Paper Starfish

That's how I'm knitting Lizard Ridge:

I'm nearing the end of the second strip (there will be four total). I go like gangbusters on this and then my attention starts to wane. I've finished other projects while this is still going and I'm not normally one to have a ton on the needles. That's okay. When I pick it up I have renewed energy for it so I plan on it taking a while.

I got some fiber from Huckleberry Knits. I actually sent her some white BFL and had her dye this up for me. I got to pick the colors and everything! It's sort of a mixture of two of her existing colorways: Decadence and Spice. So maybe this is Spicy Decadence?!?!

In spinning news I decided to try to spin up some small samples I had. This one is merino and silk:

It's a teeny skein and through this experience I learned that I am not ready to spin anything containing silk. It was very... silky. Slippery and hard for me to get a consistent thickness going. Pretty color though!

Coincidentally, so does the Tour de France!

The "rules" are pretty simple. Spin some each day of the Tour. There are two rest days, I believe, just like in the real thing. The button on the sidebar links to the Ravelry group!

I'm starting the Tour by continuing to spin the "spicy" roving I had dyed by Huckleberry Knits. Being a new spinner, I joined the Rookie Team. There are some really great prizes being given away so it should be fun!

Here are the spicy singles so far:

I love this yarn. It's Cosmic Fibers basic sock yarn in the Garnet colorway. Clearly, my gauge, this pattern and this yarn do not mix without some major pooling. I tried to just go with the flow, but I couldn't. It's been frogged.

I'll start the socks again with this instead:

Colinette Jitterbug in color 035.

This post isn't all that depressing though. Look at this!

Just over 4oz of BLF dyed in a colorway called Koi. Found this through a new dyer on Hyena Cart called The Good Sheep. Love her colors and handspun. She sells on Hyena Cart and also in her etsy shop with the name "Good Sheep".

Here's the redo after all of the pooling:

The new yarn has helped a ton with the pooling but the sock is kind of wonky. I think I need to go down a needle size but it's still weird. The heel flap is so small. It's a k3, p1 rib and there are well over 200 of these on Ravelry and I see no complaints. Come on you sock knitters.... do I just need more practice? This is my third pair of socks and I want to like them. They're very portable and sock yarn is so pretty to pet and collect. Why are my socks wonky?

In spinning news I was on a roll with the koi roving and here are the singles:

I think I heard/read somewhere that it's best to let singles rest a bit before plying. Is that true? I was planning on plying tomorrow.

Well, the sock from the last post has been frogged. Too slouchy. I went down another needle size and am trying a new basic ribbed sock pattern. Cast on 64 stitches and doing k2, p2 rib for some more stretch.

I finished up the Koi BFL roving yesterday. It's been washed and dried. Love how it came out!

It's about 203 yards and exactly 4 ounces. Yay!

Remember the pooling problem I had a few posts back? Well, I frogged the sock and started a new sock (working out much better) but I loved the yarn that was pooling. I found the perfect project for it:

It's the beginning of the Morning Surf Scarf from Spin-Off magazine. I think Ravelry has a link to a free download for it. It is working out perfectly in this yarn. It will need some blocking in the end but I'm happy with how it's turning out!

In other news I thought I'd post about the new tote bag I got from an etsy shop called Reiter8. I mentioned this shop at one of our Freedom of Espresso knitting meetings. The shop is run by a woman in Brooklyn who makes bags, pillows and wallets from used sailboat sails! I rescued a sail from landfill death and Katherine turned it into a bag for me:

It's so well made, the perfect size for an everyday purse or some knitting and has three great pockets inside.

Love that bright green pop of color!

The house is almost packed and although the Kiwi will ride with me in the car, I have spun my last spin in CNY! I learned to spin here by some really talented people - big thank yous especially to Beth and Carla. Appropriately, this Dragonfibers roving was a going away gift from Marcela.

Very pale pink and celery green BFL - so pretty and soft!

Here it is all spun up: