Surprisingly I got right into the Adobe file for the MS3 Clue 3 with no problems and got my pages downloaded and printed out. No huge lag, no mad rush of 6,000 people, what a relief.


So what a dork am I!? I just realized that I never posted pics of my custom needles and markers that I ordered from Scary Merry. The arrived the day before I left for Hawaii so I never had time, but duh, I should have done it as soon as I got home right? I stumbled onto her super nifty cool designs on Myspace (check out her pics it has all her work) of all places and promptly friended her and asked her to make me a of Corpse Bride needles. They are SOOO wonderful. I just need to make something that fits on straights and uses a size 6 needles so I can show them off. Ugh I am SO in love with them! She makes SO many cool things. I just want to sit around and fondle them.... You can see they are tiny (that's a dime for size reference) but SUPER detailed. Such excellent work! I was thinking of ordering some custom needles for someone special for maybe Christmas or her birthday(which just passed), but I couldn't decide what she might like best... Everything she does is so good how could you pick?!

Okee Dokee, here it is the picture of my MS3 with clue 2 finished.

It is not blocked at all, sorry for the beach towel underneath making different colors. If you click on it, you can see the beads, they certainly don't show up at all in that tiny picture, they look totally black in the photograph, they are actually a myriad of lovely rainbow colors...

Thank goodness the next clue comes out tomorrow because durn this EVIL yarn of Luna Moth Shawl. It has again, escaped only to have a GIANT hole looming 15 rows below (and like 20 stitches WIDE) where I am working. I am sure now I will wind it into a ball and give the cursed thing to some other knitter who I would like to jinx instead. UGH! For the first time ever knitting lace, I am ready to rip this thing out and never start it again!!!

MS3 Clue #2 finished!

I have to wait while my camera batteries charge . I have so many pics from vacation to download my batteries will need to last at least 20 minutes and right now they will last about 2 minutes. Then I'll post the pics.

MS3 Clue #1 complete!

I finished clue 1 and am about to embark on clue 2. It looks quite nice already. This is going to be fun, fun, fun!

Where on earth did I go again!?

I missed you all dear blogging friends! 2 weeks on Maui sure went fast! I can't believe how the time flew and I barely had any time to knit. With the exception of the airplane ride, I think I only found like 4 chances to pick up my knitting so not much progress was made on the Luna Shawl, maybe about 30 rows and I didn't manage to coerce any of my family members into taking pics of me knitting at the beach (they thought I was a super dork) or sitting at the mall waiting for my mom, or sitting in my Grandparent's house...

I was happy when I got home though, because the Mystery Stole 3, KAL had begun and I had some catching up to do! I am using the Alpaca Clouds from Knitpicks in the midnight colorway on size 4 needles. I am using iridescent black glass beads in size 6. It was started earlier this evening and I stopped for the evening on row 70, so I am nearly done with clue 1 (to row 100). Clue 2 goes to row 150 and the next clue comes next Friday so I am nearly back on track with the releases!

Someday I will post pictures of those Panda Cotton socks and the progress on the Luna shawl. Once I get caught up with MS3 I can work both at the same time.

Panda Cotton socks are finished.

I finished weaving in the ends early Tuesday afternoon. It has been my only relaxation on a sea of stress. Who wants to take my vacation for me!? Well here they are in all their glory. This yarn is SUPER fantastic! It is so soft and nice to knit with and very stretchy too. The only not fun thing is the ends when you are weaving in the yarn unwinds into the plies and grabs onto itself and tries to make knots left and right and then doesn't want to follow the needle through. Other than that, I would MOST definitely use this yarn over and over and over to make socks.

I won, I won, Ha ha ha!

