Sock Wars

I just signed up for Sock Wars II. Wish me luck.

Blog Bits Saturday Omissions

I thought blog bits seemed kind of short this week. Then I looked at my Google Reader and realized I'd somehow missed some good ones.

Like Wendy Knits finishing the summer of socks at 19 pairs.

And Persistent Illusion's trip to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival.

Not to mention Norah Gaughan's visit to Kyarns.

Blog Bits Saturday

It's Saturday afternoon, do you know why the pictures in my last post aren't showing up?

Yarn Harlor makes a final stop in Washington DC before heading home. Then she offers up some Crazy Pie before letting a guest blogger take over while she finished her book. (And I will look for ways to use the term "crazy pie" in every aspect of my life.)

The Sweet Sheep is on schedule for her Rhinebeck sweater. Progress here and here.

The Ninjabun pattern is up at Mochimochi.

Yarnivation gears up for Sock Wars II.

Knitty Calendar Contest winners have been notified, but, to my knowledge, not posted. (I wasn't one of them.)

Grumperina finds dpns in weird places.

Knit and Tonic wears out her socks and posts her Knitter's Blotter.

I actually like the rat scarf that Rose-Kim Knits posted. So sue me. (Not so much the wrap that seems to be made from actual rats.)

Empty Nest Knitter moved the shop's grand opening to October 13 and discusses a possible logo-naming contest.

Cosmicpluto shows us what undyed Noro Silk Garden looks like.

Finally, from the non-knitting Advertising is Good For You, the rumors are true (or else Jo-Ann has bad intel.)

Yarn (Store) Pr0n: The Knitting Nest

Last Friday, I was all excited about the grand opening of the The Knitting Nest. After work I ran home for a shower, got my things together and fought the Friday afternoon traffic to South Austin.

When I finally got there, I took this picture of the sign. Then I walked up to the door. And it was locked.

I pressed my face against the window, wondering what happened. Maybe I was too late? Or too early? Was it an afternoon event?

I went back to my car, and tried to figure it out. I was so sure it was Sept 22.

Then I realized Sept. 22 was on Saturday. I was a day early.

So I had some dinner, visited my parents, went home and got up the next morning to attend the grand opening.

When I arrived, I discovered that the grand opening had been moved to October 13. But this time I didn't mind, because at least they were open. I would have gone on Saturday either way.

I spoke with Stacy the owner, and she had decided to push back the grand opening to wait for some new shipments of yarn, including some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock (including colors from my Alma Mater, the school formerly known as SWT, and St. Edward's University) and, the one I've been waiting for, Hill Country Yarns.

Here is the store.






Here is one of the cool sitting areas. They're having knit-outs on Monday nights.














Here is the other sitting area.

Stacy talked to other knitters before opening shop, and one of the things they said was they didn't want a lot of novelty yarns or super-expensive yarn. The result is a true Elizabeth Zimmerman style shop with lots of affordable, sensible, versatile wools and wool blends. It's the kind of store where you can buy a sweater's worth of yarn at a reasonable price.

And the number one yarn that the knitters requested was...

CASCADE!

I don't think I've ever seen so much Cascade 220 in one place, and in so many different colors. I don't think I even got the whole wall in this picture. From what I've heard, "The Great Wall of Cascade" has already become a favorite for photo shoots. And there is more that's not in the wall.





Here is some Quatro. I think they also had some Superwash on another shelf.

























Here is some Queensland Kathmandu, which I thought would be scratchy, but it's actually very soft. A little bit of silk and cashmere make a big difference.











The store also has a lot of Elsebeth Lavold, including some I hadn't seen before. This is Baby Llama. It's so soft, and I'm looking for a reason to use it.











Chunky Al is another one I want to try. It's half wool and half alpaca.














This wall is mostly Farmhouse Yarns. It's a very sturdy wool.

Speaking of sturdy...
















They have Peace Fleece, and a very nice selection. They have some of the company's patterns and other items.
















I love these little "Learn to Knit" kits from Peace Fleece.

















They've been raving about O-Wool Balance on Stash and Burn.



















I had to try the O-Wool Balance. I picked up a skein, along with some dpns. I'll probably swatch it. It may be a Morrigan candidate.













They have a lot of other little treasures. I love these sock monkey project bags. And the little guy with the little hat. (The tiny hat is made of O-Wool Balance, the same colorway I bought.)











They have a good button collection as well.














I have to get one of these shirts.














Stacy really likes Tom Hanks. Really, really likes him. She named her dog after him.















Finally, this is Stacy, the owner. She's originally from the Houston area, but she and her husband spent a lot of time in Austin attending Longhorn games. (BTW - they wanted to get Lorna's Laces in Longhorn colors, but a shop in Houston has already claimed that colorway.) So they decided to move here and set up shop.

Ok, so Saturday, October 13 is now the big grand opening. Hopefully the third time's a charm and I'll get it right. I didn't make Monday's knit out (I was too tired.) I'm going to try to make it next week.

FO: Foliage: Red, Version One

I titled this FO in pretty specific terms, because I suspect there will be more of these.

This is the Foliage hat from the recent Knitty. As I mentioned before, I love this pattern.

