Jumping for Joy!

Yippeeee! Alice! I can finally start the colorful, happy sox that I promised myself, oh, about a month ago, to create for my cousin. I finished up the top secret project early Sunday morning, so Sunday afternoon I was able to cast on the R. S. Fair Isle sox. They got the royal treatment with a two color braid at the top, and the top 5 inches or so of the cuff will be a Fair Isle pattern from the sleeves of an Annabelle Fox sweater I knitted a few years ago. It was such fun that I tried it on a pair of sox that eventually Courtney received for her birthday one year.

It is hard to put down because I love to see the colors coming together. Here is the pattern and how I set up the yarns:


Monday, I was a little under-the-weather, but I could sit and knit, so I made a bit of progress. The silky knit is the base, background color, and below the cuff of his trousers, all should look conservative and staid. (Though I am thinking about putting hearts on the soles...should I?)




...and, oh. Whose knitting chair is this anyway?

Birthday Sox!

Whew, Alice! I finished just before my drop dead date! Sunday morning at 4:30 I was wont for sleep, and I knew if I got up and knitted for a bit that before long I would have to go back to bed. I did it! Finished up sock no. 2, so that they were ready for washing and blocking on Easter Sunday (Julie will be pleased that they have the Lord's Prayer knitted into many, many of the stitches).

These started more than a year ago when Julie sent to me a couple of black fleeces from the shearing floor where they helped with shearing in Nebraska. I went through the bags and...well, much of it became compost. I sent her a lovely thank-you note and a sample of the Shetland I had been spinning...it, too, was filled with vegetable matter, but, darn! a much nicer fleece...one worth spinning! Not long after, a package showed up again at the doorstep and lo! this is what it held (photographed after washing)!
This beautiful fleece came from friends of hers, Cory's Lincoln Longwools in Montana, and honestly, it was so beautiful, glossy, and loopy, that it made me think it was an angora fleece (mohair)! The finally-(and yes, finely) spun yarn acts in much the same way as mohair. There is no stretch, it has a halo, and the strong, long fiber length will definitely hold up well as sox. After much rumination, I decided that sox were one of the best uses for it. That, or a nice pair of outer mittens, a hat that has a soft yarn lining band at the forehead, or woven into a scrumptious coat fabric. There is MORE! I used only approx. 300 yards on sz. US#2 needles.

The Fourniers' book, In Sheep's Clothing, a Handspinner's Guide to Wool says about Lincoln wool: "Commercial uses are upholstery and wig making. Its luster and relatively soft handle for a strong wool make it very desirable for blending with mohair to create a yarn with less than 100 percent mohair but with the same or similar characteristics."

The pattern is Vining Lace from the Socks-Socks-Socks book from XRX Books. A lace knitter I am not. This yarn begged to be lace, however, in that I had spun it so fine I would have had to create a pair of sox on sz.#0 needles, and I knew they wouldn't be completed until 2009 were that the case. Ah, lace! says I.

I am happy to be moving on to the happy, colorful sox planned for my dear cousin! Usually by the time I finish knitting a pair of socks that have a lacey pattern, I am finally familiar enough that I think I could do another pair. That is not happening for some time now. ;)



Stewart popped them in the post for me yesterday. Now we shall see if they arrive in South Dakota by the 28th day of March!


Hope you are hanging in there!
Your Chick

Poll Results

Dear Alice,
It appears that everyone is tired of the monochromatic days at the end of winter and happy, colorful sox are badly needed...by all of us! There was only one vote for regular, plain socks. (Have you ever wondered about me using "sox" and socks" interchangeably? I once saw "sox" written and thought "Bah! That's silly! Everyone knows that socks is spelled s-o-c-k-s and some retailer has bungled the spelling!" I was wrong. 'Tis actually in the dictionary, s-o-x, that is.)

So! Happy, Colorful socks it is!

Mary U voted with roving. She brought the most beautiful mixed blue wool roving on Saturday to spin up a yarn for the sox. It has been fun to spin because it is such a beautiful, beautiful blend! Liz (from whom Mary got it) called it 'Moody Blues'; it would be great with denim!



Typing is slow. I am minus one finger for this today, and it will be better soon.





On the weaving front, I have 75 more threads to measure out, but cannot go forward until I get more yarn from Forma. The seafoam rayon ran out...which I rather expected since I used it so many times in the thread order. The first 300 threads:


We had a tremendous melt today, but never fear, there was more snow falling as I drove home tonight from a meeting. ...and another winter storm warning for tomorrow night!

I have only about 8400 more stitches on the top secret knitting project to finish and I will be done early!

29 February 2008...Poll

Lest you ask where's the photo for today...look at the previous post. More of the same, only add at least 6 more inches of the white stuff.

So! We have an extra day this year! Surely there is something special to be done today. I can't think of anything, particularly, so please help me with this question.

One of my dear cousins has started chemotherapy this week. The plan is to make a pair of wool socks for him a.s.a.p. and here is my dilemma. I have a beautiful silky wool, charcoal grey for the main foot part, and I was thinking I would do something more "happy" for the legging part. The other day I had settled upon 8 other colors for a fair isle pattern with a nice red & gold braid at the very beginning. All these beautiful colors would naturally be covered by trousers, until you sit down and the colors appear.

OK, so he's a guy. Would he prefer plain, no frills socks so just bite the bullet and do a regular, ribbed pair? Or should I make the happy pair?

Postcard from LA

Dear Alice,



Just returned from Lake Ann (here's Saturday morning's sunrise shot) so there are few photos of weaving or knitting, though there has been a bit of progress on those fronts. The current knitting project is top secret, so instead I will show you the socks I knitted several years ago that always get worn on the LA Winter Adventure. This year, however, they were wet much of the time. The snow was impossibly deep, and my boots were impossibly short. We experienced more snow there than we have in all of our 22 years of winter trips to the cottage. It is a wonderful get-away, and though our winter trip does not take us to the land of sunshine and shorts, this trip always restores my soul, and I find a way to make it through the rest of winter.









Chelsea had a blast!



Now that I am back I will try to get more photos of the warp to fill you in.

Also, I did finish spinning the second 25 gms. of buffalo down last week before we left. Remarkably, it was 210 yards, whereas the first 25 gms. measured 208 yards. What a pleasant surprise!

'Til tomorrow,
Nancy

p.s. Mom's Valentine socks arrived on Valentine's day!

More Wool Sox!

Dear Alice,

First I overslept this morning (though it was a good morning for that!) I had really wanted to finish this pair of socks since DH and I are going to LA this weekend, and I will need layers of wool! After all the little morning chores to be done, and preparation of my tea to steep, I got busy, persevered, and finished the last 2.5 inches of Nancy Bush's Spey Valley socks from Knitting on the Road.

I started these last August on the deck at the edge of Ann Lake.
The decorative rib at the top was the fun part. From there on, it was mindless, but also nit-picky, since I had to keep track of the fact that I continued the rib all the way down to the toe. On sock #2 I had a bit of ripping to do since I picked it up after several months (and knitting other socks) and began knitting merrily on my way to the heel. Imagine my shock when I went to show someone sock #1 and found that the darn rib was still going! Sigh. Mary has taught me that ripping is a good thing.

They are a lovely taupe color, and when you look at the yarn in sunlight, it is filled with reds and blues and yellows, a beautiful warm, glowing mix. The yarn is Patons Kroy, 85% washable wool, 15% nylon, 262 yards/240 metres. Fawn is the color; it may have been discontinued years ago. I want to see how they hold up, especially since I went through the heels on two pairs of socks this month. It may be time to take care of Nancy's feet for a change. ;)

It is very hard to see the interesting rib at the top, and then the Vickel braid (that might be better in a contrasting color in order to appreciate it fully). Nonetheless, here they are so that you will truly believe I have finished yet another UFO.



I started putting yarns on spools this afternoon for the next weaving project, a fabric for a spring jacket. One step at a time.

I hope your basement has been cleared of the flooding. Keep your spirits up!

Nancy

Race to the Finish for Valentine's Day

Dear Alice,

I did it! The New England Sock, morphed, was finished up Monday evening, washed, blocked and dried, ready to pop into the mail on Tuesday. Mom may not actually get them until tomorrow, since 400 miles can translate into 3 or 4 days by post, but a letter to Sweden can be delivered in the same amount of time. Go figure!

Here are the yum-deli-icious socks!


Now it is on to other projects!

Happy Valentine's Day to all, with love,
Nancy

Spinning, spinning, spinning

Dear Alice,

It really is time to get those warp threads chosen for the two projects I have in mind; it is so easy to dream of what they might be while I spin. I'm still working at the 15 minutes per day goal, and here is the first 25 gms. of Buffalo down! Fini! You can also see the second 25 gms., so maybe within a week I will have it all spun, washed and set! The last time I spun up 50 gms. of Buffalo down, I wove two beautiful men's scarves. I am very tempted to do exactly the same warp combination. Since I have good records, the warp would be easy to duplicate. Scarf #1 had entirely buffalo weft, scarf #2 had a mix, since it was a shadow weave. It could have been cashmere the way it felt. Yummy! I'll keep you posted on what I decide to do. In the meantime, here is the photo of the singles still on the bobbin, with the 25 gms. remaining behind. I should mention that this lovely, downey fuzz came from Wild Rose Fibres, in Canada. Wild Rose Fibres was my source a few years ago, so when an email arrived saying that they had more Buffalo Down in stock, I couldn't resist. The dollar was much better back then. Excellent service!



Sock #1 for Mom's Valentine's day present is finished, washed, and being blocked! I have about 4 more inches to go on sock #2. Here's #1!



That's all for now.

Nancy

p.s. No, the sun never did shine today. :(

Making Progress

Dear Alice,

So nice to talk with you today, however briefly!

It occurs to me that today is Ground Hog's Day, meaning February 2nd, meaning only 12 days left until Valentine's Day! Since it was very clear that I was not going to finish those New England lace sox in Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road for Mom before Christmas, Valentine's Day became the new goal. I need to get knitting like a speed demon! especially if they need to be washed, blocked and dried before they go off in snail mail. Fortunately, they are both now beyond the picayune, lacey diamonds that march down the front of the leg. All that is left is mindless knitting, so I can do it in front of the tv, on the road, early in the morning, maybe even in church. No not in church. This was my first go at using the tiny cable needle by KA. It takes a little "getting used to" since it is only 9 inches long, and it worked well for this project since there were YO stitches, many little markers, and the fact that I was using a yarn that was really spun for weaving (no stretch at all). Ah yes, a little cashmere for pampering my dear mom's feet! Here they are from a couple of weeks ago. From here on out they will be on my favorite Bryspun plastic #2US ndls.


Earlier in January I could not stop myself from thinking about Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters, so sought out her book and it followed me home. I am totally smitten with the Coriolis sock! Of course, I did have to start with her tutorials for baby socks (no problem...there are little people in my life!). Carson got the first pair, and Caiden got my favorite Coriolis pair. I knit these with a Lion Brand merino/cashmere yarn that was found a year ago on sale. They are yummy!



No weaving, you say, Alice? There are lots of ideas dancing in my head. It is a weekend and I tend to write many, many more things on my 'to do' list than I ever accomplish. There was a new idea today as I read through Russell Groff's May, 1966 issue of Warp & Weft newsletter today at lunchtime. (Yes, I did spin for 20 minutes today. Buffalo down is in the works.) It would be so very cool if it could actually materialize before the fashion show in April this year (but of course one needs to have it ready for jurying in March.) That is a stretch!

'Tis pizza/movie night. I had best get going if I want to make that Shermane Fouchè skirt yet this weekend!

Be well!
Nancy

ps. Last night would have been the first time to visit the exhibition of fiber art pieces at the Power Center. Maybe the husband will indulge me and go this evening. I put the Big Bluestem/Birch bark piece in. I'll try to get a photo of it in situ for you.