WIPWed #115: How Many Times

Posted on January 27, 2016 by shoelaceswitcher

How many times must one knit a hit, before one gets to have a hat?

Skunk Reborn:

I re-knit the Fidra hat of last week into… another hat I don’t like. I attempted to get fancy with the decreases, picturing a turn-a-square garter stitch situation, but I just ended up with a very pointy, flat-topped hat. I need to start the garter detail earlier, decrease faster, decrease in more places, or try all three. Either way, this hat is getting at least partially frogged again.

Speckled Sockhead:

BMFA Socks That Rock Mediumweight in a OOAK colorway.

I remembered to bring my Sockhead hat home for photos this week! As you can see, progress has been made, but I think I still have a few more inches of stockinette to go before I can decrease. I really like how the colorway is knitting up.

Merino Mind Bullets:

BeeMiceElf Merino fiber, colorway Mind Bullets

I’ve enlisted my new glasspin spindle to help my Turkish spindle along in my spinning project. I’m pleased to see that I’m achieving a similar thickness even though I’m using different tools, so I’m hopeful that the yarn will ply up fairly evenly.

As for reading, I’m still working through Michael Pollan’s Cooked. I may have spoken a little too soon last week when I said it was boring, it got much mroe interesting when he began talking about bread-making and fermenting. I think it’s because those chapters were more similar to the content of my favorite book of his, The Botany of Desire, where he details the way that a few different domesticated plants and humans essentially co-evolved. Here, he’s setting up the same kind of discussion with different forms of yeast, so the writing is more botanical/biological in nature and less philosophical. Anyway, I’m seeing it through.

And that’s about it from me this week! Not too much knitting happened since I’ve been enjoying my new spindle, but that will soon change as I have many knits I’m itching to get started on. Linking up with Yarnalong and Stitch Along Wednesday.

Some Pretty Things

Posted on January 18, 2016 by shoelaceswitcher

My drafts folder tells me I began this post 11 days ago, which is a good indication of how much I’ve been meaning to blog lately but have not been able to. That said, some work deadlines should be calming down soon and life should be returning to a less hectic level (fingers crossed). On my last post, Audry asked me how I’ve been keeping up with things lately and I must admit, my wonderful talented dedicated selfless husband is the only thing that got me through the weekend. He set up for our Sweet Sheep show so I could sleep, he made lotions and lip balms like a madman Saturday night so we’d have more stock for the next day, and he was an ever-charming salesman when I didn’t have the energy to be on my feet. Basically, he’s the best partner I could have ever hoped for and Knitting Weekend event at Slater Mill was a success for us, largely because of him. 🙂 And, if you’ve been waiting for any re-stocks, we’ve got lots of new goodies (including sheep-shaped soaps) up in the shop.

The marketplace was filled with all sorts of pretty things but I came home with just two items, from a couple of my favorite local vendors.

Knitting weekend stash enhancement.

I am absolutely terrible at resisting any of Chrystee’s beautiful colorways (Play at Life Fiber Arts), so whenever we’re at a show together I usually have to come home with something. This time I justified my purchase as a sweater for the Hatchling. I think this rainbow set will make a fun gender-neutral striped Babycakes cardi, perhaps with a white or dark green yarn for the trim. And then, of course, I had to get the cutest buttons I’ve ever seen for the baby sweater: tiny turtles from Katy at Katrinkles. Purchase justified.

Tanis Fiber Arts gift bundle.

While I’m sharing pretty things, here is some of the yarn I received as gifts over the holidays. Above is Raindrops gift bundle from Tanis Fiber Arts. I’ve admired Tanis’ blog and yarns for a long time, but had not yet stashed any so I’m particularly excited to work with this yarn. It’s a lovely skein of 75% Merino, 25% silk fingering weight yarn in pretty pastel purples and blues. I also really love the bag and have hung up the calendar in my office (which my coworker accurately described as ‘yarn porn’).

Blue Moon Fiber Arts stash enhancement.

