FO – Retro Rib Socks

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Retro Rib socks

Retro Rib socks

Pattern: Retro Rib by Evelyn A Clark, from Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave. Yarn: The Knittery 4ply merino/cashmere; shade – waterlilies.

I love this yarn; it’s so warm and cosy. Although it’s officially spring today, we’ll still have plenty of cool days to wear these.

And speaking of yarn, this was the other lot of yarn I bought in San Francisco:

Ginko bamboo/silk yarn

Ginko bamboo/silk yarn

It’s from ArtFibers, and is 87% bamboo, and 13% silk. I’m not sure exactly what it’s going to be yet, but I think I might weave it, maybe in a point twill or similar, with a plain contrast silk.

Exer-stash relaunched

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Now that my surgery is over (for now), I’m back from travelling, and (mostly) over the post-San Francisco cold/flu bug, I’m restarting my exer-stash commitment.

I’ll earn $1 for yarn/fibre purchases for every kilometre walked (or equivalent exercise). For each kilo I lose, I’ll earn a bonus $5 – and I’ll ‘fine’ myself the same amount if it goes back on! If I walk everyday for seven days straight, averaging at least 1.7 kilometres per day, that will earn a bonus $5.

Since I have to motivate myself to also do some serious writing, I’ll earn a bonus $5 if I write more than 2,000 words in a day.

I started yesterday, with a relatively easy 2.3 kilometres on the treadmill in 31 minutes. I’ll restart the exer-stash progress page so you’ll be able to see my progress – and check any yarn purchases reported against my stash-fund ‘earnings’!

Travelling yarns

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I’m finally back home, after spending most of the past month travelling. I did have a week at home in between the San Francisco-Gold Coast-Sydney trip and the Melbourne-Canberra trip, but I didn’t get around to posting much.

So, I’m catching up here and posting pics of some of the stash enhancement acquired in San Francisco;

Trekking sock yarn

Trekking sock yarn

Koigu sock yarn

Koigu sock yarn


Seasilk from Handmaiden yarns – a beautiful gift from my friend Theresa.

I bought a couple of cones of gorgeous bamboo and silk yarn at ArtFibers, but I haven’t photographed them yet, as I posted them home form the US and they arrived just before I left for Melbourne. I think I’ll be using them for weaving.

Stash enhancement in Sydney was not as exciting – just two balls of Sullivans sock yarn which was on special at Lincraft:

Sullivans sock yarn

Sullivans sock yarn

Sullivans sock yarn

Sullivans sock yarn

In Melbourne I managed to restrain myself from buying yarn at Cleggs, although I did go in and drool a little. On the Melbourne-Canberra trip I managed to do some knitting, mostly on the two days in Canberra. So, I’ve finished two Tudora neck warmers:

Cream Tudora

Cream Tudora


Pattern: Tudora, by Cheryl Marling, from Knitty.com, Winter 2007. Yarn: 12ply pure wool, bougt from Wangaratta Woollen Mills at least 25 years ago! Button: Bought from WOW Wool shop in Armidale last week.

Crimson Tudora neck-warmer

Crimson Tudora neck-warmer


Pattern: Tudora, by Cheryl Marling, from Knitty.com, Winter 2007. Yarn: Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran. Button: from my button stash – probably bought more than 20 years ago.

San Francisco

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I’m in San Francisco, at the amazing Romance Writers of America National Conference. So, not much time to blog, but had to mention that I went yarn-crawling on Wednesday with some fellow writing knitters (or is that knitting writers?). Theresa, aka Knitterary, who I already knew, was one, and the other two were Ravelry-met new friends – Tara and Rachael. Rachael’s a SF resident, and a great yarn-tour guide, taking us to two fantastic yarn shops which each had shelves and shelves and shelves of gorgeous yarns. You can read her account of the day here.

Yes, there was stash enhancement. Yes, there will be photos at some stage – although of the yarn only, as I forgot to take photos of the four of us out and about.

