Twisted Stitches

Well, the only knitting I’ve managed to get in lately is about half a coffee mug sleeve/cozy. Why? Our new shop is very slowly taking shape!

You may have noticed an absence of knitting or knit bloggin on my part of late.

I am still knitting and dyeing yarn, though to be honest, I haven’t done so in the past two weeks at all. What has captured my attention so fully? I am starting a business with a friend, whom you may know as perian (a co-author on this blog). The business will be a used book store/coffee shop, with a knitting group and perhaps a place I can sell my yarn, should i find time to dye more.

We’ve thought about a business in the past, but it was always a “pie in the sky” scenario. In the past two weeks, we went from not even thinking about it, to having discussed nearly all aspects of this business, including funding, marketing, stock, daily operations – you name the topic, we have a list with thoughts about it.

So, being the geeks that we are, we’ve decided to start blogging about the process of planning and starting our new business. Please check us out there if you’re interested in this not-quite-so-crafty side of our lives – the blog is at http://www.faking-sanity.net. Come check us out!

And now it’s my turn to post again!

Due to epic cluelessness, I forgot to take pictures before leaving the house today. However, you can see a new batch of Faking Sanity yarns at Make One Yarn Studio, as of today. I just dropped off both my Fixation sock yarn and Bliss, the wool/silk laceweight. I really should have taken pictures; there were lots of colours that were very much out of my personal comfort zone – bright greens, oranges, pinks and roses… and of course some of my favourites, such as tonal greys, purples, and blue-blacks. Go take a peak. There’s also some other new fabulous yarns at the store that came in today, so definitely worth a trip!

No photos as everything is wet, but I’ve had more fun dyeing today. I dyed up some more of the seasilk/merino blend I was trying out, and I’m much more pleased with this one. Also, I think I’ve nailed down how to reproduce one of the very first reds that I dyed and loved. I also dyed up more skeins of my Faking Sanity Fixation sock yarn, so I now have enough for an order at an LYS, or at least enough of that particular yarn. They’re all setting right now, and I may get in a few more later today. In the meantime, I excavated my storage closet to pull out more yarn so I could start skeining more. The next dyeing session will likely be mostly Faking Sanity Bliss (wool/silk laceweight), as well as a new 100% silk laceweight. And possibly a bit more Fixation sock yarn, too, for good measure!

I’ve been a very bad blogger, but this time, at least, I have good reason. I’ve been working lots, and reading, and knitting, and dyeing! I started with dyeing several new base yarns I’m testing out for my Faking Sanity yarn line (please forgive the differences in the black background colour; I was losing light fast, so I colour adjusted them so the yarn looked accurate).

The first is a fingering weight seasilk/merino blend. The sheen of this yarn is incredible. I’m not really fond of this dye job, so I’ll probably overdye it, but I do like the yarn overall. It would be awesome for a shawl or lacy scarf. The second is an extremely soft superwash BFL sock yarn with a bit of nylon for strength (20%). I’ve loved BFL from the first time I spun some, so I’m sort of partial toward this fiber, and this yarn in particular. The last two are both of a merino/cashmere/nylon blend fingering weight yarn. This one I’m fairly certain will become one of my regulars. It is a plump/squishy yarn that’s incredibly soft and has a nice sheen to it, as well. As I’ll be ordering this one again in all probability, I’ve decided that purple skein is going to go straight to my personal stash!

Last week, I also succombed to temptation and bought a bunch of Sidar Flirt DK – a machine washable bamboo/wool blend yarn for a cowl neck tee I saw at The Knitting Room a few weeks ago. As my crafty side is balanced with a very detailed/analytical/geeky side and because I have yet to knit a pattern as it is written, I decided to make several modifications to the shaping and construction of the top, which of course meant sketching out several scaled versions of the garment on graph paper. With my sketches in hand, I was able to determine if I like the basic shape of the garment with my proposed changes. Everything seemed ok, so I set aside my swatch and started this:

As for the rest of the dyeing, I also managed to get a number of skeins of my Fixation sock yarn dyed up. Here are a few samples, since this seems to be the pic spam post!

Well, the yarn I started dyeing is still wet, so it’s hard to take accurate colour shots. I did promise a photo, though. The Walking in the Maize sock pattern is an odd one. With ribbing around the mid-step of your foot, it is super-comfy for a gal who likes very fitted socks like I do. That being said, the ribbing makes it look very odd off the foot. Since I chose a busy Tofutsies yarn, and the sock is simple stockinette except for that feature, I decided today’s picture would be of the sock, unstretched and off the foot, so you could see what I mean about the shaping:

I’ve also decided to tear out my previous stockinette sock in the spring greens. I had tried a toe-up gusseted, short-row heel, and I really don’t like the fit. The heel was about 1/4″ shorter than I would have liked following the exact instructions, so I’d have to tear it out and increase more slowly to add the extra length without making it too baggy. However, I’m thinking I’ll try one of two options:

a) Knit a top-down heel flap and gusset as written (without reversing anything), from the toe up. This would leave the slip-stitch pattern on the bottom of the heel, where I’m more likely to wear through it anyway.

b) Knit my standard no-wrap short row heel, since I know it fits well.

