synestheticknits

so i realized i have never photographed one of my favorite FOs, my neon lace socks . these started out a thrifted white merino and cashmere sweater. i unraveled the body, and was left with the sleeves. i'd heard of using sweater sleeves as sock blanks before, so i figured i'd give that a try. it turned out pretty awesome, i think. i used some of my hoard of easter egg dyes to make a super neon rainbow. one sleeve turned out to be enough for both socks. the dye didn't penetrate the knit fabric fully, which actually gave the yarn a cool sort of mottled look. so, something to be aware of if that's not what you're going for. i knit the socks pretty much directly from the sleeve, without winding it into a ball first.. seemed unnecessary. okay, fine, i guess i could have, but who needs an extra step between them and knitting? i did discover that the yarn is a bit delicate for socks. like a lot of store-bought sweaters, this one was made from multip...

so i succeeded in spinning only 725.25 yards of yarn for spinzilla week. but, that is still more yarn than i have spun in months and certainly more than i've ever done in one week. so i think i can still declare spinzilla 2014 somewhat of a success. first off was spunky eclectic 's panda top in road trip . was lovely to spin, and her colorways are always tasty. (it looks a bit warmer in the photo here than in real life.) i got this braid at the massachusetts sheep & woolcraft festival in 2010, and it had been sadly languishing until now. soon to be socks! second was another random yarn generator thing , which i always have fun with. i was not too excited about the colors it came up with (black, white, and purple), but when it was done it reminded me of a dress that's been on my modcloth wishlist... lastly (and unfinished-ly), is some traveling rhinos merino top . so soft and squishy. only got about 177 yards of it in before the time ran out. it...

so, i did it.. i signed up for spinzilla this year. i've been away from the wheel for far too long, and this is a pretty good impetus. i figure i should have some spin goals to aim for. * definitely planning on another random yarn generator -type project. as for possible project goals... * 11oz bulky for the body of cathode * 7oz dk/sport weight for tappan zee * 3.5oz sport weight for arlen i think this, however, may be destined to be yet another pair of socks. why do i get keep getting sucked in to handspun sock yarn? pre- and post-drafting, and a single on the bobbin go team happy fuzzy yarn!

so much to be done. every year (every. single. year.) i say that i will start gift knitting in july. this has never happened. this year, at least, i have about half a sock going for the boyfriend (but really this is only because i was trying for his birthday earlier in the year..). though now i am feeling drawn in to all these november knit-a-longs going on. could i do it all?? there's wovember of course, where you knit with nothing but 100% wool for the entire month. this sounds excellent, but i tend to use blends and machine-washable fibers when making stuff for other people. aww. and then there's naknitswemo , in which, much like nanowrimo, you must knit a 50,000 stitch sweater within the month of november. this i could do! i have some handspun intended for a sweater, and a pattern lined up for it. however... there's also the indie design gift-a-long , which would be great gift knitting encouragement. but can i do that and knit a sweater at the same time...

so what i wanted was to knit with some handspun. i also wanted one of those scarf-type things that you wear around your neck like a cowl, and can pull up over your head like a hood. this did not end up to be one of those things. just means there's more knitting to do, is all. never a bad thing. but i got to knit some handspun, and really, this is something that one just needs to do that every so often. there's something that feels more real and dirty about it, you know? in the best possible way. lumps and fluffs and lanolin, a bit of hay every so often. real life, real yarn. i had a particular skein picked out. a big reason for it being that it has been in my stash for so so so long. embarrassingly long. years. i was never quite sure how to do it justice. now was the time. after much swatching, i found that the best stitch pattern for this would be.. garter. just garter stitch. on big needles, for some nice drape. but it wouldn't really look, or stret...

new handspun. inspired by the random yarn generator : (on ravelry ) merino top dyed by play at life fiber arts : (on ravelry ) okay, almost wordless.

savers is one of my favorite places ever. when i visit a new place i usually check out their savers, just to see what they have. (in fact, when i was in montreal i absolutely had to track down the village des valeurs.) some recent finds: some cds.. tori amos's little earthquakes , which i did not have in my library for some reason. dude, i forgot how good it is. also a david sedaris cd, which will have to wait until christmas, but that's okay. an interesting skein of mystery yarn. it's tweedy and self-striping in a noro sort of way. (anyone recognize it?) a stitch by stitch book of crafty stuff. really cute things in this one, no photos yet.. but smocking! and sewing tutorials! (i do need sewing help.) there was another... special find this time. yes, we bought this. we couldn't not. yes, it may appear to be just a burned copy of an alice in chains album. but the car..? and the disc itself: the muscle dude? fdawg? what does disc one look like? what is ...

so i bought yarn. it's been a while, okay? ahem. so the main impetus was to finish this mitten project that has been hanging around for six years or so, waiting for me to find another skein of kureyon in 92. finally i discovered the problem: it has been discontinued. gah! on to plan b: buy a totally different color and stripe it. first mitten down! i wasn't so sure i liked the way the red and green fell together, but okay. mitten number 2: ugggghh. mud. now on third attempt. let's think of happier things, hm? like more noro: two skeins of silk garden for a special project to be named later.. and one more skein of kureyon for, well.. i don't know, i was distracted by the pretty colors. colorrrrs... but, pattern suggestions? i like the top of this hat , but i'm open to other ideas.

