too cool for school?

sockswithchacos

I realize there is a serious debate raging out there in the universe about whether this is acceptable, but I do it all the time. I usually wear my Chacos with commercial wool hiking socks, but yesterday I decided to try it with hand-knit socks. It was a cool, grey but not rainy day, and it was so nice to be able to look down and admire my pretty socks!

handspunshawl1

handspun shawl2

I finished my shawl yesterday! I ended up using some leftover purple Araucania Nature Wool from my fad classic to lengthen it by a few rows and create a crisper edge.

handspun shawl3

The shawl isn’t huge, but it can wrap around my shoulders, though I think I’ll probably wear it more like a scarf. In order to get a bit more width, I soaked the shawl and pinned it out to block.

handspunshawl4block

handspun5macroblock

It should be dry this afternoon. I’ll say it again: these blocking squares are awesome.

hibiscusFO1

hibiscusFO2

Here is my very happy skein of AVFKW targhee in the hibiscus colorway. I spun up 3 oz., which yielded 240 yards of 2-ply in a dk weight. Targhee may be my favorite fiber to spin — I cannot get over how soft and squooshy this skein feels!

hibiscusFO3

On the list for today? A mixture of school (reading), life (a few groceries), and play (a long walk with Boh). Happy Friday, folks!

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still waking up.

goodmorningboh

It was hard to get up this morning, and I’m nowhere near full alertness. I’m mostly through my first cup of coffee (and will need a second). Boh has already given up, and is currently mid-snore.

hibiscus

I started plying the AVFKW targhee in hibiscus yesterday, and I’m hoping to finish this today so that I can get ready to do some sampling for my first sweater-spinning project!

sye shawl washed up

I snapped this picture while waiting for my french press to finish working its magic — seems I stopped knitting mid-row last night because I just had to get into bed. The colors are way off in this picture, as the shawl is resting on the arm of the couch underneath a very bright lamp, but I liked how it looked as I stumbled kitchenward to put water on for coffee this morning.

Things were a bit rushed yesterday, so I didn’t take any pictures of my farm share, but since I’ve been documenting my weekly haul here, I picked 4 quarts of raspberries and a quart of blackberries in the fields, and then picked up lettuce, a few pounds of heirloom yellow and purple carrots, cauliflower, hot peppers, red peppers, italian eggplant, bok choi, basil, and the last red tomato of the season.

Off to pour cup #2…

outnumbered.

bohandcoltrane1

Yesterday, two dogs lounged and played in my house while I read and spun. Boh’s friend Coltrane came over after they met up at the dog park so that Coltrane wouldn’t be lonely, as his owner had to attend a day-long event.

bohandcoltrane2

plyed norwegian

While they snored, I spun the second bobbin of norwegian top singles, and then plied them together.

plyed norweg prewash

Here’s what it looked like right before I set the twist.

bohcoltrane5

We took a couple of short walks through my neighborhood yesterday, and I learned that it is tough to walk two dogs who don’t normally walk together at the same time! T., one of Coltrane’s owners, came over for dinner, and the dogs continued to lounge. After beet and carrot latkes and more homemade chocolate pudding, we dumped out a jar or two of buttons onto the kitchen table. T. needed buttons for some baby bibs, and I needed to pick out buttons for my handspun baby belle.

babybellebuttons1

babybellebuttons2

These buttons are a pinkish red, and I love how they stand out against the pastel shades of the handspun. What do you use to sew your buttons on? I’ve only ever used thinner yarn and a darning needle (seems I always pick buttons with pretty fat holes), but T. reminded me that when you buy a sweater, the buttons are sewn on with thread! (Which makes sense. It also means I need to acquire more than a travel button repair kit from a random hotel stay if I intend to keep sewing small buttons onto my knitting.)

bohgoodsport

This guy is such a good sport. We’re going to ease into Sunday with a little bit of knitting and a morning walk. Then, back to work!

yarn cakes.

handspun yarn cakes

handspunyarncakes2

Last night I dumped all of my handspun out on the couch and tried to think about what each skein might want to be when it grows up. I’m realizing that I need to start thinking more strategically about my fiber acquisitions, because most of the things I want to knit require more than 1 4-oz skein of varying length/thickness. I also realized that I really love my handspun, and that it is incredibly fun and rewarding to knit with. I’d really like to try to keep a handspun project on the needles all the time.

syeshawl

To this end, last night I cast on Laura Chau’s simple yet effective shawl. I’m using my Spunky Club organic merino in the Twilight colorway, which I spun and plied on a spindle. I have 250 yards, which probably won’t be enough for a full shawl, so I plan to supplement with some worsted-ish leftovers from other projects in like colors.

syemacrco

It looks like it is going to be a rainy Saturday, which bodes well for both academic and knitterly productivity.