False alarm

I was driving.  The boys were in the car with me.  We were leaving co op to go pick up the church bulletins and come home.  I called home for a quick check in.

Sean: Speaking of roller coasters and death… (we weren’t)…you got a package today in the mail.

Kiersten:  I did?  Is it a hat?  Am I dead?

Sean: I don’t know.  You got a squishy package.

Kiersten: WHERE IS IT FROM??? (You absolutely do not lose points for grammar when under the threat of impending death)

Sean:  Ummm…South Dakota.

Kiersten:  (thinking…hmmm…if it was from California, it’d be a WIP…I don’t know where my death hat would come from…I didn’t think anyone was left alive in South Dakota…who is in South Dakota???)  AHA!  It’s the Fiber of the Month Club!!!!  I’M STILL ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!

Sean: You are nuts.

I ignored that comment along with the others that came from my travelling companions. 🙂

Big posts coming soon on the knitting blog, including:

Finished objects

Free patterns for said finished objects

Perhaps a new Page where I’ll start collecting the patterns I write for finished objects

A “how does that work” photo essay for Mary, so she can see how to get yarn from fiber

Oh, and have I mentioned I’m still alive????

Easter for Valentine’s Day

The top roving (of my Valentine’s Day present) has been spun!  The colorway is “Agnes.”

I think it looks like Easter.  Or irises. 

It’s very soft and has a neat shine to it.  Fun stuff to spin!

I knit up a little beanie out of Hithlain for the Ellie, but we have yet to take pictures as the bug that is hitting the entire nation has decided to stop in for a spell.  Miss Ellie has not the inclination for a photo shoot, at present.

I’m fiddling around with another sock heel.  I’m trying the afterthought heel on a pair of socks for the first time.  It sounds painless, but it involves knitting the entire sock (without the heel) and then snipping the yarn and inserting a heel afterwards.   Doesn’t that sound like a scary thing?  I wouldn’t even try it except that I’m trying to enter another pair of socks in this month’s Sockdown on Ravelry…it’s all about trying new heels for socks.  I may learn to love it, like I did short row heels, but at the moment it’s a little nerve-wracking to think about. 

This little kimono and hat set was for a baby shower this weekend.  We don’t yet know what flavor the baby will be, so the outfit needed to be neutral.  I would put a girl in that blue.  Really.  I would.

Hat Attack update: 29 white list (no notice has been given of a hat on the way to them) and 18 yellow list (they’ve been told their hat is on the way to them).  I’m still on the white list and hoping to get a 3rd WIP in the mail any day!

FIRE TWO!

Today in the mail I received a skein of yarn.  Technically, it’s a hat that didn’t get finished before the hat attack struck this person.  But in actuality, it was just a skein of yarn…I had to got to knit the whole thing.

But that’s okay. I like knitting.  I like knitting Hat Attack hats. I like dashing to the post office in hopes of getting the hat out the same day I received the yarn.

Fire two.

There are about 46 people (from the original 353ish) who, like me, have not been taken out by a hat and/or been told their hat is on the way.  It feels good to be alive! 

Blue’s Clues

Andy had the honor of choosing the name for this yarn.  He told me he picked “Blue’s Clues” because you can see the colors of Blue, Purple Kangaroo, and Magenta the puppy.

Fiber to single…

…to skein.

232 yds, 2-plied, superwash wool (that means washer and dryer safe!). Plenty for a hat, a pair of mittens or a modest pair of socks.

Thanks, honey!

When I married my husband over 13 years ago, neither of us had any idea that I would become so…interested (?) in fibery crafts.  I was reminded of this fact this morning when a package arrived for me, containing my superbowl bet winnings and my Valentine’s Day presents from Sean.

These are all from Meg of Twisted Fiber Art.  I love her stuff, her eye for color, and the way she runs her business.  She’s a gem! The rovings are for Valentine’s Day and I won the yarn when somebody won the superbowl this year.  Was it the Giants?  I don’t remember and I don’t even care that much…it was good for some great yarn!  Anyway, it’s a good man who is so supportive of his wife’s “interests,” especially when he had no previous warning of them before he married.  I’ve got a good one!

I started spinning some very dark jewel toned roving last night…pretty stuff!  But no pictures yet.  I also started a garnet-colored pullover yesterday.  You might be tempted to think I’m in another “starting stuff” phase, and I might be, although I’m just about done with one of the first items for Christmas 2008.  That just cracks me up…me, knitting for Christmas in February.  HA!

