bag 'n' trash -- home of monster yarn

Hi!

i have a work "to do" list, a home "to do" list and now a blog "to do" list.

1. award prizes to those who played along in my contest  almost 3 MONTHS AGO!
2. make my potholder pattern available (it's been tested.  now i just need to clean it up a bit).
3. post about the socks i finished a month ago.

let me at least get item 3 taken off of the list.  it's the least interesting of course, but it's all i can manage for now.  see, my day job has been kind of sucking the life out of me, so when i get home, i end doing crazy things like going to bed at 8:30.  or maybe it's just the incessant rain that we've been having that makes me want to cozy up in my bed with my cats and read a trashy novel (i'm on book 4 of the sookie stackhouse series.)

i've also been working on a secret project.  i would tell you about it except that then it wouldn't be a secret.  now would it.

so, enough with the blah blah.

i call these my troubadour socks because that's the name off the colorway.  i love these colors.  the yarn is sundara sock which i bought before sundara became super crazy famous and when she was still dyeing varigated yarns.  how i love varigated yarns like this. 

the pattern is my basic 2x2 rib pattern, top-down, heel-flapped.  i love the 2x2 rib.

i've raveled the details here.

have a good weekend everyone.  happy  and healthy july 4th.

And I'm Knitting Again

just checking in.  after what feels like months of crochet, i'm knitting again.  nothing too exciting.  just another pair of socks in my 2x2 rib pattern.  by the way, the yarn is sundara sock in troubadour.

yes, i know i owe prizes for a contest. 

also, some of you have asked about my potholder pattern.  i've written it up, but i'm not going to release it until after the potholder swap is over.  i'm also probably going to put it up for sale.  it's time to make a little coin from this hobby of mine. 

happy wednesday!

I Am Sometimes A Slacker

i try to live by society's rules.  you know.  i don't intentionally break the law (well except for the speeding ... BUT COME ON!  does anyone drive 65 mph on the mass pike? ).  i pay my bills on time.  I DON'T LIVE ABOVE MY MEANS -- (ie.  i didn't buy a house i couldn't afford or i didn't take out a home equity loan to GO ON VACATION), i try to do onto others as i would have done onto me and all of that happy horse shit.  and i try to live by my own standard of rules ... i don't call in sick because of a hangover (because if i indulged on a school night, i kind of deserve to suffer a little), i don't go through the drive through because honestly, if i can't get my ass out of the car then i've lost all self-respect (by the way, i'm not judging those of you who do go through the drive-through.  this is my rule for my life.).  i allow myself a big mac only on road trips over 4 hours.  and i try not to let people down. 

but sometimes i break my own rules because i am a slacker.

see, when minty asked for test-knitters for her gorgeous merion mitts, i raised my virtual hand and yelled "pick me! pick me!"

and she kindly did.  and i started knitting ... only to get distracted ... and not finish before she released her pattern for sale. 

until now.

these are beautiful and fun mittens to knit. once i got going, i couldn't stop.  my two favorite details are the twisted ribs and the seed stitch palm and inside of the thumb.  such a clever design.

i made the larger of the two sizes and used one skein of ella rae classic plus a tiny bit more (i could have probably gotten away with just one skein if i'd been a little bit more careful.)  i raveled the details of my pair here.

and since it's been freezing cold here in new england, i've actually gotten to wear them.

you know you want your own pair.

Here's Sock Number Seven

started with noro kureyon sock. 

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day 292 -- god it was cold today.  brrr.  but word is it should be 50 degrees on sunday! 

Three Pairs Done

another pair of 2x2 rib socks are done. 

this time, i used a really beautiful color of Trekking XXL.  this is my first pair of trekking socks and certainly not my last.  i like how springy (not as in the season) and solid they feel.  and the variegation made these fun to knit.  and yes, i know what you're thinking.  aren't i sick of this pattern?  and the answer to that would be a no.  in fact, i've got a fourth pair on the needles already.

the details are raveled.

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day 290 -- not to worry, i've got a pair of mittens to knit in the queue. 

Eye Candy Friday

never two without three, my mother likes to say.  and here's  my third pair of socks for 2009.

the yarn is trekking in a fun yet subtle (for me) purple/blue color. 

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day 280 -- have a good weekend!

A Knitting Day At Home

i finished another pair of socks today.  that's two pairs in 19 days.   and after i finish this post, i'm going to cast on for my third pair.  because right now, all i feel like knitting are socks.

this pair was knit using noro silk garden sock yarn in the S258 colorway.  this is supposed to be a fingering weight yarn, but it felt slightly thicker so instead of knitting with size 1US needles, i used size 2US. 

at first, i wasn't all that excited about the feel of this yarn.  it wasn't all stretchy like 100% wool is, but once i started knitting with it, the resulting fabric is thick and cushy.  i really like these socks.  and then there's the color.  such happy colors.

the pattern is just my basic 2x2 rib pattern, this time on 60 stitches.  i raveled the details here.

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day 276 -- more socks!

MOTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nothing strikes fear in the hearts of a knitter/wool lover than these four little letters -- M-O-T-H.  scary isn't it. (although not nearly as scary as after starting your car to warm it up, while walking back into the house, hearing what sounds like your car rolling down the driveway -- now that's scary ).

this is a 20 year old sweater that i knit back in the day, when i wasn't just knitting socks and scarves.  so this morning with the insane cold, i thought it would be an awesome sweater to wear.  i was considerably thinner when i wore it last, but i used to also wear it with leggings and loafers and it hid my ass.  now, not so much.  but it was still ok to wear with jeans.  except for this small problem.

moth hole! but not to worry.  this is an old hole and probably happened 2 apartments or so ago.  so this morning i made the repair -- well a repair.  it's not as pretty as i would have liked, but it did the job.  and there you go!  a new old sweater!

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day 273 -- and no, my car did not roll down the driveway. 

Another Sock

i seem to want to knit nothing but socks these days.  the pattern is essentially the same as the pair from the other day, while still accounting for gauge.  i've got 2x2 rib fever.

some knitters don't like to knit a pattern more than once, but i'm not one of those knitters.  i like to see how different yarns behave when you make them be the one variable in a project.  i like to think of it as scientific research.

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day 272 -- tomorrow's friday!

A Promise Kept

so yesterday i promised a picture of a pair of finished socks ...

here you go.  a pair of brand new hand knit socks AND  a cat tail.  can't say that i don't deliver.

these are simple 2x2 ribbed socks that i improvised.  the yarn is dkknits' technocolor dream toes which you can find on etsy here.  you won't be able to find the exact color though but i'm sure you'll find plenty of other colors that might lift your skirt up.  i've also raveled the details.

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day 269 -- goodnight all!