Fresh wool

There's something wonderful about a fresh new batch of wool. Each type of fiber has its own crimp, length, sheen. How will it work for me and my spindle?

Can I get it superfine or will it be chunky. How long will the finished single ply of yarn be? What will I be able to make out of it?

Sure, I have some idea of what I want. I want a hat with some cables on it.

But as the song says, you can't always get what you want.

Curiosity, excitement and still incredulity that this even turns into yarn are all ahead of me.

Sometimes having a cold is a good thing. And the lollipop isn't a bad thing either!

Spring Socks

Well I finally finished my toe up spring socks. They were so much easier than the cuff down socks. I only had to knit them 1 1/2 times!

They are so perfectly fitting. I am astonished at just how good properly fitted socks feel on my feet. I highly recommend them.

Now I'm off to walk around. I'm not going anywhere in particular. I just love my new socks.

Snow snow snow snow

It's wonderful to have the day off and be inside enjoying a snowfall. And today I got to do just that!

My DH took care of all of the details so the only thing I had to do was make a nice hot dinner (borek), knit as much as I wanted (socks) and look out the window at the snow.

It's so much prettier when you don't have to shovel it!

Pink and blue

The bridge was washed in pink tonight even though the sky was blue. It's that time of year when the sun sets at just the right time to make everything pink.

I think it has something to do with Valentine's Day.

So do you think that if Valentine's Day was in the fall, the official colors would be yellow, red and gold?

Hey, it could happen.

Chain Row Counters

I realized that I must have an inability to count to 6.

I try counting. I double check my count, but every time I look at my cables, I think they're either too long or too short.

So last night I decided to make a chain row counter.

Then I made 2.

I can't decide which one I like better, the leaf or the heart. The leaf is so frilly and lacey. The heart is simple, clean and sweet.

I think today I'll use the heart one. It should look pretty against the pink sock yarn.

Besides, it's a little early "salute" to Valentine's Day, don't you think?

Dropped Stitch

After all of my blather. After all of the reknitting. After all of that, this morning I found a dropped stitch.

25 rows ago. A dropped stitch.

I am now faced with 4 options. I can rip it out back to the dropped stitch. I can get a tiny crochet hook and fix it. I can sew it to the stitch next to it and forget about it.

Or I can burn them. Pour gas on them and light a match to them.

I'm leaning towards number 4.

Such a Heel

My goal this year was/is to post exclusively from my mobile devices - whatever I had on hand at the time - phone, tablet.  Just not on the computer.  But since I keep on forgetting to charge my mobile devices, I think that tonight I'll make an exception - otherwise it will be days and days before I post.

My DH & I watched the Superbowl yesterday and my super plan was to get the heels turned on my pink socks.  I had one done, so I just wanted to get the other one done so I could move forward to the ankle and cuffs while I was commuting this week.  Best laid plans, though...

I thought I did a great job on the heel - it looked like a heel, but when I looked at it again this morning, I found out that it really wasn't a heel at all - it was more of a pocket.  A pocket with a missing side.

So I ripped it out and did it again.

I figure that's not too bad considering that the last time I knit a pair of socks it was actually 5 times knitting for 1 pair of socks.  This time it's only been 1 1/2 times knitting a pair of socks.  Now that I'm on to the ankle and cuff, I feel pretty confident that I'll actually just zip on through without having to rip the whole thing out again.

I've even been eyeing my next ball of sock yarn and contemplating what they'll look like.  I guess I just like tempting the fates!

Other things going on...there's a yarn crawl coming up.  I'm helping with the advertising for it - sending announcements out to newspapers and such.  It looks like fun, but I don't think that our truck would be able to make the journey.  So while I'm enjoying helping out - I find it really ironic that I probably won't get to go!  More savings for Rhinebeck!

I haven't finished spinning up my little bit of wool that I got at Rhinebeck this past year.  I keep plugging away at it on the little slicker brushes that I got, so about 1/10th of a 1/10th of an ounce at a time.  My DH says it looks like I'm picking out each individual fiber and brushing it.  That's pretty accurate.  But it was supposed to take a long time to do, so I guess it is fulfilling its purpose.

Oh, I made the steak sandwich for the game, but just did veggies and dip.  No brownies, no nachos.  Very basic.  It was wonderful.  We both enjoyed the sandwich - a lot! Our little pup even had a piece of steak.  She was very well behaved for the entire evening after that - until the last bite of sandwich was eaten, then it was back to normal.

I'm actually on a quest for a better brownie recipe made with cocoa instead of chocolate.  Last week I tried the one that I used to make when I was just learning how to bake.  It was horrid!  Cakey, dry, not much chocolate flavor.  Today I whipped up the Joy of Cooking brownie.  We'll see how it rates tomorrow.

To go along with the brownie, I'm testing frosting recipes.  Actually it was the frosting testing that spurred on the brownie testing.  My friend, D-, makes a fantastic frosting.  He says it's so simple and gave me the recipe.  I tried it last week.  If I had stuck to his directions, I would have been glueing sand to the top of the brownies.  I added extra water to get it to come together.  I think he left something out.  So I'm on a quest for that as well - a terrific mocha buttercream recipe.  I made some modifications and have a new one to go with this week's brownies.  DH thinks it's pretty good.  I thought the initial texture and flavor were okay.  We'll see how it holds up.

See? This is why I'm on the mobile platform.  All this blathering on and no pictures.  So dull.

But I'll continue a bit anyway.  I got the town to let us use the town hall for a gardening lecture series.  I'm giving the first one on winter gardening.  I'm the first to admit that I am not the best gardener in the world, but I do know some great gardeners.  My DH is already nervous for me!  He thinks I need to prep and practice.  I mentioned that I might just show up in my gardening togs - dirty jeans and a t-shirt.  I thought he was going to have a stroke right there on the spot.

One way or another it's happening 2 weeks from now.  Maybe if I don't advertise it?

Just a thought...