What the hell is that?

As those of you who visit here regularly know, I finished my KWC project a couple of weeks ago and haven’t mentioned anything since then about what I have on the sticks at the moment. Sadly, that’s because my sticks have mostly been bare ever since.

I’ve resolved that now with another pair of socks that I began recently. I know, I know … I said I was going to take on more challenging projects to stretch my knitting ability and yet here I am making another pair of socks. But I have a good excuse! I have not yet knit socks with my own Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino Sock Yarn that I added to my line recently. I knit a few sample swatches to get a feel for the yarn, but I think it’s quite imperative that I actually knit a pair of socks with it!

Let me begin by saying that I LOVE this yarn! It’s very soft and just the weight I like for a sock yarn. It’s a bit lighter than some sock yarns, but that makes it perfect in my book both for knitting very practical and highly wearable socks and also for lace knitting as well. It’s not nearly so thin as a true laceweight yarn, but it’s lightweight enough that it would make a nice quicker-knit and less frustrating substitute if one is so inclined.

And so here is a picture of Sock Number One in progress. And don’t say “What the hell is that?!?” It’s a sock I tell you!



Now, I know this doesn’t look much like a sock, but I swear to you it is indeed a sock and it shall fit! I decided to make full-blown knee-socks this time. This yarn has such wonderful yardage (550 yards to a 4-ounce skein) that I think I may be able to get a full pair of knee-socks out of just one skein. Once I had this thought in mind, I simply had to test it. Of course, if I were wiser I would have knit the socks toe-up so that I could switch to a shorter leg if I find that there is not in fact enough yarn in one skein for a knee-sock, but I’m a creature of habit and didn’t give it a thought when I began and now it’s simply too late to turn back.

So that explains the very long length of the leg, but what about the ridiculously narrow girth, you ask? Well, that’s just an illusion. The sock is knit in a ribbed pattern all the way down the leg and it’s very, very stretchy. I’ve stretched it out with my hand and pulled it up my leg over the widest portion of my calf and it does fit. And no, I do not have tiny little legs.

Of course, the sock in progress does look a bit bizarre. I took it with me to work on during hubby’s softball game last week and his teammates had great fun at my poor sock’s expense. There were lots of crude comments about the “banana hammock” I was knitting. The team’s coach implied that it was a gift for him (his tone, needless to say, was both proud and self-congratulatory!). Boys will be boys, I suppose.

The colorway I’m using is called Deepest Forest. I truly love it! You can’t see it at all in the terrible photo above, but below is a closeup that allows you to see the colors a bit better. There are varied shades of Forest Green, touched with lighter green that gives a bit of a sense that light is dancing on the surface of the knitted fabric. If you look carefully, you will also see that it’s not just forest green, but also a deep shade of charcoal that’s almost black. Overall, the color distinctions are subtle, yet still richly varied in their own quiet way.



Alright. That’s enough rambling about a half a sock. Back to knitting!

Navajo it is! And Store News

Thank you all so much for the suggestions for a name for the new colorway from my last post. All of your suggestions were great! In fact, they've got me thinking of lots of possible new colorways.

For the new colorway I've decided to go with "Navajo," suggested by Stacey. As a small thank you, Stacey will receive a free skein of the new Navajo Merino Wool Sock Yarn. (No, this wasn't a naming "contest" ... I just seem to have some type of disease that causes me to wantonly give yarn away!)

Now on to some store news ...

First, I want to let you all know that I added a few of the new Superwash Merino Sock Yarn colorways to my eBay store. More of the new colorways are drying in my workshop and will be added soon. These yarns were previously only listed at auction, as I was testing the waters with this new addition to my product line. It's a hit and so I'm now building inventory and adding it to the "Buy It Now" items available in my eBay store.

I also want to let my blog readers know in advance that I will soon be raising my prices just a wee bit. I am still 100% dedicated to offering quality yarns at far more reasonable prices than one finds in a retail shop! The price increases will be very minimal, but are unfortunately necessary. I was overly-ambitious in my low pricing when I began Fearless Fibers about six months ago and have been contemplating a small price increase ever since. Now, eBay has raised their fees to sellers for the second time during this six month period that I've been selling and so I've finally made the decision that I must proceed with this small increase on some items. (Note that the price of the new superwash sock yarn will not change, nor will my pricing on cashmere.)

I will be taking a few days off in early August to attend a family wedding and when I return the price increases will take effect. I wanted to let all of my blog readers know about this in advance so that if you've been planning on any particular purchase you will have the choice to proceed before the price increases take effect. Again, I want to stress that the increases will be small and I absolutely intend to keep my pricing as attractive as possible over the longhaul.

Thank you all again for your great suggestions on the name for the new colorway.

Until next time ... Happy Knitting!

Hemorrhoid Yarn, Get Your Hemorrhoid Yarn!

I occasionally experience a form of writer’s block when coming up with names for new colorways. Sometimes my colorways are named very specifically and with zero nuance and creativity: “Shades of Teal” for example. The name just says it all. Other times, the name of a colorway may be based more on a general feeling that the colorway evokes: “Marrakesh” for example. For me, the name evokes images of an exotic land, aromatic spices, rich and earthy colors tinged with golden hues.

Right now, I’m experiencing writer’s block on a new colorway. I recently created a rainbow-dyed colorway called Brick House, which is on superwash merino sock yarn. I now have a new colorway on merino sock yarn (not superwash) and alpaca/wool yarn. The problem is that this new colorway also has a certain “brick” feel to it. It’s quite different from the Brick House colorway though, in that this new colorway leans much more toward pinkish tones of brick, paired with shades of gentle mocha. The Brick House colorway is more of a deep brick blend, leaning toward burnt orange and umber shades of brick. I definitely don’t want to use the term “brick” again in the name of the new colorway, as the two are so very different! But what to call it?



I turned to my husband for ideas. His response: Hemorrhoid!

