Catching Up

It's been a while since I've posted. Things have been busy around here. I had 2 straight weekends of call time in addition to the other stuff in my life that hogs up my free time. I've been knitting like mad though. Joining the HPKCHC on Ravelry has given me inspiration of motivation to keep my needles in motion.

I've now finished several hexipuffs, and am waiting for more left over sock yarn to knit them up with. I came up with the idea last night while falling asleep of using some of my yarn samplers so I can try out the yarns. It'll also give me a wide variety of colors for the puffs. I can keep a small strip of the yarn to label for future color reference.

I have also been working on some yummy fingerless gloves using Rainy Days & Wooly Dogs' Laudanum Lache in Romantic and Valerie Johnson's Elphaba pattern. It was one of the skeins I managed to snag at Sock Summit. They were to be for the Halloween knit along in the Gothsocks forum as well as for HPKCHC. However, I didn't finish them by the deadline for HPKCHC, so I have until the end of the month for the Gothsocks turn in. The yarn is simply lovely, the cashmere in it makes it super soft while the wool and nylon keeps the halo to a minimum. It may bloom in the wash though, we shall see.

I recently broke down and purchased a Kindle. I've had it for 3 weeks now and I am madly in love. I think I actually read faster using it. It's so easy to use and with the e-ink I forget I'm not reading a paperback. I've bought several books for it already as well as put my patterns onto it. It's easy to read the patterns and I can zoom in on my charts. I don't know why it took me so long to make the decision to get one, but I am happy I finally did. It celebration of this I knitted a Doctor Who themed cozy for my Kindle, since both it and the TARDIS are bigger on the inside it seemed appropriate.

The last and most recent of my projects since my last post is an argyle cell phone cozy. I used some lovely yarn I got from the caffeine addicts swap a while ago. It is a Norwegian wool yarn called Dalegarn Falk. So now my phone is looking snazzy in charcoal and red argyles.

So with the purchase of the Kindle, I have added some new books to my reading list. The main one being Brent Weeks' The Black Prism. I just found this great YouTube trailer for the book. Who'd have thunk, a trailer for a book? Ah well, you may remember my rants about his Night Angel trilogy. This new series is even better. He's developed a totally unique system for magic involving turning light into solid. It's a pretty cool concept. Each drafter (his term for "mages") can use one or more spectrum of light. Each spectrum has it's own properties for drafting. For instance green is flexible, ultra violet is invisible and sub red is hot. I also love that the main character is chubby 16 year old boy. Something more realistic than the usual athletic sword trained men in more fantasy sci-fi. I'm about halfway through the book now, so I'll be sure to let you know if my enthusiasm holds up or if I am disappointed.

I think that is enough for now. I just hope that gap between posts isn't as long next time.

Yarn by the Pound!

I thought, while I am waiting for my friend Sabrina (yes there are going to be 2 of us) I might do a quick update. I am waiting for her as  we are going to the Knit Picks warehouse sale. We figured it was worth the 2-3 hour drive for lovely yarn at $12/lb! I wonder what they will have, I'm hoping for some aloft and maybe some WoTA in colors for my upcoming projects.

So, I  finished a pretty twisted bracelet. The pattern is from Knitty First Fall, 2011 and is by Cat Wong. I used a sample skein of Spincycle natural novelty yarn I got at Madrona last year. The yarn is a varigated grey to black thick thin yarn with slubs of deep purple mohair. The linen stitch worked well to even out the thick thin bits and the little pops of mohair I think look kinda cool. The picture makes it look a bit more messy than it really is.

I also started working on an Aster Nyx shawl for Alyx. It is my payment to her for making my steampunk costume for me. So far it's buzzing right along. It is also my OWL project for the HPKCHC on Ravelry. The Gaia lace yarn from Sanguine Gryphon that I am using for the shawl is just amazing! It's so soft and yummy. It's a bit bit like kid silk haze, without the haze. I might have to pick up some for myself.

unstuffed puff

Other than that, I have caught the hexipuff addiction. Hexipuffs are part of Tiny Owl Knits' beekeepers quilt. They are super easy to make, use leftover sock yarn and are really addictive. The reason being is it takes 30-60min to make 1 hexipuff, but then you've finished something! I really am jealous that I didn't think of this. It's blown up on Ravelry like no tomorrow and at $5.50 for the pattern, she's gotta be making money hand over fist. Much like the Monkey Socks, I think it's just brilliant in it's simplicity.

I think that's it for now. I'll try and post my spoils from the warehouse sale.