I don’t have time for a longer post just now (I’m off to teach a workshop soon!) – but I want to say a huge Thank You! to Rachael for a great outing – and to Tara and Theresa also for their company. I definitely enjoyed myself!

Sock in progress – and The Book

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I’ve now finished one of the Retro Rib socks, and started on the second one. I love the yarn – The Knittery’s merino/cashmere 4ply. I’ve used it before for mittens, and am going to love wearing these socks.

Sock 1 is pictured here with my major finished project of the week – The Book. My first author copy of my first novel, due out in Australia in September, has arrived. It’s beautiful. It’s still a thrill to hold it in my hands, and it’s sat for the past few days on the dining table, where I’m currently working, so I can always see it.

Retro Rib sock

Retro Rib sock

I’m off to San Francisco for a writers’ conference on Saturday, and will be taking sock 2 with me (and the book!) Knitterary will also be there, and we’re planning on going yarn shopping before the conference starts. I’ll have limited internet access for a while, but I’ll post pictures when I return of any stash enhancement I’ve done!

Berocca Socks

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Another FO:

20081307BeroccaSocks2
Yarn: Berocca Sox. Pattern: the basic Patons 4ply pattern I’ve used for years.

This was another yarn from the box my friends sent to me. I think these will be great with jeans – I’m looking forward to wearing them tomorrow!

I like to have a plain pair of socks on the needles, to knit while I’m working at the computer, so now these are finished, I’ve cast on another pair in yarn from The Knittery that I bought a while ago.

Back home – and knitting!

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Sorry for the long absence from the blog. I was in Sydney for a couple of weeks, doing the surgery thing, and although the brain side of things went well, there were other complications, necessitating longer in hospital than anticipated. However, I’m on the mend and doing very well now, and home and getting back into the swing of things.

I didn’t get a heap of knitting done while in Sydney, although I did have a visit to Tapestry Craft. I was quite restrained though, and only bought a couple of balls of 4ply:

20080711GrignascoRedYarn
They’re destined to be lacy fingerless mitts. (The red is a little darker and richer than the photo appears.)

Last night, I finished this gorgeous pair of socks:

20080711DreamySocks

The pattern is a slight adaptation of Socks for Veronik, from Interweave Knits (Holiday 2007). The yarn is Dream in Color Gaia – from the box of yarns that my wonderful friends sent me.

I love the colours (especially the little flashes of electric blue), the yarn, and how it all works with the lace, and can’t wait to wear them 🙂

Weaving. Really. Well, almost.

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There hasn’t been much in the way of weaving around here for a long time. The last thing to actually come off the floor loom was my rainbow scarf, in February 2007. Since around October last year, I’ve had two warps draped on looms – a blue one on my baby table loom for some plain weave fabric for trimming a jacket I’m intending to make from some handwoven overshot I wove years ago, and a black one on the 4-shaft floor loom for both a scarf, and also some plain trimming for another planned jacket. Both warps got wound onto the back beams of the respective loom, and then progress… stopped.

Today, I decided to take advantage of the sun pouring into the sunroom (its winter here and chilly) and spend a couple of hours and get the loom threaded. After all, I only had to find my spare set of lease sticks, thread 224 ends, sley the reed, tie on and then I’d be weaving, right?

First step: find spare lease sticks (because my usual set are on the baby loom, where I’ve done over half the threading, but it’s a very awkward height to thread and if I wait until I’ve finished with them, I’ll never get the other warp done.)

Nope, spare lease sticks I was sure I had don’t seem to exist. But I have a pair of suitable sticks, so all I need to do is drill hole in the end, right?

Battery of cordless drill is dead. Found DH. Found his power drill. Talked DH into driling holes, because his drill is too heavy for my hand. Sticks are ready….

