Before we get to the photo portion of this session, let me begin by saying:

GAUGE SWATCHES ARE DIRTY, STINKIN’, FILTHY, NO-GOOD, LIARS!!

When I started this project, I made a couple of gauge swatches.  One in stockinette, one in the lace pattern.  I even gave these little swatches a bath to see if they would grow once they hit water.  These gauge swatches, being the no-good rotten liars they are, did not grow one iota.

However, when the front and back pieces I have painstakingly crafted hit water…

Cue the circus music:

 They blossomed into a lacy circus tent.  Here’s a tshirt of mine to give you some sort of scale.  Notice how there’s at least a good 1.5″-2″ of sweater showing on either side.

And, you know, as I was knitting the sweater I even omitted a couple of lace repeats, knowing that the lace was going to block out and make the sweater a bit bigger.  I am just speechless.  Simply dumbstruck.  I don’t know what to do with these pieces now.  Part of me wants to finish it out and give to to someone else.  The other part of me wants have a big ass bonfire in the backyard.  I’m open to suggestions.

In the meantime, I’m gonna go cast on some socks and have a drink. 

A very quick update to break the silence:

1.  The back of the sweater is done and I am working on the front now.  At this point it has become a matter of must. finish. fracking. sweater.  What on earth possessed me to knit a lace sweater when we all know how I get on with lace?  Oh yeah, I am suckered in by the pretty.   D’oh.

2.  I ran 1.5 miles today without stopping!   It’s amazing that only a couple of months ago I was barely able to run for 2 minutes!  My power jam today was Running Down a Dream by Tom Petty.

3.  And it’s a good thing that I’m making progress with the running because I will be participating in the Houston Monster Mash 5k in October.  I’ve even conned lovingly cajoled the Hubbster into running it with me.  Should be interesting. 

On that note, I’ll leave you with this little “Kwicky”.  I used to love this cartoon. 

I have reached the finish line for Le Tour de Fleece.  This weekend I spun up the last of my singles, and made my own ghetto version of a lazy kate to make a 3-ply yarn.

All you need is a shoebox, some empty toilet paper tubes, and some cheap plastic knitting needles!

Here is the resulting yarn:

• 110 meters of merino
• 3-ply
• approximately 11 WPI
• spun on my trusty Cascade Shuksan

While I’m not 100% crazy about the color combo, I’m really pleased that I’m starting to get a better feel for a more “balanced” yarn.  My previous attempts have been pretty overspun, but this time around I took special care to check the balance during plying.  The resulting yarn is fairly even and incredibly smooshy. 

Now that I’ve got my spinning out of the way, maybe I can start focusing on my sweater again.  We’ll see how long it lasts.  I’ve already been eyeing my fiber stash, trying to decide what to spin up next.

For the first time in 3 weeks (gasp!) I ran!  The ankle held up brilliantly, although I wish I could say the same about my endurance.    Hopefully it won’t take very long to build it up again.  I had the Hubbster check the belt on the treadmill beforehand to make sure everything was snugged up, and I also swapped out shoes.  I think both things definitely helped. 

Yay!  I can stop being a slug again!

On that happy note, let’s have a little yarn pr0n shall we?  These are the newest kids to enter my stash:

Top to bottom (And I’m sorry for the wonky layout, but @#$! wordpress isn’t letting me line them up all nice and pretty.  I’m tired of fighting with it.)

• Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky – hand dyed by my pal Hannah.  She calls it “bomb pop”.  I won this skein at our CLACK WWKIPD celebration.  woot!
• Malabrigo laceweight in the vermillion colorway.  I haven’t decided what it’s going to be yet, but it’ll definitely be a cardigan of some sort. 
• Kauni Effektgarn EQ  -  I love these colors!  I’m thinking it’ll be a small blanket… unless I can procure one or two more skeins.  Then it’ll be a larger blanket. 
• Schoppel Wolle: Zauberball -  Now, I’m really excited about this one.  It holds some pretty great potential.  It has a lot of the good qualities of Noro (single ply, wickedly awesome colors) without the crazy scratchiness. 
• Manos Silky – I made my SIL some fingerless gloves using silky Manos and I had such a hard time giving them up.  Now I’ve got some Manos to make some for me!! 
• Cherry Tree Hill – after the last couple of sock attempts, I’ve decided to go solid or semi-solid for a little while.  Especially since I want to knit more of Cookie A.’s fantastic patterns.
• And last, but certainly NOT least… I bought my very first skein of Wollmeise.  A friend in the CLACK group is a Wollmeise-aholic and frequently stalks the internet for it.  She found several Yarnissima kits and bought extras so that some of us in the group could buy some from her if we wanted.  I’m interested to see how this stuff knits up, since everyone is so crazy about it.  I will say this about it.  The skein is really dense!  You could knock someone out with it! 