And it wouldn’t be the holiday season without a healthy dose of pretty things from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. On the left is a skein of BMFA Socks That Rock Lightweight in the special Rhinebeck 2015 colorway that I wasn’t able to snag at the festival itself. The middle skeins are BMFA Socks That Rock Heavyweight in Golly, a rich, deep red. The skein on the right is some of the new Single Silky Targhee in Fir-Ever-Green. I have a general idea of what these skeins will become (socks for me, socks for Fiasco, hat for me or sweater for baby, shawl of some sort) but no concrete plans yet.

Has your stash been growing or shrinking since the holidays?

WIPWed #113: New on the Needles

Posted on January 7, 2016 by shoelaceswitcher

Thanks for all the congratulations and commiserations on my last post! It’s lovely to hear the experiences of mothers who have been there, done that, seen some crazy things, and gotten through to the other side. I’m still intending to write about the holiday gifts I made and the yarn I acquired, but the days keep slipping by and here we are at ~~Wednesday~~ Thursday already, so day-late WIPs it is.

Christmas Katniss Socks:

BMFA Tigger Targhee in Gnome for the Holidays. Click for project page.

The Katniss socks have been my main WIP lately. The cables are fun to work and show up pretty well even in this variegated yarn. What’s been really fun, though, is trying out the brand new Tigger Targhee yarn from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Tina named it ‘Tigger’ since it is an exceptionally bouncy yarn. It’s so bouncy because its construction is fairly unique in the sock yarn market: it’s an 8-ply cabled yarn, made from 4 plies of 2-ply yarn that have been overtwisted and then plied together. All that ply twist means it has lots of spring!

Comparison of Socks That Rock LW (left) and Tigger Targhee (right).

This photo shows Socks That Rock LW and Tigger Targhee, side-by-side. STR is a traditional 3-ply yarn that also has lots of spring. Both yarns are roughly the same heavy fingering weight, so you can imagine how incredibly thin the 8 plies of TT must be. The colors on TT look a little more muted to my eye, likely because all of the twists break up the way light reflects. I’m looking forward to seeing how they feel when I wear them. Anyway, there’s your dorky yarn deconstruction for the day.

Skunky Fidra:

Verdant Gryphon Odyssey, colorway Atomic Skunk. Click for project page.

Continuing my recent hat streak, I’ve barely just begun the new bulky weight hat pattern from Gudrun Johnston, Fidra. It’s so pretty! So fluffy! Must have! I’m also still working on my Speckled Sockhead but that lives at the office so I have no recent photos.

My reading of late.

Two books have occupied my attention lately, one just for fun and the other for research. Mindy Kaling is hilarious (which should not surprise me since she wrote for The Office) and I love her current show The Mindy Project. Her book of memoir-like short essays and stories is quick and fun to read, highly recommend. The Baby Bargains book is essentially a resource where people did all the market research for me already, and just tell me what is best to buy. The authors base it on their own experience as well as feedback from thousands of their blog readers. It’s like reading all of the Amazon reviews for every product I could ever need all at once, without having to sort through the shitty ones that just say “this shipped very fast ” (DUH, IT’S AMAZON). It also clues you in on how to cut corners, stick to a budget, avoid expensive pitfalls, etc. I used their Bridal Bargains book during wedding planning and it saved a lot of sanity.

That’s it from me today! Linking up with Yarnalong and Stitch Along Wednesday.

WIPWed #112: That’s More Like It

Posted on December 16, 2015 by shoelaceswitcher

Things are starting to settle in at the new apartment, and I had a wild burst of activity earlier in the week that allowed me to both 1) knit stuff and 2) make stuff for Sweet Sheep Body Shoppe. Hooray!

Speckled Sockhead:

BMFA Socks That Rock MW in a speckled mill end that I love. Click for project page.

My sockhead hat is progressing slowly but surely. Just about the start the stockinette portion now.

Hot Pink Galicia:

Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts Big Squeeze in Cherry Blossom. Click for project page.

