Full Serving of Fiber

I was perusing through past blog entries and it's been a little bit since I've posted anything fiber-related!  Why didn't someone tell me I was so lacking in that department lately?  Without further ado...

I've been doing a little sock knitting.  This is one of my newer patterns - Dumbledore's Christmas Stockings - and I knit this sock using my Superwash Merino 3ply in the Wizened Colorway.  I'll make the second sock one of these days ;)

I did manage to finish up the first FIFA sock though.  It was my mindless knitting project for a while and evidently I needed a lot of mindless knitting ;)  No idea when I'll get to the mate for this one either.  I am detecting a pattern here....



I did manage to complete this PAIR though.  I don't think I'll mention that it took me about a year to do it... (hangs head).  These were knit using a skein of Black Bunny Fibers that I've had in the stash for more than 3 years now and I believe it was a wool/nylon blend.  Bled like you wouldn't believe when I washed them!

 While I'm on the subject of socks, this is a better photo of the actual back-to-school pairs for little man and little miss respectively.  They both picked out their "special yarn" a while back and it was the first time I've worked with either of them.  Little man's is a blend of wool/nylon/cotton/elastic which was a bit weird to work with, I'll be honest.  But, so far they've held up well to the wear and tear of an almost 6 yr old.  Little miss' socks haven't been worn all that much yet, but they felt pretty sturdy while I was knitting them and I've used a spare piece of that yarn as a stitch marker for a few other projects and it still looks new - that's sort of my gauge for how well a yarn will stand up (i.e., if I can abuse it while knitting another project and it doesn't fall apart or pill like mad, the finished products usually do pretty well).  It's all very scientific!  Ha ha :)




Now that school is back in session, the fundraisers are in full swing.  You can insert your groans here.  For part of the current fundraiser, each classroom is responsible for putting together a special themed basket that will be raffled off later this month.  Little man requested that I "whip something up" (evidently I use that phrase more than I thought I did), so I made a set of rival beanies (U of I Hawkeyes and the ISU Cyclones) which fits in with their Hawks vs Cyclones basket.  These were knit out of the good 'ol Cascade 220 Wool and will fit up to an Adult Small-Medium I think.  They fit the minions and me anyway and I have a tiny little dome.



In keeping with the Hawkeye spirit, I also finished up a Hawkeye scarf/hat set for a friend of the family.  I had a friend of mine, Gherkin, dye up some SW merino pencil roving for me in Hawkeye colors a while back and I spun up the 8 oz and came up with this.  I haven't been able to get together with the recipient yet, but I don't think he checks the blog so I'm feeling pretty safe in regards to posting the picture.



During the perusal of older blog posts, I realized that I was a bit negligent when it came to posting what I have been sending out for the Dark is Rising Club as well.  This was what went out in August - it was the Greenwitch shipment and included a skein of handspun (or a braid of fiber) in greens and browns and with it went a hand sewn spinning and/or project bag made by yours truly and a little journal for any secret keeping that might be going on.  I've had a nice response to these bags and I will be listing some (in various fabrics) in the shop so stay tuned for those!

This is the latest shipment - The Grey King - and the sock yarn is my Superwash Merino 3ply in the Cafall colorway and I sent out a pattern for the Pendragon Socks along with a few other little goodies.  I've had a very nice response to this sock pattern so I thought I would mention that both the cowl pattern from a previous shipment and this sock pattern will be released on Ravelry for purchase in the first part of December.



That's about it for the FO's right now.  I have a few other projects on the needles that are nearing completion and I'll be doing a bit of spinning again for the final Dark Is Rising Club shipment but I have a few skeins to spin between now and then so with any luck, I'll have more fiber-y posts coming in the near future!