Fiber Dev

I do Love me some Pink

2012-01-27T09:45:00.000-08:00

Since Vivian "outted" me last week I thought I take a moment here to explain. I'll start with last night, it was 4th Thursday and as per usual I was with the South Bay Knitters at Green Planet Yarn. Vera was running around trying to find the yarn for this shrug which Pat was actually wearing. Much to her dismay it was being discontinued (Araucania Coliumo) and they only had 3 kits left...all in pink. Huh. Well me being me I bought one. What can I say? It was cute, it was pink and it was on sale. So there it is my weakness in a nutshell. I tried to ease you all into it, my first post for FAF being a not very pink purple and even with last week's post, an innocent blush of peach rose. But it was bound to happen and when I cast off the final stitch on my swirled pearl, I knew I would be caught...pink handed. So just how much pink do I knit (or, er ah, buy)? Come back later and you'll see. I'll tag this and all my other "pink" posts. I'll warn you, it's quite staggering, so be prepared. This is all I have for Fiber Arts Friday, but believe me it's quite enough.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday, join the party and leave a comment!

No FO's this time but swing by next week when I finish a thumb and frog a sock.

edited: I'm done tagging, click on the label below for the parade of pink

Swirled Pearl

2012-01-20T09:45:00.000-08:00

When you have too many WiPs, then each thing takes a long time to finish. A little knitting here, and there doesn't amount to much but it is progress. I finally finished my Swirled Pearl Shawlette. Yarn: Serendipity lace merino knit double, this is very much like Malabrigo's merino lace.

It was definitely fun to make and made for great TV knitting. It starts at the neck edge on 7 stitches which grows pretty quickly. I thought of making it longer than written but that would mean not finishing...ever.

So that's 3 FO's in 3 weeks. Not bad for the New Year. And I've tagged them on Ravelry with 12in2012. It'll be a good way to keep track and motivation to get more stuff done. I've assessed some of the other WiPs and I think I know what's next up, but I've got a deadline coming up for the first pattern in the Handwerks Yarn Club. There's still time to join!

Happy Fiber Arts Friday and FO Friday, join the party and leave a comment!

Oh Joyette!

2012-01-13T11:21:00.000-08:00

Every year I attend a winter retreat for knitters up in the Santa Cruz mountains. I bring a select few of my WiPs and knit and eat and knit with a great bunch of women. I had knitted this shawlette with Handwerks Silky Sock doubled up to the crochet border and stopped. At the retreat I cornered a friend who's really nifty with a hook to seek some guidance. I haven't done much crochet but I really liked the combination of knitting and crochet in this project. I was stuck, not because I didn't know how to do the edging, I just didn't know how to start. That's the beauty of friends when knitting or crocheting, all you really need is someone to look over your shoulder and say, "Yeah, that's it, you got it." I got that in spades at this retreat. Lots of encouragement and admiration and by the end of the retreat I had only the last row of picots to go.

As part of the retreat weekend we also had a yarn crawl. We visited many Bay Area yarn shops both on and off the crawl starting the Wednesday prior and ended it on Sunday. At our last stop, Bobbins Nest, who is closing their brick and mortar store, not only did I get some fabulous hand painted yarn, I got something to remember the store by, a huge pink goblet.

Here it is in all it's glory (and my yarn purchases topped with fiber winnings from the gift exchange). Cheers! Happy Fiber Arts Friday and FO Friday, join the party and leave a comment!

One Down, Twenty To Go

2012-01-06T09:53:00.000-08:00

And here we have the first finished project of 2012: Enoble, originally a Mystery KAL I participated in last year. It's knit in two sections and kitchenered together, but I procrastinated the kitchener part until now. I used Handwerks So Soft Sock which is a super luscious blend of merino, cashmere and nylon. I really like this yarn and glad that it along with Silky Sock is a main staple at Handwerks.

This year will be my 3rd year designing for the Handwerks Yarn Club. If you haven't joined before I hope you'll consider. The last 2 years it was strictly socks, but this year it will be one skein projects. Working with Laura at Handwerks truly has been satisfying. It's challenged me and inspired me. I'm really looking forward to branching out beyond designing socks (don't despair sock fans, I may get a sock design out elsewhere). Want to know more about me, the "designer"? Recently Laura wrote up an interview with me on her blog.

So what's up for this year? Well, for starters this is my first submission to both Fiber Arts Friday and FO Friday. With twenty (I know, really?) UFO's I really need some incentive to finish my projects. So thanks to Vivian at Bits and Pieces (see link on side bar) for her inspiration throughout last year and join the party!

Christmas is Coming

2011-12-16T10:11:00.000-08:00

It's the holiday season and gift exchanges are done for me. The hardest one's are with my crafty friends. Things exchanged are usually handmade and well, the talent and creativity it just endless. I struggle to make something worthwhile. Thankfully they have been well received so I can now present them here!

First up: Beaded Mitts off my Sock Machine

Yes! I actually cranked these out on my 2007 NZAK using a 60 needle compound cylinder. A compound cylinder is 1" smaller in diameter so it works perfectly for ladies mitts. The pattern for the motif is available in Socks & More, but I used a different cuff and top from CSM Cafe. These are csm pattern books that I'm really enjoying using.

Next up: Heel Pin Cushion

These can be made with 3, 4 or more heels and on any size cylinder depending on the size pincushion you want. It's clever I know but *I* didn't unvent it. There isn't a pattern available that I can reference, but details and original source are documented in my Ravelry. This one was my "trial and error", after that I cranked out a bunch, they are very addicting to make.

It's strange. Usually when I handknit something I don't knit it again. There are exceptions, but they are rare. Not so with the sock machine. I find the instant gratification makes it satisfying and really, the more you make the same item the better you get (hand or machine). I only made one pair of the mitts but there's a "test mitt" without a mate lying in a pile somewhere.

Fall Back!

2011-11-07T09:59:00.000-08:00

This is what I did with my extra hour.

I finished my 7th pair of socks on my csm (circular sock machine) and decided to try a different yarn. I had been practicing with the same yarn and pattern with the last 6 pairs. Since I only had half a skein of Austermann Step (leftover from hand knitting mitts) I decided to try short socks. My daughters like these to wear with their converse. Here's the first pair I made, don't mind my dog Elsa, she's used to this:

This is also the first time I knit the socks one after another, this is how they look on the machine after the last toe. I knit my socks cuff down and kitchener the toes closed.

And here they are fresh off the machine:

Lindsey came home after I had finished these and immediately wanted a pair. She proceeded to the sock yarn basket and picked out a skein of turquoise Opal. With the extra hour I had, I was able to start and finish the pair before the evening was over.

For those with a sock machine I've recorded the recipe here.

So, what did you do with your extra hour?

CSM Sock Tally: 9 pairs

EZ as pi

2011-10-12T20:20:00.000-07:00

Ugh.

Ever have one of those days?

Why are these things so flimsy? Am I suppose to buy new headphones when this happens? Order replacement covers, only to have them rip again? And from where?

Being ever the pragmatic one I thought I could do better if I just made them myself. It sounded good in my head. I searched Ravelry for patterns and found only crocheted ones. I could crochet, but...hmm, think. All I had to do was knit a circle...and when it's big enough, stop. But how many stitches do I start with? And when do I increase? Well, EZ, that's Elizabeth Zimmermann, had the answers, and I provided a few of my own.

EZ as pi Headphone Covers

Materials:
leftover sock yarn, you really don't need much.
2 hair bands
1 set of dpn's size US 1 (or whatever method you use to knit in the round)

Cast on 9 stitches using Emily Ocker's Circular Beginning (if you don't have Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmermann, shame on you, both the pi shawl, from which this pattern is heavily borrowed, and this cast on is described in that book)

Round 1 knit.
Round 2 (increase row) knit into the front and back of each stitch, 18 stitches
Knit 3 rounds
Round 6 (increase row) see Round 2, 36 sts
Knit 6 rounds
Round 13 (increase row, do you see a pattern here?)
Knit until it's big enough (I did 3 more rounds, if you need to knit more than 12 rounds, you'll have to do another increase row).

Cast off over a hair band, like this:

That is, holding the hair band behind your knitting, when casting off alternate pulling the yarn through the inside (make a stitch, cast it off) then over the outside of the hair band (make a stitch, cast it off) thus wrapping your cast off around it. I know! I thought of that all by myself!

Practice, Practice, Practice

2011-09-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

Before the first sock, there were

Eight heels, one after another.

and set of armwarmers.

Afterwards, it's mate.

A setup bonnet and another sock.

Then it's mate.

And another.

And another.

I did it! I cranked out a sock!

2011-09-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

3 years and 10 sock machines later I finally cranked out one sock (not even a pair). Here it is unfinished, fresh off the machine:

I don't really have an explanation for why it took so long. I was pretty fascinated with the machines themselves and maybe that served as a distraction. It's also not as easy as it looks. There are lots of things to keep track of. There are stitches that drop, ribber timing, tension, how to start, when to switch from 1-1 ribbing to 3-1, how long to do the leg, the heel, how long for the foot, the toe, and generally being able to fix whatever goes wrong -- and believe me there's plenty. But here it is the first sock. Modeled by my daughter below:

she's doing a little happy dance

So which machine did I use? I've got a cast of characters and named each from Phantom of the Opera. There's Christine the 2007 NZAK, Buquet a Verdun 47, there are the two Legare 400s Firmin and Andre, the large Legare Piangi, the Gearhart Madame Giry, the Canadian AK Meg, the Verdun Semi-Automatic Raoul, and of course the English AK the Phantom itself. That's nine. Recently I acquired this beauty:

A top of the line, NZAK Mark IV. It's the cadillac of all machines, with steel inserts, brass stoppers, she's a marvel, and my Carlotta.

Will work for yarn

2011-06-08T17:13:00.001-07:00

IMG_3650, a photo by theblairgirls on Flickr.

The Golden Fleece shop in Santa Cruz had a grand re-opening celebrating it's new ownership and invited Handwerks, the yarn company I do design work for, to do a trunk show. I came along to help. The day was soggy for the first weekend in June and we were wondering if anyone would show up. Boy were we surprised. The place was rockin'. A constant stream of people, some coming just for us! Well Laura -- and her yarn. I ended up with 2 skeins of silky wool in a new color Hummingbird, payment for 3 hours of "work". We were so busy I barely had time to shop but I met a fabulous designer, one of the Bellsisters, and bought her pattern which I started in the same weekend. Meet Joyette in-progress:

again in Handwerks silky wool, I swear it's fast becoming my favorite, color Sonoran Sunset.

I sold 3 of my own patterns as well. And you know what the shop has? A computer dedicated to downloading and printing patterns! We had a great time.

Yarn Shop Hop

2011-05-18T19:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I participated in the Peninsula to Pier Yarn Shop Hop, details here. This year they had daily raffles at each shop, goodies donated from various sponsors, and on Sunday, I won the one from Bobbin's Nest!
There were 12 shops participating out of 15 in the area. Friday a group of us started our hop at Nine Rubies where a weaving class was taking place. We split up and half of us hit Uncommon Threads where I got the last skein of Handwerks 100% cashmere then met the others down in Morgan Hill at Continental Stitch where I got the cutest scarf kit.
Everyone we met along the way was nice and we oohed and ahhed at the raffle baskets. One person in our group won the basket at Continental Threads. We had dinner and picked up cupcakes in Morgan Hill, and ended the evening knitting with good friends and good wine. Three shops down and 9 to go.
The next morning we all got up and headed down to Carmel to Knitting by the Sea. It's been awhile since any of us had been there and we were all wishing we could stay for the day. But singled minded we had our breakfast and went straight, ooh a Coach outlet, to Knitting by the Sea where I succumbed to the cute project bag and some funky sock yarn. From there our GPS took us to a brand new yarn store on Foam St in Monterey. The Twisted Stitch was just getting their bearings but the shop was moderately stocked with some nice yarns, including some yummy laceweight merino from Pagewood Farms. A quick snack break and some carpool rearranging and we were off to Knitting by the Sea in Aptos. I fell down hard there what with the Misti Alpaca attacking me, recovered we split up again and went to Chic's with Sticks where I got tripped up by the Australian mohair. We all met up again at Swift Stitch who has Habu! Who could resist Habu? One final stop at Yarndogs before we called it quits and that was 9 shops with 3 more to go on Sunday.
Just the local shops now, 1-2-3, it was The Knitting Room, Bobbin's Nest and finally Green Planet where the two of us turned in our passports and celebrated our victory at Orchard Valley. Below is a sampling of handpainted goodies that didn't get past me. You can see all the spoils here.

Stitches West 2011

2011-02-26T16:25:00.001-08:00

I found my other Stitches West posts from previous years and tagged them all "stitches" so they're easier to find. Stitches coincides with my Winter Longaberger order so as a tradition I've set my class samples with new baskets.

This years Stitches experience for me was very different from previous years. It's my 15th convention. The first one I attended I had been knitting all of 3 months. I haven't missed one since and I've taken classes every year. I try to review the classes before registration opens and usually signup the first day. This year I missed the first day of registration which meant alot of the "good" classes were filled. Knitting and Stitches have been gaining popularity over the years so you snooze, you lose. There were still too many choices and with 14 Stitches under my belt not much that interested me. All my favorite teachers were booked or not coming (Madrona, another knitting convention was being held the same weekend up in Seattle), and most classes covered things I'd already done. Frustrated I gave up. About a month before I checked to see if there were any classes still open and found there were, plus they added some. So, reluctantly I signed up.

I really wasn't expecting that much. My first class "Morphing Cables" was taught by Fiona Ellis -- love her stuff, have both her books. I came in sat down, got all my things out, knit the 4x3 purl/knit rib and waited. She talked about cables crossing and cables travelling then she said, "using the 4 right and left crossing/travelling stitches knit something from your swatch". I froze. I was utterly paralyzed. Um, where's the chart? She kept talking, "think about where your paths are and where you want them to go". She also put a graph up depicting the angle of acceleration of travelling/crossing stitches. I'm not good at this -- I can follow directions, charts, I know how to fix a missed crossed cable. But I couldn't just go. I wasn't the only one. Lots of us were just plain stuck. So she gave us permission to screw around, just play, see what happens and well, it was slow at first, but this is what happened:
Cable swatch with Sweethearts basket.
Not bad, eh? I first went in, then out with a few twists here and there and something emerged! Not perfect, but it made me think. So many possibilities. I was inspired, hey, I was getting excited.

The last couple years I was busy with conventions, Stitches 2010 and CNCH 2010 were back to back and I managed booths at both of them, plus a spinning contest. For Stitches I coordinate the "Learn to Spin" booth where we teach spinning on drop spindles made with repurposed CD's, a grommet and a wooden dowl. Have I taught you to spin? Add to that coordinating the "Spinning Wheel Corral" at CNCH and their "Return to Sender" spinning contest. Plus my first year at pattern writing (with deadlines!) Well, let's just say I didn't knit much. So by the time Stitches came round again, I was altogether unenthused.

My second class was with Myra Wood, "More Creative Lace Knitting". I'd never heard of her, didn't know about her book and how it sold out w/in 4 months of it's first printing and was now out of print. She talked about lace basics, pairing yo's and decreases, that when designing place your yarn-overs first then figure out which decrease will work better, and what happens when you separate the yo from it's decrease (think feather and fan). She talked about shawls, and the shapes that make them up and how to fill in spaces so you get a continuous field of lace. Here's what I knit:
Lace swatch with mini rose basket.
I know, boring. Then she brought out her samples. Wow. And I'm not talking intricate gossamer lace wow. Or complicated lace doilies turned shawl size wow. All of her stuff was knitted in simple lace patterns but in variegated yarn. It was beautifully unexpected. One of the pieces was Citron (from Knitty) where she filled the stockinette with random lace patterns she got from a chart generator. Unbelievable. I left the class thinking, 1) I gotta get that book and 2) I have to knit citron in rainbow.

Check it out, I found the book at Newtons and look at what was already in my stash? Serendipity. I'll have to tell you the story of how I found that book and my last class in my next post.

SSE: Stitches Stash Enhancement

2011-02-21T20:47:00.000-08:00

This weekend was Stitches West 2011. For the uninitiated it's a convention for knitters. We take up nearly the entire convention center in Santa Clara. Just to let you know how big this is here's last year's numbers: 2250+ registrants, 150+ vendors and just over 11,000 shoppers. And you can bet it was bigger this year -- definitely more vendors.

I took 3 classes this year which will be the subject of my next post. For now, you'll have to be content with my yarn parade, or stuff I couldn't pass up in the market.

First up:

My kit from Continental Stitch. It's going to be a Cardi...someday.

This is a bargain bag of 50/50 Louisa Harding grace multi merino silk.

Here we have a gradient set of laceweight superwash merino from Tess Designer Yarns.

