Naga Socks!

I really wanted to make the leg longer on these, but I have fat ankles and well... it gets a bit tight if I try making this pattern any longer. I suppose I could have gone up a needle size for the ankle, but by the time I realized the problem, I was quite a ways in, and I wanted a finished pair for the SAM3 kal.



Stats:
Pattern: Naga Socks, available here by mid April. [edit] pattern now available here
Yarn Knit Picks Peruvian fingering weight, bare, dyed with Wilton cake dyes.

Saturday Sky

It's such a beautiful day I didn't know which beautiful vista to photograph today!



Taken, Saturday, March 31, 2007, at 4:05pm on the fitness trail along the Clayton Recreation Park.

podcast!

Episode 3 of Whiskers in a Twisted Stitch, my music podcast for knitters just went live.

Stop on by and give me a listen and tell me what you think!

Last knit night until autumn

Our local knit night only meets during the winter months, I live in a tourist town, so once the warmer weather starts everything gets really, really busy. Most of the women who attend work at or own businesses that go from nada to 100mph during the summer, so not many people have time to meet or knit.

I'm going to take the sheep shawl in to show off, and the wedding veil shawl to work on.

It's coming along quite nicely, I'm a little over 1/3 done so far, and I'm quite happy.

Saturday Sky.

We were going to go to Wellesley Island today and go for a walk, and I was going to take the Saturday Sky picture there.
But it decided to be dreary and rainy today. So instead I walked out back and took a picture of some of the Grackles that like to hang out around out house.

There were several more in the neighboring trees, as well as a bunch of sparrows flitting back and forth.



Saturday Sky, taken Saturday March 24, 2007, 12:30pm, out back of the Platypus Nest.

Happy birthday to me!

Less than a week until my birthday, yet I'm already getting some awesome presents!

First, my new Swift!
:D :D


I had found plans for a homemade swift online, and printed them out, but neither Bill nor I have had the time to go get the materials and put it together.
Bill's father mentioned that he had most of the materials we needed in the junk pile at his work, and in fact, if we gave him the plans, he would put it together for me.
So we did, and he did, (but not without a few improvements) and now I have a super duper awesome swift!
Yay!
This is going to make balling up sock yarn so much easier, and it'll be much easier to skein up yarn I've dyed too! Rock!

Then, yesterday while we were in town, Bill bought me a whole bunch of quilting tools, and some fabric, he's so awesome.
So today I played with the rotary cutter and rulers and mats and new thread and batting, and put these little guys together:



Cute little coasters.
They are far from perfect, and my poor old sewing machine had some tension issues when it came to sewing through all the layers, but I'm happy!

Wanted: Sock Test Knitters

I'm almost finished with the Naga Socks, and am getting ready to put the pattern up here.
But this is the biggest pattern thing I've done, so before I go public with it, I need a couple of test knitting volunteers.

Sats:
I'm using fingering Peruvian wool from knit picks and US size 1 needles. (you can use whatever sock yarn and needle you want to get gauge, or change the gauge to fit your foot)
I'm getting about 9.5 sts and 13 rows per inch, to fit my women's size 9.5 foot.

The pattern includes this undulating scale pattern as well as cables up the leg.


The pattern is written toe up using magic loop.
It can also be done on two circulars or 5 DPNs with a little extra thought.
It has a short row heel.

If you are interested send me an e-mail at Alien_Sunset AT yahoo DOT com and I'll send you a PDF of the pattern.

If you finish the sock and give me feedback by the time I' m ready to publish the pattern (mid April probably) I'll give you test knitting credit on the final draft, along with your blog address.

{edit}
I have more than enough volunteers now.
Thank you to everybody who offered!

And the winner is...

Ok, I know It's been a long wait, but I took the people who entered the sheep shawl contest, threw their names into a hat and out came...

Kelly from Kelly's Yarns!

