A few FOs

So one of my knit-night friends keeps dropping these not-so-subtle hints about seeing the finished socks. And since I've sent them to their new home already, pictures will have to do. While I'm at it, I decided to include a couple other recently finished projects too. Hopefully there is some fun eye candy for you here.

I'll start with the test-knits for Kollage Yarns (and Barb, the designer). I just finished two sets of fingerless gloves in 1/2 N 1/2, which is a half wool, half milk protein yarn. I adore this yarn - it is nice and soft, with great stitch definition. It feels fantastic on my hands! Forgive the self-photography. I'm getting better, but there are only so many angles you can get of your own hand.

These are her Petit Feather & Fan Fingerless Gloves. A quick, fun knit. And who doesn't love purple anyway?

Next are the Spiral Rib & Ruffles Fingerless Gloves. There is a funny story about these gloves. A while ago, I knit a pair of socks in this stitch pattern. Made a mental note to never make anything with this stitch pattern again. About a year later, I was leafing through my book, and decided on this stitch pattern, because it's so pretty. Made an actual note to myself in the book to never make anything with this stitch pattern again. So, along comes this test-knit, and I mentally groaned (OK, so maybe I actually groaned out loud hehe) to be, yet again, knitting this stitch pattern. I don't know if it was the yarn, or maybe the slightly larger needles (at least over what I used previously) but I didn't hate the stitch pattern this time. And I even kind of like the ruffle! It was a fun ruffle to make.

And now, the socks. These are Toe-Up Bayerische, which seems to have vanished shortly after I printed up the pattern. I even had a lot of issues getting to the original Bayerische pattern, by Eunny Jang, when I was looking for further information as I attempted to size up a bit. Boy am I glad I printed it all up when I did! I used Shibui Knits Sock yarn, in Chinese Red. These were fun, even though I just finished a twisted stitch cabled sock, and have another in the works. I guess I'm just a glutton, but these patterns are so PRETTY! This one was a little hard to fathom. My typical socks are 65-75, maybe 80 stitches. These were more like 100! And according to the pattern, were supposed to fit something like a 7 inch foot circumference. I think it fits more like an 8+ inch circ, but I was still amazed that 100 stitches at 9-10 spi pulled in to 8 inches! J nearly stole them, before I shipped them off to my swap partner in Minnesota.

adjusting is hard to do!

Yep, we're adjusting to life with a teenager. She definitely is more mature than last year, but still teenager, through and through. We're working on reinforcing that we have rules, and consequences for not following the rules. The one we're working on now is that everyone has chores. And that we don't ask you to do your chores, you are just expected to get them done. She told J last night that the dishes were done. Um, there is not a free surface in the kitchen, at what point did she think he would realize that was an out and out lie. We also found a dirty plate in the otherwise clean dishwasher this morning. Er, I think we forgot a step somewhere, hon. I get that we need to just let this go. I just am not sure how much more of it I can take!!! And anyone who knows me (SO not the queen of clean. About as far from it as you can get!) understands just how bad it must be for me to be itching to clean up my kitchen!!! He says to leave it. And not ask for her to do it. It's killing me!

On a happier note, with someone else "doing" the dishes, I've had a bit more knitting and spinning time. I'm nearly finished with the first of two test-knits, and still plugging away at that 4-ply Targhee from Time to Knit. I WILL have this done by Sock Summit! And I sure hope that it works out to the right yarn weight for socks!

Ten Years

Ten years ago today, there was a fantastic party. Two 24 year old kids stood up in front of a whole bunch of people in a church and made a bunch of promises to each other. Then a photographer took a bunch of pictures, everyone had a great meal, and they all celebrated together.

We're not kids anymore. And there are more than two of us. We kept our promises (for the most part - hehe, really who is perfection all the time? I think marriage was more work than either of us figured it would be.) And we still have a lot to celebrate! Happy Anniversary honey! Here's to many more decades of wedded bliss.

As promised . . .

Someone asked me to post some finished yarn pics. Some of these aren't going into my Ravelry stash, so they're going here. Enjoy the eye candy!

First up, Merino from HPY. Fruit Salad colorway. My bobbin filled, so I have a large and small 2-ply skein. I would guess this yarn is about dk weight. I measured the wpi at one point, but forgot to write it down.

Next is a Merino/Silk (70/30, I think) that I got from a friend's destash. I really liked spinning this one! I got about 400 yards (pre-finish) and I'd guess it's a fingering-ish weight. It's all wrapped up, so I'm not going to go measure wpi on it. Both skeins 2-plied. My bobbin just filled up fairly quickly, so I ended up putting about a quarter of it on a smaller skein.

This one is a BFL that I got in a swap. Linda dyed the top herself, and it was a fun one to spin. She did a good job dyeing, the top was not noticeably compacted or felted, so it spun like a dream. The big skein is 2-ply, the smaller is chain plied.