Thanks so much for all the kind comments on my little sock pattern. I’ve gotten a lot of nice comments and seen it show up in a few queues in Ravelry and I’m very pleased. If you knit it, please let me know! I would love to showcase your socks here.

So I’ve had a lot going on lately despite the fact that I’m supposed to be “resting” on these days I have off from work. I’m not sure I know the meaning of the word. There’s just too much dyeing and spinning and knitting to do while I have the time!

I don’t seem to be knitting as much as I’d like lately, but then again I also haven’t been on the train as much as I usually would be. My first SOS’09 Leyburn sock is coming along nicely though.

I’m nearly ready to do the ribbing and cast off this one. You’ll also notice that it has a new home. When a deal for SOS members was posted I just couldn’t resist getting myself a Stitched by Jessalu bag. Not my usual colors, but I guess I really needed something bright and happy and this one definitely fit the bill. It’s quite lovely and well made. Thanks Jess!

I’m having a hard time believing that in just a few days it will be July already! Time to get ready for the next installment of the Tour de Fleece!

I joined Team Crankypants because, well… I think I’ve had a reason or two to be cranky lately (don’t even get me started on how I’ve been jerked around at work)!! Zarzuela’s Fibers is also donating a prize.

Speaking of prizes and spinning, you’ve got a few days left to join the next Zarzuela’s Fibers spinalong for a chance to win 6 oz. of custom dyed roving! You might even want to pick up some new fiber for your spinning pleasure.

Any of these 6 oz. quantities of merino tencel would make a lovely Quant or Button-up Neck warmer. Check out the latest issue of Spin-Off to find my inspiration for the spinalong.

As for me, I’ll be spinning up these little beauties for both TdF and the spinalong:

I took 4 oz. of merino that I had dyed in my Cloudy Day colorway and carded it together with a metric buttload of angora (that crazy bunny keeps making it no matter how much I tell her to slow the heck down so I figure I better get to spinning some of it!). The warmth factor went up about 11 million percent! I’m hoping to have enough yarn for a matching set of a Quant and Button-up Neck Warmer, but we’ll have to see how the yarn comes out. Even if I only end up with one of the two I’ll be very cozy come winter!

One last thing before I close for now. If you want to hear me briefly chat about SOS’09 and a couple of other knitting/spinning related topics go check out the latest episode of The High Fiber Diet. I was very flattered when Bams asked me to come on the show to explain what SOS was all about. I think I even managed not to make a total idiot of myself. So go have a listen! It’s a fun podcast and there’s also a fascinating interview with a Michigan shepherd on this show as well.

A lot of people have been talking about how motivating they are finding SOS this year. They are getting old socks finished, exploring new patterns and having a lot of success so far. I’d definitely count myself among them since I’ve finally finished up an old project that I started last year myself!

Piscean Socks – An Original Design!

Pattern: My Piscean Socks – available for purchase on Ravelry now!
Knit: June 5, 2008 – June 22, 2009
Yarn: Tess Designer Yarns Super socks and baby – 2 skeins
Needles: Size 2 US

I’ve written this pattern with a toe up heel flap construction. While written for a size 11 US woman’s foot, the pattern is highly adjustable because of the nature of the fish motif. It’s easy to add or subtrack rows in the body of the fish or to narrow them as well. I’ve also written the pattern for the magic loop technique, but it could easily be knit on DPNs or two circular needles.

The suggested yarn from Tess Designer yarns is a joy to knit with and works great for colorwork. You’ll find it in a variety of fantastic colors or you can use any other fingering weight yarn that will give you the appropriate gauge.

I hope you’ll knit a pair for the favorite Pisces in your life! Then again, who couldn’t use a pair of fishy socks?!?

Tags: Piscean Socks, Socks, SOS'09

I went back to work today for the 1st time in 6 weeks. Oye! In some ways it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. My desk wasn’t buried in stuff and things seemed to be pretty calm. The real drag was that our computer system is in the process of being changed to a new one and basically I got to work no longer knowing how to do my job. Fun! So I spent the morning catching up on e-mail and trying to get up to speed so I could actually do some work. It wasn’t awful, but by the end of the day I was more than happy with my decision to go on a M/W/F schedule for the next two weeks. I’m sore and tired and happy to be home!

I’m still unable to carry a backpack (the shoulders are still too sore) so SOS couldn’t have come at a better time. What lighter and more portable project for train knitting than the ever trusty sock?! Here’s the one I decided on as my first official SOS project:

This is Leyburn in STR mediumweight, colorway Purple Rain. I’ve had this in the stash for quite a while at this point and when I went looking for my first SOS project it just about jumped off the shelf at me. The colorway is fabulous (of course) and I could use a little of the semi-instant gratification of a sport weight sock project.

