Have You Any Wool?

busy busy

Last week, I was so happy to see winter end and spring begin. We've had a mild winter in the area of Germany that I live in, but just knowing that it's officially spring somehow makes me feel better. Unfortunately, Mother Nature has decided to play a cruel joke on us, making it snow every single day since spring began. No snow all winter long, and now suddenly my crocuses, tulips and hyacinth blooms are hidden under a white blanket. Boo.

I know I shouldn't complain, because many of you have been buried under several feet of snow all winter long, but if it's going to snow, it should at least do so in the proper season, don't you think?

I was getting all geared up to start some spring knitting, but I've decided instead to work on finishing up some of my long-standing projects so I can start anew. A knitter's spring cleaning, if you will. The projects would really like to finish are my Tangled Yoke cardigan, Isabella, and the Victoria shawl (Ravelry links).

I don't know what my deal is with Tangled Yoke, but I just do not want to work on it. The bottom half of the body is completed, and I'm on the sleeves. I chose to knit both sleeves at the same time, in hopes that it would encourage me to finish faster, but it seems to have the opposite effect. I really should get to finishing this one up, because it would be great to have it to wear this spring.

I started Isabella last June, and finished up the back pretty quickly. Then I screwed up the front, ripped it out, stuffed it in a knitting bag, and forgot about it. I picked it up again a few days ago, and I'm making progress on the front. I really need to get moving on the Victoria shawl, because I would like to give this one to my mother for Mother's Day. I'm halfway through the knitted-on border, and it's boring and tedious. I will persevere, though. I think my mom could really use it in her overly air-conditioned office.

Even though I should be focusing on those old projects, I'm still tempted to start something new. Lately, every sweater I've swatched for hasn't worked out, so I find that I'm sticking to sock knitting. It's portable, it's reliable, and it's still cold enough to have to wear wool socks, and new socks always make me happy. These bright striped ones, especially.

Pattern: basic stockinette socks with picot cuff
Yarn: Vesper sock yarn in Aquamelon
Needles: 2.5mm Addi circulars
Time to knit: March 14 to March 24, 2008
Notes: Love the stripes! The bright colors make me happy.

I've also been doing some spinning lately. I had stepped away from the wheel for a couple of months, but now I'm back in my spinning groove. I had a commissioned spinning job that I finally finished up last weekend, and now I'm working on some brightly colored stuff for spring.

Some of the yarns pictured were actually finished up months ago, I just hadn't gotten around to taking photos and measuring the yardage. The details are all on the Flickr pages, if you're interested.

As if that isn't enough, I've been hitting the dyepots again, as well. I'm waiting on a shipment of base yarn, which should be here soon, so I'll be dyeing up new colors in the near future. Today, I dyed up some rovings, and a couple of custom orders, and it feels good to be playing with color again. I'm hoping to have a shop update the first week of April. For now, though, everything that is currently listed in the shop is 15% off!

sigh of relief

This three-day weekend has been a godsend for me. I'm finally feeling like my batteries are recharged, and I'm ready to go again. Since the start of school in September, I feel like I've been going nonstop. The days and weeks are flying by at lightning speed, but the months are crawling at a near standstill. It's so weird how that happens. All around me, people are amazed that it's already October, and all I can think is that it's only October? There are still four more months of this interminable deployment left, and time keeps dragging ever so slowly.

Anyway, I went into the weekend with very little in the way of plans. I took the kids to the local pizza joint/indoor playground on Saturday for a few hours, but that was about it. I had planned on taking them to the zoo today, but A told me this morning that she didn't want to go anywhere today, that she preferred to stay home. Who am I to argue with that? She had a friend come over to play, so while they were otherwise engaged and K was napping, I spent some quality time in the kitchen. Spaghetti sauce with meatballs that spends hours simmering on the stove, and apple pie with homemade pie crust. Yum.

Weekends also seem to be the only time I get any spinning in. During the week we're so busy, I don't have time to sit down at the wheel. But on Saturday and Sunday mornings, after we've eaten breakfast and the kids are entertaining themselves, I get some time to sit and spin. This weekend I managed to finish up some merino that I've been slowly plugging away on when I get the time.

