Tuesday, July 31, 2007

It came!

The wonderful gals at Ravelry proved my prediction wrong, I just got my invite today. I have hardly entered in most of my stash and now I need to take some pictures. It's so much fun to play with, but a really big time sucker. If you are on Ravelry feel free to add me, I'm nosheep4chelle.

I also got my confirmation for Secret Pal 11 in my inbox, it's been a great knitting e-mail day for me! This will be my second SP and I hope it is a great as my first went! I really enjoy Secret Pal because I can spoil someone with the yarns I can't knit with, but love then live vicariously through them and their blogs.

What's on my needles you ask? I'm still slowly working on my Ravenclaw 3rd-4th year scarf, it maybe swiped from me by mini-me or so I've been warned. I'm using RH Soft Touch, maybe that's why it's taking so long to make a ribbed scarf. See I'm not too fond of acrylic and I find Soft Touch to be somewhat tolerable. I find the sound of it puts up my hackles, it's like nails on the chalkboard only I don't have issues with that sound. Just thinking of it makes me shutter. *squirm* I'm finally making socks for myself, I casted on and am almost finished the ribbing for my own pair of monkey socks. I'm using Panda Cotton in the blueberries - grapes colourway and it's sooo pretty. Pictures to follow in a later post. Happy Knitting everyone!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

The waiting game

So unless you have been hiding from the online knitting community and not reading any blogs out there in knitting land you will not have heard of the fantastic site called Ravelry. I had seen things about it for months, but didn't decide to sign up for the waiting list till June and there are thousands of knitters awaiting to get their invite as well. Now they have a wonderful new feature for those awaiting their invites. So here's what it told me

You signed up on June 6, 2007
You are #7311 on the list
1399 people are ahead of you in line
11027 people(and counting because I checked it later and it when up) are behind you in line
31% of the list have been invited so far

Yay there are only 1399 people ahead of me, boo only 100 invites go out per day or more. Seems like by the time I get my invite Ravelry will be live and no longer in beta. I hope beta testers don't get some thing special or whatever because I'll hit myself for not signing up sooner than I did.

No more monkeys jumping on the bed

So I finished my sock-a-palooza pal's socks!!! Yah for me. The Crystal Palace bamboo dpn that I lost had turned up on the welcome mat of our back door the day before I started the second sock. So I worked on the second sock on 4 dpns.

Yarn: Crystal Palace Panda Cotton
55% Bamboo, 24% cotton and 21% elastic nylon
157m/50g (176 yrds/50g), 2.25mm-3mm(us1-2.5)

Needles: 2.25mm (us size 1) Crystal Palace bamboo dpns and Pony Pearls plastic with metal core dpns in 2.25mm (us size 1) replaced the lost needle till found.

Started and Finish Date: Including frogging many times
June 19th - July 18th

Thoughts on yarn: I really like the Panda Cotton. It's soft with a great stretch. The only issue I have with it is the yarn is very splity, but when it's not spliting it's fantastic and slides on the needles well. I love the colourways and own many of the cute little skiens already. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars

Thoughts on the pattern: I love Cookie A's Monkey socks. The pattern was easy to follow and yes addictive hence it's name. The lace chart was fantastic and I found that after a whle I had memorized it. I'll definitely be making another pair of Monkeys sometime soon.

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Oh and my upstream pal I haven't heard from you for a while. I know you are probably busy knitting, but drop me a line via e-mail or comment. I don't think I've heard from you since I moved my blog to here. Also all my comments on my old blog were deleted when I switched to Halo, damn thing so I can't find any previous correspondence. I'd love to touch base with you you can e-mail me at the e-mail provided on my sockapalooza info or at anonymous (dOt) zen AT gmail (DoT) com.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007


Hogwarts Sock Swap Questionnaire

1. What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into? Ravenclaw

2. Shoe size? 6 ½ to 7 ½ depending on the shoe

3. Foot Length? 9 inches

4. Foot Circumference? 8 ½ inches

1. List your three favorite double-point needle brands, including size and length.

a. Brittany (birch)

b. Crystal Palace and Clover TIE (bamboo)

c. Addi (bamboo)

Lengths 5-6 inches and size 2.25(US 1) and 2.75(US 2) mm

2. Would you like to try a new brand needle? If so, which brand? Size? Length? I’d love to try the magic loop method with circs that would work well with cotton/lycra and bamboo cotton sock yarns. I tried to use Crystal Palace’s and Knitpicks for the two circ method but the joins weren’t that smooth enough to deal with the bamboo cotton and cotton/lycra blends. I’m not sure what would work but I’m willing to give other circs a try. I’d love to try rosewood dpns. I use mostly bamboo due to the fiber I knit with; however I do own many sets of Pony Pearls (plastic with metal core) which I love for non-lace sock knitting.

3. If you are a RAVENCLAW, do you prefer the colors in the film or the book? Do you have a strong preference? I don’t really have a strong preference between the book colours and the movie colours. I used to be upset about the colour change, but I’ve changed my mind over time and realized that I really like the silver better than bronze.

