Everybody into the pool!

If you're one of those knitters who freaks out when handpainted yarn pools, avert your eyes now cause I've got a doozy for ya!

This is my new sock yarn from Claudia at Tausendschon. The colorway is "schlangengift". (I love this yarn, btw - so vibrant, so soft!)

Personally I've yet to discover pooling, flashing, ect. I didn't like. I think it's one of the best things about handpainted yarns, the interesting designs that form and undulate across the garment.

When I saw how this was knitting up I knew it was tailor made for my niece! She *LOVES* pooling because she thinks it looks like lightening bolts (me too!)

I'm knitting this on US size #0 (2.0mm) because I wanted to maintain the cool pooling ( I usually eschew #0's for #1 and 8 sts/inch - on the #0's I'm getting 9.5!) and I'm knitting plain stockinette cause I figured the yarn was shouting loudly enough :) Isn't it great?

Here's another kind of pool...

Carolyn is starting a new online shop called SpinningYarnsOnline.com. She spins and hand dyes her own yarn plus has cute bags and accessories. She contacted me to try some of her yarn...

Meet Pool...

I haven't swatched with it yet but I can say it's super soft and the colors are vibrant and rich! It's 100% superwash merino fingering weight and I can't wait to knit some socks with it! Go pay Carolyn a visit, you wont be sorry :)

Here are my finished footies...

Specs:

Breeze footies from Knitty

1 Skein Regia Stretch in Blue Jeans

Magic Loop US #1 (2.25mm) 32" circular needle

I think these footies are beyond cute and I think my mail carrier will love them!

The pattern is written for 3 DPNs which I *hate*, it just feels so awkward and cumbersome to me ( I prefer 4).

I switched to magic loop so I could have the instep pattern on one needle and the sole stitches on the other and it worked great! It also made it easier to cable without a cable needle! One other slight mod I made is that the heel is written as C4B but I find it much easier to cable without a cable needle using C4F. So my footies are actually mirrored cables, the first having C4B and switching to C4F for the second. Yes, I know, I admit it, I cannot leave a pattern be :)

ETA: D'oh! I totally forgot my other mods! The pattern calls for Mandarin Petit cotton which apparently is much thicker than Regia Stretch (7 sts./inch) To accommodate my smaller gauge (8 sts/inch) I worked on 64 stitches throughout the body of the sock by casting on 64, not doing the first decreases as per the pattern and adding an extra knit stitch at the start and end of the instep panel. I made the medium size sock but I did the pattern repeats for the large to make the socks long enough for a size 7.5 foot.

It's a holiday weekend for those of us in the States so while you're eating a hot dog and taking an end of summer last dip in the pool think about those that aren't so fortunate. Two of our fellow knit bloggers are taking to the streets to help so I thought I'd spread the word...

Julie of Noolie Knits is raising funds for a special friend battling Multiple Myeloma and others coping with Leukemia and Lymphoma.
You can help Julie and offer support here: Julie's Donation Blog


Carole of Carole Knits fame is walking to fight breast cancer again this year!


You can help Carole stomp out breast cancer by donating here: Carole's Donation Blog

The P-Man can't walk with Carole or Julie but he's making biscuits in empathy cause these are such worthy causes!

Have a great holiday/weekend everyone!!

I'm sensing a theme here

What is it about a certain color that just draws you in and stays in your fancy?

When I loaded some of my FO's to Ravelry I noticed a predominance of green which should come as no surprise cause I'm always singing green's praises. It's funny cause I really don't wear green, I look terrible in it and prior to Bonita there wasn't a spot of it in my wardrobe! (I can get away with Bonita because it's a very dilute green with a strong cream base and the scoop neck keeps the green away from my face). I can't wear it but I love to look at it so I knit it for everyone else!

Because my knits were so "verdant" I thought I should change up my knitting a little and expand my color horizons except now everything is pink or blue! A few months ago I wrote a post called old socks, new socks, pink socks blue socks.... and what did I just finish? Pink socks! And what did I cast on? Blue socks! Plus miles and miles of blue garter stitch comprise the Esprit Tank. Sheesh, maybe I need some purple and brown? (btw, I really don't like brown and I'm meh about purple)

One color that I totally LOVE that was never on my radar screen at all is orange!
I find myself drawn almost as strongly to orange as I've always been to green.

Have you found your color tastes changing over time? I dunno, maybe it's the exposure on knit blogs to so many lovely knits in so many colors I'd never even considered before....or maybe it's hormones :)

At any rate here's the "old" sock, they're pink.....

