SnerKnits

With finished objects and finished yarn. To my left ladies and gentlemen is the finished Spirng Fling. It was nearly the death of me but I love the finished thing. It wears beautifully and is very comfy. It was made with Smooth DK by King Cole and even though it was acrylic it feels fantastic to the touch and it didn't squeak on the needles at all!

and just because it's pretty the merino silk I was spinning in the finished product stage. I need to do just a little more and I'll have enough to do a mini-clapotis for Mom for X-mas!

If you are my boyfriend of far too many years the answer is always yes. He wears socks with everything - thankfully he doesn't wear sandals so we have avoided that disaster thus far. He does wear socks with slip on shoes all summer and it looks awful with them pushed down around his ankles. His solution? Get me to make him anklets so I don't have to hang my head in shame anymore. Fine - maybe I will - I was even nice and picked out yarn that wasn't pink (so tempting but I do acutally want him to wear these). I'm using Meilenweit Cotton Fun in the 508 colour way. He has ginormous feet however and the progress is slow. This first one has taken about a week and I'm just now at the toe. Wish me luck with the second! This is my foot in the shot so don't worry - I know I can start the toe for his socks when the foot goes over mine (simple but effective)!

Edited to add a picture of the completed sock the first. One more to go (man is feet take forever to cover)!

On Tuesday I went to my fibre crack den and picked up a small package of three silk hankies. I thought it would be interesting to try dying them (as I've never done the Kool-Aid thing before). I have to say the results were interesting.
Here is one of the hankies after dying and drying.

I wish I'd used less of the purple and more of the green - also that I'd eliminated more of the white but not bad for a first attempt right?

I then followed the excellent instructions from Knitty and had a blast spinning the many hankies that my $2.25 yeilded on my new Kundert Spindle - it is so pretty and simple. Steve was fantastic. He was emailing me about the weight of the finished product, he kept me updated about what was happening and he had the beauty out to me in record time! If I could convince myself that I needed another I wouldn't hesitate to buy another from him!















and the finished product!! I think it looks ok but I'm not totally even yet. I'm also lying when I say that it's done. Right now the skein (which yielded ~ 30 yrds) is drying in my laundry room after a short soak. I'm hoping that the yarn will even out slightly but I'm still very enamoured with it. It's so shiny and all.

Which I really enjoy when I'm looking at blogs so I hope you will too.

These are dad's finished socks after blocking and they fit him like a glove.

The next lot are pictures of my new obsession - about two weeks ago I was at Knit Knackers just looking at sock yarn and I got caught by the pretty corriedale roving and the woman minding the store asked if I knew how to spin. I didn't and she offered to teach me on the drop spindle (for a very reasonable fee). She was super sweet and it seems like such an inoccuous craft as it was relatively inexpensive. My first yarn wasn't so pretty.














Oh so very uneven . . . . . This was some natural colour BFL that was eventually easy to spin but the slubbyness was unholy! Then I got to work on the corriedale. I just alternated the three colours that I had taken home and then plyed them togeather to see what would happen.

















See - it's getting better. I used the Andean Ply bracelet and it worked really well. I then gave it a good bath and weighted it as it dried so it's actually balanced. So what to do now that I'm sort of getting better. I go back to the LYS and buy some "relatively expensive" stuff. I picked up 100g of black merino and white shiny silk blend and tried spinning it a different way. I figured out - with the help of a few web sites- how to spin from the fold and it worked really well for this yarn. Here's where I was on Friday night. It's really pretty and soft - so soft. As of today I finished spinning the lot, plyed the whole thing, and hung it to dry after a nice bath. It came out to about 111yrds of a heavyish worsted so if I want to use it for anything I should really pick up another 100g. I think it may become a Xmas gift for Mom (don't judge me for planning early - I don't handle stress well).






I've started work on the Elann Sonata Print tank top and I've started work on my very on Picovoli in Knit Picks Shine Sport. So far so good.

I finished the Spring Fling over the weekend and I love it. I just need to get a hook and eye for the closure and then it's totally done (ends woven in and everything). Pictures to come. Dad's socks are also finished and were gifted last night before a very manly meal of steak and garlic break at our house. They seem to fit so yay for that!

