knit-alongs and other stuff

now that the excitement of our big forest fire is over-phew, that was close. too close for comfort. things are getting back to normal. trying to get organized for schooling and i've been knitting up a storm!

i'm relieved to have gotten the twin baby sweaters done that a dear friend commissioned me to knit for her brother's twin baby girls due in november. i was able to finish them just in time for a quick handoff at peterson's corner on her way to the baby shower-that was another close call with many issues of running out of yarn and trying to find new balls with the right dye lots. but i managed. the pattern was a sirdar pattern # 1816 made out of bamboo and merino yarn-oh so soft and machine washable.


now that i'm done with this commission i can work more on my knit-alongs-yes, i've joined more than one! insane i know-but remember i'm the queen of starting new projects but this way i may get them done:)

here's the progress on my Catamount sweater, i'm almost done with the second part:


while parousing around ravelry-i found a mystery sock knit-along using HAZEL KNITS yarn. i love hazel knits yarns! the cool thing about a mystery knit along is you don't know what the finished product will look like- you receive clues and your sock will unfold before your eyes as you knit. i'm a bit behind on this one. here's the beginning of my sock in the sweet crush color way.
i decided to do another project for the knit along as you can do numerous projects-by the same designer. melissa of "stick chick knits" is an awesome designer. check out her website. i decided to do the prickly fingerless mittens but only in one color as i didn't have another contrasting color and was trying real hard to be good and not order more yarn! i already had a skein of hazel's "olympic rainforest" on hand.

i think the mitts will still look awesome:


well, my back is troubling me again and i need to lay down-adios folks!

the process

i've dyed some beautiful rovings that spun up just okay looking-nothing to write home about. i remember thinking that i wanted to dye a really ugly roving and see how the finished project would turn out. i will show you this process. i chose a bright fuscia(in honor of cyndi lauper 's 80's hair dye) and a rust. i dyed or rather painted the merino roving. the wool turned out like this:

my water is very high in iron so the rust color had a lavender bleed to it. interesting. i spun it on "bozenna" my Polish spinning wheel. i think she liked it! then plied it on "henri" my wheel from Holland.

next i wound it into a skein:

then i let it sit in a bag in my studio(closet) for months on end....maturing, ripening-or maybe till i totally forgot about it and came across it while looking for the perfect retro apron to match my outfit that was shoved into the closet(studio) at amazing speed-avalanche prevention.

i decided something "baby" would be the perfect item for this skein. i needed to wind my skein into a ball for the knitting process. i use my umbrella swift for this job. it's a wooden devise you attach to your table that aids you in effortlessly winding your skein into a ball.

or not. argh! see previous post for more photos of this escapade. then, i got to spend the rest of my morning untangling this mess. deep breathing did help with this; along with a long colorful string of specially chosen cuss words. but finally...i did achieve "ball" status.


then i parouzed ravelry and found the perfect pattern- got my knitting mojo on, added some cute buttons from meadow farm and wa-laa! the project is complete. okay i lied-rowan parouzed ravelry for me this time!

okay-so i lied again, the buttons aren't really sewn on yet. but you get the point anyway, right? maybe i need to dye more ugly rovings:)


as they say it's not the destination but the journey.