On track

I'm at work, counting down till I can go home. I have one more therapy session and then I'm off. It has been extremely boring here at work, with very little hours of therapy every day and nothing else to do. Next week I have no therapy planned at all on Thursday. I asked my boss if I could take that day off, as I don't see the use of coming into work to do nothing. He suggested to bring along my knitting and a book. I told him I already did that! But I would prefer to sit at home to knit.

It's also extremely hot over here. Humid too, there'll be some great thunderstorms tonight (yay!). But then it'll be cloudy and cold over the weekend. :(

Anyway, I'm right on track with my sock knitting. In France I finished pairs 9, 10 and 11 for the 52 Pair Plunge II. Let's see :

Pattern : Swirl socks

Yarn : Hello Yarn Fat Sock (100% superwash merino), Electra

Needles : 2,75 for the foot, 3mm for the leg

Modifications : They were toe-up, so I kept knitting till I ran out of yarn, adding shaping as I went up. They are almost knee high!

I loved knitting these and I already have a next pair in the plans! I can't wait for the weather to be cold enough to wear these.

Pattern : Flutter-by Socks (available as a free Ravelry download here)

Yarn : Spunky Eclectic Club sock yarn (100% superwash merino)

Needles : 2mm

These are a bit tight, but I hope that'll change a bit after the first washing. I didn't like the pattern as much as I thought I would and so I decided not to continue it on the foot. It does however suit the yarn nicely!

Pattern : Carolina socks (only available as a free Ravelry download at the moment)

Yarn : Regia 4ply Africa colour

Needles : 2,5mm for the leg, 2,25mm for the foot

Very nice and quick socks!! I like ripple patterns a lot, they are quick and perfect to give some interest to selfstriping sock yarn!

Those done, I'm now knitting a pair of Tiit socks, from Nancy Bush. They'll take me quite some time, and I want to knit on some other patterns. But I'm on track, if I finish up one more pair of socks I'm good till the end of August! But I'm into sock knitting, so I'm sure more socks will follow! :D

Tour De Fleece wrap up

I never had the time to post here to let you all know I would be on a holiday for 2 weeks. It was crazy busy with work and packing before leaving on a 2 weeks trip to the South of France. But I'm back now, with a few posts to make! :D It was a good holiday fiber-wise.

Because the Tour De Fleece ended last Sunday I'm going to start off with an update on it. I didn't get much spinning done before leaving on holiday (to busy), but I did get quite a bit done while in France. It was great to sit in our little garden in the shadow, to spin. I miss such a garden at home.

Anyway, I took a bunch of fiber and got about half of it spun up, which is quite a good thing if you ask me! Here you go :

From left to right, top to bottom :
- Good morning (Spunky Eclectic fiber club), 100% Shetland, about 340m (I think) to 4oz
- Art yarn (my own handdyed), wool with sparkly thread, about 70m (don’t know the weight but less then 2oz)
- Walkabout (Spunky Eclectic fiber club), 100% wool, about 340m to 4oz
- Maple (Hello Yarn), 100% BFL, about 480m to 4oz

My goals were simple : to spin a decent fingering weight yarn (or even a laceweight) and to spin some art yarn. Guess I made them both! I spun 2 sock yarns, maybe somewhat heavy fingering weight. And one heavy laceweight! I'm so excited about the BFL. It'll sure become something else then socks. I really don't want to hide this yarn in my shoes! :D Basically I'm totally in love with BFL as up till now I've gotten my best results with this yarn!

Then the art yarn. I ordered Intertwined by Pluckyfluff just before I left and I loved going through it, getting inspired. Unfortunately I'm very limited in spinning art yarns with the wheels I owe right now, so the goal is to save up money for a better wheel (I'm in love with the Majacraft Rose wheel!). But I did manage to spin one art yarn. From some handdyed pink wool which I spun as a thick 'n thin single, and then plied it around a metalic silver thread. I'm so in love with this yarn! Not yet sure what to do with it though, we'll see.

I have one more bobbin of singles spun, from this :

I carded these batts just before leaving, inspired by all the batts I saw spun up at the Tour De Fleece group (Ravelry link). So I carded 2 shades of merino wool (purple and black), grey alpaca and then some flitter and fake cashmere. I had a little under 150gr. I already spun up one bobbin, need to spin the other one and then ply.

Of course the big question is when I'll get around to this. Seems like my spinning time will be again limited. :( We'll see.

Things aren't going so well for me though and I have to say I've reached one of my lowest points at the moment. My personal situation is still not clear, my work is bothering me and to top it all off I am loosing my drivers licence for a month. I knew this was coming, but I thought I would have more of a warning. So the visit of the cop yesterday and the message that I have to hand in my licence on Friday and won't be able to drive a car in a month hit me very hard. It's stupid to be so down about this all, it's nothing and people are dealing with far worse things then this. But it's just all a bit to much for me at the moment. And honestly? At this point I just miss a friend to talk to, someone I can call and just cry a bit ...

But, I'll try to keep it all away from my blog. And Lisa, I will be writing you soon!

And the knitting continues ...

Even with the chaos in my life - and my mind - I seem to keep on knitting. For those keeping track, no improvement. Or at least not much. Well, most of it is my fault, I'm totally stuck. I'm torn between thoughts. And unfortunately I'm having issues with some "friends" as well which is not doing me much good either. Pff, life can be difficult at times, though I probably have little to complain about!

Anyway, I'm knitting. Mostly socks, still. I'm really on a roll here and I don't want to quit now! :D Shawls are tempting me, but nothing else. So socks it is. I have quite a few more pairs to add.

First off, a pair of adult socks :

Pattern : Sea Monkeys, or No Purl Monkeys, based on the famous Monkey pattern by Cookie A.

Yarn : Regia Silk 4ply in a blue/grey colour

Needles : 2,5mm for the leg, 2,25mm for the foot

Started : June 19, 2008

Finished : June 30, 2008

These also fit into Project Spectrum, as the theme is Air and grey is one of the colours. I should have gone down a needle size both on the leg and the foot, but they are ok. Very soft! :D

I finished a pair of striped anklets, but I don't have pictures of those yet. I'll add them as soon as I have taken the pictures.

I have been obsessed a little by baby socks. They are quick, use up scraps of sock yarn and they count for the 52PP! Now there is no baby in the near future to recieve these so they are stored in a box for now.

On the left baby monkeys, and on the right fake argyle socks. The last are of my own design! :D (Ravelry links)

And the projects on the needles right now?

Crocheted flower scarf in cashmere

Flutter-by socks

Icarus shawl

Of course there are a ton more projects on the needles, but these are the ones I'm carrying with me today to work. Plus of course the scrap yarn for the baby socks. Work has been more then slow, and I'm totally bored. Thank god for my computer and my knitting! :D

As for spinning, I decided the join one more KAL, even though I was a bit late :

My goals are quite simple. Spin fine yarn, in the hope to get a decent fingering weight yarn, if possible a 3ply. Try spinning an art yarn. This all will have to happen on my Victoria wheel because that's the one I'm taking with me when I leave for France on Friday. And of course spin from stash.

I was going to take the wheel with me anyway, so I figured I could join! The days I'm at home I'll be seeing the Tour anyway as Bf follows it, plus we might go watch live one or two days as it's passing really close to us.

So, After my holiday I'll be showing of some spinning! I hope to post one more time before I leave. Otherwise it'll be when I get back (unless I get Internet access somewhere in France!).