"Simply Ginny," Supervised By Mr. "Paci"

I'm punching out of (knitting) work, before I go read some more H.P.
You've gotta love the alpaca i'm raising. Forget the barn, he likes to snuggle in bed. He's soooo soft! Too bad he won't let me shear him this summer. (or at all.) I guess i'll have to get my alpaca yarn elsewhere. Good thing he's cute.

Yes, this little dude is struting around, supervising my work on "Simply Ginny" socks. Very nice of him, huh? He made sure I got some work done this evening, after work, VBS volunteering & teaching 3 piano lessons.

The camera doesn't do it justice for the front of the sock, but it's turning out very nicely. Just knitting up this colorway is making me happy, let alone throwing in the extra stuff onto the sock. I love the one simple cable look, with the ribbing on the heel. I wish you could see the true colors. It reminds me so much of Ginny!

Let's Talk *Clean*

First of all, I am extremely excited to try out my "Ginny Weasley" skein I dyed up not too long ago! I'm already on my way to designing "Simply Ginny," an anklet sock that is easy, elegant in simplicity,....and refreshing. You get a wonderful mix of great portions of stockinette to just show off your colors, and that extra little edge from a common cable and ribbing on the cuff & heel. What a breath of fresh air.


...But, let's talk clean, shall we? I am a firm believer that 2x1 or 3x1...especially 2x2, 3x3... or anything higher than a simple 1x1 rib looks messy and stretched out on socks. (Yes, there are exceptions, as in full body ribbing on the leg.) So, should you never use those kinds of ribs on the edges of other projects? Heck no. They look great on hats and other such knitted items. However, what does happen to 2x1, 3x1 or other such ribs is that the cuff gets stretched out...and ugly. After wearing it over and over again, your sock probably won't spring back like it should. Not only are 1x1 ribs pretty, and has much elasticity, there is also another option in that family: K Tbl's (knitting through the back of the loop). If you *K1 Tbl, P1* across every round, not only will your cuff be very elastic, it holds the integrity of the knit stitch to the fullest. Look closely at my cuff. When you stretch it, only the purls are being stretched, thus keeping the knit stitch intact and not stretching in that ugly way it does with other ribs. Those little V's stay V's. Period. Isn't that a beautiful thing?
I highly recommend you try this rib, if you haven't already, on your next socks. You won't be disappointed.

Yowzers! It's gonna be hard to choose!

Hey everyone! Thanks a bunch for participating in my first annual "Name That Colorway" Contest! It was really awesome seeing you all spew out names like that, when my brain froze on this skein. I was laughing hard with every new candy entry.... there were so many of them! SO, do you wanna see all of the enteries? Make sure I got this right...I checked several times to make sure I didn't leave anyone out. (Sorry, all those after the closing of the contest couldn't be admitted....):

-Koi Pond (Diana)
-Sunset Lake (Michelle)
-Sugar Rush (Jill)
-Everlasting Gobstopper (Liz)
-Cotton Candy (Trek & Laural)--not in to win contest...right?!
-Kindergarden Daze (Stephieface)
-Jawbreaker (Sarah)
-Sherbert Delight (Alison)
-The Evening Storm (Kate)
-Aurora Borealis (Laurie)
-Sex on the Beach & Long Island Tea (Cass)[referred several times]
-Bertie Botts (Jennie A.)
-Freesia Fields (Alana)
-Punky Brewster (Megan)
-Quinceañera (Diana)--[referred]
-Carnival (She'saCrafty One)
-Candy Cotton at the Country Fair (Alaina)
-Sugar Pixies (Jen. C)
-Tutti-Frutti (Debbear 62)
-Birthday Cake (Megan)-[referred]
-My Imaginary Friend (5elementknitr)

There were a lot of people learning about this contest through Cass' blog. I know a Cassie in blogland (the adventures of Cassie), but I'm pretty sure that she didn't mention my contest... so I was wondering who is this Cass? lol. She's not even on the list! She should have had like 4-5 goes! lol.

So, the moment of truth! I guess you'll have to wait a tiny bit on this one. I'll post later today after really thinking hard on the 3 best ones. It's going to be a challage because there are so many names that you gave me that I would use! So come back soon and check out the 3 top runners!

