Roc Day Party

(Gigi has good taste. She likes wool and wrapping paper.)

I hadn't even heard of Roc Day until a couple of days ago. It's on January 7, right after the twelve days of Christmas. It's day the spinners got to work. (It's also known as Distaff Day.)


Emily (above) decided to have a party to celebrate Roc Day on Sunday. (Sunday wasn't technically Roc Day, but close enough.) She invited a bunch of knitters from Gauge. The party included a ham dinner, champagne, gelato and a White Elephant stash swap.


We spend the first hour or so knitting and talking. There's Ceci with Gigi, and Ana knitting a Bumble Bee Baby Surprise Jacket.

(As I mentioned yesterday, I ran out of yarn for Jules' Gloves during the party. Luckily I had a back up project.)

After we chowed down, it was time for the white elephant swap. The Baby Surprise Jacket showed up again.


Jane got an abandoned Baby Surprise Jacket. It was hilarious when she opened. Everyone oohed and ahhed over the yarn, then cracked up when the UFO came out of the bag.

Actually, Jane didn't end up with it in the end. Faye was the final person to steal it. It was some nice yarn, and came with the needles, so it was in demand. I think the person who started it was relieved to see it go.


Ana got ended up with a skein of my Kool Aid yarn from ages ago. I decided I didn't need all four skeins. I think she appreciated it.



I opened a nostepinne from Craftiness. It was promptly stolen from me.


I ended up with a notion kit from Ana. It included Ana's stitch markers, a holder for the stitch markers and a nifty gauge.

We haven't had OPP in a while. (Other People's Projects) You saw the Bumble Bee Baby Surprise above. Here's some of the other projects I saw at the party.


Robin wore her Klaralund sweater (Ravelry link) made from super soft Malabrigo Worsted in Dusty Olive.


Faye wore her hat. I think (but I'm not positive) that it's the Virtue hat (Ravelry link) knit in Malabrigo.


Finally, Emily still had her tree up, adorned with the rings we helped her knit in November.

I like Roc Day. I think we should celebrate it again next year.

You can see all my Roc Day pictures here.

New Toys

Can you tell we're sad?

Jules and I ate at Phil's Icehouse yesterday before I dropped him off at the airport. *sigh*

It kind of sucks that I have to get back to real life, but the upside is that I have some time to play with my new toys.

I still haven't taken my new spinning wheel out of the box. It's still at Mom and Dad's house. I need to decide exactly how to finish it and devote an entire day to it. I was thinking about staining it, but now I'm not so sure. I'm going to do some research.

The spinning wheel was for my birthday, but I got something else for Christmas.


I was confused when I unwrapped the box. What's a reeling machine? For some reason I was thinking pasta. (I doubted that my parents gave me fishing equipment.)

Then I opened it.



It's a swift!!!

I still don't have a ball winder, but I've always said if I have to choose one or another, I'd take the swift. It will make winding by hand much easier. I won't have to use my knees to hold the yarn.

Then on Christmas morning, Santa came and brought me something else.


I got my own Niddy Noddy!

Mom was a little jealous. She said she'd take the new one, and I could keep her old Niddy Noddy. I said no deal. The dark wood is gorgeous.

I've already blogged all my FOs, but Mom had one.


She made a tea wallet for my sister.


Before I got sick, Mom had planned on sewing a bunch of wonderful gifts for everyone, but staying with me at the hospital screwed up those plans. She did manage to finish this one. I like it. It makes me want to sew some.

But first, I breaking out my new Crock Pot. Stay tuned for pictures of that.

Holiday Pictures

I woke up a little while ago and couldn't go back to sleep. This seems like as good a time as any to share the holiday pictures on my Flickr page.


The Friday before Christmas was the day after Jules arrived. I celebrated my birthday and Christmas with my family and some of our friends. That was the night I got my new spinning wheel. You can see all the pictures of that party here.


The next day was my actual birthday, and I celebrated with some friends at one of their houses. (It's out in Cedar Creek, and they call it "The Ponderosa.") Yes, we had a pinata. We also had muffin pizzas with eyes. See all the pictures of my birthday party here.


Sunday night was a birthday party for a couple of our friends. Together, they are 59. See all the pictures here.


The day before Christmas Eve, my friends and I made it to Austin's Trail of Lights and the Zilker Park Christmas Tree. See all the pictures here.


Christmas Eve we all gathered at Mom and Dad's house. See all the pictures here.


We all must have been really good, because Santa came on Christmas morning. (BTW - Those giant bags have new pillows in them.) See all the Christmas morning pictures here.


Later and the day we stuffed ourselves at a family friend's house. (Except for Jules, everyone in the video above used to be neighbors. Two families have moved to other neighborhoods, but we still keep in touch after all these years.) See all the pictures here.


Finally, last Saturday was my 10-year class reunion. See all of those pictures here.

And if you want to see all my holiday pictures in one place, including a few didn't quite fit in other sets, you can go here.

FO: Mom's I Meant to do that Socks

Cross posted at Sally Comes Unraveled and Year Long Gift-A-Long.

Last night I finished Mom's socks. They're only about two months late for Christmas.

I used my short, US size 2 bamboo dpns and Hill Country Yarns Instant Gratification Sock Yarn in "Lavender Sachet." I purchased the yarn at The Knitting Nest.

Unlike the Longhorn Socks, I didn't run out of yarn before I finished. But the yarn was a joy to knit with, as it was with the Longhorn Socks.

This is the Beaded Rib pattern from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks. As I mentioned before, I screwed up the ribbing early on and just decided to go with it. Round One of the pattern stitch said "*p1, k1, p1, k1, p1* repeat from *." Without thinking, I just started doing a 1x1 rib.

This were knit toe up, with a provisional cast on and a short row heel. I also used the sewn bind off to prevent the edges of the sock from being too tight.

I think I made some mistakes on the first toe, but it's hard to notice. Also, I sewed up a couple of small gaps at the corner of the heels.

Mom seemed pretty happy with them, and they fit okay. She put them on right away because her feet were cold. They are "around the house" socks. Mom often wears my Dad's socks around the house for extra warmth. This is a nicer (and better fitting) alternative.

FO: Back to Basics

So, it's only about a month late, but the Back to Basics socks I made my sister for Christmas are finished. I bound off last night.

I went to my parents' house this evening to give them to her. She was cooking with her boyfriend, and she had me put them on her feet because her hands were dirty. She liked them, and she thought they were soft. However, they were a little big, as I had feared.


You can see the bagginess on the right foot. It's even more pronounced in this picture. However, she didn't seem to mind the bagginess too much. (And if I had gone a needle size smaller, they would probably be too small.)

I used South West Trading Company TOFUtsies in "Foot in the Door" 725 and US Size 0 aluminum dpns. I translated the pattern for a set of five dpns. (The pattern shows you how to knit them on two circulars.)

TOFUtsies consists of wool, Soysilk, cotton and Chitin. It doesn't have the elasticity of typical wool yarns. I think my gauge would have been fine in regular wool. The good news is that it seems like nice and breathable. Also, the yardage is excellent. I have enough left to make a sock for Heather Mills. (I'm going to hell for that one.)


They look really weird off the foot because the increases are mostly on top of the foot, not to the sides like regular socks.


Her boyfriend needs a pair too.

FO: Jules' Rasta Beanie

I may have been all excited about the socks, but this was what Jules is really excited about.

When we started talking about things I could make him, Jules came up with all sorts of ideas. First, he wanted a knit headband, then a knit sarong, then a Super Mario Brothers-style mushroom pillow. Then he settled on what he called "the Rasta Beanie."

As soon as he started talking about it, I knew what he was thinking of was crocheted. He wanted a beanie with red, green, yellow and black stripes like he had seen for sale in Santa Monica. And it seemed simple. So simple I started it sans pattern.

And I'm sure I could have finished it sans pattern, but I was in a rush, and kept forging ahead despite the disaster coming off my hook. The result was something that was not going to fit on the average human head, no matter how big I made it. I didn't get the increases right.

I finally wrapped what I had for Jules to open on Christmas, with a note promising a finished beanie later. He was very understanding. Besides, this gave him room for more input. He asked for the hat to be just like the hacky sack I had let him keep while he was helping me prepare for the fiber festival. This was actually easier, because I didn't have to cut the yarn between rounds. This made it easier to go back if I needed to.

