Peter Kevin's socks are finished. Wait, I'll be right back.

Ok. The sun came out and I wanted to get a photo before it went away again. The forecast is for mostly sunny for the next few days but it's been so rainy for so long that I'm insecure. Anyway, here's his finished socks. There's no pattern, just a cuff down, k3p1 ribbing, short row heel. The yarn is from the Art Walk Sock yarn club (again). The yarn is a bamboo wool mix and it's got a slight sheen to it. I love this mix. It's soft but has great stitch definition. When I joined this club, I promised myself that all of the yarns would be socks for me. So far, I've made gifts out of most of them. When this one came in the mail, Pk said, "that would make great socks for me". He doesn't say this often and really mean it but this time he was serious so I thought I'd oblige. He wears lots of khaki pants so these will get worn . And I'm glad they're finally done. They have been my totally mindless knitting for the past few months. Yes, months. I started them sometime in the spring but they got shunted to the side in favor of sweaters and such.


On Friday at work, Pk sent me an email (and I've got to say, when I see his name on an incoming email? It's like a little gift at work. My heart goes pitty pat) saying that there was an estate sale about 70 miles away and did I want to go on Sat? The hook? They had a spinning wheel. I was pretty sure the wheel would be gone but I figured where there's a wheel, there's accessories so I said Yes! We left the house at 7:30 on Sat morning in the rain and got there at a little after 9. It was a beautiful farmhouse on 12 acres of land that is being bulldozed for a small development of 11 houses on 1 acre each. I wanted to cry. There's nothing wrong with the house and I loved the style.

We went inside and the woman said that someone had called about the wheel and was coming down from Manhattan to buy it. I asked to see it and I wished I hadn't. It was an Ashford Traveller in really good shape and she only wanted 120 dollars for it. I told her if the woman didn't come, I wanted it. Of course I checked my phone all night last night but no call. That woman knew a bargain. Why didn't I think to call?





As a consolation prize, she sold me 2 niddy noddys, a ball winder in the box, and this. She went away and came back and said "I have this carder". I told her I'd take it although I've never seen one like this. I can't even find one like it online since the only information I have is that it's a Louet. Anyone recognize it? I took it to my favorite lys and asked if anyone had any ideas about it. They identified it as a carder. That's it. No one had seen one like it. We put a little wool on it and it works. It's hard but then as the yarn store employee reminded me, "carding is work". They enjoyed playing with it and then when we got home, Pk cleaned it up and Kate and I played with it for a while. I don't know how old it is but I'd be interested. The material holding the pins is leather.

I gave the ball winder and one of the niddy noddys to Kate. Not a bad haul. They had a household full of stuff down to the sinks and cabinets. The bulldozer is coming next week. We're probably going back because they're opening the garage where the tools live.


While we were at the yarn store, (Woolbearers in Mt. Holly, NJ) I got some yarn for the bayerishce socks. I started working on them late in the afternoon and it took me most of the evening to get the ribbing and 4 rows of the 4 charts done. There are four separate charts and they're not in sequence on the paper. I'm going to try to cut and paste and print myself a page that I won't keep reading wrong. I keep moving onto the next printed chart instead of the next one in sequence. Did I do this once, twice? No, over and over. Frustrating but very satisfying. I like a challenge sometimes. These will not become train knitting. I put a stitch marker in between each chart and my socks look like they're wearing a necklace! This is the color. It's Shibui knits red. No color name just a number. It's a pretty red and I don't have red socks. Pk picked it out. "Get something bright" he said. The color is a solid with some slight variations. I bought three skeins because they're small, only 175 yds each. I need about 230 for each sock.

After the grocery shopping gets done today, I'm going to finish the first sleeve on El's fls and then pick up the stitches for number 2. Kate has tentatively picked out her sweater. It's Road to Avalon. She likes hoods and it's a pretty sweater. Pk offered to make her wooden buttons that she can design and she took him up on the offer. I'll buy the pattern and the yarn sometime soon. At least we can look forward to some cooler, sweater-type weather soon.

So, that's my "fiber adventure" (Pk's description) weekend. In two weeks, it'll be time for the Garden State Sheep Breeder's show. We're looking forward to that and I'm saving my pennies.

I hope you're all having an adventurous weekend, too! (although, I don't think grocery shopping is much of an adventure. )