Posted by Aimee on June 29, 2009
Last year I was lucky enough to meet Ron of Buffalo Gold at MDS&W! Awhile later through a mishap in email spam-nation, I accidentally sent Ron an email that prompted a fantastic discussion of knitting and reading.
From that – came the opportunity to design a fingerless glove for Buffalo Gold – and now it is available!
It takes just one skein of the Buffalo Gold Sport Weight – so it is perfect if you want to splurge a little on some really nice, yummy yarn.
Yarn: Buffalo Gold Sport Weight – 1 skein
Needles: Size 6 circs – I knit this in the magic loop method
Availability: From Buffalo Gold with yarn purchase (they had it at Stitches South!!!) or a one skein kit (these are available to shops for wholesale) or on Ravelry through my pattern shop! 
Also available at Charlotte Yarn!
I also knit this in Simply Shetland Lambswool & Cashmere as a shop sample at Charlotte Yarn – so if you are in the area, you can see them in person!
Posted by Aimee on May 7, 2009
I seem to have had a bit of a run there and then stopped – so today I will show you some FOs from the last few weeks.
I helped out Leslie and Laura with a little project and we knit up a bunch of Gloria Cowls for the Elves, Sheri and Knitting Daughter from The Loopy Ewe!
I knit 3 – these are a pretty quick knit.
Pattern: Gloria Cowl (Ravelry Link) by Orinda 5
Needles: Addi Turbo Size 7
Yarn: #1 – Regia Bamboo in colorway 1072 (from The Loopy Ewe) 2 balls held doubled.
#2 bellamoden Sport in the Historian colorway (yarn available at The Loopy Ewe, but the colorway was exclusive to a book club) – held single and 1 ball made 2.
Time: Couple hours each.
Hope the elves love their cowls! I should have gotten a pic of all of them together – I think there were 12 total knit!
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Posted by Aimee on April 30, 2009
call for desperate measures. Or some such.
First, before I get into that, I would like to thank Erin! If you notice, I have a new layout theme and stuffs – Erin did all of that for me. She is also working on getting the podcast up and running again. We loves us some Erin. I am going to stay at Erin’s during TNNA this year in June, so while I will miss her at MDS&W this year, at least I get to see her soon! Erin does a little bit of freelance work on blogs and webstuffs (she is going to help me with a couple projects) so if you have something stumping you – give her a shout – she works pretty cheap while her finance is laid off and she wants to buy a spinning wheel.
(Erin and Me and MDS&W Ravelry party last year!)
Oh and since I started writing this – she got the podcast to work!!! Yes, people, the podcast – which means I will start podcasting again. For now you can access past episodes here and next week I will work on iTunes getting updated again! I have episodes 1-14 up and I will have the rest up later tonight or tomorrow!
OK – so now to the downer. I had to go back on meds. I am not back on Cymbalta, but I am on something else. I don’t consider myself a particularly angry person at all – in fact, I get pissed off like most people and then get over it, like most people. But every.little.thing. was setting me into a rage and that just isn’t me. never has been. So last Wed after a partihttp://fairieknits.com/blog/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=312cularly bad incident, I called and back to the doc I went, crying my little eyes out. We talked and we are trying something else. I went off Cymbalta because I felt like I just wasn’t being helped on it – apparently the many years on it either made me forget or just changed my brain enough that by day 16 totally off, I was toast.
At least Rozz still loves me, though.
Posted by Aimee on April 29, 2009
Last year I was lucky enough to go to The Loopy Ewe’s Spring Fling – it was a lot of fun – and I went back this year! And had more fun!!!
I knit a lot this year and got no pictures of my knitting!
I got to hang with Wendy! And work out the details of some of her upcoming travels, so that was good. We had margaritas the size of our heads for lunch on Thursday. mmmmm.
Alyson and I ended up in the same trip to TLE – which was of course a mess and we ran around like maniacs!
Alyson posed for me with her yarn line!! If you haven’t touched her cashmere yarn base, then you NEED to – she is moving her fingering weight line to that base too!!!!