Snuggles (KUAS Original Pattern)

Errata for pattern: N #1 should have "10" sts after thumb gusset & use "4" not "5 sts from Pinky

Designed by Anna PeckThis free pattern has been removed 10/17/12. It may or may not return, but if it does, it will be tweaked and pdf’ed and available for an inexpensive $1.99 price.
 

General Information:
SIZE- Standard (ONE)

MATERIALS:
-Set of five double pointed needles, size 5 US (or size 6 US for larger hands)
-1 Skein of Lion Brand Worsted Weight “Wool-Ease” in Dark Rose Heather (Color #139, Lot# 8459), or in any color you wish.
-Ring Marker
-4 Stitch Holders or large safety pins
-Cable Needle
-Tapestry Needle

GAUGE-
5 stitches/ 7 rows= 1 inch in stockinette stitch

Pure & Evil?

STILL WANNA PARTICIPATE IN THE "NAME THAT YARN" CONTEST?
Read the post below. You've got until Sunday at midnight, before I choose 3 of the best colorway names and make a poll for ya'll to vote. Use the last post's comment page for participating. Merci. Oh, did I forget to mention that the winner gets that contest yarn? Everyone loves a good freebie, right? lol.

--Now, onto some new stuff--
I decided that after a cancellation in my schedule, I had some time on my hands to do a couple more dyes. And that's just what I did! However, boy was it hot in my house today! I was literally sweating over a hot stove for a couple of hours before drinking coffee at caribou with someone that I knew from H.S, and sweating some more when I got back into my 100 degree house. Just put all of that together, they do equal dehydration...big time!
Je presente, avec plus effort et l'amour, "Double Potions with Snape." (Ok, hopefully you Frenchies can read that. I swear, my French is draining out of my noggin' like water. Sorry no accents for my laptop... there's no side numbers to do the commands. lol.)
...another view.
I swear, that's not pink...it's silver! there's dark green, light green, black, purple & silver.
Ici, tu vu, "The Secret Waterfall."
Silver, sky blue & teal. Too bad squinting won't even help you see that, though.

The Sock & Name that Colorway CONTEST!

First, let's get to the "real stuff" before the CONTEST!
My finished "Candied Love" sock.
Go ahead, click on it... you can actually see the hearts this time.


Candied love: A flirtatious type of love that springs forth at the beginning of relationships. Although that love may be real, it hasn’t evolved yet into that pure & unconditional love one sees later on, one that needs no attention for his retention. So for now, here's frills & spice for show, to make sure his eyes are on you. Just you.

LoL... don't take my description too seriously. It's just supposed to be a fun & flirty pair of lace heart socks.
Pretty Saucy, huh? It almost kind of looks cooler without the other one, in the picture.
Just off the press, and in timely manner, since my hands were starting to really stick to the metal needles. I completely hate that feeling. I've got a deadline of one week to finish up the other sock, and Joe's UFO. Then I can take a cooler picture with him in it. The sock needs a guy in it... what do you think?

Now onto the Contest!
I just dyed another skein, because....well, just because I'm crazy enough to do another one soo soon.
However, I was having the hardest time trying to come up with a name for this one.
Then it hit me.

I thought that it would be fun to have a colorway naming contest, since the colors are pretty funky together.
It's up to you, oh faithful commenter-friends & lurkers, to come up with the perfect (and jazzy) name for this one.
It's a hard one... what goes with lilac, sky blue, periwinkle, silver, salmon, pink & white?
The winner gets fame & glory on the winner's post....and this skein! Freebies are always good, right? Yeah, I should probably get some crackers to go with all this cheesyness.

"NAME THAT COLORWAY" RULES:
1. First, come up with the perfect colorway name. Jokesters might gain extra merit, as long as it's to good humor. Post on THIS post's comment page ONLY!! Thanks. :)
2. Post these rules on your blog & your colorway idea. That way, no one will use something like it, by mere freak accident. Who ever finds out about this contest on your blog must refer you on this comment page below, before participating in the contest. (This is kind of like Lotus' Knits contest idea. But we will use a poll too...)
-->If you see your name (or blog address) on my comment page below, you can add another colorway name idea! The more referals for you, the better! Good luck to you all!
3. The top 3 best names will be put on a poll, so you all can vote!
4. Contest ends: Sunday, July 29th @ midnight!

So, the sooner you comment, the better chance you have of getting another go. lol.
Feel free to copy & paste the rules. No use in typing it all over again.

