The Gabby Knitter

Sock a month socks

I finished these up last Saturday morning so I could have a free pair of needles to start my two at a time socks. These are my one and only pair for SAM 5. I did knit another pair but they are for my Loopy ewe swap pal and it's not a secret swap so she knows who I am and I don't want to spoil the surprise so you'll have to wait on those. Anyway these were done on a US 1 Addi Turbo circular needle and my basic sock pattern. The yarn is from Twisted Fiber Arts in her "firefly" colorway. I love this yarn and the cool way it stripes. I will definitely be buying more of her yarns in the future.

Sorry there was no Whirling Wednesday this week. My Internet was down and by the time we got it up and running again I didn't have the time to post. Hopefully next week I'll have more luck. Have good one all!

Nothing but noro

A few weeks ago the kids came to me and said that they were collecting hats for families in need at school. The kids and I looked through the stash and they both wanted to use some Noro I had. I found a great hat pattern in 101 Designer One skein Wonders.

I whipped these up in to days and they were so much fun to knit. The thought they were cool and hopefully it will keep a couple of kids heads warm this winter.

After finishing the hats I found this really cute Knitting at Knoon pattern for dinosaurs knit with Noro and thought my little guy would love it so.....

this little guy was made and finished last week.

Here's a better shot from the side. My little guy loved it and has been taking it to bed with him every night.

That's all for now I still have two more FO's to show so stay tuned!

Two at a time!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I wasn't feeling real great last week and wasn't up for blogging. I did catch up on blog reading yesterday but there was something going on with typepad so for all you typepad bloggers I did read your blogs and I left comments but I'm not sure if they went through or not.

OK so now that that's squared away let me tell you about the cool book that arrived on my doorstep over the weekend.

2 at-a-time socks is one of my new favorite knitting books. Not only are the directions for knitting two socks at once really clear and easy to follow but the sock patterns alone are worth the price of the book. Even if you don't want to knit two socks at once the patterns are easily adaptable to any sock knitting technique you currently use.  I've seen free directions for knitting two socks at once on-line but they were never really clear to me. You see sometimes I need to have everything spelled out for me in pictures and in words and this book does it well. Since I was already familiar with the Magic loop it only took about 5 minutes to cast on and figure out what I was doing and so far I love it. We'll have to wait and see if I'm still loving it when it's time to turn the heel.

The yarn I'm using is Vesper sock yarn in the "Strange little mama" colorway and a 32 in. size 1 Knitpick's circular which is a little cramped but I didn't have the 40 in. that the book suggests and I also didn't have the patience to wait until the ones I ordered from Knitpicks arrive.

I have lots to catch up on blog wise this week and a few FOs to show so I'm hoping to post a little bit everyday but we'll have to see how it goes. Hope you all have a great day!

Whirling Wednesday

This has actually been a very productive spinning week for me. I've been spinning about an hour or two a day for the last week. I've had some really great fibers to spin and once I got started I found it very hard to stop but the kids have to eat and the house unfortunately doesn't clean itself, but wouldn't it be great if it did!

I have a few finished yarns and a couple of new to me fibers to show.

On top we have the "Harvest Time" Merino tencel that I showed you last week. It's a light sport and is about 300 yards and 4.2 ounces. The one on the bottom is from a new to me dyer. It's merino wool and there was no colorway name and I haven't come up with one just yet. It spun a little more thick and thin then my regular handspun but I quite like it and think it will have a cool effect on the knitted fabric. There's 4 oz of dk weight. These will be up in the shop some time tomorrow.

This was the Spunky Club's selection from last month. It's superwash corriedale and it's called "Party Dress". I started it over the weekend and finished it up last night. I haven't set the twist yet so I'm not sure on yardage or weight. I loved the bright vivid colors in this one and made me so happy to spin it. It's also a very easy fiber to spin so it was very relaxing.

Next up on the wheel

is some more superwash corriedale from Spunky Eclectic.  The top one is called "Confused" and the bottom is "Flutterby".

That's all the spinning I've got this week. I hope you all have a great night!

Whirling Wednesday: First yarns of '08

I managed to finish off two yarns in the past few days.

This first one was spun from the Painted Sheep's superwash merino in her Tango colorway. I had a lot of fun spinning this up. I couldn't wait to see which colors would come up next and it made plying a lot less boring too. There's 4oz. and it's about a fingering weight. Should be enough for a pair of really funky socks.

Here is some oh so soft baby alpaca handspun. I finished plying it this morning after the kids went to school. The fiber is Alpaca with a twist which I bought at The Loopy Ewe. I have never spun a softer Alpaca, it was so buttery soft and I couldn't stop spinning it. The finished yarn is just as soft. I'll definitely be buying some more of this fiber! There is 6.9 oz there and about a sport weight. This would make a really fabulous scarf.

Next up on the wheel

is this beautiful merino/tencel that I bought from The Sheep Shed in the Harvest Time colorway. That's all I've got for today. Have good one all!

Last and First

Happy (belated) New Year to you all! I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. I have a good reason though the Friday after Christmas I started to come down with what I thought was a bad cold. On Saturday I was feeling bad but by Sunday I had felt worse than I had in a long time. I had a fever, chills, and body aches. My energy was completely zapped so much so I couldn't even knit. Then I started getting a really bad sore throat and by Wednesday it hurt so bad to swallow I called the doctor and went in that morning and he said I had Strep throat and most likely had a bought with the flu. After some good antibiotics I'm feeling so much better. I have tried to keep as much as I could with blog reading but I'm still a bit behind but plan to catch up this week.

I did manage to finish up one last wip for 2007

I started this scarf months ago and it was my oldest '07 knit so it was fitting that it was the last FO for the year. The pattern is the Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I used my handspun which was spun from CMF'S superwash roving in discontinued colorways that I can't seem to remember the name of. I used size 7 Knitpicks options needles. To be honest this wasn't the most enjoyable knit for me and I almost didn't finish it but I'm glad I did as I really like the finished scarf. I just don't think I'll be making another one any time soon.

Even though I still have several knits from the past year still on the needles, I decided it was OK to start a new project for the new year.

This is the Hemlock Ring Blanket. I had seen this on Ravelry a while back and knew I wanted to make it. Then about a month ago I saw the yarn while searching around Webs. I put it away with plans to start it after the New Year, so this past Friday I cast on. I am totally in love with both the project and the yarn which is Cascade's Ecological wool. It's knit on size 10 needles and is knitting up so quickly. It'll be the perfect blanket to throw over my lap while I knit.  As for the '07 wips, well let's just say I've made peace with them and I will finish them eventually.

Lastly Chris is looking for some knitterly help for a family whose in need. So if a little time to spare she wants to knit kidneys to send to the family. Yes you read that right knitted kidneys. You can read more about it here.

Have a great day all!