Sick, but still knitting!

I have been at home the last 2 days with a throat infection. I'm going back to work tomorrow. My doctor didn't really want that, he would have preferred I stayed home the whole week. I can't say I wouldn't have liked that. But the problem is I'm still in my trial period and so long times of illness can get me fired, plus I don't want to put this pressure on my colleagues as they have to take over the children I normally have in therapy. So it's back to work tomorrow, supported by really heavy antibiotics.

I did get some knitting done, it's not that I'm that tired. But I did rest most of the time.

First of all, the finished Mamluke socks from Folk Socks by Nancy Bush (do I really need to link this book? :D). I finished them last week. I loved knitting them.

Stats :

Pattern : Mamluke socks from Folk Socks by Nancy Bush

Yarn : Dale of Norway Baby Ull in Black and blue/grey (left over from my Norwegian stockings! :D)

Needles : 2.75mm Inox circulars

Started at the beginning of October 2006, finished on Nov. 15 2006

Mods : I made the foot quite a bit longer then the pattern stated I would need. Do I have long feet or what? :D Apart from that I just followed the pattern!

I never seem to be able to without a fair-isle project. So when I saw Eunny's site this week I knew what to start :

Stats :

Pattern : Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Yang

Yarn : Dale of Norway Baby Ull in black and Koigu (will add number later)

Needles : 2mm for the ribbing, 2.75mm for the rest of the glove (inox circs)

Started on Saturday Nov. 18 2006, finished Nov. 22 2006

It's strange how well you can see the pattern in the picture, 'cause it doesn't show that well in reality. Now I do love them. I shouldn't have used the variegated but they still look great, and they fit perfectly! I already started a second pair! These are so quick to finish! :D

Now as said I'm going to try again to get some of my stash moving. I need to get stuff out in order to get new stuff in. I want to order a few books, and some yarn, but I can't as long as I don't get any new money in. So if you are even remotely interested, let me know.

I'm offering 2 boxes of sock yarn up for sale. Each box will go for $50 plus $7.5 shipping. I am willing to consider a swap, let me know if that would interest you more. All sock yarn is stored in a smoke free environment. It's all unused. It'll fly priority.

Sockbox 1

Sockbox 2


Each box has one skein of Opal cotton, one skein of Opal, One skein of Online Nepal, one skein of Online (various), 2x50g of Regia, and 2x50g of my own handpainted (regular sock yarn). So that makes a total of 6 pairs of socks.

Please, if you are interested, contact me! I'll be posting the boxes at Destash if nobody is interested over here. I have more to offer soon. As I said, I'm willing to swap!! There are quite a few books I want, sockyarn (STR, Koigu, ...), roving, ... . Just let me know if you can help me out! :D

Off now, to some more knitting and relaxing on the couch.

What a weekend!

It's been quite a weekend. It was supposed to be quiet and relaxing as yesterday was Nov. 11 which is an official holiday over here. I hoped on finishing up the socks I'm test knitting ,but of course it didn't work out.

And the reason? I spent most of my Friday night/Saturday morning at the ER with my boyfriend because he got beaten up! You can read more on my LiveJournal. We were home around 5am, but I stayed up till 6pm and then woke up every hour to check on him. Got up at 9am. Was up and running around all day. Then fell asleep on the couch quite early. And slept whole night. So knitting time? Not much.

Today I've still been running around to get bf comfortable. He has no concussion, or at least no serious one, and is feeling a bit better. The swollen parts are getting better but the blue in his face is multiplying. Oh well, he's better off then we thought he was at first.

I have so much to write about but I want to knit some more/watch some tele and then go to bed at a decent hour as I have another busy week up ahead. I'm not even sure I'll be going to The Netherlands for the big StitchNBitch meeting there on the 18th. I don't know if I can handle it really, as I have my first big competition with the horse again on Sunday. It's all a bit difficult right now.

More soon!

Handspun Sockyarn Swap questionnaire!

Because my pal in this swap already contacted me twice (thank you so much!) I'm going to quickly post the answers to this questionnaire. Nothing more as I should get back to my knitting. I'm testknitting my first pattern. I want it to be done soon. I'm so nervous, for 2 things : that I won't be done in time, and that I'll do an awful job. It's killing me. Oh, and I'm not going to reveal anything till the pattern is actually published, so you just have to take my word.

Anyway, the questions!

Do you prefer sock yarn that is a solid color, variegated, or striping?
At the moment I do prefer solid or at least nearly solid colours, or variegated with not to much different colours. I usually like all colours - still do - but the main amount of socks I want to knit at the moment begs for a solid yarn. No self striping at the moment please, I'm drowning in those. I'm easy to please, so no worries!


