Officially off Sleeve Island

...for now. Gotta love long holiday weekends when I get 2-2.5 hours each way for some focus knitting time. While I'm almost at the end for Grace (blocking, sewing, collar), Monkey1's Lindy Hop is nowhere near done since I still have to do the front.


I also made some progress on my Cleopatra's Stocking. It took me awhile to get used to the pattern, but I'm still not used to the left twist as it's not the yarn over that I keep losing, but the regular stitch.


But I'm loving the quick knit that is the Spring Forward sock from a fellow sock camper, Linda Welch. The STR Motley Hue I'm using reminds me more of a SF Bay summer than a typical one, especially when the fog rolls in and the bay gets all choppy. Miserable as all get out if one was out there on a boat, but really cool looking in that moody Gothic novel kind of way.


The sock does go nicely with the new Namaste Newport bag I got in Charcoal from Woolgirl. I love this bag. Perfect size, classic color. Perfect. And it came with it's own little white cloth bag like those fancy high end bags do!


Of course, I can't just get a bag, so I finally ordered a couple little skeins of Pigeon Roof Studios in Pink Lady light (so cute!) and knitspot's fine cabled fingerless mitt pattern. ( I'd like to use some of my sock yarn for gift mitts.) And Jen threw in a couple wool wash samples (Soak being one) and lip balm. I always love those little extras Jen throws in.

Back to the usual

My secret project is done & handed off to the proper person Monday night, just in time for her to take pics before sending them on. I hope I did well. I am back to my sleeves, but for a little something different I started the transitional rows from the toes to the foot on my Cleopatra's Stockings. Wow, sock club members weren't kidding with the twisted stitch pattern being a little tricky. (eta - it's that cabling a yo & a regular st tbl!) This knit looks like it will need some quality focus time.


So I've decided that I need a sock WIP that doesn't require as much focus and am gearing up to wind up my lovely Socks that Rock lightweight in Motley Hue...


for a fellow Sock Camper's pattern - Spring Forward socks from knitty.com's Summer 08 issue.


Hope everyone has a lovely holiday weekend!

Temporarily off Sleeve Island

But I am done with one Grace sleeve and finished the cuff of the second. I've got my marching orders for my secret project so that will be my focus for a couple weeks, leaving me without much blog fodder.

In the meantime, I'll share a little of my stash that hasn't made it to the blog yet. I believe I once mentioned I got a green skein of Handmaiden Casbah along with the Ruby Red that became my Cowl of Kindness. This green skein will definitely turn into a pair of socks, but I'm not sure yet. I recently purchased The Eclectic Sole from Purlescence, so I've got a candidate (Rivendell) or two for it.


But somehow showing just a skein of yarn isn't enough, so I'll veer into my previous (but still very current) thing for makeup. Just when I think my yarn addiction is OTT, I head over to my ole stomping grounds on the makeup boards and find that my yarn thing is reasonable compared to lengths some people will go to get a lipstick, even a free one, like the one below.


During my visit that resulted in my Eclectic Sole book purchase, I mentioned to IrishgirlieKnits that I had spent some of my yarn budget on MAC (Cosmetics, not computers) during their Friends and Family sale (15% - ended last week - sorry!), I was gently reprimanded for not sharing good deals on makeup.

So I'm going to make amends for it now. For all my knitting buddies in California, you can get an "exclusive" MAC lipstick called California Dreamin' for free by the end of the month. It's a Lustre finish, which in MAC-speak, means it's semi-sheer, but not as much as a lipgloss, thus making it more wearable for a wider range of skintones. If you do a google search, there are swatches on the makeup boards (not sure if non-members would be able to see the pics though) and some makeup addict blogs online.

The deal is that you print out this and present it to your local freestanding MAC store - not their counter at Nordies, Macy's, Saks, or any other department store, but the actual MAC store that stands alone either in the mall or your local trendy shopping area - and then they give you this cute lipstick for free. Really!

The crazy part? Apparently someone on eBay was supposedly selling a bunch of the actual paper postcards (on the East Coast!) to any buyer willing to fork over $10, when it was the same e-mail link posted that all the MAC Addicts could get for free. Then again, when MAC released their Barbie Collection (yes, that Barbie), there were eBay bidders vying for just the postcard promoting the event. When I last kept track of this craziness, the bids had gone as high as $50! For a postcard! It wasn't even any of the makeup collection itself.

