ARDIRI

Insomnia Sucks!

Let me start off by repeating--Insomnia Sucks!  This has been a week and a half of the most entrenched, most unbeatable, most annoying insomnia--and I know insomnia.  This recent bout of insomnia is like a virulent strain of Ebola--eager to wreck havoc and nearlycompletely immune to the strongest of drugs.  One would think that saying "Hello, $7 per pill of Ambien" (as in I have no health insurance) would mean saying "Goodbye Insomnia"--but, no, not in my fracked up world of sleeplessness.   Top that off with a week of wicked sinus pain/problems and what you have is Hades on Earth.

Onwards to the knitting and dyeing content:

This sock is made from yarn I recently handpainted for a secret pal.  When I get a chance, I will post this yarn up for sale at my Etsy shop.  Amazingly it is pretty much self-striping, although that was not intentional--just happenstance! 

The Down-and-Dirty:

• Pattern-Good ol' reliable, super-easy "Starter Stockinette" from Betsy Lee McCarthy's Knit Socks.  Using the women's small-medium size.  Cast on 48 stitches.
• Needles- Susan Bates size 2.  The pattern calls for size 3 needles but the yarn knits up better on size 2.   
• Yarn-My own handpainted yarn.  Any ideas of a name for the color?

Package from Purse Ho

Just gotta say--love typing the words "Purse Ho".  The name is so funny--but Jennifer over at Purse Ho Knits truly does have a love for purses...and knitting:
Witness the GORGEOUS Mason Dixon Washcloth all tied-up:

and look how PRETTY it is flat:

And LOOK at the goodies--knitting accessories and the lovliest-smelling soaps:

Now that I've actually held this washcloth in my paws, I can see myself making it for gifts with nice little soaps to accompany.  Jennifer, you've inspired me with this pretty washcloth.  When look at the MDK book, I always thought "too futzy, too much work," and now I can so see myself making some of these (maybe without bobbles 'cause I'm too impatient of a knitter for bobbles!)
THANK YOU, Jennifer!

International Scarf Exchange--Hila Rocks!

My International Scarf Exchange Pal, Hila of HPNY KNITS, ROCKS!  The scarf she sent me--made of the super soft and slightly fuzzy Country Alpaca--is soooo gorgeous and so perfect for the suddenly (or so it seems) cold weather:

And then--because she is just so thoughtful--she added in these beautiful fingerless gloves:

And chocolate:

And more chocolate and a CD with New York, NY inspired music:

A bag to carry knitting accessories (or keys, cell phone, and a wallet):

I HAVE BEEN SPOILED!  Thank you, Hila of HPNY KNITS!

Sockret Pal Questionairre

• How long have you been knitting? About 5 years.
  

• Do you consider yourself a beginning sock knitter, an intermediate, or have you been doing this so long you could probably knit a pair in your sleep?  I can knit a basic pair of socks with my eyes closed--except for the heels!  So advanced-intermediate.

• The measurements: I have small-width-ed feet and I wear a size 6.5 to a 7.

• What colors do you love? Black, greys, turquoise, browns.

• Do you prefer solids or variegated? Either is splendid!

• What fibers do you most love to knit with? Wools, angora, silks, cashmere (of course!), mohair.

• Who do you consider your favorite yarn vendors? Noro, Lorna’s Laces, Manos de Uruguay, Koigu KPPPM.

• What projects (other than socks, of course*S*) do you most enjoy knitting? Scarves

• What fibers can you not stand to knit with? To wear? I hate novelty yarns and acrylic.

• What colors would you never wear? Please nothing too bright or fluorescent!

• Plastic or Metal? Bamboo or wood? Metal, bamboo, and wood. Plastic=yucky!

• Circs or Straights? Generally use circs so I don’t poke the people next to me on the BART (train).

• LoopDPNs or Magic Loop? DPNS, although I would love to learn the Magic Loop Method.

• No wish list, although I should make one!

• Do you like sweet, sour or salty? (or all of the above?) SWEET—and all of the above. Dark chocolate—yummmmmmmm.

• Do you have any allergies or food dislikes your pal should know about? I don’t eat meat—so please, no salami! I am badly allergic to smoke—my sinuses will go into a hellish state if there is smoke.

• Favorite scents? Scents you can't stand? Favorite scents: vanilla, lavender, sandalwood. Can’t stand: apple-cinnamony stuff gives me migraines.

• Do you collect anything (other than yarn and knitting toys of course)? Books, but it is a habit I am trying to break.

• When is your birthday? December 15th

• Do you spin? Dye your own yarn? Not a spinner (yet). I definitely do dye my own yarn.

