FOs: Thank you brain

FO#1: a large research grant, which is out of my hands and off to the lovely administrative folks at my institution to submit to the Grand Poobah of Federal Biomedical Research Funding (otherwise known as the National Institutes of Health). I am looking forward to reclaiming my very worn out brain cells and returning to the land of the semi-coherent sometime in the next week or so.

FO#2: the North Roe shawl in my own handspun...

Pattern: North Roe shawl by Odile Buatois-Brand
Yarn: 70% merino/30% mohair, colorway Verdant, from Hello Yarn, 5 oz/approx 650 yds
Needles: US 8/5.0 mm
Size: preblock, 60 x 26 inches; post-block, 70 x 36 inches.
Mods/comments: Loved the pattern, loved the handspun, even though I ran out and had to spin more. I even love how the striping came out, and I'm not big on striped shawls. Since I was light on yardage even before running out, I worked fewer repeats of Charts 1 and 2 (4 repeats and 3 respectively), and made it 8 of 12 rows into the edging before I decided that binding off was the better part of valor. Since running out again and having to spin more "laceweight" at 10:00 pm Sunday night would have dissolved me into a puddle of tears on the living room floor. This is my third lace shawl, and as with all the others, I am enamoured of the process of taking unblocked blob:

and turning it into this:

Chart 1

Chart 1 morphing into Chart 2

Chart 2 morphing into edging

Bliss.

FO#3: will have to wait for another day - I can't put all the goodies in one post now, can I?

Turkish Walrus

The pdf for Turkish Walrus can now be downloaded here. Please let me know if you come across any mistakes or whatnot. Happy knitting, and share pictures when you've got them!

So, while I was away

OK, I admit it, I haven't actually been any where. But I have been spending the majority of my waking hours working on a large pile of paper designed to convince the Feds to throw some cash my way so I can be gainfully employed for the next few years. A process not conducive to extensive blogging. But I have been doing some knitting and spinning that I can share with you.

On the knitting front is the Basalt Tank, Version 2.0 - now with waist shaping.

The waist shaping tip came from Kelly, and has made a world of difference. Version 1.0 was 4 inches too big in the chest (swatches lies, I swear) and looked like a potato sack. Now I'm actually thinking this might look pretty good.

I'm maybe a third into the last full hexagon on the back. After that there's one half hexagon and a veritable mile of garter stitch edging to do. But I'm still hoping that this one will sneak in under the wire for the Earth installment of Project Spectrum.

Next up: Flukes for Porpoise:

There is a lovely group on Ravelry called The Thrifty Sock Knitters Club, for folks who like the idea of a sock club, but aren't willing to fork over the big bucks to join one. The moderators pick several free patterns each month, and everyone chooses their own yarn. This month (June) will be the first one I've actually participated in, but they've introduced me to a bunch of cool patterns that are now queued up for knitting sometime in 2030. This is the first top down sock I've done in a long time, and I'm having some paranoia issues about yarn shortages...

Finally - spinning! The best thing so far for me about Ravelry has been the opportunity to meet some other local knitters. I now have a group I meet on Wednesday at lunchtime down at work, and a group I meet with on Thursday evenings. A while ago, someone got in touch with me through Rav and asked if I would help her learn how to use a drop spindle. Last Thursday we met up at the evening meeting and had a lovely time messing about with fiber, getting odd looks from the Whole Foods shoppers passing by.

My hand spindle has been sorely neglected since I got a wheel, but it was so fun to go back to it. I was so inspired that I came home and stayed up for another hour and half to get more done. The first half of the fiber is now wound off onto a "storage bobbin"* and I'm ready to go on the second half. No idea what weight it will end up or how many yards I'll have, but I would love to have enough to do Anne's new little nothing, Brambler.

So, even though I may be MIA in the blog world, the fiber stuff does continue. I've only got until next Monday to finish screwing around with this grant though, so I'll be back more regularly after that.

A long weekend in pictures

Devil and Dora hit the Zoo.

Boo enjoys some quality gardening time

Uncle makes a surprise, last minute trip to Houston to fill up the Dora-void in his life

There was fingerpainting,

And game attempts at coloring

All in all, a lovely weekend.

The Turkish Walrus pdf is ready - I'm working on getting it up on Ravelry as a free download, but if you need a copy soonest, email me at the contact address listed in the sidebar, and I'll send one along.

FO: Turkish Walrus

These are my May socks for the Sockamonth5 knitalong, and they are a total cheat. The whole pair was knit in March/April 2006, but I never finished them because I screwed up the cuffs. And then I had to make "buttons" and knit up a little tab to sew them on, and they got stuck in the back of the cupboard and forgotten about. Occasionally they'd make an appearance and I'd look at them guiltily, thinking that I really ought to just get them done. But then I'd stick them back in a bag and forget about them for a few more months.

In the spirit of finishing off long-lingering UFOs (and in panic because my other socks are no-way-no-how going to be finished by the end of the month), I pulled them out last night and finished them on the bus this morning.

It took 15 min, max. Pshaw!

Pattern: my own, named for my lovely sister-in-law B, pattern available as soon as I get my butt in gear pattern now available as a pdf file - email me (porpoiseknits AT gmail DOT com) if you'd like a copy.
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport, 100% wool, in Sunburst Gold (308), French Clay (N17), Burnt Sienna (101) and Sapphire (N65)
Needles: US 3/3.25 mm
Gauge: 28 sts/36 rows per 4 inches in stranded pattern
Comments: My SIL, who is actually Turkish, gave me a pair of beautiful socks many many Christmas ago, which I wore until they got huge holes in the heels. And then I wore them some more. And then I realized that I couldn't wear them and needed to make a replacement pair. These socks are a toe-up, quick knit in sport-weight yarn, with a garter stitch buttoned cuff. A nice easy pattern if you are a beginner to stranded/Fair Isle knitting. You can use as many colors as you like, making the stripes as thick as you like.

Cuff detail

Toe-up heel flap

I'll be wearing these with my Birks this summer to protect me in the Houston AC wars. Hooray for new socks (that required less then one bus ride to finish)!