Somebody hold me.

I mean, seriously. This semester is kicking my ass. I'm managing to swing As in three of my classes, but barely. I've been so washed out lately I don't have the energy to knit a flipper. Mitered squares and stockingette stitches are being made - slowly. Like, during the bus ride. I don't want to spend my evenings solving complex equations. I want to spin. Stupid semester.

Anyway, just thought I'd give a shout out to show that I'm still kickin'. Whining and kickin', but kickin' is being accomplished.

Someone please send pizza and a maid.

A tried and true method to prevent color pooling in socks.

Like many sock knitters, I have a love/hate relationship with variegated and handpainted yarns. In fact, I kind of think variegated yarns are tacky, yet I love them so much that I buy only one ball of solid color for every three balls of handpainted or variegated yarn. Sometimes I just don't understand myself. Anyway, I love socks for their ability to keep my secret love of bold and clashing fashion tucked neatly away under my simple mom jeans. I'm actually fairly certain that pants evolved over the years because loincloth wearing businessmen wanted to hide their secret fashion faux pas under their furs.

Huh? Point? Oh yeah. So knitters use various techniques to break up pooling, right? Like stitch patterns, or using variegated yarn in a fair isle pattern (I sooo have been wanting to do that soon) or (as was shown last week) by using two balls of yarn and knitting in stripes. Now, with this particular pair of socks the goal wasn't to prevent pooling; rather it's just showing off the yarn in a different way, but the technique is indeed one used when you have that tricky ball of hand painted yarn that just won't behave.

So someone please tell me how I could be so lucky that my non pooling sock yarn could be made to pool right when my knee sock is ready for the calf decreases? I mean come on.

Sigh.

Like how that color pooling thing went on for several stripes? Denial in action.

Well, at least I enjoy knitting this, because I'm not letting this one slide. This will totally be reknit. Thankfully I have more balls of this yarn. In fact, I have enough for two pairs of  knee socks for me and a pair for my son. These two colorways were close to each other, but several other colorways were a little more distinct. Now I know to make sure the colorways are distinct enough from each other.

By the way, that mug in the background? Warm spiced wine. Mmmm.

So I have two braids of roving on spindles...

One braid must be spun into a scarf due by Christmas. Plus I have a toy to be knit and a seriously huge blog post to write up in relation to said toy. I also have a design that theoretically must be finished soon. Well, the design is finished, just not the write up. I also have three algebra assignments I'm behind in and two tests coming up to be studied for, and somewhere I must find someone to interview that was alive during the sixties and will make an interesting oral report. My dishes are backed up, my laundry needs to be folded, and I have several WIP laying around the house. Hmm. What to do?

Hey, I know! My friend wants to come over and photograph her stitch markers and show me how to play with some stunning beads that seemed to slip into my bag the other day while my budget wasn't looking! I'll set aside the day for that!

Or we'll go to an LYS and sit and knit with folks for a bit while my budget takes another hit. Afterwards the spending will get worse while I find out what a hamburger tastes like when made on swirled rye bread and we'll knit together in a pub. Yeah, that will get stuff done.

Seriously though, can you blame me? I mean, look at those colors! Plus, this Mini Mochi stuff feels more like alpaca than wool. I kid you not. I glanced at the reviews on Ravelry the other day, seems that they got off to a bad start when this yarn was first released. I recall something about the reputation, and if anyone has a ball or two of this stuff around that they aren't fully happy with, then there is obviously a serious problem. I'm willing to help though. You can send all your Mini Mochi balls to me, I'll take the hit. That's how much I love you.

Smelly the Snail likes Spaghetti

I have been going about this project photography thing all wrong. I realized that when I was thinking of exactly how I would best show off the kid's latest toy, Smelly (ravelravel). So named because Frank is not acceptable. Neither was Percival. What could possibly be wrong with Percival? Anyway, I was thinking about snapping the shots pretty quickly because once kiddo gets his hands on a toy, they look pretty sad fairly quickly. Something about his habit of swinging them over his head or using appendages as handles. Anyway, he loves them and I don't mind the wear and tear as long as he's happy, but the photos must be done fast. Unfortunately, I require some amount of interesting to my toy shots. Finding interesting spots with good lighting when dusk approaches in a dim appartment with a kid clamoring for their toy is somewhat of a challenge.

Then it hit me. Grab a white sheet. There is no snail on spaghetti. It is snail on a white sheet with some helpful editing software. Smelly has already taken a trip to Mona Lisa's lap and has climbed the Eiffel Tower. We've had quite a bit of fun with shots of Smelly tonight.

Yup, I've been doing it all wrong.

Well, anyway, if you want a Smelly, he is yet another flash of brilliance on the part of Hansi Singh. (ravelravel)

By the way, if you are one of the handful of people who have been following my blog for the toy content, have no fear - something special comes soon. If you follow for the spinning content, something special still comes.

I have the lace bug.

You know, through most of my knitting career, I have avoided lace rather well. Not because I was afraid that it was too complicated, but because I'm a tomboy at heart. Okay, not just at heart. I doubt many people would describe me as feminine, though I do fix my hair every day and wear jewelry. Well, one jewelery. That piece being an Emerald Chafer Beetle trapped in resin and hung from a simple black cord. Not the most feminine of pieces, but it's a hit with my son's first grade classmates. Plus it's shiny, don't forget that. Anyway, the point is that while no one faints when I wear pink, they don't exactly expect to see me in a dress, either.

Or lace. I think lace has to be the last thing that anyone would ever expect to see me in. Since I'm not likely to spend an extended period of time working painstakingly through a project that I'm not likely to ever wear, the lace experience I have under my belt is limited to socks and scarves. In fact, the laciest thing I've ever done is my Muzzlepuffs scarf (ravelravel). That doesn't mean that I haven't had longings, I've been eyeballing shawls and wraps for a couple of years now. I just didn't think there was anything that I could truly pull off wearing with my backpack, and as a student that backpack is my most important fashion accessory. So, I've envied and wistfully watched people work with the most delicate, gossamer patterns and stuck with challenges that looked far more simple (anyone who thinks hansigurumi toy patterns aren't a challenge, I dare you to try a hermit crab.)

Until now. OMB, baby alpaca and silk laceweight YUM YUM!! That's Alpaca with a Twist - Fino. (ravelravel)

I found a pattern (pdf for the list of patterns, it's the last pattern on page 3 - Prism Yarns book 42) that looks like a wrap with sleeves, and it's as versatile as a wrap to wear. (ravelravel) You can toss one end over your shoulder and pin it, tie the ends around your waist, or leave it open. The ends hang asymmetrically, so the open look is nice and quirky. I can totally pull off quirky. That should femme me up, don'tcha think? I love making it.

Unlike the pattern I used for the Muzzlepuffs scarf, the arrow head lace was simple enough to memorize. I had no problems with the Muzzlepuffs lace, in fact I think I ripped the Muzzlepuffs back fewer times when I was getting the hang of it, but I did need to follow the chart for that one. This one is just a few stitches to memorize, but I actually have to pay attention to which stitch I'm working when on the purl row. Plus, I had to rip back so many times due to unintentional increases on the sides (something about how my edge stitches are laying in such a fine yarn) that I have to use a lifeline for the first time in my knitting career. My inexperience aside, this is a great little lace pattern.

I'm a little afraid though. I mean, this is such delicate (and fabulous) yarn that I'm worried about hurting it. What if I'm wearing my lovely wrap and it gets snagged on a sharp object? How long is my rowdy tomboy self going to be able to keep this thing intact? I hope the months of effort will be enough to motivate me to stay alert to hazards while wearing this. Something tells me that a big ol' hole it it might bring me to tears.

Oh! By the way, my blog posts might not be as regular for a while. This semester is killing me dead. Bad combination of classes, absolutely horrid.