Desmondus sock kit giveaway

it takes something pretty special to get me blogging again -- a new sock pattern from Chrissy Gardiner, with his and hers pattern options -- his socks have cables and a slip-stitch heel; her socks have lacy cables and eye of partridge heel

but wait, there's more: the pattern was designed for Serendipitous Ewe's Fate Fingering sock yarn in one of the vampire inspired colorways in a series dyed exclusively for Sandrasingh.com, so Sandra's giving away a pattern+yarn kit -- details are in her blog post Desmondus Sock Kit Giveaway

all I wanna do ...

... is knit ... and read and post to ravelry forums ... and buy more yarn :-)

I'm working on:

1. Irtfa'a -- I still really love this yarn but it's much slower going on this, now that I've reached the right side quill edging, with its many many p2togtbls; the left side will be faster and hopefully more intuitive





2. goddessknits anniversary mystery shawl -- on row 89 of 104, more than halfway through (row-wise) clue #2 of 5, and there's enough of the wip to squeeze, even in its pre-bloom state, and the double decrease mini-motif has become second nature





3. fiery fuchsia Caricia -- this is my carry-along wip, so hasn't had much done on it the past several days, but the pattern seems soooo easy this time around





4. Oh! Canada -- 2/3 done but now this sits on the sofa, waiting for suitable TV viewing time





5. shadow tweed Petra -- just cast on yesterday and now need to organise the various front and back instructions that depend on either back length or number of front stitches or something else -- this is knitting up fast and feels remarkably luscious, considering the yarn is half acrylic, and that's actual gradation in the yarn colour, not shadow, in the pic:
   
   
   if there's still some at M&S when I get a chance to go back there, I'll try to find another colourway that I like

and there are still the three French Girl Knits wips and the two Tofutsies socks projects, mostly hibernating ...

other projects I want to start soon:

1. calorimetry, using the Noro Silk Garden
2. Thelonius sock, using the Needlefood espresso
3. tempest, using the posh lei bridesmaid
4. totally autumn, if I can find suitable yarn

and two posh batts will be arriving next week ... will I or won't I learn to spin?

America borders on the magnificent ...

Canada -- I wonder how long that tourism ad ran on US TV, back in the 80s ... but here is my wip, almost 15% done, and very smooshy (silk and camel sportweight):

$200 before breakfast

it's getting to be a habit, and not only on Mondays ... otoh it keeps me out of other mischief and greatly reduces my spending on other indulgences ... and I'm losing weight (good!) -- I wore the Chitra skirt that was so hard to zip up when I bought it, and tucked in my top (admittedly skin-tight), and it was perfectly comfortable -- I ate lunch and a donut and had cake and coffee a couple of hours later

snicklefritz yarns are decidedly dearer than posh, at $39+ each including postage ... but Janelle has included a freebie that sounds like yarn, in a colorway that I'll like

1000 Petals has more fibre than yarn, the yarns are only US$18, and she follows the Etsy convention of $7 postage for the first item +$2 for each additional item ... but I found only two colorways that I really-really wanted

I've swatched twice for the goddessknits anniversary shawl, on 3.5mm and 3mm -- the cashmere yarn feels like thick cotton thread but blooms after blocking into a soft light fabric, with much smaller holes than when I pinned it out; oddly, the 3mm swatch has holes the same size as the 3.5mm swatch -- it still felt a bit coarse, so I soaked it again, for longer

Oh Canada is knitting up quickly, and I almost have the pattern memorised, but Irtfa'a is languishing a bit, as I haven't had much knitting-at-home time ... although when I do work on it, the knitting seems to go faster now that I've moved it to the stainless steel Hiyahiya circs

goddessknits anniversary mystery shawl

another large lace project and – oh dear – it needs yet another yarn purchase :-)