So, see! Knitters are not the crazy ones in this world. Unless they're also a makeup addict like me. ;)

Knitting buddies that work together...

shop together. At tapmouse's "request" (she's got a recalcitrant laptop), I'm posting her part of our order:


l to r: Carbon, Count Cluckula, and Smokey Blue


Along with our BMFA order and my Woolgirl sock club kit, my zknitter project bags came arrived as well. I love them! I already had a few sock project bags, but wanted something a little bigger than those, but smaller than my Namaste or sheepie totes. I thought the bag(s) Zonda made for Irishgirlieknits were so lovely, that I finally picked my fabrics and asked her to make me a couple bags or so.

Thanks so much & wishing you well, Z!

Sleeve Archipelago

I've been trying to satisfy the product knitter side of myself by focusing on the sleeves on my 2 sweater WIP's,


but it's hard to stay motivated and not get some knitting malaise.

Hopefully this totally fun Woolgirl Sock Club kit will help.


And this STR haul definitely will! I was so excited I didn't even bother finding the best lighting out in the yard to take a pic (northern backyard lighting kinda sucks anyway). I even went so far as ordering the same colorway in a different fiber.


And not only did I break this self-imposed rule when buying Blue Moon Fiber Arts yarn once, but I did it twice:


The Luscious Single Silk (LSS) on the left is intended for a Shetland Triangle made famous in knitter blogland by this gorgeous version. Shall I wind and cast on, away from the Sleeve Isles?

Cotton Koolhaas

pattern: Koolhaas Hat
yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Charcoal
needles: KP 7 & 9 circular (Magic Loop)

It's a hat, so of course I didn't swatch. Because I'm a tight knitter (still) I automatically went up a needle size, not realizing that the thicker cotton blend I was using would make for a larger hat anyway, so I ended up doing 4 repeats of the diamond pattern rather than 5 for the men's size.

This chemo hat was originally intended for someone I knew a little from long ago who is undergoing lung cancer treatment, but I botched one of the cable crosses halfway through the hat. And of course, I didn't notice it 'til I bound off and weaved in the ends. And the offending crossing was in the middle and not at the "halfway edge" of the Magic Looped round where I could understand doing a miss-cross. D'oh!

So now I'm trying to figure out what to do. I'm debating whether or not I should send it to him anyway in hopes that as a non-knitter he won't notice or if I should just give it some charity somewhere in his honor since it's got the one mis-crossed cable.

Monkey Kaw Kaws & a Cowl of Kindness

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A
Yarn: Socks that Rock lightweight in Kaw Kaw - dyed for Camp Crows Feet Sock
Camp
needles: KP "1.5" (2.50 mm) circs
mods:
- Channel Island cast on that we learned at Sock Camp.
- Standard slip stitch heel since I've already done the St st heel on my Algae Monkeys


I'm ready to keep my neck warm next winter, though my 2 monkeys considered turning this into a tube top. Well, technically Monkey1 wanted to, but Monkey 2 could actually do it with room to spare. However, this mommy says no to Monkeys and a cashmere blend yarn. 'Cause it's mine, all mine!


pattern: Cowl of Kindess based on Chawne's Socks of Kindess
yarn: Handmaiden Casbah (Ruby Red?)
needles: size 8 KP circs
cast on 104 sts (did not do a gauge swatch so can't tell you what it is)
unblocked dimensions: 9" high x 10" across flat

Going in circles

Not feeling the flat back-and-forth knitting projects (plus they're both sleeves), so my active WIP's are circularly knitted:


Monkey Kaw Kaw Sock 1 is done! Started my second sock, but need to take a picture of my first Monkey Kaw Kaw sock with tapmouse's 'cause mine patterned lighter than hers - quite the lesson in the whole different knitter/different needle size/different gauge (more row than stitch) can make hand-dyed yarn look different.


I also started my Cowl of Kindness (sorry, Ravelry link) in my Handmaiden Casbah skein (Ruby Red?, size 8 needles, yarn held double.) The cowl pattern is based on Chawne's lovely Socks of Kindness.


Am also doing a Koolhaas hat that is slated to go to someone specific or to a charity as a chemo cap.

Squeeeee!

Translation: It's STR Rockin' Sock Club kit time!

I know not everyone got their kit yet so I've put up a couple non-sock club pics first (still STR though) so don't scroll down too far!