Here’s the sock before the heel surgery:

I love it when a day just works out… I got to sleep in, knit, skein some yarn for a dyeing session tomorrow, and even start a couple of skeins. I even finished the first of my Tofutsies Walking in the Maize socks, including weaving in the ends! I also got to watch some new Doctor Who and Big Bangs I had missed, and got a call for an interview next week. Good day… but now it’s late. Time to take the first skeins out of the dyebath and go to bed. I’ll be back tomorrow though to post pictures of the sock and the yarn. There’s been so little knitting, spinning or dyeing for me lately, I just had to post a quick note, even if I couldn’t get decent photos until tomorrow. Good night, all!

and socks and yarn…

I just finished the gusset and heel on my uber-bright greeny-blue socks. I was again reminded that although I prefer toe-up socks, I dislike knitting gusseted heels from the toe-up. On the upside, this time around, at least the sock and heel fit properly, as opposed to my previous attempts with this combination (the last time the socks ended up being a full shoe-size too short, so ended up being an unforeseen gift for the roommie’s tiny feet). I do like how the socks are turning out, so these will be for me, but the next time, I’ll either knit top down or do a short row heel.

As for the yarn, I bought a few skeins of sock yarn in the past month…Check them out:

The first two I think will end up being socks for me. The last, Lang Ja Woll Silk with its spool of coordinating reinforcement thread, will be for socks for my dad.

Just realized it had been over a month since I last blogged. I haven’t been knitting much, to be honest, as I’ve started working again, and had some really good books to keep me company when I wasn’t. That being said, I did manage to finish my Tudor Grace scarf. I even wove in the ends! I just have to block it, and send it off to my gramma:

I’ve also made some progress on some bus knitting recently. It’s a simple stockinette sock, in a very bright-for-me Regia 4-ply sock yarn, but I’m quite enjoying it:

No Olympic golds for me. I didn’t even come close to finishing the gift knitting I had planned for the Ravelympics. However, today, I found a better yarn for dad’s Christmas socks that will be much better suited to the project.

I’ve also gotten over 2 feet of my Tudor Grace knit up. It’s not what I had planned, but I’m enjoying the knit, and it turns out that I’ll be seeing my Grandma this spring, so I’d love to finish this one in order to give it to her as a gift.

Wow. So much for a daily update. To be frank, though, it’s probably better this way. A photo of a scarf with an extra repeat or two each day is… let’s say less than impressive. Despite great expectations of tons of knitting over the Olympics, I haven’t really been in a knitting mood lately. Yesterday, however, I did finish the first ball of yarn in my new Tudor Grace scarf from my last posts. I love this pattern. Have I mentioned that? I think I’ll probably dye up some of my yarn and use this as a shop sample; it seems to show off semi-solids very nicely.

On the dyeing front, things have been pretty quiet since the accident (couldn’t lift the pots, etc). However, I’m planning on another batch of yarns for local shops, and possibly some extra for my Etsy shop or for  a booth at some markets over the summer. I’m also very excited to be starting a new sweater dyeing project in the next few days – a deep red semi-solid/varigated colourway in our Faking Sanity Hope yarn (a squishy, soft, superwash aran weight yarn with high twist). We’re hopefuly having a colour consult this weekend, and then the dyeing will commence!

I watched no Olympics today (I’m about to watch a bit now before bed). However, I did a fair bit of knitting this morning before work, as well as a bit tonight while watching some Aussie hilarity.. I’ve now got 20 repeats done on my Tudor Grace – nearly a skein of yarn, so just over a third complete, unless I decide to lengthen the scarf and  use all of this yarn. It’s so lovely! I’m thinking of giving it to my grandma, since the clapotis I had knit for her last year was too large and unwieldy for her now (and apparently, I have switched from sock mood, to scarf and/or lace mood; those socks were just not happening). Pics tomorrow, as this colour is just too tough to capture acurately with artificial light.

After three separate attempts at a new way to reinforce my dad’s socks, I finally decided to put themt aside. As a racer many years ago, I gave up downhill to focus on the gs and super g skiing competitions. I see this in the same light. I will continue them on, but I think I will go looking for a different type of reinforcing nylon for them.