His suggestion does not mean that this colorway is ugly, nor does it mean that it evokes images of dilated veins and swollen tissue. And I swear to you – it definitely does not evoke images of an anus! Dear hubby’s suggestion doesn’t mean anything of the sort. No, his suggestion was more akin to the type of response you might receive from a 3-year-old if you asked him to name his new kitten. “Poopyhead,” he cries in his loudest 3-year old voice! Yep. That’s my husband. A 200-pound 3-year-old.

But alas, now that he has said it, every time I look at this yarn all I can think of is HEMORRHOID. Sigh. A tiny little part of me actually wants to call it Hemorrhoid, but I shall resist that temptation.

Perhaps someone has an idea to share? And please don’t say Poopyhead!

Some Cool Things to Check Out

It's been a few days since I've blogged and I feel that I owe you something in return for hanging in there and waiting for a new post! And so today, I'm going to share a few cool links with you that you may not have seen yet. Here goes:

Sock calculator: This is a very cool tool where you can enter the gauge for the yarn you plan to use for sock knitting and enter the dimensions of the foot and the sock leg, and the calculator will tell you how many stitches should be cast on and also the approximate yardage you will need. There are also a number of other handy knitting calculators at this site.

Lace Knitting Exhibition: If you need an excuse to visit NY (as if anyone needs an excuse to visit THE city!), this is certainly one! It's still one year away - beginning in July 2007 - but oh my, what fun! It's a Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting Exhibition at the Museum of Arts & Design. Start planning your trip now!!

Wikipedia Knitting: Many of you have probably explored Wikipedia, but have you ever thought to look at the Knitting section? It's suprisingly useful, with clear yet detailed explanations of variations knitting terminology and techniques.

Incredible needles: OK, these knitting needles are ridiculously expensive when viewed purely in terms of a functional object. But that's because they are about much more than function. The link is to the DPN page of needles. There are other needles there as well, but if you scroll down the DPN page, you will eventually come to a section that says "Notice." There you will find info on a swap opportunity - a pair of hand knit socks for a set of these DPNs. Not the best deal for the sock knitter, but if you love to knit socks anyway and have already given everyone you know 19 pair, well then this might be for you.

That's it from me today. I need to get down into my workshop. Remember the new Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino Sock Yarn I told you about? Well, it's been selling like crazy, so much so that I'm almost out already. I had ordered a larger quantity almost immediately when I saw how popular it was. That order arrived a couple of days ago and so I've been knee-deep in dyeing ever since!

Have a fab day!

KWC and More Bargains!

OK. I promised you a picture of my complete Knitting World Cup project, so here goes. Unfortunately, try as I might, I couldn’t get a good picture, so pardon the poor quality of the photo.



Overall, I’m reasonably pleased with how it turned out. As mentioned previously, it’s more of a shoulder wrap or stole than a shawl as I had originally intended. I knew that would be the case very early into it, but being a complete lunatic I couldn’t stand the thought of frogging it, starting over, and potentially missing the KWC deadline.

Now the only question is: What the hell am I going to do with this thing?

A soft, delicate, lovely lace cashmere shoulder wrap/stole/shawl? Obviously, I won’t wear it while I’m busy in my dye workshop. I must wear it out, of course! Yes, that’s it, OUT. Hmmm … Shall I wear it when I go bowling? Or perhaps when I go to my husband’s softball games? Maybe for a trip to Costco? Or better yet, the supermarket since then I can go in the evening, as it really does beg to be worn as “evening wear.”

Sigh. I guess I don’t have a lace-cashmere-wrap-life! Maybe I’ll tuck it away and give it to my sister for Christmas. She works for a real estate developer and has five kids, but hey, at least she heads into the city at least once a year or so to catch a Broadway show or something of that sort. And she’s a redhead, so the spring green color would be lovely on her.

Now on to yarn bargain talk! I have one more round of 99 cent starting price auctions on eBay this week and they are DOOSIES! This may be my last batch for a while, so get ‘em while you can. I was really pleased to see a couple of blog readers pick up super bargains last round and here’s another chance for y’all. (Did I suddenly turn Southern? What the heck happened there?!?)

You can click on the photos below to directly access the auctions, but these are so juicy that I feel compelled to tell you a little more about them.

The first two below are Large Loopy Mohair Boucle. They are super soft and silky and so much fun to knit with! You can knit with it alone on big ‘ol needles (there I go again, turning Southern) or combine with another yarn to add texture and visual interest. I also like to use this yarn to add interesting touches to felted projects. The yarn will felt, but still retains a lot of nice texture so it makes for interesting trim or embellishment in felted projects. Anyhow, this type of yarn is quite expensive in retail shops but for some reason does not move very well on eBay. I have A LOT of this yarn, still in its undyed state (and also a smaller version of Loopy Mohair Boucle). I’ll likely dive into dyeing more of it as we move into Fall, but I thought I’d unload a few of these last orphan skeins. Because I haven’t seen much interest in this kind of yarn on eBay, I think these auctions may go off for a ridiculously low price. I don’t care much, as it’s just a couple of skeins and I need to get rid of these orphans that are taking up space, but someone is going to get a heck of a deal on some very nice, fun yarn.

As to the other auctions, the third one below is a 50/50 blend of merino and silk. I don’t carry this yarn as part of my usual Fearless Fibers “line.” I had a few skeins leftover from my own personal stash and dyed them in my popular Peppermint Pink colorway. I don’t carry this yarn as a usual staple as it’s killer expensive. Retail for this skein would likely reach $40, which is quite high for a 3.5 ounce skein. Another great opportunity for a bargain!

The last two are superwash merino that borders between a sock and sport weight. You can make a pair of women’s ankle socks out of one skein or a hat or something of that sort. These are just a couple of orphans left sitting lonely on the shelf. The colors are wonderfully bright and clear.

That's it for the bargain review. Have at it, gang! Until next time, Happy Knitting!

