Summer Heat

I have never really been a fan of summer. The heat and humidity here sap any energy or enthusiasm I have in record time. Not to mention that my fair skin burns quickly and leaves me with painful cooked lobster colored skin. As a result I spend a good portion of summer indoors where it's nice and cool. The past few days have been exceptionally awful - 60% or higher humidity, no rain, and sunny with high temperatures. For those of you who have never experienced this type of weather, imagine trying to walk around while wrapped in a damp hot wool blanket. Add the extra pressure on your sinuses if you have allergies and toss in a migraine or two and you have my typical day during the summer. I am not the friendliest person in weather like this. I keep it to myself as much as possible, but I will be the first to admit you're more likely to provoke me when it's hot or humid.



I've been weather watching the last few days. There have been lots of newscasts and predictions about how it will rain and storm for days (and how "awful" that is for everyone) yet the rain hasn't happened. It's been cloudy, but no rain. Also, it annoys me to no end to hear whining news anchors say how terrible it is that it hasn't rained and that crops and lawns are dying as a result, but when it rains they talk about how awful it is that it has to rain and "ruin" the day. This is similar to people complaining they hate the heat and wish it was winter, but when winter rolls around they whine about how they hate winter and wish it was summer already. Yeah, I complain about the heat but you will rarely hear me complain about the cold. I would seriously rather be cold and be able to bundle up than be too hot and unable to take off anything else and remain decent.



What brought this on was stepping outside to take photos of my latest yarn. No sooner did I set foot outside my glasses fogged up and it felt like I was breathing through that damp warm wool blanket I mentioned. Yuck-city. So now I'm inside waiting for it to rain. The cats are camping the door waiting for me to let them out, which won't happen until it rains.



I haven't done a lot in the past few days except clean and dye the last few hanks of yarn I have left over. There's one ball left that will be turned into tiger striped yarn as soon as I get the rest of these wound into skeins. Right now I'm half-heartedly working on the same sock I was plucking at all weekend. I want the sock finished so I can make something else. I wanted to take the leftover yarn from the Fabulous Fisherman scarf I made and make a bunny or bear out of it. Something small and cuddly. Something other than the monotonous k1p1 ribbing for the sock. It's slow going on small needles and boring. I only have 4 more rows of it before I can start the heel. That's the beauty of the magic 56/56 sock - I can see by my row counter how much more I have to go. The downside is that I can see how much more I have to go and I get impatient.



Also, a quick update - the new yarn I listed this morning just sold, so now I really do need to get to winding up the other hanks!

Progress

Is something I made little of yesterday.

For some reason every time I tried to do anything, I'd wind up getting distracted. Not enough knitting, not enough reading and definitely not enough cleaning.

Featured Yarn And Socks

Today's featured yarn has been in my shop for a bit and never seems to get enough exposure. This yarn is still available, but only one skein of it. It's a very short sequence colorway, but is very lively. As with my other yarn, I had socks in mind, but maybe more along the lines of children's socks because of the bright and fanciful color.

The camo-ish socks I mentioned are finally getting worked on. Instead of just finishing them as they are, I couldn't help myself. I ripped the first one all the way and started over so that I could do a k1p1 rib around the cuff so it would be more comfortable. I'm using the magic 56/56 pattern (56 stitches, 56 rows).

Spice Cookies And A Finished Project

This is my latest yarn, Spice Cookies. I admit, when I was dying this yarn I was disappointed. I was trying a different method (plastic wrap and painting small sections, then wrapping it all up) and it did not go well. It originally was going to be brown and orange streaks but as soon as I went to wrap it up, the colors flew everywhere even though it looked like they had soaked in. I nearly scrapped it right then but I decided to go with it and added an extra color or two while it steamed. The Etsy listing has pictures of it pre-skeining so you can see what it looked like as it was drying. As I skeined it I noticed it was really looking nice! The colors are perfect, and the picture really does not do it justice. It looks edible almost. Clogs would be perfect for this yarn but socks would look terrific in it as well.


Well, nearly finished. Yesterday on Discovery Channel there was an all day Deadliest Catch marathon. I hate to admit it but I can't stop watching that show. I get teased to no end about it, so I sneak in episodes when no one else is home. I had been slowly working on socks but I felt like making something mindless and easy because I'd be busy watching the show. I mentioned before that the idea of 100+ stitches per row was daunting but I retract that, it is a whole lot easier than short rows. I put a stitch marker every 25 stitches just in case I lost track of where I was but I was over halfway done with the scarf before I even realized it. It's worked in two thick bouclé colors - one a variegated tan and the other a darker fuchsia with color chunks mixed in. Sounds hideous doesn't it? It has a retro feel to it, and it's very thick and warm. I dubbed it "Fabulous Fisherman". I need to add the finishing touches to it. I was thinking about fringe with beads on it but that might be too much, maybe just fringe in alternating colors. Pictures will be posted as soon as I'm finished with it. I need to force myself to finish the other pair of socks I have going. Last year I had to have a book with sock patterns in it. It was one of those things were I went to multiple places looking for it and no one was getting any peace until I had it. I was working on a pair of camo-ish colored socks for someone and I was convinced the book would help me get past the heels. The book was not as helpful as I hoped and I ripped the heels out several times. Yes, heels. I decided to make both socks at the same time since I know I'm slow to finish the second one. I bought two sets of double point bamboo needles and was working from the cuff down. Both socks are stuck at the heel. Since then I have learned far better ways to knit socks, mainly that it's easier to go from the toe up. The person wants them anyway, despite my protests that they will slouch since I didn't rib enough, and that I could just start over. Seeing my nearly finished scarf today reminded them that I started their socks last year and haven't finished them and hinted that maybe I should finish my projects before I work on something new.

As much as I want to sulk about that and work on something new anyway I have to acknowledge it as a a valid point. I have several projects that I started and abandoned. I vowed this year I would knit from my stash and empty it as much as I can before I buy new yarn. So far, I haven't purchased any new yarn for myself, everything I have bought has been for my shop. It's hard to find projects for the yarn I have. There's a lot of fur and feathery eyelash yarn that I either bought or was given for decoration, a ton of striped sock yarn and some random chunky yarn. The sock yarn I will end up using, so no worries on that, but the rest, it's hard telling what it will end up being.

New Yarn And Some Sock Work

This skein is the Neapolitan I mentioned in my last post. In my excitement I listed it with the yarn still hanked the way I dyed it. It's still available in my shop. Etsy is still having problems with new listings not showing on searches so this yarn hasn't been snapped up yet. I also have two skeins of the same color (it's a batch of three) that have not been listed yet. I'm waiting until Etsy gets the problems fixed because it's hurting sales when people can't see new items. (and when they finally do get added, they're a dozen or more pages behind) I am really pleased about this batch of yarn. I have four hanks of undyed yarn left over. I'm planning on an orange and brown stripe, as well as some long sequence blue/brown/green stripes. The other two I have yet to plan out.

This is the Neapolitan yarn after being re-skeined. Pretty, isn't it? I'm thinking it would make some terrific felted clogs. I scrapped the idea of the pink and white cotton yarn I was using for a scarf. I decided I just wasn't liking how it was knitting up. A different pattern or project would be better for it, maybe with some beads for an evening bag. Somehow felted clogs got into my head and I started wondering if that might be a good idea for the holiday gifts. I'm working on socks right now while I mull over my yarn choices for my next project. I want a bouclé scarf, and I'm wondering just how it would look if I used alternating rows of tan and pink. I've never made a scarf with long rows, and honestly, the thought of 100+ stitches per row makes me cringe but it will help me prepare for much larger projects.

This last yarn is also available in my shop. It's long and more or less even sequences of chocolate and variegated blue. It looks fantastic.

New Yarn And A New Project

This yarn is a short color sequence mix of berry and grape. When I was dying it, the yarn looked like a bowl of berries with dollops of cream from the few spots I left bare. It's still available in my shop. Due to Etsy issues, it was quickly buried under pages of stuff. I really do wish they would add better organization to the knitting section. It's disheartening to try to find yarn and have to click through a dozen pages of accessories and finished goods that are in the wrong category.

It never fails to amaze me how different the yarn looks from it's dye-hank to it's show-skein. I'm hoping that a particularly hideous hank I dyed will end up looking much nicer after skeining. I'm sure it will knit up into something nice, the color pattern is actually nice but in it's still dye-hank state it is a thing of horror. It's a summer squash theme - browns, yellow, orange and some reddish orange. It's a good sock yarn color, or maybe anything felted. It's also a good color for a stuffed bear or bunny.

There are three hanks of Neapolitan Revisited drying right now. Since the first one sold so fast I decided to make a batch of it. As soon as they dry I will skein them up and get them listed. There are three other hanks waiting for their turn as well. The above mentioned squash yarn, another Pimento hank and a chocolate/turquoise mix.

I finished the purple scarf earlier today. It's still in the blocking process. It's going a lot better than I expected but due to curious cats I can only block a small section at a time. One of them has a fascination with the little pins I use to block things and will steal them if they aren't secured. (by secure I mean completely out of sight and covered with a towel or two) I will try to get a picture of it in the next day or two.