For years I have grumbled and complained how much we need an air conditioner. I had a friend who did HVAC give us an AWESOME estimate.... no the DH said... we don't need it. Was he ever home then? Nope. He had a lovely air conditioned office to hide in at the hottest part of the day. Now, he works from home. And lo and behold, he's Too hot. Yesterday, he FINALLY decided we did need an air conditioner and we got a portable air conditioner! It was like heaven. I was sleeping on a cool breezy cloud last night (I always have a hard time sleeping when it is any temp over say... 72 degrees. I am so in love with the air conditioner. I sat in my room and knit even! I finished one panda cotton sock and cast on the next one. Should be cranking that puppy right out. Then it will be back to torturing myself working on the jinxed Luna shawl.

High at 3 pm 102 degrees Fahrenheit with an astounding low of 92 degrees at 8 pm....

Too hot to knit... can't go on. Will try again later....

I just couldn't wait, so I started a pair of socks with the Panda cotton I picked up at Purlessence on Sunday. Teenuh and I went out for her birthday and we swung by the LYS killing time. I visited the knitters at Boba knit, had a DELICIOUS Peach Ice with infamous Boba in it. Though mine had SO many in it, I was nearly choking to death as I drank the last 4 inches of the liquid in the cup. I may order a half ration of Boba next time, though mine seemed to have more than anyone else's to begin with....

I was very frustrated with the Luna Shawl, after dropping 2 stitches that rapidly grew into a mass of 27 dropped stitches on Saturday. I didn't notice the hole until about 8 rows later and by then it was on a rampage toward the bottom. 3 hours later I ended up ripping back a total of 18 rows. Packed it up and didn't work on it until Sunday, only to not pay attention (talking and knitting after a big mistake, not so good!) and mess up right at the beginning of the row and having to rip back to the start of the row. It was like 8 stitches forward and 10 stitches back, I couldn't make any progress! I was at that point of debating ripping out the whole thing and giving the cursed ball of yarn to some other knitter I didn't like, but couldn't think of anyone in particular. So I set it aside and cranked out a sock. It is very thick, but soft and stretchy and will be ideal during cooler months. The heel is turned there, but you just can't see it. It is a lacy sort of Faux Cable. Unfortunately the way our weather is going we may not see cooler months for 6 + more months, the weather has been so bizarre. It sure was a slow start to summer. Maybe my feet will just sweat in them in the summer... yummy.

Just a taste and an assurance that I am alive and knitting...

Doesn't it just gall you that the Harlot is here in our state, in our wonderful Bay Area nonetheless but so darn far up north that there is no way you could leave early, cross that evil red bridge and see her and get home at anything resembling a reasonable hour (or even an hour in this day) to get up in the morning and go on with life tomorrow!? Bummer. What about us Southies down here!? Don't we count for anything!? Commuknitty or someone (and we all know it isn't going to be the Knitting Room!) needs to get it in gear and book the woman!

Here is the Luna Moth shawl in JoJo land, good stuff.


I am really hating that beige stripe. Odds are though I will probably give this away (I hardly keep anything for myself) so that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

A quick glance at the March Shawl of the Quarter kit. The yarn is 50/50 silk merino and super soft.
I really want to do this project next, but have other things in the queue that need to be done, sooner rather than later. I was lagging in knitting these last couple of days, on Sunday (and those of you who know me know this is entirely possible and sadly most likely to occur with me and any mildly sharp object) I cut my middle finger on the metal edge of a tape dispenser. I got it pretty darn good, it cut deeper than one would think was possible. Then the end of my finger was aching and puffy and had gotten a little bit infected (not enough to warrant a trip to the dr.) So I was mildly incapacitated in my ability to knit. It s...l...o...w...e...d.... me down. Yeah, I know, what a spaz, but if I wasn't a spaz, I wouldn't be me, now would I?

It blogs!!!

I have returned after being held hostage by school volunteering. The teacher appreciation tea came and went, with decorating, cooking, and setting up eating up one day. My children competed in a Tae Kwon Do Tournament at Stanford and had to go to practice 5 times a week. Then dedicated an entire day to being at the tournament. I also co-chaired the book fair and it ate up all of my time: sleeping time, television viewing time, but worst of all knitting time! For an entire week, the book fair sought to drain my life from me, but alas, it lasted only a week and I survived. You will laugh, but not be surprised, when I say that I suckered myself into being next years secretary for the Home and School Club (or PTA for you old skool folk) which I had to take up right away because the outgoing secretary moved to Washington before school let out. Learning the ins and outs of that has been relatively easy but somewhat time consuming.

