My New Noisy Neighbors

Normally my neighborhood is pretty quiet, and I like it so. But today when I got home I heard some strange sounds not far off. Of course I looked around to see what was causing the aforementioned sounds. Lo and behold, it was rented sheep and goats grazing on the wetlands preserve next door!

Ravelympics 2010

Behold my finished Clapotis #2!

Started in April 2008, my second Clapotis had been marinating in my UFO basket for several months when I decided to compete in the 2010 Ravelympics. My event...WIPs Dancing. To qualify for this event, my project must have been previously started and not worked on since at least January 12, 2010. My clap qualified without any problems. I registered, entered my project in the proper event thread, updated my project page and started training. In my case, training meant I needed to locate my pattern, locate the other skeins, wind the unwound skein, and figure out where in the knitting I had left off. I finished my training by 4pm pacific standard time 2/12/2010. The opening ceremonies for Ravelympics started at 6pm pacific standard time. I was doing well! I uploaded the picture of my project as it was before the competition. I had some time to wonder if I would finish my project by the closing ceremonies. I hoped that I had not bitten off more than I could chew. I showed up for the Parade of Nations. Because of my doubts, I started knitting right at 6pm. Within an hour or so, I had finished the working skein and was ready to attach the second skein. The next day, I had finished the second working skein and was ready to attach the final skein. I couldn't believe how fast I was going through this project after it had been sitting around for about a year! I finished knitting my Clapotis before I went to bed on Valentine's Day. As soon as I was up on Monday, I wove in my ends and dropped my Clapotis in Soak. I set up my blocking boards and set about blocking my shawl and taking pictures to post in the finish line. I FINISHED MY CLAPOTIS! and here is my reward:

Managing WIP's the Geek Way

I haven't been doing a lot of knitting lately. Mostly because I'm not always excited about knitting my WIP's and I don't want to end up as in times past with 22 WIP's at once. Mycki-2009 was all about finishing what I start. I'm down to eight projects on the needles now. That number feels a lot more manageable. Yet I'm not always in the mood to knit the same type of thing and if all eight of the projects are lace shawls, I have no variety! What to do?

Mycki-2010 is all about organization. I'm making great strides in organizing my home and everything in it. I decided that I should organize my WIP's. My knitting group may laugh and tease me mercilessly, but here is what I came up with:

I can have up to ten projects on the needles at any time. However, each project must fall into one of ten categories I have pre-determined. While one project may fit multiple categories, only one project is allowed per category. For instance, a sock may fall into the "sock" category or the "gift" category, but I can't have two projects in the "sock" category even if I leave the "gift" category empty. That defeats the purpose of having categories. I have figured out that I like to knit for others. But if all I'm knitting are gifts, I don't feel charitible, I feel cheated. The same goes for lace. I like it, but if that is all I'm doing, I don't have any social knitting or quick projects. I want to have a variety of projects going at all times so I always have something I want to knit. With that in mind, I tried to come up with general categories that would essentially give me variety in complexity, yarn weight, and finished projects.

Here are the categories I came up with:

-Garment (can be a sweater, vest, skirt, shawl, etc.)
-Accessory (can be a scarf, purse, wrist warmers, hat, sock, cup sleeve, teapot cosy, etc.)
-Shawl (can be triangle, circle, rectangle, capelet, poncho, etc.)
-Sock (can be any length, any construction)
-Lace (can be a garment, sock, shawl, tablecloth, etc.)
-Garter/Stockinette (no fuss projects: blanket, potholder, simple sweater, vanilla sock, etc.)
-Worsted/Chunky (can be anything using thicker yarn, a blanket, a sweater, a scarf, etc.)
-KAL (can be anything that is part of an organized Knit A-Long: sock, sweater, bag, etc.)
-Gift (can be anything as long as it is for someone else)
-Stash Buster (can be anything that uses left over yarn or single skeins from my stash only)

As I mentioned earlier, I only have eight projects on the needles now. I've put each one into a category listed above.

