Boy, I got too busy at the end of school then the Holiday rush. I did not post the rest of my Advent openings or my Advent socks. Here goes in one big post. I now wish that I had posted daily.
As a reminder, the Advent boxes with fiber related items are ones that I packed for myself. I did several of them months ago, and while I remembered a few items, I did succeed in happily surprising myself.
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15
Day 16
Day 17
Day 18
Day 19
Day 20
Day 21
Day 22
Day 23
Day 24 & 25
Opened these on the 24th, as we were heading out to spend the Holiday weekend with our daughter.
And here is most of the items all put together:
This was fun to have something to open every day. I made myself knit the daily stripe on the Advent sock before I allowed myself to open any packages.
I did get carried away with the daily yarn Advent, especially given that I had nothing in mind to knit with them. While I love the colors and transitions, I would only do this again with a pattern in mind, and knit each day.
Here is the total Hue Loco transition, I absolutely love it. Thinking of a simple garter stitch Faroese shawl to show off all the beautiful colors. The boxes were very cute to open.
And here is the Moonglow yarn Advent. I had not planned on purchasing a second one, but when I heard the word Rainbow, I was hooked. These were all small numbered bags inside a larger tote, and came with a large skein of white yarn for accent.
Where it all started at the beginning of September.
I started knitting these socks for my SIL last week. He has large feet, so they were a lot of knitting on the foot. We went away for the weekend and I took the newly started second pair to work on. While knitting in the car, I quickly realized that I had forgotten the first sock to match. No matter, as I had the pattern and color changes easily memorized, so I started knitting the second pair. When we got home, I looked and looked for the first sock. Even my husband helped, but it was nowhere to be found. I knew that it was in the house somewhere. This befuddled me, and I had a restless sleep over a lost sock, but kept knitting away on the second.
I have plenty of orphan socks from the washing machine, but this was a first to lose one of the socks as I was knitting up the pair. I normally keep them together in the same knitting bag.
I finally resorted to my friend Becky’s all-time cure for finding lost objects. Say the following while turning around 3 times.
“Tony, Tony turn around I’ve lost the sock and it cant be found.”
I had to text Becky to say that it wasn’t working, and with her review while I was sitting in bed, low and behold there was the sock. Sitting amongst the patterned cover on my husband’s side of the bed. He had been sleeping beneath it for the past 2 nights! Luckily neither he nor the cats were stabbed by the darning needle that was still hooked in the toe.
It was like a “Where’s Waldo event. This made me so happy.
This is the 4th of my #BackyardChicken socks from #HueLoco. There is still a bag more of roosters and hens to come. The yarn is the Swedish Flower Hen. There were lots of photos, but I thought this looked the closest to how she dyed the yarn.
It is knitting up a little pinker than I had thought it would. I am trying to knit each of these Chicken socks a little differently. I opted for cuff stripes and alternating toe colors. Here is my progress thus far.
I am alternating the purple adn green stripes from sock to sock. The toes will also be alternate colors. Should have them finished in plenty of time for Christmas.
I have now finished through Day 12 of the Advent box, yarn sets and striped sock yarn, I want to find a pattern for the Advent mini-skeins. School is winding down, and I think that I will have time now to start one of the Advent mini-skeins. the Hue Loco one is calling me. My afternoon is searching for that perfect pattern.
Day 9
Day 10
These were Alpaca socks that I bought at the Michigan Fiber Fest last summer. Will be very cozy for the winter.
Day 11
Koigu skein of yarn, pretty Christmas colors. Destined to become a pair of fingerless mitts.
Day 12
I have not finished the 12th Advent stripe on the socks. Normally I knit top down socks, and have my lengths down to a science. Starting at the toe is not my go-to and I am not sure where exactly to put the salvage yarn to do the after-thought heel. I am thinking mid-point of the day 11 stripe. Still muddling this over. And the Herman the German roasted almonds are one of my favorite treats!
I need to catch up on my Adventing. I continue to surprise myself with what I put into the Advent re-used box.
