Tap Tap Tap...Anyone in There?

Yes, I've been AWOL again. School has been busy. But here's a survey I thought I'd share.

It's my rainbow.

Your rainbow is shaded violet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a creative person. You appreciate beauty and craftsmanship. You are patient and will keep trying to understand something until you've mastered it.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

How appropriate that purple is my favorite color, no?

Random Friday

There's been minimal knitting (and even less blogging LOL) going on at Chez PlanetKnit due to the demands of school and work. School has been eating at least 20 hours per week of time outside of class, usually more. This Web Design program is more than I bargained for this semester.

School is out May 5th, and I have obtained some Dream in Color Classy in the Punky Fuschia colorway from Sheri at The Loopy Ewe to join in her knit-a-long. I'm planning the Scoop du Jour from ChicKnits I'll have 26 days to complete it, unless by some stroke of fate, the demands of school lessen between now and then. Not likely.

Just for fun, I played along to see what my name means. Most of it is pretty accurate.Here are the results:

What Karen Means

You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life. You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don't spill secrets or spread gossip. People sometimes think you're snobby or aloof, but you're just too deep in thought to pay attention to them. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

If you'd like to try it yourself, click on the link.
That's all I have for this Random Friday, the last day of my "Homework Vacation" where I took a weeklong vacation from work in order to catch up on my homework. (No, it wasn't a vacation from doing homework, unfortunately.)

Let's just say that Photoshop and I are getting along better these days. :) That's always a plus when trying to make mockups for a client's web redesign.

Modified Monkeys

I finished the Modified Monkeys last Saturday. These are knit in Gypsy Girl Creations fingering weight, in the coloway Flower Child. I thought. When I tried them on, one of them was 3/4" shorter than the one that actually fit. What the heck? The number of pattern repeats matched, so near as I can figure, my row gauge must've changed. They looked the same. But they were different. Alas, I had to frog the toe of the offender and knit a few rows plain and *then* start the toe decreases. Here is an on-the-foot shot. Man, is it ever hard to take a semi-decent picture of your own foot!


The other modification I made (beside reknitting the toe) was to knit all of the purl stitches. I wish I could remember where I first saw that idea, to give credit where credit is due. It was a nice change from the first pair of Monkeys, shown below, before all of the ends were woven in.



These were done in Claudia Hand Painted Yarn, fingering weight, colorway Sharks.
I did the cuff on Addi 2.75 mm needles and switched to 2.5mm at the heel flap for both pairs.
Next up? More socks, of course. I'm debating between starting Thuja socks for my brother for Christmas and another pair of RPM socks for myself. Decisions, decisions. There is plenty of STR in the Sock Yarn Collection to accomplish both.

Film at 11

August Loopy Loot

Well, when last I posted, I mentioned a little Sneak-Up over at The Loopy Ewe. Here it is, a month after its arrival, and I finally had the ultimate combination of a)No Rain and b)No Work and c)During the Day.
Plus, there was another Sneak-Up last Tuesday, and, well, the mailman *might* be stopping at my house today. Just sayin'.

Without further ado, my August Loopy Loot:

Misty Mountain Farm Crimson Tide
J.Knits Happy Anniversary to Ewe

J.Knits New Jersey
and
Lime & Violet Dreamsicle on the Pavement
I have come to the conclusion that I am a Yarn Collector. And I'm OK with that. I will have no guilt about "stash", because this is my hobby. There are so many wonderful yarns out there, and my knitting time is sooooo limited, that for now, I'm happy to collect. What I actually get to knit with is a bonus. Some day I will be able to try them all.

All of these goodies were waiting on my doorstep the afternoon that I returned from the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan. It was about a 2 hour drive from here. I'll leave you with a little sheepy goodness until I write more about that.

Uh-Oh. There was a Sneak-Up

Sheri had a sneak up on Monday night/Tuesday morning at The Loopy Ewe . I might have had a little accident with my credit card. {Cue rising smoke...)
Film at 11. Or when USPS drops it off. Stay tuned.

A New Knitter is Born

The trip to Heritage Spinning and Weaving was a resounding success. My small friend the Fabulous Miss H. (not so small anymore, she's 11) and her mom (still a non-knitter) took the ride up there with me. H. has been asking me if I'd teach her to knit for a couple of years, but we live so far apart that it never seemed practical. She has become quite the little Googler these days, so I'm confident we can find online sources together if she gets stuck.
She picked out 2 colors of Lamb's Pride Bulky, a pale pink and a magenta, to make the hat that HSW teaches in their beginning knitting class. It's knit flat and sewn, but demonstrates garter, stockinette, ribbing and decreasing while producing something functional at the end. She's quite pleased. I demonstrated the long-tail cast on to her and she picked it right up. Then, we learned the knit stitch, so she is working on many rows of garter stitch until the next time we meet. She is knitting slowly and carefully and it is working out well.
For myself, I found some issues of KnitScene that I'd been searching for and Interweave Felt which isn't supposedly available until Tuesday. I also jumped on the SoySilk Tofutsies bandwagon. I got 2 skeins, one in lime/white and one in raspberry/white.

I was also able to make some progress on my latest Monkey sock while supervising the fabulous Miss H.


All in all, a successful trip.

I'm In!

Woo Hoo! Thursday evening, I got my invite to Ravelry. How exciting is that?? Jess and Casey really have a great vision with this community. It's still in the beta stages, but they are still accepting volunteers. I don't remember how long ago I registered--maybe a month? If you see me over there, 'friend' me! I've been slowly adding information to my stash, my queue, my library and my patterns. What a wonderful resource this will be after I finally get all of my info entered. That, or I'll scare the crap out of myself when I see the actual size of my stash.
Today I'm off to Heritage Spinning and Weaving in Lake Orion, MI. What started out as a spinning and weaving store has morphed into a very cool yarn store as well. Joan and her staff are some of the nicest people; I'm just sad that they're so far away. About an hour and a half from here, but I have a birthday coupon burning a hole in my checkbook and I get to visit with a good friend who lives on that side of town. I'll try to post pictures of the loot! ;)