So long, farewell

Oh, my poor neglected blog. What's the answer to having a blog that never gets updated? Start a new one, of course!

I'm moving! You can find me over at Yarnadoodledoo where I'll be sure to keep updating with all the sock yarn I've been dyeing as of late.

Thanks for reading! See y'all at the new place!

New tricks for an old dog

As a die-hard top-down sock knitter, I finally decided it was time to try some toe-up socks. I had tried once before, but my cast-on was such a mess, I gave up and cast on for the cuff. And why mess with something that's going so well? Top-down socks and I were BFFs. This past weekend I headed over to Border's with my 40% off coupon in hand and I picked up Wendy Knits' book "Socks from the Toe Up". I'm not afraid to admit it: I'm shamelessly hooked on these patterns. I love them, and the book is really pretty to look at too! The instructions are really clear, and I managed to whip up Judy's Magic Cast-on with no problems. Another thing I really like about the patterns in this book is that the lace patterns are really easy to memorize, and not some 18 row chart of sheer headache-inducing insanity.


This is the Diagonal Lace (Rav link) pattern and I'm totally in love with it. I'm also using some of our Yarnadoodledoo sock yarn in the Cerise colorway. Erin and I tried out a variety of yarn bases, and I think we've settled on the one we want. This yarn is so sproingy and funt to knit with! Awesome pattern + lovely yarn = KNITTING JOY

I've also been spinning and planning a sweater, because summer in the South is the perfect time to knit a sweater, right? Right. I'm thinking top down raglan with handspun yoke. I'll have picks of the handspun this weekend.

Oh, and we've been dyeing. Lots of dyeing.


Last night the mister and I watched that last episode of The Wire that we hadn't seen. No more new (to us) Wire episodes ever! I'm so bummed! That being said, when's the new "East Bound and Down" season start?

I found out today at the allergy clinic that I'm going to have to keep on going 3 times a week for 4 more weeks. A normal person would probably be discouraged by this fact, however I immediately thought, "More morning knitting time! Excellent!"

Can you have too much yarn?

I keep inundating y'all with yarn photos, but this time, I just have to share as this yarn makes me want to jump around like a kid who's had too many pixie sticks.


I bring you: Verve - 480 yards of a 90/10 superwash merino/nylon blend. It's up for sale in the shop, which was a hard decision for me. I wanted to keep it and roll around in it (don't tell anyone).

Also, have y'all seen the mods for the Monkey sock pattern by Cookie A.? Here it is! (link goes right to the .pdf) And if you've got big clodhoppers like myself, this is where the party's at. I'm knitting them out of some hand dyed purple variegated yarn, and it's so pretty I squeal everytime I look at it. I'll post pictures soon!

Yarnadoodledoo, take two

Oh me. I can't stop dyeing.

Here's some more for you:

This is an Alpaca / Superwash Merino blend. Nom nom nom. This actually was dyed by the lovely Erin.

I think I might knit this one up next:


They're all up at the shop, if you'd like to browse. Yarnadoodledoo!

Yarnadoodledoo!

So, my friend Erin and I have been complaining for ages about sock yarn skeins that don't have the proper yardage for large lady feet (we're both US size 11). So, instead of whinging and moaning (as we're wont to do), we decided to start dyeing our own! And bringing it to the masses! Behold, Yarnadoodledoo!

After some fun and successful dyeing attempts, we decided to open up shop.

Berry Stained! 460 yards of superwash glory!

Bantam! This one is so gorgeous, I may want to keep it.

This one isn't for sale, but I wanted to put it up here for posterity. The first yarn dyed! It's like an Easter Egg!

Yay, sock yarn! Yay knitting!

I think I'm obsessed

About 2 weeks ago, I attended a session with Lynne Vogel of Twisted Sisters fame at Haus of Yarn here in Nashville. The whole class was absolutely fantastic. We learned about mixing colors and fun techniques. Lynne showed Erin and I the finer points of spinning sock yarn, and boy howdy, did I take to heart! I was obsessed! I immediately came home and started spinning up 4 oz. of Hello Yarn's "Peat" fiber club offering, and decided to ply it with some alpaca roving I picked up at Yarn School. I thought 8 oz. of a two-ply yarn should be enough for my giant lady feet.

And was I right!



I managed to get 647 yds onto a 4 oz bobbin! And you know what this means, right? I probably can get another skein of similar length out of what's left on the 2 bobbins! Insanity!

I have arrived! I can spin sock yarn!

I love socks.

It's official. I love knitting socks. I can't stop and I'm hoarding sock yarn. I'm even spinning it. I may have a problem.

The latest project consists of two plain ol'vanilla socks, knit out of Noro Kureyon sock.


