For real, though.

I'm still spinning away on my Turkish Drop Spindle from KnitPicks. I am absolutely in love with it. I took it to knit night at my LYS, The Knit Nook, last night so i could show it off to the other spinners and spindlers (They're a very well rounded group there). I'm pretty sure as soon as i finish spinning some more of this yummy Merino/Silk blend, i will stain and possibly varnish the spindle, just because i think it'll be prettier.

Unfortunately for me they had several balls of this beautiful "Lite Lopi" (it's about the same gauge as eco wool from what i can tell from swatching it this morning) in the 25% off bin. I couldn't say no. It isn't enough to make a garment, but i'm hoping to find a nice color to go with it somewhere on the vast internets and make a button up vest for this winter. We'll see, eh?

My top secret death star plans are coming to fruitions. I just finished the gusset on this mitten and am trying to fly through the rest of the hand at top speed! The pattern will be available after October 8th, both online and through your LYS that carries Universal Yarn. (The mitten is knit out of their Pace sock yarn, which has been fantastic to work with and will be seen again in my designs, believe-you-me.)

One other little announcement-ish thing i wanted to make is to let the internet know i've begun work on a booklet of men's patterns. It is tentatively titled "The Boys in The Band" and will feature fun, modern menswear that all the dudes in your life will love (if they know what's best for them) but won't bore you to tears with endless, stockinette-of-doom, crew neck, set-in-sleeve sweaters. There'll be some accessories that will work unisex and several garments. I haven't decided on the amount of patterns or the length of the booklet, but i have over 15 different design concepts in my head i'm working on whittling down to a more manageable chunk. I'll keep you posted.

in which i plan to talk for two seconds about an upcoming design and end up telling you all sorts of things.

I'm knit knit knitting away at a new deadline project. This was originally supposed to be part of the spring knits i sent to Universal Yarn, but it got lost by the wayside in favor of doing a better job of finishing up the other patterns. Well, they liked the idea and asked if i could still do it and finish it by october 8th, so i'm knitting my little fingers off.

It's a colorwork mitten, inspired by Brocade fabrics and Art Nouveau/Art Deco style illustration. It'll be in two sizes and charted. I'm very excited to have the impetus to finish this design, because i feel like it's going to be beautiful (that's me tooting my own horn right there, in case you didn't catch it).

There's design process talk and all that junk to come, as this project had a lot of false starts and stops. I'm looking forward to telling you about them when i can show you the whole damn mitten.

Also, I finished spinning and plying my first hank of yarn! AHH! look at that! I'm still in disbelief that i made yarn myself. I've dabbled in spining both on a wheel and drop spindle (this was drop spindled) over the last couple years, but never took anything too seriously or to full fruition. So this feels pretty awesome! It's not a lot, but its mine :)

This is also one of the first photos i've taken in my homemade lightbox. It took me less than 30 minutes to construct and i spent all of $3 on it at the very most (posterboard is so cheap! and tissue paper is too!)

Also Pictured: Bowl of nearly over ripe pears, cute plaid messenger bag i got for $7, tape, ruler, extra tissue paper and my top-whorl drop spindle recently freed of yarn, and the most beauty-challenged dining room chairs known to man.

I just made a purchase from KnitPicks, because i needed a few things.. well, needed in the sense that i wanted them and no longer wanted to live without them. that kind of need. *AHEM* Anyway. They're making their own spinning supplies now, which are extremely affordable. I got myself their Turkish Drop Spindle and the large Niddy Noddy (or as the BF put it recently, Tiddy Toddy - all he could remember was the iddy/oddy and alliteration. frankly, considering his total lack of interest in the specifics of my fiber proclivities, this was pretty impressive) (not saying he's unsupportive, of course, because he wears the hat i knit him with a great deal of pride) as well as some of their Bare Roving in Merino/Silk and WotA.

Let me just say, i've never spun merino or silk, but i think i'm in love.

The closest to a complaint i have about any of it is that it is all unfinished wood. But, that's also why The drop spindle can be sold for 15$, and the niddy noddy for only $12. It is sanded smooth, and that's really all you need. I'm thinking about painting or staining either of my new toys, i think it would be fun and an additional great way to express some creativity ;)

It's been delightfully slow at the new job, allowing for some knitting time and even a little spinning when i think to bring it all along with me. Usually i just have the knitting though. No complaints about any of that :)

Sorry, Your Princess Is In Another Castle

Hey there! I'm going to spoil you with blog posts this close together, but this weekend brought exciting news and i didn't want to wait too long to share it.

A sock pattern i did for Pico-Accuardi Dyeworks' Community Sock Club back in February has been freed from it's club exclusivity, as the club's first year just came to an end in August! Which means I can finally release this pattern out into the world, with all the club member's notes taken in to account to make the pattern a little easier.

Blah blah blah, words words, i know what you really want is a picture. So, here's a few!

