Strings & Yarn

I finished the Bayerische Socks yesterday and it looks like val of abehap is going to get to keep her $50. I had to rip back and put in contrasting toes.

The second sock also has some visible lines where I changed balls of yarn. Apparently they were just slightly different shades of green. Oh well, you knit and learn. I’m still very happy with how they feel and fit. The smaller stitches and gauge did wonders for this fabric, and I hope they last longer because of it.  I will definitely be using my size 0 needles again for socks.

I was a little worried for awhile that I wasn’t going to finish this months challenge. Since I successfully finished, I have now done one pair of socks for the past seven months. The whole process has been overall very rewarding, and I’m looking forward to having 12 months of socks finished in the end.

So it got me thinking about setting longer goals with my knitting. Maybe once this is finished I set a number of sweaters I want to finish in a year or a number of skeins spun per year. I usually only think from one project to the next.  The challenge has gotten me thinking about my projects in terms of a years length of time. I think that having a future goal has worked wonders for my knitting due to having a group goal.  Something about having some guidelines, knowing that I am knitting along with many other knitters and having a definite due date has kept me knitting.  Or maybe it’s just the possibility of prizes. 

Are any of you out there participating in the Sock Knitter Anonymous Sock Down challenge? Do you give yourself goals to meet? Would anyone else be interested in trying to set some goals as a group?

I also wanted to let you all know that I’ve been working on a big update of my etsy shop.  As always, thank you for your continued support!

I finished my December socks!

I got to use my own Strings and Yarn sock yarn for these. This particular skein expired on etsy so I kept it for myself. It was great to knit with, and now I can say I’ve really worked with some of my own yarn.

I also spent a lot of time on the internet yesterday and today. Anthony and I are starting a new web project together. More on that as it gets ready to be used. I also spent a lot of time breaking my blog and fixing it. Updating wordpress never seems to go smoothly for me. At least it’s up and running and I can post to it now.

I have also started a new pair of socks.

I have been wanting to do these for a while. I’m positive now that I have knit argyle in a past life. It just feels very natural. Click over to the flicker page for more pictures.

I’ve recently found my love for sewing again. First, you have to understand that I love fabric. I have a fabric stash that almost rivals my yarn stash. However, I don’t sew nearly as much as I knit. This is for a few reasons; a) sewing isn’t portable unless you are hand sewing, b) I don’t have an area set up where my machine can stay out, c) my machine is slowly dying.

The thing I’m not mentioning is there are also several projects that didn’t turn out so well. They all seem to center around Anthony too! first I tried to make a pair of pajama pants without any butt or crotch space (I couldn’t be cramping my man!) then I made another pair, but accidentally made a children’s medium instead of adult medium. Then I made a robe that ended up way to large.

I ended up fixing the pants, and the robe is waiting patiently for the day I feel confident enough to pick it up again. That day should be soon, because Bend-the-Rules Sewing has changed my sewing mentality. I checked out from the library around Halloween, promptly devoured every word on each page as much as possible and quickly schemed ways to make several of the projects.

In one weekend I made the coasters, a lined zip pouch and the pleated bag. I’ve been using the bag as my purse ever since and the zip pouch now holds all of my knitting accessories. This book quickly went on my holiday gift list. Plus if you want to see some super cute photos of other projects, check out the flickr group.
While I don’t have pictures of any of the projects I just listed, I do have something to show you.

This is the simple tote and is about to become my new lunch bag. (I know, the one in the book has apples too, but I loved the original so much!)

I’m so happy with how all of these projects has turned out, and it’s inspired me to actually start thinking about arranging my studio so my machine can be out and I can teach violin. However, the end process will involve painting and much furniture moving, so it probably won’t be for another few weeks.

The inside of the bag has a little pocket. Now all I need is a matching napkin to take along!

On a totally different note, I forgot to tell you that I did catch up on all the blogs! Bloglines has been officially decreased to zero posts! Now that reading blogs is much more manageable, I will be trying to comment more often on posts. Before, reading 13, 16, or 20 posts on one blog was so overwhelming that I could think of anything worthwhile to say. I feel really good about this, and have a small sense of being on top of the world. (Is that weird?)

Also, I just did a huge update of my shop. I did get some dyeing done over the break, so I’ve now updated with some of my stuff. As I’ve said before, dyeing during the school year is sporadic at best, but I am going to try to continue as regularly as possible.