I've had this thin pink/mauve/white 100% cotton yarn in my stash for awhile. I bought two hanks of it (120 yards each) last year off Ebay because it was pretty. I left it in the drawer because I had no idea what to do with it. It's not super soft like some of the other cotton I have but I can work around that. I started making another lace scarf with it, but I'm testing it out to make sure it's not too scratchy. I would hate to give it as a gift and find out it's not comfortable.

Neapolitan Revisited

A few weeks ago I created this tasty yarn in honor of the ice cream. It was snatched up from my shop quickly, I think within the same day. I planned to make more of it when my next batch of nude yarn came in. With said batch of yarn I also ordered some proper brown dye. The chocolate toffee in this picture was from a mixture of Kool-Aid I came up with. It wasn't the rich chocolate I imagined but it still looked fantastic.

I worried about the brown dye - in the pot it looks almost plum on the yarn, and while I love purple, it wasn't what I was after. Any worries were soon squashed as I pulled the first hanks out and saw that they were luscious dark chocolate. I immediately set about making another hank of the Neapolitan yarn and ended up with this stunning color. Isn't that amazing? It's so vivid it looks like it might melt in your hands. I almost didn't list it in my shop because I wanted it for myself but I managed to post it. I didn't knit a test swatch because that might have convinced me I should just keep knitting from it! This yarn also was claimed from my shop in quick order and will be leaving my house today. But fear not, because I will be making a few more skeins of it in the next day or so.

I dyed five hanks over the weekend and haven't finished skeining them yet. The above yarn and a very sharp blueberry and orange yarn have already been listed. The blueberry is still available but I'm not sure for how long - I've already had an inquiry or two about it. Also, the picture here doesn't do enough justice to it. This is mostly due to the color contrast. In the shop listing there's a picture of it before I skeined it that shows just how vibrant the colors really are. There's a chocolate and dark turquoise, a purple/red/blue/white blend and one that I can only describe as "summer squash" waiting to be skeined into their show form. If I could get away with it, I would seriously post pictures of the yarn "naked" (meaning still hanked the way I dyed it) and sell it that way. It doesn't look as professional as it does when I take the time to wind it into tight skeins but it's a lot easier on me! It doesn't take too long to wind them up, maybe 15 minutes if I don't run into problems (tangles or distractions). I don't have a yarn swift yet, which is the source of my reluctance to skein them. So right now I wrap the hank around something and wind it around the edge of my desk, which is surprisingly the exact length I need to get a nice and tidy skein!

A swift would make life easier, two swifts and I would be in heaven. I've been working on the idea of a two swift + some sort of automated turner that I could turn on and let it do the work for me but that's a long while off. The swift is on my "to purchase" list, but at over $50 each, I will probably be waiting a bit. Right now my earnings from my shop go into buying more yarn (for the shop, not me!) so that I can try to keep a respectable stock. I'm going to try to keep a few untouched hanks on hand as well in case someone wants a custom order. It won't be a problem once I have a steady amount of orders since I will be able to buy a much larger quantity of yarn at a time instead of the dozen or so every few weeks that I get now.

Something About Yarn

It drives my cats crazy. There is something completely irresistible about a dangling piece of yarn in my knitting that screams to my cats "Chew on me!" "Play with me!" "Attack me!" This is why I now try to weave in the ends as I go since I am prone to leaving my current WIP unattended. The current WIP is a skinny lace scarf in a soft purple color. This is the first time I have done lace, and it's not nearly as hard as it looks. The patterns can be really confusing because there are a lot of yarn overs and knitting X amount together on almost every row so you have to keep track of it, but overall it's easy.

I'm working with a basic pattern with only a two row repeat, so there's not a lot of pattern watching, and fairly straightforward. Some experimenting with the stitches gave me a very nice pattern of thick "leaves" on the sides of the scarf with a solid "trunk" up the center. It looks a lot thicker right now since it hasn't been blocked yet. I have my doubts about how well this yarn will block, but even if it doesn't, the leaves look nice.

Casting On

This blog will be a bit of a mess for a bit. I canceled service with my previous host due to constant poor performance and too much downtime. As a result, most of the posts will need to be recopied to here until I decide on a new host, if I do at all. For anyone new to my blog, it's a mixture of dyed yarn that I sell, the occasional finished project, and the obligatory cats.

I'm working on making my online yarn shop a proper job. I enjoy the process of dying yarn, even if I never knit from it. Right now I'm in the process of building up my store's stash enough that I can have a solid supply at all times. My average right now seems to be about 10 or more in stock at all times. Some of the yarn sells about as fast as I can list it, which is excellent but makes it hard to keep stocked. I try to vary the colors as much as possible. It seems that the bright candy colored yarn always sells the best, while the rich and vibrant, or even muted tones sit longer. I also sell some of the yarn locally, which I would like to see blossom into something regular as well.

There is a link on the sidebar to my online shop, and I will often post new yarn to this blog as well.