All spun up

Well, it's official. I have caught the spinning bug. When I first discovered people were spinning their own yarn, my first thought was "that's the most crazy arse idea yet! I hardly have time to knit with yarn that's already spun!" Now please don't misunderstand me: I am most definitely a Dyed In The Wool DIYer (pun intended). But with so many gorgeous options out there, is there really a need for me to spin my own? Over the past few months though, spying on everyone else's spinning in Blogland, I've slowly been seduced...I must spin! Especially when I see wool that looks like this.

But no, I can't just go slow and get a hand spindle. I must feel the hypnotic rythem of the treadle! I long for the soft fibers being drawn through my fingers! So now I'm on the market for a wheel. Yes, I know they're expensive. Yes, I know that I'm tossing out a huge chunk of cash out on something I've never tried. Yes, yes, and more yes. Of course, I don't have enough money saved up yet because of my yarn habit, which is currently on hold for this new Need. Let's see how well I do on a serious yarn diet. A yarn fast, actually. Hmm, we'll see what happens.

In other news, this is how far I've gotten on my multi-directional scarf:

That's a self-portrait, with the camera cleverly cropped out of the picture (actually, it's not so clever -- it's just photoshop). =)

This scarf is being worked up in Noro Silk Garden. It's moving along slowly because first off, I started out with only two skeins. Clearly not enough, so I had to buy another...when I finally got around to it, the yarn shop (back in NY) thankfully still had the same color/dye lot. Now the problem is that I have other projects winking attractively at me, so it's hard to stay faithful to this one. Whenever I do work on it again, I am once again completely taken in by the yarn's beauty. If you have never used Noro Silk Garden or Kureyon, you must. I need to get some nuetral colored Kureyon to make a pair of fingerless gloves/arm-warmers for my sister for Christmas (Do you realize that's only about 60 days away?!) Ah! All these plans, so little time.

Knitting along...

I have officially started my first KAL. The thing we are Knitting Along is SOCKS! It's Lolly's Socktoberfest. I felt like I needed a new project. (This has nothing to do with getting anything finished -- I have at least 3 things on the needles, but none of it was "calling my name") So, you know, new house, new knitting project. I started on Grumperina's sock pattern Jaywalker from the latest MagKnits. All was going swimmingly. Well actually not. Whenever I start on a pattern for the first time I have to completely screw it up at least once. So that happened, and then everything was going along swimmingly. I was knitting in church, and I suppose I wasn't quite paying attention to what I was doing (better than not quite paying attention to church!), and something got messed up, along with there being atrocious stitch ladders in-between some of the needles joins. You can't tell what's wrong from the picture, so you'll just have to believe me. I got this far:

And then had to rip the whole thing out. An entire weekend of knitting. It probably looks pretty sad to see that's all I got done in an entire weekend (and not knitting on anything else, either), but between Baby Flashbang's feedings (now solids as well as nursing!), and Toddler Flashbang's demands (Play ball, Mommy!) on top of Mr. Flashbang having to work nearly the whole weekend through, I feel this was a real accomplishment.

So during naptime yesterday I started again, and here, two naptimes later, is Jaywalker:

This pattern is great. In fact, the decrease/increase is so rewarding that I had a hard time getting through the ribbing when I cast on the second time. Give me more 'a them zig-zags! The pattern stitch is very easy to memorize (except, of course, when you mess it up during church), and every other row is a round of knit stitch, which moves things along nicely.

Something I noticed, since I got the chance to start on the same one twice, is that it really is a good idea to have all your stitches distributed onto 4 needles like the directions call for. The fabric is less stretched, therefore not as much stress on the joins, and with the way the pattern is, it's much easier to keep track of where you are, since you start and end each needle the same way. I only have one set of four size #1's, so I'm using one #0, and it's working fine. None of my stitches have been too tight coming off of the smaller one, so I don't think it's affecting my join any.

I'm using the suggested sock yarn, Opal Handpainted, which I just happened to have in my stash. In fact, I have two identical skeins in my stash, for reasons I don't care to explain. Does anyone want to swap Opal skeins? If you have another colorway that you'd like to trade, please let me know; drop a comment or an email. I love the way it's knitting up, but surely after two socks I won't want to knit with the same stuff again for another project.

Reality Shows for Knitters

OK, this is just plain hilarious. And since I still have no progress whatsoever to show you, click here! Be distracted! Oh, and tell me which is your favorite idea. =)

Knitlet: Knitting Reality

Relax

Well my dear readers, I finally feel like I am kind of pulled togetherhere. I am using the computer for the first time in quite a while!! Yes. So, I haven't been knitting too much due to all of the excess of Other Stuff (although I did purchase a third skein for my multi-directional scarf, and knit a few rows on the way back from Florida last weekend). But, since this is a knitting blog after all, I won't bore you with stories of my crazed past two weeks. Here, instead, is a serene picture of one of my favorite things about our new apartment: my knitting corner! How lucky can one girl be?

Finished!

S.D. strikes again...This is a very nice scarf for a very nice Dad. Sadly the not so nice daughter made the very nice Dad wait 10 months to recieve this very late Christmas present. Ooops. This was started before I got into fancy expensive yarn, so it's made of lion brand something. BUT, it's still very nice and soft and warm, and it'll wash. As you may or may not be able to see, it's got some simple cables running down through it. I like it. Very masculine. Come back Faith and show us some real knitting!

The move is made

Hi everyone! I am safe and sound here in GA, and unfortunately haven't even gotten a chance to breath since getting here. Don't have time to even be blogging right now, but I will get back to it as soon as things have settled some. For now, you can enjoy posts by my new partner in this blog, Sarah D, who inspired me to knit in the first place. =)

Renegade

Mrs. Flashbang herself is currently indisposed. Now the dictionary gives a perfectly adequate definition of indisposed, but I rather define it at my own discretion. You can too. Therefore Mrs. Flashbang (who is indisposed) could be sick... in the potty... on vacation... just very busy... or not inclined to contact the known world. Regardless I am here to provide you with a not-so-fantastic knitting project that hopefully will one day be a)completed and b)fantastic.

Voila:

So of course, in true knitblog style: I am using Noro Silk Garden (the colorful stuff), greenish Debbie Bliss something with angora, and reddish mohair blend from I can't remember where. The pattern is feather and fan, even though I tweaked it a little, as usual. As you can see the mohair is a bit pushy and the silk garden a bit tight but, oh well, my mum will love it either way. -S.D.
ps. I'm still too scared to cut the yarns... once I cut I can't start over...