I won! I won!

Back in March, I joined the Sock a Month knitalong. It's been a great group to be a part of, especially since one of my (unstated) goals for the year was to knit a pair of socks every month. The bonus of doing the knitalong is that they have prizes. Every month, they draw out a winner from the people who finished a pair, and at the end of the knitalong (June, although it's now running for July-December), they draw out the monthly winner, a winner from the folks who did a pair every month, and a winner from the group of people who knit at least one pair during the six months.

I was one of the winners for June! And last weekend my package arrived.

The prize as posted was a skein of sock yarn and some stitch markers, but when Prize Lady Zonda sent off the package to me, she included one of her gorgeous box bags. So what I got was this

with some lovely green and purple sock yarn

and some gorgeous stitch markers (extremely well timed, since I've now lost two of my sock set and needed some more).

The box bag is really gorgeous - I got to pick out the fabric, and Zonda did a great job. When I was growing up, my Crafty Aunt Laura used to make marbled paper that looked just like this fabric, so I had to pick it.

If anyone is interested, she has an Etsy shop where she sells needle cases, and she will make up box bags to order - you can also email her at zknitter @ gmail dot com.

Now I need to find a pattern for that yarn. Any suggestions?

Shhhhh! Secret spinning

While I haven't been blogging very much of late, I have been busy with projects. On Sunday I finally finished the singles for my H^4 swap pal (Hush Hush Handspun Hootenanny). They're now resting so when I ply I don't end up tearing my hair out, but here's a peek:

Fiber - Handpainted Targhee in "Winter Sky"

I split the top lengthwise into six more-or-less equal sections, did a bit of predrafting, and spun away.

Six of these

turned into this.

Like my previous experience with this fiber, the singles are pretty thin, so I'm hoping for a fingering weight when all is said and done. But it's lovely soft stuff. I'm going to have a hard time parting with it, but I've got 2 lbs of undyed Targhee sitting in my spinning stash, waiting for the right project. Since this stuff seems to spin pretty thin, I've been thinking that I could spin it up and dye it for a colorwork sweater - maybe this?

Oh yeah, knitting

Sort of. I've been out of commission the last week dealing with loads o' work stuff, and a lovely summer cold that knocked me out for most of the weekend (exhibiting the equisite timing for which disease and various other useful roadblocks are known). But today I came to the realization that 1) I'm going to a wedding in a week and a half and 2) while I now will have something to wear (having ordered 4 dresses from Patagonia in the hopes that one will fit and be a good color), I don't have an appropriate wrap/shawl type thingie. So tonight I spent way too much time winding this

into this

so it can become this. If I work on nothing else in the meantime. Project Monogamy, here I come!

The haul

While my unspoken pledge to not buy yarn has been going pretty well at home, something happens when I go on vacation that blows my inhibitions out of the water. I guess it's something along the lines of "well, I'm on vacation, so it doesn't count!" Just like cookies that you eat standing up have no calories.

This tendancy coupled with the fact that my parents live around the corner (I'm not kidding) from Windsor Button means that trips home are rough on the plastic. And since my in laws are up the hill (again with the not kidding) and a 20 min drive from Grafton Fibers and Green Mountain Spinnery respectively, going up there gives the bank account no respite. But I do come away with some cool stuff.

I've already knit up one of my purchases into the Spiraling Coriolis socks, so I'll skip the Fixation and Cat Bordhi opus description. But Boston also yielded

Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome in "Blueberry Hill" which I couldn't resist, because one of Devil's favorite books is "Blueberries for Sal"

and a skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk in "Mineral" for Tuscany. Or some other wrappy type thing. We're off to a wedding in Colorado* in a couple of weeks, and if I put down everything else and cast on tonight, I might get this finished by then. Or I might not.

That was the total damage in Beantown. But then I went to the Spinnery and, after a tour of the mill in action, felt obliged to drop a large hunk of cash on two hanks of sock yarn.

GMS Sock Art Forest and Meadow. Forest (the purple skein) is 70% wool/30% tencel and absolutely the softest yarn I've felt in a long time. Meadow (the blue-green skein) is 50% wool/50% mohair and should make some really well wearing socks. I've got plans for the Forest for a watery type sock for Project Spectrum - Water which starts next month, but that lovely purple is going to marinate for a while. Becuase there is a lot to be said for high potential energy in the stash.

* Hmmm...maybe an opportunity for further stash enhancement? Bad Porpoise, bad!

FO: Spiraling Coriolis

Finished on the bus this morning, and immediately put on (without weaving in the ends) because the bus driver plays a butcher in another life, and was driving around in a diesel-powered meat locker. It was approximately 6 degrees in there. I definitely needed socks.

From the outside, these babies are pretty non-descript - slightly stripey, but not terribly interesting to look at.

But if you look at what's under the pants...

Spirals!

More spiraling!

Even more spiraling!

Pattern: Master Spiraling Coriolis (Rav link) by Cat Bordhi, from New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book 1
Yarn: Cascade Fixation, color #9816, 98% cotton/2% elastic, 2 balls (100 yds/50 g)
Needles: Susan Bates US 1/2.25 mm
Gauge: 7 sts/13 rows per inch
Comments: This pattern was my first from this absolutely fantastic book. If you are a sock knitter, and haven't looked at this book yet, run - do not walk! - to your nearest library or bookstore and check it out. It has 8 different ways of creating a sock; actually, it's more like 8 different ways to create tubes with a bulge in the middle for your heel/arch - the heels and toes are pretty standard. But Cat has discovered that you can put the gusset increases in a whole bunch of different places, allowing for infinite variety in sock design. It's phenomenal!

This pattern struck me, in part because it was touted as a good use for handpainted yarn (of which I have some in my stash that has been through three or four different sock starts, and failed miserably at all of them), and because spirals are pretty cool. Plus it's named after a physics concept. A concept that accounts for this:

Again with the spirals.

I picked up the yarn when I bought the book, since I'd never tried it but had heard a lot about it. Plus cotton is just that much more pleasant to work with in the Houston summer, not to mention more wearable! Having now used it for a whole pair of socks, I have to say that I liked it. It took a little while to figure out the correct tension to use, since the stuff can stretch like crazy, but it knits up into a nice fabric. It seems slightly heavier to me then other sock yarns I've used, but the "200 yds" in the two balls made a pair of women's size 10 socks with 5.5 inch cuffs, which for me is pretty long, so the "yardage" is good.

Given the green/brown and grey/cream color scheme, I'm also counting these against Project Spectrum Earth and Air. August 1 is the start of Water, which I think is going to be a big element for me - I love blues and purples and greys, so I've got a bunch of projects lined up for the next round.

And I guess this makes 8 pairs of socks this year, hunh? Maybe I can make it to 15+...But I've got my July pair done for the knitalong. And yarn in my bag to cast on another project from this book on the way home.

No, I don't have a problem. Why do you ask?