Alpaca laceweight from Ellen's 1/2 pint -- part of a scarf kit.

And last but by no means least, I got 2 things from Sincere Sheep. Above is some yummy 80/20 merino silk laceweight. And below is 4 sample skeins of merino/bamboo/nylon. All handpainted with plant dyes.

And that's it!

More Patterns

2010-07-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

Another free sock available at Handwerks, this one is Zig Zag Zug. It's suitable for all fingering weight sock yarns and is shown here in Handwerks Classic Sock colorway Sonoran Sunset.

That's Elsa, my dog-rug.

And now the pattern for Grand Canyon Socks is available for sale. Shown here in the original colors dyed especially for club members, you can use any two contrasting colors, again in fingering weight sock yarn.

All my patterns (and others as well) can be downloaded here

My First Pattern

2010-03-05T20:45:00.000-08:00

Well, this is it. My first pattern. After 10+ years of knitting and fudging other peoples patterns I finally wrote my own! This is using Handwerks Textiles Sport Sock and the pattern is available for ~~purchase of the~~ this yarn. I designed for my friend Laura who own's Handwerks. She dyes all the yarns and was looking for someone to write patterns for them. I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I said I could do it. All the things I never do when I knit I now do when I design. Like swatch. I poured over my collection of stitch pattern books, then starting knitting a test tube. When choosing a stitch you have to consider not only whether you can do it, but whether you can explain it to someone else. There were several stitch patterns I threw out just because of that.

Here's some detail of the stitch I chose:
There's a mirror image of this stitch where the loop goes over to the left instead of the right. That was the first version I tried. But it required moving stitches to the right needle, pulling the stitch over then moving them back to the left. When you pull the stitch over, you lose a stitch but then you make a new one in the next row which creates the little eyelet. I had a lot of fun knitting the sock. It was strange having to write everything I did down. Even the heel which I usually just do from memory.

After I provided this pattern for her we signed a contract for me to design 2 more for her sock yarn club. A contract! I know! So official like. I just completed the first of those and submitted it to her. It's weird, for a little while there I had been in a knitting slump. I didn't find much enjoyment in my current projects. But now I have renewed vigor. I think it's the design work, it made me look a knitting in a whole new way. So next things? Besides the socks you should see a shawl and well, who knows?

Pattern is now available free

knitting meme

2009-11-16T19:47:00.000-08:00

Stolen from armyofknitters who also stole it, so I don't feel so bad.

THE DEAL: You mark the things you have knit in bold, you italicize the things you intend to try, and everything else you just leave in regular font.

Afghan I've got some Lorna's Laces I bought for a sampler afghan

American/English knitting American's knit English?

Baby items

Bobble

Buttonholes

Cable stitch patterns

Cardigan

Charity knitting

Combination knitting always when doing fairisle

Continental knitting my modus operandi

Darning

Designing knitted garments I just finished my first design!

Drop stitch patterns hasn't everyone done that scarf, and a clapotis?

Dyeing spinning fiber

Dyeing with plant colors

Dyeing yarn

Entrelac Lady Eleanor w/ 100% cashmere, see below

Fair Isle

Free-form knitting

Fulling/felting a couple of hats

Garter stitch

Gloves

Graffiti knitting

Hair accessories - does a calorimetry count?

Hats: Cuff-up

Hats: Top Down

Holiday knitting

Household Items a pot holder! -- or was that crochet? washcloths!

I-cord

Intarsia

Jewelry

Kitchener stitch how else do you close up a sock?

Knitted flowers

Knitting a gift

Knitting a pattern from an on-line knitting magazine

Knitting and purling backwards

Knitting art

Knitting for a living is this really possible?

Knitting for pets

Knitting for preemies

Knitting in public and spinning in public w/ both a drop spindle and a wheel!

Knitting items for a wedding

Knitting on a loom

Knitting smocking first class in first Stitches (along with sock knitting)

Knitting socks all the time!

Knitting to make money so does yarn count as money?

Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously

Knitting with alpaca

Knitting with bamboo yarn

Knitting with banana fiber yarn

Knitting with beads Undulating Waves

Knitting with camel yarn have some on order with Purlescence

Knitting with cashmere oh, yes, yes, YES! (did that sound orgasmic?)

Knitting with circular needles

Knitting with cotton

Knitting with dog/cat hair

Knitting with dpns normal sock knitting m.o.

Knitting with linen

Knitting with metal wire

Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn

Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegated yarn

Knitting with silk

Knitting with someone else’s hand-spun yarn

Knitting with soy yarn

Knitting with synthetic yarn ack-rylic!

Knitting with wool

Knitting with your own hand-spun yarn if I can bear it

Lace patterns

Long Tail CO

Machine knitting

Mittens: Cuff-up

Mittens: Tip Down.

Moebius band knitting

Norwegian knitting upcoming class at Stitches West 2010

Participate in an exchange

Participating in a KAL

Pillows

Publishing a knitting book someday

Purses/bags

Rug

Scarf

Shawl

Short rows

Shrug/bolero/poncho

Slip stitch patterns

Slippers

Socks:toe-up

Socks: top-down

Steeks

Stockinette stitch

Stuffed toys

Swatching

Sweater

Tassels

Teaching a child to knit

Teaching a male how to knit

Textured knitting

Thrummed knitting

Toy/doll clothing

Tubular CO

Twisted stitch patterns

Two end knitting

Writing a pattern text all done, formatting

Double Knitting

I've been busy...

2009-11-08T20:05:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile. It's been so long I'm not sure what I was up to. But it didn't involve finishing up any projects. Until now. Ta-dah!

This is a neckwarmer. I received a kit as a gift when I spent this last weekend with friends at the beach. We all got one and each in our favorite colors -- see how mine goes oh so well with my wardrobe? We even picked up the buttons on our way home at Yarndogs. The yarn was hand dyed by Laura Schickli of Handwerks and if you got here from there then you already know I'll be designing patterns for her Sock Yarn Club next year. Exciting, huh? Anyways -- the neat thing about the neckwarmer is the way you secure it -- check this out:

You get 2 buttons and build a shank with yarn leftover from the project. Make sure one of the buttons can go through your knitting and when you're done pull that button through. You can secure it this way or crossed over with either button on the front. That's it!

I hope it's cold tomorrow!

My first heel!

2009-03-22T14:22:00.000-07:00

Pictured here is my first heel, attached to my first cast-on bonnet using ravel-cord.

It's also my first toe! You can see the ravel-cord a little better here.

Why the ravel-cord? Because w/o it I'd need to snip the sock from the cast-on bonnet being careful not to snip the cast-on bonnet. Well...I'm not that careful. But look how easy it is to take off the ravel cord. First find and pick out the knot:

Then, pull one end of the ravel-cord:

And voila, no snipping!

Credits: K for taking the picture when both my hands were busy.
Laura Schickli who's booklet contains the recipes I followed for both the cast-on bonnet as well as heels/toes.

Plans to Spin

2009-03-20T21:29:00.000-07:00

I just got home from an Estate Sale. Hosted by Glenna Harris Weavers, they would share part of the income with 2 other guilds, Fiber Artisans and Serendipity Spinners. The spinner/weaver was a guild member. She stocked up fibers, and stored them well to spin up when she retired. But she became ill and died. Among the treasures there was an Ashford Spinning Wheel that had never been put together. One of the guild members finished assembling it at the sale. There were some books. But mostly there was fiber. Wool, wool/silk blends, merino, hand painted colonial (70s) wool, pencil roving, alpaca, pin drafted blends, several fleeces and other fibers weighing approximately 55 140* lbs in all. All had been carefully packed away for later. I came with hopes of getting a good deal as everything was priced to move. I left with one of several sample pillows, a guild project. The brown stuff -- some of the most gorgeous alpaca I'd ever seen. Some merino, dyed and undyed, some handpaint, a couple of bags of silk/wool blend. I also picked up a book on twills (weaving). As spinners, knitters and weavers we always laughed at achieving SABLE, Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy. It's not all that funny now.

*added later, the first number was an estimate after about 1/3 of the fiber was weighed. Note: It takes about 2 lbs of wool to make a sweater. Sale ends Sunday. Location: Peninsula Crane, San Jose, CA.

What I Know about Sock Machines

2009-02-13T21:20:00.000-08:00

First a little about me -- I've been handknitting (y'know with 2 sticks and string?) for (um, lessee, K's 13 minus 1) 12 years now. I've made baby things, sweaters and vests for myself , lots of scarves, hats, shawls and socks. All by hand. Here's a sock in progress when it's being knit by hand:
Over the years I've amassed a bit of a stash. Those who've actually seen it, shut-up. Quite a lot of it is sock yarn.

See? That's just the sock yarn. What's a appealing about it? The colors, the self-striping patterns (really you just knit and it make stripes)

Plus sock yarn is easy to accumulate. I mean it's relatively cheap, and you only need 100g. So if I feel like buying yarn -- sock yarn fills the bill w/o breaking the bank.

I usually knit about 3-4 pairs a year. That's just socks. I knit other things, and I work full-time, take care of my family and read (throw in the occaisional sewing project, some spinning -- not exercise, spinning fiber into yarn on a spinning wheel? -- and you've got a very busy working-mom).

Ok, enough about me -- what's up with the sock machines? Well, you saw the sock yarn stash. At 3-4 pairs a year, it would take me...you can do the math. With a sock machine I could have a pair of socks in about 2 hours. Yes, I know I can buy socks at Walmart -- let's not go there -- those of you who know what it feels like to have custom made socks for your own feet know better. And besides, I like making stuff. Although not handknit, hand-cranked socks are still custom made to fit your foot. Custom knit socks in 2 hours. Needless to say I had to have one.

So where did these guys come from? The first one, the Legare was manufactured in Canada. It's a #400, but according to this site it's got a Creelman crank. Which isn't all that strange because, from my understanding the company Creelman Bros were the actual manufacturers of machines sold by PT Legare. My machine is probably one of the later models putting its manufacture around the 1920's. Yes, it's an antique, although this one has been restored -- possibly another reason for the mismatched crank. (I also have my suspicions that the ribber didn't go with this machine -- the pin could have been misaligned somehow but in the state I received it, there's no way anyone could have ribbed with it). The Legare is all cast iron, solidly built and heavy.

The second machine I got on Ravelry, an on-line social networking site for knitters. It was billed as a 1924 Gearhart. Gearharts were made in Pennsylvania. It's very different from the Legare. But I didn't know that. What I did know was that it came with an 80 needle cylinder and a 100 needle cylinder and ribber dials to match (40 and 50 needle, respectively). What this means is I can knit a sock with finer yarn than my Legare, which came with a 54 and 72 needle cylinders and a 36 needle ribber dial (this was the typical setup that you got when you mail-ordered them). In fact, the 100 needle cylinder and 50 needle dial have smaller gauge needles to go in them (18g and 24g, respectively). The 80/40 and the cylinders/dial on the Legare take 12g needles. I can used regular sock weight yarn with these (don't worry, I have a stash of laceweight too).

The manuals are reproductions that I got seperately on eBay. The Gearhart base, and crank are cast iron but the rest seem to be aluminium, making it lighter than the Legare. Notice that this machine also came with a bobbin winder and skeiner. The seller I got it from also knit some socks on this machine and sent me samples of yarn I could use.

Why were these machines sold? So women could earn cash while working at home. Check out this ad from Good Housekeeping. In the book Knitting America, by Susan M. Strawn, on page 114 is another ad by The Auto Knitter Hosiery Co. It had testimonials from women and men across the country about how much they made during their spare time. It didn't really catch on, but during WWI the American Red Cross gave machines to people who would knit socks for our troups, and that worked out really well.

So where are the socks? I haven't made any yet. Give me a break. There's a learning curve. And, I've been pre-occupied by the machines themselves. They're really cool! I've been pouring over various manuals, the first machine came with 3 (remember? 2 were in French?), and there are other resources -- there's a sock machine list on yahoogroups and a csm (that's circular sock machine) group on Ravelry, there's even a history e-book that I've got to get my hands on. Country Rain has a basic "101" book you can get here. And Angora Valley has various manuals on-line and forsale here. Plus I've had personal instruction from here. Finally, I joined a guild here. Not to mention on-line tutorials they provide here.

Whew, that's all I know about Sock Machines. Well, not really. This link here, they make new sock machines...with brass toppers (first thing you thread the yarn through)...powder coated...with compound cylinders...and yes, I do know what that's for.

A Mate for my LeGare

2009-02-12T18:25:00.000-08:00

No socks yet -- just lots of tubes, long stockinette tubes, short ribbed tubes. I had issues with my ribber. It was stuck and sitting too high to actually rib.
It fit fine this way:

And it fit fine this way:

But together:
See the center screw? That's suppose to touch the base to adjust it up or down.

So, I dug out my handy-dandy caliper and took some measurements:

What, doesn't everyone have one of these?
I found that it flared out a bit. So after some filing of both the small pin and the hole that it went into:

I finally got it to sit right. And now it ribs!

Just in time for the arrival of this:

A 1924 Gearhart

New Toy

2009-01-27T22:15:00.000-08:00

I've been knitting. Really! I knit a little on my Swirled Pearl and finished another stripey noro scarf, this one for L. And, I cast on another for K.

However, a major distraction was waiting at the post office for me this morning. This box:

came filled with all of this:

Daunting isn't it. It's a circular sock machine. It came with 3 manuals, 2 of which were in French. Actually one manual was for the Legare 47, another for the Money Maker, and the last one, in English, for the Auto Knitter. My machine? The Legare 400. I also downloaded a general Legare manual, in English, from here. Upon further scrutiny mine matches the parts for the Money Maker, -- but that was one of the manuals in French.

Okay, deep breath -- I can do this. I'm an engineer. The English manual did not have directions on how to put it all together -- actually none of them did. Don't get me wrong -- I'm glad to have all 4 manuals but it's like the saying, "Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink." Fine, I bought this on eBay and the seller had a ton of pictures which I downloaded and printed.

First there are 3 beasts here. A winder, a skein holder and a circular sock machine. To get parts out of the way I decided to put the winder together first:

So far so good. Next the skein holder:

I think that's as big as it gets -- see the wing-nut in the middle? It's adjustable. Cool huh? See these machines came with everything you needed to get started. I'm not sure how old mine is, but these babies were marketed in the early 1900's as a home based business -- you know, for making and selling socks. Anyways, after putting those together here's what was left:

At this point I stopped and reviewed all the pictures. I mounted the base that contained one of the cylinders, added and secured the needles, attached the yarn guide, ribber assembly, the yarn mast,...
Et Voila!

Elle est belle! N'est pas?

Retail Therapy

2009-01-12T19:31:00.000-08:00

This is some Lucious Silk by Blue Moon Fiber Arts. The occaision? My youngest left for 5th grade science camp today. She'll be gone a week. You'd think this time it would be easier, having gone through it before here. But she's my baby and well, it's too quiet around here w/o her. I think the dog even misses her, she was especially whiny when she greeted me this evening. When I got to work I thought about how I was going to get through the week. Daytime should be easy -- I'm pretty busy at work and everyone's back from vacation so my productivity will be handicapped. Wednesday will be the hardest, 2 days in but still 2 days to go. I decided at lunch to drop by Purlescence for a pick-me-up.

No, I don't need the yarn. Especially after the retreat yarn crawl and Commuknity closing. I hadn't been shopping for yarn all that much since the Shop Hop and I've been busy with the holidays and such to get much knitting done. But now that we're settling into the new year I'm knitting more frequently and buying again. But it's not just the yarn that does it for me. Above, enough Blue Moon Fiber Arts WooBu to make Chic Knits Ariann. It was going through the yarn store surrounded by inspiration. I got a book. And it was talking to Nathania about our kids and how we cope with separation anxiety. It was her youngest's first day in daycare. Several yarn shops closed in the last year but I'm glad Purlescence wasn't one of them. Yarn + Inspiration + Friendship. Total damage $150. Hug from Nathania, priceless.

And failing that, there's always

20 projects

2008-09-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

17 of which are pictured in the basket above. These are the "small" projects I picked up during the shop hop. All bagged up with their perspective patterns. Most of these are the 1 skein projects, but the basket also includes other 2 or 3 sk projects I picked up along the way.

This does not include the other 3 full sweater sized projects that I also picked up during the shop hop. That makes 20 projects all together. This also does not include the yarn I bought -- um, just to buy. Yarn that was either on sale or the last of it's kind, or both. Yarn that I don't have plans for. Thankfully there wasn't much of that. Well, as much.

Now what am I going to do? The stash room is full. It's been full for quite a long time now. I don't finish projects as fast as I can buy them. There was a comment on my last post about knitting all this up by the next shop hop. Not a chance. I only got one thing from the last shop hop done and that was just a hat.