I joined goddessknits’ anniversary mystery shawl group – it will be a huge Faroese and the "pattern" calls for 1900 yds of quite fine solid-color laceweight but the only stash I have that would suit is undyed cashmere-silk, which I don’t think would hold my interest for 1900 yds of knitting … so I shopped around and settled on some Purple Iris cashmere laceweight from Knitter's Addiction (arrived Tue 5 May) – very economical, only $56 including shipping -- for comparison, Mel's alpaca-silk for irtfa'a cost $55 and the cashmere has 50% more yardage (but Mel's yarn *is* custom handpainted)

Most of the other yarn options are either variegated or more expensive (and will take longer to arrive) or the online stores were too hard to browse and impossible to search, or as in the case of colourmart, I didn't see any of my colours. although I didn't look on southseas, as NZ$15 per shipment is a bit steep, esp when the actual postage is only $5-6 ... $9-10 for packaging and handling!?

I sent the link to Agnes and Jane, hoping they'll also join ... there are 28 Germans in the ravelry group (carried over from last year's KAL), almost as many as there are Brits

oh, and I bought another book of patterns -- Inspired to Knit -- and the VK quick reference (still waiting for these on Wed 6 May, with no reply to my emails to CanDoBooks)

both orders are from Australian companies (the books are from a shop in Brighton) so will hopefully arrive early next week

everything else has arrived, except the Hiyahiyas and Shibui yarns that I ordered from Loopy Ewe on Tue

yarn from Oregon

the two parcels from Oregon arrived late today, but no posh (from either Dee or Jacqui) and still no yarn from yarnandfiber

the 1800 meters of silk stardust from Knitty Noddy is extraordinary and will make a glorious circular shawl -- Firmaments or something similarly extravagant -- and will provide months of fabulous knitting!

the stardust seasilk from Colorsong looks completely different, but will be a very suitable colour for Trevi -- imagine dark blue chevrons on white mosaic or ceramic

and the mini maiden is soft and silky and this 100g skein is practically the same size as the 150g seasilk; it's intended for a proper-sized Caricia

enough?

seriously, I really should stop, or at least slow down a lot ... no more impulse buying until the wool show, and that goes for patterns, books, yarns, needles, and anything else related to knitting ... or spinning or felting or ...

posh? only ask Agnes to get me something if it's really amazing ...

and concentrate on getting through my queue -- there's enough there to keep me busy for a few (several?) years ... I should never need to buy another book ever again ... maybe at most one or two more [knitspot] patterns?

and oh yeah -- use the time not spent shopping to do some work!

stocking up for retirement?

not that I'm planning to retire anytime soon ... but at the rate I'm acquiring yarn and patterns, I'll still have lots of lovely knitting projects long after my yarn-buying income has stopped

on each of the past two Mondays I spent $150 or more on yarns and associated items ... and I think I bought some more in between, as well

so what am I expecting in the (parcel) post: ALL ARRIVED

- arr Wed 22 Apr: baltic sea stole and feathers shawl patterns from ebay
- arr Wed 22 Apr: harmony points and cable and fiberworks 2-ply merino sarsparilla from yarnsonline
- arr Fri 24 Apr: shipped Tue 21 Apr: sock yarns and hiyahiya 2.75mm bamboo circs from needlefood (NZ)

- arr Mon 27 Apr; shipped 20/21 Apr? handmaiden lace silk stardust from knitty noddy (OR) -- Firmaments or something equally spectacular?
- arr Mon 27 Apr; shipped Tue 21 Apr: seasilk stardust and mini maiden vintage from colorsong (OR) -- destined for Trevi and Caricia respectively

- arr Tue 28 Apr; shipped Tue 21 Apr: posh charlotte 4-ply cad (UK) -- Tiger Eyes, I think?
- arr Wed 29 Apr; shipped Tue 21 Apr? posh miranda merry from jammam's stash (UK) -- colours are similar to splendid but a bit muted, and the yarn is very fine ... perhaps I'll make In the Woods with it?
- arr Wed 29 Apr; shipped Fri 24 Apr: GGH DK silk burgundy from southseas (NZ) -- postage was NZD6.21 (quite a bit less than the 15 she charges!)

