

And of course, I’ve been working on knitting while I’m here too…

 First, this has nothing to do with knitting, but OMGz we got tickets to see Eddie Izzard June 20th!!  I’m ridiculously excited.  It’s Eddie-effing-Izzard, people!  Jeezy-creezy!

Anyway.

We’re going home to Pennsylvania for Easter!  Nick and I haven’t been home for a visit since our wedding back at the beginning of October.  Erica will also be traveling home with us, as will Gracie the wonder-dog.  Poor Gidget and the ferrets will be staying home, but luckily Erica’s husband volunteered to check on them while we’re gone.

Erica and I are planning to have a knitting/crochet marathon during the drive, so I’ve been planning what projects to pack.  I think I’ve decided on:

• Saartje’s booties for my friend Rachel who’s actually due today with her first-born.  I started these last night and they’re so fun and quick to make!  I think I’ll be able to make several pair with the 2 balls of yarn I got.
• The Baby Surprise Jacket (also a gift for Rachel)
• My TNKS sock club project: make your own sock from New Pathways for Sock Knitters (think I’m going to base mine on the Slipstitch Rings pattern from the book)
• And a plain stockinette sock of some kind (need to go through my sock yarn stash and find something fun!)

Speaking of sock yarn stash, did I show you what came in the mail the other day?

I got some new Wollmeise!  The top one is Emil, middle is Wilder Mohn, and bottom is Paul.  The Wilder Mohn is so bright that it’s very difficult to photograph.  This is the 80/20 Twin blend that was posted in The Loopy Ewe sneak up last week.

While I’m home for the weekend, my mom and I are also planning a trip to her LYS, Cultured Purl.  I didn’t think they’d be open, but it turns out they’ll be open from 10 to 5 on Saturday.  Woohoo!

This is going to be a fun trip…

I made it through the first round of Sock Madness 2 without being knocked out! Here’s my completed socks…

Pattern: Zombie Socks by Sheryl Giles (pattern #1 for Sock Madness 2)
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 100% superwash in “Poison Nr. 5″
Needles: US size 2.5 (3.00mm) Knit Picks circulars (16″ and 24″)

Even under pressure to get these socks done quickly, I enjoyed knitting this pattern. Dropping stitches on purpose was very fun and satisfying and kept the pattern interesting.

Sock Madness continues. One sock done, one to go…

What a crazy, exciting, anxiety-filled day!

This morning kicked off with a Wollmeise sneak up at The Loopy Ewe. Through clues that Sheri had dropped over at the Loopy Groupies Ravelry group, we knew the sneak up had to be yesterday or today. There were people who actually stayed up all night hitting F5 on the “What’s New” page, waiting for the elusive Wollmeise to appear! The sneak up finally occurred this morning. All the Wollmeise (I heard something like 300 skeins) sold out in under 5 minutes. It was incredible. I managed to score one skein each of Paul, Emil, and Wilder Mohn. ::squee::

Then this afternoon, the pattern for Sock Madness was released. Ya’ll, it’s a zombie pattern. Seriously! The name of the pattern is “Zombie Socks” — check it out. How cool is that?

Here’s the start to my zombie sock. I’m using Wollmeise in Poison Nr. 5:

I just hope I can finish fast enough to stay in the competition, ’cause I already feel so behind… ! I’d hate to be knocked out in round 1. I’ll be knitting into the wee hours tonight (late as I can stand it anyway), knitting while they’re replacing my car’s windshield tomorrow morning, thinking about knitting while I’m at work all afternoon, and then Friday night I’m determined to pull and all-nighter if necessary to finish. Here goes nothing…!