What are your favorite colors & are there any colors that you do not like?
My faves are purples, plum, black, dark blue, moss greens (and variations), pinks, burgundy.
I really don't like yellow (bright), orange (unless in an autumnal combination), and any neon colours. As I said I like autumnal colours, like muted orange and muted yellow, I'm not so drawn to solid orange and yellow.


How long have you been spinning & knitting?
I learned to knit at the age of 4, didn't do much of it after elementary school and started again 2 years ago. I started spinning soon after, about 1 1/2 year ago.


Do you have any fiber allergies or preferences?
No allergies that I know off. I wear almost anything for socks, though I love warm feet! :D


Are you willing to hand wash your socks or are you a machine wash only knitter?
I handwash all my handknit socks, so no worries there!


Do you have any favorite candy or treats?
You generally can't please me with candy, so I prefer nothing of that kind (I usually give it away, sorry!). I do like tea and candles, if that helps.


Anything else you’d like to share with your pal?
I mainly like thinner yarns for socks, and I love knitting socks with my 2mm needles. But I know spinning those yarns isn't easy, so everything is fine by me!


I'm really looking forward to this swap! Back to knitting!

Socktoberfest???

I signed up for the Socktoberfest in the hope to at least finish up all the socks I had on the needles. I didn't succeed at all, though I did make some nice progress on a few socks. But at the end I finished only one pair of socks (beside the ones I already finished), and I had no choice as they were a commissioned knit. I don't like doing this and honestly, the little money it pays. It's just not worth it really I'm afraid. I can imagine why no-one will pay a reasonable amount of money for the socks. I don't mind, I'm not looking into selling them, I prefer knitting them for myself or my family!

Anyway, here they are :




I'm not going to post any stats about these, just the proof that I did knit them. They are in Online yarn, a new line. Knitted on 2.5mm needles, sized at the hand of a sock of the intented owned. This all went through my LYS so I don't even know the person. I hope he'll like them.

I made good progress of my Mamluke socks - I really needed some quick fair isle socks! - but they are not finished. Maybe by the end of the week.

I did finish 2 more projects. First was a sweater for me which I will post more about later when I have pictures. The other one is this Noni bag :





I only have a picture pre-felting. I finished it last night at 3am, and put it in the washer. Another round early morning, and then I took it wet with me to my LYS where I finished the sewing (flowers and handle). I of course didn't take any pictures after the felting and finishing, maybe next time if I remember. I can tell you the bag turned out super nice! I did finish this completely in one evening. But I was tired in the end!

Last weekend the boyfriend and I went on a nice walk with the dog nearby in a nature area. we had a super time, a bit of proof :



Esna had the most wonderful time running around! She even went through knee high water, which she normally hates. Needles to say she needed a bath when we returned home! We should make a habit of these walks as it did me great too! But the weather is finally changing - it was only 5°C when I drove home at 7pm today - and I love spending time outside now!

On the walk we saw a ton of these :




I haven't seen them in years! I remember the stories as a kid and I loved to go looking for them in kindergarter. So it was great to see them all. It's probably the combination of the ground and the trees to find them all over here. It was super!

Now before I forget, last week I also dyed up some yarn. Well, quite a bit actually :





From left to right : 2 skeins of superwas to combine with black for a scarf (more on that later), one skein of black and 2 skeins fushia/purple for fingerless mitts and regular mittens (I think the "black" needs another swim in the dye-bath, dyeing black is awefully difficult!) - this is super natural wool perfect for socks and mittens, and it got this great shean after dyeing, I'm amazed!- and then a skein of dark pink which I used for a flower for the Noni bag above (I hadn't dyed enough for 2 flowers, that's why there's a light pink flower as well). I loved dyeing this yarn and I can't wait to knit with the yarn, but there are still to many projects on my needles!

I'm knitting like crazy, hoping to finish at least a few things off.

I was surfing blogs tonight and came across one from a collage artist. I realized how much I missed that. But it's kinda hard. I never really believed I was good in paper arts/collage/etc. and it was hard to keep it going. I did have some support from the online community, but not as much as I needed. As for the knitting, I realize I'm not around enough to get much readings here at the blog. But the ladies at my LYS are SOOOOO supportive! It's amazing, and it keeps me going. Though I realize I'm not that super good, it's nice to have someone support you. I'll get there.

Now I am going to pick up paper arts and writing again, soon I hope. But time is such a problem. I mean, I'm at home this week and I needed this time off so much. Working full time is just something I can't do, with all the things I have to do beside work. Oh well, only a few more months! And I can use the money right now! (I need to stop buying yarn. I really do. I have to much already!)

Thank you to all those who commented on my yarn room and my FO's! I so appreciate it!

Now it's off to bed! After 2 days of going to bed at 3am or later, I want to get in a bit early (well, it's half past midnight already, so that's not really early, right? :D)