- arrived Thu 30 Apr; shipped Tue 14 Apr (according to forum, yarnandfiber delivery time can be 2-3 weeks): Schaefer Andrea Indira and Mtn Colors Winter Lace red willow from yarnandfiber (NH)
- arrived Thu 30 Apr; shipped Mon 27 Apr: Lantern Moon circs and natural-dyed cashmere from southseas (NZ) -- postage was NZD5.__
- arrived Thu 30 Apr; shipped Mon 27 Apr? Jo Sharp Silk Road DK Tweed from yayforyarns (QLD?)

and sooner or later ecoyarns will notify me of the Habu yarns that I ordered, back in Jan
- arr Mon 4 May; shipped Tue 28 Apr: Shibui sock yarns, Hiyahiya needles from theloopyewe (MO) -- $9 shipping, not $20 x 2 -- see actual payment collected via paypal

and I'm seriously considering ordering a lotus and/or peacock feather kit from fiddlesticks

and the GGH silk is intended for Annie Modesitt's lace corset pattern (although there doesn't appear to be enough of it?)

I need to spend more time knitting and less time shopping

otoh I think I'm spending less on other things that used to soak up my disposable income, esp eating out and ready-made clothes ... although I did spend the Challenger dividend on a lace vest from Chitra's -- something I couldn't fit into several months ago, I can actually button now and if I lose a bit more weight it will look quite good ... or I could wear a tight singlet under it, as a sort of sausage casing

more birds

I discovered a thread in the Posh Knitters forum, called Hansonalong, where people post about their knitspot FOs -- like other FO threads in this group, it doesn't matter whether you used Posh Yarn or not

so someone posted a photo of her Oh Canada scarf/shawl, which showed the pattern much more clearly than the pics of the one that was made to replace Kim's stolen shawl -- I'd assumed the pattern was just maple leaves but it's actually flying geese and cattails, and looks like it will be fun to knit (although the pattern calls for grafting the two halves together -- erk -- I might see if I can do an alternative version, with PCO and knitting out from the centre, although this would make the geese and cattails point the other way ... or I could do as some others did, and knit the whole thing in one direction, on the premise that one end will get flung back over a shoulder

the petite shawl size calls for 700 yds of sport wt: I could use either Helena Tosca (fingering wt) or Cambyx Victoria (sport wt) ... I think Tosca is too dark for the spirit of the pattern; Victoria is not ideal (I would prefer more greys and blues) but at least it's kind of a maple leaf colourway ... or I could buy some roses 'n' thyme from Catherine :-) -- maybe there are pink cattails?

mclaren vale cockatoo

I finished the shoulder shaping of this (my first) Faroese shawl, wrapped it around the corner of a cushion, and spritzed it. Later that night, I photographed it under lamp light:

and a closer-up:

This morning, I took more photos in natural light but they make the colours look brighter than they really are, for example:

btw these are all without flash ... so the colours are more realistic under lamplight (standard incandescent) than indirect daylight -- who would've thunk?

In the last photo, the irregularity in the neck edging can be seen, in the area of the left shoulder -- there's also less fabric in the left neck edging. The pink yarn is the waste yarn I used for the provisional cast on, which is still attached because it's knotted to a very small tail of working yarn ... must remember to leave a longer working yarn tail when I do PCOs :-(

still, I'm pleased with the way the pattern is showing up, and I love the colours in this yarn, and it's so soft and silky!

feeding my yarn habit

wonderful Agnes managed to snag one of these for me:

Lei, 4ply (sock weight) yarn, 65% merino / 20% bamboo / 15% silk. Each skein is 380 yards per 100g.

Name:
Midnight Feast

Colour Description:
Mulberry, black, navy, plum, crimson

Price per Skein:
£13.00

but 2 of these jumped out of her basket before she checked out:

Charlotte 4ply, sock weight 50% silk / 50% merino yarn. Each skein is 100g / 350 yards.

