it's all about sock summit now!

just about a month to go to sock summit and a knitting girl's fancy turns to socks.
What to wear, what to take, what to get done before I go....how to play with the cool kids......
The watermelon socks are coming right along. One done including picot cast off (just need to sew it down) and one on the heel. They'll be done by the end of the week. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish our "trading" stitch markers as well.






















I did take a little detour to work on my camp loopy project. A Daybreak in studio june and dream in color smooshy. This needs to be done by july 17, I think I'll be OK. The second camp project announces on july 1, and speculation is that it might be socks. I've already been looking at cool sock patterns and que'd a few on rav. I'm thinking something cabled or colorworked. We'll just have to see because I also start my mary scott-huff colorwork sweater class next week. YIKES! So much knitting, so little time. Who needs to sleep anyway?

In garden news, the poppies are coming out. The rain we're having beats them up, but they're still huge and beautiful.









next week.....a finished daybreak, finished watermelon socks, casting on for bridge of roses socks and hopefully a bit of a test for my rosalia sweater (need to get the yarn in first).

this week was a lot of fun......

The mailman loved me this week.....
No pics of some, but...
he brought me my first wollemeise - a gorgeous green and blue that I will be saving for something special
Also the yarn for the Bridge of Roses KAL
And my goodies for camp loopy (plus a couple of extras - gotta get free shipping, right?)
the black and blue/purple are for the camp loopy project. It's going to be a daybreak.











You'd never know I'm trying to same some for sock summit. I just keep seeing things I LOVE.
I also spent some time working on the watermelon socks....
toe-up basic pattern, I think it just BEGS for a picot bind off though.....












The doggies were very excited.











Next up, the other watermelon sock (it'll be at sock summit), casting on for camp loopy on the 15th, knit in public day, and I HAVE to finish those stitch markers for the trade at sock summit and do my homework. Think I have enough on my plate?

I'm going to camp!

Well, virtual camp. What a great idea that sheri at the loopy ewe has come up with. Summer camp, no ugly security lines, no bugs, just knitting fun, some contests, discounts, and in the end, if you finish all 3 projects in time, wollemeise as a prize. I'm IN!
I ordered my yarn for the daybreak shawl. Should be here to start on time.
(as if there were nothing else to do)









I finished the fragipani shawl. Just needs some ends woven in and a bath. Perfect for sock summit, soft, small.....I probably could have done the large, there was a lot left over, but didn't want to take the chance of running short.







Working on finishing some man-socks. They're almost there.











Next up, watermelon yarn socks. Plain vanilla, toe up, should go pretty quickly.



I also signed up and ordered the bridge of roses KAL from knitters brewing co, and managed to catch my first wollemeise update at the loopy ewe this week. Had to see what all the fuss was about. Morale of the story, next week, there will be new stash!

doggies love the beach

so, on friday before the long weekend, we packed up the doggies and went to the beach. Doggies love the beach and a good time was had by all.










We saw some sights......










picked some rocks....... (oregon agates)











and generally hung out, with a stop at Twisted in portland on the way down where I was unusually good and didn't spend a dime (saving it for sock summit). Did some knitting too, on the socks and the fragipani shawl for sock summit. Pics next time....


When we came home, this was on the porch waiting to say "hi". Now that we're on vacation the rest of the week, trying to get some things done around the house, it's pouring rain. Guess it'll be INSIDE projects for today.

A week of FO's (sort of)

This week brought the finish of Batik. I think it turned out beautifully. A little too heavy for sock summit, but it should be great for next winter.












I also FINALLY finished the mermaid KAL (sort of). It turned out WAY better than I was expecting, but the bind off is WAY too tight. Like, half of what it needs to be too tight. I'm totally mad at myself because I kept going and even wove in the ends, but when it got to blocking.....WAY too tight. Now it's going to have to dry and I'm going to have to pick out the bind off and do it again. Yes, I did use a "stretchy" bind off technique, but there's no stretch there. Next time, bigger needle and a different technique. It's going to rest for a while, though, 'cause I need to move on to sock summit projects.










Stitch markers.......
















A shawl with the anzula yarn that should be here any day. I'm thinking Fragipani by kitman. (the same person who did Batik). I would have done damask, but that's SO done already by someone else. I want mine to be different.


