PippiKneeSocks.com

Sit down, pour yourself a cuppa, and pass me the earplugs, will ya?
I’m awaiting a propane delivery, so I can get some dyeing done. Until then I figured I’d flash the latest things to come off the needles…
More Mitts.

3.2 oz 2 ply handspun,
hand dyed, hand cleaned Montadale x Leicester & nylon
with a ply of handpainted domestic
DK wt. on US 3s & 5s

Mr.Pippi heckled them. (But he always heckes my knitting, I hardly every pay any mind to it…)Saying they were too pointy and the thumbs looked like sausages.
Next pair, I’ll go with the afterthought thumb. Thanks Mr. Pipps!

And to prove it hasn’t been all mitts all the time here over at the love shack

Some fulled slippers in Noro Kureyon #88 on US 10s
I tried to get a photo of them in their natural habitat, but, urggg.

And, (yep, one more!) I got on the bandwagon…
Calorimetry from Knitty

I made a few changes..
I cast on 98 st with a handspun DK wt. single on size US 2s (yes, you read that right, US size 2)
I really love the button… Of course, it is from Moving Mud.
I tried my best to get a good close up of it.

Curse you flash photography!
*shakes fist at sky*

Today is my kick off of Project Spectrum V 2.0

Three cheers for Lolly!
I’m normally not a big -along-er, but, I loved the first version and I’m back for more!!!

Have a happy Groundhog day!
I heard the when he came out he made a comment about global warming.

For once, I would love for our usual morning chaos, not to happen. I dream of quiet mornings, where everything runs smoothly, no one gets hurt, everyone is healthy, & no one yells.
A snippet of this morning’s yelling:
3: It’s a pineapple
5: No!! It’s a house!
3: It’s a pineapple
5: No!! It’s a house!
3: It’s a pineapple
5: No!! It’s a house!
(Wash, Rinse, Repeat until mom interjects)
34: It is a pineapple AND a house!
3&5 (in rebellious unison) NOOOOOOOO!

They do good work, turning it on me. (never fails.)

I have no doubt that if I was not a slob better at housekeeping, and was more organized, things would be smoother, because as much as I need to be by the seat of my pants, I loathe it too.
This is what happens when I run out of post-it notes.

(Gasp! I lost my pen, too!)

And, speaking of my less than stellar housekeeping.

Our tree, still standing (even tho 3 keeps trying to change that.) Lookit all of those needles!
I have started to refuse to vac them up. It is principle. It’s going to keep dropping those little effers. Why waste good vacuum effort? (You will be happy to know Sue, that all Polly Pocket shoes have been swallowed up by the sucker machine, in a stealth move, per your “advice”. Although, I did feel some guilt. I suspect that the makers of Polly Pockets anticipate such a scenario, and earn their living from that: Using MotherGuilt against us, inspiring us to buy yet more of those little buggers, only to be vacuumed up, thus inspiring more MotherGuilt. Vicious cycle.) I digress, that tree should come down already….

I fear, I’ll never get the hang of our mornings. It has been four months since 5 has started started skool & I’m still not running the show in any type of smooth & effective manner. In fact, I suspect 5 has developed some deep resentment with my apparent shortcomings.
Again with morning snippet:
5: Not that shirt, I want the kitty shirt
34: No, you just wore the kitty shirt.
5: grumbles in protest.
34: Thank you, now get your socks on…
5: NOOOOO! Not those socks!
34: Why not?
5: They AREN’T glitter sparkle socks!!
34: Sorry, just put them on please, we are going to be late.
5: MOM! YOU ARE RUINING MY LIFE
34: Well, sweets, it was bound to happen sooner or later, get used to it.

(note: She is 5, not 15. & this happens to be the second time I have been told I was “ruing her life.” The first time was over some pigtails that weren’t up to her exacting standards. Sheesh.)

I suspect I’ll miss these times in 16 or so years. Until then, I suppose I will have to rework my schedule & start to get up at 4:30, just so I can have some quiet time with my coffee and my sticks & string.
Speaking of my sticks & string, you surely didn’t just come here for the parenting rant, no?
Formerly known as Hand Things
Now Mitts in Progress

Much better.