First up - my Monkey Kaw Kaw sock! I used the Channel Island cast on we learned in JC Briar's class at Sock Camp, 'cept I accidently used size 3 (3.25 mm) needles instead of size "1.5" (2.50 mm) needles. I figured it would be okay to just switch to the smaller needles and knit on. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention and didn't switch both circular needles so the first 3 rounds of the cuff are done half on size 1.5's and the other half on size 3's. The difference in gauge was so obviously (tapmouse noted it right away!) but it took me awhile to figure it out 'cause when first compared the diameters of the needles I, of course, grabbed the ones on the same circular. Doh!


And no, all this gorgeous heavyweight STR isn't mine! I volunteered to coordinate one of the charity blankets when Tina asked on the sock club blog. And actually, Tina sent enough yarn for 2 blankets, so I'm plotting to figure out how to get as many SF Bay Area STR knitters (not necessarily just the sock club members) to join in the fun.

Tapmouse and I had fun configuring the 2 blanket combinations and I thought I had them memorized, but maybe not. The fun in it is that it doesn't matter as these 8 colors will be great in any combination of four.

Top row: Little Boy Blue, Sapphire, Love-In-Idleness, and Eggplanted
Bottom row: Mr Green Jeans, Jade, Thistle, and Count Cluckula


So...our May Socks that Rock Rockin' Sock Club kit:


A fabulous colorway and a fabulous design by one of my favorite sock designers! Woohoo!


"Purple Math" anyone?

finished Marilinda pair

Since our Memorial Day weekend was spent indoors up in the Sierras due to the rain, I finally finished my Marilinda pair:


Scout's June 2007 Indie Swag Club kit
pattern: Marilinda by Cookie A
yarn: Scout's Swag BFL in Kizkalesi
pattern size: large because I had a smaller gauge than called for (9 spi)
needles: KP Harmony dpns 2.25 mm

I enjoyed the challenge of the pattern, but I didn't enjoy knitting the yarn so much. The virtues of BFL sock yarn are probably posted & written about elsewhere, so I'm sure it'll wear well. I guess I'm too used to squishy sproingy sock yarns lately.


And Monkey1 can finally stop saying she's embarassed that her Edward Monkey is nekkid. I finally knit him a sweater from some of the STR heavyweight we used in Sock Camp. But just as soon as I finished the sweater, my little task manager asked for a scarf, so I used the STR Sock Candy in navy that came with my Sock Camp homework assignment. Monkey1 is happy for now, but I still have to knit Edward his socks at some point.

A pair of Leaflings

These were totally quick to knit. My typical sock pose:

I don't know why I do that sock pose 'cause it just makes my large calves look even larger. But if I really cared, I'd pose my feet differently. But I did want to show the shaped toe option:


Shaped toes are fun, especially when someone (like the designer) does the math for me. At one time I was going to do Suzanne's neat toe option, but in my focus to finish the pair before our next Rockin' Sock Club kit came in the mail, I forgot about it. It's too bad 'cause Suzanne's modification is really cool-looking.


And hopefully there isn't anyone else in the Woolgirl Hello Kitty sock club or if they are, they've go their kit already or don't read my blog since I totally blew off the spoiler alert warning. But since I won't put the pic up in my Ravelry stash 'til later this week, I should be okay. If not, my bad.

And the total non-sequitur shot of one of my Handmaiden Casbah skeins I bought at Purlescence Yarns. I had intended to post this as a YPF last Friday, but I accidently deleted it and was too lazy to add it back in. Anyway, so, so yummylicious! The other skein is green and would've been too-too Christmasy if I took a pic of both skeins together. The green skein will become socks, but this lovely skein will become a cowl. Since I chopped a good chunk of my hair and my neck is now exposed, it'll need some protection on those foggy mornings and cool winter days.

I've been good about not winding it up and casting on right away, but I don't think I will be able to resist the urge too much longer.

Green & teal

I don't have second sock syndrome with my Marilinda as I have cast on for the second sock, but I simply needed a break from the very thin strong BFL yarn. So back to my STR comfort knitting. The May STR sock club kit is being mailed out this week so I figure I should at least get one of my March kit socks done.

yarn: Socks that Rock medium weight in Lucky
pattern: Leafling by JC Briar based on Cat Bordhi's sock architechture (cuff down though)
pattern size: small
needle size: 2.50 mm KP circs

I have a gauge of 8 spi on the size 1.5's which is why the sizing confounded me. I should've been able to knit the "medium" since I thought my tighter gauge would compensate for the larger socks Cat's sock-itechture seems to produce, but I was wrong. The medium was still a bit too loose, especially the cuff, so I went down to the small size.