i've been thinking about my knitting projects to be. the thing is, i need to start things in a more organized manner. at this moment i have 14 unfinished objects amongst my ravelry projects. (these are just the ones listed in ravelry. oh, there are others. plus spinning ufos...) yet the urge to cast on more is always there. my queue stands at 92. ninety-two! some things have been on the list since 2007. so here's my idea: start at #1 and go down until i find something that i know i have the yarn in stash for. this brings us tooo.. #19, the sock with no name , by cookie a. well, sort of. i have sock yarn, yes. but i keep thinking that pattern would be so much better in a semi-solid.. moving on. (damn so many sweaters) (and so little solid-colored sock yarn in my stash) okay i think i got it! #62. leyburn socks . love the little sort-of slipped stitch pops of color. i have it narrowed down to two: araucania ranco multy in color 309 ( in my rav stash ) or my ha...

and how much of it has actually been knit with? erm.. two. 2010?

hellooo poor neglected blog! finally, my work schedule is going to be way more normal, leaving me time to do things like finish up old projects and spill orange juice on my flash drive. *sigh* really, i can't wait to do some more spinning. my last completed yarn was this: ( on ravelry ) again, the boyfriend took notice after i was done spinning. actually said he thought it was pretty. since he's more of a word person, i asked if he could think of a name for it. he says, "intestinal lining?" what. so anyway , i'm thinking it will be a thorpe , as soon as i finish these legwarmers from my hackled yarn. too many wips around here. also been knitting for blythie.. ...who still has no name. how can this be? it was never this difficult with my pullips. i've been thinking of some nice irish names, but haven't settled on one. hmm...

* not enough knitting. i did just finish up a new hat for the shop though.. i'm reworking my stocking cap pattern, and came up with this nice roomy stretchy one that should be big enough for blythes! my quest for blythe herself has not been going so well, however. still looking for the right one (that i can justify spending the money on right now...). i thought the prima dollies were supposed to be cheaper?? * typing up my basic pullip hat pattern.. anyone want to try it out? * hackling! i put together a diy hackle and blended some of the tan wool/black wool/white mohair roving that i got from the sheep shed. ta da... before, after, and yarn! so much better. and here it is on ravelry . i would like it to become these lovely legwarmers but the gauge is slightly different. will require tinkering. *losing knitting needles left and right. seriously, what is the deal here?

so here is the stuff i mentioned in my last post. four ounces of superwash merino/tencel blend... which i spun into this! (here it is in my ravelry stash .) i didn't trust my instincts and it came out thicker than i meant it to, more like sport-weight. still going to try for socks though. i'd never spun anything with tencel in it before and i have to say, it is tasty. i have to resist ordering some more. okay, so i did put in another order with susan's spinning bunny . got some alpaca/merino/silk, which i have been admiring and not spinning. this must be remedied. anyway, they are supernice there and i kind of want everything in their shop. other spinnings: i dyed up some of my plain wool from the sheep shed, threw in some easter grass and got: this was one of the few times the boyfriend took notice of my spinning, and said it reminded him of ecto cooler . i really can't wait to knit it up, but other things must be finished first. (sigh) here it is on ravelry...

this year, at last, i made it to the rhode island fiber festival. it's held at coggeshall farm in bristol, inside colt state park. it's a working historical farm, with people cooking and weaving and raising sheep... i had never been there before, and it is gorgeous. and now i wish i had brought along my film camera. bah! it was a really lovely, perfect day for the festival. there were lots of vendors and demonstrations, and food.. i should have photographed the super-greasy freshly fried clam cakes i got because damn, they were good. i was very good and only bought four ounces of superwash merino/tencel from susan's spinning bunny , who sell socially and environmentally conscious yarn and fiber (which is totally yummy). it is already spun, plied, and looking for an appropriate sock pattern. (photos soon...) of course there was also sheep shearing! it was lots of fun, and i'm so glad we got to go this year! yarny pictures soon. also... alpacas!

since i am having trouble getting into my flickr account (grr, yahoo.), i'll use ipernity to share some yarny photos with you. it's a community-type site, similar to flickr, but smaller and european-based. a pretty nice alternative, and there's an etsy group! so now i can share the results of my yarn-dyeing semi-disaster ... not quite what i was going for. the second ply took the dye much better, but... at least it feels nice! (here it is on ravelry. ) i have had better luck lately using the oven method. there will be some blindingly-bright pictures soon, once the rain lets up...

have you seen the on the dot creations blog's polka dot parade ? they are featuring my ladybug buttons along with a bunch of other cute stuff. like this cupcake craft pack , which i recognized because i had hearted it already some time ago! think of the doll dresses i could make, or maybe a zipper pouch.. sigh. i also have photos of my finished dyeing disaster yarn, but i'm having trouble getting into my flickr account. i really wish they had not joined up with yahoo.. i've been having issues with that account since november. gah! so no pictures for this entry, which is too bad. the yarn turned out better than i expected! so, off to email yahoo yet again... *grits teeth*

so i found out about nablopomo through etsy a few months ago. i meant to read about it more, but i forgot until yesterday! sounds like fun and i could use the encouragement to post more. i ended up having to go into work today after all, so i haven't gotten to sign up for the ning and read up just yet. it also means i didn't get to work on stuff for the shop... (sigh) i've been up plurking and watching election coverage for too long, so i guess it'll be a short post tonight.. will be heading off to bed to dream of my new sock yarn. ( araucania , mmm.. but my claudia hand painted is next in line.)

just some things i've been up to lately... my techno tea party batt spun up! they're both finished but i haven't uploaded pictures yet. in fact they've been knit up! this stuff was so much fun to work with. (now craving some more knittydirtygirl batts..) i also have finished my pullip cardigan. i think it turned out pretty well. and made a coordinating scarf! yarn dyeing is so much fun. and now etsy has posted this natural dyeing tutorial . so now i can't stop looking around the kitchen for things that could possibly used as dye... i wonder how long-lasting the color would be, though. i thought that natural dyes required more of a mordant than salt. i think i'll give it a try though, just for a the fun of it. also.. been spending too much time on plurk.