December Spinning & Classes

So no new classes I'm teaching to announce.  I suspect I might be doing a couple Ravelry workshops soon for my various guilds.

I have been spinning.  And working with my handspun.  At SOAR I picked up the Spin-Along kits and with the two ply I made I worked this cowl.  Doing a garter ridge every time I created a color change.

And from above the colors blend even more.

I really love it.  Merino wool spins up so soft.  I'm still working on the Rockin' Whorl Club's first package, Prism.  I have finished all the singles I think.  I ran out of angelina to blend with the solid.  So I just spun up what I had and will begin plying.  Not sure what I will do.

However, I want to finish the sock singles I have too.  I'm on the second traditionally spun single of the 3 ply.  Last one!

So many spinning projects almost done.  :-D

We are almost to the holidays.  If I don't blog before then, happy Christmas to you.  :-D

November WIP's and a sock review

I have finished a new crop of Puffs for the Bee Keeper's Quilt!  I just love these little guys!  I can't make just one, and I spent all of Thanksgiving making them.

I lined them up.  I don't know, it was much more orderly this way, stop judging me.

I can't wait to show you the holiday stuff, but I can't.  That's not fair to those who want to be surprised.

But my swap package made it's way to Japan a couple weeks ago, so here are the cute mittens that made their way across an ocean!

I hope Yuka enjoys them.  They were easier than I would have thought to make.  They are the Corkscrew Mittens by Michelle Hunter.  She offered a class locally that I had the opportunity to take, she's from Columbus OH.  I went to OSU, (Go Buckeyes!) so there's a bond there.

Sock Review:

I've been knitting socks for YEARS.  In 2008 I started making tons of them.  So I thought I would review some of them.  Take new pictures when I could and let you know how the yarn wears and the pattern too.

In the summer of 2008 I made Ziggy, a stranded knit zig zag pattern.  It's toe-up sock with a short row heel worked out of Noro Kuryeon Sock Yarn.  New socks:

I don't have a picture to show you of the sock today because it's gone.  It was one of my favorite pairs but I tossed it.  The sock was knit at a nice tight gauge that wore really well, however, Kuryeon is a one ply with a little thick and thin aspect going on.  That one ply wore nicely when where it was doubled up but in the areas with no colorwork it did not.  My Ziggys wore through on the heel.  It made me sad.  The one ply yarn is an interesting choice for socks, it doesn't have the spring that a good sock yarn has, so the socks were not stretchy and easy to get on.  The pattern was great, and I would make them again.  I would chose a yarn that would wear a little better.

Next time, I will have a pair with an updated pictures :)

November Books and Events

The book and Event are are linked!  I can't plan this well, it just happens.

There was great excitement around the LYS water cooler about Ysolda's new collaborative book, The Rhinebeck Sweater.  Oh the preview was so pretty, and the photography well done.  And the sweaters, the sweaters so enticing.

How could I resist, I pre-ordered the book, with some disappointment that it wouldn't be delivered until after Vogue Knitting Live!  I took Ysolda's class on sweaters 'Beyond the Raglan.'

I was flipping through twitter, which I do about once a week.  I'm not a good twitter user, at all.  I don't read hardly anything on it anymore.  But I logged in and flicked through, and the app I use really only shows you the last 12 hrs of posts.  And behold!  Ysolda popped up saying the books came in early, they would ship early if all goes well.  Apparently, they did.  I got mine the Wednesday before VKLive!  It was great.

The book is fun, a cool collection of stories and essays from a variety of authors and designers.  A collection of patterns of different styles from a variety of designers.  Great pictures and tons of information that you need for a great sweater.  I would expect nothing less from Ms. Ysolda, and she signed the book after class.

I am so grateful.  To be honest, I signed up for this class because Vogue sent an email saying there were 1/2 price classes.  I decided I would do a full day of classes for the cost of a 1/2 day class.  I looked to see what was on sale, deciding I would take something from someone who won't be at Stitches.  Ysolda's class was the best deal to me, as she doesn't often teach at the big conventions.  But I saw sweater class and no homework.  IN.

