more trip prep

This morning I was taking Cait to the other end of the Universe, West O, extreme West O to get some emergency repairs made to her chair. It had a massive meltdown, four days prior to departure. I spoke with her case manager at the insurance company this morning afterward, and she is going to push through the approval for the work... today. Thank you Universe. I just have to pay the extra for overnight shipping. Hopefully it all comes together ok.

Second, I took the van in for repairs. Guess who needs front brakes and tires all the way around. Its there now, while I'm here working.
Ugh. SIx stories, then I'm freeeeeee. Oh wait, I still have that grant to finish up.

In the midst of working (ew) I started peeping at fiber/ yarn opportunities while on my trip. The store I wanted to hit up in Livingston... moved to Helena the "second week in July". Gee, thanks guys. However, the store in Bozeman with a website looks like it might be *the* spot. The Yarn Shop and Fiber Company is located fairly centrally, not that its a big city or anything. They stock Mountain Colors, which are made/ dyed etc right there in the Bitteroots. *DING DING* I hope their selection is fully stocked. They are pricey, but there are some definite things on my wishlist there.

As it happens I will be there for their SnB type thing: UFO Night- Bring your UnFinished Object for a night of camaraderie and support as we encourage each other to finish projects. Mark the first Friday of each month as UFO night at The Yarn Shop. Bring yourself, your project, a snack; we'll convene from 6 to 8:30.

I just might need to hit that up. We shall see. I'm also interested in hearing more about their 'Project of the Month Kits- The Small Project of the Month (quick-to-knit gift ideas)"

We are going to be traveling home across Wyoming and staying overnight in Jackson. I found Knit on Pearl who has a website, with no content. Any one been there? Is it worth my while- outside of just going in and petting some yarn? Or The Fiber House in Sheridan, Wyoming (on the way up)? Their site says they are opening in March of 2006.

I actually just commented on the SwankyHanks blog because they had done a trip of fiber shops.. and posted about their exploits. Hopefully they will have some more insight.

Speaking of, Eliza have you seen this: The Knitters and Crocheters and Weavers and Spinners Travel Guide 2006



My trekking sock is still not done. However, I am ready to start increasing for the knee. I must have three socks worth of knitting into this bad boy already. I wanted to cast on sock #2 on my way out of town... I've told myself that as I just need to finish it before I cross into Wyoming. That gives me until about 11am Saturday (which is really noon in Omaha! Crossing the time line thingie in Murdo, SD is buying me an extra hour! woot).

attack of the ball winder

I was reading one of the comms I'm in, and I'm sharing this as my defense
and I'm looking at you moderngypsy

it seems every time I touch a ballwinder.. or, at least *her* ballwinder (and the only one i've ever touched)

this happens to me

apparently I'm not the only one.

stitching.. and bitching..

In knitting news, I am still swimming in fiber. I can't remember if I actually, technically signed up for the Tour de Fleece. In fact, I'm pretty sure I meant to, and didn't. However, in spirit, I still plan to loosely participate and paw my way through my intended pile. Maybe in the next few days I will get a chance to post pix of the amazing fiber stash I've amassed in the last... month. I think I'm sitting on about twenty pounds. Oh my.

Provided my back starts cooperating.

I'm making decent progress on my trekking sock, I'm into the calf increases, and pleased to realize I'm using a handy geologic slope formula to compute my increases. Rise over run indeed. I'm hoping to be at the knee by Thursday's stitch and bitch, I refuse to call it "sit and knit". Stupid people and their stupid attempts at hogging copyrights on things that they don't have copywritten.

Of course, on the 4th (hope you had a good one) I had to rip out ~ six inches of sock. That's approximately sixty rows... of precious calf. I thought by putting my increases on the back, I would create a 'seam'. What I created was a pouch, ideal for a heel growing out of my calf, or a place to squirrel away change. Basically, I find neither of those options to be suitable. Additionally, it was turning my rows into chevrons in the back of my sock. I was not amused.. so frog... frog... frog... and now I'm back at it, spacing my increases about, and hoping to get caught back up. I frogged it back to the bold yellow stripe near the shin there. Ideally I would like to have this puppy finished in about twelve days. This picture was taken about three inches before I decided the frogging was necessary. I should have taken one of the pouch before I killed it off.



I used a figure 8 toe up cast on, that is slightly goobered, on my trekker. We like to refer to it affectionately as a resevoir tip. Thursday we are having a class on the figure 8 toe up, so I think whether I've finished sock #1 or not, I am going to go ahead and cast on #2, just to hopefully get a nicer start on it.

When I finish these pups up... my next knitting project is most likely going to be the ballet sweater from the July Magnits

Knitty has a few patterns calling my name as well. I am all about this "extremities" issue. Some of those mitts, example- the knucks, have the potential to be some serious stash busters.

I also just bought a skein of my friend PippiKneeSocks's hand dyed sock yarn in a faboo colourway called "Lilly Pond" I plan on eventually turning that into a pair of knee highs for my eleven year old. Pippi, as a matter of fact, was just published in the new issue of Knitty regarding her amazing hand spun, hand coiled yarns.

So that, for now, is my knitting news. I plan on taking the trekker out into the wild tomorrow. Which will probably be my last effort to get outdoors for a few days, highs will reach the upper 90s and are to be into the low 100s (plus our nasty 90% humidity) for the next week or so. Ugh, I can't wait to get back to the mountains.