Sock ER -- New Toes

Today's pair of socks needs some surgery. You can already see a new brown toe on the end of one of these babies. It's partner isn't doing too well.

Look closely at the sock, evaluate its needs. This one has holes AND weak spots. A quick darning of a small hole isn't really an option. It needs a whole new toe & part of the foot reknit.


Find a spot a few rows (rounds) below the weak spots. You don't want to darn into weak yarn as it'll just cause more holes in the future. Snip ONE strand of yarn.


Work that yarn out of the sock stitch by stitch, leaving open loops in your wake. DO NOT FREAK OUT. This is (most likely) WOOL and won't go unraveling on you and leave you with a pile of yarn. The worst that may happen is a stitch may run down one or two stitches. You can deal with it. Really. :)


I find it's easier to unknit this round if I use a smaller knitting needle to help pull the yarn through the stitches.


Snip the yarn tail as you go. Having a shorter tail to pull through means less tugging on the stitches and you'll have less chance of stitches working down a row or more.


After making it around the tube, pat yourself on the back. You've done it! You now have a foot and a separated toe.


Put the loose stitch loops onto knitting needles and knit yourself a new foot and toe!


Scatter the yarn scraps around the yard or near trees where you know birds and squirrels have nests. The critters love wool scraps to make their nests warm and cozy!


I'm off to knit myself a new toe plus a little bit of the foot. I'll share a photo of how to deal with if a stitch has unknit a few rows down too. I didn't have any stitches unravel, but I'll force one to and take pics for you. Be back with toasty toes fresh from the Sock ER soon!

Autumn Glory

Autumn Glory handspun BFL wool yarn by TreasureGoddess


I dearly love the fall. It's my favorite time of the year. Football, cool evenings, WOOL SOCKS, wool EVERYTHING! It's time to pull out the stash of hand knit socks. I'm sure you all have your socks safely stored away, clean and pristine with no holes or weak spots as they've all been darned already, right? If so, you're WAY better than I am. I pulled my pile of socks out. Yes, pile. It was a big hairy pile of socks and only about half of them were cleaned, none of them darned, it was a big mess. I had a hard time pulling out an actual pair that was wearable.

SO these next couple of weeks before the cold sets in I'm going to work to get things ship shape for my tootsies and those of my family. They've all now been washed and are hanging dry. I'll share with you my sock issues and how I plan to deal with them. Maybe it'll help you out too. Maybe it'll inspire you to fix up your woolies. OR inspire you to KNIT some socks for yourself. There's nothing better than putting on a pair of wool socks. nothing!

The only issue I have holding me back from knitting more socks is I have the socks that never end on the needles. NEVER ENDING socks. The husband has decided that he, too, loves handknit wool socks. Wonderful! Except the husband also decided last year that he ONLY loves KNEE HIGH wool socks now. I'm not a fancy schmancy sock knitter. I'm a 3X1 rib sock knitter. It's comforting, easy and fits EVERYONE. No, I'm not doing calf shaping on his socks. I'm just knitting 3X1 rib (Knit 3, Purl 1) FOR freaking EVER! I've actually finished the toe on sock #1 and now have to steel myself to knit a dark grey blah tube yet again.


The only good thing is that my husband picked out bright orangish-red sockyarn for his feet! It's the light at the end of my woolie tunnel. To keep myself from going crazy, I'm rewarding myself by knitting a bit of (what else?) MOHAIR! :) Here's my start to Mohair Bias Loop designed by Churchmouse Yarns & Teas. Everything's better with Mohair!

Bahama Knitting!

Well, we made it. I tell you, we couldn't have picked a more peaceful time for our vacation! We were on the very first flight after the hurricane passed through Marsh Harbour, Bahamas. The airport had power, a few grocery stores had intermittent power, the liquor store had a generator (YAY!) so we did just fine. Jeff's aunt & uncle and their boat all passed through the storm relatively unharmed. They were all a bit worn down, beat up but liveable. We added our survival food & water to the boat's storage, stocked up on some beer & rum and hit the waters. We still had a rainstorm each day, but they passed through pretty quickly.



