Bottom of foot

Grasshopper how I love thee!

This is a really fast knit. I only did one increase section on the leg because I don’t like socks too high. Even then it still is kinda long (for me) so it slouches a bit. But still, I’m happy with the way it pooled into nice stripes and I’m in love with the color. If I had to do it again, I would either do the smaller size or use size US1 needles and not even do the increases and keep it to ankle socks.

I’m done, done, done!!!

Don’t you just love the color?

View of the heel

Finished these for my secret pal! Woo hoo! It was very tedious to complete, not because the pattern was hard, but because it just took a long time to knit! But I’m glad I did it and I hope that it fits my SP. Keep your fingers crossed! Since the socks don’t fit me, I had to get my neighbor to model them for me.

On the second sock, I was able to do the yarn wraps without a cable needle by accident. I was at stitch n bitch and forgot my cable needle and no one else had one. So I just slipped the stitches back and forth between needles. It was slow at first but after awhile I got the hang of it and it may have been faster than using a cable needle.

I don’t think I will be doing this one again anytime soon. I love everything about it but I was really needing some quick knits in between. And since I am a one or two project gal, it was really taking a LONG time and I was fantasizing about all these other projects I could be knitting.

Pattern: Gothic Spire by CookieA
Yarn: Wollmeise sock yarn in Gewitterhimmel
Needles: Knit Picks circs US2 (magic loop)
Started: March 30, 2007
Completed: April 24, 2007

Just wanted to chime in here and let you know that I couldn’t stand it and cast on the STR yarn that I got for the April kit. Let me just say…it…is……..HAWESOME! I wouldn’t normally buy this yarn (I’m a 100% merino gal) and I probably wouldn’t make this pattern, but the combination…it’s addictive! The silk adds a nice shimmer when knitted up. The cast on was kind of weird, or at least I haven’t done it that way before, but ooh, I just love it so far!!! Just a warning (and spoiler)!

The Wollmeise and Victor having a serious yarn discussion

Day 1 purchases (excluding worsted weight)

Day 2 purchases (excluding worsted weights)

Fabz excited to fondle all this yarn

This past Friday, my friend elem and I went to the Sauerlach Frühlingstage to see the Wollmeise and ultimately buy lots of yarn. Since her yarn is all hand dyed, every skein is different. Also, fondling her yarn turns a normal knitter into a frantic-must-buy-every-colorway consumer. It was fun to hang out with elem for the morning and we came home with a healthy amount of wool. I bought 7 colored skeins, 2 uncolored skeins, and 2 worsted weights. Elem bought 6. The Wollmeise (Claudia) is the nicest person, and it was good to finally meet her.

On Saturday, a flickr friend Fabz, came from Berlin to meet the Wollmeise as well. I’m not one to turn down fondling wollmeise yarns, so I told Fabz that I would go Saturday as well. And of course Elem is like me so we all went together. There was supposed to be a few other people but for some reason or another couldn’t make it. That’s ok, more wool for us!!! Let me just say now that Fabz is an amazing person, she has accomplished so much and is really smart, talented and famous in the internet world. But what made her a winner in my book is that in the first 10 minutes of meeting her, she gave me gifts of sock yarn and lip balm from the US!!! Now, how can you NOT like someone who bears gifts??? And fabulous ones at that! Thanks, Fabz!

At the market, she went crazy and grabbed like 10 skeins in just minutes. It was so fun to watch her, exactly how we were the day before! I thought I wasn’t going to buy more yarn, but oops, things just happened to fall into my bag. I bought 3 more sock skeins as well as 5 more worsteds. Hey, they’re for christmas! After the market, Fabz had no desire to see anything else, so we just left and went to lunch at a really good vegetarian place, then went to the Victorian tea house to knit. It was so much fun to finally meet Fabz and hang out. Although there were some moments when I felt so old and “out of it” compared to the other two… Geez, I am old! I wish I got a picture of the 3 of us, but sadly, I didn’t. :( Oh well, I’m sure we will see each other again.

