Call Me Crazy

The WIP socks are finished. It's been raining so much lately, I haven't had an opportunity to take a decent photo. I'll I've got is this inside shot; but it serves the purpose.



The truth is laid bare. Can you see it?

The socks are fraternal.

Collette was the first to guess correctly.
What's shocking about that? Well, this is the first time I've ever knit a fraternal pair of socks from self-patterning yarn. Call me crazy; I'm sure some of you will.

And, in honor of the endless rain, I hereby give you a photo of my favorite tree in my backyard, taken a day before the hail stripped most of the blossoms right from the branches.



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Allow Me to Clarify

To: Dear Readers
From: ma2ut.blogspot.com
Re: Huh??

It has been brought to my attention that many of you are perplexed by the URL I use for this blog. Accordingly, I hereby reveal the genesis of the name.

ma = MA (i.e., Massachusetts, state of my birth)
2 = to (as in to move from one place to another)
ut = UT (i.e., Utah, state in which I currently reside)

Get it now?

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Branching Out Blocking

Several people have emailed me asking if the little "bow" at the end of the Branching Out scarf can be eliminated through blocking. Yes, indeed. And I just happen to have a Branching Out scarf that I recently knit to demonstate.

First, the bow is really pronounced only on the cast-on end:


This is the cast-on end




This is the bound-off end

To eliminate the bow, you just need to wet-block the scarf by following the instructions in the pattern. After you've pressed all the extra water out of the wet scarf, run a blocking wire through both ends. Here, I'm using a #000 double-pointed needle. (Are you surprised that I own a set of #000 needles?)



Trust me, both ends will block straight across if you just be patient and allow the scarf to dry completely before you remove the pins.

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Got Alpaca?

I adore all the the comments that have been left about this week's WIP. Someone has given the correct answer, but I'm not telling who that person is until I finish the sock. But, I'm getting close. I'll only say that the correct answer is not that I've knit two left socks, although that comment was my favorite.
Today, you'll have to be content to listen to my spinning news.

A few weeks ago, a knitting friend of mine called me on the phone and asked if I'd be interested in several alpaca fleeces. Come again??? Apparently, her sister knew someone who knew someone who knew someone who raises alpacas. This mythical alpaca herder does not spin or even knit, but she'd been storing her fleeces for several years solely because she couldn't bring herself to throw them away. My friend and I figured, what the hell, we had nothing to lose. The bags were delivered to my friend's porch one blustery day. I stopped by that evening and picked up one of them.



After consulting with the area fiber expert, I learned a couple of things. One, the fleeces were actually not crappy. Two, what I thought were yucky, icky parts of the fleece were just dirt that could actually be washed away. Cool. In a characteristic fit of anal-rentitiveness, however, I sat down this weekend with the bag of alpaca and picked through it. The end result, a box containing a measly 12 ounces of pristine, unprocessed alpaca:



I still intend to send this off to be processed at Wooly Knob and can hardly wait to see what they do with it. Anyone have any idea how much alpaca fiber is lost during processing?. I'd like to get back enough roving to at least make a scarf.

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WIP of the Week

I'm taking a slightly different approach with the WIP of the Week this week.

Here's the picture:



Obviously, it's the second of my Regia Jubilee socks. But, here's the question:

In last Wednesday's post, I mentioned that I had a shocking revelation about this second sock. Can you guess what that revelation is??

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ROAK’d!

When I got home from work yesterday, a lovely little package was waiting for me. Inside . . .
Eureka! Two skeins of Koigu in the most wonderful color I’ve ever seen.



The gifter, Thuy, enclosed a cute card and wrote, “I hope that you like red.” Like red? Is the Pope Catholic? I love red! What a fabulous surprise. I’m still floored by her generosity. Thanks, Thuy; you made my day!!

WIP Revealed

Now the moment that some all of you have been waiting for.
The WIP of the week was:



A Fiber Trends Baltic Sea Stole.

I believe Ana was the only person who guessed correctly.

I found the yarn for the stole during my excursion to the yarn shops in Ogden with the grrls last weekend. It’s a vintage sport-weight alpaca that fit the bill perfectly. I bought five skeins, assuming that each contained about 200 yards of yarn (the pattern calls for 900 yards). But, as soon as I got through one pattern repeat I realized that I was destined to run out of yarn. The pattern literally eats up yarn. I called the owner of the shop and through nothing less than divine intervention, she was able to find two more skeins tucked in the infamous "clearance room."



