Happy Independence Day!  I hope you all had a lovely, relaxing holiday.

I had a very quiet day.  My husband worked today, so it was just me and the fuzz-butts hanging out around the houe.  Spent the morning and early afternoon knitting and watching trashy TV.

I finished my first Nanner Sock!  I love it.  I cast on the second one tonight.

I’m really, really itching to cast on a baby sweater though.  I bought this yarn a week or two back at my LYS and it just does not want to live in my stash — it wants to be on the needles now.  It comes with two baby sweater patterns, a pullover and a cardigan, and duckie buttons.  Seriously.  Duckie buttons.  Now you see why I want to knit with it RIGHT NOW.  I’m trying to force myself to finish the second Nanner sock before I start on this though.

Also, I wanted to point out Zero’s Etsy shop.  It was mentioned on the latest episode of Lime & Violet, and when I heard them mention freshwater pearls, I went there to browse.  OH MY GOSH, ya’ll.  If you love freshwater pearls like I do, you need to go check these out.  They’re beautiful.  I ordered two sets.  I also love her shop because she will switch out the size of the ring on the marker for you at no additional cost.  You can get them to fit up to US size 2, 6, 9, or 13 needles.

Anyway, hope you all have a relaxing holiday weekend with lots of picnics and free time to knit! 

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…

It’s so hard to believe that it’s already July.  Being that it’s the first of the month though, you know what that means…

Yup, it’s time for Jimmy Bean’s Wool to put up the new limited edition Lorna’s Laces color for the month!  I already ordered 2 skeins of the July 2008 color, “Fireworks”, in this morning.

I’m such a sucker for those limited edition colors.  I have 2 skeins of Shepherd Sock in every color since January this year.  (You can see all the limited edition colors here.)  Have I knit a single darn skein of it yet?  No…  I know, I’m bad.  But it’s all so pretty!  And Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock is really lovely yarn.

AND a very special delivery arrived today, all the way from the Wollmeise herself, Claudia, in Germany…

The four skeins on the left (2 Sonne, Dornröschen and Red Hot Chili) are ones I’m keeping.  (I think Sonne will be a shawl!)  The four skeins on the right (Campari Orange, Indisch Rot, Birkenrinde and Vincent are gifts for my mom.  I’m working on (hopefully) planning a trip home, and I can’t wait to give them to her!

I’ll be teaching a knitting class for the very first time tonight.  I’m extremely excited and a little nervous.

I’m teaching a very simple baby sock pattern that I designed.  I’m calling it “Quick Wick Baby Socks” because they’re fast to knit and they’re made from Knit One, Crochet Too’s Wick yarn.  I’m going to be using this simple pattern to teach the technique for knitting socks two at a time on two circular needles.

I’ve assisted with classes teaching this technique in the past, but this is the first time I’ll be running the show.  I just hope I can answer everyone’s questions and that everyone will learn a lot!  We’re doing the class in two parts, so my goal for tonight is to get the students cast on and knit the cuff, ankle, and heel flap.  I’m going to wait till our second class for the most complicated part: turning the heels and picking up the gussets.  I think that will be a good way to break up the class.

And just in case I stink as a knitting-teacher, I’m bringing along some good old fashioned bribery: cupcakes.  I baked them last night and man are they yummy (Nick and I had to sample a couple).  I made them using my mom’s “No-No” cake recipe and topped them with homemade buttercream frosting and red, white, and blue sprinkles.  I thought it would be fun being that our Independence Day holiday weekend is coming up soon.

Anyway, wish me luck.  Hopefully I don’t arse anything up. ;)  And if I do, I hope my students like chocolate enough to overlook it… heh.

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…

As part of my goals for Summer of Socks ‘08, I’m focusing on “knit it or get rid of it”. Looking at my sock yarn stash, I realized some of it just isn’t my taste anymore and some of it I bought thinking it would be a great yarn to knit for someone as a gift, but after I saw it in person, the color wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. Anyway, I think it’s silly to keep yarn in my stash if it’s not something I really love because I know there are probably other knitters out there who’d be more than happy to give these yarns a good home and love them and knit them up into lovely socks and such. So I hope you can find something you like!

Please note that we do have pets in our house (a cat and a dog). Though they don’t roll in my stash or anything, please be aware in case you’re particularly allergic. Our household is non-smoking.