This is 920 yards of DK weight two-ply merino, spun from roughly 10 ounces roving dyed by Erica, in the color "Ice Princess". I had seen this color spun up on Erica's blog, and thought that the colors would be perfect for A. I emailed Erica and asked if she would be kind enough to dye up enough for me to spin to make a Tomten jacket. I'm sure there will be enough for the sweater itself, but I was hoping to put a hood on it, but I'm not sure how that will work out. I'll just wait and make the decision when the time comes.

As for knitting, I did work on several of the socks in progress that you saw in the last post. It seems like some of you would be a little antsy having that many WIP's at once. Sometimes it drives me crazy, but most of the time, I don't really notice how much is actually on the needles. I keep projects scattered strategically throughout my house, so I work on something different depending on what room I'm in. I also have a mindless project ready to go at all times, to take with me to dance classes and the like. I can't sit still, and always need to have something to work on. The socks I made the most progress on this weekend were the ones I mentioned that I had started, even though there were many other socks on the needles.

This is the yarn and pattern from the first installment of the Woolgirl sock club. I've resisted joining a sock club up to this point, but when I saw the signups for this one, I caved. The price was right, and I managed to sign up before all the slots were full. Though I have more sock yarn than I'll ever be able to knit, I am really glad I joined. This first month was a sportweight yarn, which is something that I don't normally use for socks. I know they knit up much faster than fingering weight socks, but I don't find them to be all that comfortable in shoes. However, this yarn is incredible. It's amazingly soft, and the colors are gorgeous. These may not become my favorite socks, but I think they'll do a lovely job at keeping my feet warm this winter. The pattern name and yarn color are both "Waterfall", from Miss Babs. As you can see, I'm already past the heel turn on sock #2, and I imagine that I'll finish it up by tomorrow.

 

starting a shop with warm hands

I'm happy to report that after seemingly endless hours the past couple of days, I have photographed and listed several items on Etsy (you can follow that link, or use the clever little widget on the right hand sidebar). I had no idea how much time went into this! I've spent many a nap and evening getting everything ready. I designed and printed tags for the yarn, taken countless photographs of each item, and written the listings. What a pain in the ass that is. I think that at least four of the listings didn't get saved for some reason, so I had to keep doing them over. Fun times. But, now it's done, and I can relax a bit until my next shipment of yarn arrives. Okay, now shop away! :)

That ends the shameless self-promotion part of this post. Now we can move on to the knitting and warm hands. A lot of you probably already saw that Keri started a knitalong, Fingerless Mitts for Fall. An excellent idea! When I saw her post, my first thought was that this knitalong would be a good excuse to start using up some of those 4 ounce skeins of handspun yarn that I don't know what to do with.

Pattern: my own, if you can really call it a pattern
Yarn: handspun Shetland wool from Spunky Eclectic in Celebration (this was July's Club fiber)
Needles: 4.5mm Addi circulars

I was too lazy to search the internet for a pattern for simple fingerless mitts, so I decided to try and make one up as I went along. First, I measured my hand across the knuckles, excluding the thumb. My hand measures 6.5". Next, I took my gauge, which was roughly 4.5 stitches per inch,  (I'll be honest and say that I didn't swatch, I simply guesstimated and got lucky) and multiplied that by the hand measurement. Those numbers told me to cast on 28 stitches (actually, 29.25 stitches, but I needed an even number divisible by 4) and knit a 2x2 ribbing for about 2". I then knit 4 rounds in stockinette stitch and started my thumb gusset increases. These measurements were all calculated with the highly scientific method of trying on the mitt and improvising as I went along. I increased every other round 6 times, for a total of 12 thumb stitches. I knit one round even after the last increase, and put the thumb stitches onto waste yarn.  I continued knitting  the 28 stitches left for the hand until it was long enough. I knit 4 rounds of 2x2 ribbing and cast off. I then replaced the thumb stitches on my needles, knit a few rounds and cast off. So, in case you ever wanted it, there is an unpattern for fingerless mitts.