The class was the missing link between the Amy Herzog Knit to Flatter (I am a big fan, do not misunderstand) and a sweater that would fit 100%.  The only thing Amy's "series" does not tackle is arm-hole math.  This is where Ysolda's class comes in.  Beyond the Raglan was the name of the class, I didn't remember much about this class I was supposed to be taking by the time came.  I brought my penguin in a sweater to inspire me.  The first 1/2 of the day we talked about the types of top down seamless sweaters there were, and how to get a real good fit.  Mostly theory and a little sample knitting to keep your hands busy.

At lunch I walked down to a Mediterranean version of Chipotle/Subway, and it was yummy.  Then, since I didn't buy a market pass ($90 for a 1/2 day class and you still need to buy a market pass) I would walk up MI ave to Vosges Haut Chocolate in the Nordstrom building.  It's a good 3 miles of walking.  I should have worn sneakers, but it was still good.

The afternoon was math, all the armhole math I needed to really adjust any sweater to fit my arms properly.  I will be building a spreadsheet I think to work through her notes.  I am ready to work through those notes now, after a month to mull things over.  I can't wait!

November Spinning and Classes

Spinning:

I have a new finished yarn this time.  Although I did a ton of sampling at SOAR, I wanted to have bobbins empty.  I did a small bobbin 90 yards or so of left over Rocky Horror, but the big finish are intentionally spun singles I finished on the 7th of Oct. :)

I joined the Spin Off Magazine's Spin-along.  It's a study really of spinning and along with fiber are tools and goodies.  This first bundle had a couple color tools and then 4 one ounce bumps of merino.  One is a blend of Red, one is a blend of Blue and one is a blend of what I called Other, but I think is supposed to be yellow, and then a tan/mustard solid.  Here's my singles. Red, Blue, Other, Solid.

And a little closer look at the colors.  The blue is not as blue as it is in real life, but you get a good idea.

I also started the Prism Polwarth I got from BMFA, it's a rainbow of happy.  I bought some angelina to add to my wool.  I've been using my new hand cards to make rolags.  Big fluffy worms of fiber and sparkle.  I've got some lofty singles, and I plan on mixing up the angelina with some raven dyed Polwarth too.  Amazing yarn I hope.

Classes:

I'm taught last weekend.  Spent Saturday afternoon teaching 2 at a time on 2 circulars!  It's a quick sock we do to get the concept.  It's on the Fuzzy Wuzzy Yarns' site here!


Classes I've taken, this month was a lot of classes.

I took 4 classes at SOAR.  Four three hour learning sessions with some of the most amazing spinning teachers out there, and in my backyard, St Charles IL.  How lucky am I?  I took Spinning Your Way Through Lunch with Patsy Z.  She had great info and I tried fibers that are new and funky and a little rare in the spinning world.  I tried Banana, Corn (PLA), Milk and Soy fibers.  I didn't get to soy in class but I have to try it!

I took The Gentle Art of Plying with THE Judith MacKenzie.  She's amazing, and soft spoken and patient and full of good information.  You have to be still to hear it, but it was worth it.  If you can, take a class from her.  Oh wow.

I took Amy Tyler's Mechanics of your wheel.  It was a good discussion of what my wheel can do, what it can't, what physics are at work.  It was great.  After this discussion, I want a Saxony style wheel.  Kromski?  Oh, it makes me excited!

I then took cotton spinning in the afternoon with Stephanie Gaustad.  I am not a cotton spinner, but wow.  It was amazing to watch others do it.  It was a good wind down until the evening events.  Here's all I got done.

October Works in Progress and Finished Objects!

Have you knit a sweater in 30 days?  Have you seen or heard about the 30 day sweater challenge?  Well I participated and had a great time.  They had Wednesday virtual knit nights, daily shows, free sweater planning guides!  Yay!  Oh and giveaways!  Didn't win any of those, but I ended up with a sweater I love!

I did it - I started on October 2nd, I swatched in September though.

