Yarn P*rn Monday

WARNING!!!

HEAVY PHOTO POST!!!

You know, when I started this blog, it was intended to chronicle my knitting adventures. What it has made me realize the most is how much yarn I actually acquire. I've thought about going on a yarn diet, but what if something comes out there that I really need? Then I'd feel guilty, and I hate feeling guilty. I then contemplated lying to the blog. Well, not actually lying, but not putting new yarn up when I get it. I know, so silly. Maybe I'll go on a kind of mini yarn diet, which means the diet would exclude say, Wollmeise, Numma Numma, Yarntini, my faves. We'll see.

Here is the latest Wollmeise haul that I got from a ravelry destash. There are 2-3 skeins of each color. I only need one of each color, but I bought it all for trading reasons.

Two skeins of honig . . .

Three skeins of Single Malt . . .

Two skeins of Terra di Sienna . . .

Three skeins of Ebenholz . . .

Wollmeise Clementine that I got in a ravelry trade . . .

And some Numma Numma Booming Jukebox . . .

Yarntini self-striping in McDreamy and Luxury colorways . . .

Just took these babies out of their warm bath. I'll get a better picture once they're dry. Some socks I like to put on blockers and some not. These are kinda lacey, so I don't want them to get too stretched out. I think I'll probably gift these to someone, not sure who yet. I like them, I loved working with the yarn, Zen Yarn Garden, and I liked knitting the pattern, Cookie A's Summer Sox, but I don't care for the way the color turned out, just kind of random-like. I like some sort of striping or pooling or something. The cuffs started striping, but the stitch pattern increases then decreases, so the yarn never made any kind of pattern. I mean, they're beautiful, and some people like that look. I just don't care for it.






I saved these for last because I have to brag on TD. She came home for a few days for a wedding. These are her Wollmeise BlueBell socks from the last sock club. Look at that work! She is a somewhat tight knitter, but look how beautiful those cables are. I just don't know if I want to put that much work into a pair of socks, but she just plugs away. Of course, she only knits socks, so I think she doesn't mind a more intricate pattern. Aren't they gorgeous?

Hope everyone has a great week. I'll be in front of the TV watching the last week of Wimbledon. Go Andy!

Progress!

Progress has been made on the Waves of Lace tank.



This is what I got done while watching LSU lose last night. It's coming along very nicely. I'm already at the neckline. Will be working on it again tonight. Hopefully, LSU can pull it out.


At least Andy won.

Third Time's The Charm!

I swatched and I swatched and I swatched the morning away yesterday. For my Waves-of-Lace tank, that is. As it turns out, the Wollmeise, which is what I wanted to use in the first place but thought it would be too thin, turned out best. I did go down a needle size to a US7 to get gauge. The colorway is Spina de Pesci from Yarnissima. I love that bright blue!





This is all of the progress made yesterday. I could have made half the damn thing in the time it took to do all of that swatching. But I'll work on it more today. It's very easy knitting. I put the Girasole away for a little bit in order to get this done in time for Florida next month. The Girasole is being made as part of a KAL which isn't over until October 1, and the baby that it is going to isn't due until January, so I think I have plenty of time.






SPOILER!!!






SPOILER!!!



If you haven't already received your June Woolgirl Sock Club Kit, you might want to go away. It's a doosie. So cute.









A bag of goodies plus 2 patterns, one for socks and one for a shawl.

It's difficult to name everything that was included besides the patterns and yarn, a pink bone-shaped calculator, pattern tamers, stitch markers, stickers, tape measure, and note cards. BTW, the name of the kit is "It's Raining Cats and Dogs". So cute! I think I said that already, but it is.

The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy, one of my faves.

Off to play tennis, then back home to watch tennis and knit. Andy plays later.

Weekend In Review

We had a very busy weekend. It actually started Friday with 2 basketball games, then 3 more on Saturday and one last one on Sunday. YS (on the right) is playing summer basketball with the high school jv team. It's a huge commitment, but it's just for the month of June. That's his BFF on the left.