These mitts have kept my hands warm this week while using the computer. The handspun I used is bulky, so the mitts are a bit unwieldy at times, but they are very cozy. I'm planning on making a much sleeker pair eventually, most likely Eunny's Endpaper Mitts with some leftover sock yarns. For now, these will do. They're also great for keeping the chill at bay when I walk the dog or during my early morning school drop-offs.

Autumn is definitely here, no matter what the calendar says. Bring it on. My hands are covered. :)

The funk that I thought had finally abated last week has returned with a vengeance. Little things just keep adding up and my stress level is reaching a breaking point. This afternoon I was thisclose to losing it. Luckily, I pulled myself together and made it through the remainder of the day without a nervous breakdown. the Princess's fifth birthday is Thursday, and I'm trying to get everything set for her party. I'm fairly antisocial by nature, and am not much of an entertainer, so planning parties always stresses me out. On top of that, we're trying to prepare for her first day of school next week, dealing her cranky, teething little brother, and the regular sundry of household issues that are falling squarely on my shoulders.*

My intention in posting was not to write about how miserable I am right now. Really. I actually wanted to post last week that I did in fact meet my self-imposed challenge to finish my Huron Mountain socks. I think I started this pair of socks back in February. The first sock was finished quickly, because watching the pattern emerge was so much fun. After the first sock, the novelty wore off, and then the poor single sock lingered in the recesses of a knitting bag for many months. Finally, last Sunday, I picked up the project again, and had a matching pair by Tuesday afternoon. It's amazing how far a little focus will get me.

Pattern: Huron Mountain from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Uschi Strumpfwolle Universal (75% wool, 25% nylon--very similar to Opal or Regia)
Needles: 2.25mm Susan Bates DPN
Notes: I didn't change the pattern at all, aside from using a different yarn.. I love these socks, and remember being drawn to them the first time I got my hands on KOTR. Nancy Bush designed this sock pattern to commemorate the sighting of loons while on vacation in Michigan, but this pattern has always reminded me of Maine, where I was born and raised.

I've been working on several different knitting projects since finishing these socks, but nothing is near completion. I have a sweater in progress for each of my kids, one for myself, and only one pair of socks. I would love to cast on for a new pair, something simple, but I'm trying so hard to reduce the number of works in progress I have.

There has been a little bit of spinning, but admittedly not too much. There were a few weeks that passed where I hardly sat down at my wheel at all, but over the last week, I've gotten back into a spinning rhythm. A couple of months ago, I got the jumbo flyer for my Traveller, because the tiny Ashford bobbins just don't hold enough yarn when I'm plying. The jumbo bobbins hold plenty of yarn, but I just couldn't get the plied yarn to look right. The tension was always off, and I felt like I was learning to spin all over again. I think I've finally made peace with the stupid thing, and am now plying yarn that is reasonably even.

This is the latest skein to be finished (though the singles have been spun and waiting to be plied for weeks and weeks). There is 460 yards of fingering weight yarn in this 4.1 ounce skein. It's a merino/silk blend, but the tag on the roving did not have a color name or the name of the dyer listed. I can't remember where I bought this from, so it remains a mystery skein, though I am happy to at least know the fiber content. If you are interested, you can also see more of my handspun on Flickr (the most recent skeins are at the beginning of the set).

One last thing, before I go. About a month ago, I had a contest, asking you all to guess the gift that my husband bought for our anniversary. Well, our anniversary came and went on August 9th, and I am ashamed to admit that I completely forgot about the whole contest until today.  I didn't want to give hints, and there were lots of good guesses, but only three of you got it right. After months of subtle (and not so subtle) hints that I really wanted a new camera, he broke down and bought me a new digital SLR. He says I deserve it (which I probably do), but I think the purchase is based more on guilt for having to be away for so long, and missing yet another anniversary. While the camera doesn't replace his being here, it is making it easier for me to take nice photos of the kids to send to him so he can see what we're up to. So, anyway, the person who gets a skein of Wollmeise of their very own is Danielle! Thanks to all of you who played along, I really enjoyed  reading all of the guesses.

