One FO

One, and only one Finished Object: I've finished the soy socks! I'm still not thrilled with the way the brown puddles, and it only did it on one sock (for the sole purpose of annoying me, I'm sure). Knitting with the yarn was nice, soft, not "catchy" and other than the brown, I liked the self-patterning part.



The other side of both socks, puddle free:



I've been looking forward to Ravelry and anxiously awaiting my invitation. There is now a spot that you can check to see where you are in the process. As of a couple days ago I was number 12,406 on the list! There were 6406 people ahead of me and 5134 behind. At that point 33% of the list had been invited. I'll have to see where I am today.

I'm hoping to finish the last sleeve of the Grecian Plait this weekend. My fear here is that I will not have enough yarn to finish. The sleeves are longer than I wanted, so if it goes badly I can always frog them and change the fit. I may end up picking up stitches around the arm hole to do it - I hate sewing in sleeves.

Spinning rocks!

I'm still plodding away on the UFO's in my knitting world, but I've also rededicated my time to spinning. I found all these copps that needed to be finished. So, I wound them (very mathmatically, around one end of my drop leaf table), set, and made into little skeins. The first batch are all singles.



Trying to refine my skills, I've been practicing Navajo plying. Three-ply is my favorite to knit with, but I haven't got a Lazy Kate set up that works well enough yet. I've tried my children each holding a copp (that, in my book is a Whiny Kate), various shoe box set ups, and a wooden version but the copps slide off the end and there is much cussing and sadness on my part. I know Alden Amos would be horrified by the Navajo plying, but if I go slow it seems to go all right. This is my second try EVER, and it's not so great. This is kettle dyed and spun on a drop spindle, and plied on my Louet wheel.



The merino/tencel was much easier to ply. It has such a soft hand, and I'm pleased with the way the plying keep the colors together and you can kind of control it a little more.



Maybe there will be an FO to show off soon.

Parade? Here's a parade

Today is a day of parades. There are lots of little community parades all over today. I'm having a little parade of my own: UFO's. The first is an old project that I was scared to pick up again because I had used the needles for something else, and it uses two sizes and I couldn't for the life of me remember what they were. Think I've got a handle on that one now, and there's not so much left to finish, so it's feeling finishable. The pattern is Rebecca Hatcher's Grecian Plait. I'm using Goddess Yarns Carmen (pima cotton). It's got a very smooth hand. You can't see the stitch definition very well in this picture, but when she's done I'll do a close up.



The next is my Welsh County Stockings from Folk Socks by Nancy Bush. I have a passel of yarn for the socks in this book and I am waaaay behind in production. Sigh.



More unfinished socks, railroad rib (Fiber Trends) in Tofutsies yarn.




And, last but not least, The Potholder-loop Rug. I need six more bags of loops and it will be the right size for a bath mat. It called for size 35 needles, but I used size 19. The giant pointy sticks are also useful if a vampire happens to sneak up on you while you're knitting - just Buffy-the-Vampire-Slayer it's ass.



There's my parade. It's about all I'm up for today.

Finished!

The Himalaya Tote is done. I could've gone to a fabric store and gotten a darker lining, but I decided to use some muslin I had in my sewing box. Partially, because I didn't feel like waiting until a store was open, or getting out of my pj's, and I hate when the linings are dark and I can't see the crap at the bottom of the bag when I want it.

In order to make the lining, I got out my "new" sewing maching. Given to me by my step-mother, who doesn't sew, but has kept it diligently since the late 60's early 70's. I adore it because my mother had a very similar model and anything more high tech would boggle my mind. It came with a box of bits that can be used to change stitches, but there are no directions. I was only going to do some basic stitching, so I got it out and got to it. Here is my lovely machine (with an IRON in the picture. I use it only in emergency situations).



The lining was a little tricky, there are some pockets involved, but it works! Anyway, without further ado, The Bag with lining showing



And the front of the blessed bag



Silk doesn't hold it's shape so well, so I'll give you a review of it with use over time.