Tomorrow I will see Elem again because of Stich n Bitch. So much knitting!!! YAY! If you guys don’t know who Elem is, he is our “fearless leader” of the Stitch n Bitch group. He is probably the most influential person on my knitting. Whatever he does, I ooooh and aaaahhh over it and HAVE to have it. He is the one who originally introduced me to the Wollmeise and now I have no money. I really enjoy hanging out with him and seeing what he’s knitting!

I am making progress on my Gothic Spires, I am close to finishing the cuff and will probably turn the heel tomorrow. From then it should only be a couple of days then I’ll be done!!! I don’t think I will make this pattern again anytime soon, I’m ready for some plain stockinette, which is a big deal for me since I NEVER do JUST plain stockinette!

What’s all this?

Posh Yarn ooooooohhhhh, drooooooooool

Fleece Artist Nova Socks in an unknown colorway

Green&Blacks my favorite!!!

Isn’t this just too funny?

Today in the mail I got a box from Ingrid (my upstream SP8). We have kept in touch since the SP and have even met last October. She is a prolific knitter and just the nicest person. She has twins too, so we have lots in common!!! I’m planning to visit her during the weekend of the big knitting expo in the UK (geez, don’t even know what it’s called) in October.

What a surprise! I can’t believe what a great b-day gift she sent - 2 skeins of Posh Yarn Sophia 4ply in Delight colorway (or should I say colourway). This yarn is … oh my … so SOFT! I have been going to posh yarn’s website for months and I always forget that she updates on Sundays so I always miss it!!! She has one of those places that sells out yarn in minutes. And since she’s in the UK, I don’t have to worry about ordering TOO MUCH or that shipping is going to cost a fortune. But since I can never buy anything, I haven’t had that problem yet. I think it’s meant to be sock yarn, but it’s so nice that I don’t know if I want to make socks out of it. Hmmm…I’ll have to think of something. A scarf would be so nice, but not sure if I have enough. 400 yards, what do you think?

Then, she also sent a skein of Fleece Artist Nova Sock and I can’t find the colorway name. It has a beautiful combination of browns, greens, blue/purple, and a little bit of gold. Just gorgeous! I love the Nova sock yarn, it has a really nice texture.

And then she sent some Green & Blacks chocolate, which is my absolute favorite. I think I picked up 10 bars the last time I was there. It is so yummy! I will have to hide it from my husband and the kids or it will be gone in seconds!!

And then of course, the hilarious card! I love the expression on the kids face. I wish my kids would stand there like that so I can make my own “my mother knits too much” cards.

Thank you so much Ingrid!!! You’re spoiling me way too much!!!!

Elijah posing as a lobster with the pre-felted mittens

The finished product - Mitten Love!

I completed 2 pairs of felted mitttens. One made out of Cascade 220 and the other out of lanolinwolle. These are always so fun because I can knit a pair in a day and then felt it the next. Instant gratification! Michael was really pleased with the cascades and can’t wait to use it. I have to figure out a way to create loops on them so that he can clip them to his harness or whatever. I did crochet some hooks on the lanolin one, but the connection is kinda flimsy. Maybe I’ll just put a gromit in them and then tie a piece of thin rope or sumthin’. I thought the cascade was a bit too thick, and Michael can feel the difference with/without the lanolin (or so he says). The lanolin one ended up being a little short and the cuff part flares too much. I think I can fix that with another round of felting.

The mittens took on their own personality to I made some “mitten couple” shots. This marks the end of my “Gothic Spire” break and I already started on the cuff.

I also wanted to mention that after being gawked at (well, it wasn’t in a bad way) at the German SNB where all the ladies are super speed knitters, I finally learned how to knit continental style. If any of you have seen me knit, I do a hybrid of continental and English - I still throw, but with the left hand. Weird, but it doesn’t hurt my hands as much. What I had to do was always think “relax” and it worked better for me. I’ve got the knitting down pretty good, purling is still a little uncomfortable and other non-ordinary things fuggetabouit! It just will take practice and patience.