In between I have found the time to knit a little. My WIP is the Luna Moth Shawl from Elann's free pattern section. Made with Jojoland Harmony (or is it Melody?) lace weight variegated. Pictures soon, I just didn't have time today.

I got my shawl of the quarter kit from Joslyn's Fiber Farm, it is wonderful and green and lovely 50/50 silk merino yarn. I can't wait to knit it. Pictures of this soon too...

So now I will leave you with something amazingly precious and cute.

Cowboy Spirit Day at school.

When I saw my buddy Teenuh was a Ring Finger I had to see what finger I was.....

You Are a Pinky

You are fiercely independent, and possibly downright weird. A great communicator, you can get along with almost anyone. You are kind and sympathetic. You support all your friends - and love them for who they are. You get along well with: The Ring Finger Stay away from: The Thumb

What Finger Are You?

Best matched to a Ring finger... no wonder we get along so well...

Spinning again.

Yeah, so now that I can do a fairly decent job at it, I find myself addicted to spinning while watching tv and my knitting progress has suffered terribly for it. All I've done lately is spin and spin.

Ah, yes, I have also been busy with my drum carder carding some unwashed suri alpaca that has been fun to process. I am thinking I will never buy unwashed again, because washing it in batches in a bucket in my bathroom has really been, um, interesting? I had a massive alpaca hair clog when one lock escaped and immediately spiraled down the drain. The drum carder is SO fun. Although I have learned a valuable lesson when I got bitten by the slicker. Damn that thing is sharp!! I accidentally poked my finger on one of the spikes and man was it more effective than any lancet ever made. My finger bled and bled. *Note to self - don't poke finger on slicker.* When I got it I was totally hoping I could get the kids to crank the handle and push in the fiber, but now I don't even want them to stand near the thing, not to mention putting their precious little fingers anywhere near it. All I can see is the slicker munching their hand and shredding up their skin. It terrifies me. I am sure it will be a subject for nightmares to come.

So far I have made 2 suri alapaca batts. They are silky and luxurious. The carder couldn't be easier to use. My learning curve has been steep. Lesson 1, don't hold the fiber tightly as it feeds under the licker because then it wraps around the licker instead of rolling onto the drum and then you have to pick it off and that is dangerous. Lesson 2, when they instructions say "small amounts" they mean small amounts and not smallish large amounts or it gets tangled up and the fiber doesn't roll onto the drum smoothly and more fiber gets wrapped around previously mentioned evil licker. Lesson 3, They give you a flicker card for a reason, using the flicker card or a comb makes a more even bat that doesn't have the ends of the locks still bunched up. Lesson 4, keep your damn fingers away from evil licker drum.

Well, off to sit and spin.

Spinning on the dream machine.

Gosh do I LOVE this little spinning wheel. Two pedals are twice as good as one. I can spin a lot longer without my back hurting from having to sit with my legs weird to try and alternate feet. It is a LOT easier to get consistent speeds too. Here is my handspun Merino Silk blend from Angora Cottage. I think I should have plied it the opposite way for a softer yarn. I can do it on the next one, since I have like 12 more ounces of it left. This came out as a 2 ply lace weight. It is the finest, most consistently spun skein I have made to date (you may notice I have never posted a pic of my spinning before because it was simply TOO hideous to be seen). I'm sad looking back at my skills when I ruined, wasted ugly spun some nice flame colored red, yellow, and black superwash. I still have some left, I just don't know if it will be enough to actually make socks or anything with. It makes me excited to start spinning the merino tencel I bought at Stitches.

Felted Bowling Ball Style bag is done!

