Spinning and knitting

I really needed a break after this marathon learning. I swear I have never ever in my life learned so much in such a short time! And there's still much to learn for math...
Anyway I finally had the time to browse all the blogs and forums, which took quite some time. Especially since everyone except me appears to post more regularly, like 5times a week or more!
I'm never going to achieve that even if I don't have so much to do. How do these people manage to post so often?

Well, ok let me try to altleast make this entry worth reading ;-)
Here's the yarn I have spun so far ordered chronologically from left to right. As you can probably see, I'm getting better. In the last skein(far right) there are whole sections spun evenly! It's a lot easier than I thought and alot easier than spindle spinning. Atleast for me.
The only problem now is, that eventhough I still have quite some fiber here, they are all in fleece form(not sure about the proper name of it all). They are partly combed I think, but the fiber that came with the wheel is not(or not much anyway). I found it easier to spin the purple roving I had although it had felted a little bit after dyeing it. But can I really justify buying more fiber? I've spend much to much already on various yarns etc.(including buying the spinning wheel of course).I'll have to wait untill next month anyway as I'm almost broke at the moment(after I had to buy a Deuser-Band to build up my muscles and therefore stabilize my knee). I think I'm going to buy(if I buy any) some Space from Wollknoll or the muticolored fiber...










Totally forgot to post my second last finished object(the last one is a present for my Wollprinzessin, so I can't show it to you now). It's the sweater from the Rebecca mag. It looks much better in person, especially when someone is wearing it;-) But as always there's nobody here to take a photo. The only thing that bothers me a bit is the fact that it's a bit bulky at the back and side. Of course you couldn't see that in the mag photo!

And here are my current knitting projects. Some socks for me and to better show the pattern of the mock-me-not socks(eventhough the photo is just slightly better...damn camera!), the black circular lace shawl with "only" the edging missing and a Cozy out of Kauni again. Yes, I brought more yarn. I tried to resist, but when Uta had free shipping I took it as a sign ;-)





I also brought this sock yarn. Well, actually the left was brought by my mum. No, she still refuses to learn sock knitting, she expects me to knit her a pair....

Mock-me-not socks

Ever since I began knitting socks, I wanted to try out patterned socks. But somehow I never found a pattern that was easy enough to watch tv while knitting AND in my size AND not boring.
So, I made up my own. It's nothing extra special and I'm sure there are others out there who have knitted socks like these, but I wrote down a little pattern for you anyway. Just in case someone like me searches for an easy patterned sock.
Why they are called mock-me-not? Well, first of all it's a mock cable pattern and second my mum made fun of me, when I showed her the first patterned sock! "Oh, will I get traditional bavarian socks next birthday?!!" No, mum. You'll get a fun fur scarf for that comment ;-P

Mock-me-not socks

[I'll upload a better pic soon, you can't really see the cable pattern here]

Size: given with my size(EU 40), but can be modified for bigger or smaller feet.
Materials: 4-ply sock yarn, DPNS and a needle(for weaving in ends)
gauge: well, whatever sock yarn has(never made a swatch, sorry)

Please Note: This is not a tutorial on how to knit socks(see here for a great tutorial) So I won't give directions on the heel etc.

Stitches used:
~stockinette
~2X2 Rib: 1.Round: *K2,P2*
~Mock cable 1: 1.,2.,3. Round: *K2,P2*
4.Round: *K second stitch on the needle before K first creating a cable, P2*
~Mock cable 2: 1.,2.,3. Round: *P2,K2* P2
4.Round: *P2,K second stitch on the needle before K first creating a cable* P2


Directions:
CO 60sts and divide the sts evenly on the needle.

Cuff:
Work in 2X2 Rib for 8 rows
Continue in Mock cable 1, begin with Row 4, untill it's as long as you want it.

Heel:
Work Heel over half the stitches, make sure that the stitches you are not working on begin with P2 and end with P2(this will
be impotant if you changed the number of stitches for the CO!)

After the heel:
Work the bottom stitches in stockinette and the others in Mock cable 2., don't forget the gusset shaping if you need it

Toe:
Work the toe as you always do in stockinette, I worked row 4 of the Mock cable 2 last.

Fini!!

short hello-note

Hello!
No, not that short ;-)

Just wanted to let you know I passed my oral examination this morning!!!!
My grade? Well, not that great-3,3. But I passed and that's all that's important.
After the examination when I waited for my grade I was one hundred procent sure I failed. I mean I only answered with one sentence replies(or less ;-)) and the topics we "talked" about covered maybe 5% of what I learned! The prof told me afterwards that next time I should practise with someone else and simulate the examination situation. I did learn with someone else, but we didn't really did the simulation part.

Anyway, next entry will be all about my new spinning wheel, the "yarn" I produced(you, didn't really believed, that I would wait to try it out?!), my recent knits(or actually I can't talk about that since it's a gift for my Wollprinzessin) and hopefully a pattern for my new socks(been quite sometime since I posted a pattern...).

Listening to: Johnny Cash(you can too: music)

Spin it!

Look what I got:

A spinning wheel!!!!!!!!!!!!
At first I didn't knew how it works, but this german site helped me a lot. As you can see, I haven't spun any yarn yet, but I practised with some yarn.
Because I still have a lot to learn for my examination, the wheel has to wait untill tomorrow or even the weekend. But the fact that I could spin if I wanted is nice to know ;-)

Knee Update

Do you know the feeling when things seem to be too good to be true?
Like just having a bruise when you managed to fall while you bend your knee and fall directly on it?
Yupp, too good to be true. The doctor that made the MRI looked at the "photos" again after I left and decided it's not just a bruise, it's "a light fracture without any dislocation and straight". Does sound terrible to me and my normal doctor said I needed to see yet another doc who would do a "light" plaster. Well new doc said I don't need a plaster and showed me an exercise to...hmm, forgot what it exactly is to do, but it should enable me to bend me knee more than the 90° it manages know. Otherwise I should try to walk normally, but am not allowed to squad, do sports or fall again(haha doc, really funny!). So far so good. That was last thursday. But know after my first day at campus again, my knee doesn't seem to want to get better. It doesn't hurt, but it feels...wrong. Sorry, don't know a word for it(not even in german). Walking is more difficult than it was this morning. I'll see the doc again on wednesday.

In knitting news, though I don't have any pics, I completed yet another sock for me and the Rebecca sweater. I also began knitting my Wollprinzesin's gift. Finally found something I may be able to knit in a month.
I also brought the knittin-pattern-a-day calendar and a vogue mag.

And I brought a spinning wheel!!!! From ebay, so I have to wait untill it arrives here a bit.

Thanks for all your comments and hopefully next time I write I have some pics for you!

Wollfeepost!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, look at the goodies my Wollfee send me:
I love it all! The braid is wool(?) to be spun in my most favourit color, pink! The sock yarn is great too and I think it would be great for patterned socks. The red ball is a great stress relief and belief it or not, my hands and wrists don't hurt anymore! But I have a question Wollfee, what is the stuff in the glass? It it somekind of jam?
Oh, and of course the tasty chocolate is missing in the pic.

Thank you very much!

On another note, I'm feeling much better and can bend my knee again without pain. I had a MRI today(7 a.m.!!!!) and it's only a bruise. Better of than most of the people in the waiting room.