She sent them to me the next day, together with a nice little note detailing the amount I owed for the yarn and asking me to please include shipping by looking on the front of the envelope to get the amount. I tell ya, some people are just too trusting.

My friend gave me the pattern as a Hanukkah present and I put off starting it because it appeared as though the knitting would require more concentration than I am able to devote to it right now. As I got into it, however, it became clear that the knitting is extremely intuitive. So, although there is no "rest" row (i.e., you do not just purl across all the stitches on the wrong side), the knitting is actually fairly mindless. In fact, I was able to knit a few rows while I watched the Daily Show last night. Plus, the results are impressive. That said, don’t expect to see this as an FO any time soon. It’s still going to take a while to knit up 1200 yards of sport-weight yarn.
Has anyone else made this pattern? What did you think of it?

Have a great weekend. Happy Pesach!

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MIA

Since it’s pretty obvious that I haven’t been blogging much lately, you may be wondering what I’ve been doing. Well, answering emails would be high on the list of recent activities, but I’ve also been knitting and spinning. In fact, I have some exciting spinning news, but maybe I’ll share that later. As for the knitting, I did something this week that I’ve never, ever done before. I cast on a new sock using the same pattern as the sock I most recently finished. Yup, two of the same socks in a row. How radical is that!

The first is finished:



The yarn was sent to me by Tine and it’s Regia Jubilee. It looks much better knitted up than it did in the skein; I just love it.

Here’s a slightly blurry picture that shows the stitch pattern a little better.



Like most of the socks I knit, I just followed my tried and true, basic pattern and inserted the stitch pattern. This stitch pattern is a simple two-round repeat:

rnd 1: knit
rnd 2: k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk

And, in case you're curious (and even if you're not), here's my sock "formula."

Cast on 60-64 stitches using 2.25mm needles.
k2, p2 rib for 20 rounds
leg pattern for 50 rounds
EOP heel for 32 rows
Pick up 17 stitches
knit 45-50 rounds after completing the gusset decreases
decrease EOR until 32 stitches remain
decrease ER until 12 stitches remain
Kitchener
make the second (as we all know, this is the most important step).

What about you? Do you also have a tried-and-true basic pattern? Wanna share it?
Oh, and stay tuned. I have a shocking revelation about the second sock that I’ll reveal after it’s completed.

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Scarf Winner

The winner of the Branching Out scarf is Barbara in Alaska. 100% of Barbara's very generous bid is going straight to the Komen Foundation. I hope she enjoys her scarf. Thanks to Barbara and to everyone else who bid on the scarf!

Oh, and check out the scarves that have been knit by Elizabeth and HoJo.

Baskets

I'd also like to thank everyone for the positive response to the Nantasket Basket pattern. Finished baskets are beginning to crop up on blogs in knitting land. I think Rani may have been the first to finish one. But Carla was a close second. If you've made a basket and don't have a blog, send me a picture and I'll post it here for a tiny piece of the knitting world to see.





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WIP of the Week

Here's the WIP of the Week:



Guesses anyone??

Last Chance to Bid on My Branching Out Scarf

Today is the last day to bid on the Branching Out Scarf I knit (and knit, and knit) when I created the pattern that was published in the Spring issue of Knitty. The bidding is now up to $95.00!

Mother's Day is right around the corner. What better gift to get your Mom than a fabulous mohair and silk scarf. And, best of all, I did all the work! But, you can tell her that all the money you paid for it went toward breast cancer research.

If you missed it the first time, here's how the auction works:

• If you’d like to bid on the scarf, send an email to me at this address: BranchingOutScarf at gmail dot com
  Or just click on this picture:
  


• Put the amount of your bid in the subject line of the message (that way I don’t have to open each message).


• Each day, I’ll delete all the messages except the one from the person who has submitted the highest bid.


• Each morning I’ll post the amount of the high bid so you can bid again if you're not the high bidder.


• I’ll close the bidding on April 18th. The person who has submitted the highest bid by the end of that day, gets the scarf.


• The highest bidder will then send me a check made out to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.


• Once I get the check, I’ll send out the scarf.

Got it? If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me. And spread the word!