& My yarn from the other day

Has turned into a scarf,

I was going for “dramatic” but I wound up with “Muppet”.
It told me the other day that it should have been a wrap, not a scarf. I told it to go screw, the only thing worse than frogging plain mohair yarn, is frogging mohair locks. yup. Perhaps, I’ll be sorry down the road… Can’t win ‘em all.

And on that note, I am being summonsed by 3, to go build a snowperson. (Yes! Colorado & New Mexico have decided to stop hogging all of Vermont’s snow.) So, I best get out there before I’m accused of ruining his life, too.

♥

ARRR!

Ahoy, me hearties!
It’s Talk Like a Pirate Day!
I’ll be trying me bestest.
I’ll be wearing my pink pirate socks

not as cool as Boggie’s wicked skully socks. But, hey, it is the thought that counts, right? ARGH!

~& Just so this post isn’t void of fiber, here is something I finished a few days ago, but couldn’t grab a decent photo of…

272 yards
It reminds me of the yarn Josi used for a hat/scarf set in her upcoming book, In the Loop (F&W), 2007.
It is similar only in construction. One ply of a hand painted colorway, and one ply of a tinkle blend (hand dyed, hand cleaned, Montadale x Leicester)
I think it is destined to become some hats.

Al-ritey mates! I need to get the young (newly 5! ~yesterday!) wench ready for skool.
Happy TLaP day! Go have some rum for me!
ARRR!
♥

as the title implies, i’ve been doing some ‘effing round these days. (but not only with fiber, i admit. plenty of the ‘in general type’ effing around. perhaps it is some growing pains; perhaps. i’m not too sure these days which end is up; let alone trying to figure out why up is up and sideways is sideways..)
it has been so hot and so humid for too long now, it seems. my dyepots have sat inactive, and the fiber on my bobbins has nary been added to.
yesterday, i thought it would be a good day to go outside with the garden hose and attempt wet felting again. i’m always trying, and my skilz are limited to balls and soaps, they are pretty rudimentary. i look at some of the felted creations out there and just go ga-gah. what i’m about to show you is FAR from that level. as matt said about them yesterday “they look very elementary… no, they look kindergarten-y” (then again, i don’t put too much stock in his opinion; he never likes anything i make. with the exception of some yarn here and there. i can’t even tell you the number of hats i have made him in the past 6 years. i’ve given that up…. and he won’t wear hand knit socks… there is no accounting for taste, i suppose…~ it will have to be one cold day in hell before i knit him anything else.)
i digress; what i am about to show you is slightly embarrassing & quite elementary honest.
but one really can’t acquire new skills by osmosis. trial and error are needed; or in my case, lots of trial and much error.

i used to be the person that was afraid to show off my mistakes; but i discovered that was being dishonest.
and even the best one is seriously lacking

you can’t tell by the photo, really, but the hand print is black, and the other elements are purple.
taking a class would be cool, but who has time or money for a class? not i.

another one of my elementary skills is knitting.
i did a bit of that this week.

i am enjoying the simple elements here. basic, basic. (i have more to say about that, which is another post in and of itself.)

i love the way the recycled silk sari pops up every here and there & how the fabric glistens.
nothing fancy. (and that is what is said about the yarn once i finished it too. it is it’s overall simple nature that demands emotion out of me.)
although, it is a pisser that i have SSS while the first one is still working…. (i’m acutely aware of the fact that i won’t have time for knitting much in the next two weeks.)

i also did some grunt work this week. i forced myself to tend to the weeds in the garden.
i tended to the peppers and carrots mostly. and i’ve deemed the greens ‘done for’.. we have this woody vine all over the property, and i tried and tired to keep it out of most of the garden; but it just creeps back up. sigh.
tomatoes are still green. i check on them at least twice a day; but still green. (watched pot syndrome??)
i do have a few cukes tho!
.
and some happy little flowers

it is already miserably hot and humid, again today. i’m really contemplating turning on the AC. i haven’t been turning it on during the day, tying to conserve energy and all of that good stuff. but, i have a feeling i could actually get some stuff done, if it wasn’t a million degrees in here, (with a heat index of 2 million)

well, i’ve gone and rambled enough for one post.
the children are requesting some pancakes for brunch & it seems i need to brew another pot of coffee, because this pot tastes like ass.