And the winner is …

The time has arrived to announce the winner of the “how many stitches in the shawl” contest! I also promised you a good, long post today with answers to all of your questions about the shawl. But first … drum roll please …

Congratulations to Heide for her winning entry! Several entrants were surprisingly close with their guesses, but Heide wins the prize with her guess of 256,000 stitches. That’s pretty darn close to the actual number of stitches – 250,512. Congratulations to Heide who will receive her choice of Fearless Fibers Merino Yarn.

And now, on to answer the questions you had about the shawl:

Q. Is it crazier that I asked you to guess how many stitches are in the shawl or is crazier that I counted them?
A. It’s crazier that I asked you to guess. Since this is a mitered square shawl, it was actually pretty quick and easy to calculate the stitches. I just calculated how many stitches in a square and how many in a triangle, counted the squares and triangles, did a quick bit of multiplication and addition and that was that.

Q. Where does the pattern come from?
A. It is from Vivian Hoxbro’s book, Domino Knitting. The pattern as written calls for a heavier weight yarn, but I chose to use a finer gauge yarn as I was fearful that with such a large shawl the weight of the material would cause it to stretch out of shape and I wanted to ensure a sturdy knit. My shawl is knit on US #2 needles (eek!).

Q. What type of yarn is it?
A. The yarn is a blend of merino wool and tencel. I won’t mention the brand, however, as I am no longer a fan of this label. It’s a small company that grew quickly and their quality suffered. They seem to be improving now, but I personally can’t bring myself to buy from them anymore after having several very bad experiences. Fortunately, the yarn for this shawl was fine. The only problem with this yarn was one of my own making. I should not have chosen this colorway, as I really don’t care for it very much. I was so anxious to begin this shawl and so certain that this was the type of yarn that I wanted to use that I settled for this colorway since it was the only one in my LYS with enough quantity for the shawl. (Warning to other impatient and half brain-dead knitters like me: When you undertake a project this large, time-consuming and costly, do NOT settle! Duh. Lesson learned.)

Q. How long did it take to knit?
A. My best estimate is a cajillion hours. This was actually my sabbatical project a couple of years ago, when I was still in the corporate workforce and had the wonderful benefit of a two-month paid sabbatical after reaching seven years of service with the company. Most folks use their sabbatical time travel the world, do meaningful volunteer work, etc., but I chose to see what life would be like if I had a paycheck but no job. I just lived. I knit. I cooked. I read a bit. I took walks. It was absolute heaven.

Several folks also mentioned an interest in mitered square (or “Domino” or modular) knitting. If you haven’t tried this before, I highly recommend it! The small book by Vivian Hoxbro called Domino Knitting is a good place to start with the basics, but there are lots of other more in-depth books available as well.

For those not familiar with mitered squares, the concept is simple: You begin with an odd number of stitches. Your cast-on stitches will become two sides of the square you will complete. By decreasing by two stitches in the center using the slip one, K2TOG, PSSO method on the center three stitches of the row, you will slowly build a square. Since the decreases are in the center of the row, the work will turn on itself so to speak, drawing up the two halves of your original cast on to form two sides of a square. You will finally get to the point where only one stitch remains and it will be the top of a completed triangle (square on its side). As you knit the square, you use a selvage stitch at each end so that you will have a nice clean daisy chain along the sides to pick up stitches as you proceed.

As you continue, you actually knit the squares together rather than later seaming them together. You do this by beginning with the single stitch remaining from the square just completed and then picking up stitches along one edge of the square. You will end up with ½ minus 1 the number of stitches you had in your square to start with. When you reach that point, you proceed with a knitted cast on to reach the total number of stitches to begin a new square and then you simply proceed as you did with the first square. You can use this basic technique with a bit of variation to create triangles, rectangles and more complex shapes.

Knitting this way has so many advantages and is such fun! First of all, since your pieces are knit together as you go there is very little finishing work to do. It’s also very easy to set aside a piece of modular knitting and pick it up some time later without any hassle trying to figure out where you were in your pattern. You’re basically just following a chart of shapes. Modular knitting is also a delight with handpainted yarns. Since the decreases that shape the squares are in the center of the knitting, your finished squares will have multidirectional stitches: one triangular half of the square will be horizontal and the half will be vertical. This just adds to the colorful mosaic quality of handpainted yarns. Finally, there is something very satisfying about the modular knitting experience. Every knitter is familiar with the feeling of satisfaction that comes with completed a project, but there are also milestones throughout the project that give one that same sense of satisfaction. Finishing the edge ribbing on a sweater. Reaching the armhole shaping. Completing a sleeve. What I found with modular knitting is that you get a bite-size version of that feeling of satisfaction with each and every square you complete.

Now it’s time for me to go send an e-mail to Heide with the good news about the her contest win! This contest was so much fun that I’m sure I’ll do more in the future. Keep your eyes open for future fun!

In my next post, I’ll provide a picture of my completed KWC project. It’s all done now, but this is a long enough post already so I’ll save that for next time.

Thanks again to the over 40 folks who entered the contest! (That is, more than 40 people … not the people who – like me – are over 40).

Happy Knitting!

KWC Deadline Met – Yeah!

Just a quick post today to let you all know that I’m alive and well. My apologies for the lack of meaty postings lately. When I post the contest winner on the 11th, I promise a good, long blog post with all of your shawl questions answered and other fun stuff. Be sure to get your entries in by midnight July 10th (scroll down for contest info).

I’m so happy to announce that I met the Knitting World Cup deadline by casting off on my lace cashmere shoulder wrap today. And yes, I’ve officially abandoned calling it a shawl because it is clearly way too narrow for that. Sigh. I’ll get it blocking tomorrow and will have a photo for you soon.

In the meantime, several folks have e-mailed me and asked whether the “Knitters with Mini” blogring link to the right means that I indeed drive a Mini. The answer, of course, is yes. The photo in the blogrink link is not my Mini though. Here’s a photo of my little Easter Egg Mini. And yes, that’s me, looking haggard and acting goofy behind the wheel.



