Too Much Yarn

Destash since March

Wow!  I haven't posted since March of what I've destashed.  These are the yarns I've destashed (aka sold via Ravelry) in the last 5 months.

 

All Done With Socks..... for now...

Yep, I'm all done with knitting socks until this Saturday - September 1 when I will cast on like crazy!  hehe..

But first, my latest finished socks. These are for John.  I started them in November, 2011.  These fits so nicely - I think they fit me a little better than him. I may even need to redo the toes because he has like web feet and he has deformed toes (untreated psotiatic arthritis - as diagnosed by me!).  Anyway, the color is perfect for a man.  This was knitted in Bugga in Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz.

On the sides, it has these moustaches:

So that is Sock #13 for the year, #6 for August and 26 Pair Plunge! 

On other news are new yarn arrivals.  A  few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to get on the online barn sale for Blue Moon.  These 3 skeins of Socks That Rock Mediumweight came up to be less than $40. Normally, each skein is about $24.  Two of them are at 380 yards, one at 405.  They are Mill Ends so I don't know how bad of a shape they are in.  You know that I prefer Lighweight, but by the time (4 hours after I received the notification of the sale) I got online to order, the Lightweight bags were out.  They are mystery grab bags so thus, the lower price.  The colors I received, left to right are:  Stephen Phillip, China Rose, and Lavender Truffle.

Closeup:

And Supercolourfragilistic came along for the rider.  She is in Lightweight.

And don't ask me what I'm making with it.  I just want to add it to my collection. It's just so colourful! (oops, that's the Canadian in me typing).

I have to get dressed for work.  Have a nice day.  Between now and Saturday, I'm working on my blankie.  I've already knitted 4 squares in the last 2 days!

 

Nope - no new socks!

I'm stuck with this last sock.  I knitted 10 rows and then, frogged 5 rows.  Knit another 10 rows, frogged 5 rows.  It's not going well!  So I have no sock photos to show you.  But I have some new yarn to show you.

This is the Hazel Knits' August shipment:  (Braeburn and Sedge).  The pattern is Eple (sounds like Apple?)

And my last package for the cocktails club from Verdant Gryphon:  Cold Sheep

I haven't read the details, but I love the glass!  I wonder if it glows in the dark!

OK... if you're here to just read about knitting and yarn, you can close the window now.  I want to take the opportunity to talk about Emily's friend, Kevin, who has been in the local news about starting an annonymous twitter account to prevent cyberbullying.  You can read about him at the Huffington Post, NBCNews.com, our local TV station (which he appeared in the news), USA Today.  He even had a phone interview with Ryan Seacreast (yes!  the guy from American Idol!).  So don't be surprised if you see him one day at a talk show or late night show!  Kevin is a great kid - he's respectful, kind, polite, nice, and smart!  He will be a successful person and he's already showing his natural leadership abilities.  He's one of Emily's buddies.  Here's a picture of them to prove to you that I really know someone who made the news!

I'm very proud of Kevin!

Pair #12

    I can't believe it!  5 pairs of completed socks this month!  Of course, I only had to work on the second sock!  But still!  That's 5 socks finished!  Here's Shur'tugal from Alice Yu, knitted in Socks that Rock Lightweight in Blue for Ewe.  The blue is more solid that I would have liked, but it's a keeper!

I started them last year and finally, they're done.  Up next is the Movember socks, an SKA Mystery Socks from November 2011, designed by Deb Barnhill.  Unfortunately, it's 72 stitches around on a 2.25mm needle.  I finished the cuff last night while watching The Hunger Games.

Also, these are for my husband, so I'll have to knit a longer foot.  This one may take me 2 weeks to finish!  I'm also back to work this week so I won't have as much knitting time!!!

What are you up to?

Sock #11

I can't believe it! I've finished 4 pairs of socks this month so far.  This is pair #4 (or pair #11 for 2012).  I named it Golf as I started it when I was following Emily when she was at the State Tournament.

I don't remember which side the lace is supposed to be at, but I did knit it according to the pattern, so the lace mirrors on the socks.

Up next, is Shur'tugal, which I started November 11, 2011 - Interesting... 11/11/11.

This one will take a while as there are lots of cabling (without a needle) and I have to knit the entire second sock!

As I was browsing the 26 and 52 pair plungers, I noticed lyndasav has a special project page created for all the socks completed for the plunge.  So, I copied her and created this.  It is fun!