And, yes, I DO still knit socks. (I certainly have enough yarn!)












The good news here is the weather has improved........
The bad news, not much........



















next week.....stash enhancement!

only 14 rows to go

on the mermaid shawl.
I'm down to the part now where each row has about 800 stitches and it takes me about an hour each. I really want to finish this so that I can move on to sock summit projects and some man-socks.

This week was pretty eventful knitting-wise. I finished Batik. (it needs a bath, though)













Ordered yarn for my Rosalia, bought some watermelon sock yarn. (love this stuff - have to make socks for the summit with it - perfect summer socks), also bought some anzula cloud for a damask shawl. I'm volunteering for anzula at sock summit, so I thought it would be fun to have a little something made out of their yarn to wear in the booth. Lots of sock summit plans happening. This week, I think I'll make a trip out to shipwreck beads for some stitch marker materials. So many projects, so little time.......



On a happy note, our litte ozzie ozzborne turns 1. Has it been that long already?

A bit of excitement this week!

This week brought a bit of excitement. Registration for SOCK SUMMIT!!!!!!!
So, wed. at exactly 11:55, we hunkered down with a class list, credit card and a lot of patience. Even the doggies were excited.











I'm happy to report that this time it went very smoothly (for me at least) and I got the one class I wanted - tesselations with franklin habit, the opening ceremonies, and two lectures, pooling and stephanie's talk on sat night. I'm so excited I can hardly sit still! Oh, and swag. Did I mention swag? T-shirt, zipper, thingy, and button, of course.
We had such a great time last summit and met SO many great friends (knitnana).
This experience will be a bit different, not so many classes (planned that way), and I'm working for a vendor on sat morning. Plenty of time for shopping, eating out, and flash mobbing. (note to self - still need to get that extra tiara for P.)
If it sounds like a wild crazy fun time, it IS......
Is is july yet?????



There was a bit of fun too.....the loopy ewe mother's day kit. Loved the colors of the yarn.







And some progress on little mermaid and batik.















I also signed up for the next one - the phoenix and the carpet.
This week, a stop by yorkshire yarns for sweater yarn for the mary scott huff class, and possibly a trip to shipwreck to find stitch marker beads for the sock summit swap.
Is is july yet?

happy may day!

Wow! the first of may already.....
Maybe we'll finally get some spring here.
The final clue of the shawl was released this week, I'm still on the last one.....
I definitely want to sign up for the next KAL though. The yarn and patterns are gorgeous and definitely worth the effort.

Batik is making progress. I've kind of been going back and forth..












The big development this week is sock summit registration. I'm not really looking to take a full schedule of classes last time....lots of time for shopping, demos, etc.
But, I WILL be there wed. to get my opening ceremony tickets and I'm looking at one class and a couple of lectures. Hopefully registration will go smoothly and i'll have the time to get in. We'll still go anyway, there's just too much fun and it will not be missed!
Yogi is very excited about it.

happy easter!

well, I DID make some progress this week, only because it continued to rain incessantly.




I think I'll be caught up with the shawl by the end of this week. There's only one more clue left. They're going to announce another KAL when all the clues for this one are done. I'm in, I'm SO in!

I also started on Batik. Cinnamon brown is modeling the beginning of it here......




The mailman was good to me too...
Yogi is inspecting the loopy ewe april kit. I know the yarn looks black, but it's a very deep, rich purple. Gorgeous.














The classes and vendor list for sock summit were released this week, oh, my!
I don't really plan on doing any classes, maybe a lecture? The plan is to go down there on thurs, shop on friday and volunteer on sat, home on sunday, broke and happy.
There's always the keynote dinner, something planned for sat, I'm sure, and TONS of other things to do, never enough time. It has to be wrong to be SO excited about something that's nearly 4 months away. right?

oh, yeah, right....blog

well, the weather is finally better, so there's really not much knitting to share.
I'm still working on the little mermaid. At least the next clue is easy, so hopefully I'll get caught up. They'll be announcing a new one in a couple of weeks, I'm already in.

I signed up for the colorwork series that involves making a sweater. I have one picked out and everything, just need the yarn.

I also bought the april loopy ewe kit. Just couldn't resist that purple. It should be here this week, so I'll have something to show next time.
Cast on for batik too.