I'm pretty proud of her, And it started me on a stint of cables-on-socks for a couple other sock clubs which just may have proven I am certifiably crazy. There's just something so very very satisfying about textural, almost pictographic cables on a sock. I will fully admit this cable pattern is a little fiddly, especially since the gauge is pretty small (9 stitches to the inch, though i think a few people have knit it at 8 and not had a problem, math and knowledge of your yarn will help make that decision for you)

The Sock is knit toe-up, which meant i had to find a good, stretch bind off to suggest to people. Fortunately, the sock's somewhat frilly design lent itself to a Picot Bind-off. It's incredibly comfortable and stretchy, and very satisfying to finish! Also, it's a darn cute addition to this sock.

The heel is inspired by a heel from WendyKnits, i'm not sure if it has a proper name. The sock does have gusseted increases, and then the heel is turned much like the "cup" portion of a top-down traditional heel-flap sock, except it makes up the entire back of the heel. It's pretty nifty and easy to do. It's my new favorite toe-up heel in fact!

So, Without further ado, i leave you with "the deets"

Pattern: Sorry, Your Princess Is In Another Castle by David Castillo

Yarn: Pico Accuardi Dyeworks Stevie Sparkles in "Almost Love"

Gauge: 9 stitches/inch in stockinette

Yardage: 350-400yrds would be best, though you could shorten the cuff easily by omiting a repeat of the cable chart

Instructions: Basic sock instructions written, Cables are charted.

Price: $5.00(us)

Excerpt from the pattern notes given to the sock club:

"While i was designing this sock, knowing full well that it would be the february sock, and that you would all be getting it about a week before valentine’s day, i knew i would want to relate it to valentines day. But, i also knew that the yarn wasn’t going to be red and that i couldn’t just make normal hearts. So the thought of Star-Crossed lovers came in to my head, and i felt that was a great theme for this sock.

Now, when we think of starcrossed lovers, the first that come to mind at Romeo And Juliet, but then we also think of Heathcliff and Catherine or even Tristan and Isolde. Basically, these love affairs never end well for anyone involved. But then I got to thinking about Super Mario Brothers. This plumber from new york gets whisked away to magical land where he meets a princess who then gets abducted by an evil king and he spends the whole video game trying to save her. Each time he thinks he’s close, after he’s battled through harsh terrain and strange creatures to defeat one of the king’s minions, He’s then told “Sorry, your princess is in another castle”."

The PDF download of the pattern features one full color page with photos, but all the pattern details/text/charts are on pages with very printer friendly layouts.

I have a couple new patterns coming available soon, so I will keep you posted. I also managed to finish plying my first spindle-full of handspun yarn! So there will be pictures of that once it's washed and dryed!

The Twisting

I'm one of those bloggers who's always thinking "ooh! i have to remember this detail so i can include it in a post!". The unfortunate thing is, i do this so frequently i forget a lot of details here and there.

I'm also one of those bloggers who tries really hard to keep track of yarn labels so i can tell you exactly which colorway i used for something, or what the yardage is, or any of those things. Which means i have a million labels everywhere which doesn't really help anything.

The point is, I'm going to show you something and all i can tell you is that it is Blue Faced Leicester from Fleece Artist, and i bought it at Knit/Purl in Portland.

Isn't it pretty? Now you can understand my dismay at losing the label and having no recollection of it's name. Point is - BFL, Fleece Artist, Knit/purl.

Now, this little piece of lovely comes with a confession: I am burned out. I just met my spring 2011 deadline with Universal Yarn, ever so barely, and for some reason the patterns i turned in really took it out of me. I even had to cancel plans for finishing one of the patterns for this go around (don't worry, i'm still working on it and planning to release it). I'm just a little tired of knitting and designing right now. That doesn't mean i haven't plotted out 2-3 sweater sketches in my design notebook recently. Or that i didn't just case on a new men's sweater design. Or that i'm not carrying it with me everywhere... But yeah.

I'm giving myself permission to take a rest. I'm working at putting out a booklet of men's patterns within the next year, so that's a big undertaking and i'm a little afraid of it, and i really just need to get my mojo back, you know? I find mojo returns when you take a break when you need one. So i'm just letting that happen.

In the meantime, my hands still itch for something to do, so I picked up my drop spindle and this lovely chunk of fiber i've had waiting around for the right moment and began practicing my spindling.

It looks predominantly blue here, and more has been spun since then (Almost twice as much!) but i assure you, there's a nice bit of subtle variation in the color!

It was slow going at first because i have never seriously spun with anything that wasn't pencil roving. Meaning i've never drafted as i spun with a drop spindle (i have very limited spinning wheel experience, but i got the hang of drafting in that case for the most part). It was an interesting experience and i had to figure out what worked best for my hands and whatnot. It's been very enjoyable though.

I even found this cute little tote at target for $2.50, and it's now where i'm keeping spinning stuff i'm working on. This way as i pull of pieces of the roving i don't lose track of it, and can keep it close at hand.

I'm sure i'll be back to knitting up a storm soon, but for right now i'm enjoying this diversion :)