I gotta either knit it, stop buying more of it, or give it away. We already know I don't knit that fast. And the last two stash busting/freezing enterprises failed, miserably. I can't seem to part with it once I acquire it either, although today a skein walked out in the hands of my buddy Lisa. But she left some ribbon behind in it's place. Sigh. There's no hope. Stash reduction is a myth. At least in my house. But you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way.

Shop Hopped Out

2008-09-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

That's just a sampling of my treasures, but you can see most of them here. On Days 2 and 3, I brought the pink wristlet with the 3 SWTC shopping bags neatly folded inside into each store. But I forgot to use it at our first stop at Continental Stitch so I ended up with a bag from there -- at least it's paper. When I used up the red bags I used the Tinkerbell sack at our last stop for the day. It was just me doing my part to go green and I was rewarded at Commuknity and Full Thread with an extra point toward a discount at one and an entry for a monthly drawing at the other, respectively.

Day One: Friday, 9/19, 6 hops
The hop actually started the day before but since Kelsey wanted to do it again** (we did all 16 shops last year) I had to wait until she got out of school. Promptly after 3pm we met Sylvia at the Knitting Room and got our passports. Our next stop was Commuknity, then Bobbin's Nest, followed by Yarn Place, Purlescence, and Yarndogs our final stop for the day. We had a lovely dinner at Thai Pepper. Each shop had a one skein project and I picked up Commuknity's beaded shawl with matching beads from Beadz occupying the same retail space, Yarndog's neckband in Curious Creek and Purlescence's mitts in Dream in Color Classy for Kelsey. I also scored 3 skeins of Manos Silk Blend in a beautiful black multi at Purlescence.

Day Two: Saturday, 9/20, 7 hops
Saturday was our biggest day. Starting at Continental Stitch I picked up the crochet one skein project -- a lovely beaded mobius in Schaefer Susan, and a sweater's worth of Berroco Jasper for Joyella. We took the long drive south and headed for Carmel. At Knitting by the Sea I found a new-to-me Noro called Taiyo. The huge 100g sks were a cotton blend and I only needed 5 for Klaralund, a sweater out of Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton 2. Our next stop was Monarch Knitting in Pacific Grove where I picked up the one skein mitts from Monarch (a pattern I saw previously at The Knitting Room and got the yarn w/o the pattern). We had lunch in Monterey at Sea Harvest then made our way up Highway 1 to A Yarn Place in Capitola and of course, Gayle's. Our next stop was Swift Stitch where I got the makings for a lovely knitted/woven scarf and their one skein beret using Chasing Rainbows Texas. From there we went along to Golden Fleece's new location -- which we passed on our way to their old. I picked up a button for my Anthropologie Capelet and a pattern for a Circle Shrug in Boku. Our final stop for the day was Luminous Threads which we arrived after 5pm. There was a large container full of strawberry lemonade waiting for us. Here I found enough K1C2 Paint Box for the Circle Shrug pattern I had just got at Golden Fleece.

Day Three: Sunday, 9/21, 6 hops
This was by far our best day. Kelsey, Sylvia and I were joined by Cris, Carol and Fae. Yarn, Paper, Scissors was our first stop, the one furthest north. Kelsey, who was picking up things here and there all along the hop had her eye on an origami kit and we both found a sock monkey hat kit for Lindsey. Before we continued on to Nine Rubies we all trotted down the street to Peets for a cuppa. At Nine Rubies we all were enthralled at the beaded bag. I got a skein of the recommended Art Yarns for Kelsey and a skein of Baywood silk for me. Cris, Fae and Sylvia bought some cotton for the same project. From there it was down to Creative Hands, Fae's last stop. I got a skein of sock yarn for their crocheted mitts. After we dropped Fae off the rest of us made our way to Los Altos. At Uncommon Threads I found copies of Rowan Studio issues 1, 2 and 3 -- I love Sarah Hatton. They were one of 2 shops* that had a sock pattern which I got with a ball of Opal Feeling. I also scored 6 sks of the now discontinued Kidsilk Night in a beautiful light pink -- no surprise there, eh? We walked a couple of blocks down to Full Thread Ahead our penultimate stop, where Hollis the shop owner proceeded to show us their one skein projects. She's a hard sell and we happily got both, a hand dyed sea silk shawl in LuLu's Marinella and a Louet linen shopping bag that folds into itself. Our last and final stop was Green Planet Yarn back in Campbell where our knitting group meets once a month. I think I'd had enough one skein projects so I skipped their's but I just might pick it up when I return this week for our meeting. We all turned in our passport page and made our way down to the new bakery for a well deserved treat.

*Bobbin's Nest had the other sock pattern and I got that too, the first day, with a skein of Hazel Knits.

**Links to last year's shop hop here and here.

What we did on our Summer Vacation

2008-08-25T19:58:00.000-07:00

Kelsey and Lindsey leaning in front of NY, NY

Lindsey leaning over Hoover Dam

Kelsey leaning on the Grand Canyon

It was a 9 day vacation and I brought 8 projects with me in hopes of finishing some of them. I got to work on 3, and I finished one. Here's my undulating waves scarf, knit mostly in the car on the way to LV and back while listening to Harry Potter book 6.

Where are all my dpns?

2008-07-05T15:27:00.000-07:00

The other day I went to my needlebox to find a set of dpn's. I was looking for US 10.5, and found none. Then I started going through the box to see what I did have and noticed that most of my needle tubes weren't there. Now I have multiple sets of each of these sizes but I keep the tube that contains all of them in with whatever project I'm working on...so I searched all the UFO's...

My size 6's are here:

size 7's:

2's, 3's AND 4's, stuck in this:

And my 5's and 8's are here:

It turns out I don't own a pair of 10.5 dpns which was remedied by a quick trip to my LYS, but OMG -- all those UFOs? And that's just the one's that use dpns! Ok, that's it -- this is way outta control (even for me) so this summer? It's the summer of knit. All the UFO's are listed on the sidebar -- ALL OF THEM. 15 UFO's. The goal is to get myself down to 10, by Labor Day. Do you think that's reasonable? What's your all time high?

Bagged by Vivian

2008-06-14T19:44:00.000-07:00

Vivian wants to know:

What was I doing 10 years ago? Hmm, that would be June 1998, that would make L almost 4 mos and K 3yo. I was knee deep in diapers? Just returning to work with 2 small kids. It was a circus act I tell ya. And later that year I joined a startup. I guess I thought I could do it all. It was tough, but it was from this point on that things started to get easier. DH just got his MBA and a job that didn't require a 2 hour commute. Definitely better.

What are 5 things on my TO-DO list for today? Wait for the A/C guy to come in and fix a wire -- very important wire connecting the switch to the relay that turned the fan 0n, $100. Take the girls to see Indiana Jones. Make dinner -- DH's favorite. The dishes. Blog.

Snacks I enjoy: Today? Ice Cream and cookies. Other days? Chocolate and cheese, but not together.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire: I'd retire to this house.

Places I have lived: California, that's pretty much it, first Southern, then Northern.

Jobs I have had: If I count the last five they would be programmer, programmer, programmer, programmer, and programmer. Oh and before that, programmer.

Closure

2008-05-26T18:57:00.000-07:00

In the last 5 months 3 of my local yarn stores have closed or are in the midst of closing. The first was The Rug and Yarn Hut -- 10 years ago I learned to knit and this store was easily the one I frequented most. At the time there weren't as many yarns stores close by. Besides the Rug Hut here was also The Knitting Room, The Braid Box, Continental Stitch and Uncommon Threads. In the 10 years that followed The Knitting Room relocated (still in the area), Knitter's Studio opened, and so did Commuknity, Yarndogs, Full Thread Ahead, Purlescence and Bobbins Nest. Yarn Place opened and carried it's own line, and The Braid Box was sold and moved across the street to become Knitting Arts. About a month ago Knitter's Studio announced it's closing and last week so did Knitting Arts. From 5 to a dozen, now down to 9 there are still many choices for a south bay area knitter such as myself. So why do I feel sad?

Today I went to Knitting Arts to see what was to be had on the 3rd day of their "Going Out of Business Sale" on a busy Memorial Day weekend. They decided to just put the whole store on sale for 30% off -- yarns, notions, books -- patterns were 50% off. I was out of town for the long weekend so it wasn't until after 2pm that I finally made it into Saratoga. The place was almost empty, bereft of its usual splendor. At the other closing sales I made small token purchases. At the Rug Hut I came by twice to see Karen but missed her both times, I bought 3 balls of a 50/50 silk and merino blend and a book I already had. At Knitter's Studio I bought 4 sks of Malabrigo cashing in my Frequent Knitter's card. That's it. The Rug and Yarn Hut's closing didn't come as much as a surprise, it was slowly coming to an end anyways. I didn't really frequent Knitter's Studio all that often although I usually bought when I did. And Knitting Arts? I came pretty regularly, I rarely missed a sale and for a couple months our group was meeting there. As I walked around the store looking for what was left of the pink, I began to stuff my basket and found that I couldn't stop. I brought home 6 sks of Misti Alpaca Chunky in a rose/gold twist, 6 sks of Alchemy Vita in a pinky mauve, 21 sks of Rowan All Seasons Cotton in a medium pink, 4 sks of Rowan Purelife in a nice rosey pink and 3 sks of Cascade Quatro because it had pink in it. After that I made another pass around the store and found 3 balls of Rowan Kidsilk Spray in taupe and 2 sks of Alchemy Haiku in almost the same colorway. There was a bundle of Lorna's Laces roving in Tuscany, a felting kit and at the register I found a lovely pink glass button. While waiting in line I perused a nearby basket of beads and found 7 tubes of rosy red ab and 1 tube of pink. I just couldn't stop. Was it the because of the 10 weeks of stash dieting? Through the years Knitting Arts sponsored many events and classes none of which I had attended. I came in only to pick up yarn whether at a sale or just when I needed it. And now it's all but gone.

When I left I almost went to Yarndogs. I wanted to go in and just check its pulse, see if it was okay. There are other yarn stores that are close by. I can't possibly visit them all, but by choosing to support a small portion I guess I cast my vote on who gets to stick around. However, if it were up to me, my vote would have been to keep Knitting Arts, it will be sorely missed.

Game Over

2008-05-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

10 weeks. That's how long we lasted. A couple days ago Cris and I mutually decided to end the game. You read the rules. Here's how it actually went. When we first started this both of us were getting ourselves organized on Ravelry. We were uploading our stash, queuing patterns, finding yarn for the patterns. But sometimes we didn't have the yarn for the pattern. So when Cris wanted yarn for her Urban Aran she gave me a bag of Silky Look and I let her buy it. Then when I wanted yarn for my Sahara I gave her some Suri Alpaca and she let me buy it. And when I had to use (or lose) my frequent knitter's card from The Knitter's Studio she bought yarn with me (I mean, what are friends for). Before she left for camp stitches I bought yarn from Webs so she would have a budget. While at Camp Stitches she bought extra yarn so I wouldn't be so far behind. See what such good friends we are? Through it all we knit. We had to and that was the problem. We HAD to.

But that's all over with now. Now I can knit what I want (and not weigh what's left or base any considerations on the game). And what I buy, I buy, period. Although I do like the idea of keeping track of what I knit. And weighing that against what I buy's not a bad idea either. Ravelry helped us both examine are stash and use it. This isn't the year to reduce the stash for me. But maybe, I'll make better selections. Maybe I'll buy smarter. I'm going to keep track this year. See what I do knit. I'll adjust the stash reduction to count the whole thing as I finish (not just what was knitted since March 5th -- so there'll be adjustments).

The Lamb's Pride above? That's what I picked up at Green Planet Yarn last night at our knit group. Cris and I both let loose. I'll use it as the main color for Candy, the contrasting color I already have in my stash. ;) Oh, and when we ended the game, I immediately ordered a lace sampler from Knit Picks and some odds and ends from Discontinued Brand Name Yarn. Not sure if I'll continue to track of stash additions...I don't think the side bar is long enough.

Strength is Irrelevant

2008-05-14T20:17:00.001-07:00

IMG_2409
Originally uploaded by theblairgirls

Remember the Webs 2 month sale? The one where they would announce one set of sale yarns in April and another whole new set in May? I perused the list in April and came out unscathed. I resisted, I was strong. This month's list? Not so. Firstly, there was the last 20 balls of soft pink chunky cashmere from Debbie Bliss. Perfect for a Wanderlust Hoodie. And having just finished Lady Eleanor, I just had to have more cashmere -- even if it was a mere blend. DB's is extra soft and cushy. 1420 yards.Then we have Sulka from Mirasol. More of a heathery lilac pink. Who could resist this alpaca, merino, silk blend? I can't believe this is worsted -- it's pretty thick. At 1870 yards (yup that's 34 balls) this will be enough for the Tweedy Aran Cardi by one of my favorite designers Norah Gaughan. Right, the game. Yeah, I've fallen way behind. The knitting machine's looking mighty attractive these days. However, my buddy Cris is at Camp Stitches this week. She purposefully left with no room for yarn in her suitcase. However, I received a text message that she arrived safely and that she was encouraged to buy another suitcase and fill it with her purchases. That could even things up!
And yes, I've noticed -- only pink yarn is worth losing the game.

Lady Eleanor

2008-05-04T13:01:00.001-07:00

IMG_2348
Originally uploaded by theblairgirls

All done with my version. Since I only had half the amount of yarn I reduced the pattern from 7 rectangles per row to 5. I estimated this would make it about 6 ft in length. I was close, in the end it came out to 5.5ft. I love how the colors change and I'm glad I found a pattern worthy of this yarn. The yarn, Classic Elite Embrace is 100% aran weight cashmere.
This is how close I came to running out of yarn. That little bundle to the left of Elsa's nose is 4yds. The thing is, if I didn't have enough for the last row of triangles then I would have to go back 2 full rows of entrelac in order to finish. Each row of rectangles is offset from the other, causing one row to have 2 end triangles. The shawl must end with a row of 5 triangles. This caused much consternation while knitting. I was on the last row of 5 full rectangles when I thought I may not have enough. As I knit I watched the ball slowly wind down. Half way through the finishing row I didn't think I'd make it. I knit faster, needing to know the outcome and this is how it ended. I actually knit the last row twice, the first time I knit it the gauge was all wonky and it ruffled as seen here w/ Elsa. The next morning, knowing I had enough, I frogged the last row and reknit it, s-l-o-w-l-y, and w/ smaller needles.
Since I started this before the game only the remaining 4oz of the ball count. Less the 4yds, 280yds.

I Make Mistakes

2008-05-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

The Yarn Harlot was at the Maker Faire today. When I found out last week that she was coming I bought tickets for the whole family. K and I brought our knitting and enjoyed her talk while L and the hubby checked out the mouse trap.

I was knitting merrily along on my socks and turned a heel while listening and casting sideways glances at K to see if she was enjoying herself (she was). Afterwards we got in line to have her sign my book. I wore my olympic effort and introduced K. I didn't make the blog...but she did.

Later there was a knit-with-the-Harlot event. I had trouble finding it and got there late. I stood in the back and got this shot as she was talking to Jasmin -- can you see Jasmin? -- she's the one with the pink hair. Jasmin also scored some lovely pink handpaint. Better her, than me.

The Harlot finally got a mic and I finally got a seat, but I wasn't paying attention. I was lost in this mess. After the heel I found that I had made a mistake so rather than take out the entire heel, I strategically dropped a few stitches.

And correctly knit them back up. What happened was somewhere before the heel flap I got off by a row (or two) in the pattern -- it's cabled and when cabling you do your crosses on one row and on the following row you rest (knit the knits, purl the purls). I must have crossed when I was suppose to rest, resulting in well...something I couldn't live with. So it had to go.

Other mistakes? Earlier this week I got tripped up at a yarn store and bought yarn (see suckage note on the sidebar). Shortly after that, Webs announce part deux of their 2 month sale and I had a bit of a falling down (how hard will be reported later after the mailman delivers the damage). So at the Maker Faire? Rather than avoid the vendors all together (which I should have) I collected business cards. This doesn't fix the mistake...for which I will pay, dearly...but it's a sure sign that I'm on the road to recovery.

The Lure of Pink

2008-04-29T21:33:00.001-07:00

IMG_2310
Originally uploaded by theblairgirls

Definition of lure from m-w.com:
Main Entry: 1lure
Pronunciation: \ˈlur\
2 a: an inducement to pleasure or gain : enticement b: appeal, attraction

Yeah, so much for goldmines. This weekend I dropped by Knitting Arts on a errand. They were having a bag sale, 50% off, shawl kits and just bags of various overstocks. I resisted and left w/o buying any yarn. I also went to Yarndogs to pick up a prize I won (a set of Euculan Woolwash) and also left w/ no yarn. So today, when I went to Commuknity to pick up a pattern I felt confident. As I was browsing the books (I can buy all the books and patterns I want, notions too), I spied a shiny pink mass on the bargain shelf. I tried to ignore it but I thought I'd just check what it was and I touched it. Then I counted it. 6 balls of Bouton D'Or Ksar. Silky soft. Pink. On sale. I'm such a sucker. Total yardage 546.