I finished seaming the sleeves at SOAR on Saturday during my spinning cotton class.  It's so comfy and I love it.  And it's my HANDSPUN!  (rare picture of me in my glasses even!)

Love the sweater, have worn it so much since Saturday, there's already pilling.  :)

I finished Michelle Hunter's Corkscrew mittens.  Here they are in progress, I completely forgot to take a picture!  I cannot believe that!  It's a blurry shot that I sent to Rachel to show here how much I was enjoying working on them.  They really did work up quickly, and I love them so.  I may have to make a couple more pairs!

The mittens are tucked away for colder times.  (It's not snowed here, but there have been hard frosts)  I used Hikoo Simplicity yarn.  It took 2 balls, and I had some of the light teal left over.  None of the dark teal was left over.  They did grow a little in blocking though...

I finished Greg's Holiday Socks.  I love that guy, it's the only reason I would make man-sized Ribbed dark grey or black socks.  Seriously.

The yarn was a gift from a HS friend of mine, it was Wildfoote Sock Yarn from Brown Sheep.  It's a marled 4 ply.  It looks sturdy, machine washable, and kept me interested as I knit these up for a million years/2 months.

See, I don't finish anything last month, and I finish a whole bunch this month!  I'm good like that.

My in progress bar has grown on the Bee Keeper's Quilt.  Look at this - 2 more piles of washed puffs!

A pile of fall colored puffs!  From left over socks!  3 of the 4 yarns used in this pile were made for gifted socks, did your socks come from that pile?

This pile is created from Knit and Fiber Creation's Walking Dead colorways.  Beth, Rick goes to Crazy Town and Lori's (spoiler).  I've been making a lot in Lori's (spoiler) right now.  I've almost used the whole ball.  Love the white with a bit of pink and then the dark brown pops.  It's great.  I love my socks in that color too.  :)

On my other projects:
I have a pair of plain socks that I'm making socks as a holiday gift.  I love Tofutsie - just love it!  I really love how the striping/pooling changed after I finished ribbing and moved to the stockinette!  So pretty.
I've started a Stephen West Barndom.  I've joined my second color and it's not gone well.  I'm very visual and his written directions don't help me as much as it does for others.  I missed one symbol and I had to rip out that entire section!  
My blanket in homespun is making progress.  It's in stockinette and it's pretty, but boring.  I work on it while watching Walking Dead with a friend on Sundays.  I can pull it up to my eyes when I'm scared.  :)
The Christmas Stocking with penguins on it is coming along.  Last week I finished the heel turn, last night (yes on Halloween) I worked about 1/2 of the foot.  a few more inches and I'll be working the toe.

I have to now plan out my holiday knitting.  I know I can get a lot done between now and the holidays, but I now need to work out my plan.  Yikes!

Last thing.  I might take next month's section on WIP's and FO's to do a little review.  (no holiday spoilers?)  I have been knitting socks for about 4 or 5 years now.  I've got lots of socks STILL from that time.  I'd like to review a few pairs.  Show pictures of them THEN and now.  And we'll see, maybe this can replace "Books" post in the following months when I don't read anything.

October Books and Events

New Books this month?  I got The Rhinebeck Sweater from Ysolda Teague et.all.  I am so excited.  There will be a lot of sweater knitting.  Aunt Freddie is fantastic, and I really love Pippin.  Oh, hearts! a preview of all the sweaters are available.  Go over and have a look.  You will see how diverse and fun all the sweaters are.  I saw on twitter that the books are coming from the printer soon, and I hope they get shipped soon.  I have class with Ysolda in 2 weeks, wouldn't it be great to get a signature?

Have you seen this book?  Which sweater do you like best?

Events:
Last few weeks have found me in WI for some non-yarny events.  The Lincoln County Lager Fest with my parents.  I love beer, but you can't be yarny when you've been sampling beer all afternoon!  I saw Radio Lab Live in Milwaukee.  It was a dinosaur filled time.  I loved it, so nerdy, in a different way.

