Monkey See, Monkey Do

Well, it seems as if everyone is making Monkey Socks--at least everyone but me. You see, I've had problems with lace-knitting. Lace-knitting does not like me. I tried it once--yo, k2tog, yo, blah blah, and I want to punch someone, especially if I have to pass any slip stitched over anything on top of all of that attention paying and counting.

But no, the Monkey Socks are quite tame; they're relaxing, mesmerizing. I now see why knitters knit one, then two, then three pairs of these. I already want to knit more and more of them. I already want to give some to everyone I know and love.



I started these last night, and I didn't want to stop. I'm making these with my new colorway, Country Apple in my 100% superwash merino Softie Sock line.

I've been a bit busy, so I won't be showing those two remaining finished objects just yet. Perhaps this weekend or early next week I will. But I did want to show you all that I too do as monkeys do. I am officially in the club, and coming to think of it, I was getting bored of my stockinette socks. I really was. I was losing interest.

I do feel a bit left out, however. It seems that all the action is over on Ravelry, and I was so naive. I thought that I could sign up at any time. I waited and waited and waited, and that line moves so slowly. It's perhaps the slowest line in the world.

Here is where I am in the queue:

• You signed up on July 14, 2007
• You are #16310 on the list.
• 3937 people are ahead of you in line.
• 16305 people are behind you in line.
• 37% of the list has been invited so far

I really feel bad for those folks who are behind me in line. I've been waiting forever, and they will have to wait even longer. In one month, that list only moved by four percent. I'm very grumpy about this.

P.S. Thank you all for your comments and concerns over my mom's package. She has another one coming her way, this time by UPS.

I think I'm getting better

I have three finished objects to show you. Three. There's a scarf, a pair of socks, and this hand-spun yarn. I thought that maybe I should show you all three finished objects in this one post, but then I thought better of it, seeing as how I've been so delinquent at posting here as of late. Because my urge to show the finished object is so great, I'll have better successes publishing new posts if I withhold them for later days: or so I've convinced myself.

When it rains it pours certainly rings true for me. It often happens to me just like this. I have no finished objects for what seems like a long, long time, and then out of nowhere I have three. I just wish that only good things would pour.

I've had one of those weeks where I have just thrown my hands up, so expected were the inconveniences, the down-right injustices. I won't bore you with everything that went wrong this week, but there is one thing that I'm very upset about.

My parents live in a rural community, on a rural road. The neighbors collect their mail at a central mail box. Everyone has a key, and packages are put in larger boxes. If you have a package, you will have been given a key to retrieve the package. Well, even with this system, thieves break in and steal packages. My parents have had several packages missing or stolen.

I had sent my mom a very special package. She had been wanting some of these miracle creams, very expensive miracle creams. I happened to find this stuff for a good price, ordered it for her, and tracked the package on-line. The package was DELIVERED, but there was no package. Urgh. I called the USPS headquarters and filed a claim. I don't think they can do anything but log it and keep an eye on the area.

My mom has been making such positive changes in her life. She's eating better, exercising, and buying herself new clothes instead of wearing whatever someone gives her. In a word, she's loving herself, and I thought, by god, she deserves some of this expensive cream and I'm going to get it for her.

What do you do when your mother calls you, very sad and crying? Well, you do what you can without upsetting her more. So, I'm going to tell her that I was protected by some buyer protection policy (which is not true--I did buy the stuff from eBay, but I don't think you're protected in case of thief--oh, and that day, PayPal wouldn't let me pay with my American Express card, which protects me against theft. (You see how easily the universe conspires against me?)) and order her another one. I'll have it shipped by UPS this time. I don't trust whoever stole our last package to not steal it again. (And I won't buy it from the same eBay seller who hasn't even bothered to return my simple email, asking if there was insurance on the package or not--bad, bad customer service.)

In my mom's very Buddhist way, she says, Well, let them have it. That's what she always says when something unjust happens. Let them have it.

I'm so sorry to bore you with this story, but if this does happen to you, don't take it lying down. Report it to the USPS. They should know if there are areas with lots of mail theft.



I now return to the knitting content of this post: the handspun was this. It's superwash merino in the Punk colorway (discontinued), hand-dyed by Pigeonroof Studios. It spun up beautifully. I loved working with merino. It's 124 yards.

