So what did everyone do for WWKIP Day?  I’d planned to go to the event being held in Centennial Park in downtown Nashville, but when I got up and saw how dreary it looked outside, I just didn’t feel like going.  My local yarn shop came up with a great alternative though: we all got together at 9 a.m. at our local Barnes and Noble to knit together.

Starbuck’s coffee, lots of books and knitting?  Count me in!  There were also door prizes involved, and I won one!  I got a nice tote bag (I think it’s from SWTC), a Starbucks gift card (woo!), and a cute nail file that has the Neighborhood Knit Shop’s logo on it.  It was fun to get out and knit someplace outside my house or the knit shop, and I hope to get the opportunity to do it more often.

After the morning WWKIP event, I went home and checked on the animals and did a little house work… Friday night I had come home to a flooded apartment.  Water had come in under our font door and soaked our throw-rugs and carpeting around there, and it had also come up through a foundation leak that’s apparently somewhere between the kitchen and utility room.  The kitchen actually had standing water and there were soaked towels and laundry in our utility room because I’d left them on the floor when I was sorting laundry.  Ugh!  So needless to say I had a mess on my hands and worked quite a bit on Friday and Saturday to get things back to normal.  The joys of apartment-living, I tell you.  At least they have to pay to fix it.

Anyway, I went back to the knit shop after lunch time and spent most of the afternoon there visiting with my friends and knitting.

I’ve been working diligently on my Clapotis…

Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in “Emerald”
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See?  I took it up onto the plaza to photograph it by the fountain during my lunch hour today.  I’m fairly certain I probably scared a few tourists.  (”Why is the crazy lady over there taking pictures of her knitting?” … “Why is the crazy lady knitting heavy wool in 90-degree heat?” …)

I’ve gotten to drop the stitches on two rows so far.  I love watching it unravel down, down, down.  Unfortunately, my one and only complaint about the Malabrigo: it sticks to itself.  So sometimes you have to help the stitches drop.  That’s also why my skein is rolled into a regular ball rather than a center-pull.  When I had it in a center pull ball, it kept sticking and getting tangled.  I think when I join the next skein, I may roll it into a center-pull ball, but pull the working yarn from the outside rather than the middle.

I’m also knitting socks, as always.  I’m finishing up a couple pairs before Summer of Socks ‘08 begins.

I still have a pair of socks for my husband on the needles…

Pattern: 7 Stitches Per Inch Sock by Ann Budd (from Getting Started Knitting Socks)
Yarn: Rio de la Plata in “Teal Black Too”
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I’m discovering that plain stockinette socks really don’t hold my interest as much as they used to, despite using interesting yarns to try and compensate.  So I’m really suffering to finish these.  Not to mention that the husband has BIG feet, so I still have lots of knitting ahead of me.  ::sigh::

My Swirls socks have been getting more attention because it’s a really fun pattern to knit up: challenging enough to keep my attention, but not so challenging that it becomes frustrating.

Pattern: Swirls by Monica Jines
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome in “Wind in the Willows”
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These socks (pattern and yarn) were from the first month’s shipment of the Loopy Ewe sock club.  I’m finally finishing them up!

And speaking of sock clubs… I managed to finally get signed up for Yarn Pirate’s Booty Club!  I’m psyched.  I’ve always missed sign ups in the past.

I’ve also been lusting after some of the new(-ish) colorways from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  Specifically I’m eyeballing Kaw Kaw and Grimm’s Willow-Wren.

But ya know… all I need right now is more sock yarn.  ::ahem::

The new Summer ‘08 Knitty is live!

Discuss.

ETA: Okay, now that I have had a chance to quickly peruse the patterns… Seascape is gorgeous and I’m guessing it’s going to be the “next big thing”. I want one! I don’t really have any babies to knit for, but Helena is adorable and I may just knit one anyway. THREE lovely sock patterns! I can’t decide if I like Spring Forward or Ziggy best. (But the Ziggy pattern is making me want to give the Noro sock yarn another chance…) Inverness looks like a nice relaxed-fit cardigan, which is definitely my style. Gigi is adorable, but definitely wouldn’t flatter my (current) figure. And finally BYOB [Bring Your Own Bag] is probably the niftiest market-bag design I’ve seen so far. I think I’d carry it for a beach bag too!

