Ooops

In the previous Hogwarts sock kit swap, my group had partners from the same House. Silly me, I assumed it would happen that way again. Ooops. My partner this time is from Slytherin, whose colors are green and silver. So much for the bag I've been knitting in Hufflepuff yellow. At least I'll be able to do it over again, probably with yarn from my stash. Green with silver buttons, that sounds good.

Hogwarts Sock Kit II

1. What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into? I volunteered for Hufflepuff this time.

2. List your favorite double-point needle brands, including size and length. Or would you prefer circulars? I have Clover bamboos in sizes 1 through 4, all at least 6" long. I like them. I just bought two 24" Prym size 4 metal circulars to use to learn to do a two-socks-at-once pattern I got in the last kit.

3. Would you like to try a new brand needle? If so, which brand? Size? Length? Sure, I'm willing to try something new, except short needles don't work well in my big paws.

4. N/A this time.

5. Do you have any allergies? No, but I don't like scented things very much, they make me sneeze.

Garuda

The clever people at Blue Moon include a special word inside of the yarn band. From the postings on the Sock Club blog, it looks like there are several different ones on each color.

The word on my Firebird yarn is Garuda. It is (a) Indonesia's national airline and (b) an animal deity in Buddhist and Hindu mythology.

It's nice to get an education along with yarn fun.

Last chance for Hogwart's sock kit signups

The cutoff is the first day of summer. Which is tomorrow. If someone reads this before then, click on the icon for the swap, it should be hotlinked. I'm already working on the bag. Hufflepuff's colors are yellow and black. The yarn I'm using is yellow cotton/silk blend. I'll get the black in there by using black buttons on it. I don't know how hogwarty (?) potterish (?) the bag will be but it will be pretty. I've got all sorts of ideas, just no energy.

The yarn in the picture has nothing to do with Hogwarts. It's the latest offering in the Rockin Sock Club. The colorway, which is only slightly less intense In Real Life, is called Firebird. I wasn't sure about it at first, but I'm warming up to it. Heh heh.

Soooooo sleepy

It's a good thing that my stuff for the new Hogwarts swap is not here yet. I have no energy but a bunch of ideas.

I saw a great idea for row counter/stitch markers and I'm going to make them for my partner.

I know what bag I'm going to knit and the yarn's on the way. I have sock yarn to dye and the dye's on the way. I've got a couple of other half-baked ideas, but must let them cook for awhile.

The only knitting I've done in the last week is for a non-knitting project. It's a collaborative book on deadly sins (seven or whatever). I'm doing Greed because I want MORE YARN. I knitted a piece that's roughly the size of the book page. I'll scan it and use it as a base for the page. I'll probably add many tiny skeins of yarn to embellish the page. I haven't decided for sure yet. The other side of the page will also be Greed, but it'll be MORE FABRIC. I think I'll do a crazy quilt square and then embellish the copy.

Did I mention I'm doing 18 two-sided pages? I may not knit for a month at this rate. Oh, no, I just got the idea of knitting a tiny sock for each page. Pointy poky likkle size 0000 needles. I'm crazy.

Hufflepuffed

I just saw the link on the second Hogwarts Sock Swap site. I signed up as a Hufflepuff. I've already got ideas for my yet-to-be-assigned partner.

I better head over to Paradise Fibers for some supplies. :)

Ravenclaw sock kit from Jennifer

I loved this kit and am going to go into detail, so prepare yourselves.

The knitting bag is nice and sturdy and big enough to hold knitting patterns or even books.

That's good, because I got 3 patterns in my kit! One is Tipsy by Gina House. It has a slip stitch pattern that looks like it'll be fun. Two is Snakes on a Sock by Miss Lime of Lime&Violet. Any pattern that ends with the instruction "Put on your feet and yell loudly 'Snakes on a sock!'" has to be my kind of pattern. Three is a Knit Picks pattern that teaches two socks at once done toe-up. I have got to try that.

There is a coin purse that's a little sock. That is so cool. I have no idea where you found such a thing, Jennifer. It gives me an idea for my next kit (no confirmation yet for round 2, but I'm still hoping).

There's a Harry Potter bookmark. It'll be perfect when the new book comes out in just a few more weeks.

The tube thing with a pointy end is a pen. Actually, it's a magic wand you can use as a pen. It'd be excellent for taking notes in any wizarding class. It's full of shiny things.

There's a pair of pretty stitch markers in Ravenclaw's colors of silver and blue.

There's a set of size 1 Crystal Palace bamboo needles. Yay, I dont' have to knit with my metal size ones any more.

Finally, there's the sock yarn. Yum. It's from dharmafey's cosmic fibers. It's so pretty. I think I'll go get my yarn winder out so I can play with it.

Thanks, Jennifer!

Stitch markers and other thoughts

Yeah, I'm going to sign up for the second Harry Potter sock kit swap. I had fun putting the first kit together. I imagine that now that I've got some income, it'll be even more fun. I think I'll switch houses so I can use different colors this time. I'm thinking Hufflepuff. Yellow sounds appealing.

I haven't received my kit yet, but there are still two more weeks. I expect it to show up right about the time the next Socks That Rock yarn appears. Things could be a whole lot worse. Heh heh heh.

I wonder what constitutes a "set" of stitch markers? I got a set as a gift once, and there were 3. I sent my swap partner 2. I hope that wasn't some tremendous knitting faux pas. I like the looks of stitch markers, but never use the fancy kind. My electric toothbrush heads come with little plastic colored rings. They make great stitch markers. I can even cut the ring open. That way, I can knit the ring into a particular spot and then pull it out without damaging anything.

I haven't done my square of the month yet. I have finished both of my STR Tidal Wave socks. And I ended up frogging all of my Space Invaders sock. I couldn't figure out exactly where I was and the leg needed to be bigger, so I just started over.

A quiet yarn week

I haven't been knitting much. I usually do it while watching tv, and evening tv has moved into summer (mega-rerun) mode. Also with the new job starting, I've been exhausted. It's good, though. I drive past one of my LYS every working day. :)

I've got about half a foot (not six inches) to go on my second Wild Tide sock. It's interesting to see how this sock doesn't have the same diagonal stripe on the foot as the first one does.

It's the first of the month and time for the Knitting Calendar's block of the month. This month's has a couple of little dogs on it. It's fun to do these because they give me badly needed practice in intarsia. They small so I can find the colors I need in my stash and they finish quickly.