I had a class cancel on me after Radio Lab Live, so I headed to see Michelle Hunter!  She is so sweet.  I love her, she makes me miss Columbus too.  Oh I think a trip to Ohio is in the future.  But she did teach me this beautiful mitten.  Corkscrew mitten, two color cables!  Much easier than I thought.

Next week is SOAR, the marketplace opens on Thursday.  I have retreat classes on Friday and Saturday.  Then after SOAR (if I ever go home) I head to Nightmare on Chicago - a zombie festival in Elgin!  Fun right?  Oh yeah.  Music and zombies!  I hope people are dressed up like Walking Dead characters.

Have a crafty weekend everyone!

October Spinning and Classes

First Classes!  DYO Stocking is this weekend - I am adding some more things to the handout.  Call the shop to sign up.

I signed up for a couple classes (ok they are at events - so I guess we'll do some event prep here).  The last SOAR - Spin-off Autumn Retreat done by Interweave - is in St Charles, not far from home.  I signed up for the retreat portion, Friday and Saturday.  I'm taking an amazing set of classes, spinning new to me fibers, learning about my wheel and I got into Judith MacKenzie's Gentle Art of Plying.  OMG!  So excited!  It's going to be amazing.  I also signed up (because I got a flash sale notice) to get a class at Vogue Knitting Live! in Chicago.  I didn't particualry enjoy my time there last year, but I went to market and to see The Yarn Harlot speak.  I had a good time, but I didn't like the market experience at all.  This time I'm going to take an all day class with Ysolda Teague.  I'm in her Raglan sweater class.  I want to see what I can do to get this shape to fit me.  I love the concept but the increase rate doesn't work quite right for me.

On the spinning front I'm working with the BMFA Prism that I recieved as part of the Rockin' Whorl club.  I sampled a little with some Halloween Fiber this is what I got:

A little too orange.  So I ordered some raven colorway to ply with the rainbow.  Should be fun.

I did work up the Halloween yarn though :)  Hasn't been washed yet, but I've got roughly 1400 yards of a lace weight single (150 grams).  It's so soft and fluffy.  When the bathroom is done being sealed I'll be able to wash and fluff it out.  I'm sure I'll lose some yardage, but I hope to gain some girth (oh my).

I'm partcipating in the 30 day sweater challenge, and I'm using handspun!  yay!  I'm using my Miss Babs BFL that I plied during Tour De Fleece.   It's going to be a Coin Cable Cardigan.  I'm loving my yarn and I'm loving the pattern.

Use your handspun, even if you don't think it's "good enough" - just use it.

Lastly, I will be working on a thrummed mitten or footies class.  Look for some FO's and WIP's on that front!

September was busy, October shapes up the same.

Classes at Fuzzy Wuzzy have been filling.  The DYO Christmas stocking class is so much fun.  There's another one on October 12!  You can see more info HERE!

What have you been working on?

I finished one thing ... like a sweater for the penguin on my desk.  DON'T JUDGE ME FOR MY LOVE OF MY PENGUINS!

It's a simple raglan in penguin proportions.  Next sweater will have fewer belly increases.
Seriously, I have knit 100% more sweaters for my penguin than I have for my sig other...

I can't believe that's all I've finished... not true, I finished hats, but I don't enter them into my project pages.  One hat is for halos of hope, the other for a friend I will see this weekend.  Silly pictures from lager fest will be coming!

Next works in progress.  I have a sweater I'll be starting tomorrow, with math.  I have some lime green handspun, and with the 30 day sweater challenge ... I'm going to get it done!

And I have started working on my 4 blankets on the needles.  I've done about 25 hexipuffs for the beekeepers quilt.  All in fall colors (the penguin sweater was done while making puffs out of that yarn).

 

A bag of puffs.  Not too bad!  

Chrstmas sock project under way, Greg has big feet and prefers dark socks.  I'm working with Brown Sheep's wildfoote sock yarn.  I like the marled effect, at least that's interesting.  Only 7" left to go on the cuff and I'm done!  

That whooshing noise that the end of summer makes ... when the bobbins are spinning.