That’s it kiddos.  I’m wrapping it up and calling it a day.  Time to hit the shower.

• Power jam song for the day:   Young Modern by Silverchair – My favorite band “Down Under”.  (Much to my girl J’s chagrin.) 

So what do you get when you add a flame to a pumpkin?  You get Indian corn:

Or at least that’s what springs to mind whenever I look at the yarn.  Tomorrow marks the end of the first week of the Tour de Fleece, and I’m doing pretty dang well if I do say so myself.  I have done a little spinning every day – some days more than others.  But fiber has at least passed through my hands every day.  I am more than halfway through my fiber, which makes me downright giddy.  I’m already eyeing my stash, trying to decide what to spin next. 

In addition to all the spinning, I have been knitting too.   After a disastrous attempt of shaping – while keeping the lace pattern going – I ended up having to frog back all of the lace and try again.  Thankfully I found a great thread on Ravelry that saved my bacon.  I am now about 8″ into the back of the sweater:

(This second photo better represents the actual color of the yarn.)

Now that the hurdle of shaping + lace pattern has been conquered, it is moving along smoothly.  And take a peek at what’s been keeping me on track…

The Hubbster and I recently got iPhones and I’ve been using 2 knitting apps: StitchMinder and KnitMinder.   I have to say that I really love KnitMinder.  I have been able to jot down notes (like how I did the decreases while maintaining the lace!) as I’m knitting away at my pattern so that I’ll be able to match up the front and back of the sweater.  Usually this entails little scraps of paper, or my big ol’ honkin’ graph paper notebook.  Now I’ve got all the little details stored away in my convenient (and always present) iPhone. 

And if you look very carefully under the iPhone you will see my yoga mat.  I still haven’t been able to run, but I’ve been keeping active by doing yoga and pilates.  It definitely doesn’t replace my treadmill, but at least it’s something.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.  Sunday I’ll be testing out my ankle again.  If it buggers up, I’ll be heading to the doctor. 

P.S.  Tomorrow I’ll be heading out to my favorite yarn shop (Twisted Yarns) with two of my favorite knittas.  Hopefully we’ll get to meet up with Janet (aka twistedknitter) and see her incredible soft waves ripple blanket.  And with any kind of luck I’ll have some updated yarn pr0n!

A certain someone put a bug in my ear about joining the Tour de Fleece this year.  As I looked at my fiber stash, I decided “Why the heck not??”   I’ve got fiber.  What’s the fun in having it if I never spin it up?

I’ve decided not to go hog wild and have made my goal very simple. 

Yes.  Goal.  Singular. 

My goal is to finish spinning up the 4 oz of orange merino that I started months ago, and to ply it.  That’s all.  Simple.

Let the spinning begin!

P.S.  And for those of you (yes, you know who you are!) looking for WIP photos of the Apres Surf, they are coming.   I had to frog back several inches of knitting because we all know I have teh lace dumb.  It’s well documented.  So having to do waist decreases AND keep the lace pattern in tact was a bit much for me.  So I’m monkeying around with the pattern, and we’ll see how it goes.  I hope I can figure it out because I absolutely adore that hoodie.

What was that?  My ankle feels kinda funky.  I wonder if I can just run through it???  I mean, it doesn’t feel THAT bad.

 Step, step, step, OW!

Erm, crap.  Guess not. 

Today marks week #2 of the running hiatus.  If it doesn’t improve soon, it’s off to the doctor’s office. 

(Sigh)

The temperatures around here have been in the upper 90’s/triple digits for I dunno how many days.  So what do I do?  I cast on a sweater with this yarn:

Dream in Color Smooshy in Midnight Derby.  Don’t you love the varying shades of blue and purple?  I hope to have some WIP photos this weekend. 

Yanno, sometimes I question my logic.  Sweater in the sweltering heat?  Sure!  And what do I want to knit after this one’s finished?  A cardigan out of laceweight yarn.  Yep… sometimes I think my wiring’s not quite up to code.  

I think I have some redemption after the whole “UGH” fiasco.

