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

Before I left to work yesterday morning, I was looking for a project to bring with me to work on during lunchtime.  I nearly always work on socks, but today I was in the mood for something different.

So I dug all the way to the bottom of my knitting bag, and crammed in there was my Gust Scarf.  The poor thing has been hibernating in the bottom of my knitting back since back in April when I cast it on at a class that Julie taught.

I was relieved to find that the yarn wasn’t broken off or tangled up.  I expected it would have been, because it’s a delicate cashmere and silk blend: Filatura Di Crosa Superior.  Working with it, it almost feels like it is going to break apart in your fingers.  (In reality, though, it’s much stronger than it seems.)

I’d put this scarf aside because at the time, it felt too difficult.  I could only work on it in absolute silence, else risk getting my YOs and K2Togs all messed up.  But working on it this afternoon, I discovered how far I’ve come along as a knitter.  Suddenly it wasn’t difficult anymore.  I made it through almost one entire chart repeat in a little over a half hour.  While that’s still slow by some standards, it was pretty fast for me.

I think that knitting lace on socks has helped me progress quite a lot.  Being a bit thicker and less fuzzy, lace with sock yarns just wasn’t as intimidating as this scarf initially was.  Now that I’ve worked my way through some lace with fingering weight yarns, I feel much more able to tackle this.  Now I can’t wait to finish it!  I wish you all could feel it… it’s so yummy.

I also had the opportunity to pick up some really fun new yarn at the knit shop this weekend.  They’d recently gotten an order from Hemp for Knitting.  The allhemp6LUX caught my eye, as did all the lovely patterns.  I wound up with 4 skeins of the allhemp6LUX in the veridian colorway along with this pattern.

I started knitting it on Saturday afternoon and I cast off late Monday night.  It was a super quick knit!  I washed it Tuesday night and it’s was still a bit damp last night, so I left it to dry.  It should be dry enough tonight so I can weave in my ends and sew on the buttons, and it will be ready!

I’ll let you know how it turns out.  I’m really anxious to see how the hemp feels after washing, and I can’t wait to see how it looks on!

This sock has been testing my intelligence.  Guess what?  The sock won.

In fact, the sock in the photo is no longer a sock at all.  It’s a mass of yarn waiting to be re-wound into a center-pull ball.

It started yesterday morning when I decided that I needed a new sock project to start at work during lunchtime.  I was already sort of running late, so I ran into my craft room and grabbed two skeins of Claudia Handpainted Yarn in “Peppermint Mocha”, which had already been wound, and I quickly flipped through my WendyKnits patterns, deciding on Loopy Laces.  I pulled the pattern out of the protective cover and photocopied the first page (front and back) with our all-in-one printer, then slipped the original pattern back in the sleeve and replaced it in my pattern binder.  I don’t like carrying the original patterns with me because (1) they get torn and crumpled in my bag, and (2) I like to scribble all over them as I’m knitting.  I only copied the first page because I figured I wouldn’t get much past knitting the toe during lunchtime, and I was already running late, so I could photo copy the rest later as I needed it.

So yesterday I happily knit the toe and started into the chart.  At the bottom of the last page I’d copied, it said “Begin knitting chart pattern.”  Okey dokey.  I did that.  Well I got three repeats into the chart and decided I better go look at the rest of the pattern to see how soon I should start doing the heel.  I went and got the pattern out and read the next page.

The directions at the top of the next page say to work row 1 of the chart 4 times across needle 1, and then do needle 2, etc.  Well for some reason (I blame it on the fact that it was late and I was tired), I took that to mean that I should have repeated each row of the chart four times before going to the next row.  In other words, in rounds 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the whole sock, I would be doing row 1 of the chart.  Then I’d move on to chart row 2 for rounds 4, 5, 6, and 7.

WHY I thought that… I don’t know.  It doesn’t even remotely make sense.  Clearly what Wendy meant was that as I worked across the needle, I’d need to repeat the 8-stitch pattern 4 times.  Not four rounds.  Duh!  Unfortunately that didn’t dawn on me last night, so I decided to just rip back the entire sock.  I tore it all out, hand-wound it, and set it aside to rewind later.  I grabbed the second skein and started over.

Today during my lunch hour at work, I got to where I was ready to begin the chart again, and decided to re-read those directions one more time, just to be sure.

Man, do I feel stupid.  I ripped back three and a half pattern repeats and the entire toe for no reason.