I think I'm getting better at the spinning, although this yarn is still a bit over spun. It's more uniform that the previous yarns I spun, however.

I want to knit it up, but I'm not sure what to knit it into. Any suggestions?

From the Depths of the Chevron

Forgive me for having neglected this blog for longer than I'm known to, but you see, I've been working away at a little project that will haunt me if I don't finish it by this time next year. It's my dissertation, and I've been plugging away at it, two pages a day, sometimes less, sometimes a bit more; it is coming along.

Not much sock knitting these days. I'm excited, however, to start a Monkey Sock. Angela at Fluid Pudding just made a Monkey Sock using my Red Robin: Bird, Nest, & Eggs yarn, and it is beautiful. Look here and here.

I have been working away on my Chevron Scarf. By now this scarf is so famous that I don't think I need to say what book this pattern is in, but my dissertation mind, forever documenting, tells me that I must! Do I resist? I don't know. I really don't know.

I'm making this scarf with some awesome sock yarn from the Great Adirondack Yarn Company that was gifted to me this past Christmas by one of Manly's sisters. I'm using Soxie in Maple Leaf and Spring Garden. The color combination is just stunning, and I won't ever, ever get bored of seeing how the colors develop and play off of one another in this scarf.



I wasn't always working on this scarf; in fact, I kind of loathed knitting it. Then I switched my 16" metal circulars for 9" bamboo straights. Oh, love. I'm in love with knitting again. I think I just need to realize that I'm a bamboo-needle kind of girl and stop trying to hang with the metal crowd. It's not working out.

I bought the needles on Friday, when two of my dear knitting friends (they comment here as JaneD and tigerlily) and I ventured into a yarn store after lunch. JaneD is going to start sock knitting. Oh, yes. Another one of those is on the brink of being born.

I do slip a few things into my etsy shop now and again. I also do special orders and reserves, so let me know if there's anything you're dying to get your hands on.



Speaking of my etsy shop: I'll be selling rovings there soon. I think. I hope. I dyed my first roving up last night, and while it didn't quite turn out quite how I envisioned, I think it's lovely, and it didn't felt! I'm so excited to spin it up.

Woolly Boully Softie up at the Loopy Ewe

My Softie Sock yarn (100% superwash merino) is up at the Loopy Ewe, but you might want to act fast if you want some--many of the colorways have already disappeared. Do not despair--the Yarn Grove still has some of the popular colorways in stock.



I wanted to share a little story about a new colorway I have that's up at the Loopy Ewe right now. It's called "Sunshine Family." Does that ring a bell at all? If you're about my age, it might. The Sunshine Family were my favorite dolls. I managed to get this off of eBay a few years ago:


I'm sorry that the picture quality is so bad--I took it with my old camera when I was in Texas a few months ago. Texas is where my doll collection is. What else is in the collection? I might be a bit too embarrassed to say right now. I still have the Sunshine Family dolls that I played with as a child, but I wanted these--untouched, promising, evoking the anticipating.

There's more to this new colorway than that. I was obsessed with yellow as a child. Second in line were orange and green. I was girl who preferred Bert over Ernie. I loved our 70s kitchen. My mother had a crocheted doll that was done up in yellow, orange, and green. She made me a chevron blanket in those colors. These are the colors that, when seen in this combination, make me feel happy. I think that deserves some socks.

Woolly Boully Softie Sock at the Yarn Grove

I've been a bit absent from blog-land lately. I've been trying to reroute my brain to think more academically; I mean, I've been doing a lot of dissertation preparing. I'm trying to spread myself into that realm for a while.

But I did want to stop in and say hi and that I miss everyone.

Prizes have been mailed. If you won some of my yarn, I still have to dye it up, but I'll send you an email to let you know when to expect it.

Jane at the Yarn Grove has some of my Softie Sock up in her store! Stop by if you have a minute.

I also made two new Poochies: Chocolate-Cherrie Poochie (above) and Pink-Lemonie Poochie (below). The new Poochies are available in my etsy shop. I have two new Poochies coming soon: Ph.D. Poochie (yes, the tuition bill is due soon!) and Prissy Poochie.



