What Arches?

Hey, couldja maybe buy my stuff? (There will be more before long - I wasn't kidding about that damned vet bill.)

The rest of this post is not for the faint of feet heart.

It's funny how many people (relatively speaking) commented on my arches. I've never thought of my feet as being overly arch-y in their normal state.

Nope, not in their normal state.....

Are you dying? I'd never actually SEEN my feet like this until this picture...good Pete, now I know why my dad and Travis freak the hell out every time they see me do this (which is frequently.) It doesn't bother my mom - she was a dancer also and nothing about this seems abnormal to her.

'Kay, back to work...

Happy Place...

Hey, I got the new Interweave. Neat. There's some stuff in there that I love (#1, the Nantucket Jacket - Norah finally does shaping!) and some things I loathe (what IS that Corded Yoke Pullover about? but then I do like the back....)

I requested a few braids of BFL from Sweet Georgia. (I love her colorways so much....whee!)

I have to cut back substantially on my fiber budget, and I have to destash some things. Brodie might have found and eaten a rather staggering amount of prescription medication on Sunday night, prompting an emergency vet visit and overnight stay. (Hey, guess what? That's really ridiculously insanely expensive!) But the important thing is that he's fine (and now hopefully terrified of eating stuff he shouldn't eat....but we won't hold our breath.)

Even without that, this weekend was pretty lousy, albeit lousy with good company. I'm not here to bum you out, so I'll spare the details - except to say that we drove out of town unexpectedly and did a lot of sitting about....

...which translates to something that is relevant here - a finished object:

Project Stats:

Pattern: Bells & Whistles Socks (by Mona Schmidt) from Interweave Holiday '06
Yarn: Mondial Extrafine Merino, two skeins
Needles: Size 2 Crystal Palace DPNs for the ribbing and first pattern repeat; size 1.5 Crystal Palace DPNs for the rest of the sock
Started: October 14
Finished: November 5
Changes/Thoughts: I can't say enough about how much I loved the pattern. The only change I can remember making, other than switching up the needles, was to the toe - rather than gathering up the last eight stitches and cinching it closed (why??), I got it down to twelve and did the Kitchener thing. Even with the lace and cable stuff, this knit is FAST. I would have finished these much sooner if I hadn't gotten all spin-headed.

They're unblocked, which is good since they'd need another dunk after being traipsed all over my house in search of decent light. I had to really futz with these pictures - you'll note that they're all taken on my windowsill - the gloomy weather is apropos, but not cooperating with my need to photograph these.)

Some more photos, if you're curious. Click for the big ones:


There's a Christmas gift for Mom, natch!

Oh, and I had this little whim while I was preparing for my normal ol' boring photo shoot, wishing someone was around to get a picture of me shaving my legs for the sole purpose of photographing some socks (anyone else ever do that?)


Heh...gotta love the ol' ten-second timer on my camera. (In case anyone's feeling a little uncomfortable - I was not actually bathing or unclothed. I'm wearing a tank top and peasant skirt, and the towel's on my head only because it was a photo-appropriate way to disguise my hair, which is even more busted than usual today.)

The completion of Bells & Whistles means it's time to get back to those good old Eleanora socks. (I'm not even close to finished with the first sock - remember I started it in MAY - and I hate it with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns. It has nothing to do with the pattern - which is gorgeous - and everything to do with the yarn - which is atrocious. I adore Lisa Souza's gift for dyeing, but I don't like this base yarn much at all. So much so that I'm wondering if it would be quicker to just abandon the 75%-complete first sock and start a new pair with a different yarn.)

Charley the Horse and Nappy the Camel

Old Business: I found an interesting discussion on the price of the Socks That Rock Sock Club. Everyone who did it last round seems determined to do it again and thinks the price is reasonable. So I'm sold.

New Business: More spinning.

I finished up another skein last night. And, now, I'm not sayin' it's SanDeE*'s fault (you know I love you, baby), but I woke up in the middle of the night with the most ferocious charley horse in the history of ferocious charley horses. I was actually crying, real tears, and writhing around. There was no assuaging this damned horse. Travis woke up and sprung into action (as much as he is capable of springing at 3:14 a.m., that is) and tried to stretch my heel down to release the muscle. Nothin' doin'. He had to massage my calf for almost a full minute to get it to release (all while I'm lashing about like a trout on dry land). It's still sore as hell today. So you better appreciate these photos!

First and least: Camel Hair.

Ugh.

Ugh ugh ugh.

Find someone with a bad perm. A bad, fried, chemically-damaged head of hair so coarse and miserable, it could be used to scrub pots.