-Garment: Habu Giselle Sweater
-Accessory: Clapotis
-Shawl: Charlotte's Web
-Sock:
-Lace: Rona Lace Shawl
-Garter/Stockinette: Moderne Baby Blanket
-Worsted/Chunky:
-KAL: McGuiness Branch Socks
-Gift: Kaylie's Socks
-Stash Buster: Pinwheel Blanket

I now have variety to knit and I have leeway to start two new projects if I want! So what if I want to start a lace-weight neck warmer for my mom? Right now my open categories are "sock" and "worsted/chunky". I could wait until I've finished the project in the accessory category or (depending on how badly I want to start it now) use creative thinking. It could fit into the following categories: lace, gift, accessory, possibly stash buster. Can any of the projects I have in those categories be moved to one of my open categories? Kaylie's sock can be moved to the open "sock" category and I can fit the neckwarmer into the "gift" category. Yet strangely enough, I don't feel compelled to start any new projects right now in spite of the 'empty' categories. I'm perfectly happy to knit one of my current WIP's.

Just how many…

bamboo spoons does one person need?

I apparently need more than most. As I unpacked my kitchen boxes when I moved earlier this year, I discovered several items of which I had multiples. My name is Mycki and I'm a kitchen gadget buyer.

Other things I found: three whisks (two exactly the same), four pie servers (two styles), three paring knives, three can openers, three bar boards, two scallop-edge slicers, three potato mashers, three slotted spoons, five nylon serving spoons, several spatulas (at least two exactly the same), and four bamboo tongs.

My kitchen is not very big and I can't help but think I would have more room if I get rid of my duplicate implements, but I have a feeling that I might need them someday!

Jumpin' Jellyfish!

I'm on vacation again. This time, I'm in Southern California. I came to visit my sis and to go to the Happiest Placed on Earth! The day we planned on going it rained (but it never rains in Southern California, right?) so we decided to go the the Aquarium of the Pacific. Can I tell you how much I'm mesmerized by jellyfish? This aquarium has several different varieties (?) of jellyfish. Also, not all of them are dangerous to people. The second picture above are moon jellies. Their sting is not enough to harm. Another thing I fell in love with during this trip are stingrays. I'll post a picture of them later. Right now I'm off to have Thai food with my other sister. Laters...

Harry Potter UK Cover Yarn Club

September: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

October: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

November: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkeban

These are the first three colorways of the first Sock Yarn club I've joined. I've been hesitating to join any clubs because you never know what you'll end up with. This club seemed like a safe bet because I know which colors would be used and I've seen other colorways by this dyer. There are a total of seven skeins I'll be receiving in this club. Each one is based on the cover of one of the Harry Potter books released in the UK. The cover art for those editions is vastly different than the US Scholastic versions. If you look closely at the ball band you can see a picture of the actual UK cover that colorway was based on. I am so pleased with my skeins so far. I think Dharmafey (Ravelry name) from Cosmic Fibers does an excellent job matching the dye colors to the cover art. She also includes a little extra something with each shipment. With my first skein I received an HP trading card, with the second I received temporary tatoos of all the covers, and with the third I received a matching stitch marker. I can't wait to see what I get next!

Time to Dye

This post goes out to Knitvicious! Cause she's tired of the lake...

Way back in September, I got together with a couple of fellow Chicks to try our hand at dyeing our own yarn. Okay, it was not my first or even fourth time dyeing yarn, however, it was my first time using the dip method and my first time dyeing a sock blank.

The top photo is the result of dipping the ends of a pre-wound skein into two canning jars, one with pink dye and the other with chestnut dye, then microwaving the whole shebang. Hot Stuff! (By the way, Felted I still have your jars) The resulting skein has a deep chocolate color fading to tan and then a vanilla middle and light pink darkening to a perfect strawberry ice cream color. Neopolitan!

The bottom photo is the sock blank. This was a little harder to dye than I supposed, but only because my dye bottles were leaking. You can see little spots of blue on the pink and purple sections. I had a pattern picked out for this yarn before I dyed it so you would think that now, being two months later, I would have finished this project and could post an "after" picture. You would be wrong.

