This may be our only claim to internet fame, so I am including the link here.

Look at the splash page for Ravelry!!  Sweet Pea is right on the top row.  It’s exciting, fellow friends (also Ravelers), Donna and Kandy have already spotted this!  Thanks for the kudos everyone!

ETA:  Aww, you can only see it if you are actually logged in to Ravelry.  If you haven’t signed up for Ravelry yet, now’s a good time.  It is a wonderful place!

The Sock Knitters Anonymous Group on Ravelry is hosting a year long sock challenge. It started in August. The first challenge was to do either a Sockbug pattern or to do lace socks. This pair is a combination of the two. I finished them last night. Hurrah!

Ahem… Talking about addictions. I am afraid one good addiction fuels the other and vice versa. Yes, I am talking about Ravelry. I finally got in and simply cannot stay off it long enough to knit. I am finding all kinds of fascinating things to knit on Ravelry, but how can I do them if I am on the web all the time. Quite a conundrum for me. BTW, if you are on, my username is madaboutwool. Drop on in and see me sometime.

Getting ready for the upcoming Harry Potter mania, I am knitting Phillip a pair of Horcrux Socks, modified to look more manly. Too bad they are going to be Slytherin colors. But, I already had bought this yarn specifically to make Phillip a pair of socks. The pattern choice came later. (Off Ravelry, of course).

This morning, I am dyeing a little bit of yarn with some cutch. There should be four different outcomes, as I am dyeing four skeins prepared in different manners: No Mordant, Mordant, No Mordant with an Iron Afterbath, Mordant with an Iron Afterbath.

Everyone seems to have different opinions about how to dye with this stuff. In Want Natural Colour? by Jeannie Reagen, she recommends dissolving the dyestuff in cold water overnight, then simmering the yarn in the dyebath. She recommended the cold water dissolution, since the stuff seems to stick together in hot water. In Wild Color, by Jenny Dean, she recommends just the opposite. Dissolving the dyestuff in hot water, then letting the fiber sit in the cooled bath. She did mention simmering was okay. I hope I took the best of both’s advice, as I let it set in cool water overnight and am now simmering it. We shall see. Here is what it is looking like about now:

Jenny Dean says you don’t need mordant because of the tannin in the cutch.  So, with all those choices, dyeing with this sounds goof proof.  Ah, we shall see.

I voted in the election, and I trust you did too!!! Speaking of voting, I’d like to give a public vote of confidence to Susan Pierce Lawrence who writes lace knitting patterns even I can follow! Thanks to Kandy’s encouragement, I ordered her Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl and am actually finding knitting it quite easy.

Pictures to come soon, hopefully.

And they were on sale for $1 per skein at Fuzzy Mabel!  Since dyeing and sock knitting are my fiercest addictions, I dug right in.   There were 4 skeins of the white yarn, and I course I swooped them right up.  None of the sock yarns match, but there is always slip stitch mosaic and I would love to see how they blend.

Changing subjects, sort of, here is the Mason-Dixon handtowel hanging in its new home.  I have started a teal one with a pattern from Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

On the leg of our journey from Harrisonburg, VA to Martinsburg, WV, things really started to heat up. In Harrisonburg, I visited Ragtime Fabrics and had to choose between whether to get some clear clogs to show off my handknit socks or some handpainted superwash wool. The yarn was 30% off, so it won. Isn’t it pretty?

I love the blue “dot” highlights the dyer got into the yarn. I am going to try to duplicate this method at some point. It was done by The Blue Ridge Silk Works. Oh, and by the way, for all of my Twisted Friends, if you click on Knitting and Spinning Retreat on the Silk Works site and scroll down to the bottom to the group picture, you will see one of our own number among the group. Don’t we all just get around?

After leaving Ragtime Fabrics, we went to an antique store in Harrisonburg, where I found a charming set of mini-handcards (sample cards) made in England. I forgot to take a picture of them, and don’t have access to my camera at this moment, but take my word, they are cute and in perfectly functioning order.

Then, we went to Strasburg, VA, home of The Heirloom Emporium where I outfitted myself with suitable clothing for doing spinning demonstrations.

Yes, I finally obtained my own dress and apron. Bill suggested the hat likewise. I usually shy away from hats, since they make me look more gorky than usual, but this one did okay. We had a ball looking at all the costumes. I also bought a small book of knitting patterns from the Godey’s Ladies’ Book. Of course, this is a simple working outfit. I really fell in love with the afternoon dresses (considerably more expensive, but really awesomely lovely), and later, the ball gowns on display in Gettysburg, PA. But, now I digress – I would never have a need for one, but they certainly are beautiful.

My last fiber stop for the day was Frog Eye Fiber Emporium in Winchester, VA. She was a little hard to find, but once there, I had a rewarding visit. Sue has a charming little shop. I just knew I was going to love it when she had an antique spinning wheel on her porch adorned with twinkling white lights. There, I bought some of the new Lantern Moon Destiny Circular Rosewood Needles, sizes 5 and 7 and 1 lb. of her beautiful fiber, from her own Romney/Corriedale cross sheep. It was blended with mohair and spins up like a dream:

I almost have 2 bobbins filled and cannot wait to see how it looks plied.

Then, Sue graciously suggested, when she found out that we were on our way to Gettysburg, that we travel to East Berlin, PA and visit The Mannings. OH MY GOODNESS!! But we will get to that later as my trip journal progresses. (Yup, I know, I’m a tease.)

Winchester has the largest cold storage for apples in the world. I know, because we passed by it. They also have numerous decorated apples spread all around town. Cool, but I will have to add a picture of one later, as it is on my home computer, and I can’t access it just now.

And, the best part, there is still more to come…

Please check out the marvelous knitting story that firefly has posted to her site. I enjoyed it, and I am sure you will too.

Knit Fiction