My sister asked about Hat Attack and along with wishing her a Happy Birthday! today, I’ll answer her…isn’t she kind to worry about the survival of her sibling?  Someone posted that over 60% of the participants are “dead” as of last night.  My target got her hat last Tuesday, but she’d mailed out her own hat that same day, so I needed to wait for some things to get sorted before I’d get a hat-in-progress from someone down the line.  Yesterday I heard from a lady who kindly told me she’d mail it this morning, so I may have the opportunity to knit a second weapon before I’m taken out.  MY assassin was a college student dealing with midterms, so the poor dear barely had time to cast on before she got a hat in the mail.  It looks like there may be a lot of forwarding before the weapon intended for me can get to someone who will finish it, so I may actually live out the week!  It’s been great fun.

Simple is good

The color is more accurate on the second picture.  These socks were so fun and easy!  I’ve got several Christmas presents on the needles right now that take a bit of concentration, so I needed something a little more brainless.  And as much as i adore complicated patterns and techniques, there is something very refreshing in a simple project.  Sometimes simplest is best.

 These socks have a simple ribbing for the cuff, plain ole stockinette for the main parts, and my very first attempt at a short row heel.  I love short row heels!

February Vest

This vest is an exciting FO for me.  It is the second project I’ve done that came to me as roving and is now a garment.  Katie loved the look of February, and asked for me to use it for a vest for her.

It has already suffered a major snag in the first hours of wearing, but thankfully it was a repairable snag.  We have learned a lesson…I don’t think Katie wants to see that look of panic and woe on my face again in the near future.

“Sorry, Mom!”

Neither rain nor snow, nor sleet nor hail…

Shall keep this hat from its appointed round.  Or something like that.

It was a really fun knit.  I like it!  It’s called the Binary Cable hat.  It was dropped off at the post office with plenty of time to spare for the 4:30 p.m. pick up today.  So now I wait and see what comes first in my mailbox.  Will it be my target’s unfinished hat or a completed hat taking me out of the game?  Oooo…the drama.

The vest front is now keeping the back company. They’ll be steam blocked soon, and then I’ll sew seams and finish armholes and the neck. I’ll have enough yarn left over for a scarf or something, I think.

On the Eve of Battle

There are 353 of us signed up for Hat Attack.  The pattern will be released tomorrow morning, and the mercenary knitting will begin.  I can’t believe I’m so excited about this, but you know, it is February.  A little spice and excitement is a welcome thing.  Because my life hasn’t much spice and excitement…with 4 children.  Hmmm….what was I thinking?

My target lives in Wisconsin.  The one targeting me lives in Vancouver.  Poor gal is actually going to have to pay customs for the privilege of taking me out.  Is it wrong to pray for a horrendous snowstorm to block her in her house for a few days making it impossible for her to post her hat?  Probably…

In other knitting news, MYA has successfully convinced me that February should become a vest for her.  The back is done and the front is maybe half done.  (No chance on the whole thing being finished and blocked before tomorrow morning…sorry toots.  To the back burner it will go.)  I’m seeing once again how utterly impossible it is to guess the kind of finished product that will come from a piece of roving.  This wool was lovely to work with, but I wasn’t just nutso about the color scheme painted on it.  It was nice, but nothing to go apey over.  As I spun it, I liked it more.  The colors blended together well and calmed down a bit.  Then I plied it and was less excited about it.  I had not yet learned to Navajo ply, and so I was seeing some colors come together in the yarn that I thought, honestly, a little ooky about.  Now that I’m knitting it up, I like it more than ever.

Here’s a glimpse of some of the back.  I think the striping is really neat.  I wouldn’t have been able to plan it, nor to guess how it would look, but I really, really like it.  I’m glad to see it, too, because I might otherwise have given up on the 2-ply for multi-colored roving in favor of the Navajo plying.  I like this effect.  So does the wee girlie.

I’ll see what I can get done before the battle begins. 😉

Navajo plying, take 2

I finished another bit of sample roving in Twisted’s Octarine colorway…so bright and fun!

There was just enough to make a headband for MYA, who simply adores all things bright and fun.

And then there is this:

This was spun from Twisted’s roving in the Netherfield colorway…the very same colorway of the yarn in the Firestarter socks down below.  She used a merino/silk blend for the roving, which translates into a very soft yarn with a lot of drape.  It is far and away my favorite of the yarns I’ve spun so far.  Navajo plied, it came to 168 yards.  What to make???