Who has time to knit?

I’ve come to the sad realization that I rarely have time to knit anymore. I miss it.

Between the day job, Dragonfibers, eating and sleeping, cat mommy duties and other misc hobbies/tasks I find myself saddled with there is less and less time in my day for the simple pleasures of knitting and spinning.

I made a decision the other night to spin some Dragonfibers merino tencel roving to start whittling down the fiber stash. Thankfully the fiber stash is much smaller than the yarn stash. It takes up more space but if you’re counting number of items the yarn stash wins by a landslide.

Damn that stuff is slippery. I have visions of navajo plying this when it is complete so I’m aiming for thin singles and I’m spinning it end to end. Hopefully this will give me some nice long color repeats.

As for knitting. Well right now I have about 5 active WIPs on the needles.

1: Moderne log cabin blanket-stalled at the end of section 4.

2: Bus sock 2-just past the heel on the 2nd sock.

3: Seasocks sock yarn shawl-languishing

4: Linen stitch Manos Silk/Merino scarf-stalled

5: Sakura shawl-frogged and restarted.

About the only item from that list that I can see getting completed anytime soon is the Bus Sock2. I want a new sock for June commuting so that means I need to finish this one up before Monday June 2nd. After seeing Pam’s recent RPM socks I think that might be a perfect candidate for bus knitting.

Everything else on my WIP list are items I really want to finish but maybe it is the approach of summer that makes me question the sanity of knitting shawls, scarves and blankets right now.

What should I work on?

Should this be the summer of socks?

Next step..raising the sheep myself?

A while back you may remember this little bundle of fiber.

That was the first Well Heeled Batt to come off the drumcarder (now named Q).

A little while later there was this.

4oz of 3ply handspun at approximately 390yards.

The finished yarn languished for about 2 months before I realized what I wanted to do with it. I loved the yarn and was so proud of the spinning that I wanted the knitting of the socks to be special (yes I’m just that dorky).

Then came Seasocks. What better occasion to pull out the handspun and make it a truly memorable knit? The yarn was wound and sat ready to be cast on.

In order to make this a truly Seasocks pair of socks I didn’t cast on until we were waiting to board the ship. So I sat in the terminal with another 2000 cruise-goers and pulled out the needles.

It was wonderful.

I knit and I knit and then I knit some more. All the while other more intricately designed/colored socks were being knit around me and still I knit on my simple green heathered stockingnette socks. 

By Monday afternoon sock #1 was nearing completion.

Here it is enjoying the brisk cold air up in Glacier Bay. We were approaching the Hubbard Glacier so we were all on deck waiting to see the view. 

By Tuesday morning sock #2 was on the needles.

Here it is hanging out on a large rock near the Mendellhall Glacier near Juneau. 

The second sock seemed determined to be done and shortly before dinner on Wednesday night (our last formal night) it was done.

Check out that dorky grin! (photo shamelessly pilfered from Trillian42)

Why am I so proud of such simple socks? 

They are a product of so many firsts…first of the luxury sock batts for Dragonfibers (hand dyed and hand carded by moi)…first true fingering weight 3ply…first time using Harmony DPNs…first cruise…first time to Alaska…

All in all these simple heathered green socks are my personal little memento of the trip. Yarn bought on vacation is always a great thing and believe me I took that to heart but this was something uniquely mine. I touched so many steps in it’s creation that even if these socks were not knit for me I feel they would still be mine.

I’m now the incredibly proud owner of my very own Sea Socks.

 

I’ll try to keep it short and sweet

The entire cruise was such a whirlwind of activity that I don’t think I can summarize it into a post that most of you will find even remotely interesting.

Thursday before the cruise was spent picking up Pam and Stephie at the airport where we got to put our collective brains together to figure out how to fit 4 adults and 5 suitcases in my VW Golf. It kind of looked like the knitter version of a clown car.

Once the car was unloaded and everyone could breathe we then all piled back into the car along with Sharon for a trip to Weaving Works and their Mother’s Day Sale. 

Friday before the cruise was spent at Little Knits. I love going there but damn it is hard to walk in there if you’re on a yarn diet. Sue was amazing as always and let us invade her space without blinking an eye. It’s a good thing she lives on the other side of Seattle from me otherwise I think I would be there way more often. As it was I spent my time at Little Knits getting introduced to this thing call Malabrigo.

 

I’ve never been a huge fan of non-plied yarns for some reason but these might be the yarns to change all that. I honestly have no clue what to do with them but they are oh so purty. The Silky Merino was still in a box and it is entirely possible that some of us took upon ourselves to help “unpack”.

Thankfully I decided to leave my new yarn purchases at home instead of packing them in my suitcase. We had checked in everyone’s bags at 11.30am on Friday. Everyone got their bags by dinner that night…except me. By midnight I had filed a missing bag report, by 3.30am there was still no bag to be found. I was told it must have been left behind and I would get it at the next port…on SUNDAY!  Needless to say I was a little unhappy about this. Then at 8.30am we get a call from our room attendant who wants to know if we are missing a bag. I swear I hugged that bag when it showed up.

The rest of the cruise went a lot smoother after the bag fiasco. I’m very thankful I don’t get seasick because the weather was really rough on some folks. The cabin was a lot roomier than I expected for a quad. We really expected to be crammed in there like sardines but they really design the cabins for maximum storage potential considering the size of the room.

I had a wonderful birthday in Ketchikan but that will be a separate blog post.

There was Quivet.

The LYS said someone bought 6oz of Quivet fiber but I never did find out which Seasocker did that. I’m guessing she kept her identity secret so we wouldn’t steal her suitcases.

There was a great toe-up class from Chrissy Gardiner where I got to learn her hybrid heel. I have vowed to use it in my next pair of socks. I never did make it to the top down class that Heather was teaching. The sock yarn shawl class with Amy was great and her No Sheep class was even better.

The Hubbard Glacier was stunning, we got incredibly close to it so the view was spectacular. It was also hellishly cold (go figure) but totally worth it.

Pam and Stephie enjoying the brisk cool air up by the glacier 🙂

I’m sure others in the group will blog about the cruise in greater detail so I will probably stop here unless I suddenly remember something so incredibly cool about the cruise that I just HAVE to share with you.

Everyone stayed a few extra days after the cruise got back into Seattle so I was able to show them a little of Seattle. Hopefully there was still a lot left to see so they will come back and visit again.

I had a blast and the vacation was just what I needed. Even though at time it felt more exhausting than everyday life it was something I’m glad I didn’t miss.

Now if you don’t mind I’m going to take a little nap so I can rest up before joining the real world tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to reality

Seasocks was AWESOME!!!!

It might take me a few days to put my thoughts together but I had so much fun. It’s good I’m not prone to seasickness since the weather was putting on a show for us. You kind of had to have fun with it and the joke was we were walking around like we were drunk but without all the booze. It takes some serious waves to make a cruise ship that size rock and roll like that but damn it was fun.

Here are just a few pics to tide you over until I can blog about this completely.

Quivut display at The Yarn Shoppe in Ketichikan. Drool

The sock nearing the Hubbard Glacier. Beautiful and oh so freaking cold! Go figure. 

A sign on the door at The Yarn Shoppe. I think it became my motto for the entire trip.

I had a great time but I’m also so glad to be home. The kitties had a good visit with my parents and now they are back to exploring the apt again and making it home again.