Specs:

Twin Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch

One skein Louet Opal (sportweight) in Pink Panther (I used every centimeter!) size #1 (2.5 mm) 32" Addi Turbo.

Toe-up using magic loop and the Turkish cast on. YO short row heels.

Bound off using a tubular bind off (I LOVE this for toe-up socks!)

I wanted a "solid" pattern because the recipient lives in New Hampshire and the Twin Rib had just enough punch to keep it interesting while being super easy. The yarn is a dream to knit with except for the fact that there were FIVE KNOTS in one skein - I hate that especially for socks when you want as few ends as possible. I wrote to Louet and they were very contrite and shocked that a skein like that made it to a consumer plus they are sending new yarn so all is well :)

I couldn't have my needles languishing so here are the new socks, they're blue...

This is the beginning of Breeze from Knitty in Regia stretch. This is a very fun pattern and who doesn't love footies? These are gonna be a Christmas gift for my mail carrier, Laura.

I'm slogging along on the Esprit Tank, I've almost finished the front and then I get to knit it all over again for the back, lucky me!

Now for a little fiberlicious eye candy...have a gander at these...

These beauties came from here: Claudia's Place - Tausendschon

I found Claudia's beautiful yarn while surfing around and then I found it on Ravelry too. I fell in love with the glorious, saturated color (oooh, ORANGE!!) so I contacted Claudia who couldn't be nicer or more helpful. Her site is all in German but she speaks perfect English plus she's having the website translated to English over the next month or so.

The yarn is super soft, a dream to knit with even prettier in person plus VERY reasonably priced! I got these four skeins including shipping for under $60!! These happen to be superwash with nylon (my preferred sock yarn) but she has lots of other handpainted fiber selections. Plus shipping was FAST! So go visit Claudia for some unique colorful fiberliciousness!

Come to think of it, I can think of a reason I've fallen in love with orange.....must be this handsome dude.....

Hasn't he made you an orange fan too? :)

It's that time again and what FKD is up to .....

It hasn't quite been a whole year yet but it's time again for all us knitter's to rally to support a very worthy cause. It's time again for the Red Scarf Project!!

We all did such a great job last year the Orphan Foundation of America got TOO MANY scarves!! YAY Knitters! So this year they are asking for knitters to limit themselves to two scarves only.

The amazing Norma of Now Norma Knits has championed this wonderful charity for three years and she's at it again but with a twist!! Because now we knitters can sponsor a scholarship fund too!!

Just click on the button to visit the Red Scarf Project Blog and learn all about how you can make a difference...

Or zip on over to Norma's Place and see all the amazing prizes you can win once you click that little PayPal button.

So get knitting those scarves and making those donations, you'll be so glad you did!


Now for some FKD knitting!

First off, thank you all for the lovely compliments on Bonita! I am very happy with her and I'm glad y'all like her too!

After I fishished Bonita I figured I'd get one more summer top in before the cold weather gets here (hee!) I saw this while surfing around (damn insomnia!!) I think it's really pretty and something that would get a lot of wear in a warm climate...


It's a pattern from Elann, the Esprit V-Neck Summer Tank. It's simple yet attractive, a very easy knit with just enough patterning to keep it interesting, as well as very comfy and forgiving cause it's made with stretch cotton yarn. Altho be advised the pattern only goes to a 36" bust so I had to do some serious upsizing!

I've already knit a good portion of the "front" (both back and front are the same) and here is what I'm using for the trim too:

I'm enjoying knitting with the Esprit (Elann's version of Cascade Fixation) cause it's soft and squishy plus the simple pattern is welcome after all Bonita's beading (and re-beading!)

Of course I'm also knitting socks. Remember the screamingly pink well marinated Elann yarn I was using for the Go With the Flow socks? Well they've gone with the flow right into the trash!! I used the yarn because I loved the bright colorway and the recipient wanted pink but what complete crap that yarn is!! I freely admit to being a total yarn snob and I bought it when I first came back to knitting in 2002 so I didn't really know better but that stuff was beyond bad! It was harsh and lifeless and altho I persevered thru 2/3 of the first sock it was so disgusting I took it off the needles and tossed in right into the garbage and will be donating all the other skeins in my stash! What a waste!

So my knitting supervisor and I went poking around the stash and came up with a much nicer pink alternative....he even helped me wind it, see?

Ah, now that's much better! This is Louet Opal in Pink Panther and I'm making a simple twin rib pattern this time.

Isn't that pretty? Note of course the matching mani, OPI Brights Collection, This Little Piggy :)

Have a great weekend!

Bonita es una nueva camisa muy bonita!

After much ado (and much frogging and re-knitting!) Bonita is finally here for her debut!