Real, Actual Knitting Content--With Pictures!

By gods, today we have REAL knitting content!  I am currently working on a scarf for my International Scarf Exchange pal.  I decided to use some of my own laceweight handdyed yarn--colorway Lucky--to make her a simple lace eyelet scarf.  Boy, oh boy, does lace look quite fugly pre-blocking!

And for Ms. Lucky-Scarf's closeup:

And, in other news, it looks like my love-dove, John, and I will be heading to the Marin Headlands for a short weekend backpacking or camping trip (dependent on permits for sites--whichever has permits is the one we'll be doing).  Looks like it'll be pretty chilly, but not rainy.  I'll be prepared with both school-reading and knitting no matter which path we find ourselves on!

Pinki Sockisi Mbili

Pinki Sockisi Mbili = Swahili for Pink Socks Two, or in the grammatically correct English order-Two Pink Socks.  Yep, a semester of Swahili and this is really the most usage I've had for it.   It was a semester of trying to escape  Eurocentric learning.  Perhaps someday I'll visit East Africa (specifically: Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo (DRC), Somalia, Comoros Islands, Mozambique, Malawi, Oman) and get to practice a bit.  But in the meantime, if you are curious about Kiswahili, the Kamusi Project is a great site from Yale.

Anyways--on to the knitting content!  Socks, good ol' finished socks!

They remind me an awful lot of Whoopsy Daisy's finished socks which were done in SUCH a gorgeous color of blue (Koigu KPPPM # P433L).  This  colorway is on my list of yarn to buy next!  (The Pic below is of Whoopsy Daisy's GORGEOUS blue socks and GORGEOUS blue shawl(?).  Oh, and in no way could I forget to mention her exceptional skills with the camera.  Check out her site for daily eye candy, not only of knitting, but of all sorts of things.)

Now for the final Down-and-Dirty Details for my socks:

• Size 2 needles.
• Cast on 48 stitches
• Starter Stockinette pattern from Knit Socks! 
• Yarn: Koigu KPPPM; Main Color: #534 from  my Yarn Aboard II pal, Miriam of Kung Fu Knitting; Heel Color: #223 from the "just in case" leftover yarn from my Sockapaloooza pal, Julia of Knitterly Things.
• Total Weight of finished socks: 1.75 oz
• Total Yarn leftover of the Main Color #534: 1.95 oz which = ANOTHER PAIR OF SOCKS!
• I think when I make the next pair of socks using this main color, I will highlight either the light olive bits, the light blue bits, or the violet bits of the yarn by picking out one of those colors for the heel.  It is interesting to see how the color of the heel--pink, in this case--really makes the pink in the yarn become the dominant color you see when looking at the socks.  I shall experiment the next time around to see how it works out when I chose to highlight a different color for the heels.

Stupid Stockinette

I am working on another pair of socks using the "starter stockinette" pattern that I am starting to call "stupid stockinette" because I am so lame in my sock pattern selection.  I say so lame because I have been choosing to do braindead knitting patterns--mitered squares, ballband washcloths, and "starter stockinette" socks.  Each is a pattern that I could practically do in my sleep, and most definitely can do with my eyes closed, or in the darkness of a movie theatre, or while reading online.  "Where is my ganas?"--my desire, my drive--as my high school Spanish teacher used to beratingly ask our class.  Well, where is it?  Why am I taking easy street in my knitting?  Is it because I like to multi-task while knitting?  Is it because I like to think of knitting as a relaxing process?

Anyways, here's what I am working on:

The Down-and-Dirty Details:

• Size 2 needles.
• Starter Stockinette pattern from Knit Socks! 
• Yarn: Koigu KPPPM; Main Color: #534 from  my Yarn Aboard II pal, Miriam of Kung Fu Knitting; Heel Color: #223 from the "just in case" leftover yarn from my Sockapaloooza pal, Julia of Knitterly Things.
• I shall have plenty of yarn to make a second pair of anklets or short-length socks.  Although, I love the idea of handknit super-long socks, I am just too lazy and get bored too easy to make them for myself.  But I still love 'em.

Two Socks, Blue Socks!

My "Starter Stockinette" socks are finished!  I used the Dye-O-Rama angel-yarn dyed by Laurie of MooKittyKnitting and the dye-job knitted up very nicely.  The pattern was super-quick and super-brainless--great for watching Sopranos, talking to B., or reading blogs while knitting.

Although I had worried that I'd run out of yarn and have to make the socks fraternal twins, my worries were unfounded as I located another cake of the yarn stashed away in a wrong location.  Yay--I've got identical-ish twins!  And maybe enough yarn to make baby booties!