• Pattern:  Kai-Mei from Cookie A.’s Sock Innovation
• Yarn:  MMMalabrigo sock yarn in the velvet grapes colorway
• Needles:  2.5 mm harmony wood dpns

This is the first time I’ve used the Malabrigo sock yarn.  It’s soft, it’s squishy, and I love it.   My only complaint is that the skein was a major arse-pain to wind.  I also have two other colorways and found the same issue with them.  These are also the first Cookie A. socks I have ever knit, and I have to say that she’s pretty darn clever.  I’m surprised at how quickly these socks worked up!  I can’t wait to try out another pair. 

And for those of you who were wondering… Yes.  I’m still running.  I have succesfully kept up with it for 4 weeks.  Weight loss?  Brace yourselves.  I have lost a whopping 3 pounds.  I know,  you’re jealous.  I’m trying not to get discouraged, though.  I am exercising 4 days a week and watching what I’m eating.  It’s bound to come off sometime, right?  I’m keeping an exercise and food journal on fitday.com, and last week I even went so far as to take some measurements.  I’ll revisit them in a month and see how things are progressing. 

While the weight loss may be slow, I am making incredible improvements in stamina and speed.  It’s amazing that only 4 weeks ago I was barely able to run for 2 consecutive minutes.  This is what’s keeping me from giving up.  Because believe me – running your ass off and only losing 3 pounds can be a bit demoralizing.  

Now that the socks are done, what should I knit next?  Decisions, decisions.  Maybe I’ll get around to finishing the other shawl on the needles. 

So what happens when you pair a beautiful yarn with a beautiful pattern?  Usually you end up with something stunning, right?  In my case you end up with a big fat piece of humility pie.  Allow me to illustrate.

First, meet Spring Forward from Knitty. Beautiful pattern, right?

Now, meet Jester from Three Waters Farm:

Gorgeous, ain’t it?

So we’ve got beautiful pattern (A) + beautiful yarn (B).  Here is where all logic goes awry.  Prepare yourself.  I introduce to you The Sock That Defies All Logic.

Now do you see what I mean?  Beautiful pattern (A) + beautiful yarn (B) = UGH!!  And the worst part of it all is that I was in complete denial all the way down to the foot!  Oh yes folks, I knit the leg, heel flap, gussets, and part of the foot before I decided, “You know?  This yarn may not work very well with this pattern.  Hrm..”

Here’s another math equation for you.  Me + denial = StupidStupidStupid. 

So now I’m going to attempt to knit Kai-Mei (Ravelry link) with a skein of Malabrigo in velvet grapes.

I’m hoping I can’t get into too much trouble with this one.  I’ll keep you posted.

So it seems I’ve got a couple of finished projects to show off.

Woo!  Those pasty legs are HOT!!! 

• Pattern:  Biological Clock Socks  from The Eclectic Sole by Janel Laidman.
• Yarn:  Knit Picks Bare – Superwash dyed up with black cherry and strawberry Kool-aid
• Needles:  2.25 mm

In typical Eclectic Sole fashion, I did not particularly enjoy these socks.  The pattern charts were a little difficult for me to decipher since they were broken up into 4 mini-charts spread out over several pages.  I ended up having to graph it out into one continuous chart to make sense of it all.   There have been complaints that the heels in this book turn out  baggy (as was true for my Rivendell sock), so I substituted my usual short-row heel and toe. 

My second F.O. is a true labor of love.  I worked on it steadily for a full month.  Behold the Mama Llama shawl:

• Pattern:  Horseshoe Lace Hat & Scarf (adapted to make a shawl)
• Yarn: Mama Llama Silken Cashmere.  Oh yes, you heard me right.  800 yards of silk and cashmere.  I am truly spoiled!
• Needles:  4.0 mm

I am truly honored that Catherine asked me to knit something to display at her booth for this year’s Sock Summit.  I’ve always been a big fan of her yarns, so I am beyond thrilled that she has the opportunity to show off her stuff at the summit. 

So what am I knitting now?   Well, I’m glad you asked.

I am knitting Spring Forward from Knitty Summer 2008 with some very special sock yarn that came from a good friend who was lucky enough to attend Maryland Sheep & Wool.  So far I am really loving the pattern and I was even able to try my very first tubular cast-on. 

On the running side, things are going great.  Last week I ran about 8 miles (2/day) and have noticed that my endurance  has improved tremendously.  All good things in my book.