Her pretty scoop neck and bodice

Her wavy beaded edges

Her lovely lace and chartreuse beads

And the money shot!

Specs:

Bonita from Rowan #41

Second to largest size - 46 inch chest measurement

8.5 skeins Berroco Nostalgia, colorway #6672 "Gecko"

Size #3 (3.25 mm) 32" Addi Lace circular needles

Approx. 400 size 2/0 chartreuse seed beads

Mods:

Well of course being me, I changed just about everything :)

I subbed the yarn. I found the called for Rowan Damask not only ridiculously spendy but really too busy to show off the lace well.

I had just used the Berroco Nostalgia to make the Retro Redux Shrug and loved it so I was glad to find a colorway I liked that worked well with the lace. I adore the green and I think the chartreuse beads really compliment the design.

The Nostalgia is a cotton/microfiber blend with a lot of bounce so it was a dream to knit. It's a good thing because if you recall, I decided I wasn't happy with the first incarnation of the "front" because I was off a few stitches and I didn't like the shaping so I frogged the whole front, 200 beads included! (I also omitted the shaping completely in v.2 cause I figured being fluffy gives me built in shaping, heh!)

I always have a very loose gauge with cotton so I had to go down FOUR needle sizes to get gauge! The pattern called for a #7, I used a #3.

The finished product is next to the skin soft with lots of memory so unlike pure cotton I don't worry about it stretching out into a tent by the end of the day! I LOVE this yarn, can ya tell?

The original pattern calls for a SKP to form the lace but I changed mine to my preferred centered double decrease which is why you can see a more defined "line" with each lace repeat (click to embiggen for a closer look!)

The original pattern design had a rather high neck in the front and a "scoop" in the back from which you were instructed to knit an I-cord from which you were to hang a shell ornament that hung down the back into the scoop as a sort of backwards necklace. Um, no thanks :)

I knit two "backs" and made mine more of a tank than a shell with a scoop neck both back and front. A design much more Florida friendly! I figure if it's warm enough to go sleeveless with lace who wants a high neck with a shell hanging down your back, right?

In summary, te quiero mi Bonita!! I love how she turned out - the fit is great, it's nice and cool, it can be dressed up or down and it was an easy, enjoyable knit! I would totally recommend this as a first lace top for any lace newbie.

I leave you with my Director of Photography taking a little break. The photo shoot was so hard on my P-Man he needed a bit of Kitty TV to relax with.

Have a great week!

Knowledge Is Power!

Read this and be sure to tell EVERYONE you love to read it as well! (remember men get breast cancer too!) Post it to your blog and spread the word because KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!

And since were making today all about the PSA this is something everyone should always remember:

SEVEN WARNING SIGNS OF CANCER

**CAUTION**

C – Change in bowel or bladder habits

A – A sore that doesn’t heal

U – Unusual bleeding or discharge

T – Thickening or lump in breast or elsewhere

I – Indigestion or difficulty swallowing

O – Obvious change in wart or mole

N – Nagging cough or hoarseness


You can't knit or enjoy handknits if you're not around!!

Fiberlicious Friday and other stuff

Guess what I found?

Well, honestly it was Auntie Carol's super sleuthing skills that tracked it down but look what I got!

It's the much coveted Kureyon #91!! Friday Fiber, yarn pr0n and a happy FKDeb all in one shot! YAY!

Thanks for doing such great PI work Carol!


I started a new sock.....

This is the beginning of the Go With The Flow socks by Evelyn Clark from IK's Favorite Socks.

I'm using some well marinated Elann Sock it to Me Colori because it's so PINK :)

This is a gift for a professional colleague who's been very kind to me, especially when I lost my Dad last December. She of course knows I knit and I told her I'd really love to knit her some socks. She loved the idea so when I asked her what color, after much thought she came up with BLACK. Um, no way! Ok then how about navy? Um, PASS!

I told her she must expand her color horizions and where better to do it than on one's feet (that don't even have to been seen in public if that's your choice!) So she chose pink....little did she know she was getting PINK!! But they are really cute and it's a cool pattern so I think she won't freak out too much, I hope! :)

I finished Bonita and she's gorgeous! She's blocked and drying as I write this (boy do I *hate* blocking, but I *love* the result) and when she's dry I'll just need to do a bit of finishing and she'll be ready for her debut.

Here's a little teaser showing some Bonita knitting and knails.....

That's another OPI color, called You Red My Mind! Doesn't it look great with Bonita?

Lastly but never least, I leave you with another gorgeous pic of the P-Man sitting on his throw rug "throne".

Enjoy your weekend!