4. Allergies? Do you have any? Will your knitting be exposed to smoke or animals? Allergies, yes! Sadly I’m allergic to ALL animal fibers, so please do not try to “change” my mind via Yarn Harlot’s “faux cotton – read super soft merino or other super soft animal fiber yarn” socks plan because even the littlest bit of wool causes issues and I like to breath and not want to tear my skin off thank you very much! I’m allergic to cats (fur and hair) and dogs (saliva only, so it’s okay as long as your cute dog doesn’t lick your yarn like mine tries to!). I prefer to receive a swap partner who is a non-smoker. As for all my other allergies you can find them on my other swap questionnaires on this blog and my old one. My knitting will be exposed to cute little black lab hairs, yep I’m allergic to dogs and I am a proud mommy of a guide dog. I only have issues when she licks me which we have trained her not to do.

5. Are you an international participant (outside US)? Are you willing to have an international Hogwarts Sock Pal? I’m an international participant. Won’t mind having an English-speaking International pal.


There is still a little bit of room for some more, sign ups for this swap opened on July 14th for first years and will be closing soon. So hurry and click here to join the fun before the Hogswarts' train leaves the platform!!

Monday, July 16, 2007

Turned the heel

So I have turned the heel and I'm almost finished decreasing the gusset stitches on my sock-a-palooza pal's sock. Wow August 2nd it approaching fast. I have a little over a week to complete the second sock, eep. I know I can do it because I just need to fly through the foot then onto the toe then viola a completed pair of socks.

Tomorrow we are going to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix! Now what's see what they are going to change out of my overall favourite HP book. I'm so excited my 7th and last HP book comes on Saturday!!!! SSSSQQQQUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So to celebrate the last book coming out I had signed up for Hogwarts Sock Swap TWO first year sign-ups started on July 14th, so what are waiting for go and apply! This should get me through the Harry Potter withdrawal once I'm finished the book and till the next movie comes out. Now even though I love the books much, much better than the movies, the movies are still pretty eye candy that bring the magical world to life outside my imagination without completely messing it up. Now my favourite movie so far is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, closely followed by HP and P of A. Hey everyone out there what is your favourite book of the series so far and movie? Come on comment because my extendable ears are broken :-D

Another swap I want to draw your attention to the Knit One, Tea Too swap. It brings my two favourite things together tea and knitting! I've become a loose leaf tea snob, but I still love a good cup of Tazo or Twinings Earl Grey. I tend to drink more green, herbal, but I love chai and earl grey. There's nothing like a great cup of tea with the fragrant smell of bergamot with a bit of honey and soy milk. I'm also addicted to jasmine tea, my favourite is Steeps Mu Dan Rose Jasmine balls (pricey, but soo worth it!). I can't get sick of Steeps Pear Green Tea, Tazo Refresh or the perfect pick-me-up peppermint tea. In the summer, I like to make iced tea (unsweetened so everyone can sweeten to taste if they sweeten it at all) and I love a nice steaming pot in the winter. If you like tea and knitting then this swap is for you, sign ups start on August 3rd -- details can be found on the swap blog here.

In other FO and non-HP news, I finished a cotton washcloth for Maylee. No pattern just easy seed stitch with a garter stitch border. I think she really likes the texture, well I do and she loves to rub her mussle against it when I'm washing her face so it's a hit. I'm going to make more for our house as well. Good hot summer knitting.

Friday, July 6, 2007

First Sock complete!!

I got a new toy from May, so I thought I'd post a picture of her and her teaser jolly ball. She loves it so much and it keeps her busy even when we are busy and can't play with her. This ball is great and there will be many more hours of fun to be had with it.
Oh look what I found on my clematis! It's my sockapalooza's first sock all finished. There are a tiny bit of errors, but hey I'm legally blind so I hope my sock pal isn't too much of a perfectionist that she can't put on a sock with tiny little errors that only a knitter would notice. Playing with sock weight yarn and tiny needles is always a bit of a challenge for me, but it's so much fun I'm not going to stop
Here's a close-up of the lace pattern. Can you spot the errors? This is the first Cookie A pattern that I have knit and her free pattern on Knitty, called Monkey Socks. They are so addicted monkey see, monkey do! Now back to the second sock because I don't want to catch second sock syndrome while knitting my sockapalooza socks.

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Tuesday, July 3, 2007

A Day at the Beach Knitting

This is my view from the bench I was knitting at when we went to the beach a few days ago, pretty isn't it?




Here's the view to my left. Mountains, ocean and trees. Oh it is wonderful to live in the beautiful westcoast.



Here's my sockapalooza pal's sock on my foot later that day. My pal's foot is larger than my so I had a ways to go when I took this picture. I am using Panda Cotton (55% Bamboo, 24% Cotton and 21% elastic nylon) in strawberries - limes(0432) colourway. Not my colours but they are starting to grow on me, the colour is a little off, the yellowish tone should be a light limey green. I lost another dpn so I'm using my 2.25mm pony pearls with the bamboo crystal palace needles. (yes correction I thought I was using my addi bamboos but it's the crystal palace ones, which I love!)




Here's the sock hidingin my knitting pouch.

Squeeee!!!!



I can't wait till the movie comes out, but even better till my book comes in the mail!!! I really should get my butt into gear and get some Ravenclaw school colours to make a hip house scarf or even Gryffindor. When taking the sorting hat tests I mostly get Ravenclaw, but at times get sorted into Gryffindor.

As for my sockapalooza pal's socks, I am at the heel flap on the first sock yay me! Now it's a raise to finish them both very soon. Also I finished my great grandmother's lace diamond scarf I didn't get any model pictures; however I post a pic of it being blocked later on.