What is it with me and spaghetti?

So, I was drooling over the new Knitty Spring and loving the little Shetland Shorty. I coveted for a moment, picked yarn (Harlotty in lightweight from BMFA), swatched (YES, shut up)and settled in. I have a technique for figuring out how long to make the tail for long tail cast on. I get to where I have the right number of stitches in my swatch ( frog until I got the right number) and then use that length of yarn as a guide for how much yarn to use for the long tail cast on. I have a largish amount of yarn left over but on the long side, not the disastrous not-enough-yarn-to-finish-the-last-three-stitches side. Anyway, that was the beginning of my troubles because I cast on with wrong size needles and failed to note that gauge was in garter stitch(frog/2=shorty/0). I cast on, I knit 9 rows in garter stitch, I short rowed impeccably, I got ready to do some lace...aaaaand miss read the instructions as k2, yo2, k2-frog/3. Then, I carefully re-read the instructions; k2tog, yo2, k2tog. Right, got it. So I plow ahead, and I'm knitting, and knitting and knitting and I'm counting my stitches and I'm WAAAAAAY over. Hmm, says I...well, humans to get wider as they go up, I'm sure it's all part of the pattern...and I knit....and knit... and I'm finding that I'm cramming a TON of stitches on the needle. I'm like, "there is NO WAY this is working out." I count again and get to 144 (the number I should have had) maybe a tenth of the way through the total stitches I have...I look at the instructions AGAIN. Y'all I've been knitting for 30 dam years and expect that I would know better. Anyway, the rate at which the clarity hit me should have caused a sonic boom. It's k2tog, yo2, k2tog REPEAT. So, in line it looks like k2tog, yo2, k2tog, k2tog, yo2, k2tog, yeah, so I increase something like 50 stitches PER ROW.



Then, (I know, I'm a glutton for punishment) I frogged (frog/4=shorty/0) picked up those same stitches from the last garter stitch row for the 5th time got to the end of the second row and my count was off. I. just. freaked. Like, I actually made my husband sit and listen to my tirade. The Shorty is hiding from me right now, I don't know if I could find it if I wanted to...I think I may have said some things that were a bit out of line, but can you blame me?

Anyway...

Now that it's the 21st of June, I'm working on my Summer of Socks socks. This is my first time doing two socks on two circs. I kept messing up on the cast-on, whatever, I'm the frickin Frog Queen now...still, they look pretty and i love watching toes grow...*sigh*

Ok, maybe not tomorrow...

I just realized that I said I'd show you my second crack at hand-spinning, 'tomorrow, maybe' and that was over a week ago, sorry :) It was a gift from the lovely exclusivelylindalee on Etsy. I had ordered some fabulous roving and this was my, 'first time' ordering present...Thanks Linda! Of course I couldn't decide what to do with it. I started making a gift bag but I just didn't like the color change so now I think I'll make a couple of these little 'Dust Bunnies'. It's a pattern from Mochimochi Land (hmmm, I'm sensing a trend ). I bet The Cheese will love them!

I finished the green sweater. It fits nicely and I actually like the look of it on me. Of course, now that summer is here, it's 111 degrees F and so the sweater languishes until "winter" here or I visit a place that has reasonable temperatures.

Summer of Socks starts this weekend, I'm not sure what to do first. Maybe I'll restart the Lucky socks. I want to do the Spring Forward socks in Shrinking Violet...what are you guys going to knit?

I also (since I'm totally not a joiner) signed up for the UFOlympics. I have one project to finish but it's frickin huge so I think it is an Olympic task (or at least Herculean :) I want to finish the charity-blanket-that-still-has-no-name-but-Hercules-could-be-good. Yeah, I know you're supposed to have four people to knit on it at a time but I just don't have that many right now so, I'm going to give it a go -stop laughing. No, really!

Post light.