♥

it’s Hazy, Hot, and Humid; i must be among the few crazy people on the planet thinking about wool.
regardless, i’ve updated the spinning fibers page today.

i’ve added some delicious hand carded batts, some hand painted tops, as well as a few spindles and a spindle kit.

(all weights have been rounded down due to the humidity.)

see something that you like, but it’s already gone? hook up with my newsletter

now, off to jump in the kiddie pool.
♥

ps. BIG thanks to mike e for BLOWING my freaking mind this morning. turns out, we know eachother. from another time’s forgotten space. i had a feeling we might have known some of the same folx, since we were around at the same time….but, i didn’t think we had known eachother… crazy little world. 3 cheers for time spent doing random blog searches.

today feels like monday, it is thursday, but still feels like monday. why is that?
maybe it is the rain, who knows.
i’ve been doing alot of blending, not so much spinning. (i have another huge hank on the bobbin, that i’m procrastinating spinning. spinning that much of one colorway on the same bobbin, calls for lots of breaks in between…) i’ve been using the carder so much that my arm is sore. for the past few nights i didn’t realize why my arm was feeling tweaky when i went to bed. then while carding yesterday, i felt the tweaky pain and realized that my carder is too low. not much i can do about that now, so, after today i’m going to take it a bit easier on the carding.
without further ado,(or complaints) the fruits of my labors……..

nightfall of diamonds
i made some for stella for winning my t-shirt contest, and decided since i was at it; i should make a bunch.
i also did these

crazy diamond
basically the same; but with some churro and oodles of recycled silk sari.
the pictures of each don’t come close to justice; it is super dark here, and i think a the white background really subtracted from their beauty. (but, well that was all i had handy at 6:30 this morning.)

today is going to be a day of sock yarns.
i’m going to wok on a sock yarn blend.
then i’m going to dye a bit of superwash sock yarn… then, back to finishing this enormous bobbin that i have working.

last night was the phil and friends show. it was raining buckets, i had no tickets. so i did what any other old lady would do.
i stayed home, and baked.

umm, mixed berry cobbler/crisp. (vegan) i made an apple one too.
sad, i know. i contemplated going all day. tickets were outrageously priced, at $55; and the chances of a random pink haried old lady getting a cheap ticket are slim to none. and the rain factor played a big role. it would have been hella harder for me to find anyone i would know lurking out in the rain. so, there you go. i feel kind of down about it; since my feet have been itchy lately. but, it isn’t like it once was, and can never be.
we pay the teller off in gold, in hopes he will come back, but he can not be bought or sold.

this concludes this rainy day thursday that feels like monday post.
♥

i’ve been knee deep in it the past day, i’ve got wool in the oven, wool in the crock pot, wool on the stove top. (and lord! it is humid today… silly me.)… wool on the bobbins and wool on the carder, wool on many many (er, too many) sets of needles. wool, wool, wool…

i picked up a few of these hand crafted bottom whorl spindles from fred and carol collins, at the singing spindle spinnery, in duxbury, vt. (siteless at the moment, but carol is working on it.) they have been making these little gems in fred’s wood shop for a good many years. i have had one for over two years and can attest to it’s nice balance and medium weight. they aren’t fancy, but they are priced right. ($8) i’ll be putting them on the fibers page later this week.

i had some more to go on about, but i read about syd barrett passing on and now the emails are starting to roll in. it reminds me of the phone calls when jerry died.

shine on all you crazy diamonds
♥

the handspun yarnshop has been updated!
i’ve added 4 handspun bulky thick and thin singles
3 hand painted superwash sock yarns
4 arty type yarns

plus hand painted wool tops and hand carded batts for your handspinning pleasure!

as i said this morning, a bit of something for everyone.
looks like stuff is starting to move. y’all are QUICK!
♥