All prices include Priority Mail shipping within the US via USPS. If you’re outside the US, please e-mail me and I’m sure we can figure something out. If you are interested in purchasing more than one skein, I will discount them to account for the combined shipping.

If you’d like to purchase a skein (or two or three…) please e-mail me at mandiknits[AT]gmail[DOT]com and I will send you an invoice via PayPal.

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock (x2)
Colorway: Flamingo (dyelot 0297)
Price: $12.00
Note: I did start to knit one of these skeins and frogged my project, but the yarn is still in good condition

Hill Country Yarns Sweet Feet Sock Yarn — SOLD
Colorway: Breast Cancer Awareness
Price: $14.00

Chewy Spaghetti Spaghettioni – SOLD
Colorway: Vintage
Price: $14.00

Colinette Jitterbug – SOLD
Colorway: Jewel
Price: $14.00

Knit Picks Felici (x4) – SOLD
Colorway: Clay (dyelot 24646)
Price: 2 skeins for $8 -or- All 4 skeins for $14

Yarn Nerd 850 MHz Merino — SOLD
Colorway: Ting!
Price: $14.00

Knit Picks Felici (x2) — SOLD
Colorway: Pebble (dyelot 24645)
Price: Both skeins for $8

Cherry Tree Hill — SOLD
Colorway: Fall Foliage (dyelot 1010)
Price: $14.00

Again — if you’re interested in any of these, please do not leave a comment. Please e-mail me directly at mandiknits[AT]gmail[DOT]com. I’ll try to keep this post updated as to what’s been sold so far.

This is the completed sample sock for the class I’ll be teaching at The Neighborhood Knit Shop next month.  I just wanted to share this because I think it’s so pretty…

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.
Yarn: SWTC TOFUtsies - 861 TOEpaz
– — –

I wound up knitting these socks on size 1’s.  I got gauge but they turned out rather snug so that the patten distorts.  So I’m knitting a second sample sock on size 2’s (which is what the pattern calls for).  We’ll see how that turns out; I’m thinking it should be just about perfect.

As an aside: the shop has LOTS of other great classes coming up too.  Check out their Ravelry group for more info or call or stop in!

Tomorrow is the official start of Summer of Socks ‘08.  I’m excited, though I won’t be able to cast on anything new to celebrate right away.  (Hmph!)  I have socks on the needles that I have to finish up first, which won’t count toward SOS’08.  But that’s okay.  I’m still using the SOS KAL as inspiration to get them finished and off the needles and see how many socks I can churn out over the summer months.

I’ve come up with a few goals for SOS’08:

1. Knit up all my sock yarn stash that has already been wound into center-pull balls.  (That’s 13 pairs worth.)
2. Knit at least one pattern that involves cables and learn to do cables without a cable needle. (’Cause I’m obsessed with all of Cookie A’s patterns but avoid lots of them due to the cabling.)
3. Knit at least one original design and then write up the pattern and make it available to other sock knitters on Ravelry.  (I already have some ideas for lace and fair isle designs!)

I think that’s a good start, right?

Other fun news, related to socks: I’m going to be teaching a couple of sock knitting classes at my local yarn shop!  I’m so excited!!

Once class will be baby socks, knit two at a time on two circular needles.  We’re going to be using Knit One, Crochet Too’s Wick yarn.  I’m working on writing up a simple pattern for that (you can see the progress I made today during my lunch hour).  It’s going to be a nice easy, quick-knit so that the class can focus on 2-at-a-time technique rather than the pattern.

The second class is going to be Cookie A.’s Monkey socks.  My LYS was able to get permission to do this pattern, and I’m thrilled.  I think it’s a great “next step” pattern for people who’ve knit one or two pairs of plain stockinette socks and are ready to take the next step.  It’s also a great opportunity to learn to read knitting charts in the round. We’re going to be using TOFUtsies sock yarn for this class.  The sample sock I’ve been working on is in color #861 “TOEpaz” — isn’t it pretty!?

So anyway, knitting these sample socks and making sure I have all the patterns/handouts I want for my classes is my main goal at the moment.  Then I’ll be getting back to my other socks on the needles as well as all my Summer of Socks projects.  I think by autumn I’ll be ready for a nice sweater and perhaps some scarves and mittens… heh.

Oh, and P.S. — This is off-topic, but I’m WAY excited ’cause the husband and I are going to see Eddie Izzard tonight!  *SQUEE!*  I just love him.