Time for me to relax, watch a little TV and eat some cherries. Night all.

The Contest Fun Continues … and More Bargains!

Thank you to all who have already submitted entries to the contest. There’s less than a week to go until the winner is announced, so if you haven’t submitted an entry yet, please join in the fun! Scroll down to the prior posting for information.

Many of you have e-mailed me with questions or comments about the shawl that is the subject of the contest. When I announce the winner on July 11th, I will also provide more information and answers to your questions about the shawl.

You may also recall that I informed you last week about several 99 cent starting price eBay auctions for Fearless Fibers yarns. Those auctions ended today. Several lucky bidders got a good price on quality yarn and I made some space on my crowded shelves by moving out some of the many orphan skeins that I have. It was such fun that I’m doing it again today. Three new 99 cent starting price auctions are now listed. Click on the photos below to go directly to the auctions.

Finally, a quick Knitting World Cup update: EEK!

I don’t know if I will make the July 9th finish date, which is why I say “eek!” But I’m certainly going to try and I won’t give up until the deadline has passed. I certainly won’t have the shawl blocked by then, but I would very much like to have finished the knitting and cast off by the deadline. I suppose I should stop calling it a shawl, as I fear I didn’t make it wide enough and it may be more of a shoulder wrap than a shawl! The darn thing will be finished one of these days and I’ll post a pic for you.

I’m anxious to finish the KWC project and move on to something new. I bought a pattern for a dress that I would like to make for a friend who has a toddler, but I fear that at the rate I’m knitting these days the child may be in college before the dress is ready! It’s a darling dress though and I am very tempted to get it on the sticks. You can find the pattern at Knitspot in Anne’s pattern catalogue from a link toward the bottom right.

That’s about all for now. Knit on!

It’s Contest Time!

As promised, it’s time for our first contest here at the Fearless Fibers blog! Mind-bending fun is promised for all. The lucky contest winner will receive a free skein of any Fearless Fibers merino yarn. There are four types to choose from, with plenty of colorway options: Superwash Merino Sock Yarn, Merino Sock Yarn, Sport Weight Superwash Merino, and Two-Tone Twist Merino.

Here’s how it works:

1. Send me an e-mail with your answer to the question below.

2. Entries must be received by midnight PST on Monday July 10th.

3. The winner will be the entrant who comes closest to the correct answer to the contest question below. If by some bizarre coincidence there is a tie, the winner will be selected using the scientifically proven name-in-a-hat methodology.

4. The winner will be announced on Tuesday July 11th.

And so now for the mind-bending contest question!

How many stitches are there in the shawl pictured below? (Yes, it is HUGE!)

If you recognize this pattern, I will forewarn you that I not only amended the pattern a bit but I also used an entirely different gauge yarn than what the pattern recommends, so don’t waste your time trying to figure it out that way!

Please help spread the word about the contest. If you have a blog, links would be greatly appreciated. I know that may reduce your chances to win, but the more entries I receive, the more contests I’ll hold in the future.

Now here are two photos of the shawl ...

Let the games begin!

Bargain Time … and a Contest Coming Soon

It hit a sweltering 106 degrees yesterday here in Oregon. I darn near melted! Despite the heat, my mind is already racing ahead and planning for the Fall. To begin making room on the shelves for plenty of new yarn in the Fall, I think it’s about time that I get rid of some of the orphan skeins remaining from this past winter.

That means that it’s time for 99 cent starting price auctions on eBay! I’ve listed four of these auctions today. Each skein is a half pound of either Alpaca/Wool or Mohair/Wool and normally sells for $21.99 in my eBay store. Comparable full retail on this yarn is in the neighborhood of $32. Click on the photos at the bottom of this posting to go directly to the auction pages at eBay.

These 99 cent auctions are always great fun! Sometimes the buyer gets an absolutely fantastic deal and other times a particular item catches the attention of buyers and a bidding war ensues. At this time of year, I wouldn't be surprised if these sell at very, very low prices, so get in on the action while you can! Whatever the result, I always enjoy watching the auctions progress. One way or another, I need to make room on the shelves and so these items will sell with no reserve price!

I also wanted to let you know that I heard your comments about the possibility of a contest here on the Fearless Fiber blog and the wheels are already turning in my mind. Be on the lookout for a posting within the next several days announcing our first Fearless Fibers blog contest.

Let the fun begin!

Blah, Blah, Blah ... I talk too much

I just wrote a very long post which I promptly deleted. It was a rambling explanation of my comment in a previous post about how I need to learn to knit. But who wants to read my lengthy review of the weak areas of my knitting game? Suffice it say that my stitchwork is good (no problems with intricate cables, texture, colorwork, etc.) but my finishing and knowledge of various techniques stink. And so I’ve vowed to improve my weak areas by trying to incorporate at least some small new technique in projects going forward.

OK. Enough of that. How about some yarn talk?

Last week, I posted a photo of a new yarn that I’m adding to my line. It’s a Superwash Merino Sock Yarn. I’m happy to report that it seems to be a reasonable hit. I had 20 skeins ready as of last week. I listed five in eBay auctions on Monday. All five have bids already and will sell tomorrow when the auctions end. I also listed some in my Etsy store and have sold eight of those. Not too bad for the first week with only a small selection to start.

In the meantime, I’ve developed four additional colorways on this new yarn and will be listing one of each at eBay auction tomorrow (and some on Etsy as well today and tomorrow). Here’s a photo of one of those new colorways, called Marrakesh.



I just love this! The colors are so rich, they’re almost aromatic. Hmmm … that makes no sense, but that’s just the feeling that I get from this colorway.

I also dyed roving for the first time this week. I hate it. Hate it. HATE IT! I did just two colorways, ½ pound each, and it took me forever. It’s just a big pain in the ass handling these long, long strips of fiber. And the ones I dyed are superwash. I have Australian Wool roving as well (not superwash), which will be even more of a nuisance because I’ll need to be even more gentle and painstaking so that it doesn’t felt.

