finally some new socks and handspun

When I moved this summer, I packed a pair of socks to work on. It took the movers 12 days to get our things to us. You know I'm depressed if I can't bring myself to work on socks. Knitting on an air mattress isn't very fun. Don't ever use the moving company I used. Of course I won't give their name here, but if you're thinking of moving, contact me, and I'll tell you who not to use. 12 days late.

These socks were made with my very own Woolly Boully yeah oh yeah sock in the la mer colorway. They were done on size 1 dpns over 64 stitches.

I also made my first 3-ply yarn with this roving.



The roving is from Freckle Face Fibers and is 100% merino in the Patriot colorway. Her rovings are so fluffy and devine.

My singles took forever to spin. 3-ply handspun sock yarn is really a labor of love.



This skein measures 394 yards. I'm a tad bit disappointed: I was hoping that I would get more yardage, but for my first 3-ply handspun sock yarn, I think I did an okay job. There are some strange spots here and there, but overall, I'm pleased with my spinning progress.

After doing 3-ply, I needed a quick spinning project, so I grabbed some roving that I dyed up a few months ago. It's 75% superwash merino and 25% nylon, perfect for socks, and in my Country Apple colorway.



This skein is a sport to worsted weight and comes in at 168 yards.



I'm thinking mittens?

skein-a-day project

I miss dyeing yarn. I do. I really do. I just get overwhelmed by setting up and working on numerous skeins at a time and then all the clean up and rinsing and reskeining after a big dye-job.

My new Chicago kitchen also isn’t set up to production dye. You should have seen the work that Manly and I put into the kitchen for the Winter Sock Club skeins. It took the use of a broken bookshelf, some cardboard boxes, an old painting pole and lots of duct tape. I would do that all over again, but I have no idea where the duct tape is. We had to use A LOT of it. The whole contraption, however, made me feel completely insane, honestly.

I discovered that if I dye just one skein at a time, I’m happy, much happier, and I feel as if I have more room to play around in the dyepot. Plus, my kitchen stays sanely clean and organized, just how I like it. I love a clean kitchen. I have to make sure all the dishes are washed and put away before bed.

So, from here on out, I’m dyeing a skein a day. Some yarn will be kettle-dyed and some will be spaced dyed. I will have new and old colorways, but there will only be one skein a day. Well, okay, on days when I can do more, I will. On days when it’s impossible to dye, I won’t. Yesterday, it was impossible to dye, so I didn't. Today, I'll try to dye up two skeins between dissertation work and everything else.

I posted some skeins on my etsy site two days ago, and I'll have three more to post today. The seagrass that you're seeing in the photo above has sold.

Keep checking my etsy site if you’d like to get your hands on one of the skein-a-day creations.

In the meantime, I'm finishing up a pair of socks that I started in August (!) and spinning my first 3-ply sock yarn. Wish me luck.

A New Scarf for Manly

Manly doesn't always leave the house with a scarf; I think it's crazy. He had a really nice one once, but we haven't seen that one around. We haven't seen that one for about two years now. (I know--it's awful of me to let him go that long without a nice scarf.)

The cold in Chicago is insane; it's not your normal cold. So I refuse to let him leave without a scarf. He's been wearing the first one I made him ever: it's so ugly (to me) that I feel so badly for him when he wears it. It's my knitterly self looking at my first tries of garter-stitch (which I didn't do correctly, mind you) and feeling all embarrassed. He must love me enough to wear it.

He wanted orange. So orange it is.

This scarf was knit on size 10 needles over 32 stitches using Lamb's Pride bulky in the orange you glad colorway. I found the pattern in the first Stitch 'n Bitch book (page 58), and it calls for two skeins in the book. Don't believe it. You'll need three. Normally, I could get a scarf from two skeins of the bulky, but this stitch is so compact. Use fewer stitches and size 17 needles if you want to have more drape and use less yarn. I would prefer my scarf that way, but Manly likes a very dense knit.

Oh, my!

I've been gone a long time.

Well, I think that maybe some of you might have thought that I was done with knitting. Oh, no. I'm certainly not done with knitting. I don't know why I don't update my blog as often as I should. You see, I have all of these FOs and haven't shared any of them. I'll need several posts to show you the things I've made and spun lately.

In the photo above, you'll see the yarn that was sent out for the Woolly Boully One-Shot Sock Club in December. The colorway was Brooklyn Peppermint. I have a Brooklyn Candy and a Brooklyn Holly colorway, and, well, yes, I do miss Brooklyn.

I spoiled myself this past fall and joined Wooly Treasures' batt club. Here's my October batt:



And here it is all spun up:



I love spinning batts. They're so soft and fluffy and decadent. I love all the various fibers and colors and I do love the glitz.

Places I have been since you've read me last: Texas, New York City, New Jersey, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Chicago is all covered in glitz. When I woke up this morning, it was 2 degrees. I mean, the glitz here is in the form of icicles and snow and jack frost scrawlings on my windows. People don't know, but they should be envious of me and my handknit wool socks.

I want a fireplace. In the next place I live, I'll have that and a dishwasher. I want a dishwasher.