*For those of you just tuning in and wondering what the hell my problem is and why I'm so whiny ;), here's the scoop. My husband is deployed for 15 months, and I'm living in a foreign country trying to raise our two small children (ages 5 and almost 2) on my own. We're  about 10 months into the deployment, and it's really taking it's toll right now. I know there are lots of people out there in far worse situations than I'm in, so I try not to blog much about this stuff, but it has a huge impact on my daily life, as you can imagine, so the whining creeps in every now and then. And now you know. End of sob story :)

About a month ago, Keri wrote a post on suggestions for what to do on her vacation time. She wanted to take a trip to Europe since she had three weeks off. I told her in the comments that she could come visit me in Germany, and right after I left my comment, Erica said the same thing. Now, I've been in Germany for over two years now, and I've been reading Erica's blog for even longer than that, and though we only live about three hours apart, we've never had the opportunity to meet in person. Keri was the kick in the pants that finally got us together. It took some schedule rearranging and lots of emails, but we managed to pick a time and place to meet up. I was so happy to meet these two wonderful women in person, and there was certainly no shortage of conversation. We had lunch together, hit the local yarn shops, then headed back to my house, where we were able to knit and chat until the wee hours of the morning. I had such a great time, and I'm so glad that we were able to meet up. I didn't even think to take pictures, but Keri did snap one of all of our socks in progress, and maybe she'll post it sometime after she returns from her trip.

Erica was kind enough to bring with her a treat for me, some of her gorgeous handcarded batts. I've bought several batts from her shop, and each time have enjoyed spinning them. These were no exception. First of all, they're pink, which I can't resist, and the wool had been blended with sparkly nylon, which I also cannot resist, so these batts were perfect for me. Her preparation and carding is impeccable, and these batts spun up with barely any effort.   

Out of the 4 batts, I got 328 yards of fingering to sport-weight two-ply yarn. I had a hard time capturing the subtle sparkle on camera, but in person it shimmers in the light. It's absolutely lovely. Thank you so much, Erica!

I haven't been posting much for works-in-progress lately, instead tending to just post about finished objects. It's so much more interesting to write a blog post about something that's finished, rather than to keep updating on the status of a knitting project in progress. This is probably the reason I post so infrequently. That being said, this evening I suddenly feel the need to write about what I'm working on now, if only for my own record. So often I finish a project, and completely forget when I started it, mainly because I never took the time to write down the details. In an effort to help me remember how many projects I have going, here is my current WIP list:

 

This is the beginnings of the Winding Cable Knee Socks (PDF link), a free pattern on the Interweave website. I wanted to knit these since the pattern first came out, and since I seem to be knitting a run of knee socks right now , I thought it would be a good time to start them. I'm using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Manzanita, which is the exact yarn called for in the pattern, and I stuck with it because I really like the color.

These simple stockinette socks are my portable project, the one I work on while the kids play outside or at the playground, waiting around at dance classes, etc. The yarn is Lovesticks BFL sock yarn in Just Beachy.

And then there's Sahara. The last time I posted, I was one row from finishing the neckline. I stopped to look at the pattern and the picture, and realized that I had picked up the stitches incorrectly, and had to rip the neckline out. I'm sure it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out, but ripping back a yarn that is strung with sequins is NOT FUN. At all. Feeling defeated and frustrated, I left the whole project sitting there, untouched, until this afternoon. I managed to summon up the motivation to pick up all of those stitches again, and start over. The Tilli Tomas yarn is lovely, but the sequined Disco Lights requires lots of concentration to work with. I think the edgings and neckline will end up taking me as long as the body of the sweater did. Too bad the weather here this summer has been so chilly, and I'm completely losing my will to knit summer tops. My mind keeps drifting to warm woolen sweaters, but I still have Isabella to finish up at some point, too.  Perhaps I should buckle down and finish some stuff up and stop casting on for new projects.

A not very interesting post, but hey, there's a contest at the end!