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Here are the questions for week five of Secret Pal 12:

1) Where is your favorite place to go for vacation/holiday?
Out of all the places I’ve visited, Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia is by far my favorite.  I’ve been there twice and would love to go back again.  Secondarily, I’d have to say Ontario, Canada — I’ve been to Toronto twice, and the Niagara Falls area more times than I can count, and I loved both.

2) Where is one place you’d like to go?
I’m not much of a traveler.  I’m quite a homebody, actually.  I would like to go to Germany someday, if I can get over my discomfort of flying over the Atlantic Ocean.

I’ve been bad about doing these, so I guess I better start!  This week’s Secret Pal 12 questions are:

1) What yarn (that you don’t have/haven’t used) would make your stash “complete”?

I’d love to try Hazel Knits.  I’ve had their Etsy shop bookmarked for quite some time and keep meaning to buy some.  I think Sheri at The Loopy Ewe said she’s going to start stocking it, so maybe I’ll order some then.  I’d also like to try Koigu one of these days.  Also Sanguine Gryphon and The Dyeing Arts, because I’ve spun rovings from both of those dyers (and love them!), but have yet to try their yarns.

2) What yarn do you never want to be without?

How do I narrow it down!?  Of course, I love my Wollmeise.  (As Miss V. says, it’s a collection, not stash.)  I also have recently begun a love-affair with Malabrigo (both the worsted and the lace, and I can’t wait for their sock yarn to become available).  Plymouth Encore Worsted is one of my favorites because it wears so well and comes in so many colors.  (I used it to knit my Harry Potter scarf, which is the best scarf ever!!)

LOOK!  I haz Nanners!

Pattern: Nanner Socks by Wendy Johnson of Wendy Knits
Yarn: ShibuiKnits Sock in “Jonquil” (2 skeins)
Needles: two KnitPicks US size 1 circulars (one 16″, one 24″)

Ok, well really I have the beginnings of Nanners.  This actually marks my first pair of socks cast on for Summer of Socks — only several weeks behind.  *ahem*

This is actually my first time knitting one of Wendy’s patterns, though I have almost a dozen of her patterns in my stash.  I’ve been avoiding them because I’m a bit intimidated by toe-up socks.  But now that I’ve started knitting this one, I don’t want to knit anything but her patterns!  I’m also really enjoying the Shibui yarn, which is new to me.  It has a nice twist to it (but is still very soft) and has great stitch definition.  I will definitely add more of it to my stash once I knit some of the rest down.

Finally, I have to tell ya’ll (’cause I’m SO excited) … I’m going home!  I got the time off from work approved this morning and booked my flight.  I’m going home for an entire week next month.  I’m so thrilled.  My grandparents aren’t doing very well, and I just feel like home is where I need to be, if only for a week.  I can’t even tell you how much I’m looking forward to it.  Trust me, if it wasn’t a big deal, there’s no way you’d get me on a plane again.  I’m not fond of flying.  I’m staying focused on the fact that the flight and layover time (in Detroit) will give me plenty of uninterrupted knitting time.  So now I need to plan what knitting I’m going to pack…

Just look at the goodies that my secret pal sent …

I actually “SQUEE-ed” and jumped around the room when I opened the box.  Just LOOK at all those goodies!  The yarns are gorgeous, and the rovings, well just look…

Seriously. YUMMY.  BFL from Sakina Needles and merino from The Dyeing Arts — two of my very, very fibers favorite rovings to spin, and in colors that have been on my wishlist!  I SO need to finish up spinning the fiber that’s on my bobbins right now so I can spin these!!

Oh yah, and Gidget had to inspect everything in the package too.

I think she was making sure there were no other kitties hiding in there that might try to steal her toys or something…

The following questionnaire is for Secret Pal 12…

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I’m definitely a wool-girl. Especially since I started spinning, I’ve gained a whole new appreciation for all the different types of wool. I like natural fibers in general. The only yarn I’m not especially fond of are the “squeaky”-acrylics, but I’m sure I’m not alone in this!

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
Right now, my strait metal needles are in a needle case (which is full), my strait bamboo needles are displayed in a vase, my DPNs are in gift boxes that were meant for wine bottles, and I have a zippered-case (from KnitPicks) that holds all my circular needles.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I’ve been knitting since fall of 2006. Though I haven’t been knitting long, I’m always eager to tackle a new skill and I love learning. I also love helping others and have found that extremely rewarding. I think I’d say I’m an intermediate knitter.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I have wish lists at The Loopy Ewe and on Amazon.

