Work-in-Progress Wednesday 89

Hi everyone! Depending on when you are reading this today, I'm probably on the road on my way to Oregon (for the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival). We leave (hopefully) around 8am, and are going to drive as far as we possibly can before we tire out. Our goal is to at least get 10 hours away, as we'll have another good 7-8 hours tomorrow. Yes, California is REALLY REALLY big/tall. It doesn't help I live in San Diego which is only about 30 minutes from the border of Mexico, so we'll be driving the whole length of the state. Hope for good weather and a safe trip for us!

While I'm gone, I'll have posts scheduled so that you can still participate in WIPW and FO Friday, but obviously I won't be commenting. I won't be returning home until late next Wednesday, so there will be a FO Friday without me, as well as another WIPW.

That being said, if you'd like to follow my travels, I'm sure my twitter will be on fire (when I'm not the one driving) with pictures of the scenery on the way up through CA and Oregon, as well as the booth at the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival. My twitter is @tamiklockau (or you can just click the little bird icon on the left sidebar of the blog.

Now to WIPW:



Unfortunately, I haven't been able to work on my Effie Socks as much as I'd like. It's SUCH a fun fun pattern to do. I'm using Butter Mints, the April '12 Candy Skein colorway. It feels good to work on a pattern that ups my skill level, as this one does, and it is working great with the yarn. I plan to be doing a KAL with this pattern on the Candy Skein Addicts Ravelry group starting May 1st through the end of June. More details to come! (Don't worry, since my shops are now closed until May 1, I'll be selling Butter Mints through May as well)





I've started working on my Devil Snare socks made from Candy Skein Yummy fingering in Leprechaun Lollipop (March '12 colorway) again. I'm hoping to finish one sock in time for the beginning of the Fiber Festival Friday night. I need to do two more leg repeats before starting the heel flap/turn. It's funny how your perspective can change. When I started these socks, I was finding it impossible to remember the pattern repeat/chart. After working on the Effie socks, this pattern seems so EASY, it made me laugh. I should be able to cruise on these, and work on them in the car when I'm not driving. :)

That's it for me today. I hope you have a great rest of the week, weekend and first part of next week! Off to Oregon I go!

For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!

Hunger Games Effie Sock Pattern Featuring Butter Mints!

As some of you already know, I've been working with designer Yavanna Reynolds (datenshi on Ravelry) on a Hunger Games inspired Effie pattern featuring Candy Skein April colorway of the month, Butter Mints! The pattern is still in test knitting, but you can see her beautiful work on the project page, Effie Socks.

I hope you love the pattern and the yarn as much as I do! I'm currently knitting it, and it's a joy to work on! Make sure you also check out Yavanna's other great Hunger Games inspired sock patterns on Ravelry! I have a feeling more and more people are going to be talking about her wonderful, imaginative designs very soon!

The pattern should be available toward the end of this month, beginning of next and I plan to hold a KAL on the Candy Skein Addicts group for those interested in knitting the pattern with Candy Skein yarn! A few of our test knitters are using different colors, so you can see how the pattern knits up in semi-solid and variegated colorways.

Here are a few of her pictures (again, these are not my pictures but belong to the designer, Yavanna) that are featured on the project page!

Front:



Side:



3/4 view:



Aren't they gorgeous!!?? I can't wait to continue knitting them and also for the May/June KAL!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 88

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a great week. A week from today, I'll be in the car driving 10 hours to the top of California, before continuing into Oregon the next day for the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival. Don't worry, while I'm gone I'll schedule Mr Linky posts, there just won't be much from me in them. :)

Now onto this week's WIPW as I have exciting things to share!:

This might not look like much yet, but I'm test knitting the Effie Hunger Games pattern that goes with this yarn, Candy Skein Yummy fingering in Butter Mints! I'm showing you this side, because there's not much to look at yet, as it's just twisted rib. We should be releasing pictures sometime this week (hopefully Thursday!) of the whole sock, but the pattern won't be released until it's finished through test knits. I will say, it's a gorgeous pattern, and though I only assisted in designing it, I'm super proud of it. I can't wait for you all to see the pictures. The designer, Yavanna, will be setting up a project page for it when we do release pictures so that those interested can favorite it for when it is released. I'm hoping to plan a KAL on the Candy Skein Addicts Ravelry group for May/June and will be keeping the Butter Mints colorway around through the end of May. One of the test knitters is knitting it in a kettle dyed Candy Skein colorway (Grape Fizz) and it looks awesome in that, too! Can you tell I'm excited?




I started my second All I Need is a TARDIS (Knit Picks Felici in the Time Traveler colorway) sock. It's great movie/tv/car knitting, as it's just around and around until I close the toe (and of course I'll need to add the waste yarn for the afterthought heel). I tried to get the stripes to match, but I believe it's 2 rows off. Oh well, that stuff doesn't bother me. :)


That's it for me today! I hope to have pictures of the Effie sock pattern to share Thursday, but if not, I'll have another installment of Life as an Indie Dyer!

For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!

FO Friday 79

Hey everyone! Happy Friday and happy Hunger Games day! I have to say, I sure hope I get to see the movie this weekend, but I hate super full movie theaters now a days. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that we can get in and it's not too insane. Are any of you huge Hunger Games fans? I've loved the series since the week the first book came out in 2008. In fact, I haven't read The Hunger Games since the first week it came out, so a few days ago I started to read it again! I have to admit, it's just as good, if not BETTER the second time around. It's been so long and I've read so many books in between that I forget what happens from scene to scene. I'm just as excited and nervous for Katniss! I have to admit. All of the hype is making me nervous. I hope the movie doesn't ruin the books for me (a la Twilight), as well as the hype.

You are probably wondering about knitting at this point, right? Especially if you don't know about the Hunger Games (if you don't know about it, do you live under a rock!?), or you don't care (if you haven't given it a chance, please do. It's amazing).

I was hoping to have one of the gloves done to show you today, but a little thing happened this evening (Thursday evening). I was doing one of the lateral braids and because this is tricky when you need to bring the knitted 2nd stitch forward to knit into the 1st stitch, I didn't think when I had to pull my needle forward hard. Now, I didn't realize at the time that my needle tip was stuck on a little bit of yarn...you guessed it. SNAP went the needle tip. It's my only size 5 needles and from my interchangeable acrylic set. The good news is, it's still semi usable. It took me awhile to realize it would be a LOT easier to switch the needles so that my left was the right and the right was the left, so that the only time I need to really use the dull end is when I'm casting off. I lost some time struggling before I made the switch, making it impossible to finish the glove. I promise next week, not only will I have ONE glove finished, but BOTH! It's supposed to be a little cool this weekend and the start of next week, so I need to quickly finish so I can wear them before it gets cold again.

That's it for me today. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Share your FOs!

ETA: Can you tell I've been busy and distracted? ::shakes head:: Sorry guys, the Mr Linky is now up!