Ball practice

I decided my first attempt at winding a ball of yarn should not use a whole skein of Lorna's Laces, so I experimented with the leftover Gryffindor yarn (and I didn't use the swift). Here's how it turned out:
I decided that since the Jaywalker photo turned out so nice, I would do another one in that window. However, the weather is different today and I think it's later in the day than when I took that photo. Here's my view (from the other side of the house): A thunderstorm's a-comin'! We don't get those very often. Rain, yes. Thunderstorms, not so much.

Anyway, my tension was a bit inconsistent while winding that ball, so I'll try again. I think I'll wait until my husband is around to try the swift and ball winder together, because I sort of think he'll like the process. But tonight we've got a thing--a potluck (cheesy spinach dip will be our contribution)--so I don't know when we'll get to it.

New Toys!

Look what the UPS man just brought me, a ball winder and swift! Unfortunately I'm not allowing myself to play with them until I finish some work-related program activities.

Damn, Dani's now carrying superwash self-striping Gryffindor sock yarn, and I missed out! Of course they were all scooped up and being a late sleeper on the west coast, I never had a chance. There's still some Hufflepuff left, but it's mostly yellow and I'm not sure I'd love that enough to buy it. And that's why it's still available. Oh well. Erin, I'm hoping you got some, since I assume the bleeding would be less of an issue with these ones. Dani seems to add new items on Tuesdays, and Alison hinted that this Tuesday would be good for HP fans, so there were lots of people checking the site.

How many puppies are in this photo?

I swear the ones in front aren't the porkers they seem to be in this photo. The puppies are 4.5 weeks and don't really have personalities yet, but they look good. We'll probably go for another visit at the end of this week.

In knitting news I sewed in ends on several different items yesterday. I hate doing it. The sock that needs to be ripped is still intact. I haven't yet felt ready to start all over.

It's too small!

I finally decided to try on my partial Jaywalker sock after reading yet again that someone's was too small. So is mine. It looked about right but I guess it doesn't have much stretch. So it has to be completely frogged. I am worried the colors won't come out as nice next time. I'm not sure if I want to go for the larger size pattern or larger size needles. I'll have to think about it.

We will visit puppies tomorrow. The scheduling just didn't work out this weekend.

Too much for Socks

The Brazil sock yarn I mentioned loving is on eBay, but for a high price, currently about $27 when you include shipping. That's too much for socks for me right now. I am ready to start the heel on Jaywalker no. 1.

We're hoping to see the 4-week-old puppies this weekend. If happiness is a warm puppy, what are 9 warm puppies?

I love to jaywalk

OK, I don't love knitting this pattern, but I love the result. I am thrilled with the way it's turning out with the yarn. The pattern is really easy to remember and at first it was a pain but it's getting better. I just sometimes have problems with the double decrease. But it's so pretty. Unfortunately I'll have to wait to start the second sock until I get my swift (courtesy of mom) and ball winder (courtesy of me), which were both ordered yesterday.

Godric's Socks

Here are the Gyrffindor socks for Melissa. Below are the needles, which used to be white. These suckers bled all over my needles, hands, and clothes while I knit them. Melissa has been warned.

Yarn: Sunshine Yarns Gryffindor variegated
Needles: They're labeled as 2 but they're really somewhere between 2 and 3. I like them for that reason. And I'm not at all bothered by the fact that they're stained now, which is good!
Pattern: My own. A 2x2 rib at the top, a 3x1 rib elsewhere.

Update: Sorry, visitors from The Blue Blog, I've been having issues with Blogger eating my photos. I've fixed the socks picture for you but can't get the stained needles to show up.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

As I mentioned, I want to make my Lorna's Laces into Jaywalkers. Lorna's Laces comes in hanks. Hanks are bad, mmkay? You can't work from a hank; you need to wind it into a ball. I had wanted for some time to try the MYO ballwinder technique I'd read about, so I gathered the supplies. For a swift I wanted to use a lamp but it was not big enough. I rigged it up with a towel and used it anyway. I had to get help from my husband and stop and start several times (the slowest speed is fast!), but it seemed to go well.
So I crushed the paper tube and sat down to knit from my center-pull skein. I got two rounds in before noticing a big clump of yarn. Yadda yadda yadda, several hours later the yarn was finally untangled and in a new ball (thanks to the husband for much help). So I need a ball winder. Because I am not doing that again.