I've sent you an e-mail and as soon as you get back to me with your snail mail, and which of the stitch marker sets you would like, I'll send them out!
Congratulations, and thank you to everybody who entered!



Oh and if you want the answers they are:

1)
"Walkin' on Sunshine!"- Walking on sunshine by: Katrina and the Waves

2)
"Now he walks in quiet solitude the forests and the streams"- Rocky Mountain High by John Denver

3)
"Just a small town girl"- Don't Stop Believing by Journey

4)
"And we've got to get ourselves Back to the garden"- Woodstock by Crosby Stills Nash & Young or Joni Mitchell

5)
"But the lamb loved Mary so"- Mary Had A Little Lamb by Paul McCartney & Wings

6)
"I'm out on the border, I'm walkin' the line"- On the Border by The Eagles

7)
"One dream one soul, one prize"- A Kind Of Magic by Queen

Look out man... She's got a QUILT!

Ok, so not really.
But ever since mom gave me her sewing machine I've been reading everything I can find about sewing, which includes quilt making.

And umm... I think I have a new hobby.
The sad thing about this is that, even though the sewing machine started it all, I'm happier hand piecing the quilt blocks rather than machine piecing because then I can sit in the living room with Bill and chat rather than close myself away in the bedroom with the sewing machine.

This is the beginning of my first ever quilt block, I've cut out all the pieces and marked them for hand sewing, and laid them out to get an eye for the design. I think I'm just going to make this block into a pillow cover.



I've actually finished sewing together a bunch of the triangles since I took this picture. And I can't go much further, because, even though I'm mildly obsessed at the moment, I... umm... don’t have a iron, :: blush :: so I have to wait until Tuesday when I can borrow one from the Motel before I can piece any more bits.

(if anybody wants to know, the pattern is called "Ohio star" and i got it from here)

{EDIT}
Do do do do do do do do (the twilight zone theme)
Whoa man, I just found out that today, that day I decide to begin my hand at quilting, is also NATIONAL QUILTING DAY! freaky.

Saturday Sky

Well, we had spring, for about 5 days, and now we are back to winter here in northern NY.

Bah.

Although I did get this neat Saturday sky.
Those blotches? That's snow, it's been coming down since last night, and we have at least 7 inches right now.



Saturday Sky, Taken 12:40pm Saturday March 17, 2007, under the bushes beside our front yard.

Podcasting

I've started a new knitting podcast.
I'm focusing mostly on music, with a few little knitting tid-bits now and then.

It's going to be (hopefully) weekly and about half an hour per episode.
I've called it Whiskers in a Twisted Stitch, which goes along nicely with the Etsy Shop I started earlier this month (or vise versa.)

If you want to listen and promote me, please do!
The show notes are at http://whiskersinatwistedstitch.blogspot.com/
And the first episode is up.
It's rather rough, but I'm happy with it for a first episode.

Feedback is very welcome as long as it's constructive.
Tell your friends!

Good news bad news

First the bad news.
My knitting hates me.
Well not really, it's my own damned fault, I swatched with bad yarn, and didn't pay enough attention.

Here is where I was last night on the wedding veil shawl:


Not bad you say, but take a closer look:


Yeah, the upside down hearts are all screwy. The decreases are pulling the yarn from the yo's below, making a thicker portion between the yos, so it looks weird and ill formed.
I think I've fixed the problem, but unfortunately I needed to rip back to do it properly.
Le sigh.
Here is where I am as of this morning:


This is quite discouraging since I'm working on a deadline here, this needs to be done by may, and I don't have much time!

Ok, the good news?

CONGRATULATIONS EUNNY!!!
Eunny Jang of See Eunny Knit! (one of my favorite knit blogs) just became editor for Interweave Knits!
YAY!

Before and after

I blocked the sheep shawl the other day.
It got huge!
Before:



After:


A lot of people said when they saw the unblocked picture that it hardly needed blocking, and so did I, but now that I see the difference, it's amazing! The Zephyr is just awesome to work with, I was afraid that the washing as blocking would take away it's sheen, but if anything it got even better.