A Veritable Goldmine

2008-04-27T19:33:00.001-07:00

IMG_2295
Originally uploaded by theblairgirls

I've struck gold. 6 weeks into the game and I was feeling a little desperate. The game was suppose to give me time to go through my stash and get it up on Ravelry. It was suppose to give me the resources to find projects for the yarn I have. So far it's been great! I've got lots of things queued up and yarn to knit it with. But by getting most of the stash up I found that it was lacking. When you buy with no project in mind you buy for the yarn. And for me that meant it was either pink, handpainted or both. While knitting the Sweetheart socks I was finding that I really liked cables and that I'd love to make a cabled sweater. So I hunted the stash for some great cable sweater yarn and found nothing. It's been 6 weeks and all I could think of was going out and buying what I didn't have. Something blue, maybe tweed or heathered. And then this weekend I found this: 10 sks of Patons Rustic Wool in heathered denim...not in a store, in my stash! Yay me!

No points for re-knitting

2008-04-16T11:49:00.001-07:00

IMG_2253
Originally uploaded by theblairgirls

Lately I've been hanging 'round the frog pond. When I took this sock on a trip to Paso Robles for Easter weekend all the knitting I did the entire weekend I ended re-knitting because of a mistake I made early on. Then I got to the toe and knit a little too long...can you see my baby toe? Nope.

IMG_2254
Originally uploaded by theblairgirls

See the needle on the left? That marks how long the sock should be. But because of the change in the way the pattern ends (as a single, unnested heart, not all that visible here) I have to frog all the way to the needle on the right. Ugh. Good thing I like knitting.

IMG_2176
Originally uploaded by theblairgirls

I finished this sock this morning while waiting at the doctor's office. It's about 173 yds so I'm adding that to my points now and I'll be casting on it's mate at my UFO group tonight. Here's the finish caloriemetry, it's a little big -- but works well and was very fun to knit.
Addendum to game rules. Cris sold ~~some~~ a lot of yarn recently so we ammended the rules to only allow 20% of yds sold to count as points. She's ahead, of course.

Resistance is Futile

2008-04-01T15:32:00.001-07:00

IMG_2101
Originally uploaded by theblairgirls

It's been almost a month and I haven't purchased any yarn. I've been busy getting organized on Ravelry. I've been taking pictures of my stash, queuing up projects and assigning yarn to them. Currently I have 76 items in my queue, 48 of which I have the yarn to make in their entirety. 48 things. Sweaters, shawls, bags, socks, mitts and hats. You've heard of armchair gardening? This is internet knitting. And so far it's distracting me from buying. Except that Webs just announced, today, their anniversary sale which goes on for two months. I've already gone through the list and came up empty, whew. However, this year they're having a set of yarns on sale in April and another, different set on sale in May. So next month I get tempted again with a whole new set of sale yarn. What's a girl to do? Cast on. Here we have Calorimetry knit with Patons Soy Wool Stripe in Natural Pink (of course). The yarn sheds more than my shepherd but it's soft and shiny and pink!

The Knitting Game

2008-03-15T15:26:00.000-07:00

I'm done buying yarn. I ended up buying more after Stitches West than during! Don't get me wrong, buying yarn is way fun! But I need to be reminded of the main reason I buy it and that is to knit with it -- and I've got plenty to knit. So Cris and I thought up a game to help us (mostly me) not buy anymore yarn for the rest of the year. Yeah, yeah, I know, been there done that. We all know how Knit From Your Stash 07 went...badly. We also know why, there were too many exclusions. This time it's different. While there will be no restrictions on buying yarn, it will count against you.

Very simply it goes like this, starting March 5th (because I was buying yarn up thru March 4th) to December 25th we get 1 pt for every yard hand knitted. For every yard purchased it's -1 pt. Here are some guidelines that we discussed over im:

Jocelyn said: only finished projects count and projects in progress at the beginning only count per remaining balls

Cris said: we need to keep track of: how many yards we knit and the number of yards of new yarn we buy

Jocelyn said: just purchasing yarn counts as a negative

Cris said: and you get points if you knit with it. so if you buy yarn and knit it up the result would be 0

Cris said: fiber counts

Jocelyn said: (reluctantly) ok let's go with a worsted count for fiber so buying 4oz would be -200yds, and if it counts then knitting handspun would count too

Cris said: charity knitting will count

Cris said: I'll be knitting some scarves for charity and I'll be using my machine so instead of 1 point/yard it should be 1 point/2 yards

Jocelyn said: I'm planning to sell some yarn that should be by half as well

And finally, the prize:

Cris said: the winner gets to choose ANYTHING from the loser's stash!!! and the amount they get to choose, will depend on how many points they won/lost by

I still can't believe I agreed to that. But it's been 10 days and I haven't bought a thing (and dudes, that's good, because I'm constantly bombarded with opportunities to buy). And while I'm still uncomfortable with what's at stake (I do so love my stash), I don't plan on losing...Game On, Cris.

Spinning and Spinning Wheels

2008-03-02T19:36:00.000-08:00

I started spinning again. I learned to spin in 1997, a year after I learned to knit. Since then I started a collection of spindles and wheels. This is my Journey Wheel. I chose it because it was the only truly portable double-drive, double treadle wheel. I like the ease of double treadling and since taking a class with Judith McKenzie-McCuin I prefer double drive spinning. It really is a matter of preference, which I won't get into here. Like turning a heel or knitting Continental vs English, we all tend to do what we learned first. BTW, I prefer the flap heel over the short row and Continental over English.

I'm spinning some very colorful superwash merino beautifully dyed by Lynne Vogel. It's been awhile since I spun and it's a little over twisted so I'm going to navajo ply it and hope for the best. As you can see here, I'm using the color changes to remind me to change hooks.

Now that I'm spinning again, my oldest daughter decided she wanted to learn. This is her first attempts appropriately done on my first wheel an Ashford Traveler. I'm very proud of both of them.

The oldest wheel in my collection is a Wee Peggy. I rescued it from a friend who was ready to toss it. It WAS a single treadle, double-drive wheel. I loved the way the tension is adjusted, but I hated the single treadle. It was a real ka-thunker so, I removed the treadle. This wheel is no longer made, but a similar wheel, by Baynes has a double treadle kit, which I bought.

With that and some fancy-work from my father-in-law who's handy with a welding torch (original part on the left, 1st prototype of dual axle spinny-thingy on the right -- it took 2 tries) we were able to turn my ugly-duckling...

Into the beautiful swan she always was meant to be.

It has since been finished. She has a mere 14" diameter drive wheel and while she's slow, she's smooth as silk.

My Very First Steek!

2008-02-25T20:48:00.000-08:00

I took 1 12-hour class at Stitches West that ran over 2 days. The class was taught by Beth Brown-Reinsel and on Saturday, 2/23/08 at approximately 10:30am I cut my first steek, that afternoon I cut my 2nd steek and I still have one left to go:

Here it is the remnants of my first steek. Beth let me pick up for the sleeve first and I knit through the first motif postponing the inevitable.

She showed us various finishing techniques but I liked this one, using a hemstitch I tacked the steek down with the ends tucked under to the purl bumps on the wrong side.

We had to cut the front steek BEFORE picking up the band. I made a mistake reversing the colors of the rib, so I ripped back to the pick up and with all the fiddling and doing the buttonholes twice, it still didn't unravel!

Note: I added links to yesterday's post and a purchase I missed (Yarn Country Cashmere). Enjoy!

Bi-Annual Stitches West Haul and Longaberger Basket Parade

2008-02-24T16:34:00.000-08:00

This being the 2nd year of the yarn haul/basket parade, it's now a tradition (the first was in Feb 2006). Longaberger retires certain baskets the same time Stitches West comes along, splitting my re$ource$ between baskets and yarn.

Yarn: Jade Sapphire Cashmere Silk 4-ply in Tahitian Garden
Vendor: Artical Pract
Baskets: American Work Baskets in now discontinued colors sage (8") and merlot (10") and a 12" in warm brown.

Yarn: Cashmere 4-ply in natural and periwinkle.

Vendor: Newton's Yarn Country

Basket: Large Recipe

Fiber: (l-r) merino/tencel in atlantis by Chameleon Colorworks, merino/bamboo naturally dyed from Tactile and Sea Wool from Creatively Dyed Yarn.

Basket: 11" American Craft Traditions Round Keeping

Tools: Lady Anne and Flower spindles from Asciano

Basket: 2008 Sweetheart Basket w/ locket tie-on

Yarn: Fine Kid Mohair 4-ply

Vendor: Wagtail Yarns

Basket: 2008 Hostess Appreciation

Yarn: Malabrigo Superwash Merino *Test Sample*, you had to know the secret passphrase to get this not-yet-available yarn for FREE!

Basket: May Series Mini Sweet Pea

I'll have more to report later, but tonight's the Oscars and I gotta get take-out...

4 Things...

2008-01-29T21:30:00.000-08:00

I was tagged by Vivian:

4 Jobs I Have Had
JC Penney's in the Candy Dept. ask me anything about any candy
Intern at Grumman, maker of the F-14 Tomcat
Sold Jafra and Avon (but not at the same time)
Lab Tech in college

4 Movies Watched Over and Over
Ever After
French Kiss
All Nighter
Moulin Rouge

4 Books Read Over and Over
Mists of Avalon
Outlander
Pillars of the Earth
Into the Wilderness

4 Places I Have Lived
Oxnard, CA
Santa Barbara, CA
Sunnyvale, CA
Santa Clara, CA

4 Shows I Watch
(I don't watch TV regularly)
editied later (9/11); at least then I didn't, now?
Glee
SYTYCD
True Blood
Thrones

4 Places I Have Been
Longaberger, OH
Hawaii
Carribean
Seattle, WA

4 People Who E-mail Me
Cris
Dana
Vivian
Gail (my Longaberger rep)

4 Favorite Things To Eat
Chocolate
Sushi
Cheesecake
French Fries w/ Ranch Dressing

4 Places I Would Rather Be
Longaberger
Hawaii
On a cruise
Home

4 Things I Look Forward To This Year
Stitches West
~~Summer~~ Longaberger at Jelly Belly
15 year anniversary
Rhinebeck

4 People To Tag
(I don't tag)

It's Mine Now

2008-01-27T21:01:00.000-08:00

Vivian finished her Muir. When she started it I looked at the cool pink yarn and wondered what inspired her to buy it. You see I'm nuts for pink (have you noticed?) and Vivian's, well...not. So I watched her work on this shawl. When she finished it I saw that she had some yarn left over, so I made some snarky remark about how she must be sick of it and she offered to trade. Hmmm, trade. It's wool/cashmere. I countered with perusal of my sock stash...I mean, I have tons of sock yarn -- surely I could give some up for wool/cashmere...in pink no less! And we made a date for her to come see the stash.

On Thursday, our guild night, she came in and dropped the remaining ball and an extra skein totaling nearly 1400 yds in a pile in front of me. It felt yummy in my hands and we've already established that I liked the color. A few people came by to pet it and I proudly beamed, "It's mine". So around the table we went, doing our usual show and tell. It was Vivian's turn and she modeled her beautiful Muir. We oohed we ahhed and I pet my yarn with a smile. It was a very big meeting and it took an hour and a half to hear everyone. Afterwards I got up to mingle. I was discussing my RoundTrip sweater (which I wore that night) with some others when Vivian came up to me and handed me the bag containing her Muir. I don't even remember what she said (something about me loving pink). The room became a blur (because I was near tears) and the next thing we're hugging. OMG. Vivian GAVE ME HER MUIR! Not just the leftover yarn -- the whole dang thing!

Now it's one thing to give away baby sweaters and hats to perfect strangers, or even knit special items for family and friends for their birthday or as holiday gifts. As knitters we know the time and effort involved and it's no small thing to receive a handknit item on any occaision. But this, 3-4 months out of her knitting life, just because I like pink. Well, ok it's more than that, I mean, we are friends, but still! We're talking handknit...cashmere...lace! There are no words. I was truly honored.

I brought it home and the next night wore it around the house and I made up my mind that when she came she was welcome to whatever she wanted. She came over the next day. She hadn't seen the stash before. I think she may have been overwhelmed. I showed her around the room and she dug through the sock stash that was spilling over at her feet. I told her I'd be happy to pull a bin out, any bin, they have their contents listed on the front. She took a cursory glance, but stuck with the sock stash. I think at this point I was relieved. I wasn't sure how'd I'd feel once she found something and actually took it. I was grateful for the Muir and the yarn but this was getting scary. I was letting someone other than a blood relative a shot at my stash. She found 1 skein of some handpainted yarn I got on eBay, and I offered her another. She also found some fingering weight merino I had dyed myself and asked, a little hesitant if she could have one. I could refuse her nothing. I have the Muir. Thankfully she stopped there and happily left with her newly acquired stash.

Here's me with the Muir, I'm wearing it upside down because it makes the trees look like hearts. I re-skeined the leftover ball (for easier storage), and it and its mate are sitting back there on the desk. Does it look like it was worth the hole in my stash? It is, however, that was filled with a few clicks on eBay.

Up next: Another meme...

New Year's Meme

2008-01-12T19:22:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve -- do you like to stay in or go out? In
Do you like to stay up or just go to sleep? Up
Any special plans this year? Nope
What's your favorite New Year's memory? Searching for an open grocery store to find food to cook for dinner with my new boyfriend who's now my husband.
Do you make New Year's Resolutions? Kinda, it's more like guidelines.
Feel like sharing them? Knit more, Spin more, buy less...
Do you do anything special on New Year's Day? On New Year's Day, I like to have the house clean, and things in order -- it sets a precedent for the rest of the year.

Every year for the last 8 or so, I've spent the first weekend of the year at the Quaker Center in Ben Lomond with the South Bay Knitters and friends. This year there was a storm making the trek a bit difficult. Our party didn't make it past Los Gatos -- 17 was closed due to mudslides so we went up the next day. See Vivian's entry for a map of the road we took here. See Lisa's entry for the barriers we hit here. We didn't have power all weekend and in the end we left the Quaker Center via the route that stopped us in the first place -- right under the tree that fell being held by a high voltage wire -- it was like that the entire weekend.

End of an Era

2008-01-08T19:08:00.000-08:00

I owe you a meme, among other things. But I can't really focus right now. I just got back from my lys which is closing it's storefront tomorrow. The Rug and Yarn Hut opened it's doors in downtown Campbell in January of 1997. I was a new knitter having learned just months before and I joined a knitting group that started meeting there. I learned to spin there, taught by none other than Karen herself, the owner. With her encouragement I taught myself to weave. She sponsored classes where I met Lily Chin, Margaret Stove and Judith McKenzie McCuin. A lot of my stash came from that store. I bought my first wheel there -- I bought my last wheel there (well, the last wheel I bought was from there -- I have six and while I'm not currently entertaining the thought of buying another wheel -- I'm not ruling out the possibility). There are lots of knitting stores in the bay area, so it's not so much the yarn I'll miss, and some stores are now carrying fiber so I won't miss that either. What I will miss is being able to just go and plop myself down and knit. Since she moved to her new location that became even easier. When I lost my job I'd stop by in-btwn picking-up or dropping-off the kids. Anytime I was out running errands and the store was on the way, my car would veer into the parking lot of it's own accord -- the kids would laugh, "What? It's not me it's the car!" Karen was always there with a smile. There was a relationship growing in the last 10 or so years -- and it's ending. I'll have my memories but I will miss this store.

Holiday Trimmings

2007-12-25T19:56:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays we baked,

peanut butter blossoms,

chocolate chippers,

clockwise from top:

coconut macaroons,

lemon poppy seed, and

pfefferneusse.

Happy New Year!

Stash Reduction!

2007-12-12T17:07:00.000-08:00

I picked up the manos and the free pattern during the yarn hop. It's now a hat for my hubby -- our new dog, Elsa, ate the last one. Well, at least now we know that she likes wool -- no laying handknits around -- or balls of yarn, for that matter. And yes, that would be me in the picture -- glamour shot taken a very long, long time ago. Stash Reduction: 1 sk

Here's my Clapotis! This is a lot of fun. I started out using markers but removed them (purling the dropped stitch on the stockinette side, instead) to make this more portable. Yarn is Cherry Tree Hill wool/silk in one of their "potluck" colorways. Twice a year Cherry Tree has this big sale, one on Labor Day and one on New Year's Eve. Projected Stash Reduction: 4 sks

Finally, I finished a One Skein Wonder for K. She had a formal dance to go to and a summer dress that she wanted to wear so we had to "winterize" it just a bit. I finished this in 2 evenings and 1 lunch hr. Started it on a Wednesday eve to be worn that Friday eve! Stash Reduction: 0 sk, sadly this yarn wasn't in my stash...it was in K's!

