Back to school

The kids are back to school and I spent the whole week running around like a crazy lady. I thought the plan was that they went back to school and I had more time not less. The lack of time is mostly due to the fact that their schedule is not set yet, I am anxiously waiting for September 10, when everything is supposed to fall into places.

Even with soccer season already in full force, I haven't had much time to knit, but something I did. I finally finished the piece for One Planet Yarn and Fiber (I am so late but they have been so good and have not complained), I finished the first of my Lace Mock Cable socks that I am knitting for Sockapalooza 4 (I did mail my pal the contrasting toe socks, but still ......), and I took out of hibernation my SKB:



Can you believe it was on my January 2007 wip list? I was really surprised to see that I had finished the body - I did not remember that! But it looks awfully short, good thing I can easily lengthen the body (I do have plenty of yarn!)

And yes, I have been dyeing more and more, shop is updated!

Need opinions

I bought a skein of CTH in Purple and I made the contranting toes. So, what do you think?
Good? Ok? Hideous?



Would you be extremely disappointed if your pal sent you these socks?

Disaster recovery

1. Post on the blog, so that many people smarter than will give me sympathy and suggestions. Agnes is a genius, I kept thinking that I could not possible send my pal a pair of sock with one toe in a different color, but of course, as she said, both toes in a coordinating color!

2. Go to the LYS and see if I can find that coordinating color (you would think that in my stash of 200+ different yarns I could find something, think again.)

3. Get an amazing package from Karen of ABC's of Creative Pursuits:



3. Dye some new yarn:



Panda Sock Yarn, a wool, bamboo, and nylon blend, that I just got and love. It will go on etsy soon, and look on the side bar ---------->
I even have a newsletter now!

4. Swatch my freshly dyed yarn:



Swatching a new yarn always makes me happy, new yarn with new colorway, double points.

5. Dye some more:



6. And more:



7. OK, enough with the dyeing, let's go back to task. I fished this from my stash:



and I sent it to my pal with an apologetic note telling her about the disaster and that her socks are doomed will be a little late.

9. Finishing the Gaeta Tank Top for One Planet Yarn and Fiber:



Nothing to do with socks, but saying "Done!" always feels good.

10. What if the coordinating toes thing does not work? Need to knit another pair of socks right now. Toe up socks, it would take a while before I muster the courage to knit another top down sock. Decide to use my pattern, it should go fast and smoothly (stay tuned on this blog to see how many times I can screw up a pattern that I wrote.) Look for yarn, and decide on this one:


Yarn Botanika Merino/Tencel in Hot Summer Nights

Roll the yarn in two equal balls:





Swatch the yarn, and NOT get gauge.

11. Go look for another yarn and spend few hours debating between this:



and this:



Fleece Artist won because it is superwash. Swatch. Get gauge. Do the happy dance.

12. Since I am swatching, swatch for the Hogwarts Sock Swap as well:



And while I am at it, email Sheri to see if she has an extra hank of Louet Gems in Burgundy in dye lot # 80-1582-9, you know, just in case.

13. Cancel Paperino's party for Sunday, since most of his friends are on vacation, and reschedule for September. Thia has nothing to do with the socks, but the idea I do not have to deal with a bunch of 7 years old this Sunday makes me feel better anyway.

Disaster

Picture taken by Principessa while I was sobbing.

Yeah, I know, the picture is blurry. Do you really want to know? Ok, look here (sit first):



That is the yarn I have left, and I have to make the whole toe of the sock. The whole toe, and no yarn left. Of the second sock of the Sockapalooza 4 socks (yes, they were due a week ago, we won't talk about that.) The yarn? Cherry Tree Hill Supersock with no ball band (I got this yarn in a swap-bot exchange, one of those "send yarn from your stash exchange".)
Hollis told me that she thinks it's a potluck colorway, so I am dead in the water, no chance whatsoever to find another one (and even if it were not a potluck skein, CTH colorways are so variable that I would be dead anyway.)

I started to notice that something was wrong (read: I do not think that I have enough yarn) yesterday morning, but I kept knitting hoping that the ball would get bigger. Reality set in when a customer of my store looked at my socks and said, "Nice yarn, Koigu? You do not have enough." When a random knitter passing by comments that you do not have enough yarn, usually you do not have enough yarn.

In the vain attempt to make my yarn last longer, I screw up several times so I had to rip back and keep knitting, but eventually I had to face reality: I do not have enough yarn.

I am going to cry some more now.

All Ravelred Up

If you are on Ravelry and look me up, you can guess what I have been doing in the last two days. All my stash is up, my wips are up, and I am working my way through my finished projects. Elspeth commented that "it really can replace a blog with the places to put your yarn and patterns", and that it is why I love it so much. A blog is good for rambling away, and even if I used it in the past for keep myself on track, it is way easier over there.
So, off these two go to retirement, I have my tidy list over here - it is great to be easily amused!

The socks? Natalie sent them to me, in a cute little package, for Sockapalooza 4 (yes, I am still knitting mine, but we won't talk about that), my first pair of Koigu socks ever, and they fit like a dream.



Don't you love the color? I do!

No excuses

I am a bad blogger, no excuses. What can I say? It's almost summer and I have to get a shipment out of Italy. Not that the two things are related, but summer means hot, hot means low energy (at least for me, I am a creature of winter and dark), and this shipment business is absorbing all my energy, and some.
Today I had a meeting with a UPS-SCS guy and I think I am in love with brown. What can brown do for you? everything. And most of all, they can get our stuff out of Italy and HERE!

I have been knitting, no photos though, so you'll need to believe me. I am making a second baby set in powder blue: a friend of mine just because gramma of twins, so one down, one to go. I am done with the sweater, working on the hat.

I am working on a felted bag that I should finish tonight. I usually do not like felting - all that work to make all those pretty stitches and then they are gone? Not my cup of tea. So I do not know what gotten into me, maybe the heat or being so tired. I am using Lamb's Pride, that is a pleasure to work with, both colors; the body is fuchsia, the handles and the flap purple. I could say I planned that way, but let's be honest, I just ran out of yarn.

I can't bring myself to pick up the stitches for the snap cardigan: picking stitches is the most favorite thing of mine when it comes to knitting; I rather seam miles than pick up stitches.

I joined some more KALs: Sockapalooza 4, well, who hasn't? And I have already started my pal's socks, Little Child's Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks in CTH Supersocks, not idea the name of the colorway, but it is blues and purples. I actually started them twice, the first time I was using some new Addis Turbo 12 in I got just for socks, and I hated them. Truly hated them. Ripped the thing off and started again with my beloved dpn's.

Knitters Tea Swap 3, that is not a secret this time around, so I know that my partner is Barbara.

And least but not last, 2007 Summer Stash Out: I have to tell you, I am so tired right now, that not even buying yarn appeals to me. Should I be worried?