Did the end of summer pass you by just as fast for you as it did for me?

I love the end of summer and the beginning of fall.  So many fiber festivals and yarny events.  So much running around and getting everything ready for the fall rain and the winter snow.  It's time to knit!

I have been spinning though, I'm loving this hobby.  Here's what I've done:

I finished the Corridale I talked about Hawser Plying in the past month's blog.  It's been set and is ready for gift giving.  How pretty is this?

I made a chain plied BFL from Two if by Hand that I got as a door prize at Yarn School.  It was in the color Lurky.  Very Halloween.  The red is bobbin leftovers from the above yarn.  (I know that red just turns into purple with those blues!)

I decided they would make baby legwarmers - showed them off in the last post!  I did removed the pink from the mix for the project though.  The tone was a little off.

I love the next yarn.  I just finished earlier this week.

I worked a Spinning Bunny Batt that I won from Tour de Fleece, a supported long draw.  I worked some top from The Fold, Romney, undyed white, in a true long draw.  I beaded about 300 yards of silver thread.  I then plied them all together.  And it was lovely.  I did have to re-bead at one point because I didn't catch the end of the bobbin before they all slipped off the end!  I also had to spin up more Romney.  All fibers were a delight.  Beaded yarn can go for up to $45 a skein, and I can tell you after creating it - it is worth it.

August Round up! Projects & WIPs

I have finished 4 more projects!  All within the last couple weeks.

I finished my third Camp Loopy, and am wearing it right now!  A lace weight cardigan, I love it so much.  It's Audrey's cardigan, from the 2010 Spring Interweave. 

My new favorite is worked at a big gauge, and has snagged a bit.  :-(  The yarn is lace wool from Prism color 103 I think, a basic brown.

I also finished a cowl that I was doing for the mean girls yarn club.  It was such a pretty color I wanted flashing, this called for crochet.  I made 50 two layer granny squares and joined them in an infinity cowl with some lace weight from knit picks in the bare color.  I only finished on Tuesday, so I missed the deadline.

Finished photos are coming, it's blocking right now.

I slammed out some Halloween leg warmers for a special girl.  Perfect for fall.  3 because you might lose one!

The yarn is DK handspun from BFL from Two if By Hand in the Lurky colorway.  I was told when spinning it the yarn looked like fruit loops, but now it looks very Halloween!  I improvised the pattern.  36 stitches, 1 inch ribbing, 5 inches plain knit, 1 inch ribbing = warm legs!

The Shark-nado socks are done!  A holiday gift is done!  

I have a few patterns to write up now...

On the needles?  I put a new pair of grey socks on them.  The love of my life likes boring socks.  I am using gift yarn though, which makes these extra special socks.

I have a charity hat on the needles, the yarn was more stripy than I expected, so I think I need to switch pattern :(

And all the blankets are sad, because I finished all the other projects and not them.

Classes and Events for August 2013!

2 big events have happened.  I went to Stitches Midwest and I went on vacation.

Stitches has not disappointed me.  A couple of my classes there, a little, but this year I took no classes but went to all the evening events.  I was very happy and excited.

I worked in the Zen Yarn Garden Booth, my LYS Fuzzy Wuzzy Yarns will start carrying their yarns this fall and we hosted their yarn at Stitches.  I spent Thursday's market preview learning about their yarns and talking up their cashmere blends.  It was so pretty, I came home with some (not these ... they were already gone)

I came after work on Friday, but missed the podcaster meet-up due to yoga.  I did meet up with some folks from the Fox Valley area in WI, HI!  It was good to see my Yarn School Buddy Ann.  I got my books signed by Antje Gillingham and Melissa Leapman.  Both were very nice but honestly Antje changed my knitting life.  The 2 at a time on 2 circulars method made socks more achievable and more likely to be the same size!  I couldn't thank her enough, she might have gotten teary.  I know I did :)

The fashion show put on by the yarn sponsors and vendors was that night.  I got to sit with Jen Lucas of Sock Yarn Shawls & Knitting Like Crazy, Laura (who won the student banquet editor's choice), Christine and Pam that I all know through my time at Fuzzy Wuzzy.  The Fashion Show was very cool, lots of great things going on, Lion Brand's LB collection has some real nice stuff in it!  I was really impressed with Laura Bryant's Artful Color, Mindful Knits collection from the book.  I wish I had more time to check out those garments.

