We've Been to Jackson

The test knit is done and sent off to its new home! I feel as if I have time to breathe before the Loopy Swap deadline (Febuary 16th is the final mailing date) so I think that I might start on one of the Fleece Artist kits I got in Jackson. You didn't know that I had been to Jackson? Well, Eloise and I drove down there last Saturday and played with some of the knitters from the Mississippi Knitters group on Ravelry.

We met up at a very cool new shop. Some of this might have come home with me.

I also got to meet Chanda, my co-mod. She is very cool. Here's a pic of us taking pics of each other.

We had a great time! It was so much fun to meet all these people that you feel as if are already your friends. It was great and I can't wait to go back.

Rip Back

I just had the most heart stopping experience of my knitting career. I'm currently knitting my first "real" test knit for someone. I want it to be perfect. Well, I found a glaring mistake a few rows down and had to fix it. I contemplated dropping down the errant stitches, but there was too big of a mess so I took out the needles (size 0 circs) and began to knit back. As I grabbed the second circular, the whole needle came undone. The cord had come unattached from the needle. I usually have a plethora of extra circulars in all sizes. The exception to this seems to be size 0. I shoved the cord back into the needle and will attempt to super glue it later. For now, I can use it to pick up the 66 stitches needed back unto a needle. The yarn is also a little on the splitty side, so that will made it all the more fun.
On the plus side, I've really enjoyed knitting this pattern. The construction is very interesting, and I can't wait for the book to come out to try some of the other patterns.

Have I mentioned I love pirates?

Look at the cute stuff that Kathy made yesterday. The pirate one is for me. I feel so fortunate to have a friend like her.

Just In Case 1 Picture of Babies Wasn't Enough

Babies at Sock Class

Dora brought her babies to my sock class last night. Look at how cute they are! The class went well. I always have fun with my sock classes. I've taught it so many times (Is it 6 or 7?) that I know what's going on and what people will have problems with and where we should be. It's extra fun when I get to hold babies.
On my own personal knitting, I should finish the Clap tonight and block it. Then I have a secret project that I'm starting and hope to have done by Sunday. After that, another secret project (this blog might be boring for a while). I should be dying more yarn this weekend and will have fiber guild on Saturday, so I still will have stuff going on to blog about.

Yarn

In case you thought I did nothing yesterday...
I dyed 5 skeins of sock yarn (all are spoken for) and learned how to "kettle" dye silk. All in a days work....

Sock Stash Pics

When Becky was here, we decided to organize my sock yarn by type. This was the first movement in the getting the sock yarn stash ready to be photoed (I know its not a real word, but I'm working on making it one). We dumped all skeins of sock yarn into a large pile upstairs and then began to separate them out by dyer. It was lots of fun to see some of the stuff that I got over a year ago. It was also a fun sister knitter thing to do. I can't wait until I have the flickr space to get the rest of the sock yarn into Ravelry.
On the knitting front, not much is getting done. I've started the first of my 30 projects for 2008, the Clapotis. I'm making it out of some alpaca that's been in my stash for over 5 years. This is good. 5 less skeins to photo. I also ran a contest on one of my ravelry groups, Mississippi Knitters. That sent 5 other skeins of yarn to a new home. On a side note, if you knit, spin, crochet, weave or dye yarn/fiber, you should join Ravelry. The waiting list isn't that long and its well worth it.

It's Official

I have too much sock yarn. If you look at my flickr account you can see some of the 35 colorways of sock yarn I photographed and added to my Ravelry stash yesterday (notice how I didn't say skeins?). I have 5 more boxes to go. I'm scared...