Bottom line – the roving that I dyed is very pretty indeed, but I just don’t think it’s worth the time and effort. I’m committed to keeping my prices as low as possible and with the time it takes to handle roving properly, I just don’t see that I can do it. And so, if you want some roving, get it while you can because I doubt I’ll continue to dye it. I may even just rid myself of some of what I have in stock by selling it undyed at a bargain price in the Supplies section of Etsy. The small quantity that I’ve already dyed is not yet available for sale, as it’s still drying, but I’ll post pix and let you know when it’s available.

That’s it for me for today. Not much of a posting, I know. My apologies. I’ve got tons to do today and I’m anxious to get moving. It’s supposed to be 100 degrees here today and I’m hating the thought of doing anything! Sigh.

I will leave you with one teaser … I’m thinking it’s about time I have a little blog contest with yarn prizes. In fact, I thought it might be fun to have a contest a week throughout July. I’ll give it some thought and post something soon about that.

Have a wonderful day and Happy Knitting!

Cashmere & Claudia

Just a quick note for those visitors who got here from the link from Claudia's blog. If you're looking to see the cashmere options available for the Fearless Fibers prize that is one of the jillion Claudia is offering, those are in my eBay store.

While you're here, please do visit a while and feel free to leave a comment if you have a moment. I'd love to "meet" you.

All the best and Happy Knitting!

The Answers, WIP, and an Ugly Monstrosity

Kudos to Aija for her great work in identifying the famous first lines that I mutilated in my last posting. Before I jump into other talk, here are the answers with the true quotations:

1. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a knitting woman in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of more yarn.
Real Line: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. (Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen)

2. “Christmas won’t be Christmas without more yarn,” grumbled Jo, lying on the knit rug.
Real Line: “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug. (Little Women, Louisa May Alcott)

3. Serene was a word you could put to knitting in New York.
Real Line: Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn, New York. (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith)

4. In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me a cable-stitch pattern that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.
Real Line: In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. (The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald)

5. In the town there were two mutes, and they were always together knitting.
Real Line: In the town there were two mutes, and they were always together. (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers)

6. Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen sat one morning in the window-bay of their father's house in Beldover, knitting and talking.
Real Line: Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen sat one morning in the window-bay of their father's house in Beldover, working and talking. (Women in Love, D.H. Lawrence)

7. As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed into a giant knitting needle.
Real Line: As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed into a giant insect. (Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka)

Okay. Enough of that.

Once again, the only knitting-in-progress that I have going at the moment is my KWC shawl and again the only update is that it’s longer. I suppose another update might be that I’m growing to hate the damn thing, as it represents a deadline that I may not make. Why that bothers me so much is a bit of a mystery. Perhaps I think that if I don’t complete it by July 9th, I’ll be shunned and ostracized by the knitting community?

On the topic of knitting-in-progress, here is a photo of reader Patricia’s sock-in-progress using Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino Yarn in the Duck Season colorway.




Patricia is using a 1X1 rib at the top for a nice snug fit and then converting to a 3 X 1 rib. I really like the way it’s patterning with the four colors spiraling around in somewhat broad patches, but with all four visible on one side. It’s always amazing to me how the same yarn can pattern quite differently depending on the number of stitches, needle size, as well as the hand of the knitter.

Nice job, Patricia, and thank you for sharing the photo! I can’t tell you how much I enjoy seeing what folks are doing with my yarns. Perhaps I’ll start a photo gallery here soon with projects folks have completed with Fearless Fibers yarns. Hmmm … I can almost smell the whiff of a contest in the air!

….. SHORT COFFEE BREAK …

I just stepped out on my deck to finish my coffee and enjoy the quiet for a few minutes before the horrible noise begins. Why horrible noise, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you why. It is because there is a construction project going on right behind my townhouse.

I’ve seen so many beautiful photos that folks post to their blogs of the wonderful things growing in their gardens and such, that I thought I’d share a photo of the monstrosity that I see when I sit on my back deck and so I brought my camera outside with me. When I moved in here three years ago, the view from my back deck was lovely. Woods. Peaceful. Quiet. Lots of wildlife. At least once a week, I’d catch a glimpse of a deer or two peeking out through the trees.

Well, as if on cue just to make my photo op more poignant, here is what I captured this morning when I photographed the monstrosity that I get to look at every day:



Sigh. Poor dear deer. Can you hear his thoughts? “Uhhhh … what happened? Did I make a wrong turn somewhere?” Sigh again.

I must run off now to start another long day. I’ll be back to post again in a day or two and will share with you something that has been burning in my mind these past few days. I’ll explain more in an upcoming post, but the bottom line is that I think it’s about time that I learn to knit.

Everyone have a bang-up day and get some knitting done!

Knitterature

I don’t have time to read much these days, but in my younger days I read quite a bit. I got to thinking this morning how much more interesting all literature would be if only every author made a point of including knitting in some fashion.

Here are some famous first lines of books that I have amended ever-so-slightly to “improve” them (ha!). See how a change of just a couple of words can make such a difference?

Can you name the books and authors? I will post the answers on Thursday with the real first lines as well.

Yes, I know. I am wasting time because I am so tired of labeling and skeining yarn! Leave me be. I need my little diversions. Here goes …

1. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a knitting woman in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of more yarn.

2. “Christmas won’t be Christmas without more yarn,” grumbled Jo, lying on the knit rug.

3. Serene was a word you could put to knitting in New York.

4. In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me a cable-stitch pattern that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.

5. In the town there were two mutes, and they were always together knitting.

6. Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen sat one morning in the window-bay of their father's house in Beldover, knitting and talking.

7. As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed into a giant knitting needle.

Happy Knitting!

No Picking

Seems about time for another blog post. Maybe an update on my KWC project? Here it is: It’s longer now.

There’s not much else to saw about a rectangular shawl that just continues in the same stitch pattern throughout. You don’t need to see another picture just to prove that it’s grown, right?

