End of summer

As summer winds down, things have been crazy around here! I have a bunch of things to blog about, but no time right now. We are spending our last week before school starts sailing downeast. I'll be back to blog world in 10 days...

New yarn

When you come home from a short, but lovely, vacation in West Virginia...

it helps to find this waiting for you:

My yarn from Black Water Abbey has arrived. The colors are gorgeous ('Wine' and 'Old Purple') and I can't wait to start working with them. Unfortunately, I won't get to them until this weekend.

Today I need to unpack, do laundry, and finish MS3 clue 6 (I couldn't knit that on the plane!). Tomorrow the final clue is revealed. I will be happy to move that from a WIP to a FO--I have some sweaters I need to finish up before winter.

August Socks--Bamboozle

Okay, so I have finished my socks for August. To be fair though, I started these last fall. It's my first pair of "Toe-Up" socks with a flap heel and I really enjoyed them (even if it took me almost a year). Toe -up is perfect if you want to use all of your yarn up--just knit the cuff until you run out of yarn! I'm going to try a toe-up pair with a fancier cuff, but don't expect those until at least October.

So here are the details:
Pattern: "Bamboozle" by Red Bird Knits/Robyn Gallimore
Yarn: Regia Bamboo Color (45% bamboo 40% wool 15% nylon; machine washable)
Color: 1067
Gauge: 9 st/inch
Needles: US#1/2.5mm

I really liked the bamboo yarn. I will probably try to make a pair of anklets out of this yarn for next summer, after I see how these hold up.

MS3 Clue 5

Last Friday, the theme was revealed! The stole is named "Swan Lake" (if you need a refresher on the story, click here). Even though it has nothing to do with bees as I had hoped, I am really excited. For Clue 5, Melanie has taken a totally new direction and has us making a wing using short rows. I am not sure how the finished stole will look (2 more clues to go), but I am trusting Melanie's designing genius and going for it. Here's my completed clue 5 (the best pics I can get without true blocking):

Braided Gauntlets

Here's a great idea for a last minute gift:

Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted Merino
Color: Emerald Blue
Needles: #9/5.5mm (but I knit tight)
Pattern (slightly adapted): Symmetrical Braided Gauntlets, by Rachael Calado

You can knit the pair up over a weekend and 1 ball of the Malabrigo Worsted will make 3-(almost) 4 gauntlets.

KALs

Today I have joined another knit-along (KAL): Sock-a Month Knitalong (SAM). MS3 is/was my first KAL. I have had so much fun with it, I have been hunting for more KALs that I might enjoy. Since I am a busy Mom of 3 (plus the 2 dogs, 1 cat, 4 rabbits, 2 beehives and a husband), my time away from the house is limited. I make time to knit every day, but do not have the time to leave my house for a knitting circle. I have found that MS3, with it's 6,000+ knitters worldwide, provides some of the comradery found in actual 'physical' knitting circles. And it certainly provides the motivation to keep moving along with a project.

So, with only 2 clues left in MS3, I've joined SAM. It's easy: finish a pair of socks a month from August through December. It dosen't matter when you started the socks, only that they are finished (both socks) within the given month. Since my WIPs (works-in-progress) include these

finishing a pair of socks a month will be a good thing for me to do! Think of all the needles I'll free up...

And when I finish those socks, I can allow myself to dig into:

If you're looking for a KAL, here's a good place to start:

http://knitalongs.xaviermusketeer.com/
And if you hear of any others, please share in the comments.

Mora Men's Mittens

So when I need a little 'mindless' knitting and am not working on MS3, here's what I've been up to:



I am knitting a pair of twined mittens using a traditional Z-twist yarn (Mora). I am making these for Eric, my DH, who has very large hands. Although I am not loving the pattern I've designed, I think these will be really nice-fitting, warm mittens. I tried to put a discreet heart on the palm-side cuff (circled above). It may be too discreet--I'm not sure it's visible at all. I suppose it will do though; these are supposed to be 'manly' mittens.

The Mora yarn is a little rough, but I'm hoping that with Z-twist yarn and twined knitting, the finished, soaked, and blocked item will be soft to the touch.