Day 5
And the Advent self-striping socks from Cozy Knitter. This is absolutely the best Advent item. It is a very busy time of the year for me, and I can always find the time to knit 4 rows on the 2 pairs of socks. By Christmas, I will have a pair of socks to gift out. As a bonus, this yarn will make 2 pair of Advent socks. I still have the remainder from last year to knit up.
Day 6
Yummy caramels
Day 7
Needle point guards, and more beautiful mini-skeins.
Day 8
One of many Coco Knits products, stitch markers. And the Moonglow rainbow continues.
After a hiatus of many years (weddings and then Covid), we finally returned to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. The weather was beautiful, and the sheep events and markets as we had previously experienced. Since I did not take any classes, we went only for Saturday, and stayed the night at one of our favorite B&B’s, the Hamilton House in Whitewater. Highly recommended.
We went through the vendors first, and then off to watch some sheep judging competitions
Next was the sheep dog trials. The event we watched was the open event with a lot of young dogs, none finished the course. Next year we need to time it to see the more experienced dogs. I am still amazed at how they are able to train the dogs to move the sheep.
And then it was back to the Market, this time to shop. I must admit that I was disappointed in the dimished quantities of spinning fibers. I was happy to see Handspun by Stefania there. Her booth was much smaller, but still amazing what she does with natural dyes. I did not end up purchasing anything, as I still have some of her fiber in my stash, but here is a little eye candy:
There were a lot of booths with kitchen sink dyers. I find that most have limited color theory knowledge and their combinations do not appeal to me. I found a vendor that I have purchased from extensively in the past, and was not wowed by their selection either. So, I purchased very little. This reproduction of a mid-1800’s loom was amazing.
These are the only 2 skeins that I purchased. A beautiful robins egg blue skein from Why Not fibers, near Traverse City, MI. They have been at YarnCo in past years and said that they were excited to be coming back in 2023. I think that this will make a beautiful shawl, my photo does not do the color justice.
All of these yarns are made from fiber that was raised in Michigan or another Great Lake State and then processed at one of our local Mills. These yarns are very special and limited in quantity based on the micro scale production of them. These yarns are a labor of love for us and other small businesses locally.
The only other yarn that I purchased was this fingering weight Yak yarn from Tibet, from Reywa Fibers. This is destined to be a shawl for me.
Reywa means “hope” in the Tibetan language, and the desire to be a catalyst for hope is what drives our company vision. Our passion is to see Tibetan people benefit directly from the development and sale of the fiber their animals produce, enabling families to live healthy lives, full of hope for the future. With an emphasis on Education, Reywa profits have sponsored several children of Tibetan families. As Reywa grows, our ability to impact Tibetan communities will grow as well.
Lastly, I purchased a lovely leather bag from Muud. It is a great storage bag, with lot’s of compartments, and the yarn can come out between the 2 zippers. This was my splurge at the Festival. It reminds me of a vintage travel cosmetic bag.
Sunday was a rainy, dreary day. On our way home, we stopped by Beloit College and were able to tour The Poewerhouse, a repurposed community powerhouse into an amazing student center by Gang Studios.
Finally, after a 4 year hiatus, I was able to return with Dan to the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival (why do people always want to get married on this weekend?!). We drove up and back in one day, something that we are not going to repeat, it is so much more enjoyable to stay overnight and not have the nighttime driving. It was a long day, but fun.
Sheep judging, interesting as always
There was a different sheep shearer than we had seen in the past. Amazing how docile the sheep get when put on their backs.
And we got to see a new sheep breed being introduced to the US, Valais Blackness, a breed from Switzerland. Look at that fleece! Apparently it is a coarse wool, I wonder if it is like Churro sheep. This was the hit of the fair for breeders. They are so cute also.
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We also watched the sheep dog trials, which is so fascinating. I am not sure how they train the dogs so well. My photos were not great of that event.