I mentioned in my previous post about this project that my progress has been slow. The reason is that I am pretty much incapable of knitting continental style ("picking") when it comes to anything beyond basic knit and purl stitches. I converted to continental knitting about 18 months ago and have dramatically increased my knitting speed. But I can tell you, it wasn’t an easy conversion for me! My left hand might as well have been caught in a thrasher for all the use it is to me. I can open doors with it, but that seems to be pushing it to its limit. My two hands look like mirror images of one another, but that’s deceptive. They are like identical twins, one of whom emerged from the birth canal unscathed and the other of whom got stuck halfway through and was the victim of a doctor whose grasp was a bit too tight on the forceps! My poor little left hand. Pretty. Kind-hearted. Gentle. And dumb as a post.

And so I slowly push forward the old-fashioned way – throwing the yarn with my smart hand until my elbow aches – with that KWC July 9th deadline always in mind. I looked at the shawl this morning and thought it looked close to three feet long already. But alas, my mind was playing an evil trick on me. I got out the measuring tape and the damn thing is only 23 inches long. How could I think that 23 inches looked to be close to 3 feet? Perhaps my left hand is not the only victim of the tight forceps?

Sigh. I better get back to knitting!

The Mocking Nipple

I’ve been very busy these past few days working on replenishing stock in my eBay and Etsy stores and also developing new colorways for a brand new yarn I am adding to my line.

The new yarn is a superwash merino sock/fingering weight yarn. I already carry superwash merino in a sport weight and I have a plain old (not superwash) merino sock yarn, but to date I have not carried a traditional sock weight superwash. I purchased a small quantity (well, small by my standards – 20 pounds) of the superwash sock yarn and will be testing buyer response over the next few weeks.

Nobody except my hubby has seen this yet, so you will be the first to get a glimpse of this new yarn. It’s a lighter-weight sock yarn, at 550 yards per four ounce skein, which makes it wonderfully versatile for both socks as well as lace knitting. It’s scrumptiously soft with a lovely twist to it. I am sooooo in love with this yarn! Here’s just one colorway to give you a taste of it. This, along with a couple of other colorways, will make their debut in eBay auctions on Monday.

Ready for the grand unveiling?

Drumroll please.

Without further ado, I present Fearless Fibers’ Brick House on Superwash Merino Sock Yarn.



Ain’t it just delicious? This one is a rainbow dye, rather than a handpaint. I’m not certain yet but I think I’ll mostly rainbow dye this yarn. It responds beautifully to rainbow dying (which is gradual addition of different colors to the dye pot at various stages in the dyeing process, creating a random mosaic of color rather than a self-patterning yarn). Here’s a closeup so that you can see the gorgeous nuance of colors.



Anyhow, I’ve been dyeing yarn like crazy these past few days, but today I quit early since I have to be somewhere in a couple of hours. Per my usual routine, I rested a few minutes and chatted with hubby Bruce before heading upstairs for a shower.

When I got upstairs and looked in the mirror, I had to laugh out loud at myself. Picture this: I am wearing a purple T-shirt that is splotched and stained with various colors, a pair of gray jersey shorts that have a big picture of Tweety Bird on one leg and are also splotched with dye, and white socks that are not only stained but also have holes in them. This is one of several of my “work” outfits. My hair is tied back in pigtails with wisps coming out everywhere. I am going quite gray and haven’t had a touch-up in months and so I have a speckled dark brown and white patch running down the center of my head. With my hair in school-girl pigtails and this speckled gray line down the center, my head is one giant oxymoron! I’m wearing my glasses rather than my contacts. I am extremely nearsighted and so my glasses … well, how can I explain … hubby Bruce occasionally calls me Mrs. Magoo when I wear them. ‘Nuff said.

I look so hideous it is almost unimaginable. Could I possibly look any worse? I shake my head, laugh it off, and begin to strip for my shower.

And then I see it, staring back at me in the mirror as if to mock me and say, “Yes, it can get worse!”

Dye has soaked through my T-shirt.

I have one green nipple.

A Thank You to the Masses Plus Knitting World Cup Stuff

I’ve had several new visitors here in the past week or so and just wanted to take a moment to say Thank You! As I discussed in my very first blog post, I feared that blogging would be my first step toward insanity (well, arguably first) and that it was really just an elaborate form of talking to myself. And so it is with much gratitude that I greet these new visitors.

Ubercherry stopped by and left a comment. She reached me through the Etsy seller’s blogring. She has a blog of her own and also has an Etsy shop.

Tess and knitidiotsavant from my favorite LYS, Farmhouse Knits in Beaverton, Oregon, came by. (Thank you, ladies! You rock!).

The Kitchener Bitch was here too. Like Brenda the Knitter who began popping by some time ago, I don’t know how Kitchener found me, which is particularly fun to see! I popped over to Kitchener’s blog to check it out and I found lots of cool things, including a vintage stocking pattern that I really love and now want to knit (why, I don’t know, as I never wear skirts short enough to show off such lovely stockings. I might as well just wear old-lady-rolled-down knee-high’s under my skirts. Nobody would know the difference.)

And earlier today, barbp was here. She found me through the Stalk & Knit contest I sponsored on Anne’s fabulous KnitSpot blog. The comment Barb submitted began by saying that she was “ROTFLMAO” as she read some of my posts. I have to admit that I’m not very savvy on the commonly used acronyms online. I knew what LMAO meant, but when I first read barb’s comment, for one brief flash of a moment my mind automatically translated it to read “rotten f***er laughing my ass off”! I quickly realized that it actually meant Rolling on The Floor LMAO. Whew! I thought perhaps we had a bawdy broad in our midst.