As you can see, I abandoned my mitten plan for this lovely yarn and cast on a gratifyingly-quick hat instead. I realized that I might be a bit short on yardage for the mittens, and I was definitely short on brain power for them. I wanted something to knit for which I wouldn’t have to stress about sizing, and for some reason mittens always stress me out, so hat it was. I’ll post a review of this yarn after I finish and block the hat (still searching for darning needles…).

Sweet Sheep Updates!

Peppermint Cocoa

Winter Gardenia

Orange Rosemary

I’ve been hard at work trying to get a few last-minute holiday scents up in the shop. Our ever-popular sheep-shaped goat milk soap is now available in sweet-and-decadent Peppermint Cocoa, elegant-minty-floral Winter Gardenia, and bright-and-herbal Orange Rosemary.

A few other favorite scents have just been added to the lotion bar inventory, including Gingersnap, Sweet Almond, Fresh Snow, and Jingleberry. I’ve also added a READY-TO-SHIP custom gift set option, where you can choose three sample sized lotion bars from the list of available fragrances to be packaged in a cotton-muslin bag, perfect for gift-giving. Order this week to ship in time for Christmas! (Last day to order will be Friday 12/18.)

And as for reading this week, I’m back into the second of the Lord John Grey sub-series of Outlander. Not as good as the main series, but entertaining nonetheless.

Wishing you a merry and un-hectic last week before the holidays! Linking up with Yarnalong and Stitch Along Wednesday.

Exhaustion Doesn’t Cut It

Posted on December 6, 2015 by shoelaceswitcher

The past couple of weeks have utterly worn me out. The Thanksgiving holiday weekend was fun but busy with lots of traveling. Then the following week was non-stop work for a very large deadline that is still somewhat looming over my head. Then this weekend we moved. Packing, moving, and unpacking rate very highly on my list of least favorite things, but my Fiasco is a magnificently talented moving master, so it all went smoothly. He and his brother and mom really put the hustle on and made moving as painless as possible. They’re wonderful and skilled in ways that I am not. In fact, my dear Fiasco single-handedly painted the new walls (who thought poop-brown was a good wall color?!) and painted over our old walls (goodbye teal, yellow, green) and cleaned the old place up without a finger lifted from me, as I’m still working on that damn deadline.

Sage green is SO MUCH NICER than poop brown.

I know, I’m lucky.

Needless to say, my knitting has suffered. I have yet to cast on the mittens I talked about 12 days ago, and the only thing I’ve done is a bit of ribbing for a Sockhead Hat:

This is the only project of which I’m currently certain of its whereabouts, since it lives in my purse. Everything else is in Tower of Boxes Limbo Land. It’s not a super interesting knit but I am really loving the yarn (a mediumweight Socks That Rock mill end) and it’s going to coordinate perfectly with my favorite bright blue fleece.

It’s interesting to see the split in bloggers’ attitudes towards the upcoming holidays. Some are in full-on confident gift knitting mode, aiming to knit a bajillion-and-0ne-things over the next month. Others are approaching the beginnings of panic mode, realizing that there are only so many hours in day. And still others express surprise that Christmas is less than 3 weeks away. I fall into the latter group, with a heap of ‘bah humbug!’ added in for good measure. I am probably just tired, but with all the running around recently, I can’t even fathom decorating or buying stuff for gifts. I swear, there’s nothing like moving and subsequently having to put away every single item in your possession to make you really, really sick of stuff. Bah humbug, indeed.

So I’m listening to a holiday playlist while I work in the hopes of turning my mood around and I’m actively trying to avoid scoffing at capitalist greed whenever I see/hear/read holiday ads. It’s part of why I didn’t participate in Black Friday or Small Business Saturday or BuyStuffSunday (I’m sure Sunday is called something) or Cyber Monday with Sweet Sheep. It all just felt too… contrived. Meaningless, and pushy, and not-the-point.

What do you do when you’re just not feeling the spirit?