The only issue I have is that I have US size 11 lady feet. Some fun patterns aren't geared for my Northern European peasant DNA. I also feel that some variegated and self-striping sock yarn should just be knit plain without any pattern. Let the yarn be the centerpiece, not the pattern. I started these socks over a ton of times because I couldn't decided what to do. That being said, I'm currently knitting some lovely variegated sock yarn with a lacey pattern. We'll see what happens. If it's too tight on my feet, though, it'll be ripped out. Damn my large lady feet!

a cowl in sunshine

The wham bam thank you lamb (rav link) is one of the easiest projects ever, and has awesome results. Here it is, in all its handspun glory:


This was actually made up this weekend for my mother's friend. She was going to get a beret, but somehow I kept TWISTING when casting on, causing many profanities to come flying out of my mouth. Moral of the story: garter stitch cowls make fast and fun presents (esp. when using handspun! oh! the joy!)

Don't mind the wet hair:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's the pattern, in case you're interested.

I'm sticking with you

In attempt to beef up my sewing prowess, I made a log cabin pillow this evening!


It's a little clumsy, but I'm pretty pleased!


(I ran out of stuffing).

The pattern came from "The Crafter's Companion" and it was easy as pie. I modified the back, since I was taking the easy way out and was just using some polyfil I had laying around. I'm quite pleased, even though it is a little goofy.

Anything Could Happen

After a sublime heat wave here in Middle Tennessee, my mind is wandering to making nice clothes. It must be noted I have attempted 3 shirts in my lifetime, and they all resulted with less that appealing results. The lovely Hazel Evelyn has been sewing up some fantastic clothes, and all I can say is: I'm inspired!

So, if anyone has any basic or easy (I cannot stress this enough) pattern suggestion for spring/summer clothing, send them my way!

My sweater is almost finished, and I'll have pictures soon. With all the stripes comes MASSIVE weaving in of ends, and that's clearly my least favorite part. Let's not talk about all the semi-finished projects I have laying around that just need that final part.

I've been spinning! I dyed this too!

Cassingle Revival

I've been busy! Lots of spinning and knitting as of late. I'm working on a top-down raglan in which the body is already finished, but the one picture I have of it isn't so hot. I'll try to get a good one up soon.

But yarn! Oh my! The yarn! I've been making lots of that!

This is up in my etsy shop, as is this:

On the post Christmas, knitting for me front, I took some handspun and made myself a cowl yesterday, while recovering from a migraine.

This:

became this:

It's the Wham Bam Thank You Lamb neckwarmer! I cast on 35 stitches, and probably would have been better suited to cast on 30, as this is snug, and not too drapey. But it's warm and it does its job for these freakishly cold days here in Tennessee. I thought I escaped days of 7 degree temperatures when I left Buffalo! I shouldn't complain, though. Any excuse to wear lots of hand knits is a good one.

hooray beret, take 2!

Quick update:

I think I may have perfected my pattern for the perfect amount of slouch. After a few missteps of not decreasing properly (does anyone want a beret that comes to a gnome-like point?) and re-reading some Elizabeth Zimmerman, I figured out how I wanted to do my beret, and here you go!

(don't mind the photo - it was midnight and I was paler than usual, but thrilled with my completed hand knit in all its slouchy glory)

I have another on the needles right now for xmas presents! Hooray!

hooray beret!

Hello my lovelies!

I've been doing a fair bit of dyeing lately, but I must get myself in gear for Christmas knitting! I think I've fallen head over heels in love with the beret. I started knitting up Le Slouch, but I wasn't sure I wanted something that drapey. I had seen the lovely Miss Click Clack's beret's on Ravelry (and her blog) and I am inspired! So great! I knit one up last night, and I'm not totally in love with the Le Slouch decreases, and have decided to stick with EZ's Tam O'Shanter's decrease instructions.

Hooray Beret!

Also, if you're in the Greater Nashville Area, you may want to check out my friend Ruth's trunk show at Queen Bee this Thursday!

	Thursday, December 4, 2008
Time:	5:30pm - 8:30pm
Location:	Queen Bee
Street:	1200 Villa Place STE. 110 Edgehill Village @ Music Row

And now here are some pictures of fiber!




Happy Christmas Knitting!

PS - I'll be back with photos of the poncho my mother requested that I knit her, and pictures of BERETS!

pressure drop

I love dyeing! I can't stop! I got 2lbs. from Ms. Hello Yarn, 2 pounds from the fiber fest, and I've been going to town ever since. I love it! Oh, and I ordered another pound of BFL yesterday, and more dyes.

This is what I've been up to recently:


I think this one is by far my favorite. I'm calling it "Pleased as Punch"! I dyed 8 oz of it (South African Fine Wool) and kept 4oz for myself. The other half is up on etsy. Part of me doesn't want to part with it, but I need funds to keep this addiction going. South African Fine is really nice! It was really nice to spin up.