And then, on to the market. The first year that I went to this event in 2010, the market overwhelmed me. I was a brand new spinner, taking my first class up there, and picking up my first wheel, the Ashford traditional. That didn’t stop me from ogling over other wheels at the fair. There were several vendors selling wheels, and so many with big bags of beautiful fleece and roving that you could buy in whatever quantity you chose. By the next year, I had my eye on a Jensen wheel that was on display at the fair, and finally got it that winter, I still love my Jensen. The Traditional was sold right after I got the Jensen, and I still have my Ashford Joy for traveling, both great wheels.
The market, while still occupying both of the large barns, was different. There were the weaving and knitting and dyed fleece, but much less emphasis on spinning and I only saw one vendor with 2 big bags of roving. That was a bit of a disappointment for me.
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Fiber Optic, my favorite dyer for roving was there, as they have been for the last several years. I hesitate to admit how much of her roving I have in my stash waiting to be spun up, so I was not looking at that. However, I have never knit with her sock yarn, and this seemed like a good time to purchase it, especially after my Clown Barf experience. The owner, Kimber Baldwin, has a degree in Chemistry, and a great sense of color. Plus, if you don’t like the outcome you can call her and return it!
Their yarn seems to be more popular now than the roving. One day I will make it down to her shop, which looks amazing. I purchased yarn for 3 pairs of socks. the deep red/brown color is what Dan chose for himself.
I have already wound up the multi-color.
My purchases also were for my Ravelry birthday twin, and then a new book for myself:
It is a lovely book, and I looked through it thoroughly. Happily adding it to my stitch dictionary collection.
Oh, this post post makes me nostalgic! I went to this show for the first time last year – drove all the way out there (2.5 days each way) for a Ravelry meet up. We had a blast, and I got a Fiber Optic braid which spun up beautifully! I am glad you made it back and had fun, got some goodies!
Clown barf, this term was illuminated to me by both a reader of this blog, and a fellow Stitch ’n Bitch knitter, when I expressed dismay at how these socks had been knit up.
They look nothing like what I thought they would, nor nothing like how they were described. This was from Bumblebee Acres.
I bought this yarn, and others at the local Indy dyer yarn fair, Yarn Con, that I have been attending for years. This year, I bought 3 skeins of sock yarn, only 1 pleased me, and that was from Lorna’s Laces.
I loved these socks, and they were gifted to my DIL.
So, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to tackle the last of the YarnCon purchases. This is what the yarn looked like before being wound. From Mode Knit Yarn.
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Let’s just say, that I was sorely disappointed with the results when knit up. The only reason that these even got finished is that I wanted my beloved signature needles for my next project. Amazing how you can knit fast just because you hate something so much and want to finish it. I find the colors combination awful, dreary and poorly thought out. How is that for a non-reccomendation?
I am done with kitchen sink dyers. Tomorrow, I will post my newest sock yarn purchases which I am sure will please me. Staying with the tried and true.
tonymarkp
6:12 pm on September 15, 2018 Permalink
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It’s amazing how taste can differ from knitter to knitter. I love how your second pair of socks came out with the colors in the Mode Knit (I had never heard of this yarn, so thanks for talking about it.) The textured pattern still shows up pretty well. The title of your post reminded me (and made me crack up laughing) about when I was a teenager and it was cool to say “doing the technicolor yarn,” like if someone got sick at school.
I don’t agree about the yarns! It might be that the patterns you chose didn’t work well in your eyes… I find that with this kind of yarn the number of stitches really matters. Too many and the striped don’t line up. Often two more or fewer will make all the difference. Note the heels, and see if you like how they striped, then next time do a bit of swatching to get the magic number.
After a summer of not posting (where did all the free time go to?), I am back again and determined to make this a more regular occurrence.
In all of my travels this summer, I was making socks and a shawl (details on the shawl to come later). I accomplished 3 pairs of socks, in addition to the travel shawl and finishing some projects over the summer. Alas, no spinning or weaving though. All of these socks were orphans most of the summer, as I started something new for each trip, not wanting to get caught without a project in hand. Both of these socks were knit with yarn that I purchased from a fellow knitter’s destash. The price was definitely right.