In the interim, my new plans for the Ravelympics will be to work on some dyeing and to try and the 2nd edition of Tudor Grace I started a few weeks ago (the one to replace that which was lost in the great car crash of 2010). It really is a great pattern. Easy to memorize, and really lovely. Here it is in Alchemy Bamboo (the colour is Scarlett’s Dark Secret):

No FO’s and no pictures today, but another medal from Kristina Groves in speed skating, and Canada’s first Gold from Alexandre Bilodeau. How inspiring, too, to hear him talk about his brother. Now, we have a set – one of each!

On the knitting front, I had planned to knit my dad’s socks with reinforcing nylon just before the heel, and through the whole heel. I hated the way it looked, though, and I wasn’t convinced it would add any additional durability. So, after a few hours break, and a few hours of detangling the nylon (it was stretchy and kinky, and a pain to rip out), I started over at 6″ on the foot, and found a toe-up slip stitch heel with gusset, which I am about 6 rows into. I’ll finish the heel and start the leg tomorrow.

Today, I watched ski jumping, several men’s and women’s speed skating events, women’s hockey, some men’s luge runs, and some ladies moguls.

Canada’s own Jenn Heil won our first medal of these games in Ladies’ Freestyle Moguls tonight, and the Canadian ladies hockey team won its first game as well.

My own accomplishments were meager: 6 1/4 ” of the foot of a sock. I also suffered my first injury of these games – a blister on the finger I carry/wrap my yarn with – but I soldiered on!

I had grand plans to go to a big cast on party last night at Make One, and get a bunch of knitting done over the course of the opening ceremonies.

I ended up not feeling great, so we decided to stay home, and I watched the ceremonies online (if you don’t have cable, check out www.ctvolympics.ca – streaming the Olympics free anywhere in Canada). I got distracted a bit… ok a lot. I ended up doing knitting only a toe!

I’ve decided though, that I’ll be documenting my progress through these Ravelympics, so here is the toe of my father’s next sock:

I came across a thread on Ravelry about the Ravelympics today. I really had no plans on getting involved, but I think I will. I’m joining Team Calgary, captained by our very own Annarose.

I’m still debating events/projects… See, I have this problem where I start tons of things, but I get bored, and move on, or stop knitting altogether for a while. And I want a challenge, but also something I have some hope of accomplishing, given that it’s a two week deadline, and my neck still gets sore if I look down too much.

Many of the ones I’ve considered could fit into multiple events, such as  gift or charity hats or socks, colourwork mittens, single-skein or stash buster lace projects, etc.

“Holiday jump start skiing” sounds wise. I have a couple of gift ideas that I should start, but one is a little small to really consider a challenge (although the time frame would make it a bit tight), and the other is a bit daunting to say the least (also I need the project for this particular yarn to be perfect, and two weeks is not a lot of time to frog and reknit). It would truly be a challenge, though, and one I’ve thought about lots over the past year or so.

Another option is “Nordic Colourwork Combined”. I took a colourwork class a few years ago, and started Endpaper Mitts in the yarn provided (which I never finished), but I bought some yarn to make a pair for myself, and never got around to starting the project.

There’s also the “Free Dance” event for personal challenges that don’t fit anywhere else. I love dyeing. I HATE skeining yarn from cones. Probably the biggest challenge for me would be to skein up all my dyeing yarn; heck, even half of it would be a massive challenge (I have a LOT).

I know I can’t tackle them all, or even all of the ones listed here, but I’m torn since they all appeal in some way or another  (some to my selfish desire for pretty knits, some to my desire to “do unto others”, and some to my guilt at not having completed them yet).

Decision time!

To find out more about the Ravelympics, check out the group here. Also, check out the graphic created by zzwhitejd from Ravelry (note the colours are 5 new Louet colours inspired by Ravelry and its logos):

It’s here! I was a good girl this year, and Santa brought me something so big it took over an extra month to get here!

No, no. That’s not the big thing… that’s just my pretty new lazy kate and some extra bobbins… This is the big thing:

I just need to find some plyers to get the e-clip off so I can attach the flyer assembly, then throw the washers and eclip back on, and we’re ready to roll! Err… spin!

I got a package today. This was part of the contents. Can you guess what it was?

Stay tuned for the big reveal!

I broke down a few weeks ago and purchased a new spinning wheel. Giselle will always be my first love, but I wanted something that was easier to get extra bobbins for, and such. That decision was one resignation letter and one accident ago. Given the change in circumstances, I’m not sure it was the best move, but it’s done now. And given the rough week (and the fact that it’s already paid for), I’m happy that my new toy just cleared Canadian customs! Wee!