My First Pair of Socks!!

Socks, socks, socks! Since the Sock Yarn party I have been going sock crazy!! I have been collecting sock yarn for a while now - you would think one would knit socks BEFORE stashing socking yarn. Nope, not me. When I see a yummy yarn in a yummiliscious colorway, I just can't resist. My thinking was that if the crazy ladies in my S'nB group didn't convert me to a sock knitter I could always use the yarn to lace shawls and scarves! See, no yarn wasted in my stash!! *don't worry, I think I need to be committed too, but until someone actually drives me to the asylum, I'm safe*


I have finally finished my first pair of socks!! And wow were they a quick knit!! I had cast on at the Sock Yarn party that was on March 15th and I cast-off and weaved in all my ends Easter night!! This yarn is SUPER yummy, soft, gorgeous!! I am so in *heart* with this color too!! This is soooooooooooooooo a me color! Wouldn't you agree KozyKitty? :)





Pattern: Tidal Wave
Yarn: Sheila Rovelstad Designs Sock yarn (Ravelry link)
Needles: Addi Turbos size 2 - 12"
Modifications: I switch to a short row heel and I carried the pattern down the top of the foot.

Apparently Frisco thought this was a photo op for him!



While I was going through my stash to see what I would cast on for next I found my long lost first sock, or rather the 2nd sock to the first pair that I cast on back in October of 2007! Denise, a woman from my S'nB group had me *really she ordered me too, but shhhhhhhhh let's just keep that between us cuz she really was The Sock Lady in our group at the time* immediately cast on for the 2nd sock so that I wouldn't commit the dreaded "Second Sock Syndrome."


Well.....


That didn't exactly work because Christmas was around to corner and I started concentrating on gift making and the bag with these socks got lost! or so I thought! But I found them and worked on them last night! Of course, I don't remember what heel Denise had me doing on the first sock so I really hope she remembers!


Frisco was the model for this sock photo, you can see that I took the picture just in time to see him trying to sneakily play with the yarn! I can't believe I might actually have 2 pairs of sock finished by the end of Spring Break!

Easter Weekend

Happy Easter Everyone!

I went home to the folks in NY this past weekend. My sisters and my cousins from MD also came up. The Easter dinner table was set for 21 people!! We haven't had that at my house in quite a while! It was so much fun.

Saturday, my mom had all the kids making their Easter breads. In Itlaian we call them Paloma (but I'm not really sure of the spelling). Traditionally, Easter bread were shaped into a girl for little girls to decorate, bunnies for boys to decorate, bastets for older kids, and braides to give to other adults. Easter bread is brushed with egg to give it that nice shine while it cooks and it helps the decorative candy sprinkle to stick.

After the Easter bread making, Mom made homemade pizza for all of us for lunch. Sorry, I was too busy eating it to get pictures of it ;) Afterwards, my sisters, cousin and I took the kids to the local park to let lose some of that energy they had! I took my knitting along with me. You see the poicture where I have a little Starbucks bag on my wrist? Well that was my little knitting bag to carry the socks that I was working on! I now understand the need for this little project bags! Needless to say, that I surfed Etsy and found several cute little project bags and bought one. Of course, after I purchased it, it dawned on my that I could have just MADE one myself!! Oh well, if I need more then one that's what I will do! Ooohhhhh - maybe that's what I can make for some knitting friends for Christmas gifts!

One of my cousins really should have been a baker becuase she just loves to bake and she's so creative! Just look at those adorable cupcakes she baked and turned into nests complete with eggs and even a few peep chicks!!

Saturday's Sock Yarn Party

Yes, a Sock Yarn party! Sheila, the woman in the pink sitting behind the cash box, dyes yarn and she is starting her own business. So the wonderful ladies that I knit with on Wednesday nights decided to give her a big hand!



Look at all those beautiful colors!! And those really neat sock blockers were made by another woman in our group, Stacey! I so want a set of the ones with the flipflops!!



You can see more of the gorgeous yarns on Needle-dee's blog entry on the Sock Party. Here are can see some of us that just couldn't wait to start knitting iwth our new yarns!!





Look at what I bought! Looks like I will be knitting sock in my future!



I even started!! I soooooooooooo love this teal. I just might have to order a few more in this color to make myself a shawl with!

Hands on Dying!

Back on March 8th I took a dying class over at Lovelyarns. It was interesting and fun and I'm actually hoping to do a little more experimenting with dyes when the weather gets a little warmer.

Here is what I did on my first attempt. I was going to and brown/purple colorway. It's tricky getting the dye to go all the way through the skein which is why there are some blue spots in there, but for a first attempt I still pleased with the outcome.





My second mixing of colors created this rich red. I was totally in awe of this color. I'm such a red person! It almost looks like blood. I dubbed this colorway Blood Red Fade. Now, if only I can recreate this red to make some solid colored skeins when I experiment again. I highly doubt it since when we were mixing colors we were trying to make the brown for the first skein. When this red came up I said "oooooooo save that for my 2nd skein!"



The skeins are both fingering weight (100 grams, approx. 450 yards). Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to turn these skeins into!

If you have a pattern suggestion PLEASE post it :)

Finally Fetching!!

OK, so I'm a little behind on the band wagon when it comes to certain patterns. Earlier this month I finally pulled out the 2 skeins of Frog Tree Merino that I purchased eons ago to make a pair of Fetching. I really, really love the feel of this yarn, but because it's a one-ply yarn they have already started to fuzz up and they look worn. They are very soft, and warm, but they don't look like a project that has just been taken off the needles. Oh well, and I still have several other skeins of this yarn in my stash.


My assistant at work took this photo, I think she was trying to capture the new manicure more than the mitts!


Pattern: Fetching
Yarn:Frog Tree Merino
Needles: Lantern Moon DPN size 6
Notes: bound off on smaller needles to tighten around the fingers.

I couldn't believe how quick these knit up that I already have a 2nd pair on the needles!

More Fairy stuff!!

Just had to share this new bag that I got! I found this Etsy. It's the work of Michele Lynch
It's currently holding my more portable knitting projects :)