The Patons wool felts really nicely. The Cascade 220 sucks! It hardly felted at all. The long band I knitted to make the sewn on stripe accents with was barely felted after 2 runs through the washing machine (the patons felted completely by the first run through). It was knitted on size 11 needles with 2 strands held together. What crap. The hardest part of the bag is getting it shaped after you have felted it. I am not sure that I did so good.
Here it is before felting.
Here it is after felting.
It is pretty ugly. I have given it to my DD and she is as thrilled as can be. I also cranked out this little one skein purse. It was supposed to be bigger according the the directions but came out about 2 inches smaller. It was made using Patons SWS. It is nice and soft and felted quite nicely.
Before Felting

After felting. Last but not least my Bauerliches socks in Lisa Souza "South Pacific" colorway. Yeah, sorry for the bizarre picture I laid on my back on the couch and stuck my feet up on the back of the couch and snapped. Before you go, a closeup of the stitch pattern.

Hooooooooray for Saturday.

Teenuh and I went on a merry yarn tour yesterday, visiting 6 wonderful yarn stores of the Bay Area Peninsula. We ran out of time and did not make it a perfect 10 by missing 4 of South Bay stores. The day started with me driving around in circles, having forgotten my cell phone at home. I picked up Teenuh and she gave me this lovely potholder set she knitted and felted. Then off to San Mateo to check out the Ashford Traveller, which turned out to be simply fantastic. I purchased that little jewel and the gal selling it offered up her entire fiber collection to sell piece-meal, which was simply too much for me! She dappled in spinning (meaning she jumped in with both feet and about 15 + lbs of various fiber) only to decide that spinning wasn't for her! My goodness did that luck out for me. Here is my new spinning beauty, I tested it out last night at 3 am after Teenuh and her DH went home. It spins like a dream. Double treadle is AWESOME. Here it is pictured next to my Ashford traditional. You can see the size difference is quite significant.

The first stop on our yarn tour was Nine Rubies in San Mateo. It is a new store, very nice, friendly people, the setup and locale reminded me a lot of Commuknitty. Teenuh made a purchase there, but not me, though when she got her bag, I had total bag envy over the heavy duty black polka dotted back she received. Our next stop was Purlessence where I really controlled my self and bought only 2 oz of silk hankies from Rainbow works. In yummy browns and golds. In spite of the Sheep To Shoe kit that had AMAZING purples and greens in it that SCREAMED my name. We proceeded on to Yarn Place to partake of their best 20% off everything sale. Some shiny black mohair roving. A cheap drop spindle and a nifty felting needle set, that can use 1-6 needles (scary, scary I can just see stabbing myself in the hand or leg or something with that) completed my Yarn Place purchases. We then drove back up to The Knitters Studio in Menlo Park to see the Annie Blatt trunk show, but bought nothing because of the high price of everything in the store. Then schlepped over to Full Thread Ahead in Los Altos where I sold myself on a some more Seasilk in this yummy aqua blue to beige-ish silver blend. So yummy. As well as some white Cascade 220 to make the edges on the Seven Ten Split bowling bag from Anticraft that I've started in black. Why is it so hard to find WHITE 100% feltable wool?? Doesn't anyone believe in white wool? Apparently only Cascade seems to. Our last stop was a dash to Uncommon Threads, just a few streets away from FTA. We arrived just before closing and had only 10 minutes to peruse. They have a nice selection of Lana Grossa that I want to go back to and sift through some more.