WIPWed #104: It’s Wednesday Again, Isn’t It

Posted on September 10, 2015 by shoelaceswitcher

These weeks, man, I just can’t keep up! I’m doing my best to just embrace the lack of time I feel I have for creative things and just do the best I can. For a while there I was dreading the end of the summer but I’m now starting to look at my stash more closely and imagine all the warm, woolly things I’d like to knit and wear in the near future. Plus, the Season of Fall Festivals is nearly upon us, and who can be bummed about that? Speaking of festivals…

Rhinebeck Sweater – Grimm Green Stout:

WIPWed #104: It's Wednesday Again, Isn't It | Woolen Diversions

BMFA Twisted, colorway Grimm Green. Click for project page.

My Rhinebeck sweater is progressing at a steady clip. The fabric is lovely and squishy and I’m almost at the point where I need to think about waist decreases. I took the sweater camping with me over the long weekend (no photographic evidence as I was boycotting electronics) and it was the only thing I worked on while I was away! Of course I brought a sock project just in case, but I talked myself out of bringing a spindle as well, finally accepting that I would not need quite so much craft variety over such a short trip. I’m learning, slowly but surely.

Berrylicious Socks:

BMFA Socks That Rock Lgithweight, colorway Berrylicious, Click for project page.

My “back up knitting” socks are progressing at a solid pace, as well. I’m not sure yet whether I will keep these for myself or reserve them as a possible Christmas gift for someone else (that time will be upon us before we know it). They’re simple socks, and I like them, but I don’t love them and somebody else might. Frankly, I’m just kind of impressed that I’ve become a nearly-monogamous knitter working on only two projects at once. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Rockin’ Sock Club 10th Anniversary Kit

As an added treat in the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin’ Sock Club, we received special 10th anniversary kits that consisted of great goodies, including a notions case, a tape measure, and a really beautiful project bag. The bag is made of high quality fabric with a nice thick liner and I adore the colors. It’s custom made by Queen Bee Creations and oh boy do they have some pretty, handmade things on their site. They don’t appear to do knitting bags in particular, but they have purses and messenger bags and travel bags in gorgeous patterns that I would love to own. Like this little polka-dot number or this leafy teal case. This large loop pouch looks to be the same size and shape as the bag we received in the club and it is plenty big for any knitting accessory project. I’m a little in love and am happy to have a whole new-to-me creative company to admire!

As for reading, I just finished up The Cider House Rules by John Irving. Man, can that guy write. That is probably not news to anybody, but this was only the second of his books I’ve ever read, and I’m now officially hooked. The book followed the lifeof a doctor who performs illegal abortions and runs an orphanage in 1940s Maine, and the life of one of the orphans (basically). It’s so much more than that, but it’s hard to sum up. Irving has skyrocketed his way straight up into my top 10 favorite authors list. I love the way he tells his stories over long time periods and builds an entire life for his characters. I love how creative his storytelling is, and how each book is entirely different in feel, locale, and topic from the rest. Normally I’m all about long series or authors who write in a particular style or setting so I know what I’m getting into with their books. It’s kind of exiting not to have any idea what the next book will be like, but to know that I’ll probably love it, whatever it is about or however he chooses to write it. Do you have a favorite Irving book?

That about covers what I’ve been up to this week! Linking up with Yarnalong.

WIPWed #102: Still Settling Back In

Posted on August 19, 2015 by shoelaceswitcher

The rest of the conference I was attending last week was great, I even got to briefly visit the National Aquarium in Baltimore (highly recommend!). However, I did arrive home slightly worse for the wear. I’ve had some low-level cold symptoms since deplaning (love that word) and I also injured my foot pretty badly with all the walking around I did at the conference. The top of the arch of my foot has been painful and swollen for well over a week, but the swelling has been going down thanks to lots of icing and resting. I’ve had a slower settling-back-into-things than I would have liked, but sometimes, you just have to take a break! Taking it easy has lead to a bit more knitting, so that’s good.

Black Tea:

WIPWed #102: Settling In | Woolen Diversions

Plucky Knitter Bello fingering held double. Click for project page.

My Black Tea hat looks nearly the same as last week because I had missed a cable crossing several rows back and spent too much time attempting to fix it by laddering down until I just gave in and frogged back a repeat. One does not always have the patience for tricky fixes!