Name: Heathcliff

Colour Description: Black, silver, fuschia, plum, gold, charcoal

Price per Skein: £13.00

so after paying Dee for the midnight feast, I spent the next hour and a half hunting for consolation yarns at yarnandfiber (10% discount off MSRP and free shipping) -- got some silk lace and wool-silk lace:

• Schaefer Andrea Lace weight - Indira Gandhi - 100% silk 3.5oz 1093 yds
• Mountain Colors Winter Lace Yarn - Red Willow - 50% Wool, 50% Silk lace weight yarn ~100g ~1200 yds

so that's nearly $150 on yarn this morning and it's not yet 9am :-)

now back to my many wips, strewn across jh's side of the bed (he'll be back tonight from his Gippsland ride) and I really should do some work on my part of Wed's iphone dev workshop

a day for patterns

I joined in today's knitspot pattern buying spree after having a closer look at Fiore di melanzana (and probably feeling separation pains after finishing the knitting on palimpsest) -- irtfa'a calls for 1350 yds but I have only 1200 yds of chocolate chambord, and this is the right amount for the smaller version of melanzana

but I still want to start on irtfa'a soon, to contribute my incantations to Obama's efforts to mend relations with the Muslim world ... although I wonder about the symbolism of using a colourway based on a wine region ... or rather, on grapevines, which puts a better spin on it --after all, the middle east is the origin of some famous grape varieties (e.g., Shiraz and Muscat), which were probably used to make wine in pre-Mohammed times (eta: actually the colours are more delicate than in the Nepalese yarn, and could represent an exotic, or even mythical, bird)

but more about patterns: I arrived home to find another Amazon box near the door -- Knitted Lace of Estonia and Sock Innovation arrived only 2 days after Mother-Daughter Knits, having been shipped 14 days after M-DK -- so now I have all the major lace shawl and sock patterns that I'll ever need (not!)

very large finished object

yay! I finished palimpsest and bound off -- I will soak and block on Thursday ... jh will have left for Leon's Gippsland ride, so I can use his side of the bed and it won't matter if it takes more than a day to dry :-)

note: I should measure it before blocking

what shall I work on next? with several days at home coming up, I'll be able to make some progress on Viola and Satine, maybe Veronique and one or both socks, and perhaps cast on Ishbel and/or Irtfa'a ... or at least wind the skeins into balls, and practise some of Irtfa'a's lace patterns. I think it will be safe to work on both shawls, as Ishbel starts with a fair bit of stockinette, and then its lace pattern is not very complex ... Ishbel will be a suitable SnB project, too

I'll try to determine my ideal garment lengths (from Mother-Daughter Knits), or at least figure out where the lower edges of Viola and Satine should be on my body, e.g., 31.5" from the floor for Viola

and then there were three...

Posh Yarn skeins ... these two arrived today, to join the Charlotte 2-ply Splendid:

they're actually almost black, with small amounts of magenta and mulberry, and I think there's enough for another triangular shawl ... they have an odd smell, sort of like lapsang souchong

the parcel fairy cometh ...

bringing Sally Melville's Mother Daughter Knits (packaged much more carefully than Custom Knits, hence pristine!) and Woolen Rabbit's Whisper -- 1200 yds in each of pussywillow

and chocolate chambord

pussywillow looks darker than in its online store photos, but this is not necessarily a bad thing :-)

Sally and Caddy's book is more than patterns: I need to read the section on fit and style carefully before continuing with FGK garments, esp Viola, which is at the point where I planned to bind off the body, but might decide to lengthen, depending on what Sally says ...

ah, but there was no pink package of posh outside the door today ... hopefully tomorrow?

lightning strikes

we got some decent rain during the past hour ... it got too dark to knit so I took a shower ... it was the darkening before the main part of the thunderstorm, so I was standing under the shower, wondering whether I should dash downstairs to unplug the computers, decided it wasn't worth spraining/breaking an ankle to save them from a lightning strike ... then realised that I was standing under a shower, wet, with water on the floor, listening to a thunderstorm and watching the lightning flashes ... in a 2-storey metal structure that protrudes from the main house structure!