Everyone was exhausted, so we went to a different small island each day and Jeff and I would snorkel a bit, explore a bit, look for shells and nap. Lots and lots of napping! There's nothing like sitting, knitting on a sailboat while floating in a harbour of teal blue waters. NOTHING! I'm so glad everything worked out for the best, and I have to selfishly say I'm very glad I didn't end up as shark bait either! It was also good that we had a boat to stay on as most of the resorts were closed down while we were there. I think the first shop we saw open was on the day we left.



I finished the short sleeves on my featherweight lace cardi, but never actually wore it as it never got too chilly at night. The rest of the time I knit on my 2nd silk citron out of crafty-in-a-good-way 100% silk. mmmmmmm Have I let you know I'm on a quest to find more of this yarn? If ANYONE knows of more of it, I'm desperate to get my hands on some!! I cant stop knitting citron's out of the stuff and have Christmas presents on my mind!



The sunsets out there were so beautiful, it just took my breath away.


Here's my version of a Bahama sunset, with mohair. Because everything's better with mohair!





I did do some snorkeling and only had one minor freakout. Jeff pointed out there wasn't as many fish out there since most of them had washed or swum to calmer, deeper waters. You'd think that would be a comforting thought, but then I thought about the fish that would be left would be VERY HUNGRY. :) I really belong ON the boat, not IN the water. The rough seas did leave amazing shells on some of the beaches. We came home with a small conch shell for each kid plus a couple for ourselves. The guy in the airport working the xray machine over the bags called me over on the way back to the US. I thought, "oh crap!" to myself. He just said, "Ma'am, did you leave ANY shells on the beach at all?" I said, "yes, all the ugly ones." On the way over, I was randomly selected at ALL THREE airports we passed through for special screening. I was patted down phsyically in KC, had the wand passed over me while I was pulled off to the side in Houston and then my hands were tested for explosives in Ft. Lauderdale. We knitters must look like danger or something.

Thanks again for good thoughts & prayers. I'm SO GLAD Jeff's family AND their boat (their entire livelihood and home) were all OK. We visited the wrecks of the sailboats that stayed in Marsh Harbour while there. It wasn't pretty. No deaths in the Bahamas through the storm, a true miracle!!

floating in paradise

We made it to the boat! Jeff's family is safe and sound and the boat made it through the storm. YAY! The 5 sailboats that stayed in Marsh Harbour are either sunk or crashed onto shore. Jeff's family made the right decision to move their boat to Man Of War's habour. Their boat was roughed up but safe and sound.

The islands have spotty power off & on. We've got a boat full of supplies, food, water and beer! Pretty weather and we should have a nice visit in paradise. I'm hoping there may be some gold doubloons washed ashore from the hurricane.

love to all, thanks for all your prayers for safety for us and our family!! ps, I'm casting off on the 2nd sleeve (I only had to make TWO this time!) I blocked the bulk of the sweater with some steam at our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale last night. I should be wearing it this evening over my sundress. YAY! Not shark bait AND with a FO of malabrigo lace!! How could this day get any better? Oh yeah, I'm in the BAHAMAS mammas!

Fort Lauderdale is Fabulous!

Ok, flights were fine, on time and all. We're in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and it's a beautiful calm evening, 93 degrees when we landed. Heard from Jeff's uncle and they weathered the storm in their friend's house fine. Boat is ok, just messy and everything inside was whirled up and thrown about. Minimal damage. Winds are still 40 mph today, so they're not able to get to Marsh Harbour Island, where we'll fly to tomorrow. We've got a friend of theirs to connect to on the island and we'll figure it out after that.

I didn't knit but a few rows on a very simple, yet lovely mohair & boucle scarf, garter stitch with a ruffle. I slept most of the way here and we even got to spend the evening with my cousin Mary, the Knitter! I'm feeling less like shark bait with every passing moment. It seems we'll have a lovely time in paradise after all, and we'll help clean up and patch up the boat, and live off canned goods (on the boat) and our beef jerky & bottled water (checked bag). If there happens to be a store with food left or a restaurant that reopens, even better. If not, I'll get to knit in paradise with the man that I love NOT on rolling seas. YAY!