This past weekend was fabulous. On Saturday, I met up with a spinning buddy and we got to chat and spin while our kids played together. Happiness all around! Sunday we spent the entire day at the indoor pool, and came home looking like a bunch of shriveled prunes. Then Monday morning rolls around, and I wake up feeling like my head was in a vise. I came down with a terrible cold which has pretty much rendered me useless the past few days. I've still had to go out and about , (sitting and listening to ten little girls run around in tap shoes is no fun at all when your head feels like it's going to explode) but I've tried to keep the errands to a minimum. Knitting has been kept simple, like stockinette stitch socks that I can knit without thinking, and spinning is happening slowly. I finished this yarn Sunday night before I started feeling awful.

Four ounces of merino/tencel blend from Funky Carolina in Berry Dark. I haven't measured the yardage or WPI, but I presume it's somewhere in the vicinity of fingering to sport weight yarn. Probably about 300 yards or so. The color is lovely, and at some point will probably become a pair of socks.

My big knitting project is currently Sahara. The body is finished, as is the bottom edging. I'm slowly chugging away on the neckline, but the sequined yarn is not much fun to knit with, nor are the purl 3 together TBL's. I had been hoping to have this finished over the past weekend, but I'm not even close. I still have a bit of knitting to do on the neckline, then I have to tackle the sleeves. Granted, they are short sleeves, but I still don't see this being finished very soon. I have two simple socks on the needles, including another pair of knee socks, this time using the fabulous Wollmeise yarn.

Which brings me to the next part of the post. I know that Wollmeise can be somewhat difficult or expensive to get if you are not in Germany or missed the last Loopy Ewe update. Since I am in Germany, and would like to share the love of Wollmeise with you, dear readers, I think it's high time for a contest. In a couple of weeks, it will be Travis and my wedding anniversary. I think he feels guilty for being away, and has bought me a fabulous gift (I already know about it because I am the family financial manager, and it would be impossible for him to slip a purchase of this size past me). What I'm asking you all to do is to guess what this fabulous gift is. My contests are usually way too easy, so I'm not giving away any hints on this one, other than that I've been looking at this item for quite some time. The person with the correct guess, or the closest to it,  will win a skein of Wollmeise sock yarn in his or her choice of color. Sound like fun? Just leave your guess in the comments anytime between now and  midnight CET on August 8th, and I will announce the winner on the 9th.

P.S. If this post sounds more incoherent than usual, it's because my sinuses are still throbbing, so please bear with me :)

I did really well with spinning last week, but my enthusiasm is waning a bit. I drifted into knitting mode again because I am close to finishing a couple of projects, so there is lots of motivation on that front. First, I'll get to the yarn I showed a sneak peek of last week. I am madly in love with this yarn.

click the photo for a closer view

Corriedale three-ply (navajo plied) fingering weight yarn, 220 yards, 18 wpi. Roving was the April selection of the Spunky Club. The intensity of the colors made me want to keep them together, rather than letting them meld together, hence the navajo plying. I spun a superfine single for this yarn, but still managed to finish the entire four ounces in only two days. The corriedale spun so smoothly and the resulting yarn is quite even, probably the most even yarn I've spun. I feel like I always say that, but I suppose that just means that my spinning skills keep improving.

click  for closeup

This lovely, squishy yarn was spun from handcarded batts from Erica's Etsy shop. There were two batts, totaling 3 ounces, carded with several different colors of superwash merino. She called these Fruity Chocolate, but for some reason, as I was spinning, I kept thinking about raspberry Napoleons. The lovely deep raspberry color and the chocolate brown made me hungry the whole time :) There are 112 yards of this worsted weight (12 wpi ) yarn. I think this will become a cozy winter hat at some point. 

The past two evenings have found me at my sewing machine, rather than my spinning wheel. A couple of weeks ago I bought some pretty Joel Dewberry fabric from Sew, Mama, Sew! and have been dying to use it.

The pattern is Amy Butler's Swing Bag. I used Joel Dewberry's Aviary fabric for the outside, and Damask Rose for the lining (click the photo to see the reversible side). The bag is reversible, but I love the bird fabric so much that I don't see myself reversing it. Though it is nice to have the option. I thought the pattern looked simple, but it took me longer than I expected to finish. I think it's the darned curved seam. Those things kill me, even with copious amounts of pins to keep things in place. I like the size of the bag, it's perfect for toting my wallet, diapers, snacks and random kids toys. The only drawback is that there are no pockets (which would somewhat defeat the purpose of reversability), so I may make a matching zippered pouch to hold small things like chapstick and my cell phone.