I spent the rest of September finishing old projects and working on WIP's. I didn't want to start any new projects until I'd done something about my total WIP count. I can't seem to bring it under 13. (I haven't decided if that's good or bad luck) So, while I have finished some projects (Mystery Stole 3, Carmen sweater, Marie Antoinette sock #1, Baby Ripple Blanket) I did not start my socks in September.

For October, my focus was all Halloween... (check back for my next post)

A Little Vacation

Ever since I can remember, my favorite part of summer has been going to the beach. It was always the Pacific Ocean when I was growing up, but now that we live in Northern California, we are trying something different. (Besides, I did go to Dohene in So Cal a couple of months ago so I don't feel like I totally missed out this year!) We went to Lake Tahoe last week. It was a great getaway and the lake is gorgeous. We stayed in Tahoe City at a pet friendly place (because we took the dog). The room had a nice woodsy decor featuring black bears. There was a lovely grassy area leading to the beach across the road from where we stayed. I spent a lot of time there reading Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. I got a sunburn my last day because I was so into the book I forgot to turn! Overall my time there was relaxing and I plan on doing it again, but the lake, no matter how beautiful, doesn't compare to my beloved Pacific!

Going Home

Who says you can't go home again? I recently went to visit my sister in Laguna Niguel and since Bakersfield is on the way, I stopped for a short (one hour) visit with my cousin. My mom was with me and she suggested we drive by our old high school. Yep, I went to the same high school (and junior high!) as my mom, exactly twenty years later. Above you can see one of my favorite spots, the East High Auditorium. I was in Drama (so was my mom, does the apple fall far from the tree?) so I have many fond memories of plays and musicals held there. I can still see the lines of people waiting for the doors to open. I can even remember snippets of conversations as we hurried by to get into our costumes and make-up. Oh, the memories!

In Da Hoodie

It's finished! I am completely done with my Neck Down Hoodie. The pattern is from Knitting Pure & Simple. I used fabulous Brook Farms Yarn wool and silk blend Four Play yarn and size 7 and 9 needles. It feels great on and I can't wait to wear it. You might be thinking I'll have a long wait for cool weather since I live in California, but not so! I work in a very cold office and so I'll be wearing it later this week...ahh! I started this project in March, soon after coming back home from Stitches West where I bought the yarn. I wove in the ends and attached the button on Friday. It was a pretty fast knit considering I didn't work on it for much of March and April. I recommend it to anyone that doesn't mind lots of knit stitch.

Waiting for Habu

Last month I went to Petaluma's yarn shop Knitterly with some of my fellow Chicks (Hi Cathy and Janice! ) and their friend (Hi Shar!) We had a great time learning to read Japanese knitting patterns and trying on all the great samples. I spent my life savings (well, not really but it felt like it) on some sweater kits. Now I'm impatiently waiting for my swell yarn to arrive. I've been checking the porch patio everyday to no avail. I believe my package is 3 business days overdue. I would absolutely love to order more kits, one for a bag in particular, but I need faster gratification. Okay, I've got go research Habu retailers...Bye!

Fawkes in Socks

This is the yarn I dyed to make Gigi Silva's (Monkey Toes) Fawkes pattern. The pattern was inspired by Dumbledore's phoenix from the Harry Potter series. I looked and looked and searched high and low for a colorway reminiscent of the mythical bird that rises from the flames.
Finally I decided to dye my own to get the exact colors I wanted in the exact order I wanted and the exact stripe size I wanted.

Considering that hand dyeing at home (by a someone new to the process no less) is not an exact science, I am well pleased with the result.

I am finished with the first sock and well on my way on the second. I'm trying to finish them before the end of May to enter them in Socktopia's May theme "Hot Feet". Wish me luck, please!

April is for Anklets

This year I committed to finishing one pair of socks a month for the Sock-a-Month group on Ravelry. For April, that pair had to be anklets. I chose a pattern that I received in a swap last year. The yarn I got from a sock kit swap a couple of years ago. The yarn is Marion's Sock Yarn from Germany. I like this pattern and think the yarn was a good fit for it. The toe is not my favorite, but I wanted to, for once, work a pattern exactly as written!

