Crazy Week

Classes started up again this week and I can already tell this is going to be a crazy and expensive semester. Last week was my only official week off between the end of the summer semester and fall semester and almost that entire time was spent sorting, cleaning, and carding mohair. In short I didn't expect it to take half as long as it did, but thankfully it's done. Now just to spin 11 lbs of mohair.

In a small fit of startitis I cast on the Live Oak Shawlette with the remaining yarn from the Spanish Peacock shawl. It is turning out beautifully, but I don't know who it's for yet. I'm sure it will tell me before I finish.

Still trucking along on Dan's very boring birthday socks. Thank Dog I have until November to finish these so I can justify only doing 5 rounds at a time before I can't stand looking at them anymore.

 I got some pretty presents from the In-laws vacation. A little draw string knitting bag from Della Q and a skein of Knit One Crochet Too Crock-o-Dye yarn. Mmmm, silk. Don't know what this will be yet, but it will speak to me eventually.

Dan's gift was a bag of fudge and the night I brought it home we had a little and put the rest on the dining room table so the dogs wouldn't get it....apparently peaunut butter and chocolate were too much of a temptation and while I was out running an errand Izzy snagged it and nommed it all up. Had me worried for the rest of the day, but aside from being a little bloated and gassy she was fine. Dan is still pissed about the lack of fudge.

We also may be getting a new addition soon. Smoke's bunny boyfriend, General Burnside, may be coming to live with us after recovering from a case of wool block. He doesn't get as much attention since his owner got a dog who's soul purpose in life (at least in the dog's mind) is to eat the rabbit. My dogs love the rabbits and think they are interactive play things, so when he comes here they'll have 2 bunny playmates.

General Burnside

Fini- part 2

Finished my skull socks last night...finally.
So happy these are off the needles after 2 yrs.

Going for the Gold

Day 11 of the Olympics and I'm still going strong on the shawl, although it's becoming a bit of an uphill climb. Currently it is taking about an hour to complete just 1 round, but I'm slogging through. I'm still debating whether I have enough yarn to complete another full repeat and still have enough to make the edging. I've never made a large circular shawl before, so I have very little frame of reference as to how much yarn the edge will use. I think I may just forgo the other repeat since it will probably end up taking 2 hours per round by the time I'm done. I just don't have that much time.

So since I've hit the land of slow I opted to put in some work in the WIP Wrestling category and wrap up these socks. They've been on the needles for 2 year and just need to be done already. The other night I got a full repeat of the patter done and am only half a repeat away from turning the heal.
The mohair that I washed last week is finally dry and I began carding and spinning this weekend. One ounce done, 239 more to go.

And overshadowing all this is my own personal goal of getting the entire house CLEAN during the Olympics. I say it with all caps because I'm talking spic and span all kinds of sparkley kinds of clean. My house usually does exist at a pretty reasonable level of tidiness, but things can only remain so clean when you have 3 dogs, a cat, and a house rabbit. I'm going room by room, purging, dusting, organizing, and pretty much everything (except the windows, no point in doing them until the ac's come out in the fall). So far this has been a room a day process and I've finished the bedroom, my studio, bathroom, and attic thus far. Only 5 more to go and blessedly 2 of those are really easy. Now I'm off to do my room of the day and get some mandolin practice in before class tonight (it's the second to last, so excited to have some time off before fall semester starts).

1oz of silver mohair

Appalachian Socks

Here's a lovely little sock pattern for you all to try. It has been test knit, but please let me know if you find any problems.Here is the Ravelry link. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/appalachian-socks
Enjoy! More designs coming soon!

Appalachian socks

Finished size- women 9
Yarn- approximately 220 yds worsted weight yarn
Needles- Size 5 dpns or size needed to obtain gauge
Notions- St marker, tapestry needle
Gauge- 21 sts and 28 rows=4” in St st
Terms: pm-place marker
M1-with right needle pick up strand between working sts and place on left needle, knit through the back loop to make a twisted increase.
Yo-yarn over
Skp-slip st knitwise, k1, plass slipped st over
Tbl- through the back loop

Middle Eastern Wrap Cast On-16sts
Round 1:With 2 needles held parallel and end of yarn between needles in left hand wrap yarn clockwise around needles from left to right for half the number of sts to be cast on. ie 16sts=8 wraps.
Round 2: Holding needles in your left hand use a third needle to knit 8 sts across 1st needle. Turn work and knit across 8sts on second needle.
Round 3: With empty needle *pick up 2 sts between working needles, k8* repeat once. 20sts total Divide sts evenly onto 4 needles.
Round 4: knit all needles
Round 5: k1, pm on needle 1 only(marks the beginning of the round ), m1, k to the last st on needle 2, m1, k1. Repeat increases across needles 3 and 4.
Repeat rounds 4 & 5 until there are 11sts on each needle. Toe should be 2 inches at this point, add additional repeats of round 4 to reach this measurement.


Foot pattern Needles 1&2 instep, needles 3&4 sole
Round 1: *k1, yo, skp, k2, p1, k2, k2tog, yo, k1* repeat on needle 2 Needle 3 & 4 knit
Round 2-4-6: Needle 1 &2 k5, p1, k10, p1, k5 Needle 3&4 knit
Round 3: *k2, yo, skp, k1, p1, k1, k2tog, yo, k2* repeat on needle 2 Needle 3 & 4 knit
Round 5: *k3, yo, skp, p1, k2tog, yo, k3*repeat on needle 2. Needle 3 & 4 knit.
Repeat as many times as necessary, 6 for a size 9

Short row heel
Worked on 22 sts on needles 3 and 4.
Row 1(ws) slip 1 purlwise with yarn in front, p19, wrap, turn
Row 2:(rs) k18, wrap, turn
Row 3: p17, wrap, turn
Row 4: k16, wrap, turn

Continue to decrease in this fashion until you reach row 12
Row 12: k8, wrap, turn
Begin increasing
Row 13: p9, wrap, turn
Row 14: k10, wrap, turn
Row 15: p11, wrap, turn
Continue increasing in this fashion until you have knit 23 rows and all sts have been knit.

Leg
Note-repeat pattern across all 4 needles
Round 1: *k1, yo, skp, k2, p1, k2, k2tog, yo, k1* repeat
Round 2-4-6: *k5, p1, k5*repeat
Round 3: *k2, yo, skp, k1, p1, k1, k2tog, yo, k2* repeat
Round 5: *k3, yo, skp, p1, k2tog, yo, k3*repeat


Cuff 1
Round 1:K2tog, p1, *k1,p1* repeat 4 times, then repeat entire direction across each needle..
Round 2: *p1, k1 * repeat
Round 3: *k1, p1* repeat
Repeat rounds 2 & 3 until cuff is 1” long.
Bind off loosely

Cuff 2
Round 1: *k2, p2*repeat
Round 2: *k2, p2*repeat
Repeat rounds 1 & 2 till cuff measures 1”
Bind off loosely.