Buzy week but I knitted

Once I subscribed to a KAL... it was Candle Flame.  I was rapidly overwhelmed by the speed of some and left far behind so I just forgot about it and ended up by ripping it all to use the yarn for something else. This time, we are only two in that KAL... my NSP and myself. I am to begin my 5th repeat of the pattern. Of course, I feel the pressure anyway but until now, managed to keep my head over the water.  I have some mistakes and am still wondering If I am ripping everything to start anew or continue that way.  I am giving myself another few days to decide as I won't have time to touch my knitting before Thursday.

A couple of weeks ago, I swapped some lampwork stitch markers for sock wool.  I was eager to begin the Jaywalkers socks.  They are GREAT!  Pleasing to knit as the pattern is so easy and so neat looking as the V formed by the stitches is upside down the V formed by the color of the wool.  To top it, that wool is so soft.  I am a bit farther than this picture, in fact I am now beginning the heel and I promised myself this won't be the last pair with this pattern.

Socks are my favorite item to knit while in the car.  A couple hours in the car show a lot on a sock.  Yesterday I had time to knit as my husband drove me to an antique wool mill.  We were supposed to stop there on our way to a week-end in the Eastern Townships but decided that we would not have enough time to do both in the same week-end so we left yesterday morning in a sad and grey day. 

The mill was nested in an idyllic scenery and I wished the sun would come out so we could just walk the paths but no such luck.  The very young guide was interesting and funny and I enjoyed the tour.  Even though I knew most of what he talked about because it wasn't the first wool mill I visited, it was the first time I was seeing a sock machine in action.   Machine envy touched me pretty hard and still is.  For once, I feel lucky my pocketbook is empty because I could begin a search on eBay.

That fall under the covered bridge was the power of the mill.  There is no production anymore but a few skeins from the demonstrations during the summer.  Of course, impossible to leave the place without buying two of those skeins, huge ones.  The right one is over one pound of 3 ply wool and will be perfect to dye and felt.  The left one is a bit smaller, a 2 ply wool that I might use for socks after dying it.

Due to time constraints and no camera for now, I might write only once a week so I  will have a lot to tell. When looking behind a whole week, no matter if I though I had a pretty lazy week, it feels good to see all I finally accomplished. Good for the ego of course.

Beside the bits and pieces of knitting, I dyed some cotton... dishcloth cotton.  I like the colors I obtained but not the texture of the yarn. It is too matte and I prefer a smaller gauge.  The dishcloths knitted with this yarn will be used for a charity sale.

   

In between fibers, I worked with glass.  I had some orders for cell charms, another stitch marker swap, an earring swap and an order for a small heart to slide on a silver chain. 

     

All that resume my week pretty well.  Of course I won't bother  you with the class samples and instruction writing, that's my everyday job.  Perhaps just a word to say you can see a little piece of myself in Miss Snips column in the Canadian Quilter's magazine, latest issue.

Have a great week