Single Sock Syndrome

I never thought it would happen to me. Okay, it has happened to me before, but I never thought it would happen again. I like to knit and I like to finish projects. I also love symmetry. So how could I fall victim to SSS (Second Sock Syndrome)? I blame it on my iPod and Ravelry. There are so many great patterns out there in the knitting world, especially for socks. I hear about this pattern and see that pattern and find these oh-so-convenient links. Last month I had five socks on needles at once. I finished one complete pair (see post below) and one sock each of the other 4 patterns I was working on. Leaving me 4 mates to knit up. Now we're in April and I have committed to knitting at least 2 new sock patterns this month. See how my dilemma grows? I will faithfully cast on one pair tonight (the Nutkins) and another pair tomorrow (April Mystery Sock) and when will I work on my second socks from March? Now that my training time at work is over, I have four less knitting hours each day. I predict knitting insomnia for the next few weeks.

This Just Woven-In

I just finished my Jaywalker's. I joined a group on Ravelry to knit one pair of socks a month. Each month has a theme and Jaywalker's was February. I duly cast on in February but so late in the month, I couldn't have finished them. I was working on the No-Purl Monkey Socks with my local CWS group. Now that both pairs are finished I can cast on my March socks. Yes, I know it's beyond the ides of March, but it is earlier than when I started in February!

About these socks:
Yarn: Knit Picks Bare Fingering 100% Merino hand-dyed by me
Needles: Knit Picks DPN's size 1 (2.25mm)
Pattern: Jaywalkers by Grumperina on Magknits
My rating: Love them! The fit is great and the color is very eye-catching (I'm calling them my Gigi Jaywalkers because they remind me of Gigi's grandmother's house in the 1958 musical)

Monkey, see? Monkey deux!

First off, nobody die of shock, yes, I posted something new...

My first Monkey is done and the second is not far off. My knit group decided to have a Monkey knit-a-long this month. I chose to knit the no-purl Monkey's in Fixation. I love that they look so smooth compared to the regular Monkey's I knit last November. Of course, I went down 2 needle sizes for these so that could be the reason they fit so well. I can't wait to see everyone else's finished socks.

I also can't wait to see again what everyone got at Stitches last weekend. I must say the Stitch-n-Ride train this year was excellent. None of the glitches that plagued last years ride. The market worked out better for me this year as well. Last year I was the proverbial deer in the headlights and came home with almost nothing. Not so this year. I have Brooks Farm yarn for my neck-down hoodie, ShiBui yarn for socks, a great sock yarn I bought from Beehive, some hemp/wool blend for a hat (pattern, too!) plus a few more things. Cher and I also got to meet Vickie Howell at the SWTC booth. Knit On!

My new toy this month is an iPod. I have spent much time today loading more music on it. Still trying to play with iTunes so I don't have to sync every time I want to add a few songs. I also spent computer time today emptying my camera so it will be ready for...uh huh, another trip to Disneyland (I'm taking my nephew on Saturday.) Now I'm kinda burnt out on the computer. I had planned on adding pictures to my flickr, but I may save that for another day.

Ladies in my knit group, guess what is drying right this minute? Yarn I dyed myself! Yep, I finally took the plunge and mixed that toxic dye. Scared me to death and I thought I had poisoned myself last night because I had trouble breathing (no worries, I just forgot to take my allery pill!) It came out okay for my first dye job. If it dries by tomorrow morning, I'll take it for Show and Tell.

Ta Ta For Now!

Starsky Struck

The picture above was taken earlier this year at Panera's during one of the Chick With Sticks meetups. I had only completed the back and one of the front panels at that time. I loved the way the Banana Tree cabling turned out and decided then and there that I needed to finish this project before fall had fully set in. I started knitting on my Starsky exclusively for the next month. By October 25th, I was done! I loved the way it turned out. Since our group didn't meet on Halloween, I wasn't able to Show and Tell until November. Here is Felted modeling the finished project:


This project was made from the Jordana Paige pattern "Starsky" on Knitty.com using Cascade 220 in Charcoal Heather and size 8 needles.

