Felix Felicis!

Haha, ten points for Gryffindor! (Even though I'm a Ravenclaw...)

I scored some of Sunshine Yarns Harry Potter-inspired sock yarns today at her update. It was crazy. She said she would update at 10:00 am, and at that time, you could literally watch the yarns being posted up each time you refreshed the page. She posted 5 each of Gryffindor and Snape (I snatched one of each) and 2-3 of the rest, then I flew to check out. By the time I completed check out... almost all of the yarn had Apparated on out of there.

Check out the Snape colorway:

It's very subtle, and I think will make for some manly-looking socks. It's like Christmas in April, because this yarn is for Christmas gifts. (ssh!) I decided to only get the two, since hand-painted yarn costs many galleons, but if I like working with it, I'd like to get more, especially the Accio Firebolt colorway for some Jaywalkers (I think I am going to have to succumb to wearing hand-knit socks myself. It's really inevitable, isn't it?)

Nine little monkeys...

...being born this year!

Seriously, by the end of 2008, I will have knitted gifts for NINE new babies. NINE friends & family are having babies this year (or already had them.)

...

And that's just the ones I'm knitting for.

What a girl knitter needs...

Is a way to surf Ravelry and knit at the same time. Overload! I can read while I knit, but being on the internet is hard what with all the clicking and scrolling. What bliss it would be to shop for new yarn while I fondle old yarn knit though...

It would also be nice to have a way to tink SSKs. Those are a real mess to undo.

DH's socks are halfway done, and I know this because #1 is complete (with the exception of end-weaving) and #2 is cast-on. The finished sock is a perfect fit. :D Which means, of course, that I'd better not throw it in the dryer, lest it not remain a perfect fit. (Oddly, though, my swatch--and yes, I made a swatch and washed & dried it--did not shrink a bit. If anything, it grew, which really blows my mind.)

have you any wool?

Time for some yarn pr0n! *evil grin*

I got a Knit Picks catalogue in the mail the other day and open it up to have a row of happily-dressed feet and saw this:

I'm just tickled by that color combo for some reason. I love chocolate brown paired with other colors because it heightens the prominence of the other color. But here, it's like the others set the stage for the brown. It's cute.

Then, I saw a pic of some other yarn by Claudia Hand Paints and toodled on over to her site and found this pretty picture staring at me:

Oh... that's yummy. All the golds, browns, and pinks blend together but then there's the splash of pretty blue.

But what's really tempting me is the Panda Silk from Crystal Palace. My LYS carries it and I've been thinking about it ever since I laid eyes on the stuff. (that was months ago.) I love monochromatics and I can just see a knee-high sock knitted up in the Nutmeg striping yarn with the ribbing, heel and toe in the coordinating sButterscotch solid. (The brown-toned ones) I want!

Once I saw these pretty yarny colors I couldn't get them out of my head! I love the idea of bamboo/silk/wool blend. How luxurious is that?

Funny thing is: I don't wear pretty socks! Isn't that a riot that I would drool so much over sock yarn? And adore knitting socks? I always wear basic white or black socks and I like them thick and squooshy on bottom. So, what would I do with fabulous sock yarn, or for that matter, fabulous knitted socks? I'm terrified of knitting fabulous socks for myself only to find I don't enjoy wearing them. Oh yes, this is ironic, miss Acciosocks...

Baa, baa, black sheep...

Anouk is complete! I put snaps on last night. I'm disappointed with my alignment skills, as the snaps are a little too visible for my taste. Still better than the dress gaping at her shoulder though!

I've started DH's socks and so far... so good! The Trekking knits up quite sharp in k3 p1 ribbing. (Could it be that I've used so much cotton lately that wool is surprising me? This must be why the Yarn Harlot loves wool because dang! It looks slick.) The top is k2 p2 for stretch and the ankle and top of foot will be k3p1 for a stylish look and a little stretch. I've slipped the 3 inches I have on DH's tickly feet and, well, like I said. :D

Dh wanted to order something from Amazon but it came up $5 short to get free shipping, so he asked me if there was something I wanted. Well, of course! Don't you know I have a whole list of knitting books I'm interested in as a matter of fact? I ordered No Sheep For You and should be seeing it soon. Exciting stuff, whilst I knit with a bamboo blend yarn...

(OK, I do ctach the irony of extoling both the sheepish and non-sheepish virtues of my Trekking simultaneously. Let's just enjoy the complexities of the thing, shall we?)

Come back, Jack

OK, coming back to my blog after a while I actually realized how long it's been since I updated and... how long it's been since I started Anouk! Well, Anouk is done with the exception of adding a snap to secure the shoulder. Bonus picture on the blog of Pumpkin showing off her dress!

I did lots and lots of math to make this thing work, given the re-formulation of the yarn. On my gauge swatch, the yarn knit up smaller, so I calculated how many more stitches I needed to get the size in inches that the pattern wanted. I added that many stitches throughout the pattern then doubled all the instructions since I knit one piece in the round, not two pieces flat.
I widened the shoulder strap, as per another Raveler's recommendation, but then didn't think to add another buttonhole. So one button isn't really cutting it, hence the need for a snap.

Pumpkin seems to enjoy the dress, but she does tug at it a lot, which stresses me out. Please don't stretch out mommy's work! On the plus side, she has now learned the word 'dress.'

It was a bit mind-bending to make this dress work, which is why it took so long. I also have whipped out one of the many baby hats I'm going to need for the year and I'm just getting warmed up! So far, I'm not behind at all. The babies being born next month have knitted things ready for them, and the next babies are due in August. For now I'm going to concentrate on DH's socks, then return to baby hats and hopefully knock those out quickly so I can get a start on Christmas knitting. Which is pretty much all socks. Accio socks!!!