I'll be back tomorrow with a new pair of finished socks.

tour de fleece update

Since we're now nearly a week into the Tour de Fleece (as well as the Tour de France), I figured I should post an update. I've been meaning to write a post all week, but by the time the kids get to bed and I sit down, the lighting is too awful for pictures, and I don't have the energy to compose a post. I'm sure most of you can relate.

This first yarn was finished before the tour challenge started, and I'm so in love with it that I really should have blogged about it sooner.

click here and here for closer views

This is 4 ounces (16 wpi, I forget how many yards. 300, maybe) spun from lovely, soft Falkland roving, dyed by the talented Erica, in the color "Melons and Bananas".  I saw some yarn she spun up in this color on her blog a few weeks back, and fell in love. I asked her if she would be kind enough to dye some for me, too. She graciously agreed, even giving me a choice of fiber. Since I had never spun any Falkland wool, that was my choice. And a good choice it was, because this fiber spun like a dream. It drafted evenly, and plied perfectly. I know I already said this before, but I really do love this yarn (and if you like the color and don't spin, Erica has some for sale in her Etsy shop right now. She also sells really pretty batts, and lots of hand-dyed rovings. Head over and check it out! She's even having  a sale right now). Thanks again, Erica!

So anyway, the update. I started off the week spinning only a few minutes a day, because it was my knitting that was demanding attention, plus the fiber I was spinning just wasn't keeping me interested. Before the whole thing began, my goal was to spin up all of the fiber club rovings that I hadn't gotten to yet. The total was about 25 ounces of wool. I decided to go with the oldest first, which was some merino from Spunky Eclectic in Forecast.

again, click for a closeup

If this yarn looks like it sucks, it's because it kind of does. I could not get into spinning this stuff for some reason. I don't know why, because I enjoy spinning merino, and I do like the colors, but I just couldn't draft it evenly. The singles were horrible, but as I plied, they evened out a bit. The harsh wet finishing I give my yarns helped even out the twist a little bit more, but it's still pretty wonky. I do think the yarn will make a nice pair of mittens, though. There are 170 yards of yarn (worsted weight, 12 wpi).

This next skein is the complete opposite from the one above. I loved spinning it up, and the singles were almost completely uniform. I've only finished up half the fiber (the other half will be plied once I get this post written) so the full details will come in the next post.

I got a whole bunch of new fiber in the mail yesterday (along with more new sock yarn), and I don't think that I'll be able to meet my goal of finishing up lingering fiber club rovings. There are too many new things begging to be spun up. I think I'll make my new goal to spin up a total of 25 ounces of fiber over the course of three weeks, spinning whatever strikes my fancy. This will be a much easier goal to attain, because I won't be running the risk of boredom from being boxed in by my choices.

all about yarn

Today's post is brought to you by yarn. A whole lot of yarn.

After sending my spinning wheel into time-out last week, I finally got my groove back and have been spinning up a storm. I don't know what the problem was, but every fiber I tried to spin last week was difficult for me to draft and was coming out ugly and uneven. After a little temper tantrum (during which I was tempted to drop my wheel off the balcony, I was so frustrated) I gave up and walked away for several days. Earlier this week, I gave it another go, with much better results. I guess I just needed to loosen up. The first thing I finished was this lovely hand blended merino from CJ Kopec Creations:

Four ounces, 225 yards (15 wpi--roughly sport weight) of lovely green/blue/yellow "Margaritas Seaside" merino. This fiber was well prepared and very easy to spin.

I also finished up some Targhee that was giving me fits last week. I still had a hard time drafting it, for some reason, so it's pretty uneven, but after a good soak and some vigorous beating against the tile shower wall, the twist evened out a bit, and now it's OK.