Here's some more South African Fine, which you find on my etsy shop:


I've also been spinning what I've been dyeing too. Yeah, all my free time is pretty much consumed with spinning, dyeing and going to Trader Joe's (which just opened up here - I'm completely smitten).

This is some Corriedale I dyed and spun up (the first test run in my new, well, old, Crock Pot):


And here's some hand dyed and spun Shetland which is delightfully soft (and will probably be a Christmas present for my knitter sister-in-law):

Oscar the Yarn

Hello, all!

More spinning up in this piece! Seriously, I'm addicted to novelty yarn. I didn't think I would love knitting with it, but it was a lot of fun! I took the Peas and Carrots and made a GIANT cowl for myself (pictures to follow). It's neat, even if it is the color of dinner's vegetables.

Here's the latest installment of Molly's Wild and Crazy Adventure with novelty yarn:

It's about 37 yards of beehive and coiled goodness! I have another skein of this too, which is very similar (I added some natural romney rolags to the mix). I really don't know what do with it, now that I have made myself the cowl to end all cowls. So, I've taken Rachel (aka Porpoise) and I'm throwing it up (metaphorically, not vomiting) on my new Etsy shop to see what will happen! Go and have a look!

mellow yellow

Help! I think I'm addicted to spinning beehive yarn! It's so much fun!

I learned how to do these fancy tricks at Yarn School (I even dyed some of this roving there, the more orange stuff was kettle-dyed at last year's Dye Day). My wheel is not loving the new techniques immensely (the orifice is a bit small and the hooks, oh, the hooks). But, no bother. I keep going and making the fun beehives.
I'm pleased as punch with this stuff. I really have no idea, though, what I'm going to make with it. Suggestions appreciated.

Yay, beehives and coils!

Yarn School!

So, I've been meaning to post about Yarn School for some time now, but things got in the way, like illness (stomach virus THEN sinus infection), but I'm back in business now!

Yarn School was absolutely fantastic! I had the best time! Everyone was so lovely and I learned so much. Kansas! The town of Harveyville (pop. 250) was really great and we were treated to the Spookyville parade!


The Harveyville Project, run by Nikol and Ron, is really quite awesome. The school itself was just completely badass and really just amazing. I'm so happy I got to go!

So, the first day we arrived we had a meet and greet. The next day we split up into 2 groups (the Sharks and the Jets - a certifiable knife fight!) and my group went off for dye class; crockpot dyeing, microwave dyeing, handpainting, you name it. It was fantastic.

For lunch, we took a field trip to Wildcat Hollow Alpaca Farm to meet alpacas and buy lots of wonderful alpaca related goodness. I ended up buying some raw alpaca fleece that I ended up washing, carding and spinning (which Deb named Chewpacca, as it really looked like I skinned Chewbacca).

The next day was spent learning spinning techniques, relaxing, carding, etc. It was grand. I had absolutely the best time. I learned such fun things as Navajo plying and spinning novelty yarns, and seriously, I haven't been able to stop since. I'm not kidding. I'm addicted.

I cannot stress how lovely everyone was and how much I learned. The food was absolutely fantastic and I'm already scheming to see how I can go again next year.

I have plenty of more pictures from the event on my Flickr page!

Motor Away

We're having a little problem here in Middle Tennessee with a gasoline shortage, so my trips outside the home this weekend have been severely limited. 50% of the gas stations in Nashville are without gas, and those that do have gasoline have lines down the street. I've always been one to stay out of a panic, so I've been home this weekend knitting THIS:



I love this pattern! I'm using Spun 2 Ways : Socks at Any Size and Any Gauge from Spin-Off magazine! Yes! This is the 391 yards of handspun I successfully spun up! I'm so proud! Thus far, it's smooth sailing. Also, I love this pattern because if you're like me, and your yarn has some unsightly unevenness to it *cough cough*, it magically hides it!



Yarn School is in a couple of days, and I'm so giddy I can't believe it. Seriously. I'm like a little kid.

A Summer Wasting

I'm still alive! I promise! I've been swept up in a world of presidential elections, spinning, knitting, and cleaning my house. Truth be told, I'll be happy if I don't have an aneurysm by the time this election is over.

On a happier note, I'm going to Yarn School in a next week! It starts on my birthday! I'm thrilled!

On the project front, here's something I have been working on for a friend's wedding. It's gotten considerably bigger, but alas, I don't have a more recent picture. It's a log cabin blanket out of Cascade Ecological wool.

I've also been knitting the Morning Surf scarf from SpinOff magazine for my sister's birthday. I just finished it last night, and will be blocking it soon! Obviously, dear reader, her birthday was last week, and in Read It and Wheeze form, I am terribly late.

And hooray me! I successfully spun 391 yds of sock yarn! YES! That will cover my gigantic lady feet! VICTORY! I shall take pictures of that soon!