Nope, sticks need sanding. Rummaged in laundry cupboard for sanding paper, and finally found it. Sanded sticks in carport, while freezing my fingers off. Sticks now ready to put into warp cross…

Hmm… better dust the loom first. Fine black wool warp plus accumulated dust are not a good combination. Dust loom. Insert lease sticks. Set things up to start threading…

Where’s the pattern?? I was sure I had a suitable draft printed around here somewhere. Okay, I can quickly draw up a basic twill/advancing twill combo on the computer…

No I can’t, because I’ve changed from a PC to a Macintosh since I last did a weaving draft, and my weaving software doesn’t work for Macs, and I can’t find a suitable up-to-date basic software…

Finally found a previously printed out draft I could easily adapt without resorting to graph paper and pencil (phew!!). Sat down at loom, started threading…..

By this time, it was after 3pm, and the sun was getting low, and the room cold. I’ve threaded two inches of the eight, but the rest will have to wait until tomorrow.

However, at least I have made some progress! And here’s the evidence:
20080614loom

Medicinal knitting – and shopping

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I’ve been making good progress on the Berocca sock, but got to the point the other night where I needed to add in dark blue contrast yarn for the heel. Night not being the best time to start knitting with dark yarn (especially with one slightly blurry eye!), I picked up another set of needles and started knitting the Dream in Color Gaia yarn into a pair of lacy Veronik socks. So, even though I finished two pairs of socks just recently, I now have two more on the go!

20080606BeroccaSock

20080606DICsocks

I’m really enjoying knitting both projects. I’m very happy with how the Berocca ‘fair-isle’ is coming out, I love the subtle shades in the Dream in Colour – it’s working very well in the lacy pattern.

You’d think, that with the recent generous gift from my friends, and my own purchases, I’d have enough yarn. And I do. I’m still enjoying fondling and dreaming what I’m going to do with it all. But at the weekend, I made the mistake of clicking on the Yarnomat website. And I managed to convince myself that with surgery to come, and time in hospitals and hotels, that a couple of skeins of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn counted as medicine. Or therapy. Or both. Before I could argue a dissenting case, two skeins had leapt into my shopping cart, wrangled my credit card from my purse, and committed themselves to coming to my place.

(At least I currently have the excuse that I’m not right in the head, right??)

Anyways, DH brought them home from the PO box last night. This is the first time I’ve ever seen Cherry Tree Hill yarns in real life. They’re beautiful. Now I’ve got even more yarn to fondle. I may even get some of it knitted up, sometime in the next few months!

20080606CherryTreeYarn2
Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Potluck – colourway Jewels

20080606CherryTreeYarn1
Cherry Tree Hill Supersock merino – colourway Blueberry Hill

Exer-stash becomes Write-a-stash

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The Exer-stash was working reasonably well, motivating me to exercise more than I would have otherwise – until my medical drama started. For the past month, and for the next month or so until surgery is over, I am not to exert myself. So, the exer-stash has to go into hiatus for a while.

However, since I now have to work solidly on writing book 2, and am having a struggle getting the concentration happening on it, I have decided that to motivate myself to write, I will turn the exer-stash program into the write-a-stash program, at least for the next month or so.

So, given my writing pace and style (I generally edit as I go, rather than write a rough draft quickly) I’m going to earn $5 for every 1000 words.

To encourage myself not to eat too much chocolate while I’m writing (and not treadmilling), I’m going to up my ‘earning’ for each kilo lost to $10. I did lose another kilo recently, but unfortunately it found me again, so I’m not claiming it – yet!

Today, the revised book wip stands at 20,425 words – not counting draft scenes from the previous version which may or may not end up in it. So, I’ve got some serious stash to earn!

And yes, there is a connection between writing and knitting – to keep my fingers from clicking on internet links, and to occupy the part of the brain that wants to be distracted, I often knit plain socks while I write. I’m not a fast writer, and do stare at the words on the screen a great deal, so, strange though it may sound, plain knitting I don’t have to think about can help to keep me focused on the story.

Now, I’m off to cast on with this:
20080527BeroccaSox

and to write at least 1000 words.