Scones and Skeins

Today I met with a few people from my Wednesday night knitting group for Scones and Skeins. This brainchild of my friend Cher is a get together (not on Wednesday) at one knitter's house to which you take scones and other baked goods along with your current knitting project(s). Maybe because it was just Thanksgiving or maybe because we think alike, most of the baked goods featured pumpkin. I took pumpkin cranberry scones. There was also pumpkin cream cheese muffins and pumpkin raisin bread. Things that weren't pumpkin- croissants with Nutella and asparagus frittata!

Right now I have 13 WIP's that I'm counting although only 4 are on needles. The other 9 are projects I started but have since frogged back to skeins. Projects I'm currently knitting are Tweedy Vest from Knit Scene, Mystery Stole 3, Monkey sock (2nd one!), Toe-up sock using Lombard Street lace pattern. The projects that are waiting are a moebius, a tie, a Clapotis, Meadow Flowers shawl, Andean Treasures Sampler vest, a Malabrigo sweater, a Whiskey vest, a project made from leftovers, and the original Homespun Pants.

Note to My Dear Readers: I've been trying to upload my knitting photos to Flickr to no avail. So when I see you later this week, don't give me grief about my Ravelry page.

Leaf Lace

Here is a picture of my recently completed Leaf Lace shawl. I added beads to the points in the same color as the shawl. I've been wanting to work with beads since one of my fellow chicks (Hi, Darla!) started a beaded project from Romantic Style. My own first beaded project was mystery stole 3, but I'm not finished with that. Someday! This is one of my last year projects that I wanted finish up. As I was reading the finishing notes, I saw an option for adding beads in the last row. Hurray!

Ahoy, Mateys!

Today, being a holiday from work, I pronounce to be a "catch up on my blogging" day. The picture above is from about 4 months ago (yep four) when "Punk Knits" Share Ross went to Knitique. She had a mini-class on controlled-drop stitches.

Do you recognize this yarn? I purchased it to complete my Malabrigo Rich Chocolate ribbed sweater but not having the sweater with me, the dye lot was way off. I unravelled my sweater and started a new pattern that would take less yarn. It was not to be, again one skein short. Not one to be discouraged, I ordered a skein from Yarnzilla (very nice and prompt shipping to boot!). The dyelot is much closer but still requires unravelling and blending the yarn.

In the meantime, I started some new projects and finished a few others.

This is a lace scarf pattern from Louisa Harding, knit in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. I liked this pattern even though I had to back up a row almost everytime I picked it back up. The yarn was so soft and slippery, the stitches fell off my needles in my knitting bag!

I finished my Leaf Lace Shawl (Hi, Teresa!) finally. I started this last year during the shawl knit-a-longs at Frog Pond, along with the Flower Basket Shawl and Shoal Water (Both finished!) but only just finished this one about a week ago. I even put beads on the tips. That was an inspiration from my first use of beads on the Mystery Stole from this year. My MS3 is only 1/3rd finished. I've been on quite a few flights lately and MS3 was too hard to work on while travelling, hence the finished Leaf Lace.

Here is another now finished project. My Cascade Fixation socks. I used a simple rib from Sensational Knitted Socks. I turned out great and the elastic in the yarn keeps them up nice and snug!

Okay, here's a list of other recently completed projects (to make me feel good):
- Phoenix Tears Scarf (from Charmed Knits)
-Ravenclaw Beanie (Also from Charmed Knits)
-Plum wristwarmers (My own pattern!)
-Knitted Babe

Darn! I thought there were more!

Here's a list of my WIP's
-Malabrigo ribbed sweater (Based on Lucky from Knitty)
-Homespun pants (From Interweave Knits Spring or Summer 2004)
-Meadow Flowers shawl (From Knitter's Stash)
-Loopy (from Knitty)
-Spiral Boot Socks (From Interweave Knits Summer 2007--started out as Clessidra from Knitty and then went to Anniversary Socks from Favorite Socks before Spiral took over)
-Andean Treasure Vest (From Knitpicks--this is my first stranded knitting project!)
-Clapotis #2 (From Knitty)
-Knit Tie (From Interweave Knits)
-Simple Stripe socks (self-striping yarn from Knitpicks in a rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks
-Mystery Stole 3

That makes 10! Not bad if I say so myself, but still got to get knitting, Ciao!