You can't tell since I'm not modelling the sock (still a wee bit too warm), but I also went for the shaped toe option in the pattern and so this the right sock.


But before I started (& finished) my first Leafling (gotta love STR medium weight for fast socks), I finished the front piece of my Grace sweater. I love how this pattern has all the shaping & decreases all charted out so there's no note-taking or thinking about balancing & reversing any shaping. So easy, but I haven't been motivated enough to focus on this sweater. I think if I did I would've been able to churn it out much faster than I have.

Meme time

I got tagged by Tan, a fellow STR/Wollmeise-aholic.

"The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer."

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

Moving from our starter house in a different county (much hotter in the summer, much cooler & foggier in the winter), to our "new" larger home in his home county where we still live now. After we moved, DH's back gave out as we used our own manual labor (& a few of our friends) to truck our boxes, furniture, and hot tub.

The hot tub probably did it as there was only DH, his under 5' tall buddy, our soon-to-be ex-neighbor (thankfully taller than me, but still shorter than DH), and me to roll it sideways to get it to fit through the side gate to our new backyard. It was quite the comical scene to our neighbors, I'm sure. Not so funny later.

DH vowed we would never ever move again. Well, at the very least, vowed to shell out the money to hire movers to move our stuff. The hot tub - it died, so no more moving that ancient monstrosity. DH had much stronger friends load it on a truck & send it to the proper disposal facility.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

- Exchange an undereye concealer at my local MAC counter - the MA gave me one that was much too light. Ironic since she typed me w/a foundation that was 1/2-1 shade too dark.
- Take the monkeys to their favorite ice cream place today (initials B&R with the number 31) and our local pool. Not as hot as Thursday, but it'll be warm enough.
- Finish one Leafling sock (more about this a separate post)
- Buy more $0.01 stamps. DH & I were caught off-guard with the rate increase.
- Start the weekly laundry chore.

3. Snacks I enjoy:

- Chocolate...whatever - almost all forms of chocolate
- Wasabi pumpkin seeds - I blame tapmouse for this one. Yum!
- Li hing cranberries - dried cranberries coated with a Chinese sweet spice powder which is normally used over dried plums (li hing mui)
- popcorn mixed with kaki mochi (crackers)

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

On the uber shallow side:
- Buy a tropical island like my makeup artist idol, Francois Nars. Who wouldn't want to languish indolently in a beach lounge chair (or hammock - whatever floats one's boat), on a pristine sandy beach listening to the soothing waves of the Pacific Ocean with the trade winds ruffling one's hair?

More seriously:
- I'd more likely buy a home in Hawaii and move back.
- Set up members of my family so they don't have to worry about the cost of just living.
- Donate a heck of a lot more to my favorite charities than I can give now.
- Invest in a company (or more than one) that can R&D or engineer more solutions to the environmental mess we've placed ourselves in.

5. Places I have lived:

Philippines, Hawaii, California (notice the eastward trend?)

6. Peeps I want to know more about:

Cockeyed - one of our beloved Sockateers!
Adrienne - just cuz
Cupcake Faerie - a fellow STR Sock Camper (keeping to the STR theme)
IrishgirlieKnits - 'cause it'll be fun to have you play

Marilinda

I'm waiting to start a super secret project, so in the meantime I decided to work on my WIP's rather than start my Monkey Kaw Kaws.


Pattern: Marilinda by Cookie A originally for Scout's Indie Swag club
Yarn: Scout's Swag BFL in Kizkalesi - the yarn that came with the club pattern
Needles: Knit Picks Harmony 2.25 mm (size 1)
pattern size: large because my gauge was smaller at 9 spi


I also finished my "gauge scarf" from Camp Crows Feet. It essentially reinforced the fact that I do not like to knit medium weight STR on size 0 (2.00 mm) needles.


And that's it for now. I'm also working on my Grace front and intermittently on Monkey1's Lindy Hop sleeve (the only WIP right now that isn't teal.) We'll see if I get the Grace front done before my super secret project can commence.

Dublin Bay socks again

I was bummed out today that we couldn't make it to the Maker Faire and see the Yarn Harlot again. Monkey2 got sick on our way there so I had to abort the attempt.