Eye Candy Friday

I'm not real big on the "look at the yarn I bought" kinda posts but I had to share this stunning yarn I just acquired...

And why did this yarn speak so loudly to me, besides being drawn in by it's obvious beauty? Check the name...

KOI, VEY! :)
My love of all things Koi is well documented here at Blog de Fluffy and when I saw the name of this gorgeous yarn I knew it had to be mine!

This is my first time seeing (sniffing, petting, fondling) Urban Gypz yarn and it's super yummy! Really, really soft superwash merino and TONS of yarndage - 560 yards to be exact! Gorgeous and economical, what more can a girl ask for? Suberb and super fast shipping yarn pr0n merchant here :)

Have a great weekend and try to keep cool!

Three times is the charm?

I'm knitting away on Bonita.

I've finished the front for the SECOND time and since, for me, the front and the back are the same (I'll explain more when the tank is finished which I PRAY is by this weekend!) I'm knitting the same piece for the third time! Ah, the bane of being born a Virgo - perfectionism!

But it is coming out quite lovely and I'm more than eager to be finished, so I'm hoping knitting it three times will be the charm! Soon, soon....

As a respite from all things Bonita I've finished my first pair of socks for the Summer of Socks.

I give you Smooshy Scrolls

Specs:

Scrolls pattern from More Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch

Smooshy sock yarn by Dream In Color purchased here (Kris just got a new shipment in so hurry on over if you've been dying to try the "it" yarn of the moment) Colorway: Ruby River

Toe up using the Turkish Cast On and magic loop on 32" size 1.5 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbos.

Sewn down picot hem bind off.

I LOVED every stitch of these socks!! The yarn is a *dream* to knit with and the color is just glorious! The yarn is a bit beefier than standard fingering weight so knitting it on size 1.5 needles gave me a nice firm fabric yet the yarn stayed super soft and drapey. I'm totally smitten and will use this delightful sock yarn again and again.....plus the pattern was lots of fun and I always get a lil thrill when I see how easy the Turkish cast on is and how perfect it makes sock toes look! In fact I might be becoming a toe-up convert for just that reason :)

My needles are sockless at the moment (shocking, I know!) but I really want to focus on finishing Bonita because my next "big" project has a deadline and I want to get the ball rolling (and y'all know I can't handle more than 2 WIPs at a time!)

I leave you with one of my favorite pics of the P-Man that I've taken in a while.....he's sitting on "his" rug that he loves to rough up and bunny kick (which I've placed there to protect the carnival throw cause there will be NO bunny kicking of the throw no matter how cute the P-Man is!)

Isn't he gorgeous?

See you soon, hopefully with a finished Bonita, a new sock and another new WIP!!

Have a great week!!

PS - no luck on the Kureyon #91 but I'm still looking if anyone happens to find it!

Desperately Seeking...

No, not Susan but 2 measly skeins of yarn.....

Does anyone have 2 skeins of Noro Kureyon in color #91, (gray, magenta, turquoise, taupe) ANY dyelot that they would be willing to part with?

I'll either pay for it, or we can figure out a trade.....anybody? anybody? Bueller? :)

PLEASE let me know! Thanks!

It's all about the P-Man

Cause it's his THIRD BIRTHDAY!!!!!

So our day will be spent eating lots of these...

And playing with his new birthday toy...

And playing...

And playing...

Enjoy your day, sweet boy!! Happy Birthday!!

Kittyman purrs and chirps of thanks to Auntie La for his special presents! My mail carrier got a real kick out of delivering a package addressed to Pumpkin :)

Back soon with actual knitting but I didn't want to steal the P-Man's thunder!

You can come a'knockin....

Cause Blog de Fluffy is ROCKIN'!

Look! Carol (infamous purveyor of recent kitty pr0n) nominated me for a

award!! Woo Hoo!

So now I get to share the love and nominate 5 more Rockin' Girls!

It's next to impossible to narrow it down to only five but here goes....

1 - Agnes


2 - Kris


3 - Kristi


4 - Karen


5 - Lorette

Go forth and spread the love, Rockin' Girls and so on, and so on and so on.....(remember that old commercial, bonus points if you remember the product!)

One of the ways bloggin' girls rock is Knitting and Knails!

Kristi and I have been playing around showing off our knails with our knitting....

Here's sock #2 of my Smooshy Scrolls with my latest matching mani...

Pumpkin prefers au naturale :)

Come on knitters, show off your knails!

Bonita Redux

The good news is, I'm still in love and love is all about compromise, right?

Here's Bonita's sad tale of woe.....