I'll talk at you guys later!
Christine, the now only slightly freaked out knitter. :)

heading out

We're off to Ft. Lauderdale today (Friday). We'll make sure we hear from Jeff's uncle and that there's a boat to stay on still and that they can get to us on the airport. I'm not going over without that. We're supposed to fly from FL to Marsh Harbour, Bahamas tomorrow (Sat) around noon.

I'm sure it'll be a paradise after the hurricane goes by. I'm sure I won't be fish food. I'm sure there won't be monster swells even in the protected harbours. I'm sure there won't be looting or crime. I'm sure of it. mostly.

I love you guys. The blog has been such fun and I sure as hell hope I just come back with fabulous new yarny adventures. (Actually I'm pretty sure we'll spend a day and a half sitting in an airport somewhere). I packed rain gear, bikini, wool socks, sundresses, survival gear, food, water, batteries, toilet paper, dramamine and YARN!

I've got mohair, sockyarn and the in progress cardigan. I figure malabrigo & mohair will be calming. :)

PEACE people! I hope to be back Sept 1st with fabulous photos of sandy beaches & sunshine. I can dream, right?

ps, just in case, I gave my kids lots of hugs before I left, but make sure to knit socks for them to grow into and tell them their momma loved them more than yarn!

It's bananas!

My son loaded the image of my Zombie Message banana I gave him onto facebook. His description of the photo is "Evil message my mom wrote on a banana." HA! I didn't actually think it was evil, but when I asked him did he eat it, he said, "well, YEAH, what did you think?"

The magical how-to....just take a new banana and lightly scratch a message on it with a toothpick.


Then magically, it appears the next day. If you use a slightly ripe banana like I did, the writing shows up darker and quicker.


Photos from the Kitchn Blog, which has some great ideas and recipes!

Banana inspired fiber!! Ok, not really. It's actually lemon curd inspired, but it's the only yellow stuff I've got!

I should get an award for the best mom ever. seriously!

After being inspired by the Bloggess's post on bananas, and a few other mom blogs that send cute little notes to their kids in the lunchboxes, I realized there needed to be some middle ground.

You know, there really is a NEED for a way to get the kids to eat the lunch food you prepare for them. Silly uber-moms that pack raisins, tortilla wraps and other healthy things must smile with pride when they think of their healthy little children eating those lunches prepared with mom's love and growing strong little bones and such. Have you ever BEEN in a school lunchroom? Those things are either thrown in the trash or the whole lunch is traded away for a pudding cup.

A GOOD mom would want to ensure her child is actually EATING the food she sent, right? OK. Problem solved.

There! Any child seeing that in their lunchbox would not DARE trash or trade that banana, would they? You'd also be keeping their minds on the important things in life, like preparing for the zombie apocalypse. I was going to write "Zombies LOVE eating kids that eat pudding cups" but figured I'd save that note for another day.

Now this is actually a YARN ADVENTURER type blog, here's what's come out of my dye pots and off the spinning wheel lately.




Bahamas trip update...Jeff's uncle & aunt are on Man of War Island in the Sea of Abaco, the northern most bunch of islands when you look at all the hurricane maps. They're straight east of Ft. Lauderdale. We're waiting and watching updates. Right now flights are still scheduled to arrive 8/27 in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas (when we're scheduled). Flights through 8/26 have been cancelled. Jeff wants to check a bag full of survival supplies, food and water to be the relief effort. I said we're waiting to see what happens first as there's no way I'm flying there not knowing if we'd have a way off that island to find his family and WHO the HELL flies INTO a storm devastated economically poor country immediately after a hurricane anyway? Maybe I should send a message via banana to the husband... "Are you BSC? STAY the hell HOME!" (BSC= Bat Shit Crazy)

Stop it, Irene!!

Cripes almighty. My husband's uncle & aunt own a sailboat in the Bahamas and are currently tied up to a ball floating in Man of War Cay in the Sea of Abaco, waiting for the hurricane to come. They're expecting the storm to hit tomorrow (Wed) and they'll weather it on the water.

