I quickly spun up a batt I got from Wooly Treasures on Etsy. I plied it with silver metallic thread which turned out awesome considering I have never done that before. I gifted it to a patient at work in thanks for all the charity knitting that she does. I can't wait to see what she does with it.

Also in the gallery, you will see all the drugs, ahem, fiber I have been buying lately. Someone hold an intervention for me PLEASE. If that is not possible, just come spin with me! I HAVE WINE. (that isn't bribery is it?)

Spinning is so relaxing to me though. I am currently spinning some pink and yellow sherbert merino roving from Lorna's Laces. It is supposedly only 10oz but I think that is a lie. I keep spinning and spinning and spinning and I still have half a bag left, wahhhhhh. I am spinning at a lace weight which I intend to Navajo ply so it will be a three ply. I have one bobbin full of a single. Looks like two to go. Maybe three. I broke down and ordered another three bobbins for my Ashford Traveller. I am very careful to stay focused so far. My goal in life is to keep tight rein over the WPI of the single. So far so good. But that means that I can't spin my newest fiber candy until I am done.

Some other new things for me: Ravelry account! What a cool program that I don't have time for, LOL. I have all but stopped reading Knitty. If it weren't for the Knittyblog updates, I would forget to check for new issues. Still love me some Knitty though. I checked the board the other day and still see some folks I recognize but SOOOOOO many new folks. Etsy! Good grief what a lot of shiny, pretty things! Must. Not. Look. One of my favorite sellers is Loop and I have recently added her as my drug supplier. Here is her Ravelry group. Check this out. And this. And this. Can't wait to spin! I already have the Chocolate Liquer batts in hand and you have never felt a softer thing in your life. The other two are on their way. Gotta finish the pink merino first, must finish, must.

I made my first mulitdirectional scarf and then promptly made two more.

I finished a clapotis and a matching delight hat.

I dug out a recycled scarf project from last year and am nearly finished with it. The smoother, fuzzier stuff you see under the scarf is the hideous red furry tank top that this used to be before I tore it out. It is just about fingering weight but the fuzziness of it takes it up to about sport weight so it isn't too terribly slow to knit. It is a bit thick though, so I decided to make a keyhole scarf out of it. The material is less fuzzy than the original but blocking should pull out the strands better. It is super soft.

Next up:


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But before I do that, I NEED to do something for that beautiful Italian sock yarn I got last year as a postmistress gift from Amanda. I liked it so much that I tracked down and bought several more to give me enough for socks and a hat. I just have to find the perfect fair isle sock pattern. Yesterday, I had the brilliant idea to make a cozy for my stethoscope and decided to find some fair isle or drop stitch pattern to do that with the red, white and black yarn.

There Zib. Not only did I blog but I actually put pictures in rather than link them because I know you like it that way.

Happy New Year!

I worked a bit on the socks but I am definitely suffering from second sock syndrome. Don't even want to discuss the shell that needs finishing.

I decided that I will now devote all of my attention to the Picasso. Have WAY more than enough of the black, blue and red but notice that the white is a bit low. Gah, guess who packed up the extra two skeins of white and will not even see them until the end of October? I keep thinking that maybe I am wrong, maybe there will be enough but I know just how that maybe just worked out with the mystery WIP. I am going to do as much as I can though. I am mailing all the WIPs to myself so they will be there when I arrive but I won't have to lose room in the suitcases.

Oh, and guess who bought a large bag of the softest grey yarn at the market near my house? I did a burn test (gotta love mystery market yarn) and it is clearly NOT acrylic. I wish there was a way to tell what sort of animal fiber it is - I am guessing that it has a fair amount of cashmere because it is cloud soft. I think it will work up to about sport weight but I have not swatched it yet. And boo hiss, the moving men took my swift and noste! I had no idea how crippling that would feel. I honestly have no desire to wind it the cave girl way.

If you are interested in details of my retirement/move, see my main blog for more info.

Horrors of all horrors, the moving men will be packing up all my knitting stuff on Wednesday. I am keeping out the following WIPs (and yes, I do know that they are almost all purple, gah). I am hoping this forces me to focus on only them and not all the luscious yarn in my stash screaming for my attention. This will work as long as I do not go to the yarn store in the next six weeks. Fortunately for me, they are usually closed a good portion of August. Unfortunately, I just got the Vogue Knitting book that has that Lily Chin Reversible Rib Cable Shawl (link is to GlittyKnittyKitty - scumkitten's gorgeous FO that caused me to buy the damn book). Must. Not. Look.

Purple socks - Regia self striping cotton that I got in the States last year. Great yarn to work with - love it. I played around with reinforcing the heel and ball of the foot with slip stitch but not sure how much I like it. One thing is for sure, keeping up the slip stitch is a pain in the ASS.

This is a Berroco pattern - Suzette that I have had my eye on for quite some time. I am almost finished. Just have to finish the one sleeve and do another.

