So the birthday madness around here has settled down now. Three birthdays in one week is crazy but fun. Here's the awesome camera my hubby and boys got me for the big day.



I love how easy and complex it is and that it can fit in my purse. It's even going to get it's own knitted Malabrigo sock cozy to protect it.

I'll probably go crazy for awhile with posting lots of pics. This was taken with the foliage setting.




I think it will probably take me until my next birthday to figure out all of the cool features. Thank you Tim and boys -- I love it :)

The Little Boy Who Loved Hand Knit Socks

My little guy loves hand knit socks. I knit his first pair a few years back and they have been well loved, worn beyond their prime and outgrown months ago. He would wear them even when the heel flap stuck out on the bottom of the foot because they were too small now.

My oldest son doesn't care for hand knit socks thinking Lorna's Laces sock yarn wasn't soft enough -- seriously! So I frogged his pair and re knit them for my little guy in the camouflage colorway. I couldn't let that $20 sock yarn go to waste!




And so the socks will be well loved, worn lots and outgrown soon :)

The Never Ending Socks

Do you ever have a project where you don't seem to make any progress and it seems to last forever? This was that project for me -- the Eleanor Socks. The pattern was easy enough and I love the kettle dyed effect of the handspun yarn, yet I just wasn't feelin' it. Well they are done now and I am super happy with them and equally happy that I can now cast on a new project!

Easter Eggs and Wool

The little guy and I decided to dye up some Easter eggs this weekend. So, with an egg dyeing kit, some vinegar, a dozen eggs and an eager little boy, we dyed up some very colorful eggs.

When we were finished, I thought, why let all that dye go to waste? I brought out some superwash merino I dyed up awhile back that I thought was pretty boring.

After soaking it in some water for awhile, I mixed a few of the colors together to get a purple and then used the green and blue as they were in the kit. My favorite dyeing method is using an old roasting pan and laying the wet fiber in the pan. Then I just poured the dye on the roving.

Cover and bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes and voila, some very colorful fiber.

Mystery Solved and a New Sweater

The mystery socks are now solved! I was able to carefully remove the i-cord bind off on the sock and then do a 2X2 ribbing instead. I even like how the ribbing lines up with the cables -- how lucky! What I later learned from a Ravelry forum is that when you do an i-cord bind off you shouldn't snug up the stitches when you return to the beginning of each row. If you're doing i-cord for say a bag handle then you do want to snug up the stitches. Good to know for next time -- lesson learned.



I recently started spinning and knitting for a new sweater, Mr. Greenjeans. I spin a little and then knit a little, to help keep me from getting bored. I've just spun up about half of the pound of merino I dyed and I'm starting the cable and rib bottom portion of the sweater. This is going quick. I love the one piece construction (no seams) and the fact that I can try it on as I go.



Today was a rainy, snowy mess. The kids and I decided to go to what we call the "big library". It seems like everyone else in town decided to do that too as it was packed! I browsed through some knitting books but didn't really see anything super interesting that I already hadn't checked out before. But I do have the book Spinning and Weaving with Wool on hold at the other branch of the library. It's a book that was recently reviewed by Meghan on the Stitch It podcast and peaked my interest. Lots of DIY stuff in this book and you know I'm a DIY kind of gal.

New Blog, Same Me

Due to some technical difficulties, my old blog is no more :( Glad you found me here, while I get used to the Blogger interface.

So Clue 4 (the final clue) of the Mystery Sock came out and I really enjoyed knitting the sock up until now. It's pretty enough and was interesting, but after knitting clue 4 it won't go over my heel -- uggghh! That darned I-cord edging is the problem -- not enough give and stretch. One option would be to knit the I-cord on a larger needle, but I think I'm going to work just a 2X2 rib and play it safe.


So I'm off to frog the edging, try to pick up all of the stitches and reknit the edge. Maybe a glass of wine is in order first.