Of course there is another pair of socks on the needles that I really need to finish. And I suppose if I’m going to do that I should get away from the computer. I’ll tell you more about them next time, but until then, just think FISHIES!!!

Tags: Socks, SOS'09

Happy Summer and Happy SOS’09!!!!

What will you be casting on!?

Tags: SOS'09

announcements!!

First, thanks to everyone who let me know the blog was working ok. I’m fairly comfortable with computer stuff most of the time but I find these upgrade nerve wracking as heck! I must say, the Mac and the Fios combination made it pretty easy this time! Love!! Anyway, on to the announcements!

Zarzuela’s Fibers is open again for business!! You’ll find a lot of the same stuff you love and some new things as well! I’ve added a bit of Finn top to the mix which is a lovely, soft and wonderful fiber to spin.

I’ve also add another new product as well! Luxury Sock Batts!!

These batts are a new product I’ve been working on for a while. I’ve used BFL as the base wool, then added some hand washed, picked, carded and dyed mohair locks (from a prize winning fleece I purchased at the last Rhinebeck) and a touch of tussah silk all blended together in a batt that will have excellent strength for your handspun sock yarns as well as a softness and luster that your feet will adore! These babies are a bit labor intensive, so there’s only one listing in the shop right now, but expect to see more in future updates.

One more bit of shop news, I’m hoping to start a new spinalong very soon. Come check out the thread in the Ravelry group for more information!

In Summer of Socks ‘09 news- We’re getting ready to kick off a new year on Sunday! You’ve got just a few hours left to enter the Button Contest. We’re also going to be having a special contest to celebrate the release of “Socks from the Toe Up” by Wendy Johnson (yep, that Wendy!) where you could win a copy of the book! Check out the details on that contest here. And finally, to get things started right I’ll be hosting a live webchat on Sunday morning. We’ll all get together and count down to 10am when we can all cast on for our first SOS’09 sock together. Check out the details here.

And on a personal note- I had a follow up with my surgeon yesterday and I’ve been cleared to start driving and go back to work. I’ll be doing a m/w/f schedule for the next two weeks to ease me back into the real world. I also started physical therapy today. I’m really looking forward to the day when this will all be a distant memory. Thank you again for all the continued good wishes! I am still overwhelmed by how supportive y’all have been in the last few months and I so appreciate it!

I’ve probably got another announcement or two, but how about we save something for another day? So what will *you* be casting on this weekend??

Tags: health, SOS'09, Zarzuela's Fibers

I just upgraded to Wordpress 2.8 (from 2.3.3!). This is just a test to make sure all is working. Please comment and let me know if everything looks ok! I’ve been chewing my nails all morning…

More to come!

Tags: testing!

I’m back in NJ again and ready to share the crafty stuff I’ve been doing lately with y’all.

First off, on the way down to camp we stopped in Roanoke, VA for the night. To my surprise, DPUTiger was working an event nearby and asked if we could do dinner or something!

We had a great dinner at a downtown BBQ joint that we had been to before and then took an adventure out to find ice cream. The place was rather charming, what with the Big Ass Umbrella and all.

See? I wasn’t kidding. It was huge. HWJF couldn’t resist a picture (even with the iPhone at night). The ice cream he had was of similar size. I do believe a fun time was had by all and I was glad we could spend some time with Amy considering it was her birthday and I truly believe that No One should have to work on their birthday!

At bassoon camp, I mostly spent my crafting time spinning. I’m starting to think about fall shows for Zarzuela’s Fibers (which I hope to open again sometime this week!) and making samples for display in the booth. With that in mind, I took some of my “Blue Jeans and Leather Shoes” colorway in superwash merino and spun it up into a two ply yarn.

I sent this yarn and one other home with our friend Gerry who is a wonderful knitter and will be knitting up a sample for me in this yarn.

The other spinning project I worked on was sort of a test run for a new colorway and a return to making a true three ply yarn.

It seemed to take forever but I’m very happy with the results. It turned out to be a good solid sock weight yarn, which was exactly what I was going for. I’m not sure how many more skeins of this there are in my future, but I’m pleased with how the colors worked out in this merino-tencel fiber. What do y’all think?

There was also a bit of knitting on the trip. I’ve been in a “finish old projects” mood so I took this pair of socks with me that had been on the needles since last August!

Narraganset Bay Socks

Pattern: Narraganset Bay Socks from “A Fine Fleece” by Lisa Lloyd
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun sport (2 balls)
Needles: Size 1 knitpicks
Knit: 8.27.08-6.7.09

I really love the end product with these socks but knitting them felt like it took forever and a day. I thought the pattern would be interesting to knit, but either I just wasn’t in the right mood or knitting and purling just wasn’t enough to keep my attention.

