I finished this one last night at my knitting group.


If you are thinking that the sock appears a bit darker than previous pictures, you're right! I took the picture next to our balcony door, and someone had to come sit and cast a big shadow:


Thanks, Augustus.

My husband made fun of my notebook until I assured him that I translate all my notes to my computer in a legible (and dye splatter free) manner.

In other news, today is Augustus's second birthday!


This is Babygustus when we were bringing him home after adopting him.


And here's Adultgustus! Happy birthday Augustus!

This is what I had to spend the past 20 minutes working on. Although Augustus is the one in the picture watching me save the skein of yarn, Othello (the usual suspect) was actually the destroyer. I've gotten all the yarn wound back up into a ball from the other end, so now I need to wind the ball in the opposite direction and then back into a cake.

Luckily Othello only had probably about five minutes to work on this. Once, when he (or both, not sure) had several hours of unsupervised fun with a skein of yarn, it took at least four hours to undo the mess.

New goal: Sew some project bags and never take the knitting out of them unless I'm actually knitting.

Although the digital version has been available for weeks now and I found it in print at my grocery store last week, today is the official newsstand release date for the summer 2012 issue of knitscene.



I was pleasantly surprised with how many of the patterns I liked in this issue. I won't talk about all the ones I liked, but I will highlight a few. The first one is the cover pattern, the Cara Cara Pullover by Amanda Bell. It's a pretty simple design, but I love that the kangaroo pocket in front and the neckline are done in seed stitch. If/when I knit this, the only modification I think I'd make would be to extend the sleeves to full length.



The Westport Shawl by Sarah Wilson was another favorite of mine. I really like the little textured bumps in the stockinette portion of the shawl. This is very high on my to-do list now.



I thought the Halesia Hat by Catherine Shields was pretty clever. Leaf motifs are very trendy right now in the knitting world, but a lot of times they are done using lace. This hat has large leaves created with knit stitches on a purl background instead and is very cute.



The last pattern I wanted to show is the Ginkgo Camisole by Andrea Babb. Finally, something in here I could possibly wear in the summer! It's pretty simple, but I like how light and airy it looks and the bits of lace detail at the bottom.

There were some patterns I didn't like, as is the case with every knitting magazine. There is a section called "Just Slightly Askew," which features asymmetrical designs. I think asymmetrical patterns can be quite interesting, but in my opinion, when the patterns are "just slightly askew" like these are, they look more like they were made incorrectly rather than intentionally off-balance. The tank with the twisted strap drove me absolutely crazy, because while it looked cute, that one strap looks like it got twisted by accident. In this past Sunday's TheKnitGirllls podcast, I laughed when Leslie talked about this pattern, because she said if she saw someone wearing this and didn't know it was intentional, she'd probably try to twist the strap back around for her.

In other news, I have a finished project, but I can't post it here. It's for my mom's birthday, and since she reads my blog, I can't go blowing the surprise. Her birthday isn't until mid-December, so it will be a while until I post about it on the blog with (hopefully) some modeled shots, but for now I'll give you a Ravelry link since my mom's not on Ravelry: link

Finally, I'd like to wish a happy birthday to my little guy Othello. He's the oldest of the two kitties, and he turns two years old today! Here's a picture of him when he was just seven weeks old:


Awww.

I often describe my business as a one-woman operation, but I think it's time I finally introduced the one employee I have here at Gynx Yarns.

I never really wanted an employee. Right now, at least while Gynx Yarns is still only about a year old, I would really prefer to be in charge of everything myself. My employee kind of forced himself upon me. I turned him away several times, but he was very persistent about wanting to be a part of the company. He has a big passion for yarn, and I can tell he really loves what he does.

So, I gave him the title of Quality Control Director. Since he's been here, he has watched every yard of Gynx Yarn as it is reskeined and been on site for every yarn photoshoot. His dedication is impressive, although he's never actually given me any input. That must mean I'm doing a good job.


You've actually seen the Quality Control Director on my blog before. His name is Augustus, and even though he's young (less than 2 years old) he has a better work ethic than some people 15 times his age. He's always on time, he works late, he's always dressed up (in a tux, no less), and he actually lives here with me so he can help me if I'm working during odd hours.


The only problem is his freeloader brother who lives with him. He doesn't do anything here, and actually tries to steal the yarn sometimes.

My third screenprinting project turned out much better than the second, but still not without its major flaws. I don't know why I can't keep everything clean! I've gotten a lot better though, and the only critique I got from my instructor was about technique.

There were two new techniques introduced: working reductively and split fountain. Working reductively is where you work in the same screen for each layer, just blocking out more and more area and getting more detail each layer. Split fountain is printing using two or more colors at once to create a gradient effect.

My first layer was one of three I did split fountain on, but its the only one you can really see it on. I didn't want a crazy rainbow print, so I did very subtle split fountains for the other two required layers.



I had every intention of taking pictures in between each layer, but I kept forgetting because I would get in the printing zone and just completely forget.