The Stash

2007-11-28T20:41:00.001-08:00

It's uh, getting a little out of hand. You can't see all the stash in this picture. Most of the stash is in plastic tubs. This is, um, just the new stuff that doesn't fit in the tubs. Basically what happens is I buy yarn, add it to the database, put it in a ziplock bag and throw it into the left side of the stash room. Oh, did I mention I have a stash room? It's a room built in the garage. It's 14'x10' and has 4 book shelves, a big work table, 4 organizers for my rubberstamps (3 of which you can see here) and tubs of yarn and fiber. I used to be able to walk around the work table, which is now also piled high with bags of yarn.

I can't buy more tubs. They won't fit in the stashroom. But I can't get to my rubberstamps w/out wading through the sea of yarn. More importantly I can't find any of the "new" yarn. I needed a "temporary" solution. Something that I can use now that can be easily put away when I don't need them anymore -- you know like when I knit up the yarn in the tubs, right? So I bought a bunch of these. Cute huh? It's a laundry bag (Walgreens). And it pops open to one of these! I needed 8 and I also bought 4 laundry baskets (same idea, different format) for all the yarn on the work table. They hold a lot of yarn -- probably more than a tub and you can stack them, sort of. They're super light (when empty) and you can see through the netting (if you look closely). It kinda solved the problem. At least now I only have to move a few of these as opposed to all the wading. And I found the yarn I was looking for (Sea Silk for a WIC shawl). The next thing to do is figure out what's in each bag/basket, label it and add that "temporary" location to the database.

Yarn on Tuesday

2007-11-21T20:43:00.000-08:00

You know how people hate Mondays? After a nice weekend doing whatever going back to work the following Monday really bites. Not for me though. I'm ok on Mondays. I accept that I work 5 days a week (sometimes more) and thoroughly enjoy my weekend (whenever I get the chance). When Monday rolls around I go to work still high on the buzz of the weekend's activities. Now, Tuesday -- that's hard. The weekend is now a distant past and there's still a good portion of the work week to get through before Saturday rolls around again. Tuesdays are when I really need that yarn fix. Used to be you could go to any yarn store and buy yarn on a Tuesday. There are a few yarn stores open 7 days a week, mostly though they are closed 1 day and that day is either Sunday or Monday. But now there are stores that are closed on Tuesdays. I get the point -- if you're going to be open both Sunday and Monday then being closed on Tuesday works -- and maybe Tuesday is the slowest day of the week. And if I know a yarn store is closed on Tuesday I'll just go to one that's not. I work in Santa Clara and if I really need the medicinal qualities of yarn fumes I'll turn my car south on a Tuesday, north on a Monday and I'm fine. It's okay, really. As long as I know.

This last Tuesday though I decided to go further north. I thought, yeah, that's the store where I left my shop hop passport -- I'll go pick it up -- I earned a bumper sticker and I can ask about those beads I bought for that scarf and see if I have enough. Then I can go to that italian deli and get a prosciutto sandwich on fresh foccacia, ooh and a limonata. Convinced I got in my car and headed north. Way north. I parked behind the store. Walked around the block to the front only to find that it was closed. On Tuesday. Damn. Well, it's a short week. Sigh. Ok, I'm here I might as well get my sandwich. I walked up the block, entered the deli and placed my order at the counter. I went to the beverage cooler and picked up my limonata. And while I waited I thought, I really wanted to buy some yarn. Nothing in particular, just a little something...in pink -- sock yarn? Yarn for hand warmers? A little fair-isle project? I was lost in my little yarn daydream, I absentmindedly went to pay for my lunch that I got to go, when it hit me like a sack of sweet potatoes -- there's another yarn store in this town. I headed out the door and back down the street. It was a nice day and the limonata was quite refreshing. I'd gotten a small one and finished it just as I got to the door of the other yarn store, it was open. Yes!

Ah the sweet smell of wool. Ooh the touch of cashmere -- mmm, a nice deep pink colored cashmere blend in the odd ball bin, on sale, 1, 2, 3 balls, score! Hey and what's this? Wool silk in lavender blue and deep purple yummy, we'll need some gray for those fair isle hand warmers. Oh look, sock yarn -- alpaca sock yarn -- hey I don't have this color, a cool red and rose with a touch of gray. I can feel the tension leaving my body. I'm in heaven. I go to pay for my goodies. And I leave the store $70 poorer but I can see the end of the week -- hey and it's a short week. As I pull into the parking lot at work I smile. I leave my purchase in the car. I head up to my desk with my lunch and log into my computer. And, I note what yarn stores are closed on Tuesdays. At least now I know.

If you want a quick fix and need to know where you can buy yarn, right now -- be sure to check knitmap I should have, well, maybe not.

I'm on Ravelry!

2007-11-18T09:10:00.000-08:00

OMG! Gotta admit, I sorta tried to resist it. Like a ostrich I buried my head in the ground and pretended it was not there. I signed up and I think I waited, what, a month? But I didn't hold my breath, I wasn't expecting an invitation anytime soon. I keep track of my projects using NeedleTrax. And what was this Ravelry thing but a way to keep track of projects? I've got my lists of "dream projects", "WIPs", "FOs", books, patterns, and oh yes, the stash. Any of which I can export to excel spreadsheets and download to my PocketPC and have at my fingertips. Who needs a new system? I mean really. I was blissfully happy in my own little world.

And then my world imploded. Two things happened pretty much simulaneously: 1) my Yahoo! Photos got move to Flickr and 2) I got my invitation to Ravelry. After a little frustration (step away from the computer, go knit) trying to get my Flickr account settings so Ravelry can see my pictures, I was golden. That was yesterday and I got 5 projects up -- 3 wips, 2 FO's and a few books. This morning I've got 2 computers going. One has Picasa and Flickr running so I can upload more pictures into Flickr. And this one's got Blogger and Ravelry going so I can add more projects, books, and I don't know maybe yarn. I mean should I even go there? This is madness! But evil good fun.

The goal today is to get some of my favorite FO's up and start a "queue". I'm not going to take a picture of every yarn I have and project planned. At least, not today. I will also try to get most of the WIP's in. This one's already there:

Florence Shrug is done. Vivace Bamboo in Rainbow. It's big and it, um, grew, but I'm moving on. After 10+ years knitting you'd think I'd know my own gauge! I do know my personal sock gauge, I durned well knit enough socks to know that 64sts around with size 1 or 2's works for me. I've yet to find that magical formula for sweaters that fit. So far it's work the next size smaller w/ needles also down a size. Yes, I'm a loose knitter. And no, I didn't do that with Florence. Sigh.

Now that I've finished something that was ALREADY ON NEEDLES I don't feel so bad starting a Clapotis (in CTH wool silk) and Lady Eleanor (with CE Embrace, oh yes I did). They're already up on Ravelry. And with all this "ravelry" going on, I'm ready to finish up some more stuff. Next off the needles: Jester Scarf (no really) and Tokyo Bloom which will now be a shrug. If you're on Ravelry -- I'm "fiberdev".

Finishing

2007-10-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

The yarn harlot sets the pace in this knitting household. Although I can't keep up, I do try. She was on a finishing stint but has since moved on. She finished Kauni, I bought the kit. She finished MS3, I'm on clue 3. She received her reward yarn. I ordered mine and since it's "dyed-to-order" it'll be awhile.

Having just bought a whole slew of projects the guilt in not finishing anything was weighing heavy on my shoulders. Looking at the mountain of work ahead of me seemed too overwhelming. Everything currently on needles either needed lots of knitting or lots of thought. But I had to finish something...so I cast on this:

Sometimes you need a boost.

The Haul

2007-10-24T17:05:00.000-07:00

Not bad for a weekend jaunt, eh? Ok, ok -- the bag in the back right only 2 of those colors were purchased during the hop. That's the Rowan Summer Tweed, now I have enough for the Tobias sweater -- you like the colors? Bag in the back left -- that's four hanks of Schaefer Esperanza, yum. Also in the basket are 2 sks of Suri Elegance -- enough for a full sized shawl. Among the bags here there are 2 sweaters, 1 shawl, 2 shrugs, 1 stole, 1 hat, 1 sack, 4 pairs socks, 2 pairs fingerless mitts, 2 scarves, 1 vest, 1 pair of slippers, 3 sks laceweight merino and 2 sks alpaca which I don't know what I'm going to do with,...well I'm not sure what I'm going to to do with the Esperanza either -- but there's enough for a sweater.

Note: 3 of these projects are K's ;)

More Shopping!

2007-10-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

Whew! I don't think the KFYS 07 was such a good idea. It was suppose to keep me from adding to the stash and all it did was made me wait and do it later. And boy did I make up for lost time! This weekend was the Peninsula to Pier LYS Shop Hop, and I did all 16 stores. I started slow by visiting the middle stores (where I live) during lunch, Rug & Yarn Hut and Yarndogs Thursday, and Commuknity and the Knitting Room Friday. Friday night my favorite Aunt VJ came up and Saturday morning she, my eldest daughter K and I piled into my Pacifica and did the "southern" stores starting with Continental Stitch in Morgan Hill.

In the morning I programmed the 7 stores in my GPS and off we went. The day was beautiful for driving and shopping. CS was a good first stop as they have so many inspirational ideas! VJ bought a kit for the carpet bag in IW Felt, something she's been wanting do since she first saw the bag in a previous issue of IW Knit. The Pacifica got us to Carmel even though I already knew how to get to Knitting-By-the-Sea, however I didn't have a street number to put into the GPS so I made one up. But you know, the funny thing about making up a number is we had to drive to that spot before the GPS would move to the next item in the itinerary. Each shop on the tour features a 1 skein pattern and special on the yarn used -- K got the yarn for KBTS's project, a cute mini duffle purse. The next stop was Monarch Knits where I saw a Summer Tweed sweater out of Rowan #41 in a different colorway and I thought, "Hmm, I have that magazine but I don't remember that sweater". I got some luscious karaoke to SPIN! MK had expanded since I'd been there last and has a full spectrum of spinning fiber! It was lunchtime and I highly recommend being in Monterey when you're hungry -- there's lots of places to eat off Lighthouse -- we got directions to Sea Harvest and enjoyed fresh fish, yum!

Half the day had gone and we had 4 more shops to go starting with Yarn Place in Capitola and ending with Luminous Threads in Felton. These shops we go to semi-regularly when we do our annual retreat. I bought the crochet project featured at Swift Stitch (the sample and yarn was so luscious that I don't mind that it's not knit). VJ bought fuzz for a felted Hedge Hog. At the Golden Fleece both of us got a mini needle felting kit and I got a deal on 8 sks of a discontinued color of Kathmandu Aran (I'm not one to turn down pink yarn on sale). As an added bonus we stopped at Yarndogs so K and VJ could get their passports stamped.

When we got home we all put our pj's on and knit -- we were sooo tired! My awesome husband (and I'm not saying that because he's reading this over my shoulder) got us takeout from our favorite Chinese restaurant and we all got to rest up for the next day's itinerary.

Sunday morning we were all gung ho to visit the "northern" stores. VJ hadn't been to ANY of those stores. Nine Rubies was the first stop. I'd never been to this one either and boy was it a treat! They had hired a consultant to do the their layout and it was well worth it. You could do a 360 in the room and see everything they had. The yarn/project featured was Baywood Yarns and the dyer was there. I got 2 sks of the featured yarns (1 each in the same colorway, which by the way was called "Jocelyn's Red" -- ha, ha -- named, not for me but for one of the staff at Nine Rubies). From there we headed back south to Creative Hands where I found a pattern book for my Kathmandu (score!). We had lunch in Menlo Park after a visit to Knitter's Studio then left for the last two shops in Los Altos. At Uncommon Threads I thumbed through their copy of Rowan #41. Remember the sweater I saw at Monarch? Turns out I already had 2 of the 4 colors for the sweater so I bought 2 more. At Full Thread Ahead K got the featured project, a lovely feather and fan in hand painted merino laceweight, and I got my 16th stamp and turned in my passport. This was the end of the line for VJ too as she had guests waiting back home. K decided she wanted to fill her passport so we went on to revist those shops that were close to home before calling it a day.

I'm still buzzing from the yarn fumes -- the hop was fantabulous fun. Please visit the shop hop link to find links to all the shops and pictures of the projects. Kudos to the organizers and all the yarn shops that participated -- my stash runneth over.

Shopping!

2007-09-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

So, do you think I still like pink?

Here we have laceweight from Danette Taylor Original Yarns.
I don't know what I'm going to do with this -- it's 1875yd so it should make for a nice shawl...

And yarn in a similar colorway from the same vendor for a sweater. This was a kit and came with a pattern for a nice cardi. the loopy stuff is for the rib, cuffs, collar, and buttonband.

Then from Discontinued Brand Name Yarn I was lucky enough to snatch this kit for a scarf in Wool in Woods.

I also purchased the last of this dk mohair boucle again Wool in the Woods. Just yarn -- lots of yardage -- but I've no idea what it will be. It's pretty tho, no?

Finally I got this fiber -- sight unseen -- the only description I got was rose pinks from Spinning Bunny. I never know what I'm going to do with fiber. That will all depend on how it spins up. It's 1lb total, I think.

Notice how the yarn and fiber purchased from 3 different vendors all coordinate? Weird.

And here is clue 2 (and 1) of MST3. I know I'm slow -- but I've been busy buying yarn. Today -- last day of TKGA.

The Last Straw

2007-09-03T16:33:00.000-07:00

You know the one? The one that broke the camel's back? This would be that one. What we have here is 10 sks of cascade -- 9 of which I bought for 3 pairs of felted clogs. The 10th being, um free because if you buy 10 sks of cascade you get 10% off the lot making one essentially free. And there's the 3 miscellaneous balls, one for each of the clogs for "interest". Now, I could justify this, watch, it's a stretch, but since clogs are for your feet, they could pass for very thick socks therefore the purchase would be exempt from KFYS, because, it's sock yarn! Even the extra skein, the pink one at the top, would be fine because it was a "gift" (w/ purchase). However, do you see that little bitty shiny skein at the bottom -- the glossy, laceweight, yes that's the one...that's the last straw. There's no justifying it. This lovely thing from Schaefer Yarns, Andrea, is 100% silk in colorway Margaret Mead. This cutie pie is contraband all the way -- even my anniverssary around the corner couldn't save this little outlaw. Because, although my hubby gifted me with a yarn card, it's for a different store. So even though I could buy even more yarn (which I did) with that card (some beautiful laceweight, 100% soy silk from Conjoined Creations, thank you very much), I couldn't lump this little guy with that -- I could but it wouldn't be just stretching the truth, it would be a flat out lie.
I give up. Just in time for a sale...yay, me!

Everybody Need Socks

2007-08-09T20:31:00.000-07:00

These feet belong to an American Girl doll. Cute socks, eh? They were made by a friend of mine. This is what you can make with your leftover sock yarn.

Speaking of sock yarn. I'm back on the wagon. The Knit From Your Stash wagon that is. Went to Yarndogs to beef up my needle collection and came home with another ball of sock yarn. By the looks of things next year I'll have to do a KFYSS and knit up all the sock yarn the KFYS resulted in -- or SFYS for all the fiber I've purchased in lieu of yarn. Oh and while I'm at it I should do a KFYB for all the knitting books I've acquired.

So what have I been up to? Well,...I got sucked into the MS3 vortex. I dug out some nice laceweight wool/alpaca blend from jaggerspun and bought beads. I swatched, cast-on, knit through 1/2 of clue 1 and frogged the whole thing. I did the swatch w/ US4's and it looked fine, but when I started the pattern it was looking as good. The yarn over's weren't defined enough so I took a trip to the frog pond and dropped a couple needle sizes which looks much better. I've started clue 2, but here's a picture of clue 1:

I'm not in a hurry, clue 6 will be posted tomorrow. From clue 5 on the design is asymetrical. I don't know what I want to do about that so I'll knit through clue 4 and see how things are looking before I decide. Instructructions for symetrical options went up today. Being on the slow side kinda defeats the purpose of the "mystery", but it sure has its advantages.