Berrylicious Socks:

WIPWed #102: Settling Back In | Woolen Diversions

BMFA Socks That Rock Lightweight, colorway Berrylicious. Click for project page.

These socks also tried my patience this week. I attempted Smokestack Socks and Hermione’s Everyday Socks to no avail – the yarn was just too variegated to look good in either pattern. I finally settled on a simple repeat of alternating knit rounds with rounds of *k3, p1*. Slightly more fun than plain ribbing, but not distracted at all by the colorway pooling and striping. They make for good meeting socks, at any rate.

Grimm Green Stout:

WIPWed #102: Still Settling In | Woolen Diversions

BMFA Twisted, colorway Grimm Green. No project page just yet.

Now that I’m back home, I’ve finally had a chance to swatch for what I’m hoping will be my Rhinebeck sweater (but I wouldn’t put money on it or anything, time is flying by). This is a swatch for Chocolate Stout by Thea Coleman. It’s going to be a really fabulous, texture grandpa cardi if I can get the sizing just right. The pattern is simple but fun and I’m completely in love with the colorway!

Sweet Sheep Soaps:

Coconut Lime

Chipotle Caramel

I managed to make a couple of new soaps to add to the shop: Coconut Lime whipped goat milk & aloe layered soap, as well as Chipotle Caramel sheep-shaped goat milk soap. Options in the shop are running kind of low as I’m waiting on some supplies to arrive, but once they do I’ll be busy re-stocking lots of different lotion bar scents and soaps, so hang tight!

And as for reading…

I finished the John Irving book I was reading last week and have since downloaded two more to my kindle: Son of an Elephant and Cider House Rules. First, though, I took a quick detour into the young adult version of Discworld with A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett. I love this little sub-series about Tiffany Aching, a pint-sized witch with lots of little blue friends in the form of the Nac Mac Feegle. I’m currently reading Wintersmith, the third book in the series, and will probably finish off the series with I Shall Wear Midnight before returning to the John Irving books.

How have you all been? I’m looking forward to catching up on all the blogging I missed! Linking up with Yarnalong and Stitch Along Wednesday.

FOFri #41 : Socks & Swatches

Posted on July 31, 2015 by shoelaceswitcher

After a couple of busy weeks, I’ve finally had time to sit down and wrap up the toes of not one but TWO pairs of socks!

FOFri #41: Socks & Swatches | Woolen Diversions

We sort of match, and it’s adorable.

I think it’s safe to say that my sock mojo is officially back. I’ve finished 6 pairs of socks thus far this year! That’s almost a pair a month, which is way faster than my sock finishing rate of the last few years. Plus, I knit the exact same pattern, twice, simultaneously. If that’s not fortitude, I don’t know what is. It probably helps that I adore both of the colorways and the slipped stitch patterning feels like it flies by.

My Favorite Socks Ever:

Love.

Love, love.

Cuteness.

These are, indeed, my favorite socks ever. The pattern is Dalekanium by Dena Stelly. In truth, I didn’t actually follow the pattern (which is toe-up). I just borrowed the stitch pattern and stuck it on my typical 64-stitch cuff-down sock and tapered away the slipped stitch patterning just before I began the toe decreases. The yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight (my faaaaaaaavorite) in the club colorway Gran’s Kitchen.

Stealth Socks:

Love.

Love, love.

This pic was ridiculous to take.

And while I got brand new socks, the Fiasco did, too (so he can’t complain of neglect). His birthday socks were just about a week late, which isn’t too bad by my standards. The nice thing about his is that they went just as quickly as mine, despite his larger feet. That’s because I used BMFA Socks That Rock Heavyweight on size 2.75 mm needles to size up the socks instead of casting on more stitches. (Good thing he likes his socks cushy!) This is the Grimm colorway, and it’s fabulous.

Now that those socks are off the needles and I have a few trips in the near future, I’m itching to cast on some small, quick-but-interesting, portable projects. Which to me, means HATS.

Swatches, all wet and wonky.

