The debil made me do it

Made me cast on the June Zen String sock yarn. It came with a fun new pattern:

It's not SO wrong, except for the whole finishing what you start thing, and the following your own plans thing. Oh, well. The yarn is so delightfully springy - it's Blue Faced Leicester, which I've never worked with, but am enjoying very much. Not to think I've abandoned my senses altogether:

I DID finish one of my Monkeys out of my own handspun. I solved my problem with the bagginess of the leg by knitting the third and fourth leg repeats on size one needles, and the rest with twos. Worked perfectly.

The yarn is luscious - tencel is a new fiber I'm in love with. It looks and feels great. There'll be better pictures eventually, but it's grossly humid right now, and I can only bear to put on the sock early early in the morning. Side view:

Also, finally the BikeJerk was home in daylight, and took some Sarcelle pictures:


Finally, another project on hold until the humidity drops:

This is going to be a scarf for my brother, eventually. This singles is going to be spun with one that's orange and gold (and that I haven't spun yet). I'm having trouble consistently spinning thicker than sock yarn - I'm aiming for a sport or worsted weight, but my hands just want to make it thin!

I think it's really sweet how this project came about - I knit my brother a hat out of some of the first handspun yarn I ever made. It's all lumpy and weird (spun on a huge beginner spindle), but apparently he enjoys wearing it and telling people that I spun and knit it, so he's asked for a scarf to go with it. I think it's cute that he likes to brag about my fiber skilz!

Finally, lifestyle change I can live with

I have figured out how to fool myself into exercising AND it involves yarn! I can't believe it took me so long to figure this out - about 6 weeks ago I decided that I could only buy yarn if I exercised - for every week that I worked out 4 times, I could spend $10 on yarn. This was intended to get me in shape/lose weight, and cut down spending - it's totally worked (with a few blips on the yarn side - after all I had to buy yarn for my mom's shawl!) - I'm getting in shape and I got to order luscious yarn from the Loopy Ewe:

My own personal yarn pirate is keeping an eye on the loot. You'll be seeing more of this, as I can't wait to play with it! (And yes, I did go a tad over what I'd officially 'earned,' but that just means I can't start the next cycle until I work it off.)

And, I finished the Sarcelle:

The BikeJerk is working about 7 million hours a week lately, so no modelling photos just yet, but at least you can see the (upside down) butterflies. I'm quite pleased with it - just the right size and thinness (and gorgeousness) to go with a dress I'm wearing to a summer wedding in a few weeks.

Finally, almost done with the TOFUtsies socks:
I have to finish them ASAP, but I couldn't resist casting on sock #2. I felt sort of neutral toward the yarn at first, but I am rapidly growing attached to it. The feel of the knitted fabric is really enticing - smooth and pliable and, strangely enough, cool to the touch. Finished photos by Thursday - and then, let loose the hounds of the Summer of Socks!

Otto, the nihilist

Meet Otto. He's a recent addition to the family, and clearly a nihilist:


I'm not sure that his original incarnation was a nihilist, but this guy definitely is. Look at his eyes:


He's all made from my own handspun yarn (his scarf is Kool-Aid dyed) except for the beige, which is something from the stash, long ago de-labelled.

These were the first things I made entirely from knit-blogger sources (can my legs really be that white? I know winter's just ending, but c'mon?!):

Jaywalkers, in Black Bunny Fibers sock yarn (there's nothing for sale right now, but Carol's blog is lovely as well) . Which is a delight to work with! I had to keep watching my hands, just to see what colors were coming next. Below, the Jaywalkers pose in romantic soft focus with my other skein of BBF yarn (merino).

The only thing in this posting still on needles:

It's Sarcelle, in Claudia Handpainted Yarns Silk Lace in Sea Dreams, and getting close to being done. I almost never knit in light colors, and I don't think I own anything white or even white-ish, but when I saw this yarn I had a flash of brilliance: Hey! If I knit lace in a light color, then when I wear my dark clothes under it, it'll look great. I may be a little slow, but you can see how nicely the coreopsis shows it off!

Stash enhancement from the friendly folks at The Knitting Studio in Montpelier, VT, where we roadtripped this rainy weekend. My husband wasn't going to come into the shop at first, but I'm glad he did: the Louet Gems was my idea, but he bought the angora. It's for baby booties for a couple of friends. Lucky kids!

And, finally, a non-fiber related photo:


These are vodka infusions my husband is making (L-R ginger, mint and lemon). It's a first try, inspired by a visit to a local Russian restaurant. I'm especially excited to try the ginger. Mmmm....