I used 1 skein of Malabrigo Chunky in color 102, "Sealing Wax." (I finally figured out why the colorway is called Sealing Wax. I kept thinking it was something you bought at Home Depot to seal a deck. And for some reason I always think of this type of sealing wax being purple.)

The needles I used were US size 10.5, which is amazing because I used the needles recommended in the pattern and got gauge. (You may know by now, I am a loose knitter.) I even used the US size 9s recommended for the ribbing.

The main problem I had was "missing my exit" in a manner of speaking. I thought I was supposed to repeat the lace pattern three times on the body of the hat. However, once I had done the pattern three times, I re-read the pattern and discovered it was three times for the worsted version, but only two times for the chunky version, the version I was making.

So I should have finished Thursday night, but it ended up being Friday night. I was talking to Jules on the phone while I was working on it. I think it took longer to tink it than it did to knit it. I was so frustrated. We would be talking, and I'd just suddenly break into "I can believe I did that!"

Anyway, all that aside, I love this pattern and plan to make some more. I'm thinking trying it with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky, Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande and maybe Jo-Ann Sensations Angel Hair. I might also get some more Malabrigo Chunky. I love the semi-solids.


I also went unblocked, and it looks fine. The pattern said it could go either way.

Yet another entry into the One Skein Contest is complete. Some lucky person will be getting this hat for Christmas. If it ends up being you, I promise that I had clean hair when I took these picture.

And forget that you saw this.

Blog Bits Saturday

It's Saturday, did you know it's also Sept 22? (More on that later today.)

Knitgrrl announces this year's NaKniSweMo, inspired by NaNoWriMo, and causes me to debate whether to try to write a novel or knit a sweater this November. (And why they pick November for these things.)

Speaking of month-long goals, The Sweet Sheep is going to spin all the yarn for a sweater and knit the sweater in about a month. See some of her progress here.

Also, Needles and Things crocheted an afghan in one sitting.

And Yarn Pirate aims for 31 pairs of baby socks during the month of "Socktober."

Mochimochi has some great pictures of Bob. Also, watch out for Ninjabun.

There's a new sock pattern at the Knitspot.

SpinalCat reports on the LYS's near her new home.

I think Wool2Dye4 read the market correctly. I long for handpaints in larger gauges. (I also believe handpaints are the new eyelash yarns, but in a good way.)

Lady Octavia finishes Marvin.

Titianknitter finishes her Tiffany Mittens and demonstrates an unusual blocking device.

Yarn Harlot visits Los Angeles, Witchita, New Orleans,Houston and Atlanta. Please read her blog on New Orleans!

Grumperina gets Gatorade on her yarn and makes good points on having multiple WIPs.

Knit and Tonic makes some very good points about knittting in public and comments from strangers. Also, she makes a quilt (Psssttt...don't tell her I said this, but if she is seriously going to descend into quilting madeness, she has only scratched the surface. I know, my Mom quilts.)

Wendy Knits finished one pair of socks and starts another, while playing guess that fiber.

Now Norma Knits on "one quality scarf."

Persistent Illusion finishes her socks from Cat Bordhi's new book.

Shut Up I'm Counting has a yarn disaster.

Finally, Empty Nest Knitter has her grand opening today. Details at 11.

Is there life after Knitty?

Yarr...Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day, me hearties. Why not check this shawl from Monster Crochet, or get some booty from the Yaaarrrrrrrn Pirate.

So It's been about 48 hours after finally submitting three patterns to Knitty, and my brain is finally recovering. Everything had been building up to that deadline. I realize now I tend to think of my knitting in terms of knitting deadlines. Now that this one has passed, I can start some new stuff.

As you see above, I got some free Moo cards with my Flickr account. Of course, you can see all these pictures at a larger size on my Flickr page.

Also, I got my cube that I won from Schrodinger. Now I need to start some socks to put in it.

Actually, my focus for now is the Stash and Burn One Skein Contest, which is also a running start to Christmas knitting. It's a shame that the Knitty submissions have to be secret (although I understand why.) One of mine is a perfect one skein pattern, and I've made several since the contest began.

One of the projects I want to make is Elizabeth Zimmerman's Spiral Hat. The Opinionated Knitter seems to imply that they still make this yarn (The original pattern was written decades ago.) I need to do some research before I cast one. Last time I checked, I couldn't find it on Ravelry.

I was feeling a little overwhelmed, so I decided to just cast on something. So I started with Foliage from the new Knitty. I used Malabrigo Chunky in 102 "Sealing Wax."

I love this pattern!

The chunky version is going very quickly. It has a fun top down construction. Also, the designer took the time to include both charts and written directions. I have very little chart reading experience, but when I started looking, I realized there wasn't really anything to learn.

The most amazing thing happened with this pattern. The pattern calls for US #10.5 needles. During my break at work, I cast on a swatch on size 9's, knowing that my gauge is usually really loose.

This evening, when I arrived at Bluebonnet, I measured the swatch and realized the gauge was too tight. That was unusual. So I got out my size 10s. It was still too tight. So I bought some 10.5s. And it worked! I don't recall any other time I've gotten gauge with the needle size recommended in the pattern! I guess the designer and I must be gauge soul mates or something. I think I'll be making more of these. I also have some yarn for the worsted weight version.

I love the yarn. The semi-solids are beautiful.

And I love this pattern!