Help, I've fallen

2007-07-12T21:05:00.000-07:00

and I don't want to get back up. Those of you who read this blog will know that I buy yarn with reckless abandon. New yarn brings with it new possibilities. Of course, old forgotten yarn tends to do the same thing when brought to new light (or out of the stashroom). This year however I joined Knit from your Stash 2007, where I will buy no new yarn (with a few exceptions) and will "shop" the stash. I have, up until this month stayed true to KFYS...only adding sock yarn and various "gifts". But then I tripped and fell over my wallet at the "all you can carry" sale at Full Thread Ahead. Hence this addition to the stash -- and not one stinkin' ball of sock yarn:

7 balls of bamboo/silk, 3 super sks of sea silk. I hang my head in shame...NOT. This is yummy yarn! It was well worth falling off the wagon -- heck, jumped off was more like it (I even got my daughter to come with for extra "arms" -- I didn't need them though). And yes, those are new Longaberger baskets too -- if you have to know, bought direct from the Factory Store in Ohio.

Ah well. It was fun while it lasted. I'm not saying it's over now. I'm not sure when the next purchase will be. I have no plans to return to a yarn store anytime soon. The deadline lifts after TKGA in Oakland this September, and I am allowed 1 slip up. So far this is it -- no exclusions.

Evidence

2007-06-09T14:55:00.001-07:00

Found this picture in my camera. It's dated 4/27 which means it was taken the day after the last guild knit night that I went to. Now, as I recall this is not in violation of the KFYS 2007. You see the cotton was "gifted" to me by one other guild member who was clearing out her stash. And the other -- while it was a purchase, some yummy bamboo -- was paid for with my b-day Commuknity gift card -- so that's a "gift" too.

Y'know, it's not hard to work around the rules here. As long as I'm getting gifts -- birthday, mother's day, pity party (left my job), celebrations (found a new one) -- there are many opportunites to shop, not to mention the sock yarn. So since that night at guild I've purchased the following: 3 balls of feza fiona -- which I cannot even recall (scary huh, this is a true sign of a very big problem) from Continental Stitch, 1 ball feza dazzle also from CS -- wonder if this goes with the other feza?; 1 sk kollage enchanted, 1 sk collinette isis from Yarndogs (odd, that's all?); 2 sks gems merino SOCK yarn from Purlescence; and a gaggle of sks 6? 9? 13? of more SOCK yarn from Knit Picks -- it's the 70/30 merino silk solids they have now...which I got in order to do these.

Sorry for the lack of posts last month -- I was busy with one thing or another...so busy that my blog'iversary just blew buy, I mean by. Yeah, okay so I'm a big fan of retail therapy. Anyways, the blog is 2 years old and this year I've knit 3 pairs of socks, a jacket, a shawl and a vest and another hat for Elana. Remember Elana? She was going thru chemo last year for bone cancer -- who's now got a clean bill of health -- what a trooper that girl (and she loved that last hat).

I'm knitting...I'm just not finishing lately -- I don't even know what's on the sidebar -- hmm...so what have I been busy with? The girls mostly and these:

Clockwise starting with the pink one they are: bazooka, mocha latte, icing, macaroon, toffee, ricotta, jr mintz, werther, bun bun and in the middle, cookie. They are our webkinz and we loves them all.

We mostly play with them online here.

Or we play with them in the real world. They are very hard to find in California. They've been big in the east coast for awhile, and anytime anyone gets a shipment around here they disappear. We're still looking for a horse, a cow and the black and white cat (who comes with an online yarn sofa complete with knitting needles -- guess who wants that?).

Fancy Silk Socks

2007-04-25T11:11:00.000-07:00

Yarn: Regia Bamboo -- 50/50 Bamboo and superwash wool. Fancy Silk refers to the pattern name -- a la Nancy Bush from the book Vintage Socks. 5 months to knit a pair of socks. Longer than usual because I ripped back the first one from mid-foot to before the heel. You can't see from the picture here (hint -- you can always click on my pictures to get the full size) but there's a vertical lace in the rib that needed to land along side the foot -- I missed the first time and didn't realize it until halfway through the foot.

Stash Reduction: 2 balls (I know, I know socks don't count...)

Now I get to pick out another pair to start. I bought a bunch of patterns at my LYS from this designer. So maybe I'll knit one of those...since the stash diet I seem to have an endless supply in sock yarn, go figure...in the meantime Wendy Knits (see link on sidebar) put a picture of her fridge a few weeks back. I've always thought refrigerators were interesting, so here's mine. Enjoy!

Ribwarmer

2007-04-21T14:02:00.000-07:00

Looks more like a vest made from one of those woven mexican blankets. I dug deep into the stash for this project. Some self striping Noro wool blend bought for a ribwarmer. 6 sks. I used a variation that allowed me to knit the two fronts and join them to knit the back in one piece! It's a bit long though. There are several things I think I'd do to make this more...um...wearable; 1) shorten the armhole depth; 2) round out the turns for the fronts and back (like the original pattern); 3) short-row some bust-darts. This would make it more bolero-style and I may even do it sometime soon in a wool silk! It was a bit stiff coming off the needles and it definitely improved once I had it washed and blocked. Very fun to knit -- esp with the striping!

stash reduction: 3.5 sks.

Self striping?

2007-04-12T18:56:00.000-07:00

What do you think?
It's one skein of Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb in Purple club. At the top of the picture what the yarn looked like when it was dyed. The colors actually started pooling, not striping and it all started quite by accident. I didn't even notice, focusing instead on the stitch pattern I was trying out here. Don't ask, it's a long story. Anyways when I started to see what was happening it became of game of how long can I keep it going? I don't usually try this on purpose -- in fact I abhore pooling in any other project, but this? I think it's cool!

Stash reduction: 1 sk

Pink Cashmere

2007-03-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

Isn't it lovely? Art Yarns Cashmere 5. Soft, buttery, and oh so pink with subtle hints of tan. Worth falling off the wagon? Almost,... A couple weeks ago I was at a yarn shop in Capitola. I wandered around with a mental inventory of my stash. Everything I touched I either already owned or owned the equivalent. (that's why we're on a yarn diet, remember?) The store is a refurbished house so there are rooms that are interconnected with doorways and hallways. I went round and round looking for something, what I'm not sure. While I was "shopping" a biker dude walked in. I say biker dude so you could have a mental picture, think black leather and boots. He was rather large, older with medium length wavy gray hair. He had a salt and pepper beard. He was looking for yarn for his knitter to make him a very special scarf. It had to be soft. He followed a staff person around who handed him various skeins of soft fluff in deep grays and blues. With each new possibility he shook his head, and continued to follow her around. Meanwhile I had found 2 skeins of this cashmere and held it contemplatively in my hand. He saw me, stopped and said in the softest voice, "That's so beautiful, is there more?" I looked at him and said, "It's pink," knowing what he was looking for himself. He replied, "I know and it's sooo pretty". I tilted my head, "You want this?" He nodded eagerly. I thought about it for a second. Possession is 9/10's and all, by rights it was mine to purchase, all $90 of it. But then the image of a biker dude, this biker dude, going down hwy 1 with a pink cashmere scarf tucked under his leather jacket flashed through my head. Hey, trust me, no one's going to cross this guy over his pink scarf. I smiled, and handed over the skeins.

We Interrupt this Knitting Blog...

2007-03-10T19:20:00.000-08:00

To bring you a day at the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, CA. The girls took the tour through the candy factory, tasted their favorite flavors and shopped for gifts.

We've been to the factory once before on the way up to visit the cousins in Reno, NV. It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive just to the factory, and this time it was our only destination, you see there was this special event...

Longaberger was there,

and we made a basket.

WWW: What in the World did I buy at stitches West

2007-02-26T17:38:00.000-08:00

Right, I'm on a stash diet -- however, these items are exempt because they were purchased at a knitting convention convention (excl 2e). I actually didn't do too bad. I kept to my budget (if you only count the first group).
Clockwise from top:
1. Rib wrap from Continental Stitches
2. 2 sks Geisha from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in Bleeding Hearts and Scaponia.
3. Lace wt tencel from Just Our Yarn
4. Claudia Handpainted 20/2 silk in Pink Posey from Commuknity
5. Linie 194 from Yarndogs
6. Merging Colors Adagio Shawl from The Mannings
center: Annie kit from Swallow Hill Creations

These items would have been okay anyways under exclusions 2a and 5.
Clockwise from top:
1. Seacoast superwash in Cherry Fizz from Full Thread Ahead
2. Paisley silk wrap from Shobha Imports (it's not even yarn)
3. Angora Valley Fly Dyed Supersport purchased from Sheila Ernst -- also purchased but not pictured -- cobalt blue Don't Drop spindle. More about this little guy later...
4. Fleece Artist Sea Wool in Seashore from Full Thread Ahead
5. Merino Tencel roving from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in Red Rooster
6. Merino Kid roving from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in Red Rooster
center: tote bag from Commuknity -- it's just canvas but it's big and it says "Knitting is my Yoga"

Me here at the Student Banquet with the esteemed Jane Sowerby -- I'm wearing my Shoulder Shawl in Cherry Leaf Pattern from her book Victorian Lace Today.

Up next -- the 12 hour sweater class...

addendum -- check out the sidebar for a new book coming out soon from a dear friend, knitter and blogger at Spin Dye Knit

It's that time again...

2007-02-21T08:30:00.000-08:00

Just links today...first and foremost, since I can't express it any better than my blog buddy Cris read her take on Stitches West

Then, on the recommendation of another friend (knitting vulture, who could resist?) I went and ordered my own copy of Little Dee

Gotta go hide the ends on the RoundTrip and block the Victorian Lace shawl (I'll have a picture w/ the edging, later -- maybe while it's blocking -- watch this space)...Stitches awaits...just one more day and I can shop!

Post Valentines Pre Stitches

2007-02-14T16:40:00.000-08:00

Here's a shot of the Victorian Lace shawl before adding the edging.

And here's a shot of the RoundTrip shrug. As you can see I've only got to tie up the loose ends.

Here's my todo list for Stitches:
1. finish; wash and block above 2 projects
2. prepare materials and do homework for class
3. pick out a project or 2 from the sidebar to knit at stitches.

I'm not starting anything new until after stitches west.

Hope you had a very nice Valentine's Day!

Knit from your Stash 2007

2007-01-28T17:19:00.000-08:00

I've updated the sidebar. Notice the big new colorful button? I'm accepting the challenge. I know, I know...Stitches West is around the corner...I'm not an idiot. If you read the guidelines you can add your own exceptions to suit your own situation. My situation includes Stitches West so I'm adding the following 2 exceptions:

2e. Knitting Conventions are exempt -- yeah, you heard me -- if the esteemed authors of this challenge are holding out for Stitches East then I can shop at Stitches West and TKGA. But to be fair -- for every convention attended you must extend the challenge 1 month. So, for me this will go thru November.

2f. Yarn required for any class I take during the challenge is also exempt.

So far I'm doing okay. I have plenty of stash -- and we're talking yarn here, not books or patterns. And I do spin so if I really needed a fiber fix I can fulfill my needs in that manner. This weekend I bought yarn only for my class at Stitches West and completing a project -- and this was before I even knew about the challenge.

Anyone want to join me?

New Beginnings

2007-01-20T15:21:00.000-08:00

I went into the New Year with 6 projects logged in the sidebar and 2 unlogged. Like others I reflected on my stash and decided that I must, MUST, knit it down to a low roar. New Year's Resolution, Knit More, Buy Less. So I went ahead and started a lace shawl from Jane Sowerby's new book:

Which is now this:
And, I'm happy to report that this project is being knit with yarn from stash. That is to say, the yarn used here was purchased a long while back with no project in mind. It's all hand dyed, fingering weight alpaca. The other skein above is a silk boucle which I intend to use for the knitted on border. It's a very simple project meant to show off the yarn.

I also started this from Knitters Fall 2003, the Round Trip shrug:

Which is now this:
This is also knit from stash...I purchased the Noro Silk Garden from Webs last year. However, I decided that I wanted to do the band in a matching Cash Iroha and went and bought 3 skeins. That acquisition makes no dent in the stash, but at least the project is no longer part of it...

What? Have I bought any more yarn this year? Um, uh, yes, but not much. ;)

10 things

2006-11-24T15:45:00.000-08:00

About a year ago I posted 20 Random Things which was to be the first of 5 installments. It was followed by 20 More Things and ended there. I was recently tagged by Vivian along with Cris to do 5 things, but since Cris isn't gonna -- I'll do 10 which will bring me to and even 50.

41. I learned to swim the summer I graduated from highschool. I was going to college in the fall and moving into an apt with a pool. Another classmate learned with me -- he was going to the Naval Academy to become a Navy Seal.

42. I hang with a group of women who are in tech pubs. I am an engineer, but there are mostly men in my profession so I tend to gravitate to where the women are. I can code but I can't write.

43. I collect Longaberger baskets.

44. ...their pottery.

45. ...and wrought iron.

The next 5 are holiday related:

46. I roasted my first turkey when I was 38 (not too long ago).

47. I can my own whole berry cranberry sauce the weekend before Thanksgiving. 5 jars. I open 2 the day of, pawn off 2 to relatives, save the last for me.

48. I don't like to think about any particular holiday before the most immediate one is over. I don't think about Thanksgiving until after Halloween and I don't think about Christmas until after Thanksgiving -- all the other holidays are far enough apart not to require any resistance on my part.

49. I don't shop the day after Thanksgiving, not even for yarn.

50. In fact, I try to avoid the mall between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve...unfortunately, this being "shopping" season, it can't be helped.

A Sweater for Marisol

2006-11-15T17:56:00.000-08:00

I took the Top Down Sweaters class at Yarndogs and produced a knit to fit sweater for my daughter's Amercian Girl doll Marisol. All you needed were 2 measurements, a few calculations based on your gauge swatch (or whatever the ball band says) and you're good to go! As you can see it fits perfectly!

I've got to start something new. Maybe a Top Down Sweater for me -- I'm bringing a picture to our South Bay Knitters guild meeting to show the teacher (a member of the guild).

And for my next pair of socks...

2006-10-29T14:39:00.000-08:00

Fingerless Gloves!
These were so quick they didn't even make the sidebar. In fact they were so quick I'm already done! Check out the ruffle cuff? The pattern is available in Not Just Socks, but with a different cuff (actually 2 different cuffs, but not this one). If you want to do this cuff, go a few pages further to the pattern for the bag and use that -- I cast on 192 stitches and decreased rapidly (32 stitches every other round) to 64 stitches. Followed by a 3x1 rib for the base of the palm. I think next time I'll decrease 4 stitches evenly after the ribbing so the palm's just a bit smaller and add 3 stitches instead of 2 per finger. Not that I'm going to rush in and make more just yet. It was a small detour in my journey to finish things up -- not start AND finish. I've still got inches left on Tokyo Bloom so I'm going there next. The scarves? Dunno, they are so close but I need to make decisions so not going there anytime soon.

Addendum

2006-10-13T10:34:00.000-07:00

Oh and this arrived earlier this week

I am not worthy

I will not succumb...again

2006-10-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

Look at what the Yarn Harlot's up to here -- gorgeous isn't it? Makes you want to go straight to Grafton Fibers and hand over your credit card. But I won't, not his time...my mind reels back to this and how that resulted in the arrival of these fraternal twins beautifully nestled in the LazyBoy.
They were packed away into the stash only to be retrieved (and gently fondled) for this picture. I'm also shamefully reminded of the recent moment of weakness while organizing my Bellwether Rhyme Times subscription which resulted in the addition of 3 lbs of fiber to the stash.

On another front did finish up all the pieces of palacios seen below as I contemplate blocking the fronts on my inadequate blocking board. I need a bigger one -- you'd think if a blocking board came with yarn I'd have one by now. Anyways, this one's meant for quilt blocks (oh didn't you know? I quilt too...or, uh I used to) . The back is done too so I can now safely set it aside as the next bit is a mosaic border that I'm not about to start (guess I really don't need to block it now then, huh). Also seen below are the Vintage Shell Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks (Nancy Bush) in Knit Picks Dancing.

What's up next? Um, well there's a new yarn shop that's opening this weekend so, I'll be here.

