Fa(ntastic Fa)il

So. I'm not doing the Knitting Olympics this year. I'm not doing the Ravelympics this year. Why, you ask? Well, I bought the yarn, I have the pattern, but I just couldn't wait. So I cast on a week ago for the Oriental Impressions Triangle (rav link). I'm not knitting it as a triangle, though. I'm knitting it square. Holy crap. That'll be about 2400 yards of laceweight (I have ~2,500 in a merino/cash/silk 60-20-20 blend) and a whole lot of work. But boy howdy is it ever pretty.



The yarn is, of course, amazing. Gotta love Colourmart. I got all 2,500 yards for $20 including shipping. Including. Love love love.

Speaking of yarn, Robbie was a great husband and tidied up my mess(es). He put all my yarn and fibre into big Rubbermaid bins and stacked them, one on top of the other. I officially have four full Rubbermaid bins *full*. Um. Oops? But it's just so pretty. Seriously, I don't know whether to giggle insanely or sob or spread it all out and roll in it. Maybe all three. First I'll spread it all out, giggle insanely, roll in it, and then sob as I put it all away.

Right now, however, there's knitting to do, so it will have to wait.



Happy Valentine's Day, everybody!

GO CANADA GO!

Praise be to Buffalo

Ron (BuffaloGuy - Rav link) is the owner of Buffalo Gold. He and his wife, Theresa, have made their way from Texas to the Calgary Stampede this year. On Ravelry, they asked us in the Alberta Knitters Group if they should bring yarn. "YES!" we practically shouted, "YES! Bring yarn!"

I asked them if they'd bring fibre, and not only did they bring fibre, but they said they'd make a gift of 1 oz of buffalo down for any Ravelers who come to the booth.

This is what I adore about the fibre world. People who I don't know are giving $40 worth of fibre away to people that they don't know all because we DO know that we're knitters. We're fibre people. How awesome is that?

Anyway.

Today, I went to the Calgary Stampede.



Haleluia.

Been a While. And N-Plying.

So. One of those months. Lots to talk about.

This is going to be the abridged update.

1. Working. A lot.
2. Knitting - not a lot.
3. Bought a house. (!!!)
4. Moving in a month. (!!!)
5. Totally broke my one-project-at-a-time rule.
6. Started Christmas knitting.

Now to the real post.
I'm always amazed at the difference between Navajo plying (N-ply) and double or triple plying. The differences in the colors are amazing. Take this fibre, for example. You've seen it before.



I love the way it spun up as a two-ply.



But I also was in love with the way it looked on the bobbin.



So I decided to N-ply the next four ounces of it to preserve the bold color striping. Boy, I'm glad I did!!



I'm loving how this sock is turning out. The pattern is Red Dwarf Socks (Ravelry Link), and I'm rather in love with them.

Back:


And they're knitting up quickly. I cast on yesterday. This was last night at 11:00.


This is now:

Bugger.

Just a little bit more. That's all I needed. But now? I have to spin more for my Clapotis. Bummer!!

I'm nearly done, I was trucking along. *sigh*

I think I'll console myself in my stash now. I hauled it all out the other day and took a picture of it. Something to roll around nekkid in.




(there's more on my flickr album)

Maple Part Two and Steam Finishing

I tried a new finishing technique with the latest 200-yd skein of Maple that has come off the wheel. It's called steam finishing (although I've heard it called microwave finishing, too). Essentially, the way I do it, you wet your skein of yarn. Make sure that it's fairly sodden, as in don't squeeze out any of the water. Then you stick it in a bowl.



Pardon the microwave. It's really not dirty. It's just got some water spots.

Microwave your skein on high until it's steaming. This takes about 2:00 for me. It kind of smells like wet sheep, but I don't mind that smell. My husband, however, does.

Then you just pull it out and let it cool for a bit. Once it's cooled enough to handle, gently squeeze out a bit of the water. Then (this sounds weird) snap the yarn, like you would a whip. I don't know why, but it seems to change the yarn's fibres or something.

The result is a really beautiful, high-lustre yarn.





This skein ended up having a lot less red, compared to the previous skein, but I love it just the same. Its stats are:

Plied Socks (100% superwash wool)
Colorway: Maple
Fingering to light fingering weight
200 yds
4 oz.

This yarn is FOR SALE. $25 firm. Anybody who is interested, comment here, or send me an email at kayla_jsn@hotmail.com or message me on Ravelry. My name is "Plied."

Are You Ready?

Here comes the big one. I have a lot of photos and not a lot of time. My kiddo has been really yucky sick with the stomach flu the last four days, and she's only just started back on solids. I tell you, our wash machine has been running nonstop for the last three days, and we've changed her bedsheets so many times, it's ridiculous.

I digress.

So let's start with the dying. I bought and dyed some silk hankies. It was a lot of fun.





This one is by far my favorite. It's dyed with easter egg dyes.

I've already spun up one set of the hankies. It was a nice lemony green color. It spun up very fine, too, so I'm pretty happy with it. I plan on spinning the one color above about the same thickness and plying to two to have a nice laceweight.



More fun with hankies, I spun up some BFL, pictured with the silk single below:



I then plied it with an unspun hankie in white, and I wrapped the hankie in places. I call it "Cocoons."



Also on my to-do list is a pound and a half of hand painted superwash wool from The Sheed Shed Studio. They have great prices, and for only $18 for a pound and a half, how can you pass it up? They also have the mill ends, which are great, too.



I think it's really beautiful, and it will make great Christmas presents for the knitters in my life. I know so many sock knitters, it's insane.


Okay! On to the knitting! I've been working for a few weeks on the Hemlock Ring Blanket by Brooklyn Tweed. It's lovely.



I've been casting off for three days, which is getting a little tiring, but the blanket is going to be stunning once it's blocked. I can't wait!



Finally, I bought more sock yarn, Aracuna sock yarn, to be exact, and I'm going to make Jeanie with it. It will be a gift to myself once this Hemlock Ring is all finished up.





I guess that's everything. Sorry it took so long to get this up. It's been a crazy month so far. Cross your fingers for me for my doctor's appointment on the 16th! I'm a little nervous.