Perhaps removing the paper tube was my major mistake, but I was worried about the yarn being wound too tight around it in addition to wanting a center-pull skein.

(I think my kitchen counters are uglier in these photos than they are in real life. Yeah, I'll just keep telling myself that.)

Why I (and lots of other people) Love Easter

Three words: Cadbury Mini Eggs
Rite Aid had the larger size bags on sale last week. I foolishly waited until Thursday to go get some, and they were out. So out that they had printed signs on the shelves saying they were out, no rainchecks. People go crazy for these! Myself included. Yesterday I bought a large bag and it's almost all gone. They're so good.

Oops

The only pair of nonwashable handknit socks I have felted in the wash. Whoops. They are shown next to a sock that fits me. My need for superwash sock yarn is why I am not too upset that I can't get my hands on Sunshine Yarns' striping Gryffindor socks. She is starting to carry some superwash yarn, though.

I am in love with Alison's Brazil--or is it Brasil?--socks, but the yarn is only available in Germany. I haven't even spotted them on eBay, though the Toronto socks are there.

Blast from the Past

Here are socks and a mini-Weasley I made a long time ago for a friend. I have no mini-Weasley of my own. How sad. I should have some appropriate leftover sock yarn to use for one for myself.

Jaywalking

I might finally make the Jaywalkers everyone else has made. I have lovely Lorna's Laces in Icehouse from Melissa. Variegated LL seems to be a popular choice for this pattern, and I've even found some people who've made them in Icehouse (with very different looks). However, pooling might be an issue. I usually don't mind a little pooling because it normally only occurs in the heel flap and widest part of the foot, but this is not my normal pattern. The pooling on the leg with nice stripes on the foot confuses me.
("Some" and "people" are two different links, btw.)

Oregon vs. Virginia pt 1

One of the things I wanted to write about here is the difference between Oregon and Virginia. Today my concern is an important one: salt and vinegar chips. I went into the store expecting to find Utz, which are pretty good. No Utz. I kind of thought they were national, but no. Phooey. I didn't expect to find Herr's, but they actually have a wider distribution than Utz. Oh, and they think Canada is not connected to the United States, apparently. No Snyder’s of Hanover or Snyder of Berlin (neither of which I ever ate in Virginia). Now, there are several "kettle style" or "Hawaiian style" small brands available here, but I don't like those as much. So I settled for Lay's, and I believe they made me sick. We checked, and they don't contain olestra. I guess I will have to get used to the kettle chips. As I write this I am beginning to doubt my own story and will continue to look for non-kettle brands. Maybe I've missed them!

Here are some recently completed socks in one of my favorite patterns. I've only knit it twice, and the first time was for my Sockapaltwoza sock pal, in a bright pink. It would have been really hard to give them away if I'd liked the color more. It was my first time knitting a textured sock pattern, rather than just stockinette or simple ribs.

See how much yarn I have left over? These are not short socks. I'm glad that I don't have to worry about running out of yarn, but then I have to worry about the leftover yarn. I have a lot of tiny little balls of sock yarn that I intend to make into ugly "scraps" socks some day, but I'm not itching to get started on that project. I'm afraid they really will be hideous. And of course they won't match. Oh well.

(The pattern, by Ann Budd, is Diagonal Rib Socks from Interweave's web site. And the yarn is Opal UNI 1269.)

So, purple flowers, what do you think of the cold snap?
Oh, I see.











Knitting content for the day (illustration by Edward Gorey):

No, the world doesn't need another knitting blog, but this one's mostly for myself. Keeping a record of knitting projects (and future puppy growth) seems so easy this way.

Let's start with the unexpected snow that came today.It was gone by the time I got up (my husband took the photos), but it did snow again later in the day--big, fat, wet flakes that were nice to look at but that didn't stick around down here (in the valley).

All right, I've got the baby sweater and hat for my cousin's baby all ready to go: It's from Creature Comforts: Cozy Knits for Wee Ones, by Amy Bahrt. I got it out from the library and now see that it's listed as missing. I hope it will turn up again. The yarn is Knit Picks' Crayon. I am worried about the ear and tail coming off, but it should be cute even if they do. This was my first sweater, and it taught me that I don't like intarsia or seaming. I am wondering about my ability to finish a grown-up sweater.

Creating this first post has been more of a pain than I had expected, so I'm done for the night.