Jewel's Purls

F! FK!*

*Finally!  Finished Knitting!

To accompany my voting socks, I got around to knitting up my Democrat Hat.  I got the pattern and yarn from Jimmy Beans Wool.  It's knit from Berroco Merino.  I have to say that the yarn is very very nice and knits beautifully.  I'm going to wash and wear this hat this November and if it doesn't pill, the yarn may be on my stash-worthy list.  It's definitely next to the skin wool.

I cannot say enough wonderful things about Kim and The Woolen Rabbit yarn.  I had plans of making socks in the color of Mia The Cat.  That would mean they would need to be black and chartreuse.  The chartreuse was easily taken care of by using left over Jacob's Ladder from the Mahona shawl.   I asked Kim if she would dye some black Harmony sock yarn, which she gladly did.   Now, if any of you have seen a black cat or own one, you'll know that there are times when the gray/white skin shows through the black fur.  I'm glad I was sitting down when I unwrapped the skein of black yarn from Kim because without even saying a word, she captured this very thing!  See?

She calls this color "Raven" and I hope she puts this color up for sale on her website.

So...without further ado, here are my Meemalicious socks!

"I have sniffed them, groomed them, and schmutzed them, and give them my lick of approval. They're quite tasty!" --Mia

P.S.  Just to let you know - I lost the rest of my left over Jacob's Ladder by the time I got to the heel of the second sock.  Despite an immense inconvenience to Kim (she was on vacation), she went out of her way by dying me another skein of Jacob's Ladder sock yarn so I could finish these socks.  Thank you Kim!   Of course, that means I now have enough left over for a pair of socks out of this color.  Isn't that a pity?   Despite grueling interrogation, none of the cats chez Miller has confessed to any wrongdoing in the disappearance of the left over yarn.  The yarn is still missing and its whereabouts remain a mystery.

At The Wheel

I haven't been blogging or knitting much lately because I've been spending a lot of time at the spinning wheel.  I tend to spin in spurts, but lately I've been getting some really even bobbins of singles and near perfect balanced hanks of yarn.   So, I've been enjoying this.  A lot. 

Here is some yellow-gold/green yarn that is Merino roving from AllSpunUp.  She does up some really nice colors.  Here is the final result:

I'm not sure what I'll do with it.  I've been thinking of accumulating yarn in similar shades and making a striped sweater or  Tomten jacket.  Not sure yet.

I also spun some lovely Merino in the colorway "Autumn Joy" that i got from Exclusively Linda Lee.

Again, I'm not sure what do with this.  I suppose once I've accumulated a lot of different colors something will come to me, but for right now all I can think of are hats, scarves, and mittens.  Anyone else have any suggestions on what do with bits of 200 yards of handspun???

Olympic Knitting

There are a lot of people doing Olympic Knitting.  We've got the Ravelympics 2008 on Ravelry for example.  I've decided not to join in any particular group, but instead I'm going to do my own Olympic Knitting.  I started Sigridur some while ago and it's been languishing.  So, my goal for the Olympics is to get this one finished by the end of the Olympics.  I think I'll be able to get this done as Lopi is a quick knit.  Here's what I have done so far. 

The other colors are black and a heathery-cream color as shown in the photo.  Anyone else doing Olympic Knitting???

On Second Thought

Since my last post I have received e-mails from my dear readers expressing their disappointment that my blog would no longer be up to post Mia pictures.  Well, I certainly hadn't thought of it that way and my dear sweet Mia gave me a talkin to.  First there was the cold shoulder but when she preferred hanging around other family members over me, I just couldn't take the silent treatment any longer.   She told me she was really upset that her photos would no longer be out there on the innernets.  The talent scouts would be unable to find her and then how could she become the new Cover Girl for Friskees??!!  I had no idea.

It appears my blog will be staying and there is peace once again chez Purls.

It's Been Fun

It's been a tough decision but I've decided to stop blogging.  It has been fun, but lately it feels like a chore. 

I have really enjoyed all the friends I've made since I've started blogging.   I tend to blog only about my knitting and very rarely about my personal life or opinions.   I post my photos on Ravelry as well, so why take up my knitting time posting them in two places?  There are only so many knitting hours available in a day.

I will leave this blog up for about a week, as canceling my blog takes immediate effect and it comes down right away.  My Ravelry ID is JewelsPurls, so look me up!    You can e-mail me there as well.   

