eat! craft! live!

June socks

Could it be? Am I really blogging about knitting? Shocking, I know... Well, these socks are from June. Yes, June. They were finished on time and everything but June in Texas is, well, warmish and I couldn't bear to drag myself outside to photograph wool socks when it was 100 degrees. So now that I've actually been wearing them to keep my little tootsies warm in the cool New England autumn, I have no excuses! And thus, June's delightful socks.

They were a pleasure to knit. I used Malabrigo sock yarn for the first time and it is so luscious and soft and richly colored that I couldn't get enough. The softness made me wonder how it would wear, long term, and so far they are holding up OK, though a bit fuzzy. And they have, much to my disappointment, faded somewhat but I'm not entirely surprised given the initial color. They are still some of my favorites - soft and warm and nicely fitting. I used the River Rapids Socks pattern for the pattern part of the sock, but I knit them both at once, toe-up, which meant that I didn't use the pattern for the actual construction of the sock - know what I mean? I found them to be a pretty quick, easy knit, good for bus rides and morning commutes.

The deets:
Pattern: River Rapids Socks by Sockbug
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Cote d'Azure
Needles: US 1½ / 2.5 mm
See mine, on Ravelry

shop hiatus

Just a quick post to let you know that the shop will be closed for an indefinite amount of time, starting Sept. 15, so that we can travel across the country and get settled (at least a little!) up north. So if you've had your eye on anything, better grab it while you can! I expect to be closed for at least a few weeks while we get our new life in order. Wish us luck - we are super excited!

photos for sale!

Hello! I'm elaborating a little bit on why it's been crazy busy recently... As you probably already know, I've been dyeing like a fiend to get ready for Sock Summit. But that's been done for some time now. (Did you remember to vote?) The real reason I've been busy (and stressed!) is that I've been laid off. I knew it was coming, so it's not a complete surprise, but it's still no fun. Anyway, I've had some prints of my photos sitting around for very long time now, and I've decided that now would be a good time to try to sell a few, since I'll shortly be needing the cash! Pop over here for a bit, browse through the offerings and let me know if there's something you just can't live without. Thank you a billion times over. I hope you are all having a lovely start to the week!

:: photo friday :: Dye for Glory!

I know! I've been gone all this time and then I come back and all I've got to offer you is two photos of yarn and a link to the voting on Ravelry? How lame. ;) I've been crazy busy, for reasons which I may or may not make entirely clear sometime soon...cryptic, I know. Anyway, things seems to have calmed down a *wee* bit and I should be back this weekend with some wonderfully delicious recipes to share with you! But until then, won't you pop over to Ravelry, if you're able, and check out all the submissions for the Dye for Glory contest! I'm North Loop Yarn and I've entered the Kettled and Tertiary categories. There are so many gorgeous yarns entered, I can't believe it. So do go check them all out!

:: photo friday :: preparing

I've been dyeing like mad to get ready for Sock Summit! It's no fun dyeing when it's 105 outside, but the results have been worth it - some of my new faves have been dyed in the past week or two. :) Check my Etsy shop for updates on lace yarn - sock yarn will be out until mid-August.

May socks: interlocking leaves

May's socks were knit while partially under the influence of pain, pain medications and muscle relaxants. And now I've learned the hard way that I should never knit one sock while loopy on drugs and the other sock stone cold sober. Because that first sock? Quite a bit larger than the second! Ah well...

The leaf pattern is lovely and I'm looking forward to weather cool enough to wear them! (Sadly, not for many months yet...) They were good socks to knit while home recovering from surgery (aside from the aforementioned drug-induced size difference) - not too complicated, but challenging enough that I wouldn't have felt comfortable whipping them out on the bus every day and trying to remember the pattern. Just a little bit of a bite to keep things interesting.

And now for the details:
Pattern: Interlocking Leaves by the lovely Kelly Porpiglia, who is delightful in real life.
Yarn: Sundara Yarn sock yarn in brambleberry
Needles: US 1½ / 2.5 mm
See mine, on Ravelry

CommuniCrafting

Austin has a pretty great crafty-people scene. This past Thursday I hopped down to the Austin Museum of Art to get my craft on and nibble some tasty tartlets too. (Oh, the tartlets were delish. Gone in seconds...so glad I grabbed one!)

Hoards of crafters converged upon the museum for the CommuniCrafting event to celebrate the  latest releases from Jenny Hart, of Sublime Stitching, and to try our hands at a number of different crafty pursuits. Folks from Austin Fiber Artists were there with needle-felting goodies, Leslie Bonell from Stitch Lab had some sewing-related fun, Rachel Hobson (Average Jane Crafter) showed me a thing or two about embroidery and Kathy Sever from Future Craft Collective had some delightful cut-outs of ponies and turtles that I forgot to sneak into my bag...

For a handful more photos from the event, take a peek at my Flickr set.

:: photo friday :: knit in public

Don't forget to knit in public this weekend. (Or next!) Maybe some new yarn would inspire you? ;)

April socks: Mom's confetti socks

I got a bit behind on photographing and sharing my finished knits lately. I was a little preoccupied this past month. (What with the blinding pain and doctor's visits, followed by spinal surgery and lots of sleeping...no big deal...doing much better...) Anyway, I'm still on track with my goal of knitting a pair of socks every month. April's socks sneaked in just under the wire, having their ends woven in on the very last day of the month.

I must admit. These socks? Don't love 'em. Luckily, they're not for me to keep. I just hope my mom likes them! When I went back home to visit in February, we went yarn shopping, which really meant that I dragged my mom to all the local yarn shops and she humored me by accompanying me and not complaining. At one of them, she spied this yarn and asked me to make her a pair of socks out of it. I, somewhat begrudgingly, agreed and she whipped out her wallet and bought two skeins of Skacel Trampoline right there on the spot.

I wasn't sure what the yarn would look like all knit up, but for whatever reason, I wasn't expecting it to look the way it does! It's very...bright. Also, I had never knit with any sock yarn containing "artificial ingredients" - in this case nylon and polyester - and I can't say I enjoyed the experience. I'm an all-natural girl myself, preferring the look and feel of pure wool.

Mom's confetti socks
Pattern by me, needs some tweaking, which I may or may not bother with...
Yarn: Skacel Trampoline in 233 (red multi)
Needles: US 1½ / 2.5 mm
See mine, on Ravelry

:: photo friday :: a pleasant afternoon

:: knitting Isabella on the lawn, what fun! ::