In the mean time, here's a little ozzie for ya.

done and done

this week I took the time to finish a couple of things.
Eiki is done and blocked. Cinnamon brown approves, as you can see.



Also a wedding shawl for one of my friends - blocking now. Hope she likes it.





I'm still working on the mermaid kal. Almost caught up with the clues, thanks to the never ending rain. No pics today. It's too big and just looks like a lump of lace.

I'm SERIOUSLY considering a 4 part colorwork class at a LYS. It's being taught by Mary Scott-Huff, who, aside from being a great teacher and designer, is a true kick in the pants. The class includes colorwork techniques, steeks (YIKES), and finishing.
All things that I think would seriously improve my skills. I'm really wanting to make THIS
Rosalia from the Twist collective. I think it would make an awesome challenge.

I'm also thinking about a sweater's worth of skinny bugga in one of the spring colors, but can't decide......so many colors, so little time.
The april loopy ewe kit should be out this week, and sock summit is fast approaching.
Time flies......

move along, nothing to see here

This has been one of those weeks where you feel like you're knitting backwards.
I got really frustrated with the mermaid shawl and ripped the whole thing out. The YO's were just too big and the whole thing looked awful. Went downtown and bought a smaller addi turbo lace and started over. Now I'm back on clue 2 and liking the tighter one much better. No progress to show there.

I did finish my eiki, but it needs the ends woven in and some blocking.

I'm getting the itch to start something new. Maybe Batik with that nice yarn I bought a couple of weeks ago, or girasole, with the yarn I've had FOREVER for it.
Hmmm........I need something else to do between clues, we'll see.

Today is supposed to be the only dry day all week, so it's off to clean out the greenhouse before the fred meyer fuschia event next weekend.
It's WAY too early to be putting out those kinds of baskets, but I'll get the stuff while it's nice and fresh and put it in the greenhouse. Now I just need to remember it's there!!

No knitting pics, so here's some critters instead......






Our little baby is growing up......

spring is sprung

so not much knitting is done.......
my mermaid KAL. I'm almost done with clue 2, and clue 3 is waiting in the wings.
ACK! I'm behind! The trip to the beach set me back a bit as well as my painful mistake that caused me to rip it all out and start over. The next clue will be out on friday, so hopefully, I'll get caught up a bit.....











My replacement yarn arrived this week. Good to see that kelly at the unique sheep has a sense of humor!



I THOUGHT I was making progress on my eiki, until I read some nice raveler's notes.
The charts are all supposed to be done AT THE SAME TIME, not one at a time. No wonder I was quickly running out of yarn. Rip it, rip it.
I HATE when the pattern assumes that you automatically know this or that. I don't.
I'd much rather have too many directions that not nearly enough.
Onward and upward. It's raining today, so good knitting opportunities.

We're Baaaccckkk

Betcha didn't even know we were gone.
This weekend, we packed up the doggies and headed out for here....













One of my most favorite places in the world, the oregon coast, cannon beach to be specific.
On the way down, we stopped in portland at Twisted, a totally fun, cool yarn store, where THIS had to come home with me. It will be my Batik shawl.













While we were there I worked on this....
It's Eiki by Janel Laidman. A fun little knit done here in some mystery skinny bugga that is quite nice. I'm almost up to where the lace starts on the edging. I thought it would be a great beach knit, and the profits went to the japanese relief efforts. How can you go wrong?













The kitties enjoyed their moments of peace without the puppy.











A good time was had by all.

I'd like to title this work of art.....

boxer puppy meets silk lace yarn.










It WAS rolled into balls. Just too much temptation for the poor guy.
This is my Ling silk lace yarn for the little mermaid KAL. Good think it's in 4 sections, 1,2,and 3 were salvageable. 4 was a fatality. Thanks to Kelly at the Unique sheep for bailing me out and making another #4 skein for me.
Good thing I started with #1.










(and yes, they WERE put out of reach - or at least I THOUGHT so)
it's pretty hard to be mad at this face for too long, though.















I'll be digging through the stash today to find an interim project to work on between clues. I'm also waiting for some yarn I purchased from a destash on rav to make some man-socks.
Gotta have something to do while it rains!