The yarn was a bit splity and the needles quite sharp so that may have had something to do with it. Still, I’m glad I made them. I think they are quite pretty and will be a good addition to the winter wardrobe.

Lest you think that I’ve turned into a slow sock knitter, I spent the last week while I was home with my parents making up for my failure to get my Mom a pair of socks for Mother’s Day (nevermind that my surgery was the next day and I was a bit preoccupied ).

They’re just a plain old pair of stockinette toe up socks using my usual construction. I knit them in two different colorways of Blue Moon’s Sock Candy, alternating the yarns every couple of rows to blend the colors. Mom has wide feet in a size 10, so I was worried that I would have enough yardage to get a complete pair out of them.

I really had no reason to worry because I ended up with plenty left over. I knit these in about 7 days. Much more reasonable time frame there. I finished them just before we left for me to come back to NJ yesterday. Perfect timing.

Getting back to the actual trip away, no vacation would be complete without at least a little stash acquisition. Believe it or not, it took until just about our last day on the road for me to buy yarn. I looked in some of the usual places, but I think I’ve honestly gotten to the point where if the colors don’t call out to me or there isn’t something really special about it, I’m just not too anxious to buy yarn. I have plenty of stash to work through at the moment and with job concerns and hospital bills still possibly on the horizon, it just doesn’t seem that important. But we stopped at two yarn stores on our way back through Roanoke and I came home with these three yarns:

From the top they are:

Blue Ridge Yarns Kaleidoscope
Wendy Happy
and
Cherry Tree Hill Supersock

Not sure if I’ll knit them up or something else during SOS’09 just yet, but they’ll wait for me no matter when I use them.

So I think that just about covers it!

I’ve got grand plans for this (hopefully) last week that I’m off work. We’ll see how much I actually get done. I just want to thank you all again for all the well wishes I’ve received on my recovery. Things are going well and I see my surgeon on Thursday to find out if I can drive again and go back to work next Monday. I’ll keep you posted!

Finally, make sure you go check out the SOS’09 group later today. We’re gearing up for the start this weekend and I hope to have a good announcement or two to share. See you there!

Tags: knitting, Spinning, Travel

You know you haven’t blogged in a while when you have to go back and look at your last post in order to remember what the heck you said last! ::facepalm:: Anyway, I’m back! And as you have probably already figured out, there was no time for blogging before we left for bassoon camp this time around. I had hoped to write a post while we were away, but the internet connection this year was so bad that I just didn’t think it was worth it.

So here I am back at home. And when I say home, I mean home, as in not at work. My recovery is really going quite well. My incision has healed nicely and as a measure of my progress, on the way to camp I couldn’t turn my head to look out the window. On the way back I could! I can also almost see my feet again (you don’t realize how much you miss these things until they are taken from you) and I’m getting around on my own pretty well and able to do a lot more things for my self (like wash my own hair). But I’ve still got a ways to go and my surgeon won’t see me until the 18th, so I’m going to be out of work for another two weeks. While most people I tell this think it’s happy news I’m a little torn. I’m not real anxious to get back to work, but I want to be *able* to get back to work if that makes any sense. I still find myself relying on others to do a lot (like lift anything that weighs more than a few pounds) and it’s pretty frustrating at times. HWJF had to go back to work today so I’m finding myself on my own for real for the first time in four weeks and it’s been good for me, but I have to remind myself not to push it too much. So, I’m recovering well but I’ve still got a ways to go.

Bassoon camp this year was fantastic as always. One of the highlights was that HWJF’s college teacher was a guest artist this year.

I felt a little bit weird being a “guest” this time around, but going as a full camper didn’t make any sense since I couldn’t lift a bassoon if I wanted to. Being unable to drive was a drag at times, but HWJF kept me entertained. We spent our day off wandering around Asheville and had a great time until The Tired suddenly caught up with me and I couldn’t walk another step. I slept all the way back to camp! We spent one afternoon “washing rocks” at one of the local gem mines. HWJF did all the heavy lifting:

I did the collecting.

No pics of what we got because it was just too sad.

We always enjoy the view while we’re there:

We also got to make a visit to my favorite soap maker to stock up for the year. Several other campers also made a visit which made me happy. I love this guy’s stuff. His lip balms are especially wonderful and I even picked up some of his organic shea butter before we left.