The first pair of socks was knit with JaWoll (my favorite sock yarn), this time in a cotton blend. this is a simple 1×1 ribbed cuff, with a K3, P1 for the body. I love how this sock hugs your foot.
I used an army green superwash wool for the heels, and mixed the red and green for the toes. These socks make me happy.
My next pair of socks was a simple 1×1 twisted rib. This yarn was not fun to knit with and I persevered with the second sock, determined to finish them. The yarn was very splitty and difficult to knit with. It does have a nice hand to it, but I will not be purchasing this in the future.
Heels and toes were done with a dark green yarn to accent the colors, I was nervous about having enough yarn, and I was correct in adding the contrasting yarn. Not to mention that it looks much better. I do like the variegation, and how the socks match, but not really.
I have never seen this sock yarn in a local store, but will make a note to myself not to purchase it.
Your socks are very pretty. I like the contrasting heels and toes. I am also knitting a pair with k3p1 ribbing all the way to the toes. It does make the socks fit better than just knitting.
My beloved Dale of Norway has decided to close their North American operations.
This makes me so sad, I learned how to knit Fair Isle with DoN, and it has been my go-to yarn for baby sweaters for years and years. The Baby Ull is the softest, best wearing baby yarn, and the colors were always amazing and vivid. When DoN decided last year to only sell to one distributor in the US, Heart of the Mitten, that was a big red flag. Little did I know that the relationship with them would last less than a year. So sad. Luckily, as access to these yarns have become more and more difficult over the years, and I love to knit baby sweaters, I have been purchasing them whenever I see them available, particularly when they are on sale. My stash of Baby Ull is quite extensive, almost yarn shop quantities I sheepishly admit. But that did not stop me from purchasing a few more while they were still available.
And, if any of you like the DoN books, which I must say are amazing, you can purchase them while they last for $1/each at the Heart of the Mitten. I took advantage of that to add to my already extensive library.
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I do have a couple of DoN ski sweaters that I knit, and for the Olympic sweaters, they came with a patch. I will miss looking for what is available for the next winter Olympics. A friend is visiting Norway right now and was going to stop at the DoN store, I will be curious to see what she finds there.
I wondered what would happen there. A shame, it is lovely yarn. But a great reason to go to Norway! And I presume we can pay shipping fees and still get it from overseas? And I have a nephew in Copenhagen… I presume it is still available in Denmark? He’s going to get some strange requests now!
My mother just found this out. She has knit Dale sweaters, hats, mittens, and socks over the years. She went to her local shop to knit another Dale sweater in search of the yarn and learned this just yesterday. It’s so sad to hear this. The owner sold her what she thought was comparable but can return it if it doesn’t work out. Have you found something that works well that is similar?
Lorna’s Laces has traditionally been a solid go-to yarn. It is soft and squishy, and wears well. In past years, I have purchased yarns that were seconds at their loft studio. The colors in this yarn really spoke to me. When I knit it up, the colors pooled, but did not muddy out.
I do wish that the repeats were a bit shorter to have the colors more like ended up on the heel portion.
In spite of the pooling, the socks came out really well and were so soft and wonderful to the touch. These were gifted to my DIL for her birthday. She loved the yarn when I brought it home from YarnCon. Hopefully she likes the socks equally well.
And, she had asked for some fingerless mitts, so these were knit with some variegated Koigu, and remnant sock yarn.
Pamela Moriarty are discussing. 
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tonymarkp are discussing. 
Stacie, and 
Knitting before Knitting was Cool 
Pamela Moriarty 10:19 pm on January 11, 2023 Permalink |
Thanks for sharing. Already looking forward to next Advent.
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knittingissofun 11:12 am on January 12, 2023 Permalink |
What a great idea. I’m sure if I packed up an advent calendar now I’d totally forget what was in it by December.
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