Our flights are of course non refundable or changeable. Guess we're waiting to see how bad the hurricane is and if it's passed through yet by Friday morning.

Hang in there Steve & Kim!! or should I say HANG ONTO SOMETHING!! Sure is different watching hurricanes brewing when you have people you know & love in the path. And, a bit selfishly I admit, when you may or may not be heading directly into the aftermath.

Sleevequest 2011

I'm leaving for the bahamas 3.5 days from now. I've slacked off a bit on my featherweight cardigan that I began just for this trip. It's a super fast vacation with my husband, a little 2nd honeymoon escape, and we're only bringing one carry-on bag and a small backpack. Good thing yarn squooshes, huh? I thought this would be the ideal cardi for this trip as it's soft, lightweight, squishes up to almost nothing since it was knit with laceweight yarn, is MALABRIGO BABY, and it matches all of my sundresses that I'm bringing. It can get a little chilly on the boat in the early morning and late evenings.



Only problem? NO SLEEVES. cripes. I kept thinking I had a couple more weeks, a couple more weeks, um HOLY CRAPAMOLY! SO I've got a few evenings ahead plus plane rides on the way. I have this ISSUE with sleeves. I don't like them and they don't like me. The last sweater I knit sleeves for had THREE by the time I was done. SO, I can either figure that there's no way in holy hell I will have 2 sleeves knit in laceweight yarn with 1X1 ribbed cuffs and just wear some crappy heavy thing. OR I could wear it as is, which quite honestly does look bad without actual sleeves. I think I'm just going to knit my living ass off and enjoy this floaty heavenly soft cardigan WITH SLEEVES!



Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it.

And, as always, we've got family staying at our house, so no freaky stash stealers come over please. PLUS we've got a new guard dog. Well, she guards my ankles as she sleeps at my feet while I knit, but I'm SURE if she knew my stash (or kids) were being threatened, she'd go insane.

mmmmmohair!

I think I must've just cooked my brain. I spent at least half the vacation at the lake carding mohair, spinning mohair (with a crap-ton sitting on my lap), mohair floating through the air, and then KNITTING with mohair. It was fabulous. Fabulously hair, fluffy and mohairy.





This scarf is my own design, but is VERY simple, basically just garter stitch forever and a ruffled edge at each end. I'll publish a free pattern for it shortly. :)

I will say I didn't break into any of the other batches of mohair to knit, I got distracted by some sunset colored hand painted 100% silk by Crafty in a Good Way Andrea. HOLY CRAP that woman could dye yarn!! Too bad she's off saving the world by being a nurse. *sigh* I'm now on a mission to unearth all the rest of her 100% silk yarn. If you have any sitting in your stash, it really REALLY wants to be knit up by me. I cast on, finished and then cast on a 2nd Citron. You haven't citron-ed until you've citron-ed in 100% silk. yummy doesn't even begin to describe it.





Color is most true in the close-up of the ruffled edge. Yes, there may be a theme going on, I just can't get enough of the ruffle!

I was just cranking out the knits at the lake. Here's the start of my Featherweight Cardigan out of malabrigo lace. It's so soft to knit that I'm loving just holding it in my hands as I knit. Plain old stockinette is a dream to knit along.





I should go to the lake for three weeks more often!

Field Trip!

This is the pet emu at Sumptuous Yarns just outside of Versailles, Missouri. I can't remember his name, but he's quite friendly. A pet emu. How cool is that???





These guys & gals were hanging out in the shade, since it was 99 degrees the day we went and visited the farm. The little goat looking critters are the jacob sheep. They and the alpacas had recently been shorn, so I'm sure they were much happier dealing with the heat this way. It sounds like they behave a lot like goats too, eating everything in sight and work their way through the fences whenever they're able.