For now, the Poochies are an etsy exclusive. They are made in colorways that may or may not be repeated, and they are twisted into little lap-dog shaped skeins. They are sold at a price that is slightly lower than my regular yarns to help them all find homes.

I've also been trying to spin, but the humidity isn't very nice to my spinning wheel or my roving. I did manage to spin this into this:



I just starting spinning merino, and I don't know if I can go back to BFL, which now feels harsh and difficult to draft compared to merino. I don't think, however, I could have started spinning with merino--you do have to move faster and be more sensitive to the fibers. I know now why everyone says that spinning with merino is like spinning a cloud or butter or a dream.

Prizes, prizes

Before I announce the prize winners, I just want to tell you all how generous and thoughtful you people are. I received A LOT of squares. I haven't counted them yet, but there are a lot. I also received some touching notes and cards that reminded me why I started this blanket drive in the first place: I wanted to help others work through their pain or memories or anxiety or feelings (good or bad) in a positive way, a way that would physically manifest into something that could comfort someone else. But most of all, I wanted, of course, to do this for Mom J and her sister Georgene. Thank you all so much. Mom J has been touched. I've been touched. Your generosity will touch the lives of others.

Here are the raffle winners:

Brittany Birch Knitting Needles, size 13 (donated by the Brittany Company; donation acquired by Mom J): Jody
Lane Borgosesia Merinos Extra Fine, 10 balls, pink (donated by Knit-a-Bit in Westfield, NJ; donation acquired by Mom J): Heather of the ADD Knitter
Too Cute!: Cotton Knits for Toddlers by Debby Ware (donated by Jody): LM Bartle
Yarn Caddy (donated by Knit-a-Bit; donation acquired by Mom J): Marylou B
Scheepjes sock yarn (donated by Leslie of the Silver Fork Saga): Jilian
Opal sock yarn (donated by the ADD Knitter): Senora Fuerte of Mommy! Look What I Made!
Knitting Journal (donated by Mom J): Michelle of All Things Crafted and her Aunt Sieka
Trekking XXL 126 (the grand prize?): Mims C

And because I was so taken by everyone's spirit of giving, I'm throwing in a couple of skeins of Woolly Boully yarn as a consolation prize.

The consolation winners are:

Jessica C.
Geri T.

Thank you everyone who participated. I promise to post pictures as soon as all the squares are sewed together. I love love all of you. Thank you.

These Little Poochies Went Very Quickly

Guess what everyone? Manly drew the names of the contest winners yesterday! I'm looking around my stash for extra prizes, but I have a feeling that I'll just throw in some skeins of my Woolly Boully yarn. So, I'll have to draw those winners tomorrow. I'll also post the drawing results here tomorrow. Why tomorrow? Well, Manly's leaving on a trip tomorrow, so today is spend-the-day-with-Manly-day and no yarn dyeing or yarn winding or yarn anything today. He's still sleeping right now, so I'm sneaking this post in. By the by, this is my restriction--you know I love you if I'm putting the fiber away for you.

See the little skein of yarn above? It's name is Little Poochie. At first, I didn't want to name it, thinking that I would become too attached to it. (Animals have a way of staying around once they're named.) There were only six in the liter, and they went very quickly. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find them homes. Because they were so popular, I'm working on a secret Poochie project.

p.s. Thank you all so much for your kind and sympathetic words about my migraine. I'm feeling much better now.

Edith Piaf Knit

Edith Piaf knit. This is a photograph of her knitting in her hospital bed after having stomach surgery. If you haven't seen La Vie en Rose, go out and see it. But don't see it, say, in the early hours of a beautiful day. You will cry. (I cried when I saw the preview even.) You'll well up throughout the movie, and at the end, the very end, you won't be able to drag yourself from the dark of the theatre.

I won't spoil all the knitting episodes in the film. I will leave those delights for you to find.

I spent most of Thursday in bed. In her book, The White Album, Joan Didion has a fabulous essay called "In Bed." I was in bed for the reason Didion gave in her essay. I had what the doctors call a migraine. I refuse to believe they are migraines. Doctors will not listen to me when I try to them them that the headaches are related to my cycle. They just want to give me a prescription; I don't take my migraine medicine--it makes me feel as if an enormous pressure is being exerted on my brain and I immediately become nauseated. The medicine doesn't make the headache go away anyhow--it stays, beating dull, hibernating behind my eye.

