over stuffed chair

Here is the view from my knitting chair of my ufo...we have a few dishclothes waiting to be mailed to rabbitch for donation, a black and green silk scribble, a white scribble shawl almost finished and a make waves afghan just started, plus a cashmere/silk scarf, and a tulip sweater, not to mention the two pair of socks that are lurking under the mass of fibre.

So the next project is to finish the ufo's, have you heard that before?

I will post pics as I complete, ever hopeful

sock it to me

Some three ply merino sock yarn, washable, or superwash, who can say...I would like to know if there is a difference and what it is, and I would also like to know the process of making it washable, like it is chemically stripped of its scales, or is it coated with polymer? these seem to be the two options and I would like to know which I am working with, not that either sounds very desirable. I do knit socks with this, and they seem safer from shinking but I really don't like the idea very much.

And on a completely other front, I have been spiral scarfing (hat the word scarf) for the obvious reasons, but like the spiralling. I did one with fine kid mohair and on the last two rows added silk and mohair plyed with beads..it turned out very small and delicate and I quite like it, pictures to follow later. Now I am casting off on a 50 50 silk merino in bright blue and it is totally other. Might be a little too soft a spiral we will see and I will take pictures.

Another three markets to go before the end of my marketing season, and I will miss talking to all the knitters and fiber fiends that I meet weekly, we have such fun talking about all this, very addictive personalities. So onward to casting off those 800 stitches of the spiral.

ravelry ta da...I'm in

Yes, finally in to ravelry and now to figure out how to make the most of it...I can already see that it will suck up some knitting time just perusing all the goodies that are there, not to mention getting some of my goodies into it but it looks like a good winterly thing. Marketing still and selling wool, and scribble lace kits, and baby sweaters and people are definitly thinking winter knitting here in the northwest, and of course, the weather is helping this cause as it has been shitty weather here for the past weeks or so and the morning dew is thick. I also got my new knit picks metal small needles, as the harlot recommended and they are divine, a little sharp but divine...I am knitting up a storm of socks, and now don;t have to worry about bending the bamboo, which I am apt to do and get a wow in the needle, the metal are definitely heavier but very secure feeling to me, I have poked myself rather severely on the left index finger so am working around that so I don't jam the sharp needle into it, a small drawback to having such fine needles in a little case, all very organized compared to all my other needles, definitely need a needle case just looking for the right one. I have several ufo`s on the go, a cashmere silk old shale scarf, a baby sweater, some jaywalker socks, all in lovely clear plastic zip bags, also from knit picks, which I thought were a great idea for kits, and now have about 10 beside my knitting chair full of work to be done, which I can clearly see, unfortunately, but maybe this will encourage me to work at them before starting a new project, which I am keen to do...so a pictureless post, but I will take more photos for the next time...

colours of the week

These are the latest colours of the kid mohair which I sell for the scribble lace work, and I am loving the way kid mohair takes the dye...these are apparently known as "semi solid" which I think means they are from one dye bath, and may be slightly varied in depth of colour....but these are very regular as I have been dyeing other fibres in the vats, and then once the sprinkle dye is dispersed I slip in a few skeins of the kid mohair to suck up the rest of the dye in the vat...thus exhausting the dye bath completely and getting some tonal similarities to the batches....I love the semi solid word, allows for a lot of f...ups...am still knitting away on the baby sweaters, I make one as a sampler of the wools and voila, someone must have it, so onto another, have made four so far with many combinations...even the silk /merino ones which are so so sooo...and made for baby Jesus, or at least a similar non drooling, non messy baby as they have to be hand washed...but they are so irresistable to make and quick, and so sweet...am doing one now with silk/merino, and soywool combos, so much for using up the ends of balls, these sweaters seem to be sucking up the best of the wools...

Mid summer here on tourist island and as I am trying to get to the gallery and following a 10 mph tourist, Im chanting "we are all tourists on this bus" ...a good reminder to myself, as we'd all be pretty up tight be the end of August without a mantra or two.

So to the beach to sit on the sandstone and knit in the cool of the evening, slightly overcast