I rinsed quickly and dried myself *outside* the bathroom -- gazing out the window, I saw several lightning bolts hit [something near the] ground, within a couple of kilometres ... no smoke however

pink package!

my very first pink package from posh arrived yesterday!!!

but I didn't find it until this morning ... poor thing spent the night out on the verandah, probably feeling unwanted and unloved

I was at work all day and met jh for dinner so got home after dark; I'd asked jh whether this package had arrived and he said I'd received a flattish package from the UK ... but it wasn't pink (it was Ysolda's booklet, which is quite lovely and very welcome!)

I should have gone out to check the usual place where the parcel fairy leaves parcels but I just thought it would arrive the next day and went upstairs to knit ... so there it was when I left the house this morning! and here it is, finally photographed:

tosca

toscafull, originally uploaded by poshdee.

look what the posh yarn fairy got for me this morning! only 2 of these are mine:

Yarn Details:
Helena 4ply (sock weight) yarn, pure organic merino. Each skein is 360 yards per 100g.

Name:
Tosca

Colour Description:
Black, magenta, mulberry

Price per Skein:
£11.00

not enough knitting time!

I'm falling a bit behind in my schedule for palimpsest -- reached the halfway mark this morning instead of last night and am currently barely 1/3 through today's repeat ... and I need to go out soon to buy some protein for tonight's dinner -- probably snags from the supermarket, unless the butcher is really not busy

the chart keeper that jh made for me is helping (although not as effectively as Agnes' -- she's just speeding along with her projects!) but I need to figure out how to modify it so that I can use it while travelling on train/tram

meanwhile my queue just keeps getting longer, with my stash not far behind, and I think I will renege on my offer to knit Kim Hargreaves' Elizabeth for Clare -- maybe she'd like a nice lace scarf instead? or a Niobe in that Moda Vera Harmony that has too much brown in it for me?

and which of the exciting new yarns and patterns will I pick up when palimpsest is done (or even sooner)?

• irtfa'a, with Mel's alpaca-silk
• ishbel, with posh charlotte
• maplewing, with one of Kim's whispers
• boxleaf, with one of the Fleece Artist Cambyx
• tiger eye, with posh helena (if Agnes manages to get me a skein)

and there are so many other projects I could start, not to mention the wips I've been neglecting -- my excuse is that most are at or near the stage where I need to do some major structural adjustment, including both socks wips ... except Veronique, but I don't like the circ I'm using for the sleeve, and need to find/buy another, preferably sooner than when Morris and Sons opens in Collins St

and yesterday I ordered Cookie A's book as well as the Estonian Lace book with Miralda, and downloaded the Aeolian shawl pattern that has so many posh people so excited ...

knitting aids

Custom Knits arrived yesterday: most designs are a bit "young" but there are a few top-down set-in sleeve patterns I like -- Cameo, Slinky Ribs, Lettuce Coat ... Essential Tank is also a possibility, as well as Karma (top and/or skirt). But the most useful parts of the book are the sections on fit and modifying patterns.

Agnes mentioned in a forum post that she had received a knitting chart keeper, which would help her to knit faster (as fast as Nancy?) -- I had a look but Knitpicks doesn't ship outside the US, so I asked jh to make me one. Here is the first prototype:

It's an A4-sized metal sheet (from a would-be industrial shelf) glued to a piece of cardboard and slotted into a folded piece of cardboard. The magnets are cut from a council-recycling fridge magnet. Not (yet) portable but it does the job :-)

Then I found a forum thread about knitting faster, with a post from Aaron Lewis about knitting sheaths; a google search led to his blog, where he has videos of him using a knitting sheath. I'd read about these before, during my own gansey-knitting period, but I don't think they can be adapted to circs, which is mostly what I knit with now.