Here's the finished product. I'm still not good at putting enough pressure when I'm printing large areas, resulting in uneven layers. Meh. At least I'm improving.



In other news, if you follow me on Twitter, you may remember I said I was going to a netting workshop last Sunday. A classmate went to Penland this summer where she learned how to make nets, so she was kind enough to teach the rest of us.

I don't know if I'll ever use this skill, but it was kind of cool to make a little sample. I forgot to take pictures during the process, and this photo is the only one I have of the workshop:




I caught my friend Katy's (we were at her house for the workshop) kitten with my net sample! She looks so much like Othello when he was a kitten!

-- Laura

I got my engagement photos back yesterday from my friend Amanda Michael, and I am so excited about them! I wore my Make Up Your Mind tank from this summer's Knitty for a few of them.


Othello ran into one of his hiding spots, so Amanda took photos of him in there.


I ended up not getting a whole lot accomplished yesterday, and I didn't even touch my knitting. I hope to be more productive today.

And because I can, here's some more random engagement photos:

Don't give me a hard time if my spinning doesn't look great! Even though I've been spinning a year now, I haven't dedicated much time to it.

My Absinthe socks (or, singular sock at the moment) are coming along great.


Isn't the madelinetosh yarn great? This is the tosh sock yarn in Golden Hickory I got at Fiber Fest. It's my first time knitting with madelinetosh, and I can already tell I'll have to go back for more. The colorways are so drool-worthy.

In business world, I got my first shipment of organic merino wool in the mail the other day, and I dyed some of it today. I'm so excited about it and I can't wait to post pictures!

Yesterday was Augustus's first birthday.


Doesn't he look so happy to be celebrating with Jose?

My cats like to destroy things. They're two young boys, so I guess that's to be expected. I've learned that I can't leave anything out that I don't want them messing with, and am normally good about that. Every once in a while though, I'll leave something out, and this will happen:


 Yes, this is the yarn for the socks I just started working on. I left it out accidentally and came back to this. It took all my restraint to be calm and I kept telling myself it wasn't the end of the world. Luckily, there was no chewing of the yarn, so it was all in one piece.

I began very slowly winding it back up. In all of the times I've done this, I've learned slowly is best. Whenever I try to rush it, I get tangles and knots and it takes even longer.


It's a lot harder to wind up a destroyed ball of yarn when you have a project on one end. I was determined to not break the yarn though. I actually didn't finish this yesterday, because it happened right as Jose and I were about to go meet friends in Dallas. I barely got any more done than you see in the picture. I have a lot of work ahead of me today.

Today Jose and I are meeting my mom in Dallas to go look at a couple more wedding venues. I'm hoping that after this weekend we will know for sure where and when our wedding will be. I cannot wait to finally get that set in stone.

As I mentioned yesterday,  I am currently working on the Make Up Your Mind Racerback Tank from this summer's issue of Knitty. I'm on the final stitch pattern and am close to splitting for the armholes. So far I've enjoyed this pattern for the most part, except for the fourth pattern, or the "Hindu Pillar" stitch. I love the way it looks, but the three-stitch clusters done all across every other row killed my hands. I actually ended up cutting that section a bit short and just planned to make the next section longer.

I said I'd try to have a progress picture, so here it is. I'm using a Classic Elite yarn that I got on clearance and I'm using my Knit Picks Options needles, which are amazing. If you're looking for a set of interchangeable needles, I recommend checking those out.




It took me forever to get a picture of this without Augustus in the picture! Every time I'd move him and get my camera ready, he'd come back and lay down on my knitting! I had a conversation with one of my friends that graduated from the same Fibers program I'm in about how cats probably love living with Fibers majors, but it can be a pain for the human. I didn't grow up with cats, so sometimes I'll still leave my knitting out on Jose's couch an return to yarn spread out all over the living room. The dogs at my parents' house never cared for my crafts!

I decided since my cat tried to squeeze his way into this blog post, this would be a good time to mention one of my favorite Etsy shops: The Willow Goose. Kylie at The Willow Goose makes adorable dog and cat collars, leashes, and toys. Each of my cats wears a Willow Goose collar, and they have a catnip toy that they love to play with/try to destroy. The cat collars come with little bells on them and each cat collar is made with a breakaway buckle, so if your cat gets caught on something and struggles, they can get themselves free.  I really need to get a couple of small dog collars to give to my family dogs.



My cats also have this catnip toy shaped like a rain cloud. I only got one because only Othello likes catnip, but Augustus loves this toy too. I think he likes the blue "rain drops" that dangle down and the texture of the rain cloud. I really need to order a couple more toys so they'll stop fighting over it.



Oh and the best part is that 10% of the profits go to Furry Friends Rescue, which is a dog and cat rescue organization in California.

Well, I'm off for now so I can get ready to venue hunt. Have a great weekend!

-- Laura

This is Augustus. He's just under a year (his birthday is next month!) and is a male tuxedo cat. He was adopted from the same shelter Othello was.


This post has already been quite long, so I will leave it there for now.

-- Laura