This, of course, is the infamous Picasso felted wallhanging WIP. I am up to her breasts now. It starts getting very detailed from this point on. I can't wait to felt this baby. Click on the picture to see some other pictures of it in the Gallery.

And last but certainly not least, a mystery to tease you. I will probably be shot for posting even this, so if it disappears, y'all will know why! The yarn is from Mystical Yarns - bought it about two years ago. It is almost polar weight but I am calling it bulky. Very soft.

My sister, Kim, has some very cool bracelets for sale. She sent my stepmom some of her beads and my stepmom did some fancy wire work and sent them back. Great teamwork! One of the bracelets sold as I was trying to get the pictures up. Go buy one from her website now because if they make it to Ebay, they will NOT go for that price.

Oh and you will NEVER guess what I picked up and knitted six rows on. Remember the Picasso wall hanging? Yup. I MUST finish this thing. It is taking up a gad-awful amount of space. I simply can't wait to see what it will felt like. It is so big now that I will have no choice but to stomp on it in the bathtub ala Lucy Ricardo. I am up past her belly button. So exciting to watch the picture emerge (yes, it is true, I need to get out more).

My sister has put a set of my favorite stitchmarkers up on Ebay. I have a similar set myself and they are hands down the most used set I own. And I own about 8 sets, hahahahahaha.

Do you feel lucky? How about winning one of her lampwork keychains? Go on over to her blog and find out how. Contest starts today.

I also found some fingering weight cotton that I have promptly knit into the most adorable baby sandals. I tried five times to get a picture of them tonight but absolutely couldn't do it. My neighbor just had a wee five pound baby, which I made the shoes for, so I will get a picture with them on him. No pattern for the shoes either, I am really starting to get the hang of knitting what I want as I am picturing it. I have to tweak the top of the shoe a little bit and then I am going to put it up as a free pattern.

Picture of Italian T here.

Oops, edited to add link to pattern and yarn:

Sirdar Silky Look in willow (not the yarn in the pattern!.

Beautiful sweater pattern at Crystal Palace called "Italian Tee Shirt".

Argh, edited AGAIN to add that I modified the neck to be a true boat neck. It is not what the pattern called for but what looks best on me and on this sweater.

Also, I have a new favorite blog read. Crazy Aunt Purl - her life kinda sucks at the moment but she is funny as hell.

One more by the way - My sister made some MERMAIDS! I am getting a pregnant one, hee hee.

I am happy to report that I have finished the Italian Tee. I am UNhappy to report that is is lying, unblocked, in four wrinkly pieces and has been for the last three weeks. I LOVE the flame chevron pattern. The yarn I substituted was Sirdar Silky Look, which is very elegant and looks great no matter what. I am doing a pinky swear with myself to finish the dang thing this weekend and get a picture up.

Casting that off has left me clueless as to what to cast on next. I have been gifted with the most fantastic silk yarn by Zibibbo from nonokitty. The colors are very Wendy and not very Deb but Wendy is bent on helping over my purple addiction and this is just the yarn I would have chosen if purple wasn't available, LOL. Beautiful. I have cast it on about four times and ripped it out four times. I have NO clue what to do with the roughly 400 yards of fingering/sportish weight slippery 100% silk. I tried size 1 needles - makes a wonderful fabric but perhaps a bit too thick. Then I tried size 3 - perfect drape for a tank but I don't have enough of the yarn. So then I decided I would make a very loose lace shawl. I got crazy and tried size 10's - too loose, looked like a tangled pile of yarn. Also, I discovered that circulars were probably a problem with this yarn because as the stitches slip back onto the cable, they tend to pull tighter making it a pain in the arse to get them back up on the needle. Size 6 straights - PERFECTO. Got a nice purse stitch thingy going (k1 *yo, k2tog* k1 (love this stitch, so easy breezy - mental note to make shopping bag out of something less expensive). Got 4 inches into it and realized that it was going to be pretty boring. Threw in some random bits of garter - near invisible, not worth the effort. Decided to do a couple of rows of straight garter using a soft purple (HAH, take THAT Wendy) cotton I just got at the market. N.I.C.E (did I mention I really like purple?). Get another four inches into and suddenly have a PMS moment where I decided I am not happy to be using this gorgeous yarn in this manner. So, here I am now. Fourthly frogged and searching for a nice lace patterned scarf. I think I found a Kim Hargreaves pattern on a blog but I don't own the book so either I will buy the book (which I don't like any of the other patterns) or will keep looking. HELP.

Ditto the above fret with the baby boy hat I was trying to design. I have now pulled out about three of those. It is hard to not make something ruffley-girly. The one I have on the DPN's at the moment is boy colors (read "not pink") but is turning into a really cute ruffley brim. I am just going to complete it to see it on Seth and decide what to do then. The cotton I picked up is lace weight and I am using size 4 DPN's - not because I want to, because that is what I had that made the fabric okay enough. Sigh. Does this mean I need to invest in MORE knitting stuff? How can this be? Anyway, these DPN's were purchased when I didn't know the first thing about knitting or DPN's and are only 6 inches long (obviously suited for socks). The stitches fall off one needle or another EVERY single round. That poll on Knitty about "have you ever cried over your knitting?", well, I have been damn close.