After the last game Sunday, we got to celebrate Father's Day. The HWWTM gotta couple of neat gifts - a stadium seat, a wine aerator (which we tried out last night), and a couple of LSU shirts. We then went to his brother's house for fried fish. My father-in-law was there; he's 82 now. I wish I'd gotten a picture, but forgot to bring my camera.

I do have to say one or two things about the HWWTM. I know I give him a hard time, but he really is a great guy. He is a wonderful father and provider. I couldn't ask for anyone who treats me better, and, most importantly, he lets me buy all of the yarn that I want.

Here's the boys - YS, the HWWTM and MS who came in from LSU for the weekend. TD and OS couldn't make it home, but will be here next weekend for a close family friend's wedding.

On the knitting front, I've made some slow but steady progress on the Girasole, finished the first Zen sock and made good progress on the Watermelon sock this weekend while watching basketball.

I bought a pattern on Ravelry last night that I want to start. I'm not sure what yarn I'll use. I was thinking of a pretty blue Wollmeise, but the pattern calls for sport or dk weight. You know what that means . . . I'll have to break down and do a gauge swatch. Uck. But I do want it to fit, and I want it for this summer. Oh, I just thought of some yarn in my stash that might work. Going to check it out . . .

Oh, I almost forgot, guess what started today - WIMBLEDON! I'll be in front of the TV for the next 2 weeks knitting!

It's A Wollmeise Day!!!

Here is my Wollmeise stash. I thought it needed some straightening out. As you can tell, I've been ogling the reds, kinda going through them, maybe another Clapotis, maybe another Ishbel, . . . the reds are all so beautiful.

This is the bin reserved just for my Wollmeise, a little jumbled.



So I took everything out and laid it out on the rub. Oh My Gosh!!! I didn't realize I had so much! 43 in all, I think, and more on the way. I've acquired them in a number of ways - from the Wollmeise shop, TLE, and ravelry trades and purchases.

Such a beautiful rainbow of colors . . .

Here are the browns and blacks . . . (I tried to put the names facing up, so if you click on the picture, you can see the colors better with their names).

The purples . . .

The blues/greens . . .

The pinks . . .

And, my favorite, the reds . . .

The oranges/yellows . . .

Here they are all placed neatly back into their bin . . .

One thing really funny about me and my Wollmeise - if I knit a skein up, I am immediately on the lookout for another skein of that color. I'm not sure why. For example, Zenzi is one of my favorite colorways. I've made a pair of socks a long time ago out of it, and recently had a chance to acquire 2 skeins of Zenzi in a trade, and I grabbed them. They're a little different than the original skein I had, because most colors come in light, medium and dark, so it's not exactly the same. Funny, huh?

Anyway, still plugging along on the 2 socks from previous post, thanks to numerous basketball games and more to come this weekend. Girasole is coming along nicely too - on Chart E, which will take awhile. I only work on it at home, because it is white.

That's all for now. Off to more basketball with YS. Maybe he'll let me take some pics today.

Start & Finish

Gosh! I just went outside for 2 minutes to take a couple of pictures, and broke into a sweat! It is stiffling here. 94 degrees, 100% humidity! Already!

Anyway, I finished my May STR socks. Not crazy about the pattern, but like the yarn. All in all, love the way they turned out. I'm gifting these to a friend's daughter who likes purple.

Since I finished a pair of socks, I had to start a new pair, you know. Or maybe 2 new pairs. These are a simple 3x1 rib in Sunshine Yarns - watermelon stripe colorway - using a 2.25 mm needle. I love the way they're striping.

These are Zen Yarn Garden in Woolgirl colorway, also on 2.25 mm needles, using Cookie A's new freebie pattern, Summer Sox. I really like this yarn and this pattern.

In other news, the Girasole is coming along. I'm almost finished with Chart D, and I think it will be slow going once I do. On the last row, the stitch count doubles from 320 to 640. It's ok though. It's a very therapeutic knit, simple lace pattern with every other row stockinette. I'm very happy with how it's coming and can see more of these in the future.