Duh, it seems like I've forgotten how to post!? Really, has it been like 10 days since I posted? I guess so. So yesterday was my birthday (unenthusiastic Eyore type cheer here *yay*) and I got to pick out my own present when the hubby let me spend the big bucks and told me get a drum carder (for this so called Birth/mother's day combo present) . So after extensive research I went for the best and I ordered a Strauch's Finest drum carder (405) yippee. I can hardly wait for it to get here. I also ordered some unprocessed Suri Alpaca fiber from Homestead Wool and Gift farm, that came SO quickly (like 3 days after I ordered it from Wisconsin even!) That I know is going to be super nice once it has been washed and carded. It makes me crazy eager for that carder to get here. I just can't stand the tedium of hand carders, *brush brush brush* *pick pick pick* *brush brush brush* repeat. I want to go *crank crank crank crank crank* *pick pick pick* *crank crank crank* and be done with 20 times as much fiber in 1/4 of the time. The carding is most certainly NOT the fun part. Maybe it will be now right?

Looking forward to a fiber filled Saturday of fun with Teenuh. We are going up to look at an Ashford Traveller double drive, double treadle spinning wheel a woman is selling, hopefully that will work out. Also we are going to look at Nine Rubies an lys in San Mateo, catch the Yarn Place sale and have a jolly meandering day of fun. Although most any day I spend with Teenuh is fun fun fun. Pics of my socks to follow soon, I am binding off the second one later tonight and I will be ready to wear them for this unseasonably cool weather.

More socks? Maybe to go with my new shoes? I got some ultra comfy new soft walk shoes, humorously enough named, Lafon(Didn't notice that until I was throwing away the box at home several hours after I put them on my feet) that will show off my socks knit with an interesting zig zag pattern from my Bauerliches Stricken 3 book. Knit up in the Lisa Souza South Pacific sock yarn I picked up at Stitches. I knit away like a fiend and in a day had the whole sock done.

Like a hump though, I didn't really pay too much attention to the size of my foot asI was knitting this sock. So As I am completely done with it, at the point where I am debating what type of ribbing or non-ribbing to put at the top of the ankle, it occurs to me to put this thing on my foot. So I slip 1/2 the stitches onto a circular and cram the sucker on to my foot, only to find it is a bit, um, short. I blink in surprise " Like, duh, this is too short why didn't I make the toe section longer so that it would fit my foot???" It was the kind of tight, where I thought to myself, yeah, I can wear it like this... Yeah, I don't mind my toes pulling down just a little like that.

Then I frogged it. Pulled out all 18 inches worth of stitches back down to the toe where the pattern work began and added an inch of stockinette. Stupid. So now I have worked back up a whole 1". Wahoo, just 17" more to go...

At 51 days. I lost my will and bought more yarn.... I guess I won't get my 60 day sobriety coin now. Hmm. Nobody seemed to be rewarding me for not buying yarn anyway. Not even DH seemed to notice. Guess I should have been buying yarn all along. I just couldn't resist buying the jumbo skeins of Seasilk that FTA got in. I ordered 2 skeins of the Nova Scotia colorway. Still having that thing for peacock colors. Now I am debating using that to make the Peacock Feathers shawl from Fiddlesticks instead of the purple mohair I have been saving. Oh the debate. Not that it is likely to be the next item off the needles but there is always some yarn to project debate going on in the back of my head somewhere, those are the voices in my head telling me what to knit.... Must obey voices....

Several weeks with no post. These have been crappy times. My FIL. A kind and patient man who was so full of life, had a massive stroke, spent 5 days in a coma and went gently into the good night on April 1st. We buried him on April 9th. Life was chaotic for a while. Now it is as back to normal as it is going to get without him in our lives.

On a brighter note. Today was my mom's birthday and she received the Ostrich Plume shawl and a pair of Queen of Cups socks knit in Knitpicks bare Kool Aid dyed by me. They were a perfect fit for her foot. She then humorously posed with her shawl and her new socks on the lawn. A neighbor walking by with her two dogs asked what we were doing and if I was taking photography. We all had to laugh and tell her I was taking pictures of feet because I had knit the socks. She looked at us a little warily smiled and walked on her merry way. My sister also wanted her feet photographed in the socks I made for her a while back that never made the website. My whole family loves to make fun of me taking pictures of feet or whatever but they are quick to run outside and pose. Hillarious. Tomorrow back to the grind. At least I am looking forward to Bunco this week.