I think I am going to ditch it all and knit a tank out of all this fingering weight yarn I keep buying (what is the deal there - a reaction to all the bulky yarn I bought last year?).

This has become long so I will just leave you with a really funny blog thing I found on Helen's blog. Check out my rock band name (the rock star name is way cool too).

On the brighter side, my neighbor greeted me at my car when I got home the other day to tell me that she is having her Aunt who knits send me some fibery goodness in thanks for the Miss Dashwood I knit for baby Ruby. SQUEEEEEAL! See Random Acts Of Kindness DO pay dividends.

Almost finished with the Italian Tee from last year. I am so happy with this shell. It is going to be so pretty. I hope it fits, I will be totally pissed if I don't like it. I am almost NEVER happy with the things I knit for *myself*.

Bonus pictures of my life here.

(pictures in my gallery, link at the end of this)

I had ordered the yarn from Knit Picks - the color your own yarn. I sort of half heartedly looked for a tutorial but only found a wee bit of discussion. So, in true Deb style, I winged it. I even treated myself to a new double boiler pan (aka "corn pan" to y'all Southerners). By the way, soaking yarn in vinegar is a sure way to ruin said new pan.

I bravely plunged the yarn into the vinegar (I half expected it to molt and steam or something). Ummm, how long is this supposed to soak? I decided to mash it around until it was soaked through - yowza that vinegar tears up your hands. Another question immediately arose - how the heck do you do all this without tangling up fingering weight yarn skeins?

While the yarn was soaking, I got the water boiling in another pot and put in the dye. How much? The one discussion I read said a little on a toothpick. Because I am American, more is better so I put in a lot on the end of a knife. I then took a whisk and made sure it was all dissolved (this will be really important later on). I then gently squeezed as much vinegar as possible out and put the yarn into the dye bath.

I quickly realized that one side of the yarn was going to be darker than the other so I got the potato masher OUT of the playdough toys and mash, mash, mashed. Did I already mention the tangling fear? The brown, yellow and green hanks came out beautifully. Then I did the blue. Oh. My. That was NOT what I was expecting. I swear it was all mixed up and appeared dissolved but it came out very, very mottled and splotchy. Actually, I kind of like it like that. Same thing happened with the mauve except not as dramatic. One thing that the dyeing discussion mentioned was that the colors would be taken up into the yarn and the water would be clear. That was very true with the first three but with the last two (the splotchy ones), I could not get it all taken up - I am guessing that means my knifeful amount had something to do with that. Meh.

I had to cool the yarn so that it didn't get shocked into felting (I wasn't sure if this was feltable yarn or not). So while the platefuls of yarn spaghetti were cooling, I did up the Kool Aid. So many wonderful sounding colors, I was literally paralyzed with choices. I finally settled on Mandarin Tangerine and Grape Berry Splash. Not together - I had five hanks left to dye (I told you in the last post that I went overboard on ordering right?). The Knitty feature on Kool Aid dyes mentioned that I should use one packet. So I used three. Great way to make neon bright colors. Actually, that was really helpful for the purple. I put the orange yarn in a drawer so I don't have to look at it. I will probably overdye it with something. I don't know.

I hung the whole shebang (why can't I say that anymore without thinking of William Hung?) up on my mop and broom handles in my kitchen. I can't wait to see it swatched up. The colors are very heathery.

Dyeing was a blast. I am already mentally going over the wools in my stash to see what I can dye. Oh, I almost forgot - I had ZERO tangling despite all the mashing and flipping that I did to the yarn. I balled it all up on Sunday.Pictures of the process in my gallery.

Okay, so I am sure you know what the glass beads are but do you know WHERE to find them? Kim Hart Designs click on the store link). Today is opening day for her! Were you coveting the sheep stitchmarkers? How about the fish? I know, how about some one of a kind, handmade glass buttons for that special cardigan? Go, go GO!

And now that the Herculean task of web design is mostly done for me (only Herculean because I am NOT a web designer, LOL), I am going to dye that yarn I talked about an entry ago. I am going to try the Wilton cake dyes first (for a baby sweater) and then I have a obtained a stunning array of Kool-Aid packets waiting to do a sweater for me. Hmmm, I wonder if I can make some self-striping yarn? Maybe I can make that board that was posted on Knitty.

Wendy and I are going to indoctrinate a newly arrived crafter (sewing) into the evil that is the local market. MILES of fabric tables, miles I tell ya. Oh and it wouldn’t hurt if the LOYM was there too. We are sadly approaching the time when “they” decide for us that yarn can’t be available at the market in the summer. WHY?

Thinking about doing Wendy’s flash your stash day. Gotta decide whether it is worth the sheer embarrassment of my yarn bulimia.