5. What’s your favorite scent?
I like most scents — almost anything tropical (mango, orange, pineapple, etc.), anything berry-scented (strawberry, raspberry, etc.) and I’m an absolute fanatic for anything scented with lavender, hyacinth or lilac. The only scents I don’t care much for are cherry and coconut.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I enjoy sweets, though I am trying to lose a little weight at the moment! My favorite is dark chocolate.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I do spin! I love to spin. It’s my new obsession. I also sew a little bit and do some papercrafts (scrapbooking and card-making mostly).

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
That’s a difficult question. I like a lot of different songs but there aren’t really any particular artists or genres that I follow closely. If I had to label myself, I’d say I’m mostly a classic-rock sort of gal.

9. What’s your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can’t stand?
There are very few colors I dislike. I actually tend to fall in love with really odd shades of colors (particularly those “yucky”, strange olive/army-green tones). Red is my favorite color but I have very little red yarn strangely enough. I love green, blue, purple, and pink a lot too.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I’m recently married. My husband and I live with our dog (a pug/beagle-mix named Gracie), a cat (a tortoiseshell named “Gidget”) and 2 ferrets (”Bink” and “Shenanigans”). I also have an aquarium with some fishies. I’m a huge animal-lover.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I definitely wear scarves and mittens! I’ve never owned a poncho, but something tells me I’d probably not look good in one (then again, ya never know…). Hats are a possibility too.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I’m sort of “known” at my LYS for being a sock-knitter. I definitely knit a lot of socks and enjoy it very much. Just recently I’ve really gotten in to lace knitting — unfortunately I haven’t had the time, patience, or skill to finish any of my lace scarves or shawls yet, though. Not that it stops me from collecting and stashing lace weight yarn to use “someday” (ha ha). I also recently learned to knit fair isle and I really, really enjoyed that and would love to do some more projects (hats, mittens, etc) using that skill.

13. What are you knitting right now?
The list is always growing, it seems, and changing. The most up-to-date list would be on my Ravelry project page (or see the progress-bars on the sidebar of my website). At the moment, though, I have 3 pairs of socks on the needles (2 for me, 1 for my husband), a sweater, a shrug, several scarves, and market bags.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Absolutely! I’m a total fiend for shopping on Etsy. I love handmade jewelry, bath and body products, purses and bags, etc. I grew up in a family of talented women who crafted all sorts of things, so I certainly have an appreciation and love for all things handmade.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I like both strait and circulars, though I gravitate toward circulars (particularly for sock knitting — I always do those on 2 circs). I like aluminum needles most of the time except for some yarns or for intricate patterns when I think the yarn will slip too easily off the metal. Then I go for bamboo. I’m not much of a fan of plastic. I also enjoy having needles that are just pretty as well.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Yes and yes!

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
My oldest UFO is a simple drop-stitch scarf that is almost done. It’s been on the needles since Jan. 3rd of this year. That’s not that bad, is it?

18. What is your favorite holiday?
This will sound odd… but EASTER! It’s been my favorite since I was a little kid. I loved getting all dressed up in a brand-new, frilly pastel dress. I love the colorful eggs and the ducklings and baby chicks. I just love all the “spring” in the air that Easter brings. A close second is Halloween — I don’t enjoy being scared, per-say, but I think dressing up is a lot of fun!

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Other than yarn? Ha ha. I don’t really “collect” them, but I do have some of those Webkinz stuffed animals and think they’re super cute. I also like things with sheep or other fiber-animals on them (like little figurines or stitch markers or whatever).

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I have subscriptions to Interweave Knits, Spin-Off, and Knit Simple. I can never use enough stitch dictionaries. And because I’m new to spinning, any books about spinning or knitting with handspun yarn (such as Spin to Knit) are definitely on my wishlist!

21. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn?
I can’t think of anything in particular, except that I really need to learn some better finishing techniques. I recently learned to do fair isle and that was a big technique-goal I had and achieved!

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Yes, yes, yes! I love hand knitted socks! I’m a US women’s size 6.5/7-ish.

23. When is your birthday?
My birthday is February 24, 1982. So I’m a Pisces.

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what’s your ID?
I’m a Ravelry-addict, so you can always find me there! My ravelry ID is mandi (all lowercase). Pretty creative, eh?