Knit on!

I'm Ready to Vote!

My feet will go voting in style!  I finished my Voting Socks and knitting with this yarn was a lot of fun.  It's from Spindle City Yarns in the colorway Raise the Flag.  They're done in time for the 4th of July too, but it's much too warm to wear them. 

There will be a voting hat later, but that's about it for now!

Celebrations and Finished Things

You know, there just isn't enough hours in a day.   I've had the intentions many times to sit down and blog about belated birthday celebrations and finished knitting but the opportunity never comes. 

When I last posted I had just had a birthday.  Not long after that I received a birthday box from my buddy, Lorraine.  I tell ya, she spoils me wrotten.  She knows me and knows me well, as evidenced by all the birthday swag she sent me.

Above, we have 2 skeins of The Woolen Rabbit laceweight in the colorway Calendula.  It looks like a ripe melon begging to be eaten.  Sweet.  Juicy.  Mmmm.  I'm wearing a necklace she made me (it's pink!).  She also made me the cutest pair of earrings but alas - I wore them to work on Friday and left them on my desk.  I have to take them off when I sometimes wear a headset.  They are silver dangling earrings with pink Swarovski crystals.  (Pink!)  If you look in the 3rd picture way at the top left a Bob pin managed to hop in.  She thinks of everything!  There is a lemon jello air freshener there too, which I plan to take to work.  We are in an old building with no A/C and no air movement, so it gets rather stale there.  Nothing like lemon jello to brighten things!  In the picture you'll also see some jasmine tea. 

About a week ago we had so many fires around us that the air quality is really poor.  I stayed home one day with my asthma and a cup of the jasmine tea was the most satisfying soothing thing.  At first I thought I was being a weenie with my breathing but I went out to the car the next morning and found ash all over my car.  I guess my lungs were telling me the truth.

It has taken me an entire week to get my breathing cleared, so I really haven't felt much like blogging or knitting anything complicated.  I did manage to finish two pairs of socks.  The first pair I finished were for Dr. M, who I work with.  It is knit out of Lorna's Laces Shepherd sock in the colorway "Valentine".  The picture of the foot is the recipient wearing them.

I also managed to finish a pair of socks for me.  I knit these out of Trekking XXL, color 159.

I've also cast on my "Voting Socks".  Of course, they're red, white, and blue and I'll post those when there's more to show.  Right now it's just a toe and a little beyond that.

That's about it for now.  I'm off to go post some yarn and stuff on Ravelry.  Happy knitting everyone!

Sock Love

Every fall and winter I curse myself for not knitting myself more socks during the summer/spring.   Out of all the knitting I do, I only own one pair of hand-knitted socks.  The socks I've managed to knit have been gifted and I'm left with my only lonely pair of socks. 

Not this year.

I've been stashing sock yarn for several years with the intent of knitting myself socks.  I've always had a thing for socks.  Way before I started knitting socks I'd buy socks.  Lots of em.  Heavens, one year I found some flannel with a sock print and made myself a pair of pajamas.  So clearly my love for socks pre-dates my knitting them.

Yesterday I was surfing the innernets and found this.   Yes.  I ordered two of them.   It's pretty cool, huh? 

Anyway, I'm a firm believer in knitting what makes you happy.  Yeah - I've got quite a lace stash going and I've got a huge sweater stash too.  But they will be there waiting.  Meanwhile, I'm feeling the sock love.  I'll thank myself this winter.

Another Year Older

With each passing year it becomes more and more evident that I will not knit up everything in my stash.  But I sure do enjoy looking at it!

Thanks for the flowers Mom and Marlys!

Mohana BoBana Fee Fi Fofana

Okay okay.  I'm excited I finished this.  This is a shawl that was a real quick knit and the yarn was spectacular, too.   I used The Woolen Rabbit's Harmony Sock Yarn in the colorway Jacob's Ladder. 

I can't say enough about the gorgeousness of The Woolen Rabbit's colors.  I kept on knitting wanting to find out where the blue spots would appear next.  The comment from my son?  "What are all those blue thingies?"   

What's next?  Only something that has been in my stash forever and a year.  It's knit out of Lopi which means clearing it from my stash creates more room.  That's my logic and I'm sticking to it.  Here is a photo of Sigradur from the book.  Instead of the green I'm using brown.

 

I'm off today and tomorrow so I should be able to get this knit up pretty quickly.  That's about it for now!