Good luck and please bid high; it’s for a good cause and the scarf really is fabulous. And don't forget -- all the money from the sale of the scarf goes straight to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. So bid now; don't miss out.

Knitalong

If, by chance, you're not the high bidder when the auction ends, you can still knit a scarf for your Mom (or yourself). In fact, there's a wonderful knitalong for the scarf going on right now. Check it out; there are some beautiful scarves being knit.

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BYOWN

The title of this post, BYOWN, refers to the last leg of our Saturday shopping spree. It translates to: Bring Your Own Wet Nap

After the relative calm and organization of the Needlepoint Joint, we renewed our strength with a wonderful lunch at Rooster's. Good thing too, because we needed some stamina to survive the next stop, Knit Craft Studio, a/k/a The Haunted House of Knitting Horrors

This shop is simultaneously amazing and frightening. Margene had some wonderful photos of the interior on her blog on Monday. Here's a taste; can you discern that the Noro and Fiesta yarns are mixed in with decades-old wools and 100% acrylics:



I did, however, purchase some of that decades-old wool. It was still in the original box, perched precariously on top of a large pile of yarn (photos courtesy of Laurie)



At fifty cents a skein I couldn't pass it up.
I bought 11 skeins but traded three to Laurie.



I've now discovered from the information on this informative site, that each 1 oz. skein contains 170 yards of yarn so I'm inclined to use it for a shawl instead of socks.

As the owner rang up my purchases, she asked me (as she does every customer), "Would you like to wash your hands." I declined; frightened to view the state of the shop's bathroom. Laurie, brave soul that she is, reported that the bathroom was no different than any other room in the house, except that it was full of needlepoint kits instead of yarn.

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WIP Revealed

Norma was the first to guess the WIP of the Week correctly. It's a felted basket knit from my new pattern:



The pattern is now available and you can get your very own copy by clicking on the photo below, or use the photo on the right sidebar. See it?


I'm sorta proud of this pattern because it uses two fairly unusual techniques that I've never seen used in a felted pattern before. My test knitters loved it.

Larisa, a member of our local Stitch 'n Bitch group and a truly amazing knitter, made the two-color version in the photo. Isn't it just spectacular.

Branching Out Scarf Auction

The current high bid for the Branching Out Scarf is now up to $85.00!!!! If that's higher than what you bid, you can bid again by clicking on the picture below and putting the amount of your bid in the subject line of your message.

Scroll down and read last Friday's post to learn the purpose for the bidding and the guidelines.

Thanks!

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Saturday With the Grrls

Emily, Margene, and Laurie have already posted some interesting accounts of our Saturday shopping spree. Margene picked us up in the early morning and we headed to Ogden, Utah which is about 40 miles north of Salt Lake City (60 miles if Margene is driving). First stop was the Needlepoint Joint.
One of the things I love about this shop is that it has shelves and shelves of books, some of which are difficult to find either because they are popular and fly off the shelves at other shops, or because they are unique or archaic so they don't sell well and other shops don't order them. I snagged a set of these stitch pattern books, distributed by Schoolhouse Press.



It's a three volume set, full of travelling stitches and cable patterns. Yum!! I also picked up a bit of roving which I've nearly finished spinning into "dental floss" (see yesterday's photo).
After the Needlepoint Joint, we had lunch and then headed to the "Haunted House of Knitting Horrors." More on that leg of the journey later this week together with pictures of the yarn I got for 50 cents a skein!

When I got home, I Kitchenered the toe of these babes:



The yarn is a wool/cotton/nylon blend made by Fortissima. Kadri sent it to me last year and I've been dying to knit it up. Unfortunately, the photo does an extremely poor job of representing the wonderful colors: blue, green, and purple. The colorway is aptly named, "Laguna." Guess what I'm wearing today.

Branching Out Scarf Auction

The current high bid for the Branching Out Scarf is still $75.00!! If that's higher than what you bid, you can bid again by clicking on the picture below and putting the amount of your bid in the subject line of your message.

Scroll down and read last Friday's post to learn the purpose for the bidding and the guidelines.

Thanks!

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WIP of the Week

Here's this week's WIP. Can you guess what it is??

Weekend Frolic

On Saturday, Margene, Laurie, Emily, Larisa, and I took a little road trip to a couple of yarn shops north of Salt Lake City. Full details tomorrow so stayed tuned. But here's a sneak preview of my acquisitions:

Branching Out Scarf Auction

The current high bid for the Branching Out Scarf is $75.00!!