A Good Start

2006-09-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

Here we are -- my finished Olympic Knitting project, lounging on the LazyBoy (no Chesterfields here, this is California, not Canada -- that's a different blog).
So it's only what,...7 months too late.
I hate button bands...picking up (I can never get the sides to match), then lining up the button holes (the initial math only gets me so close -- I keep forgetting to include the stitches for the actual buttonhole -- so rather than refigure it out I just tink and add or substract a stitch until they're spread out properly). Anyways its done, off the needles, knitting bag reclaimed, leftover yarn (1 full ball and then some of the teflon wool, 1/2 a ball of the karaoke -- enough for a hat, but we're not going there) ready to be returned to stash. Not sure I like the long stretch of hot pink, but I do like the fact that it's done.
I was listening to Birth of Venus while finishing it up. I download books from Audible and listen on my iPaq. Up until now I've been using ear phones. Cris told me about FM transmitters that allow sound to be transmitted to an FM radio frequency which allows you to listen to your audio (from your mp3 player, ipod, portable CD player) on any FM stereo (home stereo, boom box or car radio). Cool deal. It's amazing what technology they come up with these days. I'm not much of a technophile. Yeah, I have a mobile phone (hot pink razr, of course, w/ matching bluetooth -- but I only *just* got that part), and I listen to books on my iPaq which I sync from my PC laptop. However, I'm not one to leap to new technology. That iPaq, it's at least 3 years old. Digital camera 2.1 mega pixels. I still have a win98 desktop (yes, it runs) and my laptop is running win2K. What's even more surprising is that I live high tech more than 40hrs a week being a computer programmer, in the electronic design automation industry, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Go figure. I'm actually afraid to try new things. And rightly so! The first FM transmitter I bought actually made the batteries in it explode -- in the car -- while I was driving! I had my husband return it (I hate returning things) and I bought another, different one (more expensive) from another store (not taking any chances here). This one, however, bypasses battery power when I plug in the car adapter -- I checked by turning the device on and plugging in the adapter while it wasn't connected to the car, and it turned off. So far so good. Anyways, I used it last night while finishing my project -- listening to my audio book on my iPaq but through our boom box. Amazing. I was able to move around and pick up my band, line up my buttonholes and knit until it was all done. Truly F.A.B. Like my setup?

A Plan for Winter

2006-09-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

Some friends and I are making knitting plans for the winter. This should kick off finishing some of my works on the needles. I found yarn for a clapotis IN MY STASH (round of applause please -- it pays to have a large stash -- besides being fun to shop in -- the money's already spent -- and it can be so very satisfying). This summer's gatherings Noro Transistions will be an Alice pullover. Finally, I dug up a shawl kit I had buried a long time ago, this winter, I'll be starting (drumroll, please...) Rosy Fingered Dawn by Hazel Carter. As you can see by the link there's a KAL! I'm so excited. However,...

See the list on the right? Some of that's got to get finished before I can start the above projects...at least 2 preferably 3 and socks don't count. I'm shooting for Very Luminary Vest (VLV), and Tokyo Bloom Poncho (TBP), mostly because VLV is so close and I don't think I can justify starting clapotis w/o finishing a poncho. Third up? I dunno -- if I can just get Palacio to the point where I'm starting the bands...or maybe the 2 scarves? They're practically done, really. Okay? Okay! I'm off to pick up for the band on VLV...

(And not one word about the Vogue TF Shrug -- I've not lost enthusiasm for it just yet...I need to knit it bigger and get used to the idea that I'm knitting the large and not the medium -- bearing in mind that I did choose smaller needles. That said...let's just all shut up about it for now).

A Summer's Gatherings

2006-09-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

I didn't blog for the entire month of August and July's posts were more about June. So what's been happening? The girls -- they have a life and mine just revolves around theirs. But as Vivian suspected I did manage to buy some yarn. So here's the the summer's highlights...
I ended the summer's purchases at the latest Knitting Arts sale. Found: Cherry Tree Hill Cascade 100% silk fingering wt in Northern Lights. Prior to that I was at Village Spinning and Weaving where I did not buy any yarn. However I did buy 2 beautiful spindles laser etched by Dave Larson -- go see, click under "Spindles". Backtracking, I did buy yarn near my hometown at Anacapa Fine Yarns in Ventura -- 2 sks Kaalund Yarns Expressions in Guava 100% kid laceweight 1000+yds (yeah, pink). In LA, at A Mano Yarn Center I found lightweight Socks that Rock in Hard Rock and Mist(pink -- do we see a pattern here?), and further south I found some lovely Bamboo sock yarn by Regia (reddish pink) at The Yarn Lady. Looping up to Las Vegas I didn't buy any yarn. Not even in Tehachapi where a yarn shop was closing out -- not for lack of trying (they were closed the day we passed through). Back at home I bought Rowan Silk Wool in Scallop (very pale pink) and Rowan Tapestry in Potpourri (rich victorian pink) both from Yarndogs. Meanwhile Webs sent me more than enough Silk Garden for the Round Trip sweater (color 251 -- you look it up). I found a new-to-me yarn store in Sunnyvale, Yarn Place and bought some fingering wt merino/cashmere in eggplant (ha!) and laceweight Graceful in a muted rainbow colorway 2400yds in one ball. During the yarn crawl prior to the summer knit retreat (winter's full, sorry) I snagged 5 skeins of rose alpaca, Noro Transistions color A6 for an Alice sweater, 2 balls Skacel meditation in sunset (scented with lavendar oil), 2 balls Steinbach striping cotton sock yarn in golden summer, and 2 Karabella jewels in peach tree all from Luminous Threads. A stop at the Swift Stitch proved detrimental as I bought 2 sks each of Alchemy's monarch, silk purse and bamboo -- all in a fiery colorway -- red, orange, hot, hot pink. Back at Yarndogs I obtained 2 balls Lana Grossa twin print in a mediterranean colorway (not for me) and a Sweater Kits cardi kit in wine. At Full Thread Ahead's all-you-can-carry sale I got Cherry Tree Hill potluck supersock in water and jewels, Alpine Lace in Old Rose, Tess Designer Yarn's cultivated silk/merino in lavendar rose. A return trip to Yarndogs yielded some lovely silk ribbon by Schulana, and some Blue Heron silk rayon twist in hibiscus (pink, ya' think?). Patternworks sent Prism in tea rose and Fiesta Yarns Watermark in abalone (about my favorite colorway in their yarns because its, well, pink). Finally on my trip to Austin at Hill Country Weavers, 10 good reason s to pack light, pictured above, Claudia Hand Painted in pink dot.

Did I knit? Well, yeah -- not much but yeah. I did finish the 3rd of Elana's hats.

What to pack

2006-07-20T07:42:00.000-07:00

When travelling you need to make sure you have available certain necessities. You will nee to pack clothes to wear, clean underwear, basic toiletries, PJs (I always forget these), activity wear (for whatever activities you plan to do at your destination), some books, magazines and/or catalogs and for the knitter, sundry knitting projects. On a recent trip to Austin, TX I took the following:

1) Something simple. One needs mindless knitting to keep the hands busy while the mind is free to wander. This type of knitting is excellent for meetings, phone conversations, listening to a book or waiting to embark at the airport. This is my Tokyo Bloom poncho, stockinette with yo's -- mindless.

2) A sock. For something a little more interesting socks always fit the bill. Great for flying, commuting (as long as you're not the one driving), lines and waiting for your meal in restaurants when dining alone. An added plus, it's extremely portable. Here, we have Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. Yarn: KnitPicks Dancing.

3) Something slightly complicated. This is the latest hat for Elana. It's Norah Gaughan's Swirl Cap from VK On the Go Caps & Hats. I'm having trouble knitting hats that fit Elana's 8 yo head. So, for added complexity I'm, um, chopping off part of the swirls. That's the new chart I've devised to eliminate about a dozen rounds which will make the cap height about right. The cables and chart following makes this project great when you need to align your thoughts instead of letting your mind ~~panic~~ wonder about how the plane is staying up. Yarn: SWTC Phoenix.

Happy 4th of July

2006-07-04T10:33:00.000-07:00

New Knitting Bag

2006-06-09T22:12:00.000-07:00

Isn't this cool? It's my new knitting bag. Dontcha just love the hot pink needle/handles? My Aunt VJ made it for me. Remember the VJ Chronicles? I haven't posted any updates -- but she still calls. The last call I got I had to describe a neck and arm shaping from a faxed copy of the pattern over the phone. Gotta love those words "at same time". Try explaining that on the phone. I love doing it though, and I'd do it for nothing -- for her or any of my friends. But I sure don't mind getting the occaisional appreciative gift either. Look at this thing! You can't tell from the picture but the fabric here is heavy upholstry and on the other side it's satin brocade (see next post). The beaded ribbon's a really sweet touch and matches so well. It's reversible but I'm keeping it this way because the inside has pockets! See?

Isn't she clever?

The Other Side

2006-06-09T22:10:00.000-07:00

I just absolutely love it!

Another hat for Elana

2006-06-09T22:03:00.000-07:00

This is hat #2 for Elana, my daughter's friend who has osteo sarcoma and is undergoing her 2nd round of chemo. It sort of has a rasta-farian feel to it doesn't it?Hope it at the very least cheers her up. Both this and the last hat were kinda big -- even though I had my own daughter's head for good measure. Oh, the pattern is Waldron Island Hat from Knitting Calendar April 28, 2006. Ah well, even hats can come out the wrong size, who-da thunk? The next hat will be simple and it will fit! Famous last words.

Dye Day...and

2006-05-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

It was dye day here at Chez FiberDev. All sorts of things were cooking. Cris needed some skeins dyed black for a project so out came the dyes, dyepot and assorted items. Once the dyes are out it's an opportunity for any undyed yarn lying around -- why setup all that stuff to dye 3 skeins black? Julie came and brought her handspun. My girls had a blast dyeing Julie's yarn. We also made more knitted lined purses since Cris missed the class -- Cathy joined in on the fun and made one too!
Then, later after everyone left and I had dyes leftover I grabbed 5 skeins out of the stash and went to town. Here's a couple I dyed -- I grouped the dyes in 3 colorways, blue/purple, red/orange/yellow

and, still cooking, black

But before I go...it's my blog-a-versary! One year (and 10 days) ago I uploaded my first post. Since then I've finished 4 pairs of socks, 4 scarves, 1 cardi, 2 pullovers, 1 wrap, and a hat. It's been a great year of knitting triumphs (Mavis) and failures (didn't get the gold for my olympic vest), but all and all it's been fun. So here's to another year of knitting and blogging and to kick things off, here's the first pair of socks for blog year two, yarn: Trekking XXL, pattern: Conwy from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush.

Purple?

2006-05-07T14:16:00.000-07:00

I seem to be knitting lots of purple lately...

I took a class this weekend and made alittle bag. The homework for the class was to knit a 6"x12" swatch. The class was Saturday and I knit the swatch on my bulky knitting machine Friday night.
This is the front of my bag.

And this is the back -- we brought fabric to match so I cut out a heart and fused it onto the knitting.

Get this -- it's lined! Check out the zipper detail. The class was Silver Linings and it was taught by Lorna Miser (formerly of Lorna's Laces Yarns). A bunch of us from my guild (South Bay Knitters -- see link at right) took the class. It was fun seeing all the different swatches and fabric. Lorna had a bunch of bags from her book Knit and Fused Purses. Her experience with this technique was invaluable -- she's worked out what fusing materials to use, how to measure and cut our fabric and how to get the zipper in,...I couldn't do this with just the book, having her there showing us what to do -- and what not to do was great!
I also finished Elana's hat. Elana's a classmate of my youngest daughter. Elana's 7 and was recently diagnosed with bone cancer. She will be undergoing several doses of chemotherapy. This hat is to protect her head should she lose some or all of her hair during her treatments. For this one I've used Lana Grossa's Cotton Fun. It's a 50/50 cotton/superwash that's machine washable and softens with each wash. Elana's loves purple and this is just the first of many hats I plan to knit for her. Here's the top of the hat -- the pattern is intended for self striping yarn and is available in the book Not Just More Socks.

Dos Finito

2006-04-17T07:25:00.000-07:00

A pair of beautiful dresses -- more importantly done! I think it took longer to get this post up than it did to get the dresses done! I finally finished them the weekend before I started my new job. Now armed with the threat of no more time I sat down at the machine and went to work. By Sunday eve I was bent over the dresses hand sewing the sleeve seams (the part where the satin is connected to the sheer), and hand hemming the skirts. The zippers came out, well...crooked, but that was to be expected, me being me and zippers being...hard. The sleeves were definitely the hardest, next was dealing with the sheer/satin combo for the bodice and upper sleeves then the skirt. The zipper is in a class all by itself -- mainly because I have a hard time no matter what, but also because of that sheer/satin double fabric thing going -- it was quite slippery. The girls are wearing their hair pulled back but down, not up in a bun, that should help cover things up. This weekend...a banner.

9 weeks

2006-04-05T08:40:00.000-07:00

9 weeks ago I was laid off from my job -- RiF'd to be exact. I wasn't completely blindsided by this. You really have to lookout and prepare for these things here in the Bay Area. It's a fact of life and nothing personal (although some days, it sure feels like it). I put my resume on several on-line jobsites, applied to many jobs on-line, answered e-mails, did phone interviews, attended one job faire, did one on-site interview and printed out 3 dozen resumes. Last Friday I got a job offer (insert happy dance here) and I start next week (stop dancing). My 2 month vacation is nearly up so I thought I take a moment and reflect on what I've accomplished these past 9 weeks. Below you will find my self-interrogation.

Q: Did you finish any knitting projects?
A: Yes, 2. Mavis and a pair of socks for Lindsey. I also finished 1 mitten and 1 sample sock (in a class at Stitches West -- that counts right?)

Q: Did you start any new projects?
A: Yes, I started the Vogue TF Shrug (several times), the Very Luminary Vest (Olympic Knitting project), the other mitten and another pair of socks. Oh and I started sewing 2 dresses.

Q: Did you finish the dresses?
A: Um, no.

Q: Did you spin or weave?
A: Nope.

Q: How about books, did you finish any during this time period?
A: Uh, I don't think so. Maybe, I don't know, exactly.

Q: Did you get a chance to organize the stash?
A: A little.

Q: After Stitches West (because we know you had a budget to adhere to there) did you buy any yarn?
A: Yes.

Q: You were on a yarn diet -- self-imposed. You were only suppose to buy yarn to complete a project. What did you purchase and why?
A: 10 balls Jojoland variegated soft muted rainbow fingering weight, which I missed at SW but found on eBay for almost 1/2 price (well at least my initial bid was 1/2); 3 balls Optimum dk from Elann, because it was pink and too cheap to pass up, currently slated for Faina's scarf; 2 sks Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb in Turquoise to see if it would work up better than the hot pink in my first pass at the Vogue TF Shrug; 3 balls of Crystal Palace Rave, because it was on sale; 2 balls of Xanadu Metallic, same sale; 2 balls of Art Yarns Broadway, sale; 2 sks of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Irving Park, not on sale but at the same store as the sale and I'd never seen this colorway before; 1 sk of Schaefer Yarns Patty in Renata Tebaldi, because it's a lucious silk boucle that matches a merino boucle that I thought I had at home; 8 balls Zitron Incanto in blue and 1 in a variegated blue/orange, also on sale, same day as the others; 2 sks Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb in China Blue because the turqoise wasn't working out; 1 sk each Noro Cash Iroha in black and brown in case the China Blue didn't work which I bought mail order and it hadn't come in yet plus I didn't have VTF with me at the time so I didn't know which would work out better; 3 sk Noro Cash Iroha in brown and 5 in black to complete the 2 sks bought previously because the China Blue worked out and now I can use the Cash Iroha in something else, but not just 1 in each color; 3 sks Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb in Pond Blue, Pale Pink and Grapevine, another sale; 3 sks Lorna's Laces Grace in Vera in case it worked better than the 3 sks of Black Purl originally purchased for VTF shrug, y'know since I changed the original colors and it was the only 3 there and they were also on sale; 4 balls Rowan Kidsilk Spray in Vino for my birthday, hah!; 1 sk Art Yarns Silk Rhapsody on sale; 4 sks Noro Kureyon in variegated black/brown because it went so well with the blank and brown Cash Iroha previously purchased also on sale; 1 ball each Louisa Harding Kimono ribbon, Fauve and Glisten on sale; 2 sks bulky alpaca and 1 sk silk boucle from Danette Taylor Designs (eBay) clearance; 2 sks Art Yarns Silk Mohair in baby pink to go with the Kidsilk spray in vino to complete a project; 8 balls RYC Silk Aran in Charmed, hey I was celebrating -- this was after I got the offer, okay? And besides...it was pink and on sale!

Q: Are we done with the yarn diet?
A: We are so done. In my defense, I would like to point out that during this time 4 yarn shops were having their "Spring Sale", and I only went to 3.

Q: Last question: Did you get to do anything that you wouldn't normally do if you were working?
A: Yes! I sat and knit in a couple yarn shops during what would normally be working hours. Oh, and I went shopping at the Outlets in Gilroy during the week without the kids. It was the most productive shopping I had done in years.

[Update: I did finish a book during this time it was Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella and I also made some more stitch markers pictured below. Is it Spring yet?]