Interestingly enough for me, this will be a picture less post! Weird, I know. I feel comfortable that you will all live as my flickr badge is down on the side there and you can go look at all the knitting you want.
So, this weekend was yarn crawl weekend with the lovely and impeccable knitters I met at Sock Camp whom are in the area. They arrived on Saturday morning and the yarn-y debauchery ensued shortly thereafter. We managed four local yarn shops (Tempe Yarn and Fiber, Fiber Factory, Knitting in Scottsdale and Jessica Knits), yummy Mexican food and plenty of show and tell! We barbecued that night (not that I think any of us were hungry :), worked on the charity blanket-that-still-has-no-name and then Sunday morning there was time for a little more shopping before they were off. Whirlwind for sure but also so much fun. Thanks guys!!
Now, it's quiet time. I spun up some of the goodies that I got from Linda and I'll show that off tomorrow, maybe. One extra excellent thing is that I'm a mere 9 more rounds on the sweater-that-will-not-end. SO, I got that going for me, which is nice.

Two and a half...

When I was finished spinning my first singles, I had about two and a half ounces of yarn. I wasn't really sure what to do with it...I wanted something nice, that I could keep with me because it's my first and I want to be able to admire it without having to worry about it getting ruined. So, I started with a scarf. The stockinette showed off the yarn and I loved how the colors were striping. butbutbut. I just didn't love it. It was curling, and it was so thin and still I was sure it wasn't going to be very long at all. So, rippit I did. And my yarn then became this...

Ain't he cute? The pattern is called Grass and it's free from one of my favorite little shops, Mochimochi Land. I need to get him some eyes and maybe a nose or mouth, not sure. I also took the remaining 'scarf' and made an iTouch cover with it...sigh, NOW I'm happy.

So, the other two and a half thing that happened was this. While shopping on Etsy, I had a little confusion happen and ended up getting a refund. The gal whose shop I had visited was very nice and sweet and explained everything and it all turned out fine. She even offered me a discount should I decide to shop with her in the future. I was satisfied and thought nothing more of it. Until yesterday. When I got this...

...two and a half ounces of a cotton/rayon yarn with beautiful color variegation. I was so smitten!!! She had written a lovely note and included the coupon for my discount. So, I did what any fiber addict would do, I went shopping. I found some amazing fiber called Nutmeg (sorry, I bought it all) but take a look ( Exclusively By Linda Lee ) and see if you find anything you like, I assure you she's a great person to do business with! Back to smitten; so smitten was I that I immediately turned my gift of yarn into this...

(Click to biggify any of the pics)

The cool part is that I did it 'off the cuff', 'sans pattern' and only being able to find one handle and THIS is what I had left...

I'm really liking two and a half (now if that was just my pant size I'd be SET!!!!!)

And the winner is....

...by an overwhelming 100% (!!!!) add new (even if it's possibly a slightly different hue) to both ends of Baby Blanket if it isn't long enough!!! If you're scratching your head, go here :)

I have many things to review and may have to break this up so bear with me if you can :)
First things first,

The following is the May edition of the Rockin' Sock Club and it. is. GORGEOUS. I'll just shut up and let the yarn do the talking...

That having been said, and shown...what is it with me and spaghetti lately...

Anyway, I couldn't do it (the toe that is, it's a provisional cast on, short row jobber)....even after taking classes with the venerable Cat Bordhi, I still can't do that stupid thing where you pick up the yarn overs and seamlessly blend them in...you know, because I don't have the book detailing the technique and there isn't ANYTHING on the Internet about it...
I frogged it twice and then I decided I need to meditate on the whole thing. This is where my glorious new socks are right now...

So the other thing is that I finished spinning my very first ever batt of yarn...beginners luck or wad-y pile?

I wound it on a plastic cone,

Steamed the sh*t out of it,
And let it dry on the swift to be wound into a cutie little cake, presented forthwith...
I was going to make something small, it's only 2 and 3/8 ounces. First I thought about a scarf...
I seldom wear them but I love to make them. I may have 10 or so that have rarely seen the light of day...then (gasp, shock, *sigh*) I stopped; it just wasn't right...more on that later...could be that my delicate little newling will hit the frog pond with the velocity of a raptor.

On a lighter note, tomorrow, I have a lovely story to share with you...