Not perfect, but OK. I do love the colors, though. They were perfect for a Fiberlicious! shot, at the very least.
Anyway, the details:  Four ounces, 215 yards (13 wpi), of Targhee from Susan's Spinning Bunny in Blueberry Fields.

Thanks to all of you who sent good weather wishes my way on the last post. It worked, at least temporarily. The sun finally made an appearance today, and my poor kids were able to get outside and play. The cabin fever was really getting to all of us. It's bad enough to be cooped up during the winter, but mid-summer? No fun at all. So my mood has improved quite a bit, from the nicer weather, and having a babysitter this afternoon so I could go shopping all by myself. I got new jeans, a new top, and a cute skirt that I have been coveting, but was unwilling to pay the price for. I found one left today, on the clearance rack--in my size. Woo hoo!

I also had a lovely delivery arrive at my doorstep this morning. For quite a while, I've been reading on other blogs how wonderful Wollmeise sock yarn is, but never got around to ordering. Earlier this week, I broke down and emailed my order. Now I see what all the fuss is about.

            click on the photo for more details

The colors of this yarn are stunning, and the yardage is amazing. 574 yards per 150g skein! I'm thinking I'll be knitting a whole lotta knee socks :) Being in Germany makes it very easy to obtain this yarn (so what took me so long?), but I do know that she will ship internationally. Honestly, even if you have to pay international shipping rates, it would be worth it. The site is in German, but there is a link for the English translation at the bottom of the page. Also, if you email, Claudia (the dye mistress behind these gorgeous yarns) speaks excellent English. Not that I'm trying to twist your arm or anything ;) I also hear that The Loopy Ewe will be carrying this yarn in the near future.

I hope you all have a good weekend. I'm hoping for more sunshine, and some time at the playground that will allow me to get in some knitting!

by popular demand

ETA: If you downloaded the pattern before 2 p.m. CET (8 a.m. EST) June 23rd, please be forewarned there are errors. Erica has already started on these socks, and has been kind enough to email me the corrections. If you follow the link in this post or in the sidebar, you will be taken to the corrected version. Sorry about this, and thanks again for the interest! Also, if any other errors are noticed (and I'm sure there will be more), please email me and I'll correct them as soon as I can.

Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm about the Whisper Lace socks from the last post. I'm so glad that you all like them! I am so proud of how well they came out, and I can't wait to see how other knitters interpret this pattern. "How can we do that?" you ask. Well, my friends, after some subtle prodding ;), I decided it would be a good idea to sit down and write out the pattern right quick. I appreciate the offers to test-knit the pattern, but since it's being offered for free, I didn't want to wait to have someone test knit it. I guess whoever goes ahead and knits the pattern first will be a test knitter of sorts, anyway. Certainly if I were selling the pattern, I would be sure to have a test knitter or two, but I don't feel comfortable asking people to pay for my patterns at this point. I'm an untested designer (and I use that term loosely, because I don't really consider myself a designer), and I think my pattern-writing skills are severely lacking. It takes a long time to write these patterns out, and I tried to write them so that anyone from an inexperienced sock knitter to the knitter who has knit hundreds of socks could follow along. I won't know if I achieved that until you knitters let me know. I promise I will correct any errors or make clarifications to the pattern ASAP. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, especially if it helps me make more sense of pattern writing. I'm hoping this will be the gateway to more designing in my future!

OK, enough about the sock patterns. I have some lovely handspun yarns that have been waiting to be shown.

225 yards of incredibly soft alpaca yarn (16 wpi), spun from Spunky Eclectic alpaca roving in Blue Moon.
This stuff was a dream to spin, and even dreamier as finished yarn. I'm not sure what it will become yet, other than some sort of lacy scarf, but I can't wait to see how it knits up.

Note to self: buy more alpaca.

This is 150 yards (13 wpi) of BFL in Blood Orange, from Mama-e's Twisted Knitters club (I think this was the May fiber). I completely overplied this yarn, as usual, but somehow through all that twisting, the fiber still maintained its softness. It's actually quite sproingy (that's a technical term), and would probably make good socks. It may be overplied, but at least it's evenly overplied :)

Have a great weekend!