Spinning

I have been taking a break from the socks with two projects. One is a scarf to use as a sample in the shop. The yarn should arrive next week, hopefully. The other is some spinning. A while back, I got some of this lovely silk and merino tops from Handmaiden. I am planning to do a strand of each and then put them together.
This is it before....




and here is the multicolored one after. Its amazing how the colors blend together. I am working on the semisolid now. It is not quite as bright as this, so imagine it a bit toned down.





In other news, the shop is open again. It was quite busy this morning. My only problem is that the girls are doing a tennis camp, and I need to pick them up at 3:30. I am going to leave Maria, my Au Pair in the shop during that time, but she doesn't know much about knitting, or how to use the till. Its only for 3 more days, today wasn't that bad.

I finally recieved the Fall issue of Interweave after a bit of a problem. Lets just say that I tried to go through a local route, but they proved to be very unreliable. Vogue Knitting should be here any day, as well as a new magazine by Vogue called Knit Simple. I am hoping that these arrive this week.
Some new yarn should be arriving next week as I said before, I'll definately have photos when it arrives.

Back Home

We are back from a week in Portugal. The house we stayed in was great, although it had the worst bed I have ever slept in! We had a great pool, the beach was just a short drive away, and I did quite a bit of knitting. I even read a book, which I haven't done in ages. I read The Time Travellers Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger. What a great book. Anyway, on to the knitting. Here is the sock on day one:



and here is the finished product a few days later:



I am really not sure about this colourway. It seems to be a popular one on blogs, and in the ball it looks like a fun pink and green. In the end, it seems a bit Christmas-like. I have started the next one, but not very inclined to finish it. Any comments would be greatly appreciated as I am picking colors for the shop, and not sure if I should get this one. I would say that the photo here is quite accurate.

I love the beach in the Algarve, this year the waves were pretty small except on the last day. We spent alot of time building sand castles.



and just relaxing



A few more days and back to work!

Trekking Away


I am definately sock obsessed. Straight on the tails of the Jaywalkers are my newest sock using Trekking 107. It is really soft, but hard to tell what this is going to look like knitted up. The ball looks like shades of pink and green with some blue. It is really interesting to see what color comes next. The pattern is from Jeanie Townsend, which I got from a Yahoo sock KAL group.




We are off to Portugal tomorrow, extremely early I should add. Our flight is at 7:20 out of Gatwick. I think I am getting up at 3:30 or something horrible like that. The only good thing is that we should arrive at our destination by noon, which is nice. I can't decide what other projects to bring along. One thought is a curly whirly out of Blue Skys Alpacas Alpaca and Silk with a Tilli Tomas border. I think these look great together.



Here is another finished product. This was a quick, one skein hat with a yarn that we are thinking of for the shop. As you can see, my daughter loved it. She would not take it off despite it being August.



I love how it self stripes. It is feltable as well, and is a chunky weight so it knits up quickly. Nice for the coming winter.

Well I'm off. Happy Holiday!

Finished Jaywalkers


I finished the Jaywalkers last night. They are the first pair of socks that I made that fit perfectly. I couldn't wear them for very long as it is extemely warm and humid here. Nothing compared to weeks past, but it is definately bare foot weather!





I think my next pair will be with the Trekking XXL. I know we don't have it in the shop, but I feel that I have to give it a test drive and see what all the hype has been about. I am going to Portugal next week, so I can take them on a 'trek along'. Debating on what to do with them. I hate the idea of doing a sock entirely in rib, but I think due to the nature of the yarn, it should be simple. Maybe an interesting rib at the top, then just stockinette. I have to give it a think. I am loving the magic loop thing, and got several sizes that are unavailable here while I was in CT, so might have to give those a go as well.

I have yet to do anymore work on the silk vee. I have to get back to that one. I am awaiting the arrival of the new Interweave Knits, which I have been told will be here next week. Vogue Knitting is also due in at the end of the month, and I heard that there is a great pattern by Cat Bordhi for socks. I am also pondering a lace project. I have never really tried it, but am having trouble finding a pattern that I think I would actually wear. I think I would prefer something more along the lines of a rectangle. Will have to scour the books in the shop tomorrow.

Here is a really interesting project that Mary Lou did with the Feza. I was really chuffed that she dedicated a post on her blog to me. I also love the mobius! She told me that she has a different way of casting it on that isn't as hard on the wrists. We may have to get her into the shop to teach a workshop on that one!

I was going through the photos of the trip, and found this one. It makes me want to go back to the beach. I'll leave you with this one, how relaxing!