Also, the SKA 2012-2013 Challenges have been posted.  These are the categories for September.

Technique: All Knit with the Same Color: RED
Designers: Deb Barnhill (knittingpharm)/Ingrid Hiddessen(DRIH)/Lisa Stichweh(lstichweh)
Mystery Sock Designer: Allison Isaac (wyvern713)

I'm preparing for what to knit in September.  Are you ready?

1.  Cookie A's Solfar Socks

in Alice Goes Around Richness of Martens Fingering.  When you knit in red, you can knit any pattern.  The yarn is from the Cookie A Sock Club's February 2012 shipment.  The pattern is from April, 2012 (I think...)

2.  Lisa Stichweh's Poignant (this is knitchickmelly's photo - I didn't ask permission!!)

Poignant is a pattern from the Hazel Knits Sock Club (June 2012).  I figured I should also use a Hazel Knits yarn for this.  I'm going to use Artisan in Iris.

3.  Another of Lisa's pattern, Pillars,

which I want to try in a variegated yarn.  Now, the yarn is undecided yet.  It's a toss between this Casbah (no name)

or Koigu KPPPM P165

4.  Deb Barnhill's Jolly Brolly (here is ellielily's photo)

Again, this is a sock club pattern from Rockin' Sock Club June 2012.  The yarn that came with the shipment is pictured above, called Wavelength.  I'm going to use a semi-solid as in Marmalade Sky:

I really think casting on 4 pairs is more than enough, don't you?

 

ABC and Sock #10!!

Yay!! I finished sock #10 in 2012.  Just sock #3 for my 26 Pairs Plunge, though.  I can't believe I just ploughed through this one and I'm actually missing the cabling!  This is Dusty Corners, which I finished last night.

And of course, I was knitting with one of my favorite yarns, Socks That Rock Lightweight.  The colorway is Ramalaba.  Up next (well, I'm knitting the toe of the second sock now).

This is Haystacks, a club pattern from the Hazel Knits Sock Club - well, so was Dusty Corners.  So I'm glad I'm knitting club patterns!

Now that I've completed 15 projects for the year, I'm curious how much I've filled out the alphabets.  Let's see...

Angee, Almondine

Blackberry Brambles, Bláthnat, Birch Dreaming Deep

Color Affection

Dusty Corners, Damson

E

Firestarter

G

H

I

J

K

Linaria Bipartita

M

N

O

Portico

Q

Redbud, Rambutan

Summer Solstice Mystery Shawl

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Hmmm... not very good, I'm afraid.  No more projects with pattern names starting with B!!  My next sock is going to be Shurtugal - shucks!  S has been used!  Oh well!

My son is moving back to Fargo this week.  He will be living in an apartment and is moving his bed up.  For the rest of the week, he will be sleeping in the "guest room" A.K.A. yarn room!  I've not completely moved everything over, and of course, I'm out of space!  There's still an entire dresser that hasn't been cleared yet.  Anyway, before he messes up the bed that no one used to sleep in, I took some photos and here is a peek to my yarn room.  Remember, my husband painted the walls to surprise me.  He asked me what color I wanted.  I said something neutral.  Do you think teal is neutral?  Once I saw the walls, I knew I couldn't use my existing bedding.  Of course, he didn't realize that will cost more money (even though he used leftover paint!) to get new bedding. He's a guy.. things don't have to match!  Jennifer asked me about the bedding - I don't know the brand.  I just wanted something black and white to go against the teal walls.  Then, I decided on the Paris theme and just started collecting pieces.  Here you go!

This little statuette was purchased from World Market in 2005 when Emily had to do a display on Paris - the city she picked to present.  We never got rid of it so now, it's part of the room.  And this floral painting has a lot of shades of the wall colors.  I'm going to pretend that it's by Monet (who has many paintings in the museums in Paris).

And finally, this box here,

holds my mini skeins of Bugga (only!).  I need another box for my Hazel Knits mini's.

There, you have it.  When, I get some other sections of the room done, I'll show you more!

 

 

The girl and her dog (and a finished pair of socks!)