*************************************************************
So far, we have:
-Koi Pond (Diana)
-Sunset Lake (Michelle)
-Sugar Rush (Jill)
-Everlasting Gobstopper (Liz)
-Cotton Candy (Trek & Laural)--not in to win contest
-Kindergarden Daze (Stephieface)
-Jawbreaker (Sarah)
-Sherbert Delight (Alison)
-The Evening Storm (Kate)
-Aurora Borealis (Laurie)
-Bertie Botts (Jennie A.)
-Freesia Fields (Alana)
-Punky Brewster (Megan)
-Quinceañera (Diana)--[referred]
-Carnival (She'saCrafty One)
-Candy Cotton at the Country Fair (Alaina)
-Sugar Pixies (Jen. C)
-Tutti-Frutti (Debbear 62)
-Birthday Cake (Megan)-[referred]
-My Imaginary Friend (5elementknitr)

----CONTEST CLOSED! (as of midnight)-------

Just a Quickie...

Here's just a quickie post before bed.

I did the gusset up to the point right here, today. I was a little disappointed that the hearts didn't end 1/2 an inch further up. Oh well, I still have some tricks up my sleeve.

My hands are sore. My back is cramped.

It's time for bed.

Back to some more Harry Potter. Can you believe that I didn't even crack open the 7th yet? And this is coming from quite an impatient person! No, I'm still trudging through the 6th book before the 7th, to make sure those little important details are fresh in my noggin'. I didn't even open it to see how many pages there are, lest I find out something from the last page that I shouldn't have...yet.

I swear, if someone blows it for me (little details/events or big)... that shall be their last breath. lol. I'm just waiting for the media to blow it. Seriously. I'll eye-boycott their show if they do. I really want the entire 7th book to be a surprise.

Don't even tell me how good the book is, or how "surprising" the ending is... or whatever. I don't want to know. And yes, I would be directing this mostly to Liz.

Fiber Fair & Dyes

I had an amazing (& Spoiling) weekend already. On Friday, I went to the Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair and came back with quite a few items! I had to leave once my bank account was pretty drained... but, I got some wool on clearance, several roving balls, lots of jacquard dyes, Brittany needles (in the short sock sizes), a tee-shirt, an alpaca plush (I love him!! eh, man did I buckle.), and a cute sheep tape-measurer that i've been wanting for ages. I just got my ball winder that came in the mail the other day, and have been winding up everything into pretty balls with wonderful center pulls! I got the 7th Harry Potter book, and more yarn came in the mail today! Yowzers!

Of course, I had to plunge into dyeing with the new dyes:

I call this one "Fairy Cove." I absolutely love it... and have plans for it already. There is periwinkle, lilac, the brownish-olive & silver. I also plan on making a similar one, but with green instead of the brownish-olive tone, and calling it "Fairy Garden." I should start a fairy collection!

This is my interpretation on "Ginny Weasley." It looks so pretty! I'm going to have a HP night sometime when I get back to Iowa and knit up my Gryffindor & Ginny Weasley socks. The skein contains: salmon, silver, fusia, lighter fusia & once again that olive-brown.

This one was pretty cool too. I named it "Midnight Sanctuary." There's black, sky blue, mixed greens to try to make seagreen & teal. (Man do I love teal.)

KNITTING UPDATE: Now that I got a little out of my system, I can focus more on my candied love socks again. I'm working on the gusset at the moment.

"Candied Love" Progress & Birch

The air's on, so needles out!

I casted on my "Candied Love" pattern and got 2 repeats done. It's only around 4 inches of heart repeats, so i'll do another repetition before the heel. Although you all might complain that you can't see the lacey hearts in the picture, it's not entirely due to my crummy camera's focus incapability this time. I planned on the purple-red-white variegation mixed in with an overloaded dose of lace within the heart. That was intentional. (Hence, "candied," just like the flirty and non-purity of love at the beginning of relationships...when it's all for show.) If you still don't understand what the heck I'm talking about, just think of the beginning of relationships & that boyfriend/girlfriend who always wrote "I love you" with all the little frilly hearts around it, after a only a few days of dating.
Close up:

And yes, this pattern would be wonderful in a nice pure red skein, but then it's not "candied." It's just "hearted."

Of course, this blog wouldn't be complete without another dyed skein...
Some double trouble action of my "Candied Love" yarn. Pretty close in colorway, huh?