Since I just happened to arrive after shearing time, I left there with a jacob fleece of my very own. :) YAY! After getting back to the lakehouse, I realized I had a bigger job than I'd realized. I also wished I'd paid more attention way back at my first yarn school, when I first saw Nikol pulling out a fleece, showing how to skirt it & wash it & all that. I remember walking away at that point of my first yarn school, thinking to myself, "What kind of FREAK would EVER buy a RAW fleece with the Crappy parts of it all still attached?!?" Apparently THIS kind of freak. ha! I also hated sparkle my first yarn school, and worked the entire time to come home sparkle free. Now I've EMBRACED THE SPARKLE...just WAIT till you see the batts I've been cranking out!

Here's a few photos pre-washing & pre-skirting. I have to say I'm sure I threw out more than the bare minimum due to not having a freaking clue what I was doing combined with it being 99 degrees with 66% humidity. OK calm down to all you true fiber people out there. I didn't actually throw it away, as in the trash. I distributed it up a hill that's full of birdhouses. I'm sure it'll line the nests for winter. (actually I just walked up the hill and heaved it out there but I was feeling all nature-ish)







After my own version of skirting, I filled the washing machine with warm water, swished some dawn dish detergent around in it, put in the locks and let it soak. Spun it out, hauled it out of there, then repeated the process 3 more times, then with just plain water once. It's dried and fluffy as heck. I can't WAIT to spin it up, but think it'll have to wait until I'm back home in the air conditioning.

Fiber (and family) Vacation at the Lake!

We're heading out for a long stay at the lake. We have people staying in our house while we're gone, one of whom is rather large and burly, so no freaky people need to come & cause havoc!

It's officially a "family" vacation. BUT one that I got to bring as much fiber as I wanted (or would fit) into the van & trailer. Ready to load up is one spinning wheel, one drum carder, one large skeiner because I'm NOT using a little niddy noddy for all that handspun, one large tub crammed with baggies of locks, roving, wool, alpaca, llama, SPARKLE, mohair and other fluffy things. And each of our bags of food may or may not have bags of fiber crammed below the cans & boxes. I was feeling quite Yarn Harlot-y while packing as I found remarkable places you can stuff fiber for this trip. If I even process 1/100th of what I brought it should be a haul.

Now, there should be lots of this...



and some of this...


plenty of this...


I packed an unbelievable crap ton of mohair for knitting, because who doesn't love knitting mohair in 100+ degree hot, humid weather? I actually have, um, SEVEN different projects worth of mohair packed. And one 100% silk lace project.


I also plan to do a ton of drum carding & spinning on the screened in porch in my bikini in between dips in the lake. No photos of that. You're welcome.

I hope to have interesting scenery for the next few blog posts. Enjoy, stay cool my friends!

WHEEE! LYS in KC has spinning fiber now!!!

The Studio KC now has spinning fiber!! It has some beautiful bfl from Mountain Colors combed tops of targhee/bfl wool, some amazing hand painted wool braids from J Wray Co and some luxury combed tops including baby alpaca/merino/silk, BFL, superwash merino and superwash merino/tencel from ME! TreasureGoddess hand painted fibers!!! SQUEEEEEEEE!

It's so nice to have a local shop with some spinning goodies to feel & squoosh & smell & see in person without having to find a fiber festival or drive to Lawrence.

Please go see and squoosh for yourself. I'm loving that the Studio is really pulling in some nice quality spinning goodies right here in KC!

It is mine!! Mine, mine, alllll mine! (insert evil laughter here)

At the Yarn U event at Lebanon, MO this weekend, I got me a drum carder!! WHEEEEEEEEE! Imagine the photo above, but with a sweet brush attachment and covered in brown & cream llama fiber. LOTS of LLAMA! I also bought a bag of a washed llama blanket from Whirlwind Ranch.

It's a beautiful thing, made by Hogge Millwork in Iowa. I'd been looking at the ashland drum carders for some time, but both my husband and I were impressed by the woodwork and precision of this creation. We'll see how it holds up. So far, it's amazing!

Also, it's 7-11 Day! Can I get another Woo Hoo? WOO HOO! Get yourself to a 7-11 for a free slushie! Click HERE to find a store near you. I'm thinking a coke & cherry icee sounds like a perfect breakfast for a day that's going to be 148 degrees outside. :)

Better photos soon, I promise!