School just started last week and I already have an exam next Wednesday. I was hoping to graduate this year, but I was unable to get the classes I need this semester so I’ll be going part time next year as well. It’s amazing how many classes have been cut due to the state budget crisis. I’ve just happy that Caren and Claire have secure jobs at their schools.
I’ve been dyeing for the Phat Fiber Sample Box every spare minute I have. But I cannot share pictures of it till the boxes go out on the 15th, so everyone will just have to wait. Though I swear if you look here on the day the boxes ship, you will see a parade of fibers I’ve been dyeing.
Then there is the preparing for the dye day on the 17th. Caren, Meghan, Caitlyn, Anna and I will all be working hard to dye over 100 skeins for my Etsy Shop and the local yarn shops. We have so many ideas for colorways that they’re coming out of our ears.
Lastly I’ve been working hard to get projects finished.
First was the shawl for Yarns by the Sea:
I knit this in a week and just got around to blocking it this afternoon. It is quick to knit, but the gauge swatch lied. The pattern called for 416 yards of fingerling weight and my yarn is 400 yards, so Chrissy and I figured I’d have enough. But when your gauge swatch lies to you and your shawl is starting to get bigger then what the pattern says it’s suppose to be, you have to realize that your going to run out of yarn. I refused to believe that I would run out till I got to the border and ran out 12 rows from completion. The shawl is suppose to be 17” along the center, but mine is 23” and since I ran out of yarn, I did not do the last repeat of the pattern. You should now realize that that means that the shawl would have been even larger if I had done the last repeat. If you knit this I highly recommend going down 2-3 needle sizes after you’ve gotten gauge.
I also wept tears of joy when I cast off the Girasole:
I have been working so had on this blanket, for so long, that it just seemed so unreal when I completed the last stitch on the border and cast it off. It, like the shawl, turned out larger then the pattern said it would be. But this time it was not just by a nice 6 inches, it is over a foot larger then what it says on the pattern. I spent all week worrying about how I was going to block the thing and then decided to not hard block it. I took the picture above while it dried in the sun and had to stand on a chair to fit the entire thing in the picture.
Last were some socks that just needed after thought heels, and one afternoon my feet were freezing so instead of slipping on store bought socks I started on the heels:
After I finished them I soaked them in water in preparation for blocking, and they grew a couple sizes as soon as they hit the water and I turned around and started hitting me head against the wall. I had started these socks when I was new to knitting and did not know that sometimes super wash yarn grows when it hits water.
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| Its scary to cut the yarn in the middle of a pair of socks |
Ben now has a new pair of socks and I still have frozen feet.
PS. Sorry I went MIA on the contests. I only received one response to the WIP post so I’ll be doing a special on her pattern later this week, but the yarn for the dye day is now on its way and all contests and preorders have ended. Thank you for your support and please check back to see what is dyed.
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