Here's "Birch." It looks as though it will be a wonderful skein for nature socks. Maybe I need to go camping sometime, to have an excuse to knit these up sooner.


Ok, so remember how I moaned about this skein earlier? Well, it turns out that rewinding works wonders!
"Celebration" has a whole new zing to it!

Relaxation for the Mind, Body & Soul

My newest addition: "Irish Spring."

Deep Refreshing & Relaxing Instructions (after a long day at work):
1. Steam up the bathroom with hot shower water for several minutes. Make sure it's really steamy, so you'll enjoy step #3 a lot more.

2.Close the drain-plug (in the showers that are shower-baths).

3. After the room is quite steamy, change the temp to luke-warm, or cooler... and light some candles, turn off the bathroom light.

4. Use "Irish Spring" liberally to wash up, and/or create bubbles (with the gel).

5. Lie down in the tub while letting the shower hit you. The tub will fill up slowely. Lift your feet in the air and let the water massage your feet.

6. Enahle deeply.

7. Repeat 1-6 as needed.

Works everytime.
Ahhh...

Look at yesterday's post for more "meat."

Saturday, Part 2: The Knits

KNITTING UP A STORM HAS A WHOLE NEW LOOK! (...and subname.). I'm soo excited about this fresh new & interesting look. It's way more me now. Everything is up and running like before, but better! What do you think?

So here is my pathetic attempt at knitting this week. Not much, huh?

SO, here you see the "Sweet as Candy" cardi that I'm knitting up for my pregnant friend, who's due any day. The pattern will be up soon. I cannot even imagine the uncomfortableness she is enduring these last couple of weeks. She's due July 27th, but you all know that kids like to make dramatic entrances sometimes...

Well, this *was* my "Gryffindor Rox" tank I was making for the movies. Too bad it's a little big. It's such a shame that I'm always miscounting from the beginning, and find out 1/3 until i'm done. Remember "Victoria" that I was designing too? Adios amigas!
The sock.
Can't say too much here. Joe's probably looking at this by accident as it is. I'm pretty sure he knows it's a sock... but he doesn't know the tweaks on it...
Yup, that's a golden maragrrrrrrita!
Double fisting, the knitter way.

Sorry about the lame writting. I need some shut eye.
Don't forget to look at Part 1. That was the highlight of the day!

Saturday, Part 1: Dyeing

So, for Part 1 of my Saturday, we have the dyes!:
This is called "Candied Hearts," to go with my newly deisigned sock pattern with that name. I love those colors mixed together with the white. It is a lovely blend, and shall go great with my lacey heart pattern.


This is "Hawkeye," of course...my school colors.
It has a nice long equal stripe pattern to it... which will be easy on my part!


This yarn reminds me of party balloons. Therefore, I present, "Celebration."

Upcoming: Part 2, the knits.

Quickie update....

A WHOLE NEW LOOK ON MY BLOG!

I know i've seriously had a deficiency in knitting updates, but I promise... I'll have a picture soon! I've been quite busy with work & babysitting (yes, that last word requires a groan. But hey, it's more money in my rather empty pocket.)

I just finished two books this week: Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, in time for the movie that i'll see tonight (another reason why i keep not having enough knitting time) and finally, Tuesdays with Morrie, which I just finished a second ago. I highly recommend both books. Tuesdays with Morrie is definately worth your attention, and is a very quick read. I mean, it's only 190 pages long, yet jam-packed with inspirational tid-bits & advice for a meaningful life!

I'm thinking of compiling a "most-read" list for any reader fans out there; however, I don't have much time right now to post the non-knitting related ones, but here is a few "most-read" for knitters (not including pattern books, magazines or stitchionaries):

~~My star ratings, out of 5~~
1 star= bad... don't waste your money & time. I can't believe this sells.
2 stars= Ok, but probably wouldn't touch it again...once is enough.
3 stars=Good-pretty good. I had a good time. It was a mixture of ups and downs. I'd probably read it again later on when I have some spare time.
4 stars="What a good book!" It's definately on my must-read-again list.
5 stars="WOW! I love it! I would highly recommmend this book. (In the category of a life-changing book for some genres.) This is a staple to my bookshelf.

-Yarn Harlot (5 stars)
-Knit One, Kill Two (5 stars)
-Needled to Death (4 stars)
-A Deadly Yarn (4 stars)
-A Killer Stitch (3.5 stars)
-Knitlits 1-3(stories average 3.5 stars)


Real Pictures soooooooooon! Sorry for the wait.