Whew! I already see my Ravelry queue growing…

Dude.  Seriously.  Check this out…

Namaste Cali Laguna knitting bag in “Peacock”

Oh ya, I’m bustin’ out the big-size picture for that one!  This is the new color from Namaste, apparently.  It’s called “peacock.”  At least, I know I haven’t seen it before and it wasn’t available when I ordered my bag a couple weeks back.  I’d ordered the olive color, which is definitely lovely.  But this color… is my color.

As a matter of fact, I cast on a Clapotis tonight out of Malabrigo Worsted that just so happens to be pretty much the exact same color!  Hey, at least I have consistant taste when it comes to my color choices.

So anyway, I am so freakin’ excited about this bag!  Like I mentioned, I’d ordered the Cali Laguna a couple weeks ago and it was due to come in sometime in mid-June, I believe.  Well tonight, Pat (the owner of my much-loved LYS) walked in with this bag on her arm, which I believe she brought back from TNNA.  Everyone fell in LOVE with the new color.  I commented that I’d wished I had waited to order mine because I liked this color even better than the olive … and she let me have this one!

… So yes, I think that makes reason #9,879 why I love my LYS. 

I’m planning on carrying this as a purse and knitting bag.  I already found spots for my wallet, checkbook, chapstick, and cell phone (I’m a just-the-essentials kinda girl when it comes to that stuff).  I still have tons of room leftover.  I think I could easily carry three small projects (like socks or small lace scarves) or one big project and a small one.  I can’t believe how roomy this bag is!  No more carrying two bags to work every day!  I’ll have pleny of room to tuck a paperback novel in here too.  Yay!!

Speaking of projcts, I have maybe 20 more rows to go and then I’ll be done with my Hug Me shrug.  It’s technically supposed to get a crochet edge, but I think I may leave it off.  I could always go back and put it on later if I feel like it.  I can’t wait to take it to work.  I’m planning on keeping it in my cubicle for those days when I get chilly (which is pretty much every day — our office’s a/c is COLD!).

So because I was almost done with that, I decided to go and cast on a new project.  (Heh, heh.)  As I mentioned, I’m working on my very first Clapotis, using Malabrigo worsted.  I’ve never knitted with Malabrigo before, but I’d heard such good things about it that I was really psyched when my LYS got it in stock.  I got 4 skeins in the Emerald colorway.  Emerald doesn’t really describe it, in my opinion.  It’s much more teal or peacock-colored rather than emerald.  I noticed that the skeins are twisted so tightly that it’s kind of deceptive — it doesn’t feel nearly as soft on the skein.  But knitting with it?  Oooohh heaven.  I think I have a new favorite yarn, at least for worsted-weight.

Finally, I started sketching a cute little fair isle pattern in my knitting-notepad today.  I know it’s not very complex, but I’m really liking it.  Who knows when I’ll actually have time to attempt knitting it up though.  But I do have the yarn I want to use… he he.

Anyway, it’s late and I’m on this kick where I’d like to attempt to get my lazy arse out of bed early in the morning to exercise (I desperately need to shed some pounds, and it’s waaaay too damn hot to work out in the afternoons) and eat a healthy breakfast.  We’ll see that goes. ;)  But if I’m going to stand a chance, I best get to bed soon…

I gave in. I blame Wendy. Here’s my Plurk page.

Any other knitsters on Plurk? Add me as a friend.

Someone please tell me how I missed this!? KnitPicks has released Bare Sock Yarn Dye Blanks.

If you’re at all familiar with Flat Feet sock yarn, you’ll get the concept right away. Two key differences though: the KnitPicks version is a blank for you to dye yourself, and it is double-stranded so you can make two identical socks from it.

The KnitPicks blank is a double-stranded flat length of knitted material that you can easily hand-dye a striped pattern using acid dyes. You can also do other effects such as this gradated technique which really appeals to me.

What’s even more fun… you can knit socks 2 at a time directly from the blank and the striping pattern will be identical on both socks! How brilliant is that? I love knitting socks two-at-a-time and this completely takes away the issue of having the two balls tangling around eachother.

I wonder how big of a mess I’d make with acid dyes in our apartment? I’ve never done any dyeing before, though it’s something that definitely interests me. I’m just hesitant to mess with dye in a place we’re renting. (Don’t want to kill our security deposit ya’know?) Yet, I’m really, really tempted.

Seriously, I just went to the KnitPicks site to order some lace blocking wires…

ETA: Alright, I caved. Looks like I better start shopping for all the other supplies (mask, gloves, squeeze-bottles, etc.) that I’m going to need for the dyeing process… ’cause I know I’m going to want to dye this up as soon as it arrives in the mail!