Yank the poor woman bald. Spin hair.

You just spun camel.

If it looks like rope....well, it feels like rope, too. Hair rope. Gross. (I have baby camel yarn in my stash, and it is fabulous. I think there is a marked difference between camel hair and baby camel down.)

I spun this a few days ago. It's an ounce and measures about 36 yards. There, now that horrid crap is out of the way.

This is the one I just finished last night. Two ounces of a wool/angora blend. Something was up with this roving. It wasn't not roving, but it wasn't roving either. Basically it really needed a good carding...but I can't fork over for a drum carder just yet, and I refuse to buy sixty dollar cat brushes hand carders. The roving was maybe a bit felted, with clumps of angora....but I just drafted it as best I could and let it come out slubby, and I actually like it.


It's borderline novelty, but still a good weight at 134 yards....about DKish.


Still haven't accomplished sock weight yet, but Tuesday night I finished up this beauty:


The singles were looking promising on the bobbin:


And sure enough, after plying, I had 179 yards in 1.9 ounces (56 grams). That's sport weight! It's feasible for socks! Woot! I definitely still need to work on my spinning's consistency, but I'm pleased that it only took me four days to get down to sport weight. And this fiber spun beautifully. Which would figure...


Since I didn't get it at SAFF, I don't really remember for sure where I got it (Earth Guild?), and the bag only says "White Wool Top". Wool? Wool???? That's like sending a chef a box full of something only marked, "Food". So I loved spinning it, it spun like a dream...and I'll never know what the hell it is.

I should have that other Bells & Whistles sock done any day now. Honestly, I do still knit a little.

Public Service Announcement

HEY!!! HEEEEYYYYY!!!!!

If you're down, the Blue Moon Socks That Rock Sock Club pre-registration is up. The good news? Pre-register now and you have until January to figure out where you're going to find the 200 bucks. (Or to change your mind...but if you even kinda think you might wanna sign up, pre-register. No obligation to pay, but gets your foot in the door....'cause last year I missed out, and they sent out some of the most amazing colorways. Including this month's Pink Granite, which is probably the MOST GORGEOUS SOCK YARN I'VE EVER SEEN. I wonder if I could email them and snag a skein?)

By the way, they also have a bunch of new colorways up.

I have too much sock yarn. I have too much sock yarn. I have too much sock yarn.

(Gonna have to give more away soon. I can feel it.)

(Psst: Valerie, you totally deserve the yarn. I spilled the beans about SanDeE* way too soon. Wait until I can spin something that's not embarassing...maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday you'll see a little fluffy envelope from me.)

Stuff N' Things

There was a request for more details on the wheel. Shame on me for not providing links and stats and stuff! The fiber haze still hasn't completely lifted.

Okay, so it's a Lendrum double-treadle wheel. (Before you go nuts - most of the links on that website aren't working.) They're handmade in Canada by some guy named Lendrum, who assembles them in his garage, basically. (Kind of explains the broken website.) It's solid maple and beautifully well-finished. Even if I didn't know how to use the damn thing, I'd still want it in my living room for show. It came with a tensioned lazy kate, the wheel itself (duh), regular spinning flyer, and four bobbins. I added in a plying flyer (with larger plying bobbin) and a niddy noddy (so I wouldn't go crazy trying to wind off and guesstimate yardage.) I'll probably get a lace flyer before too long.

There's a list of dealers on the Lendrum website, including WEBS and The Woolery, where there's some good info on the wheel. I like it because it's incredibly easy to use, fairly idiot-proof, pretty, and a wheel I can grow with.

If you are interested in this wheel (and I'm serious, it's fabulous) and there's no dealer near you, I really recommend Julie Wilson. She was my spinning instructor, and she sells Lendrums, but she was completely hands-off about selling stuff. She was there to teach us to spin...and if we happened to want a wheel at the end of the day, she'd sell one. There was no pitch or anything. She also offers a lifetime of "tech support" (she even showed me how to spin a few of the unusual fibers I'd picked up) and - better yet - a discount to repeat buyers and her students...which meant that I got a discount when I bought it in addition to the discount on all future purchases. (She's also just a lovely person with a farm and family, and I simply adored her.) It wasn't an issue for me, but I overheard her telling someone that she's very flexible - she can work with you on payments or whatever you might need to get to spinnin'!

Oh, and SanDeE* is so named after a character in L.A. Story, one of my all-time favorite movies, beautifully played by Sarah Jessica Parker. She was a fruit-loop Venice Beach ditz who loved twirling around and smacking her gum. Her trademark quote?

"Can I spin here?"