And finally … hold your breath in anticipation now because this is both a “celebrity” blogger sighting as well as a smooth segue into the next topic … the YM was here. OK. That’s my attempt to sound hip and in-the-know with my acronyms. I know, I know. It didn’t work. Let me try again. The Yarn Monkey was here. That’s the Yarn Monkey as in Organizer of The Knitting World Cup! There is no comment submitted from YM, but she sent me an e-mail to acknowledge my participation in the KWC and mentioned her visit here and referenced something she saw posted here. So there!

And so thank you again to the new visitors. You may be saving me from the slippery slope that leads from blogger to madwoman!

And so, now on to KWC talk.

Let me begin by saying that when I first heard about the Knitting Olympics some months back, I just didn’t get it. I scratched my head and looked puzzled. Why would anyone do this? Just knit something between the start time and the finish time and then pat yourself on the back and stick a gold medal picture on your blog or website? I scratched my head again and continued with the whole puzzled-look thing I had going on. But why? WHY?!?

A few weeks ago, I started seeing the buzz spread about the upcoming Knitting World Cup. As I read about on different blogsites and eventually at the Yarn Monkey’s KWC site, the fog suddenly lifted and I saw the light. The answer to the question became clear:

Question: Why?
Answer: Just ‘coz!

It’s actually a bit more complicated than that, I suppose. As I wind my way through the online knitting community (and as I’m learning, it really is a community albeit a vast and ethereal one), I began to feel the connectedness that events like the KWC bring to knitters all around the globe. You can find a sense of belonging, much as you find in your own LYS, as you begin and end a project in unison with scores of other knitters, knowing that you are all marching to the same deadline, starting and stopping in fits and starts as you begin that new project, debating whether there’s time to frog your UFO and start over, persevering in the face of doubt, and finally falling into that wonderful stride of certainty as your project begins to take shape. It’s just cool. You do it … well, just ‘coz.

And so I joined the KWC. My name may not yet appear on the roll on YM’s site, but it will be there in time. She has officially accepted my late entry.

For my KWC project, I decided it was time to finally start that lace shawl I keep saying I’ll start. Well, my first mistake: instead of sticking with the original plan of doing Anne of KnitSpot’s gorgeous ostrich plume shawl, I instead got a hair up my rear and decided to just wing something. That meant wasted time messing around with different possible stitch patterns. Why do I do that? I see a perfectly lovely pattern, read through it, pick the yarn I want to use, dye that yarn, and then suddenly sit bolt upright as if I just received an electric shock and say: “I think I’ll do something a little different.” I do this far too often. Truly. It’s some kind of genetic disease or something. It’s a particularly bad thing because I’m a pretty lousy designer. I’m not being humble folks. Just honest. I have a shelf in my closet that I call The Shelf of Shame. Needless to say, it is where I house those items that are completely unwearable that I have not had the heart to rip out. There lie my old friends “Monkey Sleeves,” “Disco Days,” and “Kansas Farm Girl” among others. Sigh.

But I digress. Back to the KWC project.

So I’ve decided on a cashmere lace shawl. I dyed some cashmere especially for this (well no, I dyed it for the ostrich plume shawl, but … well you understand. It’s a disease. I can’t help it.). It’s a springy shade of emerald green. The cashmere is a slightly lighter weight than the standard laceweight cashmere I carry in my eBay store. I bought this lighter/thinner cashmere planning on carrying it in my line, but I then decided that it’s just a little too lightweight for most people and so I changed suppliers and now have an ever-so-slightly heavier laceweight. (Perhaps I was just looking for an excuse to keep several pounds of laceweight cashmere for myself?)

And so I began the shawl last night. Here is a picture of it so far:



I think it will turn out nicely, although it’s always difficult to envision the FO exactly with lace. That’s particularly true of lace patterns that don’t lie anywhere near flat until they are blocked. That’s the case with this stitch pattern, so the end result will be a bit of a transformation from the WIP. You may ask yourself why I didn’t do a swatch and block it before beginning so that I would have a clearer picture of both how the stitch will look as well as how the gauge will end up when all is said and done. The answer is simple: NO TIME! I have a deadline. It’s the KWC for cryin’ out loud!

Yes, it’s ridiculous, but now that I have signed up for this event I feel compelled to complete this project by July 9th. I have no idea how I’m going to do that. It needs to be around 6 feet long and it’s taking me about a damn hour to complete an inch. EEK!

If you are wondering why my progress on this shawl is so slow, you’ll have to tune back in for a future posting. I’ve rambled on long enough for one day and need to get back to other pursuits now.

Thanks again to all for stopping by!

All the best to you and yours, and Happy Knitting!

What awful typos in my last post. My favorite -- "yolk." HA! Too funny to correct.

Morticia, The Scarf, and the Icelandic "Sweata"

When asked, I always say that I taught myself to knit when I was a teenager, but as I lay in bed last night unable to sleep I got to thinking about it and realized that it was, in fact, my mother who first taught me to knit.

I was seven or eight years old at the time. My mother taught both me and my sister, Diana, the basics: cast on, knit, purl, cast off. My mother herself was not a knitter and likely knew very little more than these basics herself.

The project that my sister and I worked on together was a scarf. A 30-foot long scarf! Why a 30-foot scarf you ask? Well, I’ll tell you why. Do you remember the old Addams Family TV show? Morticia was often shown sitting in her wingback chair, knitting a scarf that draped over knees, down to the floor, and snaked halfway across the room. My mother was part of an upcoming PTA show at our grade school and there was an Addams Family skit planned for the show. Our scarf was to be a prop.

Now, you may think my mother was a bit of a dimwit to use an actual handknit scarf for such a prop rather than simply using fabric or piecing together a few dime-store scarves. But no! My mother was a smart woman (and still is for the matter, at age 83!). A brutal New York winter was fast-approaching and my mother was confronted with the reality of two rambunctious little girls – aged seven and eight – who would be trapped indoors much of the time. What better idea than to set them to the task of knitting a 30-foot scarf? Wise woman, I say. And crafty too (aaaahhh … an unplanned half-pun!).