What I'd do differently next time around (if I were to do the exact same pattern):

• Definitely use a smaller needles size for the ribbing at the top of the legs--just a bit too loose.
• Think about making it a bit smaller in the arch area for a tighter fit--I like my socks to fit snuggly.

SP8-The Big "Reveal"

Yesterday I recieved quite the  lovely, lovely package from my "secret" pal who called herself "Jane Doe".  I put the word secret in quotes because I followed the clues to figure out--a good while back--who my pal was and oddly enough, or perfectly so, she's a mystery writer!  I figure it is too perfect: I have a clandestine love for a good mystery (and fondly recall learning to love reading via Ms. Nancy Drew) and even TA'd a semester on Detective/Mystery fiction!  Ms. Jane Doe, or rather the real Lain Ehmann of While You Were Sleeping, is also a real-deal published writer for many a magazine and is a super-star in the scrapbooking world.   She also happens to have one of the loveliest (self?) portraits  that I've seen on any blog.  In fact, one of the things that has been frustrating about this whole "secret" experience is that her pic has made me wish to meet her in person--it conveys such warm-heartedness, a love of joy, with a dash of mischieviousness.  Luckily, we happen to live not so far from each other and I hope we can meet someday soon--maybe a rendezvous in San Francisco, the home of the great hard-boiled mystery writer Dashiell Hammett and The Maltese Falcon.

Now for the pirate's booty...Let's just start out by saying I've been spoiled!  Lain sent me two skeins of the most amazingly soft Manos del Uruguay Cotton Stria.  This yarn is SO soft--I honestly think my cats are getting jealous because I've dedicated so much time petting this yarn rather than them!  This yarn colorway happens to nearly match the turquoise socks I've been working on from my dye-o-rama angel, Laurie of  MooKittyKnitting.  I am actively seeking suggestions for a scarf pattern for this yarn which has a "curly" texture and, once again, is soooo soft!

Lain also sent some gorgeous, handmade stitch markers:

As the little charm at the bottom states, these were clearly "made with love" and are topped by shiny, shiny irridescent green disks that catch light like nobody's business.  Ever since I joined the stitch marker swap and "moved beyond rubber" stitch markers, I have developed a fondness for pretty stitch markers as they seem such the appropriate tribute to loving the work (knitting) your doing.

She also sent chocolate and as you are all learning--I love me the dark chocolate.  This is bar, the Terra Nostra dark truffle, tastes like a chocolate ganache cake-topping filled with gooey truffle goodness.  And--don't panic--it's organic!

The needles, by gods, the needles are a lovely palmwood from Vietnam.  How the heck did she know that I love--but rarely buy 'cause they are so damn expensive--non-bamboo straight needles?  I swear, this woman has been infiltrating my brain as was especially evidenced back when she sent me the Interweave Knits Summer issue within a day of my thinking about buying it, but putting it off due to money stressors!

And since she is a rock star in the paper-arts world, a lovely card that encourages me to play--which is a great reminder now that the school semester has started and I am bogged down with more reading than a nun could shake a stick at.

Thank you Lain--YOU ROCK LIKE DASHIELL HAMMETT and SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE!

Yarn Aboard II

Wowzers! MIRIAM, of Kung Fu Knitting, YOU ROCK! I sooooooo love the Yarn-Aboard II package (Explorer: Sir Francis Drake) I got from her. Everything was SO perfect and its as if she knew me like a sister.

I love the Koigu yarn--great mellow colors and I am playing around with different stitches and sock ideas right now (okay not RIGHT NOW, but while commuting to school on the train and other free moments). The sock patterns are great ("Walking Away" from Fiber Trends).

The fair trade certified chocolate--Ithaca Fine Chocolates' Art Bar--is delicious and the little art piece (inside the wrapper) makes a great bookmark. The coffee is yummy and I've drank it each morning since I recieved it. Also, I like the idea that it came from the Ingoboka Cooperative in Rwanda. SO socially responsible and thoughtful!

The pics on the postcards are making me wish I could visit those places and that I had more money and time to backpack and camp.

And the "Gimme Coffee!" stickers have already been assigned their rightful places on a Nalgene water bottle and a travel coffee cup! Miriam, Ms. Kung Fu Knitter, you rock  like both Elvis and Nietzsche! Thank you!

And a SUPER GRAND THANKS goes out to Amanda of Clothesknit: For a Naked World for making this knitting swap happen!  She rocks like Foucault and Johnny Cash!