Modeled:

(not the best picture, but the best I could do with a tripod and a 10 second lead.)

I can't wait to give this to Monica.
It's a good thing that may is right around the corner!

Up next, the wedding veil shawl.
I have a little started on it right now, and it looks rather un-assuming, but I'm hoping that it transforms as beautifully as the sheep shawl did. I'm only knitting it in merino lace weight though. But it feels like it has a lot of stretch to it, and it's buttery soft and cozy.

Saturday Sky

It finally started getting warm today.
But it also is raining like crazy.
I was too wimpy to go out myself, so I had Bill take this show when he had the dog out after lunch.



Taken, Saturday March 10, 2007, afternoon, just outside the door of the platypus nest.

Shameless plug for DeFeet

The other day I posted pictures of my pet's feet because La, of JenLa is having a contest for the cutest DeFeet

And I made it to the first round!

And this is where I shamelessly ask you all to please go and Vote for my menagerie because well... they are the cutest!

New stitch markers.

I was weak, there was a sale at Jo-Ann's on bead. I bought a lot, I couldn't help myself.

You will notice that I'm using different cards for these.
(Bill made the logo for me, doesn't he rock?)
That is because I bit the bullet and made an etsy storefront!
Whiskers in a Twisted Stitch will now carry all my stitch markers, and will eventually some day carry my own hand dyed yarns! (I need to wait until I have a little more money to buy the dyes and new pots)

if you like the stitch markers I show here, please stop by my store and buy some, you won't be disappointed!
http://wiats.etsy.com

Saturday Sky

Today was my first dress fitting, so it became Watertown day.

I took this at Bill's Parent's House after we dropped Cayenne off with her grandpa to be baby sat while we were gone.
This is the horse chestnut tree in their back yard.





Taken Saturday March 3, 2007 at 12:25pm out back of Bill's Parent's

One dream one soul, one prize

DONE!

The sheep shawl is finished!
I need to block it still, but that probably won't be until Monday, as I don't really have enough room to block it out to it's full dimensions here, I'm borrowing a room at the Motel that Bill works at and I won't be able to do that until Monday. (Half of the motel is shut down for the winter, and they said I could use one of the closed rooms as long as I didn't make a mess)

The edging was ... interesting.
I had a few issues, mostly with my apparent inability to count correctly or read directions. But it all worked out in the end and I'm quite happy.

It's not very big right now, and it looks sort of...crumply and misshapen, but I think most of that will be worked out in the blocking process.

Now, to celebrate my victory over the evil sheep I'm going to hold a contest!!
If you go to my side bar and click on the 'sheep shawl' tag (or click here) it will bring up all the posts I made about the shawl, including this one. You will notice that all the subject titles are song lyrics!

E-mail me at:
Alien_sunset AT yahoo DOT com
With the post title, the song title and the person/band who preformed it for each post.
Put something like 'sheep shawl contest' in your e-mail subject, so it won't get lost.
Please DO NOT post answers in the comments, I will delete them.

In a week (friday) I'll take all the correct answers throw them into a hat, and pick a winner!

The prizes:
a sheep mug, and your choice of two stitch marker sets.

I couldn't decide which stitch marker set to give away, so the winner get to choose what they like better.

Edit:
Monica (my maid of honor) is not allowed to play.
She already has a sheep mug, and is getting the shawl! :p

the paws have it

La of JenLa asked for paw pics.
And loving my critters so, I couldn't resist!

My baby, Boogs:




My prissy pawed American Eskimoe, Cayenne:


Jake and Kate, the amazing polydactyls!






Rustifer Jones (aka Rusty):





Basset paws!!
First up is Duchess, and next is Sam. Floyd doesn't like having his paws photographed.





And in memory of my Frisky, who died several years ago, but I still have paw pictures: