Random Yarn Stuff

I got two more little balls of scrap yarn in the mail yesterday! I traded my leftovers of Lorna’s for them. These are from the stash of ncreely on Ravelry. On the left is some ONLine yarn (not sure about the colorway). On the right is some Lion Brand Magic Stripes. Of course, they became blocks almost immediately!

Blocks 1 and 3 are from the same ball. You can’t tell. They came out completely different! They are from the OnLine ball. Block 1 is almost all blue, white, and cream. There is just a tiny bit of orange at the top that shows that it is from the same ball. Block 3 is orange, blue, turquoise, and purple. After the purple, it would have switched back to the blue and white! It would make a strange sock with those color combos, but really cool blocks! I have about 2 yards of this yarn left (all the blue and white). I may use it as a partial block later in the blanket. Block 2 is from the Magic Stripes. There is enough for another block. I will use it later in the blanket because the block won’t look the same. The next stripe would have been blue. Both were pretty fun to knit up.

Tonight I am going to tackle the helix stripe mini-sock in Ravenclaw colors. I will post about how the experiment goes. If it looks really neat, I may do bigger socks for either me or DH the same way later. After I finish DH’s giant socks of doom, I am going to make myself some Monkeys out of the April Nefarious yarn.

I ordered my Mother’s Day gift yesterday too! It is the Sunshine Yarns Harry Potter Sock Club! DH asked me what I wanted to get for Mother’s Day. I told him I was thinking about it. He told me to go ahead and do it!

 

Mailbox Joy

The mail lady is my new best friend!! She brought me so much great stuff today…surely she must love me! First up…two skeins of Regia Stretch. It is in blues, grey, and black. Perfect for my boys (or maybe DH…just need to try to figure out how many yards it will take to cover his big old feet). This yarn is soft and stretchy! I can’t wait to work with it.
Next up is some Plymouth Sockotta yarn. It is also in blues (I am the only female in my household…we have lots of blue). This will also become socks for the boys or DH. I got this yarn and the Regia from Ravelry member KnittyMcSnuggler!
Finally, the first installment for the Nefarious Yarn Club arrived! It is the Hannibal Lector colorway (can’t imagine the hits I will get from this one). It is inspired by his leather mask. It has some really cool red flecks (they look shockingly like blood in some places). The base yarn is a Merino/Silk blend. It is so soft. Little Bug immediately said, “Make me socks from this, Mama!” I had to tell him that this yarn wasn’t for him. It will either become socks for me or DH. Probably me. I am not sure he fully appreciates silk. It came with a neat little stitch marker (a Hannibal Lector stitch marker) and a Nefarious Yarn Club sticker. I can’t wait to begin working with this!

BTW-the photos are so true to the colors of the yarn. I can’t say enough good stuff about my new camera!! I can’t wait until Critter starts sleeping again so that I have a bit of energy to play with my camera. I fully planned to play with it this weekend, but I ended up napping with him (we are in “sleep when the baby sleeps because it isn’t often enough” mode right now). He is teething. Poor little critter!

 

Catching up!

The last week or so has been really crazy. Because I had several days of court last week, jury selection on Monday, even more court this week, and a trial on Thursday (and then court again on Friday), I haven’t had much time for anything but work. Needless to say, I haven’t had much of a chance to post. I have had a lot I have been meaning to say, too. First, I got my new sock project bag! I absolutely love it! It is from Spinningdoggies on Etsy. I really wanted something with pockets inside for my notions. I don’t like keeping them in a bag or tin because I want to just be able to reach in the bag and find them. This also has pockets outside. As you can see from the picture, one of them is the perfect size for my mp3 player. The others are empty (for now). The inside pockets fit my notions perfectly! I wish the picture of the inside was a little better. This is the medium sized bag. I think it would be the perfect size for adult sized sock project. I have a toddler sized sock project, so it is a bit big for that (but I plan on making myself and DH some socks at some point, so I wanted the bigger size). Another thing I love about this bag is that it can snap onto my purse. My purse is a Vera Bradley in Cambridge. This bag kind of matches! I really, really love this bag!

Monday, I cast on for a new project as a reward for surviving jury selection preparations. I cast on an Alan Dart Yuletide Gnome! I originally cast on on 2s. Unfortunately, the yarn I found that was kind of flesh toned is a worsted acrylic. It didn’t like the 2s. I had to frog and start over on 3s. This is my evenings in front of the tv project. It is for Logan. He chose grey and green for the colors of the gnome (the hat, boots, and mittens will be green…the body is grey). The gnome is really easy! It is a fun, quick project. I have made good progress despite two nights this week working on my laptop instead of knitting!

Today, I had a knitting first! I blocked something for the first time ever. I blocked the scarf for my mom! It came out so beautifully! I don’t have a blocking board, so I just used some pins and towels. I put them on my deck railing (it is about the width that I wanted, so it was perfect). We had such a pretty day! The blocking really opened up the lace and gave it such nice shape! The blocking really made the scarf look like a scarf. I can’t wait to see what my mom thinks of it! She is going to love it! It really made me rethink giving it away. DH also wondered why I wasn’t keeping it when he saw it. I reminded him that I could always buy more of the same yarn and make another if I decide I really need one. I may just do that! I have just a bit left of the Lorna’s Laces Black Purl. I will probably make another of the baby gnomes for one of my nieces.

So, if you have read this far, you are probably wondering about my trial. I got a not guilty verdict!! At the end of the trial, the Judge told me that his former law partner used to say that winning a not guilty verdict was better than sex. I just had to laugh at him. I didn’t feel that way at all. All I felt was relief that I hadn’t messed up too badly. I know that when a client is probably guilty and I win, I do feel that way (it is more of a game). When a client is truely innocent and I win, I just feel relief. Part of that is some self doubt in my practice. Part of that is just a relief that the system still works. Anyway, I felt relief because I really believed in this particular client (and this particular client really believed in me…something that scared me to death). So, that was part of why my week was crazy. I worked really, really hard because I knew that I would never forgive myself for not working hard enough and losing. As it turned out, I was probably really overprepared (a good thing). Now that the trial is over, the knitting will be able to pick back up!

 

Feeling soooo clever

I am feeling so clever right now. First, I have turned the heel of my first sock and picked up the stitches in the gusset. That is the part that most intimidated me. I had read the directions at least a hundred times. I just didn’t get how it would work. I even looked at a tutorial with pictures numerous times. I just didn’t get it. However, when I got to each part with sock in hand, I figured it out. It even looks right, IMO. How cool is that?! It is like magic. It looks like a sock! I am just so impressed with myself! I can tell how people become addicted! I am quickly headed in that direction.

Want to know how I can tell? I have been obsessing about needing a sock bag. I finally settled on this one. I also have been only interested in sock yarn online. I have neglected all other projects in favor of the sock! I am just loving how clever the little thing is!

There are two small mistakes (not big enough for me to rip back). First, there is a row right in the middle of the heel flap where the slip stitches don’t quite line up. Not worth tinking as LB will never really notice. I also did decreases on each row (not every other row). It still looks fine. It also appears to fit fine, so no going back. I will just need to make that same “mistake” on the second sock.

Poor LB doesn’t really understand where the second sock is. He keeps saying, “Can I wear the other one?” I have explained that the other sock hasn’t even been started. He always, “Ok, can I wear it now?”

I am also feeling clever because I figured out a way to keep my needles together and to keep them from poking my bag or losing stitches off the end. It is just two end caps for the Closet Maid shelving stuff and some beading cord. It works really well, doesn’t add any bulk to the bag, and cost about $2 to make (the $2 was enough to actually make about 12 sets, but I have only made one since I only have one set of dpns…something I expect will change rapidly).