Thanks to accelerated/AP English classes in high school, I learned to hate reading.  Or more accurately, I hated the reading that was assigned to us.  On the rare occasions we got to choose a book to read, I usually liked my choice quite a lot.  (A Clockwork Orange was one of those few.)  I’ve only recently started learning to really enjoy reading again, and that’s because I came to the realization that reading doesn’t always have to teach you deep lessons on life, nor do you always have to pick books apart looking for themes and motifs and hidden meaning. I guess you could say I’ve rediscovered the idea of reading for just pure pleasure.

Just lately I’ve been devouring all the “knit-lit” that’s being published right now.  Combining my interest in knitting with a good story? — Heck yes!

The first bit of knit-lit that I read was The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs.  I absolutely loved it, and it’s still probably my favorite in the genre.  I’ve heard there’s plans of making it into a movie too, which would be fantastic.

I’ve also been reading Debbie MacComber’s Blossom Street series.  I just picked up the third book, Back on Blossom Street.  I guess Debbie MacComber is “technically” a romance-writer.  I know I feel awkward (and a bit dirty) browsing for her books in the romance section of the bookstore.  (Not that there’s anything wrong with romance novels; it’s just that those Fabio-graced covers kind of squick me out!)  But her books are well worth it.  She’s really good at making you care about her characters.

Then there’s all the knit-lit books that fall into the mystery category.  Both Maggie Sefton and Mary Kruger have written knitting mysteries.  I’ve read Maggie Sefton’s Knit One, Kill Two and I’m almost finished with Needled to Death.  Her books qualify as a sort of guilty pleasure.  They’re rather repetitive (see Alison’s blog post) and maybe even a bit cheesy, but I can’t help wanting to read all of them.  I’ve heard that Mary Kruger’s knitting mysteries are better, so I picked up her book, Died in the Wool, as well. Come to find out, that’s her second book though, so I need to go back to the store and get the first one.

Finally, while not knitting-related, Kelley Petkun’s blog recently mentioned the Coffeehouse Mystery series.  Being that coffee-addiction and fiber-addiction are my two biggest vices, I decided this series of books was probably right up my alley as well.  I can’t wait to read the first book.

What’s on your summer reading list?

I find sock yarn incredibly stashable. I find it much, much more stashable than other yarns. I suppose it’s because you don’t have to buy a very large quantity of a particular yarn to stash for a pair of socks. Three to four hundred yards will do just fine, so you buy a skein here and a skein there. What with all the indie-dyers out there, there’s a virtual buffet of sock yarn to be had.  You could knit hundreds of pairs of socks and probably never use the same yarn twice.

My sock yarn stash, which is the largest part of my stash, lives in two wire cubes. The top-most cube contains all the unwound hanks, and the cube beneath it contains all the yarn I’ve already wound into center-pull balls. (I got a bit carried away when I first bought my swift and ball-winder, and didn’t know that it’s “bad” to wind your yarn too far in advance of using it.)

I decided to “unpack” those two wire cubes tonight to see what’s really in there…

(View the BIG version of this picture here.)

I started piling the yarn on my coffee table.  Then I realized it didn’t fit.  So it spilled over on to the couch too.  There’s enough yarn there to knit 50 pairs of socks.  Whew!  I guess I better get knitting!

My main goal for Summer of Socks ‘08 is to knit up all the yarn that’s already been wound.  That accounts for 13 pairs.  That’s do-able (… I think?).  I’m going to start looking for patterns to match up with each of those yarns.  Maybe if I get particularly ambitious, I’ll even print out all the patterns and make up ziploc project bags with the individual yarn/pattern combo in each bag.  Then I can just grab-n-go. 

Once all those wound balls of yarn are used up, that should empty out one of the two cubes.  I’m going to attempt to restrain myself to only having one cube full of sock-yarn-stash… not buy more till I knit some up and make room for it.  (Good intentions…)

I just really, really need to make room for my ever-growing roving stash.  So I guess that means I’m really not “de-stashing”.  I’m just “stash-shifting”.  Ah well.

The fiber color was called “Goblin Elbow Blue” and the pattern is the Lace Ribbon Scarf from Knitty, so hence I’m calling it my Goblin Lace Scarf.

It’s coming along a lot faster than I thought.  There’s only about 2 1/2 pattern repeats there, but it grows quickly.  Very gratifying.