I've started using the free Fleece Artist yarn and it really is beautiful. I began by trying a baby cable pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks but it just wasn't doing it for me so I switched to a slipped stitch ribbing from the same book. The colour is just amazing and the pattern is really appealing. Enjoy the pretty colours . . . . .




PS - I love using the office camera - the macro feature is so nifty!!

I finally finished a painting that I've been working on for months. I meant it to be for my Dad (a real wine fancier) for Dad's day but his B-day is in August and I think I'll wait until then so I can find a good frame. The painting is a paint by number but I found it really challenging. I've done a number of these types of paitings before but this was the first one in which I was given about 8 colours and had to mix them to achive the variations needed for the image.

There is a debate if I should put his initials on the wine label in caligraphy or fancy script - thankfully I still have a couple months to decide!



In an unprecidented burst of craftiness I also got my old sewing machine up and running to make this. . .

I was inspired and blatently stole the directions from Grumperina (scroll down to "Sore Subject"). It works beautifully but I definately need to work on sewing a straight line!

It was a lot of fun to make this but I broke a few (three) needles trying to sew the small elastic loops to close the thing. I kept hitting the pin even though I'd pinned it correctly. Oh well - last time I buy sewing machine needles from the dollar store!

What a lovely company to work with! In less than a week I had a replacement ball of sock wool that had already been wound to check for problems. They even said that if I didn't like the colour I could pick another from the website. This kind of customer service is second to none and it makes me proud to support this Canadian company. I have written an email expressing my thanks but I will probably vote with my dollars as well!

why yes, I do believe that it is the left front of a spring fling (WooHoo). This means that the back is totally done (I am so happy after the frogging disaster). I am past the ribbing and into the lace. I love this pattern - the lace is interesting enough to keep me going but easy enough to do on the bus.

Yesterday I ordered Sensational Knitted Socks from Chapters and I can't wait to have it in my hot little hands. I also ordered the fourth season of News Radio - one of my altime favourite shows. It dosen't actually ship until the 20th but I can wait (I think) .

The first of Dad's socks are done and I've picked up and begun the guesset of the second. I was all panicked because I thought this weekend was Dad's day but now I have a whole second week to finish them - very releaved (now I can spend more time on the Fling)!

That last picture didn't do the colours justice at all, so I'm hoping that this one is better. The picture was taken covertly at work with a better camera than my own and more sunlight.

I'm working on a pair of socks for dear old dad for Dad's day (seems only fair since mom got a pair) and I am using Fleece Artist merino sock yarn. It is a lovely colour palette of autumnal colours and perfect for a guy. The disappointment came when I was winding the skien and found four splices, some ok to just knit in but some were so messy and thin that there was nothing for it but to cut and weave in extra ends.

I wasn't terribly happy about so many splices in only 325m of yarn. I've never seen more than one splice in any other commercially available sock yarns. I sent off a quick email to Fleece Artist just to let them know that there had been a problem and they have offered to send me a new skien free of charge. Being the yarn ho that I am I will absolutely take them up on the offer and what really amazed me was that I emailed them on Saturday night and I had a reply by Sunday morning! While I was originally disappointed with the yarn the customer service has more than made up for it.
And now for a gratuitous picture of socks in progress. Because the yardage is a little short on the Fleece Artist I'm doing the heels and toes in a solid Jawoll superwash. Looks ok right?

But then again don't we all. I've got the Spring Fling back to where it was before the disaster on Saturday but what do I see today in the newsletter from Knitter's Review but this really cute tank from Elann http://secure.elann.com/ShowFreePattern.asp?Id=136024 and I immediately fall in love with the "Lilac Satchel" colour of the Sonata yarn and proceed to purchase it without having any real need of a new summer project. I still have to finish my Fling and I have some KnitPicks Shine Sport to make a Picoli once that's done. This is my first summer as a serious knitter and I have to restrain myself. From here until Fall it's sock yarn only! Unless - well unless I finish all three tops - then I can get myself something else, maybe .