Then the PJ party.  I packed up my sidekick spinning wheel and had it in the car for the PJ party.  I knew that after work, shopping the market and the fashion show, I would be fried.  I took it as an opportunity to spin.  I was the only spinner, but I did get to teach a little about the wheel and what I was doing.  It was a lovely night.

On Saturday I was back in the afternoon after mowing the lawn, house work and some laundry.  I came in around 1, dropped off some noms for the ladies working the Zen Yarn Gardens Booth, because I knew they wouldn't stop to eat.  Then did a little walking the market place and shopping and then did a 2 hr volunteering at Halos of Hope.  Man I love Pam, Alex and that whole organization.  They do a lot to make sure people fighting for their lives have some comfort and love around their heads.  Do check out the drawing for a FREE RIDE to your next stitches event for a $5 donation!

In the evening on Saturday I finished the day with the Student Banquet and Fashion show.  I just love that event.  The peak at what the industry is presenting is great, but seeing what the others at the show are doing is the best!  Fantastic work and great workmanship.  Oh, I loved it.  So proud of the other stitchers there!

I came home with a few goodies from the dinner and then came home to pack for a week of vacation in MI!  There was very little fiber fun on the road.  I knit a lot of my Camp Loopy Project, some socks, and taught my friend to spin!

She should be very proud!  And she is so enthusiastic that when she got back to California, she signed up for a drop spindle class.  Woo hoo!

I saw cool things and ate lots of great food.  Ann Arbor MI is a wonderful town, even for a Buckeye.

I wish I had had the time to take a class at Stitches, but I pooled my money into SOAR.  And it's good I did, because it's the last one :-(  I am thrilled to be going and to sleep in my own bed while attending.

On the teaching front I have several classes that are new to me.  Design Your Own Christmas Stocking.  Like this one I made for my sig other.  

I am teaching Christmas Ornaments too - Balls Up! is our pattern and it's going to be great!

Check out the store website for details. 

It's August - Let's Talk about Spinning and Books

This month's Spinning and Books are linked.  

I was gifted 8 ounces of Gale's Art Corridale wool in a Randome Colorway.  Of course there is no before picture.  Sorry.  It was a bunch of Purples, some red, a navy, aquas and a blue.  They were 2 bumps of four ounces each, likely dyed at the same time.  I didn't care for the red, however the purples and blues were very nice.  I decided to break this up, pulling the colors into different piles.  I then weighed each pile to see how I could divide these colors up while still being able to pair the red with a color that would ply into something good.  The red is so tonally different than most of the other colors but I wanted a 2 ply.  I figured out a color progression that would pair the red with the navy which should give an effect of a purple from a distance.  

My sidekick bobbins hold about 4 ounces so my intent was to spin 2 bobbins FULL and ply them together making a 2 ply that would be a lovely purple yarn to gift over the holidays to a new knitter.  I have never spun Corridale before, it wanted to be spun pretty fine, finer than I usually spin.  So, I needed to come up with a different option and I turned to The Spinners Book of Yarn Designs.  I had flipped through the book in an early post, but I hadn't READ the whole thing.  I did, and I loved it.  I went browsing and learning through the book looking for a multiply that would work with my Z spun singles that are divided into 2.  I had already spun one bobbin full :-/ 

I found the Hawser Plying, I think I was familiar with Hawser Rope.  It's a 4 ply that is a double 2 ply taking your z spun singles and making a z spun 2 ply yarn, then taking the 2 ply yarn and making an S spun 4 ply!  Ah!  And when I was flipping through the book I found a secret pouch on the back that had cheat sheet cards!  So handy to remind me what I was doing.