It was the perfect temperature outside, low humidity.  A perfect evening!  My son was out at a friend's house.  My daughter was a the Coldplay concert.  My husband was spending the night at the cabin.  That left the house the ALL TO MYSELF and my dog.  I cleaned the counter.  I felt like having potstickers.  GASP!  We're out of them.  Drove to Costco and picked up "other" stuff.  Made potstickers and watched the men's 4x100m relay heats (I'm sure Jamaica is going to win)  but OMG!  The best race ever!  4x100m Women's!!  My favorite runner is Allyson Felix so I was so excited that she finally won the 200m after missing the Gold Medal in Athens by .18 seconds and in Beijing by .12 seconds.  She just looked so relaxed when she runs.  I thought I love watching swimming... but I think I love watching track more.  It brought back beautiful memories to the tracks when my Dad was a track coach when he was young.  I had to "tag along"...  My Dad passed away almost 24 years ago, but I never stop thinking of how much he would enjoy watching the Olympics with me every 4 years. 

Congratulations, girls!

Now, back to the girl and her dog.  They played because the little girl was not home.  They played hide and seek.  They played fetch, although the dog just sucks at the game.  He doesn't want to give up the tennis ball.  Later, the girl just wants to take photos of the dog...

The dog is a Miniature Schnauzer who likes to lick his paws - thus, his beard and legs are brown!  His name is Chip - short for Couch Potato Chip. 

Then, he did some tricks.  He can sit, shake (paws with you), dance (hop in a circle on 2 feet), sing (howl), and he can "play dead"!

Though it's hard to get him to close his eyes.  The girl taught him these tricks.  She's been trying to teach him to clap but he's a bit slow at that.  Then, he's done.   He wants to go to bed.

He likes his doubledecker bed...  So the girl started knitting instead.  She finished her second pair of socks for August. This was using Sanguine Gryphon Bugga in Potter Wasp:

(I'm so sorry!  I haven't written up the pattern yet!!)

The next pair being knitted is Dusty Corners:

As you can see, this dog (unlike the girl's friend's dog in Canada) respects yarn and has never chewed any yarn (he did chew on a scarf because there was chicken bake juice on it (the girl was eating the chicken bake while driving and the juice dripped on the scarf without her knowledge).  Later, the girl left the scarf on the floor! So it's not the dog's fault.  I mean, who can resist chicken bake juice???)

The girl has to work on the gusset, foot, and toe for the second sock!

Let The Plunge Begin!

A week ago, I cast on the first sock for the Revellenics Games.  I finally finished it on Day 9.  I was knitting it while at my friend's lake home last weekend and also when I was watching the Olympics Games.  I most enjoyed watching the Swimming races, most notably Michael Phelps.  I fell in love watching him catch up and touching the wall 4 years ago and I can't get tired of watching him swim - swooping in with his long arms on the Butterfly Stroke.  And so, as I finished the pair today, I decided to name my project page after him, as today, he swam his final race in the Olympics.  This is Angee by Cookie A.  I started it back in September 2009.  This was knitting in Hazel Knits Artisan in Stick O' Butter.

This is pair #1 for my August KAL on SKA - Free Up Your Needles challenge.  Pair #8 for 2012, Pair #1 for the 26 pairs plunge.  Up next:  The Sock To be Named... this is the pair I designed for the April SKA Design Your Own Challenge. I haven't decided what to call this pattern yet. Maybe if I finish this pair while another Track athlete retires, I may name the design after him/her!

The one finished sock looks like this:

And that's all I did the entire week.  Knitting ONE sock!  It was getting really boring, but I had to finish it!  That's why I'm taking time to really decide what project do I want to concentrate on the next week!

My London-project bag has gotten back to Michele.  The post office she used slapped a priority mail label on it, but never delivered it to me and returned to Michele with a "refused" stamp.  She had other issues with that post office.  It was one she does not normally use!  I hope to use it before the Olympics is over.

Meanwhile, a couple of packages arrived this week.  The first is the Blue Moon Fiber Arts' July package.  It's colorwork with a chicken on the pattern.  I can't cast on new socks this month, so I haven't looked the pattern.

Today, my Sokkusu Orignal arrived from the Socktopus Club. It's a very nice green, but again, can't look at new projects until next month!  It's called Mojito.

One last thing I wanted to share with you... last month, I had a deadline to use up some photo credits.  The credits included 20 photo cards.  I have no need for greeting cards as I like to make my own.  But then, I came up with a brilliant idea.  I can make cards that has a knitting theme so I have cards to send to my knitting friends.  So I made these up with some of my favorite project photos and these are what I came up with.  I hope that I get to send one or both to you one day!