Oh, and I frogged that scarf from the previous post. After a few inches, I didn't like the way it was striping. Love the yarn. It'll make a very pretty pair of socks. Love the pattern too; think I may work it up in some Wollmeise.

Have a good week!

Guess Who's Visiting . . .

OS and Beau came for an overnight visit. We thought we'd put him in the pool and see how he did. He generally doesn't like to be outside for any length of time because of the heat. (It's already in the 90's here.) We were afraid he might not be strong enough to hold himself up in the water, but he did fine. OS taught him how to swim to the steps and get out.

After his little swim, he got a nice bath under the hose . . .

Once we were inside - he kept running to the door trying to get in - he was pooped. Here he is chillin . . .

Then it was naptime . . .

Some yarny goodness came in the mail today - Wollmeise in Limone colorway - got it in a trade from a friendly raveler . . .

I'm on the heel flap of my STR club sock. Should finish it in a day or so. I think I may rip out the toe on the first one - I just don't like the way it turned out - and do it my usual way. These are going to a friend's daughter who likes purple. She's going through a rough time right now, and I hope this will let her know that I'm thinking about her, and she's not alone.

Progress is being made on my Girasole. I'm almost finished with the second skein of yarn. Already halfway through Chart D.

Put this on the needle and did a few rows because I need some travel knitting for the weekend. Think I might put some simple socks, maybe in sportweight, on needles too to bring with me. We're going to New Orleans with my youngest son's junior varsity basketball team for a weekend camp. We'll probably sit through 8-10 games. I should get a lot of knitting done.

Have a great weekend!

And Happy Birthday, Meg!

Girasole KAL

I've started something, and I can't stop. I joined in the Girasole knit-a-long over at The Loopy Ewe. You can read about it in Sheri's blog post here. She is such an enabler. This is such an addictive pattern. I started Sunday (actually I attempted 3 times to start it on Saturday, but I was in a hurry and couldn't handle the double point needles, and then I misread the pattern, so I just put it down and tried again the next day), worked on it a few hours, then worked on it a few more hours yesterday. I've already gotten through Charts A, B, & C.

I'm using Louet Gems sportweight in white on a size 7 needle. I started out magic loop instead of double points, way too fiddly. I'm making this as a christening shawl for some good friends who just found out they're going to be grandparents. So excited for them.

This little beauty is from Simply Socks Yarn Company. It is their 4th anniversary special edition. It comes with a free scarf pattern. More info here.

And, lastly, some Wollmeise Zenzi light that I got in a trade. Love, love, love.

Have a great day.

The Puppy Monster

Isn't he gorgeous? Excuse the crappy photo. It's from a cell phone.

8 weeks old, 15 pounds. He's gonna be a monster.

He'll Never Come Home Now!!!

Josh, my middle son, heretofore referred to as MS, is moving into an apartment this weekend with 2 friends. MS is now a junior at LSU. He lived in a dorm his freshman year, then in his fraternity house. He is so excited to be moving into an apartment. NO ONE lives on campus after their sophomore year, you know. (I personally didn't know this, but was quickly informed.)







I mean, really, if you had a nice 3 bedroom apartment with 2 of your best buds (and someone special lived right down the road) . . .

. . .why would you ever come home? I guess I'll have to resort to bribery.

That's him on the right. How about that sectional sofa? One of the boys bought it at a consignment shop; they are so proud of it. The only way they could get it to fit without a lot of wasted space was to split the sectional and put it on either side of the love seat. I told them it looked great. What the hell . . . it's a man cave.

And now on to more important stuff - yarn. My order from The Loopy Ewe came in, lots of Numma Numma in the usual. The colors are great, l to r they are: all night diner, Sheri knits the blues, pie please, after dinner mint, eat your veggies, and gumbo n' greens.

And below, Yarn Love in Bayfield Apple. I had one of these, but TD took it.

SPOILER!!!!!

SPOILER!!!!!

If you haven't received your Wollmeise Sock kit, you might want to go away now. If not, keep going.

Aren't they just gawgeous? I totally love both colors. Happy Weekend! I'm back to Baton Rouge tomorrow to help MS stock is kitchen.