I'm knitting along on the back, happy as a clam, beading my lil heart out. Not especially thrilled with how the shaping works with the lace (of course there are no guidelines in the pattern, just "incorporate lace pattern into shaping" and the decreases/yo's arent paired in the last repeat so one can't help but increase! Makes the shaping a bit more taxing than it appears!) but I can live with the result.

I finish all ten lace repeats which means I've also added about 200 bead to the lil beauty. I count my stitches ( I swear I did, I SWEAR!!) and I'm knitting along on the stockinette bodice. I notice that the stockinette portion looks a bit bigger than the lace but I figure that's because the lace pulls in a bit so I'm not worried. (famous last words here - take note!)

So I finish the bodice and work the left neck, armscythe and shoulder. Looks perfect so I short row the shoulder, place the stitches on a holder and begin the right neck, armscythe and shoulder.....and discover somehow I've gained an extra EIGHT stitches between the last lace row and the stockinette bodice!

Now 8 stitches isn't that much in my fluffy world - the bodice IS quite a bit bigger than the lace but the real deal breaker is now the neckline/armscythe/shoulders are not centered! So the left side has to go! Plus on re-evaluation, the bodice really IS kinda big and the shaping isn't perfect....

So I took the opportunity to rip the whole thing out! :) Yep, 4 full skeins of yarn and 200 beads bit the dust!

Of course I do still love the top, and I LOVE the beads so I'm back to knitting Bonita #2 except this time I added selvage stitches and have decided to omit the shaping. The shaping was quite minimal (and not worth the headache) and frankly the texture and elasticity of the lace and the yarn (and the fluffy wearer!) adds enough shaping by itself.

So that's our story, Bonita's down but she's not out! At this point I've only done one pattern repeat so no "new" pictures yet.

I did finish the first sock of my Smooshy Scrolls, see?

Este calcetin es bonita, si? :)

I was cleaning up this afternoon and look what I found under Pumpkin's kitty bed......

His stash of genuine kitty pr0n cheesecake*!

My boy's a lil devil! Just look at that sly demeanor :)

To all those that celebrate, Happy Independence Day and Happy Birthday America!

*thanks for the chuckle Auntie Carol! :)

Bonita?

Ay Caramba!

Pictoral Essay: One Happy Cat

Intent

Desire

Strategy

Persistence

Success!

PS - My Bonita is a bit bigger as is my sock but pic worthiness remains status quo here at Blog de Fluffy so no knitting pics til next week :)

PPS - The P-Man had no idea how truly fascinating a pull tab from a priority mail box could be until his pal, the Meezer told him about it!

PPPS - Does anyone have a sure fire remedy for tear stains? My poor P-Man gets his little face cleaned all the time yet his nickname remains "Krusty"! Any suggestions are much appreciated!

Have a great weekend, see ya next week!

Old socks, new socks, pink socks, blue socks

Best chuckle of the day....

I was checking my blog stats and I saw a lot of visitors from a particular site so I clicked on the link to see what was making FKD so popular. It was a blog from a woman in France and the link on her sidebar was for my beading tutorial .....It was listed as "Blog de Fluffy" :)

Yesterday was the first day of summer so of course that means it's

Summer of Socks 2007!!
Here's my first sock of summer.....

It's the "new" pink sock - Dream in Color Smooshy sock yarn in the Ruby River colorway and it's totally luscious!! Really soft and look at that color!

It's a toe up sock using the Turkish cast on and Scroll Lace from More Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch, another great sock book BTW.


Now here's the "old" blue sock...a finished Thelonious!

Specs:

Thelonious designed by Cookie A.

2 skeins Gems Pearl, colorway Neptune. Size US#1 (2.25mm) Aero DPNs

ETA: The pattern states that the "sock is not as stretchy as regular rib because of the traveling stitches". Because of this I used a US #1.5 (2.5 mm) for the leg and switched to the smaller needle for the rest of the sock.

Mods: NONE!! because Cookie is such an amazing designer I knit every stitch as the pattern suggested and loved every one!

It's a great pattern and a really great looking sock - the chart may look overwhelming but it's very intuitive and once you get into it, it's a really fun and interesting knit! I can't recommend Cookie's patterns highly enough but I know that's preaching to the choir cause almost everyone is already knitting her Monkey pattern :)

My other WIP is Bonita, here's her progress....

I'm absolutely LOVING this tank! I just wish I could capture the true grassy spring green of the yarn and the beautiful beads.

I leave you with my favorite guy hanging out in one of his favorite spots......

whatever pattern I'm working on (and trying to read!) Maybe if he does it enough he'll let me teach HIM to knit :)

Have a great first weekend of summer from all of us here at Blog de Fluffy!