On the plus side, I finished Monkey1's second pair of Dublin Bay's in Lornas Laces Shepard Sock in Uptown the other night. She was so thrilled she wore the first one to bed and asked me to put the second one on her other foot she she knew she'd fall asleep while I finished. It's a little loose on her, but she likes it that way and it gives her a little growing room circumference-wise. (I'd have to add more length too later, but since I've got plenty yarn left over, it won't be a big deal.)


But back to the aborted attempt - since we were already halfway across the toll bridge and only a couple exits away, I decided to go to the San Mateo branch of Ichiban Kan (sorta a Japanese dollar store) instead. I figure that they may have some cheap towels that I may need to clean Monkey2 & cover her up on the way back home.

I had previously found out that tapmouse did indeed get my sheepie bag from their SF store, so I wanted to get a few more to give away myself. The sheepie (and hedgehog)-themed bags apparently are so popular that they've got other items as well. Even their plastic packaging's got the sheepie artwork printed on it (upper left-hand corner of the pic). I had too much fun getting all this cute stuff.


The only drawback to the trip to the store (aside from the fear that Monkey2 would get sick again in the store before I could find any cheap hand towels) was that this branch was totally out of the wasabi pumpkin seeds tapmouse got me hooked on.

Slow Camp Recovery

At least I got 90% of the laundry done (still need to hang Monkey1's remaining clothes) and some house cleaning done. Otherwise, the only thing I got done was Cat's baby Coriolis socks. Unfortunately, the garter stitch box toes are skewed and one's shifted 90 degrees of the other. Oops.


I haven't cast on for the unofficial Monkey Kaw Kaw KAL, but I did open up my skein...


...and wound it up into a yummy cake. Love this colorway. Tina had a work cut out for her when she did her Raven series and then had to come up with a crow-themed colorway for sock camp:


I also opened up my skein of Lucky from our March Rockin' Sock Club kit...


...and wound it up too. As my makeup buddies know, I have a thing for green and so this colorway is just fab. I'm excited to cast on for my Leafling socks after I took the sock camp class with JC Briar who designed the sock pattern. Her class on different cast-on's just warmed my engineering-geek soul:


But first, I'm being a good mommy and working on Monkey1's second Dublin Bay sock and working a bit more than a couple rows of my Marilinda sock that was my Scout's Indie Swag kit from last year. It's so much easier to manipulate this BFL yarn now that I have my Knit Picks Harmony dpn's. What a difference the right tools can make.

Cedar Creeks

I'm still recovering from Sock Camp, so instead of folding my laundry I worked on my second Cedar Creeks sock instead. But at least the laundry's been washed & dried.


Cedar Creeks KAL
yarn: Socks that Rock lightweight in Braun's Woods
needles: Knit Picks - metal dpns in 2.25 mm (picot cuff) & 2.50 mm (most of the sock) and 2.75 mm circ (heel flap)
other mods:
64 st for the foot
less pointy toe

Love, love, love how the Braun's Woods knit up in this pattern. Love how it feels on the feet too once I used the correct size needles for the socks to fit my feet.

Now on to my other WIP's including a couple from Sock Camp. Gotta finish that second baby Coriolis sock from Cat Bordhi's Insouciant Socks class. I'll have to re-do the bind-off on the first sock with the EZ sewn bind off though. I was playing around with the bind off I had used for my stole (the k2tog, place back on left needle, k2tog, etc), but I think it's too tight.

I don't know who this pair will be for since Monkey1's teacher will be having a girl, not a boy, and I feel she's a bit too traditional to go blue for a girl.


And my "mindless" knitting from Tina's & Stephanie's class:


This first half is done on size 1 (2.50 mm) KP Harmony dpns and the second half will be on size 0 (2.00 mm) KP metal dpns. To be more correct, I should be using the size 0 Harmony dpns, but that small diameter in wood with medium weight STR and my death grip makes for a snapped dpn waiting to happen.

Tina dyed 5 colorways for this class:
- white/teal (halves)
- white/teal/wisteria (thirds)
- white/teal/wisteria/shamrock (etc)
- white/teal/wisteria/shamrock/baby blue
- caramel/teal/wisteria/shamrock/baby blue

When done, this scarf will be a great visual lesson on how gauge/needle size will affect color pooling in STR yarn w/differing number of colors. (Hint - pooling is not Tina's fault.)