I got distracted from my Lizard Ridge by a super cute hoodie pattern I’m testing.. I have about 2″ of plain knitting to go on the skirt and then I can do the lace part, then finish off the sleeves and work on the hood.  The test knits I’ve seen so far look impossibly cute - I can’t wait to get a little bit more done with mine.  If i like how it turns out, I’ll probably make a bigger one for Kaia

(excuse the lensbaby shot, it was already on my camera and I didn’t feel like swapping lenses to get a quick progress shot)

As if learning Flash and Actionscript 3.0 this past week wasn’t enough, the day before Halloween I decided to start on a *second* Lizard Ridge!  I’ve had the yarn for a few months and I was originally considering another blanket pattern, but the appeal of doing another LR was just too great, and I got started.  I’m knitting it all in one peice - no blocks or panels, and one week later I’m exactly 25% finished (6 pattern repeats in), and making steady progress.  I’m hoping to knock this out fairly quickly so that I can move onto some other smaller projects I’d like to get finished before the holidays.

I am absolutely loving how the colors (colorway #183) have been working out.

Celebrating Colleen at TLC was a resounding success, raising approximately $12,000 for Colleen’s kids.  I am just in awe at the generosity of all who were able to donate items for sale/auction/raffle, as well as those who spent freely to help show her family just how much she was loved, and will be missed.  I did my part by bidding on and winning the Vespa Handspun, which was spun by Sara from fiber dyed by Colleen.  This yarn is beyond beautiful.  I’m not quite sure what I’m going to make with it yet, but I figure I have a little while to decide - and even if I just stare at the yarn for a while, that’s okay to :)  It’s kind of hard not to - like I said, it’s GORGEOUS!

I did modify the body portion to make it two parts - a top and a bottom rather than one baggy bodysuit, since she’ll be wearing it to school tomorrow and they requested that costumes be potty-friendly, I thought it would be nice if she didn’t have to totally strip down That part worked out really well and I’m glad I thought to make it that way.  I even thought to put tags in it to distinguish the front from the back.

Clearly she’s not really thrilled about it though..

And you can see my pathetic, crumpled attempt at some wings.  Really, it seemed like such a great idea, but they got a bit mangled when I sewed on the velcro.  I think it would be better to make them with elastic loops for the arms - that way they might stand some chance of not looking so pathetic.

Now, don’t ask me what the boys are dressing up as.. I have no idea.  Seth has no idea what he wants to be, and I’m kind of counting on Odin’s costume from last year still fitting.  Perhaps I should try that soon

Shelly and I both have a lot of ideas on how to make things go a little smoother next year (or for any CSM demo, really).

sock knitter

Originally uploaded by yi
Yeah, that’s me - I was putting tags on socks!

Owl Hair Clip Pattern - 512KB

I got a new camera as a late birthday present, so I’ve been off taking pictures, not crafting. My son went back to school, my daughter also started preschool, and my youngest is trying his hardest to walk.

After my futile attempt at knitting 17 pairs of socks for the Ravelympics (I only logged 6 of the 7 I know I finished) I finally got the Legare out again Monday, and knit up a couple of pairs.. first a pair from this month’s Yarn Pirate Booty Club

and then some from some Panda Silk I wanted to try out.. I really REALLY like how it works up on the CSM, when it all goes right.  There was supposed to be another pair in another colorway for my sister, but um, we had issues and I’m not gonna go there.

I sat down today and made a pair of hairclips.. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, I just didn’t get myself in gear to go get the goodies I needed. I love how they came out, and I’ll definitely be making more

We adopted two kitties Saturday from the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter.  We had no idea they had a kitty special going on when we decided to get both of them either (and we were okay with paying two adoption fees).. which for some reason impressed the lady that did all of our paperwork… but it meant that we walked out with two kitties for less than we’d expected to pay to adopt one.  They are both too cute for words.. they camed named from the shelter but I doubt that we’ll keep the names (though we’ve not come up with anything better?  So they might stick… hope not!).

10 week old Calico “Heidy” (she’s the shy one.. I almost wonder if her name wasn’t a shelter employee being silly.  She’s a real sweetheart now that she’s warming up to us - she’s even starting to act like a kitten after just being here a day)

11 week old black/white “Dallas” (she’s a goofy girl.. might as well have a goofy name too?)

Both spayed and microchipped, complete with their first shots… for the bargain price of $75 :)  We had been promising the kids we’d get a cat for months now, so it wasn’t quite an impulsive thing.. though getting two sort of was.  Really we just couldn’t decide, so instead of arguing over it, DH just went and started filling out paperwork.  He’s awesome.

I was having all sorts of issues the other night with my ribber, which is what resulted in that failed pair that I need to frog and re-knit.  I’m not sure what happened, but it did inspire me to figure out how to adjust the yarn carrier from Rox and get that working so I didn’t have to break the yarn every time I wanted to start over on a sock.  I did that, then I decided to paint it, and my ribber/ribber arm

I went with purple.  Why?  I don’t know.. it seemed like a fun, happy color.  And the aqua that I liked only came in a satin finish, which I didn’t think I wanted.  Looking at the “gloss” grape color though, it’s not all that shiny either though.. oh well :)  I think I will be repainting the cam shell a darker purple at some point, and likely leave the base, gear ring, and crank alone.  The ribber and ribber arm were the most beat up peices, so I felt like I needed to do something with them.  I had wanted to powdercoat them, but I figured for now this will do fine, it’s cute, and it’s really not any extra work to strip this paint off too considering the original paint would need to go as well if I eventually powdercoat the thing.

