week end accomplishments

My two goals for the weekendwere simple, Dye and clean...and as everyone knows I am a process cleaner, so while I did accomplish some rigourous purging, furniture movement, and organization, this could take a while.
So Dying, I dyed a few of the Joni inspired colorways I wanted to.

This is the top rack of drying goodness.

And this is what the other levels of the drying rack look like. Once everything is dry and I can take some decent pictures the Joni stuff will be up for sale. Gotta get ready for the tour de fleece.

This is where a chair once was in my living room, by the fact that I can have a shelf and a wheel in the same place means it was one big chair, which now serves as a lookout post for the cats in my room.

And because I'm so chuffed (hey I had to take off the chair legs and do some interesting moves to get it in my room), here's the shelf now healthily organized and clearing up some space elsewhere. Slowly this place is doing what I want it to, slowly but it's going.

Written Out Mermaids Lagoon Sock Chart.

If you are following the chart from Knitty.com or you want to but have problems with charts, here is the written format. (Note* there are four repeats per round of the chart per round).

Row 1)*SSK,YO,K1,YO,K3,K2tog,K1,SSK,K3,YO,K1,YO,K2tog* Rep. to end.
Row 2 and all other even Rows)K all Sts.
Row 3)*SSK,YO,SSK,YO,K2,K2tog,K1,SSK,K2,YO,K2tog,YO,K2tog* Rep. to end.
Row 5)*SSK,YO,K1,YO,K1,YO,K1,K2tog,K1,SKK,K1,YO,K1,YO,K1,YO,K2tog* Rep. to end.
Row 7)*SSK,YO,SSK,YO,SSK,YO,K2tog,K1,SSK,YO,K2tog,YO,K2tog,YO,K2tog* Rep. to end.
Row 9)*SSK,YO,K4,YO,Sk2po,YO,K4,YO,K2tog* Rep. to end.
Row 11)*K2,YO,K11,YO,K2* Rep. to end.
Row 12)K all sts.

I spun up the batts I ordered agges ago it seems from Hungry For Handspun, then I navajo plied for color consistancy, I don't know what it's going to be yet. With the weather getting up to +30 today (we're in Celcius here in Canada) I am not in the mood for knitting anything wooly (which is a shame but proved good for the waterlily tank).
My uncle is in town from B.C. so I spent most of the day with him and mom etc, twas fun but I realized far too late in the game that I should have packed some knitting for the day. I had my Thelonious socks on me but not the pattern *silly sadie* That was in my clipboard for school. None the less a good day hanging out in the sun was had by all.

Here's the finished waterlily tank, ignore my angry look, I don't know why I look so angry, I wasn't I was quite content. Cameras and I don't nessessarily agree. I guess this proves it.
It grew with wearing over the day but it still looks good, I did the largest size and it seems to work best for me, I think if i'd have gone down a size it would be too tight on my less than flattery bits. Plus it's a cotton rayon blend, I can always figure out a way to shrink it a little.

Other than that I'm recovering from a stomach flu and some regular flu that has left me dehydrated and sluggish. Hopefully I have seen the worst of it and won't have to deal with being sick for a long while now. As soon as a sick bug breaks through my system I catch everything possible before I get well again, the breaks of an immune system that is less than stellar.

Mer Socks

There were a couple of things I wanted to add to the Mermaid Socks, among them is this:

This was the original chart (note that unnumbered rounds are knit). I knit the socks off this chart (although I did much swatching with the other chart), I thought I would provide it to the masses incase they prefered this, note* this chart only goes for when working all sts tbl.

I'm also going to be putting up the written charts soonish, as I understand some do not like or get charts. This will probably happen after I get over the evil stomach flu that has kept me from life for the last day ish.

It's here!

The Mermaid's Lagoon Socks (which I've been hinting at like an elephant in a china shop) have landed.
So go check em out, knit a couple pairs, have fun with them, cause I did.

Plagues, carding, socks, and Poe.

Can't keep my mind from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earthbound misfit, I
- Pink Floyd

Okay, I started the Waterlily Top. I found my 9mm circs and boom, a skien was knit up, and now I'm onto skein two, because really... what else is there to do with ones evening? (Don't mention the homework or the impending letter of intent please).
I also finished spinning up 4 oz. of the Ram that I had processed. It came out in a grey/blue kind of color and then I navajo plyed it. I tend to like the ram in a more worsted woolen aran weight anyway.
This however means I need to card something. There is an itch in my soul for carding and oh yes it shall be done.
The Thelonius socks by Cookie A. are still on the needles Sock #1 was finished two days ago and sock two is well into the pattern. I'm useing the "Night's Plutonian Shore" colorway from the Poe Club that Violet (of Lime and Violet/Happy Housewife) and Cables and Lace are doing. They're actually taller than I had expected but the generous helping of yarn will surely make the pair (there probably won't be much left though).
I've given up the ghost as far as attempting to keep myself on only five projects this summer. I throw caution to the wind, let the startitis plague me I do not care. Eventually everything will get knit and eventually everything will get spun, so while I'm busy decluttering and destashing my life, I will just have to accept that the stash of fibre stays no matter what (we will not speak of the acrylic - it serves it's purpose).

The yarn gods smile

Occasionally it happens that when a fibreista such as myself sees her stash dwindleing she is hit with a paralyzing fear that she is going to *gasp* run out of yarn for projects. I had a few such moments in the days leading to my birthday, Really I am not joking I thought to myself "I better get spinning so I have stuff to knit with". I was on a processing dying spinning kick and what I wanted more than anything was to be reinvigorated by the stash.
Now the yarn goddess must have known my plight, and through some kind of strange twist she embibed my family with wonderous ideas of yarn. So I give you the take, aka what mah mommy and bro/sil got me.

First off let me say mom went to River City Yarns in Edmonton (one of the benifits of having a parental unit that travels a lot), I gave her a little list of suggestions, she not only got everything on the damned list, she got more!

Ilga Leja patterns, Ancient Bark, Balsam, and Earth Maiden.

What is this, could this be a bag of Manon? Silk and Arucania, plus the pattern, there was a lot of squeeing and swooning. I like to pet it before bed.

Mom said she saw this and had to get it for me, it's the knit kit for Fibre Trends Hedgies! I can make my own stuffed hedgies! And I've been wanting to try out the fibre trends for aageess.

Colinette Giotto (for the IK Waterlily top), this kind of stuff is never found here, it's usually beyond overpriced, and there is never enough to actually make something more than a shrug. So I am over the moon about this. I almost cast it on last night, but then found that although I have them my 9mm circs were no where to be found.

For the spinner/dyer's soul, half a pound of louet biffle, and a soy bamboo sampler. I've never spun with either soy or bamboo so I am super excited.

When going anywhere that carries STR I will usually beg and plead for a few skeins. I got two! which means i can either make something like a shawl or a pair of knee socks either way, two skiens of bunny foo foo.

On occasion Mary Maxim has a kit that makes you remember why you look at it in the first place, this is one of those kits, I have been drooling over this jacket for almost a year now, saying all the time that I will buy it when I have money to spare (as we all know how often that happens). My bro and SIL got the kit for my birthday, which is totally jinxing me in the starting department.

Seriously I was over half way through my goal of not having more than five projects on the needles at a given time until this giant pile of stash ended up in my lap. Sure I casted on the Textured Jacket recently, and I have the Thelonius socks on the needles for school, and a bunch of other things that languish in the WIP pile, but now I want to start everything. Maybe summer will be the time to have some severe knitting startitis that will all get finished in the fall. Hard to say. What I do know is There is not enough time in the day to properly molest this new haul.