An update finally.

So some sad news on the LYS front. Apparently there was smoke damage at the local LYS last week due to a boiler malfunction. This means this shop is closed right now, until repairs can be made. This is a total bummer for them, right in the middle of the holiday season and I can't imagine what that might have done to the yarn in the store. Is it salvageable? Washable? Who knows. Perhaps it could be sold at a discount for people willing to try to get the smoke out themselves. Or maybe they can fix it. I'll be interested to see what they do.

This also means I wasn't able to get my yarn wound up this weekend. That's probably for the best, since having pretty yarn cakes sitting about just tempt me into knitting them when I've already got enough projects going on and presents and requests to make.

So I took pictures of the yarn as is, just to have something to give to you guys. Also a few progress shots since I don't have anything finished right now.




(Manda called this the lemonade yarn. I agree with her.)


Manda so kindly got me this book as a present.


It has luxurious looking knits in it, like this one.


Her boyfriend called it a sexy knitting book (there's a chick modeling a scarf in her undies, he's not far off). The pictures are quiet lovely and the knits look really high end. Definite possibilities for future gifts when my skill sets improve some more.

Speaking of Manda.

I'm currently working on her Christmas present. Since she knows what she's getting and helped pick out the yarn, I'll go ahead and post the picture.


The pattern is fun to knit. I had a false start at first w/holy increases, but once I figured out the trick to invisible increases things started moving along quite well. This should go relatively quickly as far as scarves go, but I do have to keep picking up my socks to work on as the seed stitch gets a bit repetitive.

Speaking of socks...


This photo shows the detail a little better.



I'm currently working the heel of the first sock. When I can actually sit and knit these for awhile they work up pretty quickly and the pattern is easy to memorize. Unfortunately I didn't get as much knitting time as I would have liked this weekend so I don't have much progress to update on.

The holidays are starting to weigh down on me. Exams are coming up. Still loads of homework to do. Not to mention shopping and decorating and family stuff. I probably won't get to knit as many presents as I wanted (which isn't many at all). Kev's hat will probably be late. And the mittens I wanted to do...well see about those. May have to put the socks on hold and start actual present knitting instead. Or maybe just give the socks to somebody. (This isn't the time of year for selfish knitting.)

I need to manage my yarn projects better.

Knitpicks and Adventures in Sockland

So yesterday I got the package I was anxiously waiting for. It was from knit picks and it contained a)two lovely yarns and b) a set of their harmony 4" dpns. I placed the order last week after having been bitten by the 'omg I want to knit socks!!' bug. (The yarn isn't for socks, I just liked the colors.)

I was like a little kid on Christmas, ripping open the package and feeling up the yarn and nuzzling my face in it. The pictures really don't do the colors justice at all. I got two balls of blue and two balls of a lovely sea green color. The green kept showing up as blue in every picture I took of it, but I promise, it's green.

The harmonies are beautiful. They are a wonder to knit with too. I was afraid that knitting with such tiny needles with teeny tiny fingering weight yarn would be a total PITA but the harmonies ensure that every stitch is a pleasure. The yarn slides easily, yet I have no fear of it slipping off the needles. The points are nice but not painfully sharp.

I immediately cast on for my first pair of socks, using Teach Yourself Visually: Sock Knitting as my guide.

(as you can see the poor hat I had been working on was immediately discarded)

So far I've only done the 1" 1x1 ribbing and just started on the stockinette stitches. I will never, ever do 1x1 rib for a sock again. OMG, how tedious. I didn't swatch (I never do) but I'm casting on for the largest size women's sock, w/the recommended yarn/needle and just hoping for the best (like I said before, too impatient). I'm excited about my first sock, but I can tell it's going to take FOREVER to finish the first one (damn tiny yarn!). So expect plenty of progress pictures as the knitting comes along.

And, photos of the yarn. Not sure what will become of this yarn, but it's super soft so preferably something I'll wear close to my skin.





(seriously, it's green y'all)