Pictures of all the finished socks so far to come in a little while.. must go close toes

I am of course, already behind.  The Olympics started yesterday.  All I’ve managed to accomplish (and only today, a day after the opening ceremony) is winding balls… 23 of them (and I’m actually missing one).  Somehow an extra skein got in there and I failed to grab another that is already slated to be a pair of socks (pair #11)… hopefully tomorrow I’ll actually get around to making some socks

Here’s the yarn I started 7 months ago.. finally finished.  I’m thrilled with it, of course ;)  Final stats are 110g and 568yds, I’m not sure of the WPI since I can’t find my WPI tool.

Then I’ve started on some of my Zen String fiber stash.  Since hopefully after our fundraiser she’ll be all moved, settled in, and dyeing again soon enough, I’m not nearly as afraid of using all of my stash up anymore - since I feel very secure in the thought that soon enough, there will be more.. LOTS more

This is Fern Gully, and an “action” shot

Mmmm.. fibery

Raffle winners should be announced on Saturday for the Zen String Raffles (we are waiting on Angelina to draw the #’s that will determine the winners).. the raffles did phenomenally well, and we’ll post the totals for entries as well as the final amount raised for Angelina after the last of the auctions end tomorrow.

Georgia’s generous donation of a 6 month subscription to her Booty Club that we have paired with 4 gorgeous colorways from Angelina on various yarns (below - they are awesome, aren’t they?) has without a doubt drawn in the most supporters (and raffle ticket sales) - I don’t think we can thank her enough for that.  I think Georgia herself might be a bit surprised at just how much she was able to help us earn (I think we are planning to annouce the final numbers when everything is finished - which should be Saturday sometime)

If you are just hearing about this now, don’t worry, there’s still time to buy raffle tickets!  Sales end tonight (Friday) at 9pm though, so don’t delay - winners will be announced Saturday.  Some of the auctions will continue into Saturday as well… such as this handspun and hand woven scarf that I donated (yeah, that isn’t a shameless plug for myself!).  It was probably one of my favorite FO’s of all time (next to my most awesome socks, of course)!

When you get it all right, it sings :)  You can crank out an entire ribbed sock with no trouble at all… amazing!

Ribber in Action (video)

I also finished the *pair* of Anne Carson socks, knit a pair for my sister, and a pair for me!

I was so excited I just cranked it off the machine so I could marvel at it. Now to go do the other one…

It arrived today!

Since everything looked like, well, really REALLY good, I decided that instead of taking it apart right away, I’d throw some needles in, and see what it could do.

Wow. That can’t be… it’s casting on perfectly.

Not only that, iIt isn’t dropping a SINGLE stitch. I’m almost disappointed - I wanted a challenge, right? I wanted a machine that needed a bit of work (and not just some minor cleaning). This isn’t challenging if it knits perfectly!

I swapped out the yarn carrier for a slotted one from Roxanne (which I’m not sure about quite yet - I need to get a washer or something to use as a spacer, if I leave it as is, it will hit the tension dial when knitting heels and toes), and just kept cranking away. I’d be tempted to say that this machine knits better than my NZAK… it’s very smooth.

The only problem with it? A tiny chip off the 72 cylinder… which happened during shipping (it was packed very well though, so I’m not sure how it happened, other than USPS having it for 13 days, doing who knows what to the box it was in).

So there it is.. my new to me, beautiful Legare 400. All I have to do is clean it, but it appears to be complete, it knits like a dream, and I’m quite pleased with my “gamble” on eBay. I’ve yet to try the ribber, but it seems to be fine as well.

Amazing

It is beyond fabulous.. beautifully designed and beautifully crafted, and much much much better than my super cheap PVC skeiner that I kept whacking my hand on while skeining

I love the “fingers” on the arms.. so graceful.  I think that’s my favorite part (well, after the whole being electric bit)!  There are marks on the arms to easily measure out 1 yard, 1.5 yard, and 2 yard skeins, but you can go anywhere inbetween there, even smaller and a little bit bigger.  There are little clips on two of the arms to hold your yarn too - no more tying knots, and the clips actually hold VERY well!

And I repurposed parts of my old skeiner.. to make a yarn mast to assist in winding cones!  Since the skeiner goes faster than I could ever hope to safely hold the yarn to guide it off the cone, this was sort of necessary.  I am going to redesign it a bit when I feel like cutting the PVC to work better, and then I plan on filling it with plaster to weigh it down and stop it from wobbling, but even considering that, it still worked very well (oh yeah, and the scale… that’s how I measure skeins.. shh!)

After assembling it (took about 5 minutes), in less than 10 minutes I had skeined nearly 2lbs of BFL, and 2 4oz skeins of laceweight.  Yeah, I think this is an improvement - all that would have taken me well over an hour before!

I cast on this morning, got about 1″ into the waistband, and got that much done while chatting with our knitting group this afternoon. I’m actually a few rows into the legs now, after watching some TV this evening, but I didn’t feel like taking another set of pictures before putting it away. I expect the rest will go fairly quickly now, but I still need to think about how I want to finish the cuffs and what sort of embellishing I want to do. Since I think the colorway is slightly on the girly side of gender neutral, I would love to do something simple and swirly.. I think it would be really cute.