So far I have spun my Z spun 2 plies.  I should start S plying tonight.  BUT I SAMPLED:  Look how nice that is :)

Bonus Recipe You Need To Try: 

Filipino Chicken Adobo.  So easy, so yummy, in love.  Make with rice, eat with gusto.

A Late July Wrap Up - Projects!

I've been readying for a vacation and Stitches Midwest and the Chicago-land Yarn Crawl.  All the while I let the end of month wrap up fly by!

I have been knitting swiftly and getting a lot of projects done.  I still have a few projects in need of buttons.  Including my Bittersweet vines set.

I worked the smaller size out of Plymouth Mushishi.  Love the silk noils, don't they just crave your attention?  I don't know if I like the color gradation, but with 5 buttons in place I will be putting this set in the gift pile.

I also need 2 cute buttons for Ava's sweater.  It's a Helena from Knitty.com.

I made the largest size and made a couple modifications.  Those were removing the picot edging on the bottom and sleeve to match the garter edging on the button band/collar.  I also did all garter and reverse stockinette in a contrast color.  A forced modification due to a lack of purple yarn was to add a couple stripes near the edging on the sleeves.

Her 3rd birthday is at the end of the month, and she picked out the purple, Flashdance in MadTosh DK.  I picked out the pink to go with it.  The combo reminds me of Dora the Explorer, a big hit at her house.  This soon to be 3 year old said it was pretty and you can't ask for a better endorsement!

I have been obsessed with the Knitty.com pattern Sallah Cowl by Bristol Ivy.  All my 100% wool sock yarn WANTS to be one.  Including some Insanity Sock from Knitting Like Crazy (currently not dying up more) in a Packer color!

It's drying on the rack right now.  I love the simplicity of the pattern.  With a set of interchangables, I put on one size 5 tip and one size 10 tip and off I go.  The cowl is so squashy and the pattern creates a lot of pockets for air to act as insulation.  I am completely fascinated with the squash-factor and color pooling.

I have yet to pick a new yarn to become a Sallah, but I'm eyeing some Zen Yarn Gardens Serenity Silk at Stitches Midwest for one!

On my needles right now are a million things.  I found a blanket in Lion Brand Homespun that was 1/4 done in my closet.  I moved it from the old house and shoved it in the closet?  *sigh*

So I dug it out and quickly doubled the length in cool afternoon a couple weekends ago.  I do like it and it's on US 11 needles, so it's about 2 rows per inch.  BAM!  Blanket!

For those counting that's 4 blankets on the needles, none remotely close to being done!  I'm 1/2 way through the GIANT needles blanket too.  That one is heavy and warm.  8 strands of worsted acrylic on size 50's.  I did about 8 more rows on it but have gotten to a point where I need to be joining new yarn.  Things get tangled and I get frustrated.  Every row helps though!

I haven't done any work on the Building Blocks or Beekeeper's Quilt.  They are lonely and neglected.

Other projects I'm working on are a hat for Halos of Hope.  Simple Tam pattern for that in a beige.  Kind of boring... a KAL with the Mean Girls Yarn Club that I have made a million (about 35) tiny granny squares for.  So cute.  I can't wait to work with them, but I have to weave in ends.  YUCK!  But I'm going to attach them and combined withe some garter stitch rows of white... maybe I'll have a new pattern!

Have you seen Sharknado?  I have been bitten and I am making Sharknado Socks!  Look for an afterthought garter stitch heel.  Oh they are sweet.

Lastly I've started challenge 3 for Camp Loopy.  800+ yards in ONE project.  I'm doing the Audrey Cardigan in 100% Wool Lace from Prism.  I have lace tension issues and have snapped the yarn once.  (I'm a hulk)  I do nothing but re-think my choices when knitting this; it's not a good sign.  The color is a boring brown, which I know I would wear all the time but don't like looking at right now.

I know that I have had to make a couple adjustments to the pattern for my hips and arms.  It all makes me a little nervous.  Dear God I hope this works out.

Hope everyone's knitting is going well!  See you after Stitches!