• You Spin Me Right Round Baby, Right Round
• 5

The fiber show was, rather as expected, full of fluffy goodness.  Kinda smelly, but good none the less. While I was there, I realized that I’m not as clear on the difference between sheep and goats as I thought I was.  See these guys?  I’m pretty sure buddy on the right there is a sheep, but what about buster on the left.  Do the creepy rectangular pupils mean he’s a goat, or do some sheep have those too?

I managed not to bring home too much yarn.  I picked up some goodies for the book, and I’ll tell you all about that in a later post.  I also bought two skeins of yarn from Knitting Notions, one for me and one for The Boy.  Alas, I showed less restraint when it came to spinning supplies.  I got two lovely spindles and three different sorts of fiber.  Now I know I said I was done with spinning.  I thought I was.  Then I went and signed up for the Silk Retreat.  I figure if I’m going to fly across the country to take a class, 1/3 of which is spinning, I’d damn well better practice.  I don’t want to look the fool in front of Judith MacKenzie.  Perhaps not surprisingly, I’m finding spinning is easier (and far more pleasant) on the fancy expensive spindle than it was on the cheap one made from a dowel and a toy wheel that came with my learn to spin kit.

• Heads up…
• 1

Just a quick heads up.  The latest socks, peregrinate, are up for testing over on ravelry.  If you want to volunteer, take a look.  I’m picking testers Monday.

Tomorrow morning I’m off to the Great Lakes Fiber Show.  Last year I came away with quite a haul.  I shall try to be more restrained this year.  I’ll report back with details and likely fuzzy farm critters.

• Itchy
• 4

So, after a nearly inexcusable delay, here’s the sock from the vicious ripping session shown below.  Alas, I fear my photo doesn’t do it justice.  The ripped bit is over there on the outside of my ankle, and I can’t quite manage to get a good picture of the outside of my own foot.  I think this gives you the general idea though.  I promise it is nifty, was well worth the rip, and will be shown in greater glory in future photos.

The yarn is by Suzan, purveyor of the marvelous Barking Dog Yarns, and it is a treat to work with.  There is only one tiny problem with this yarn…Suzan is in the middle of updating her website and you can’t get it right now.  I’ll let you know when the new site is up.  In the meantime, I’ve pointed you to her Ravelry page so you can see all her other lovely yarns while you wait.

And as for the title, no, it’s not the yarn that’s itchy.  It’s me.  I’ve been spending my evenings on the patio and I am covered in dozens of bug bites.  The wee beasties seem to have an unreasonable fondness for my feet.  It’s more or less manageable when I’m barefoot.  I can put up with sandals if I have to.  But shoving my bug bite-ridden feet into wool socks on an 85 degree day was nigh on unbearable.  I made it about 2 minutes before I decided that enough was enough and whatever pictures I had would simply have to do.

• Good Enough to Rip
• 0

I hate ripping.  Loathe it.  I will generally avoid it at all costs.  Not this time.  These were worth ripping to make them perfect.  Yes, it was just one gusset.  Yes it was a tiny fix (shifting the location of the line of gusset decreases if you want to know).  But damn was it worth it.  Shots that show the bigger picture soon.  It’s still at that state where it looks funny to the outside world, but I’m confident they’ll be nifty.  Call it sock adolescence.  Makes for awkward photos.

• Really Good
• 2

If you’re really good, your needles match your plants.  I find it unreasonably amusing.  Just playing with this right now, but I think it has potential.  Loving the yarn, more about it soon.