Quiet Needles

My coworker is on vacation for two weeks. That means I'm trying to do her work and my work, and I'm still only one person.

My knitting lies in its beautiful bag on the floor.

I did receive my 2nd Blue Moon Rockin' Sock Club package today. Hooray! I'm not at the end of the list this month. The yarn is great, but I don't know whether posting a photo would be a spoiler for anyone else. So I'll wait on the photo. I'm liking the pattern, although I didn't look closely at it.

I've gotta say, though, I really don't like the way this particular yarn smells. I'm not sure what it is. And I'm not usually aware of the odor of the yarn. Strange that this one is unpleasant to me.

Perhaps I'll go on down to Tangle on Saturday, where someone can oversee my turning of the heel, for only the third time in my entire life. Socks still make me nervous.

The knitting muses will return to me. I'm thinking about lace now...

Sweaters for Felting

I was running back to the office, after yet-another medical appointment.

These medical appointments, by the way, are excellent for sock knitting. I thinkI got about half of my sock gusset increases done while waiting for the doc today.

As I was saying, I was on the way back to the office afterwards, when I saw a big sign. Did I say it was big? It was aBIG SIGN saying that there was a THREE DAY GARAGE SALE for some charity. The little car just pulled right over. It practically expelled me from the car.

I've been thinking about Leigh Radford's felted bags, made from second-hand sweaters, since when I first saw her collection when she taught me to cable at a class at Lint. I don't own her first book, Alterknits , which is where the projects are pictured, for those of you not lucky enough to live near enough to see them.

Basically, you buy a good quality knitted WOOL sweater. You felt the **** out of it. And then, a few cuts, a few seams to sew up, and voila! A spiffy re-purposed bag.

So I spent about eight minutes pawing through the sweaters and checking labels. These babies were $1 each. ONE DOLLAR. The folded black & grey one on the right is merino wool. It's tough to see in the big photo, but it's an interesting almost a woven look. I'd swipe it myself, but it's a mens and the sleeves will be way too long. The beige/brown stripe is ribbed all over and may have gotten into the garage sale due to its tendency to felt. It's halfway there. The grey patterned one is very thick and must be very warm.

I passed up a baby-blue cashmere because 1) it was boring and 2) I couldn't remember whether cashmere was a felting or non-felting fiber. Oh well, I did have to leave something for the others. It's only fair.

The beloved is out of town for the weekend - camping with the boys from work - so I may just pop these into the washer right now to see if they'll felt up nicely. Dr. Parts is not so much a fan of the wet wool aroma.

Toast, the cat, is definitely a wool fan. He loves felting projects. Of the four animals in the house, he's the most into knitting. He's on a campaign to convince me that my blue knitting bag is not actually a knitting bag; it's a cat bed. Notice how he has carefully selected the sweater that will flatter him most. Clever cat.

Let's see how these sweaters fare. I have a lousy washer for felting, but we will continue the sweater torture in the dryer!!! More photos soon.

Pink knitting.

I did the math. I'm working on my pink socks. I've started the gusset increases.

I have the Barbara Walker treasury, volume 2, from my favorite local library. Husband has gone to the woods for the weekend. It's just me, the cats, and the yarn at home until Sunday. Life is good. I should have several more inches on the socks by then.

Oh, and someone asked where I get all my Blue Moon Socks That Rock. I ordered three skeins directly from them. I also have purchased skeins on Ebay.

Perhaps I will set up the ball winder and the swift and wind some skeins into balls. That's fun. Then I can hold them in my hands.

Organizing the Stash

On Saturday, as part of the grand household Spring Cleaning, I purchased these two organizers from Sterilite.

My stash went from a pile overflowing one large plastic tote, to this nearly organized drawer system. All my hardware is in drawer #3. All of the sock yarn is in #4. The felting yarn is in #2. Funky project yarn is in #1. Oddballs and UFOs are in #5 & 6.

I feel wonderful.

I've done all the math to turn my heels on my socks, but haven't actually started the gusset increase. I kinda want to go back to the Clapotis. But I've found a place to donate the preemie hats, so I should seam those up.

Not all the yarn and paper and books and equipment fits in these six drawers. And they're not sealed. In other words, the evil moths could still make their way in. But they're much better than they were. And Dr. Parts has promised that he'll make a place for this hobby station in our house. Life is good.

And I think that I should keep the stash to this size. This is manageable and generous for me. I love having it organized.