I’ve had two skeins of yarn begging to become hats that I want in my wardrobe like right now since mid-winter, but I just didn’t get a chance to knit them last season. Knitting them in August should give me a solid jump-start on accessories for fall, though!

Black Tea:

Photo copyright BabyCocktails. Click for pattern page.

I’ve been completely in love with this slouchy Black Tea hat pattern since I handled the sample during a class with the designer, Thea Colman, at a knitting event in January. I loved the sample so much that I even hunted down the exact yarn used in the pattern through a destash because I want to replicate the look and feel of the luxurious fabric. The yarn is Bello fingering by the Plucky Knitter (55% Merino wool, 45% cashmere), held double while knitting. Once dry, the swatch will help me determine if I want to use 6’s or 7’s for the main body of the hat. While I could’ve just followed the pattern, my head is a little smaller than most and I’ve never worked with this yarn before so I wanted to get a feel for it and my gauge before I jumped right in.

Paravel Hat:

Photo copyright Megan Goodacre. Click for pattern page.

The other hat will be made with a skein of BMFA BFL Superwash in their fun Sadie Sue Tipsy colorway. The blue in that colorway is the exact same shade of blue as my jacket (and my glasses, and my lampshade, and my wristwarmers…) which makes the color-coordination-lover in me very happy. I knew it wanted to become a hat, but I was debating between the Norby and Sockhead patterns until last night, when I found Paravel (designed by Megan Goodacre) and thought that the simple texture with the interesting lace panel would work well with the specks of color and keep my interest while knitting. Plus, I love the tidy decreases at the top of the hat and appreciate that kind of attention to detail in the patterns I buy.

Photo copyright Megan Goodacre.

So that’s my trip knitting all sorted out! Two hats (and let’s be honest, probably a new pair of socks) should hold me over for a 3-day Cape Cod trip and a week-long conference, right?

(And in case you missed it, check out my Indie Business Interview on the Knitted Bliss blog! There you’ll find a coupon code for free shipping on all domestic AND international Sweet Sheep orders over $10 through August 7th.)

WIPWed #100: That’s a Nice Round Number

Posted on July 15, 2015 by shoelaceswitcher

I’ve reached 100 WIP Wednesday posts, woohoo! Now, that’s not 100 weeks in a row or even 100 weeks of knitting, as there has been plenty more knitting than that, but 100 weeks of cataloging my knits in a systematic way, at least! (You can see all WIPWed posts here, if you’d like.) This week, I have spinning and socks.

My Favorite Socks Ever:

Toes!

Photo ‘helpers’.

My favorite socks are currently in the toe stage of development, which means they’re almost done! I’m going to wear the bejeezus out of these things come fall. Also, I thought I should illustrate how difficult it is for me to get good blog photos sometimes; I have to fight off kitties for space and light (especially the yarn-hungry Darwin) through the entire photo-taking process.

Stealth Socks:

BMFA Socks That Rock Heavyweight, colorway Grimm. Click for project page.

The secret stealth socks are progressing, but not nearly fast enough. I’m on the heel flap of both but need to put some serious time into them this week.

TdF Merino Mind Bullets:

BeeMiceElf Merino top, colorway Mind Bullets. Click for handspun page.

Even though they are a pain in the butt to wind neatly, my favorite part of Turkish spinning is the fat little turtles of yarn you get when you take the cop off the spindle. That’s only about 0.5 oz of fiber, so I have a bit more to go *eye roll*.

TdF Dusky Greens:

Three Waters Farm Falkland, colorway Greens at Dusk. Click for handspun page.

As I am on the Three Waters Farm Tour de Fleece team, I figured it was about time I started in on some Three Waters Farm fiber. In one evening (!) I spun up 1/3 of a braid of Falkland wool in lovely green shades. I’m planning to make a 3-ply yarn to coordinate with the pound of Falkland I spun up when I first got my wheel. Now if I just had more time to spin… Work is going to be insane through the end of the month and the first couple of weeks of August will be busy with a vacation and a conference, so chances are my posts will be a bit spotty until later in August. I will do my best but if I disappear for a while, that’s why!

As for reading, I started a new book:

Definitely worth the read.