Laura posed for me with the Aimee Socks pattern that Wendy wrote!!!
We had a lot of fun. I may have bought a new bag…and some yarn…more on that later, maybe. I had a great time – I took a lot more pics, and they are up on Plurk, Twitter, Facebook – whatever – cause I posted them as the weekend went by – things like the twee sock I knit while drunk one night…
Posted by Aimee on April 15, 2009
It is time for another update on the home front. It is Wednesday morning and I am starting day 8 without an antidepressent. I had to slide back on and then space it out a little more. I only have one pill left in the house. I am trying to push through and not take it. I am still having a few issues with the withdrawal – most notably the brain buzz and a woozy wobbly vertigo type feeling which comes and goes. But I am not having the issues I was having a couple of weeks ago with the inability to speak, so that is a plus.
Other than that – I am doing better. So much better. I went to the doctor yesterday for a follow up and while I have an increase in pain, my lupus is still in remission. let me shout that from the roof tops – REMISSION!!!!!! I have a vit D deficency which is pretty significant, but other than that, I am doing well. I am not being eaten slowly from the inside by rouge white blood cells. YAY!!!!!
I have been out more. Knitting more. Interacting with people more. It has been nice! Awesome even!!!
I should throw a pic of Rozz or Eva or some yarn up, but hey, that is a little more work than I can do at the moment 
What? you want pictures every day? *sigh*
Posted by Aimee on April 14, 2009
Today is the much anticipated release of Socks from the Toe Up: Essential Techniques and Patterns from Wendy Knits
! I reviewed the book on the blog already, but now I have finished some socks!
Wendy is joining us at Charlotte Yarn June 4-6 for several events including book signings and classes! If you are in the area, come join us!
As part of her visit, I knit a pair of socks for the shop! Come by and see them in person if you would like!
Pattern: Riding on the Metro Socks by Wendy D. Johnson (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solids in Ginger
Needles: Size 2 magic loop
Time: April 1 – April 10 (In that time I also finished 2 cowls and went to LA)
It is rare that I knit the same pattern twice, but I will be knitting this pair again! Probably right after I finish knitting these …
Butterfly Socks – also in the new book – I started them on Saturday night…and finished this on Monday night!
Posted by Aimee on April 13, 2009
My friend Stephanie didn’t have any hand knit socks – but she did just have a birthday!
I bought her a little something for her birthday and offered to remedy her sock problem. I let her pic out the pattern – and then she did a stash dive and come up with the yarn from her own stash – mostly because she really wanted socks out of the yarn, I offered to let her pick a yarn and I would buy it!
Pattern: BFF by Cookie A
Yarn: Koigu PPPM 2 skeins (I can’t remember the colorway number and I am not sure where I put the ball bands!)
Needles: Addi Turbo Size 2 – magic looped
Time: 2 weeks while working on other projects – I have had them ready since before I went to LA, but just got these to her on Friday night! First time I had seen her since they were finished.
This is a quick and easy sock pattern – and I think Steph really likes them!
(and as promised – the socks from Wendy’s book – pics are taken and everything!!)
Posted by Aimee on April 12, 2009
So for a long time I have been part of the LOST “fandom”. I don’t really do a lot with it – I post some at The Fuselage, but rarely. I go to LOST Weekend (formerly Destination: LA) and this is the 3rd of 4 years I made it out. This was another fun year! I volunteered this year officially (in years past I just showed up and worked). Danielle and I did the auction on both nights for an hour. And D wore the sweater I made her a couple of years ago!
Had a great time! Met Young Ben – who is ADORABLE!!! Sterling Baumon is awesome and was a lot of fun to watch bounce around the party! And Madeline has such a sense of style – isn’t she a cutie??
Ran into a friend we made last year – Danielle, Emily and I spent a lot of time with Ade last time and he was just as happy to see us as we were to see him – sadly, cousin Nzinga couldn’t make it, but Koby was a lot of fun in her place (Look for him on an upcoming epi of Castle)!