I only sew white

2006-03-28T17:45:00.000-08:00

I'm making dresses for my daughter's First Communion. I just finished the bodice and sleeves . It's a combination of two patterns because she liked the sleeves of one and only the other pattern was available at the time we were buying fabric. I suppose I could have waited until I got the pattern with the cool sleeves but circumstances dictated otherwise. It took the better part of Sunday to get this far. What with reaquainting myself with my serger in order to do the rolled edges on the sleeves. I had to thread the machine to do the normal overlock for the seam edges, test it on scrap material, then rethread for a rolled edge, testing again on scrap, then back again, test again and again. Four sleeves. Now my daughter only has 2 arms, but her bff (best friend forever) who is also having her First Communion and has two arms so I have to do this over again. This is not a before picture but the other dress. I've now finished both bodices (and those *&%@! sleeves) and can now move on to the skirts. I'm not sure what possessed me to think I'm qualified to do this. The last time I sewed dresses like this (at all for that matter) was 3 years ago for my oldest daughter's First Communion and the youngest's Baptismal dress (she was 5 at the time). But here I am.

A Color Story

2006-03-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

"Once upon a time there was a knitter who fashioned herself as a Fiber Developer. Her latest adventure involved choosing colors for the Twisted Float Shrug (Vogue Knitting Fall 2005). Her first effort was too hot. Her next effort was too, too cold. She pondered other colors, possibilities, twisting various colors together with her main color. Finally, after carefully studying color cards, a color wheel and other color references. She settled on a beautiful china blue and knit it all up." The End. Okay, well not quite the end but at least now the story can go on. I've even gotten farther than I did than with the first color combo. What do you think of the new blue? It's cooler than the Pink Blossom I orignally started with and much, much warmer than the Turquoise. I think it's a nicer color to add to the spectrum here but doesn't overpower or offset the original coloroway. Now on to the rest of the garment and the rest of the story. Can you see what's coming? How shall it all end? Should I use the original Black Purl (left) or the new Vera(right)?

Color Theory

2006-03-14T16:13:00.000-08:00

Here's where I was on my Vogue shrug. It's going along just fine. I got through the first set of twists and started a new repeat. Increases are coming along. The colors all go -- nothing seems to be overpowering -- well besides the pink -- but that's the point, right? I'm really enjoying the main color changes with its blips of color popping out at random intervals.

Here's the back. As you can see I've got the wraps when yarn B is not in use going okay. (very well hidden on the front) . I've got this on two circs now -- should have started it that way. Increase used is kfb evenly spaced at odd increments. This increase is virtually hidden in the garter stitch front.

But I was not completely happy with it. The hot pink while striking just doesn't add to the piece -- it compliments but not quite complements it. I needed more vavoom.

I tried some other yarn in my stash and did what any other knitter would do at this point and headed to the nearest yarn store. There I considered this which contrasts the main yarn well -- I twisted it together with this new "B" yarn and it looked good.

So, I brought it home, frogged the previous piece (yes, it's gone) and got this. Better, yet what you can't see here is that the new color "B" makes the main color look dull. I didn't think that was possible but I think it's the "icyness" of the turquoise that does it. Anyways, I've stopped knitting this because I think I found a better color and well, it's not here yet.

However here's a hint, everybody, meet Mavis.

Meet Oscar

2006-03-07T10:11:00.000-08:00

I finished Lindsey's socks -- no picture -- she was way too hard to catch once she got her feet in them. I did however cast on a new pair of socks while watching the Oscars. This is how much I got done that night:
The socks are Conwy from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush -- these are the first contemporary socks that I've knitted with a leg shaping. The yarn is Trekking XXL. Like the girly striping? It was a bit of a surprise as the ball looked more variegated than stripey. This is a traditional 5 dpn pattern as Nancy Bush only uses dpns. I'm using a pair of 24" circulars in size US 1, sacrilege, but I had to try. It's the second pair of socks that I've attempted using 2 circs and the first pattern I've attempted traditionally written for dpns.
So far I've found 2 really good reasons to knit socks this way 1) you never drop/lose a needle and 2) you can try on your socks at any point during development without breaking anything. Yep, you guessed it I've done this before and am one needle short of a 5dpn set.

Rant

2006-03-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had a "phone screening". This is where a potential employer calls you up to determine whether it's worth bringing you in for an interview. A pre-interview if you will. I've never been "screened" in this way before. I take it things have come to this because of the sheer number of programmers out there looking. Basically the caller asked questions. I asked questions too, but she didn't answer my questions and to be frank -- I didn't have very good answers for hers either. She asked 9 questions, here's a list of the first 6:
1) [C++] Is the following a legal function declaration: static virtual void foo
2) [C++] What is the purpose of a virtual destructor?
3) [Win32] What's the difference between semaphore and mutex
4) [messaging] What's the difference between send and post?
5) What is a singleton pattern?
6) [COM] All COM interfaces are derived from what class?
The 7th question had to do with COM connection points -- I forget what it was exactly -- I was a bit flustered at that point. The last 2 questions were regarding MFC. I was surprised by the whole process in general. Especially the first question which I'd gotten as an interview question 10 years ago (it's a trick question and I have something more to say about it later -- not the tricky part though). Here's the thing, this was a screening for a programming position in C++ using MFC and COM. I haven't programmed a stitch of C++/MFC/COM in over 3 years. I had however for several years before and had done even more years of C++ programming before that. Many more. The point I'm trying to make is that even if I was immersed in this type of programming all week, I'd probably look up over half that stuff anyways. To give the caller the benefit of the doubt, I'm not sure if she was looking for answers to the questions or just general reactions, or maybe even a little bit of both. Whatever she was looking for, I shouldn't expect a call back. In my defense, I'm a seasoned programmer and am beyond stuffing my head with inane programming tidbits. You want the answers? Try Google. I'd like to think that I free my mind for things that are less tangible, more creative. That I can come up with programming solutions you can't copy and paste from an on-line database. In hindsight I wish I could have expressed that to her. But then if she's looking for specific answers, it wouldn't have mattered. It wasn't a total loss, the phone screening was good for practice, if nothing else. Now back to the first question. Ever wonder why programmers use foo and bar in examples for functions and variables? It comes from the acronym fubar, which pretty much summarizes my first "phone screening".

Stitches Part 2: The Classes

2006-03-01T09:29:00.000-08:00

Here's a continuation of the Longaberger basket parade and my Stitches West report .

Clip Keeper basket (used here as a pin dispenser). Bag purchased with winnings from Open Road. This bag can be worn as a conventional shoulder bag or around your waist as a hip pack. It has one main compartment with a pocket in the back, a zipped pocket in the flap, and a pocket inside the main compartment. Large Serving Tray with Norwegian Mitten topside, class Norwegian Mittens taught by Beth Brown-Reinsel. This is the 5th class I've taken with Beth. She is a great teacher and gives out thorough instructions pictured here with the mitten. Bagel basket with Norwegian Mitten palmside, the thumb has a gusset that was knitted in with the thumb added later. Along with the various patterns for top and palm, we learned about side seam patterning and deacreasing. This mitten was knitted in the round.
Letter Tray with Bohus swatch and postcard "Blue Shimmer". Bohus was a sweater industry in Southern Sweden during WWII. The class was taught by Susanna Hansson. We learned the history of Bohus sweater industry, designers and knitters. In class we knit a swatch for an original mitten pattern. Mine's knitted with shetland wool and size 0 needles!
Morning Glory basket with cards made in Cards and Scrapping, taught by Lorna Miser. This was a fun class, we got to knit little swatches and play with yarn and rubber stamps. Lorna had some neat ideas for cards, tags and journal pages.
Lucky Twist basket containg rubber stamps purchase from Carolina Homespun. Inspired by Lorna's class above I decided to add to my rubberstamp stash. These are stamps by Kaspareks.

I also took a wonderful class by the famed sock knitter, Nancy Bush on her book Knitting Vintage Socks. We knit a sample sock and discussed vintage sock patterns and techniques. Her book is full of terrific re-translated designs from Weldon's Practical Needlework.

That's it for stitches west. I did finish Mavis in time for Stitches which I wore to the student banquet.

Surfing again...

2006-02-28T08:14:00.000-08:00

You Are The Fool

You are a fascinating person who is way beyond the concerns of this world.
Young at heart, you are blissfully unaware of any dangers ahead.
You are a true wanderer - it has be difficult finding your place in this world.
Full of confidence, you are likely to take a leap of faith.

Your fortune:

You are about to embark on a new phase in your life.
This may mean changing locations, jobs, friends, or love status.
You are open about what the future will bring, and free of worry.
You have made your peace with fate, and you're ready to start down your new path.

What Tarot Card Are You?

Okay, confession here, my first card was The Empress, but I lost the code so I tried again. This one is more apt since recently I've been part of a Reduction in Force (read layoff), and have been trying to find my footing in life. You know how Tarot cards are though -- they all seem to fit some facet of your life. I'm not so sure about being open and free though, I'd like to think so...

(Note: I tried it again and got the Hanged Man)

Knitting Olympics Results

2006-02-27T09:30:00.000-08:00

This is where I was Saturday. I had finished the body and separated for the back earlier in the week. By Saturday night I had finished the back entirely, and was ready to start the right front.
By 7pm Sunday evening, I had finished both right and left fronts with armhole and neck opening shaping and joined the shoulder seams. The flame was out by then (although it hadn't been televised here yet).
By then end of closing ceremonies (as per our broadcasting schedule) I had picked up and knitted the bands for the arms. It was late and as I was admiring my work I realized that I was short one row on the left armband.

Reflecting I knew that I wouldn't finish by closing ceremonies. I kept going anyways to see how far I'd get. It wasn't until I had finished the armbands that I realized I couldn't finish it even if I wanted to. I hadn't bought the buttons!

Stitches Part 1: The Haul

2006-02-22T09:18:00.000-08:00

Recently I ordered some baskets from Longaberger. They arrived just before Stitches West so I thought I'd show off the treasures I gathered at the Stitches Market along with my new baskets -- it was a good excuse to play with both!
Carry Along basket with Kidmo/Rio Swirly Wrap kit and Socks that Rock both from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. This was my favorite booth by far. The Socks that Rock came in such brilliant colors and in 3 different weights. They even gave away mini skeins of StR labelled, "Emergency Sock yarn Don't leave home without it."
Medium Gathering basket with Noro Kureyon, Gedifra Gigante from Woolstock (both half off the entire bag of 10) and Streakers in Sad Song Pink from La Lana Wools, not a bargain but I specifically wanted this yarn for a shrug in the latest Interweave Knits. Small Serving Tray with the long discontinued (and discounted!) Gedifra Byzanz (7 balls total, 2 unlabelled in a diffrent dyelot), purchased from Yarn Express and Blue Heron Rayon Seed from Amazing Yarns. Spin basket with Beaded Merino Tencel and Merino/Silk/Angora from Angora Cottage and Duet (kid mohair/fine wool) from Brooks Farm Yarn.Brownie basket with Zukii Designs Bloom and Tokyo introduced by Yarndogs.

Plus, I won a door prize! Have fun clicking all the links!

Up next Stitches West Part 2: The Classes

False starts, progress, and...oops!

2006-02-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

It's Friday afternoon and I'm ready to cast on my project for the Knitting Olympics. First I can't find any needles. I needed a long US 5. I have 3 US 5's, 1-16", 1-24" and 1-36". The 24" and 36" are on projects in progress. I consider putting one of these on holders, the 24" is too small and the 36" has markers on it as well. Plus, if I needed a break from olympic knitting, then I'd have to switch back or work on something else already on needles. I could have bought another set of US 5's...but then I remembered I had an extra a set of Denise needles. Usually I keep a set intact for convention knitting and with Stitches West around the corner I couldn't really break up the set, except that I bought another set recently for my daughters to use!
I cast on 197 stitches of the worsted weight Dale Hauk (with teflon) and had a go. Now I don't use these needles regularly. Just at conventions or for a quick swatch. I had never used them for a project and wasn't used to them. After about the 3rd row of seed stitch I found the stitches weren't sliding around the cable all that easily (even with the teflon -- ha, ha). Well, with all the scrunching, pushing, pulling and twisting I accidently disconnected one needle from the cable.

It took a bit of fiddling to get past that but I've stuck with the needles (being careful not to twist the stitches around the join) and after some weekend knitting I've gotten this far. That's the self striping version of Karaoke which is very soft and silky. I've got about 5 inches of the vest done and need to get to 11 1/2" of body before dividing to do the fronts and back. You can see the schematic in the backround of this progress shot. I thought I'd leave the rest of the rest of body knitting to do while at Stitches, it's perfect mindless knitting to do during the Fashion Show and the Student Banquet. And then I found this:
That slipped stitch is suppose to be a purl stitch. Must have missed it when I was putting stitches back on the needle...sigh.

Score!

2006-02-07T16:27:00.000-08:00

While the rest of the US were watching the half time show of the Super Bowl. I was here. This is my pile -- not too shabby -- major touchdown on the lantern moon bag -- like the pink polka dots? Cris got the same one in blue. Fumble on the Cherry Tree wool silk dk -- matching colorways, mismatching dyelots, oops. Nabbed the Cherry Tree supersock in potluck watercolors and the Karaoke (adding to the 3 balls I had at home -- same colorway AND dyelot). Went in for the lovely laceweight lambswool -- sooo soft, that's the two pink balls -- total yardage 1650 -- and for the extra point grabbed the Cherry Tree supersock in wild cherry as I was going out the door and heading in line.

Things to do in 2006

2006-02-03T08:30:00.000-08:00

1. knit more
2. spin more
3. weave more
4. dye?
5. weave clan tartan (I already have the necessary colors in zephyr)
6. attend Highland Games
7. drink Irn Bru

What the?

I've decided to join Team Scotland for the Knitting Olympics. Having just missed an opportunity to try haggis, I only qualify by marriage -- actually I cohabitate with a total of 3 persons of scottish descent. Of course anyone can join really -- I mean who doesn't know a line or two from Auld Lang Syne? And besides if you join the team you get to display this button (click his bum for details).

As an addendum, as if the above button wasn't enough, I found this via ChicKnits -- I'd give you a direct link to generate your own (you must have a blog to do it) but that would ruin all the fun.

Letting Go

2006-01-30T16:34:00.000-08:00

I finished the Fairisle Pullover. It's done -- the last of the 2001 projects. My oldest "knitting" ufo is now only what 2 years old, if that. What was it that held me back? The ends? Was it such a monumental task that I took several months to even start? Maybe. Was it the holidays? A good excuse. Last week I asked my daughter if she'd like to wear it this week. She said yes! So I started. One night, one side, the next the other. I could have finished it in time for her to wear it to school on Friday. But I didn't. I skipped working on it that night. Picked it up again the next to finish tucking in the ends of one sleeve then one more night to do the other. Why? Why couldn't I finish it by Friday? Because -- I was afraid. Afraid she'd wear it to school only to casually take it off and leave it on the playground (she's done this before). I was afraid of the days ahead where I would check the lost and found and wonder if it would ever come back (the last item did -- and yes it was handknit -- a poncho). It was safe in my knitting basket. Nothing would happen to it with it's ends free. With ends neatly tucked in the sweater was ready to be worn and not by me. It was ready to leave my care. Saturday she wore it to her ice skating lesson. I watched both her and the sweater. They seemed okay. No one got hurt. Then Monday came and my daughter emerged from her room wearing the sweater. "You're wearing that to school? Promise me you won't take it off -- no matter how hot you get (it's cotton!)". And with a kiss she promised. I didn't think about her or the sweater until they both came in through the front door, safe and sound. Here it is now, hastely thrown aside in her rush to get her ballet togs on -- I didn't pick it up though -- it's no longer mine.

Add one more to the pile!

2006-01-19T19:49:00.000-08:00

knitting olympic entry

Yep I'm doing it. I'm taking the YarnHarlot olympic challenge -- see the button in the sidebar for more info. This is my entry. The Very Luminary Vest -- I picked up the yarn at a new store that opened up in Los Altos during one of their sales. I'm using Dale Fauk (w/ teflon!) and Karaoke for the slip stitch color. I figure I could do this in 16 days -- no sleeves. We'll see.

I am making progress on Noro Mavis. I finished the back and started the front. However, I've done nothing with any of my "old" projects. Nope, not even the ~~stupid~~ fairisle. It's still cold here -- but I'm willing to bet I'll miss my window altogether and it won't fit anyone by next winter. I can't believe I finished it last September and still haven't wove in those ends! Maybe that should be my olympic entry.

Is this me or what?

2006-01-10T08:19:00.000-08:00

I was surfing knitting blogs -- don't ask me how I do this -- it's pretty random. I did a quiz and check it out -- it had me pegged!

You are interchangeable.
Fun, free, and into everything, you've got every
eventuality covered and every opportunity just
has to be taken. Every fiber is wonderful, and
every day is a new beginning. You are good at
so many things, it's amazing, but you can
easily lose your place and forget to show up.
They have row counters for people like you!

What kind of knitting needles are you?
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