If that's higher than what you bid, you can bid again by clicking on the picture below and putting the amount of your bid in the subject line of your message.

Scroll down and read last Friday's post to learn the purpose for the bidding and the guidelines.

Thanks!

Who's linking here?

High Bid

The current high bid for the Branching Out Scarf is $55.00!!

If that's highter than what you bid, you can bid again by clicking on the picture below and putting the amount of your bid in the subject line of your message.

Scroll down and read yesterday's post to learn the purpose for the bidding and the guidelines.

Thanks!

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My Fifteen Minutes

So, did you see IT, did you see IT????
The new Knitty is up and I have a pattern in it!! Go check IT out. I’ll wait right here.

So, what do you think???? You want the pink scarf, don’t you!



Well, I’ve decided to give you the opportunity to get the pink scarf without knitting it yourself. I’m auctioning off the scarf that I knit when I created the pattern and I’m donating all the proceeds to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The scarf is knit from Douceur et Soie yarn which is 70% baby mohair and 30% silk.

Here’s how the auction will work:

• If you’d like to bid on the scarf, send an email to me at this address: BranchingOutScarf at gmail dot com
  Or just click on this picture:
  


• Put the amount of your bid in the subject line of the message (that way I don’t have to open each message).


• Each day, I’ll delete all the messages except the one from the person who has submitted the highest bid.


• Each morning I’ll post the amount of the high bid so you can bid again if you're not the high bidder.


• I’ll close the bidding on April 18th. The person who has submitted the highest bid by the end of that day, gets the scarf.


• The highest bidder will then send me a check made out to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.


• Once I get the check, I’ll send out the scarf.

Got it? If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me. And spread the word!

Good luck and please bid high; it’s for a good cause and the scarf really is fabulous.
Oh, and enjoy the pattern. It’s a fun knit.

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Getting Close

My latest pattern is being finalized and it should be available for sale next week. This is one version:



Shape: Round
Finished Dimensions (approx.): 4.5" tall, 6.5" around the base

Like it?
Hate it?
Don't care?
Inquiring minds want to know.

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WIP Revealed

Well, there sure were some interesting guesses this week! I'd like to quash any frightening rumors Kimi may have started that I'm knitting a bikini for myself (or anyone else for that matter). Also, I just knew there'd be lots of teapot cozy guesses. It does look like a teapot cozy, doesn't it.

Lauren guessed that it was a shaker rib hat and Jessica guessed that it was Ken's Hat for the Dulaan Project. The answer lies somewhere in-between.



It is a hat for the Dulaan Project, but it's the Brioche Hat knit from the wonderful pattern in Elizabeth Zimmerman's amazing book, Knitting Without Tears. What a fun knit! And the finished hat is amazingly stretchy; just like EZ said it would be.



This hat could fit just about any head. And it's knit on only 36 stitches!

The brioche stitch is not the same as fisherman rib (a/k/a shaker rib). You do not knit into the stitch below. EZ opines that the brioche stitch is not suited for knitting in the round, and so I knit the hat back and forth on #11 circular needles with a single strand of bulky weight 100% merino wool (about 60 yards). After I seamed it up, I found this hat pattern that is knit circularly using the same stitch.
Oh, look, there's a teapot cozy pattern on the same page!

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WIP of the Week

So, can you guess what this is??



Here's the hint. When I took the picture I was almost finished.
Give it your best guess!

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Stranded!

My WIP of the Week was, in fact, the next pattern in the Six Sox Knitalong.

It's a cute, stranded pattern designed by Soxie, of PT Yarn and OpalChatters fame.

The pattern is customizable because Soxie has included a chart for the entire alphabet and some blank graph paper so you can chart out your own message on the leg of the sock. I knit in the name of my kids' high school.



My second sock turn out far better than the first so here are some of the stranding tips I learned from the first sock to the next.

1. Don't twist the two yarns to secure the floats no matter how long they are. It really decreases the stretchiness of the sock.


2. Knit the stranded sections much looser than you think you should.


3. The yarn that's brought from underneath stands out more prominently than the yarn that's carried over the top. So when you knit the letters, bring the yarn from underneath to make the words "pop" out a little more.

Diversion

If you have some spare time on your hands this weekend, check out this fascinating time waster.

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