Some of you may have already heard of the Whole30 program, and even if you have, this book is worth reading to better understand the reasons behind it. The idea of the program is to stop eating certain unhealthy foods for 30 days and see how your body feels. Then you reintroduce them and observe any changes, so that you can make well-informed decisions about your diet in the future. I love this idea. The book does a good job of summing up the very complicated and unclear science of how food interacts with your body. Admittedly, the authors overuse analogies waaaaaaaaaaay too much, but the science they describe is pretty sound and clearly explained. They define unhealthy foods as those that do one (or more) of four things: 1- have an addictive or unhealthy psychological effect, 2- unbalance your hormones, 3- disrupt your gut health, and 4- induce an immune system response. For the most part, these foods include all grains, dairy, legumes, and seed oils. It essentially encourages a Paleo-style diet of protein, veggies, and fruit. For people struggling with their health or their weight while eating what seem like healthy foods, giving this program a try might be worth it. I haven’t done it quite yet, but the diet I did last year was very much like it and since I’ve been slowly-but-surely regaining some of the weight I had lost (despite calorie-counting, yoga, weight-lifting, and walking regularly) it’s worth a try to see if it can get my metabolism-related hormones back in balance.

Also, if you’ll allow me a moment on my soapbox, I think people should read this book so that they realize that obesity is a real biological problem. It’s not just mental (put down the fork!) or about willpower (get up off the couch!), it involves overcoming real biochemical challenges (genetics, metabolism, stress, hormones, brain chemicals) as well as societal pressures (restaurants, ads, easy junk food, peers) at every turn. And for some people, it’s a lifelong freaking struggle, despite doing everything right. It’s a legitimate disease and as far as I can tell, it’s one of the few left that people feel justified in openly mocking and belittling. Next time you have unkind thoughts about a fat person, take a beat and remember that there’s a pretty good chance they’re working on it and it’s not all their fault.

Soapbox done, back to your regularly scheduled knitting! Linking up with Yarnalong and Stitch Along Wednesdays.

WIPWed #98: Stealth Socks and Sheep-Shaped Soap

Posted on July 1, 2015 by shoelaceswitcher

There are three things I’ve confirmed recently:

I really love slipped stitch sock patterns,
Tina of Blue Moon Fiber Arts is the queen of teal colorways, and
sheep-shaped soap is just about the cutest thing ever.

My Favorite Socks Ever:

WIPWed #98: Stealth Socks and Sheep-Shaped Soap

BMFA Socks that Rock LW, colorway Gran’s Kitchen. Click for project page.

Still rockin’ this pair of socks, and still absolutely loving them. Loving them so much, in fact, that I’ve cast on ANOTHER PAIR.

Stealth Socks:

BMFA Socks That Rock HW, colorway Grimm. Click for project page.

The pic is blurry but the colorway, Grimm, is absolutely glorious. Tina really knows her way around teals, man, and the pooling is pretty fun on this pair. These are stealth socks because I’m trying to knit them quickly (by the end of the month) and on the sneak, for a certain someone-whom-I-live-with’s birthday. (Here’s hoping his eyes just glaze over when I go on and on about socks and won’t realize these are for him.)

Sheep-Shaped Soap:

Peaches & Cream

Blackberry Crumble

Hand for size.

In exciting news, I’ve added some new soap to the shop that I’m absolutely in love with. Blackberry Crumble is a goat milk soap scented with blackberry, sage, and a touch of gingersnap fragrance oils that is juicy and bright. I got a little more creative with the Peaches & Cream soap, which consists of white and peach-colored layers of goat milk soap and is scented with southern peach and cream cheese frosting fragrance oils. It smells just like a sweet, decadent, summertime dessert and is finished off with a sprinkling of red and white jojoba beads on the bottom. These soaps are so cute, I honestly can’t stand it.

That’s all from me this week! As for reading, I sped through the Outlander novella “A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows” which gives a little insight into Roger’s parents’ past and am looking for my next read. Any suggestions? Linking up with Yarnalong and Stitch Along Wednesday.