I was hoping to finish it before he went back to California, so rather than doing the math myself, I found a pattern on Ravelry. Without checking gauge, I embarked upon A Very Simple Skateboarder Beanie. Fortunately it worked. You can see the difference in shapes of my first attempt and the finished product.

The pattern is good, although I would have staggered the increases. I didn't on this attempt because I was worried it wouldn't work if I messed with the pattern, and I wasn't in the mood to start over.

I didn't get to finish it before he left, but I did enough to confirm that it would actually fit.

Beanies don't leave a lot of room for error, so towards the end I kept asking everyone at knitting group if it was long enough. I finally quit despite the fact I hadn't reached a full color repeat. Only the OCD people will notice.

I finished it up at the Knitting Nest a few days after he left. Of course, I just managed to get it in the mail (along with some things he left behind) this past weekend.

There's always the issue of "the jog" which happens with anything crocheted in the round. I went with the join that was written into the pattern, which theoretically should prevent the color jog, but you can still see the line.

The yarn is Dark Horse Yarns Fantasy, which I've only seen at the Knitting Nest. It's an excellent synthetic. I recommend it for baby, kid and boyfriend items and anything that needs to be machine washed, sturdy, but still nice and soft. It's an acrylic/nylon blend. I used an F hook.

I really hope it fits. And that the line of yarn where the colors change isn't uncomfortable. (It didn't bother me when I tried it on.)







One last shot:

FO: Jules's Gentleman Socks

This socks were a long time coming.

Last summer, I went on the yarn crawl with the Meetup group. Sandra Singh allowed us to come into her home to shop for yarn. (She has an online business.) We were all excited because Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock was on sale.

Jules and I had been talking for a couple of months at that point. I decided to get some yarn for socks for Jules. If we made it to Christmas, I would knit him some socks. He would be sockworthy by then.

I went back and forth on which color to get. I normally choose stuff too bright for the average guy. I almost went home with Blackwatch, but then I casually looked at something in a sandier color. I saw the colorway was Seaside, and I knew that was the yarn I had to get. Jules loves the ocean. I bought three skeins just to be sure I had enough. (I only needed two skeins, since I shortened the leg.)

Fast forward to October. We had been "official" for a while, and we were making plans for him to come and visit. I went back and forth on which socks to make. If you can't tell, a name can really sell me sometimes. I considered Boyfriend Socks, but the pattern wasn't right for this type of variegated yarn. I finally settled on Gentleman Socks, because he called his scarf "gentlemanly." Also, the crossed stitches seemed good for the yarn, and the ribbing was forgiving. After all, I couldn't measure his foot for myself.

And trying to get foot measurements was a hassle. He told me his shoe size, I consulted books, consulted the pattern, called him again, asked for measurements, asked other knitters, called and asked to re-measure....you get the picture. I finally settled on a men's medium.

Gauge was another issue. I kept going smaller and smaller, until I got 8.5 stitches per inches on US size 000. Ravelry doesn't even go that low. (In case you're tuning in late, I have very loose gauge. The pattern calls for US size 1.)

I think if there was less of a time crunch with the holidays, I would have enjoyed it more. But I was running out of time. The crossed stitches meant I had 80 stitches on tiny needles. I'd sit down at knitting group to work on it, and when I'd leave I'd look down and think "that's all I got done?"

It was my fault for choosing a pattern with such a small gauge. It wasn't really a difficult pattern, just tedious. Like I said, it wouldn't have been a big deal if there hadn't been a time cruch. I'd knit them again.

The sole was interesting too. There was the weird slip stitch pattern to help the socks fit around the arch better. I was skeptical, but it worked. (I have pretty flat feet, so I don't need design features like that.)

I spent three weeks on these socks. (Imagine if I'd hadn't shortened the leg. The pattern says to make it eight inches long.) It was good to knit socks with a larger gauge after I was done.





You're probably wondering if he liked them...



...I think so.

My boyfriend is sockworthy.

Closed For Christmas

Not that I've been particularly active here the last couple of weeks, but I know for sure I won't be posting again until January. Jules is here, and I'm off of work for two weeks. Prepping for his arrival, church activities and Christmas shopping has taken up much of time the last couple of weeks, so I've been fairly inactive in both my knitting groups and online.

But don't worry, I'll be back with lots of FOs, Fiber Friends pics and sweater plans.

Happy Holidays.