Another exciting stop was a visit to Sarah. We always enjoy visiting with her and picking up new pieces for our collection of stuff from her, like my new favorite mug

But this time we had even more excitement in that we set up a wedding registry with her! In some ways it was crazy early to be doing so since the wedding isn’t even until fall of NEXT year, but by the time we get down there next year it would have been too late. And there’s nothing quite like setting everything up in person. Here’s the glaze we’ll be going with:

Incidentally, this is a picture of the yarn bowl that Sarah has donated for SOS’09. Beautiful, no?

And speaking of the handmade, would you believe I’ve added another craft to my repertoire?!

Actually we both did. What you see before you is a hand woven wine basket, with instruction provided by our dear friend Cathy who made me this incredible basket after camp last year. You see, we didn’t get the basket she donated as part of the scholarship fund auction this year so we decided to do the next best thing and make one ourselves! It was a lot of fun to make. HWJF really did the majority of the work since I wasn’t able to move my arms enough for some of it. I think it turned out really well. Check out the divider inside!

This was a kit we bought while at Earth Guild in Asheville. We had so much fun doing this that we’re hoping to find a basket guild nearby so we can try again.

As always, bassoon camp wouldn’t be bassoon camp without some late night hijinks.

How ’bout we just leave it at that?

So there you have it. There was some spinning and knitting accomplished on the trip, but I think I’ll save that for the next post. Which may take a while. Since HWJF has to be back at work full time this week and I’m still home we’ve decided it might be a good idea for me to spend the rest of this week with my parents so mom can spoil the crap out of me help me if I need it. Since they still have dial-up, don’t expect to hear much from me until I get back.

Have a great week!

Tags: recovery, surgery, vacation

I was reminded today by an e-mail from my friend Linda that it might be more than time to update the blog myself! Thanks to Sairy for doing the guest blog and keeping you all informed. As she said, I came through the surgery well. Everything went as planned although it apparently took a bit longer than expected. The details of the first day are still hazy to me, but from what I’ve gathered from my Mom and HWJF I was in recovery after lunchtime and didn’t get to my room until around 5pm. I shocked everyone that first night by devouring my dinner tray as HWJF and Mom took turns feeding me. This was most shocking considering that during the surgery, despite having a bite plate in I somehow managed to damn near bite the right side of my tongue off. When I woke up I thought I was having an allergic reaction, but no, I just had to be an over achiever in the “stupid surgery tricks” department!

When I went in I was expecting to be released on Wednesday but that somehow turned into Thursday before I even had my surgery. After two days flat on my back and not allowed to move they tried to get me up on Wednesday morning and my blood pressure dropped 50 points. I made it to the door of my room before I nearly blacked out and had to be drug back to my bed on a chair. To make a long story short, I wasn’t released until Friday afternoon. The ride home was tough. They screwed around so long with my release that my pain meds were wearing off as we were driving home so I was in a bit of pain. I didn’t get my meds until a while later because it took our pharmacy a while to prepare them. I’ve never been so happy as I was that night to get a shower, even if I couldn’t do much by myself and Mom had to dry my hair while I was lying in bed.

Since then my improvement has been small but steady. I’m getting less stiff by the day and I’m able to take a couple of short walks each day. I’m eating on my own now although I can’t really fix myself more than some simple things. I’m very lucky that my Mom is staying with me for the week while HWJF goes back to work. I had one day where the side effects of the pain meds were enough that I was very grateful to not be on my own for too long. My stitches come out on Friday and I hope that I’ll gain a lot more flexibility when they are gone. I’ve been able to cut back on the pain medication quite a bit over the last couple of days. The improvements are small but increase daily and I’m really feeling pretty darn good. It’s hard to believe that it was only a week ago that I was still laying in a hospital bed.

Thanks so much again to those of you that have sent cards and e-mails and good wishes. Everything has helped so much!! The balloon in the picture above was given to me by Ina who came to see me while I was still flat in bed. Thanks for the visit Ina! And check out what Nancy sent me:

Isn’t that the cutest thing?! What a great gift for a knitter! Thank you!!

While I didn’t quite get it done before I went into the hospital, I did manage to finish my recovery cowl when I got home:

We had a couple of chilly days around here so it was nice to have when I went out for a walk.

I’ve managed to do some spinning and knitting while I’ve been recovering too, but I think I’ll save that for another day. Thanks again for all the good wishes and I’ll try to post again before we leave for bassoon camp this weekend.

Tags: friends, recovery, surgery

Hi Everyone! Sairy here with an update on Jessica’s surgery.

I got an email from HWJF around 3:30 pm saying everything had gone well and she should be home in a few days. Let’s all keep those good thoughts, prayers, and vibes heading her way for a super speedy recovery!

Tags: guestblog!, surgery