And I hit a yarn shop, but more on that later! I knit a lot too!!! Finished a sock and a cowl while out there – and started another cowl – just an inch to go on that one!
Tomorrow I will have a finished pair of socks for you – and on Tuesday we will be celebrating the launch of Socks from the Toe Up: Essential Techniques and Patterns from Wendy Knits with the socks I just finished from it!
Posted by Aimee on April 9, 2009
By now, you may have seen the beautiful socks Wendy is knitting on her blog! How can I not knit them??? But what should I knit them out of? I took a little stash dive and came back with these options:
Left to Right: Fleece Artist Merino in Pale Pink, Neighborhood Fiber Company Studio Sock in Dupnt Circle, Sweet Sheep Project Spectrum Sweet Socks in Princess, Shu Bui Sock in 1766 or Dream in Color Smooshy in Cool Fire.
In theory (meaning if everything goes as planned tonight) there will be a pair of finished socks tomorrow!!!
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Posted by Aimee on April 1, 2009
Blogger and sock knitter extraordinaire Wendy Johnson has a new book coming out – and this one is all about socks from – what else – the toe up!
Wendy and Potter Craft have done a beautiful job with this book. The photography is beautiful. The line drawings in the instructions are clear and well drawn making the instructions easy to follow along with both the written and illustrations. The photographer, Alexandra Grabiewski, did a great job of showing off the socks Wendy created while still having interesting page content. The photos are beautifully composed. And the book is laid out in a clean crisp manner, with lots and lots of pictures showing each sock in several views.
But enough about the photography and drawings, you want to know about the contents, right??
This book has everything you need to knit socks from the toe-up even if you have never knit a sock! From what you need (tools, yarns) to multiple techniques for toes and heels, this book has it. And the techniques are all shown in plain white yarn so you can really see what Wendy is showing you in multiple angles.
In addition to the quite extensive “Essentials” Section, there are the patterns. Three basic sock patterns, 12 lace socks, 3 textured gansey socks, 2 cable socks, and even 3 sport weight sock patterns. Now, I know I have a degree in journalism so math isn’t my forte, but that equals 23 sock patterns in one book. AND a techniques section that I found well thought out, well written and learned something new from even though I have knit many of Wendy’s other patterns – and lots of other socks! At a cover price of $22.95, that is less than a dollar a pattern plus techniques. In today’s economy, I think that letting you know all you are getting for your hard earned money is important – and this book definitely gives you value, and beauty, for your dollar.
I have the pleasure of knowing several of Wendy’s test knitters, so I know that every pattern in this book was knit by a real person who didn’t “make it work” from the pattern – in other words – if there was a problem with a pattern, they said something and Wendy tweaked the patterns. I haven’t personally gone through every pattern, so I can’t guarantee you there are no errors, it happens, but I know the test knitters, and they aren’t a shy bunch!
I will admit that I might be biased since I am lucky enough to consider Wendy a good friend, and I did get an early copy of the book from her. Many of you may know that I recently started to help her plan her events, let me assure you that this book IS fantastic. If I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t be working so hard with her to get her to your shops, guilds and retreats to sign and teach her classes – I was lucky enough to take a class from her last spring at The Loopy Ewe Spring Fling – where she announced the publication of the book – and let me tell you that if you have a chance to take a Wendy class or go to a signing – take it! She is fun, funny and totally laid back – I met her last April for the first time and in that year have forged quite a friendship with her! I was so thrilled to have this book in my hands Saturday night – and I had some knitting pals over for the evening and showed it to them – they are all panting to get their hands on the book as soon as it comes out! I think Jean Marie may have tried to steal my copy, but Eva provided security for me!
Now – I have to go wind some yarn and cast on a sock to take with me to CA this week! I will make sure to blog it when it is finished and let you know how it goes!
Socks from the Toe Up – Wendy D. Johnson
Release Date: April 14th
Cover Price: $22.95
Twisted Ribbons