I usually get headaches on my right side. They usually aren't too bad; I can go about my day, uncomfortable, but functional, usually squinting and distracted and feeling as if I'm underwater. This time, the headache started on my left side. I kept seeing what looked like fluttering bat's wings in the corner of left eye. Then the left side of my face went numb. So I made myself take my medicine and lie in the dark of my bedroom.

I wish I could have knit.

I cried because I was so upset that I couldn't get anything done. Didion, in her essay, says that no one will understand why you don't just take an aspirin, why you just don't shake it off. They have no idea. Believe me, I would always rather be knitting if I could.

Sunflowers, Texas, fields of

I got sunflowers for my birthday; Manly bought them for me.



The sunflowers signaled the final push. For months, I had been planning a sunflower colorway.

Why sunflowers? I'm not sure. In Texas, fields and fields of them overtake the landscape. The Texas sunflowers are really a type of wildflower. Farmers would call them weeds. They've always struck me as beautiful, in perfect opposition to cotton fields and corn.

Here is a patch of Texas sunflowers, on a hill at my parents' house. It was so hot and humid when I snapped this shot--you can see how the humidity seeped into the camera.



I've never been drawn to sunflowers as a favorite flower, preferring instead the highly fragrant, the small buds of blooming things: lilac, lily of the valley, jasmine.

But there is something about what the sunflower invokes in me emotionally. It must be the yellow, the yellow pulling at my childself, the brown of my eyes, the green of promise and youth and pastures.

In Utah a few summers ago, while fishing, I happened upon a hillside covered with yellow flowers. I thought that perhaps they were Utah's version of wild sunflowers.



A few minutes after I snapped this photograph, it began to rain. The lake's waves rose and the rain pelted it fiercely. All the while, black clouds continued to swell and boom and invade the valley. I had a tremendous, dreadful sense of deja vu.




Whatever my pull or attraction, here is my new colorway, Sunflowers, Texas, fields of. The yarn base is a 50% superwash merino and 50% tencel. This skein contains 400 yards and each section of yellow has been handpainted with a speck of brown to mirror the brown center of the sunflower.

I hadn't knit with merino/tencel previously, but started a sock a few nights ago. I love it. It's soft and shimmery and a treat to feel and look it. The tencel works like nylon--it adds strength to the softness of the merino. What is tencel? It's a natural fiber, found in cellulose (think wood pulp) that has been extracted through a manmade process. The result is a strong yet silky fiber.



Three skeins will be available in my etsy shop. I'll only be listing one at a time, but let me know if you want more than one and I'll be happy to relist.

Blanket drive contest update: I'll be drawing the names of the winners next week. Stay tuned!

I had a birthday

On Saturday, I had one hell of a treat. Manly's sister got us tickets to the Yankee's game, but not just any tickets. We had a Luxury Suite. Manly's whole family came out for the day. We had a private air-conditioned indoor room with a fridge full of cold beer and a buffet of hotdogsfriedfingerfood goodness. And, the best part--we had our own bathroom!

My, my. But, how sweet! Manly's sister got me a birthday cake!


It also happened to be Old-Timer's day at the stadium, so we were in for that extra treat. I got to see Yogi Berra, finally. I have a joke that goes like this: whatever the Yankee's trivia question may be, the answer is always Yogi Berra.

I've been obsessed with spinning lately. I spun this, into this:

This skein measures 185 yards and is BFL. I finally figured out how to draft within the "drafting triangle." If you don't spin, the drafting triangle is the area between your spinning hand and your fiber hand, or something like that. Before, I would draft all my fiber into little skinny pieces, but now, I can predraft and then draft as I spin, which is delightful, dreamy, meditative, calming. I love it. Half of this was spun with my old method, and the other half with my "ah-ha I figured it out" method.

I just want to spin all day now. I'm spinning this now. I'd like to try dyeing my own rovings, but for now, I think I need to see how different colors and color combinations and amounts of color spin up.

In other news, this arrived in my mail last week. You may order it here or here or here.