I didn’t knit again until I was a teenager. Don’t ask me what sparked my interest in knitting then. I have no idea what got me going again, but I do recall that the basics my mother had shown me all of those years ago came right back to me (muscle memory is an amazing thing!) and I taught myself the rest by carefully reading patterns, examining sweaters from my own closet, and experimenting.

When I visited my sister a couple of years ago and pulled out my knitting, she recalled my teenage days of knitting better than I. She told my husband (put on a rather thick but still ladylike New York accent when you read this), “Most people decide they wanna learn ta knit and so they make a scarf. Ya know? Kinda uneven an’ wavy at the edges? But not Debbie. She decides to knit and makes an Icelandic sweata.”

And she was right. I remember that. I’ve always liked working with intricate color charting. I made my mother a sweater for her birthday last year with a wonderful, detailed snowflake pattern across the yolk and hem, but other than that I haven’t done much of that sort of thing for quite some time. Maybe that will be something else to put on my To Knit list. I seem to do more planning of projects than I do knitting!

Enough reminiscing for now. It’s time for me to get back to work.

Happy Knitting!

Knit, Chat, Eat … Who Could Ask for More?

After a long absence from my favorite LYS (Farmhouse Knits in Beaverton, OR), I finally made an appearance there yesterday morning. I was scheduled to have lunch with a friend, Tess, who is an instructor at Farmhouse. She kindly invited me to join her before lunch at her Friday knit session. It’s a small group that meets on Fridays and pays a nominal fee to have the undivided attention and assistance of a great knitting instructor.

What I found when I arrived at FH were five of the nicest gals one could hope to meet. They were wonderfully friendly and welcoming, allowing me to feel at home and comfortable without any of the feelings of being an outsider that can come when a new person joins an established group. We knit, we chatted, we nibbled on farm-fresh strawberries. I even made some real progress on my latest project (more about that coming …)

Afterward was time for lunch with Tess which was, as always, a delight. Tess and I share the common ground of not only our love of knitting and fiber, but also the challenges of moving from a more traditional career to the rocky road of eking out a meager living in the world of knitting and fiber. And, of course, she’s just an all-around good egg.

Who could ask for a better Friday morning?

And so on to some knit chat now …

I’ve now finished the lacy cashmere scarf that I wrote about when I started a couple of weeks ago. No photo yet, as I need to block it before I can call it a “done.” I don’t usually bother to block scarves, but I think blocking will help bring out the stitch definition a bit more and improve the overall look. We shall see. I have not yet begun the lace shawl I keep meaning to start. Sigh.

My latest project is another pair of socks. Yes, I know. More socks. (Stop that feigned yawning and sighing! I can’t help it. I love knitting socks and I also don’t have the time for a major project right now.)

I’ve already finished the first one, thanks to that extra 90 minutes of knitting time I had at FM yesterday. Here’s a pic of sock number one. It’s knit with my Fearless Fibers Merino Sock Yarn in the Saltwater Taffy colorway.



The cuff is a double-eyelet rib. If you’re new to sock-knitting and looking to graduate from the most basic stockinet and rib sock to something with a bit more character, this is an easy way to do it. You can simply replace the ribbed cuff in your standard sock pattern with something a bit more interesting. In this case, I chose the double-eyelet rib. A few things to keep in mind when you’re selecting a stitch to replace the standard ribbed cuff:

Keep gauge in mind. Test the gauge of the stitch you are considering to be sure it’s close to the gauge of the ribbing in your standard pattern. If it’s not, you would need to do much more amending to your pattern to make it work.
Keep elasticity in mind. You don’t want to lose the elasticity of your sock ribbing when you change stitches. (Nobody wants a sock that slides down their leg all the time!) I personally like to simply choose an alternative stitch that is itself also a ribbed stitch, such as this double-eyelet rib. You can also retain a traditional ribbing for the first couple of inches and then move into a pattern stitch of your choosing, so that you still have a cuff to hold up the sock.
Keep the number of stitches in mind. When selecting your stitch pattern, keep in mind the number of stitches for a full round of your sock. The standard pattern I use calls for 56 stitches. That was another reason the double-eyelet rib worked so well. It’s a 7-stitch repeat and so 8 repeats of the pattern stitch work perfectly to complete one round of 56 stitches.
Keep in mind that you’re knitting in the round. Finally, don’t forget that the pattern stitch you are considering will likely be written for knitting on straight needles rather than in the round, so you’ll need to “reverse” every other row (knit the purls, purl the knits, etc) to knit the pattern stitch in the round. This is another reason the double-eyelet rib worked so well for my sock. Here’s how the seven-stitch repeat of the pattern stitch is written to begin with, followed by the revised stitch to knit in the round.

Double-Eyelet Rib – knit on straight needles:
Row 1: K5, P2
Row 2: K2, P5
Row 3: K2TOG, YO, K1, YO, SL1, K1, PSSO, P2
Row 4: K2, P5

Double-Eyelet Rib – knit in the round:
Row 1: K5, P2
Row 2: K5, P2
Row 3: K2TOG, YO, K1, YO, SL1, K1, PSSO, P2
Row 4: K5, P2

As you can see, the only differences are in every other row – rows 2 and 4 – and the modifications are virtually nothing, just a simple reversal of the knit and purl stitches to take into account that you are knitting in the round.

And so all in all, this was a very simple stitch to add to a straightforward sock pattern to give it a bit more character. Finally, I also purled one row at the start of the sock to give it a bit of foundation and then added three rows of garter (starting on a purl row) at the end of the ribbed section, to give a smoother look to where the stitch pattern transitions into stockinet.

Enough sock chat! I need to get my day underway now and decide whether or not to attend a get-together at another LYS across town where several local Etsy sellers are meeting this morning. I really want to go and I know I probably should, but I have so much yarn that is calling to me from my workshop (“Dye me! Dye me!” Can you hear it?), and the meeting is all the way on the other side of town, so I’m not sure yet if I will attend. I’ll have to noodle on it …

Happy Knitting!