One Big Happy Fiber Family!

DO YOU DYE YARN/ROVINGS??? I just made a "Dye Your Fiber" along!
Joining: email me at angelgirl_22@msn.com (with your subject as "dye along")
Please spread the word! When we get a sufficient enough crew, we can then try out yarn swaps & fun contests in the future! I'm really hoping it will be a learning community too.

This summer is really for dying.
It's already hot, the sun dries the wool super fast, and you've got nothing better to do on the weekends when the house isn't air-conditioned. I only knit when my room is a comfortable-or preferablly freezing-temperature for smooth knit-tage. I just ordered 7 more skeins of fingering weight yarn from Knitpicks because it's so affordable for me, and I want to get the bulk of this year's dying done before I head back for school. Believe me, the yarn swift & Kool-aid will come to Iowa with me in August, but i'll probably not dye that much. Maybe only a few times. Well, who knows. I'm getting soo addicted to dying. I might just come back from a Friday night at the bars with Joe & his friends and see how well I could dye at his apartment, drunk. NO, I am SOO kidding. :) Actually, that would be interesting.... I could call the skein "drunkeness." lol. I hope ya'll have a good sense of humor...you'll get this kind of crap-humor all the time (if you haven't noticed already).

So I officially forgot I took this picture on the 4th of July because I dyed ONE...more...skien. LOL.
Here's "Sweet Hearts." There's Red, Pink & pale pink. Since it's a lace-weight yarn, I'll probably use this for a flowery shawl for either Christmas (since it almost was called "Peppermint") or for Valentine's day. Eh, that's far away...
Once again, my cruddy camera couldn't capture the color dynamics going on. (*squinting eyes*...where is that medium pink? I only see two colors in the picture)

"September" is definately my favorite of this dying week. I love my gryffindor colors, but the glowiness of the minty-seagreen color mixed in with the gold & forest green just attracts my eyes like a fly to a zapper. Ahhhhhh..... It will definately make a wonderful shawl too.

WHAT'S KNITTING UP RIGHT NOW? My "Gryffinor Rox" tanktop that i'm designing just in time for the movie & book. Then i'll finish up my "Sweet as Candy" cardi for my friend... and then i'll finish up Joe's suprise knit that you all have seen already.

The Unbreakable Yarn Swift

UPDATED with action shots!Of course I HAD to try it out! I had some extra lace-weight yarn that I decided to dye up.
And yes, this would be the 5th skein I dyed in 3ish days!I call this "September," Because there is a light green, dark green & Gold!

Monday= the adventure of making a yarn swift. (well ok, my Dad made just about 98% of it, and I just sanded it and stained everything...).

It's made out of oak, which makes the grains look really pretty. We still need to spray on gloss tomorrow, to give it that extra kick. I hinted to my dad a few weeks ago about needing one of these, and how much of a waste of money $100 is for something so simple... I even gave him different pictures of yarn swifts. There are so many out there! I found one that looked like mine, but was a little simpler, without sanding & stain. My dad thinks putting a CD disk in between the wood is "underneath" his capabilities... so he found his own way of doing the middle. There's even rubber ends on the bottom to make it stay put!

However, I think he finally got the true hint THEN when I was winding 3 skeins off of the back of my rolling chair. (However, just to let you know, if you wrap all of the rollers with saran wrap, and place the seat on a table, it works great if you don't have the means to getting a yarn swift!! )

Isn't she purdy?? I told my dad that he could sell these babies! It is so heavy-duty, it puts those collapsible swifters (with those "up to 6 pds" or whatever capacity) to shame! It's not really collapsible, except the pegs, but it can take some hefty yarn bulk!

The measurement is probably totally different from most swifts; it's probably is a lot wider too. That's a good thing though. We like versatility.

Circumference:

1st pegs: 4 feet

2nd pegs: 5 feet

3rd pegs: 6 feet

4th pegs: 7 feet

5th pegs: 8 feet

You can also adust the pegs how you want, even moving one further or closer to the middle, and it wouldn't throw the whole thing off, since you are just taking it off the swift, and basically folding it in half. I can picture myself using the 3rd peg a lot. That is the circumfrance that my latest skeins had.

Put your orders in now. lol. j/k. I really like this color... is it alright on your eyes? I think i'm gonna use it more often!