Sunday, October 14, 2007

Finally, a day off...

Sorry to have disappeared again... I'm playing in 2 orchestras right now, and my life has gotten a bit busy as I sandwich rehearsals for orchestra #2 in between performances of orchestra #1. My biggest concerns are to remember what days I need to be wearing concert clothes and to show up at the right building for the right rehearsals. Playing the music is the easy part. I can't tell you the number of times musicians have shown up to concerts having forgotten part of their concert apparel. "Does anyone have an extra jacket? Bowtie?" Once, a colleague of mine showed up to a concert with a mismatched pair of black shoes...and no, the heels were not even the same height.

I knit a pair of socks for a friend's B-day. These are the Crosshatch Lace Socks from More Sensational Socks, knit toe-up with Fleece Artist Merino sock yarn in the colorway Mermaid. The most exciting thing for me was that I conquered my fear of the short row heel!!! I still think double wraps are finicky, but it was much less of a strain on the needles for 2 at once Magic Loop. Cat Bordhi's YouTube Video on Wrapping and Turning was a great help.

Stitch Pattern closeup:

I also built a Lazy Kate following the instructions in Spin to Knit. The BFL Roving was from Spunky Eclectic, and the spindle is one of my new Avi Wassermans.

You slide the cop onto a straw,

Slide the straw onto a metal rod (regular nails were called for, but I didn't have any long enough...so I used some odd dpns)

Pull the singles through the little hook, and ply. (Plying spindle is a Cascabeles)

The spindle got REALLY heavy.
The Lazy Kate worked okay, but it did get stuck often, so I had to gently untangle (yank violently) the singles to fix things.

My B.F. went to Virginia, and brought me back some beautiful Cria Alpaca yarn from a local farm.

They even give you a pic of the Baby Alpaca and it's name: Snow White. How cute!

p.s. I'm in Ravelry! Yeay! Those who haven't signed up yet, go do it! You have to wait a little while, but it's worth it!

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:47 PM

    Thanks for the help with the yarn. That is at least 1/3 the price of what it is locally.

    Your socks are beautiful. I like everything about them. Thanks for the link to Cat's video.

    -punkin

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  2. Those socks are awesome! I love the pattern and the yarn. On another note, I once left the house in two different colored Dansko clogs. I had tried on one of each in order to determine which looked better with my outfit, and I forgot to put on matching shoes. It happens.

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  3. What beautiful socks! And that BF is a keeper - baby alpaca yarn as a souvenir! When I taught a university psychology class, I was on a stage, putting my feet at eye level to my students. Not once, but twice I put on one navy shoe and one tan shoe. Of course they all had quite a laugh at my expense. So I failed them all. (Not really but I do pay careful attention to my feet before leaving home!)

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  4. i hope you get some time to relax soon! i've felt the same way about classes this semester; i can never remember what day it is or where i'm supposed to be.

    the socks are gorgeous, too! : )

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  5. Aren't those socks fun to knit?! Lovely! I can't believe you still got time to do all this stuff with all the work going on. I never found a good way to ply with spindle spun yarn. Now with the wheel and a tensioned lazy kate (the best tool ever!) it's a breeze. Your Baby Alpaca looks so soft, what are you going to do with it?

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  6. Anonymous5:04 AM

    You sound really busy lately - and yet you still found the time to knit such gorgeous socks! I absolutely love this pattern as well as the beautiful and calm colorway you've been using!
    And the Baby Alpaca - yummy!!!

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  7. I LOVE your cross hatch socks. Such a pretty pattern. I have just strted knitting from the first Sensational Knitted Sock book...looks like I'll have to add the sequel to my Christmas List!

    You are not the only one having trouble keeping up. Lately, I've been having a hard time keeping up with blogging due to life in general. I just wish there were more hours in the day :)

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  8. The socks are lovely! I think your Lazy Kate is cool.
    I wish my husband would bring me back as nice as gifts as your BF :). Hope you had a nice day off.

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