A blog about my life, knitting, and other stuff.

July 31, 2010

New Twist Collective

This new Twist is the best issue yet. I absolutely love nearly every design.

Every School Meeting I've Ever Attended in a Nutshell

July 30, 2010

Another Great Inception Spoof

For the Dora the Explorer fans.

Good Dim Sum

Not so great proof reading.

July 29, 2010

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

I have an announcement. Kristin H is my new BFF. She sent me an email with a link to this last week.





Where do I start?

  1. It's a knitted bikini.
  2. It's covered in Swarovski crystals.
  3. It has a bustle.
  4. Made of yarn.
  5. The model is wearing high heeled cowboy boots.
  6. There's...whatever the giant thing in the middle is.*
  7. It's for sale for $350.


If you need me I'll be penning a love letter to Kristin.

*The creator notes "The circular centerpiece is a tangle of treasures that keeps eyes and mind engaged for hours on end." I'll say.

July 27, 2010

Toy-ception?

Wes and I saw Inception over the weekend. It's a very good popcorn film. I suggest, if you see it, that you don't think about it too hard or it will all fall apart. It certainly wasn't as good as Toy Story 3 which was amazing. I cried for the last 15 minutes easily.

Here is a great mash-up of the two.

Lloie's Cardigan







Pattern: Lloie's Cardigan by Elizabeth Zimmermann and Meg Swansen
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed, Rowanspun DK and Harrisville Shetland DK
Needles: US4 and 2.75mm Addi Turbos
Notes: Gauge was a huge problem with this sweater. I had many starts and the fabric would grow and grow as I knit. Eventually when I finished the colorwork the sweater grew quite a bit more with blocking. I ended up cutting off about 4" from each sleeve and knitting new cuffs. I also used Rowanspun DK in yoke mistakenly believing it was Felted Tweed. The Rowanspun is larger so the yoke of the sweater is a bit big. Overall I'm really happy with the colors and the feel of the Felted Tweed and I think this will see a lot of wear come fall.

July 26, 2010

It Doesn't Look Like Much



I spent several hours yesterday trying to clean and reorganize my office. I, assisted by a 12 year old trying to earn enough money for an iPod Touch, pulled everything out of the office. Every single thing. We took down the curtains to wash, we wiped all the surfaces and the moldings. The floor was vacuumed and mopped. Then I began to reorganize and regroup. Yarns, books, notions, fabrics and little bits of crap that have spread all over the first floor of the house are slowly being culled and sorted. My son also built a shelving unit that I bought months ago to store more fabric. There is still a lot of stuff around the house but I feel like I at least have space for it all again in my office. I will also, for the first time in a few years, have office space in my office. I will be able to sit at my desk and have empty horizontal surface upon which I can work! But I still have several more hours of sorting, storing and recycling to go and it will have to wait until at least tomorrow night. But it's a really good start.

July 24, 2010

A Koozebanian Visitor Perhaps?

Wes and I went to a Toulouse Petit to try their "Best Happy Hour Menu in the Nation." There was a woman there who kept shrieking over and over. I think it was meant to be a fun and festive hoot but she sounded more like she was engaging the in Koozebanian mating ritual.



Why do some women do that Woo thing when they're out drinking?



So annoying.

July 23, 2010

I'm Not Holding Out on You

Lloie's Cardigan isn't done. I have one more applied i-cord to knit and I just haven't gotten around to pulling the sweater, yarn and needle from my suitcase to make that happen. That's right. I haven't unpacked from camp yet. I did unpack my dirty clothes though. I wasn't raised by wolves.

Other things getting knit right now include Eliina in Dye Dreams Luster Sox.



And Audrey in Unst in Miss Babs Yummy Sport.



I promise I will share photos of Lloie's when she's done. I'm just not promising when that will be.

July 22, 2010

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

Are you familiar with The AntiCraft? According to their "antifesto" they "were deep in the clutches of a weeklong absinthe binge when the Divine Hand of Brilliance touched us in an inappropriate place. When this vision came, we knew we must create a haven for all the sinister crafters of the world." Their "Beltane 2009" issue was devoted entirely to merkins. If you're not sure what I'm talking about you can read their article, "WTF is a Merkin?" The photos of the projects are decidedly not safe for work though if you're interested I find the merkin made of fishing lures...er...interesting. The only one I can show you is this one, made of glow in the dark yarn.



Certainly if you came across this in the course of your day you'd find yourself saying, "What the hell is this?"

July 21, 2010

Technology Run Amok

Text message received from my 12 year old last night.

"Ran out of toilet paper please help"

July 20, 2010

Home Again

I'm back from camp and it was wonderful. I finished Lloie's Cardigan and steeked it at Kim's house on Thursday morning. Then I knit the i-cord edging all day. I soaked it in the hotel tub then laid it out on a towel. We diligently flipped it and changed towels for several days before it dried. When it had dried the sleeves had grown incredibly. I cut off about 4-5" and reknit the cuffs just in time for Show & Tell on Sunday. Kim is also knitting Lloie's and she noticed that there is an error in the pattern. On the original cardigan there are only 13 plain rounds (plus short rows) until you knit the chart. The pattern says 30 which is close to what I knit. What Kim realized is that it is 30 rounds until the first decrease, not the beginning of the chart.

I also started Dye Dreams Luster Sox that I got last summer at Sock Summit. It is really, really boring to knit so it was perfect for camp. The last several years I brought charted knitting and spent the entire camp with head down and my nose pressed to my chart. I also brought my Miss Bab's Yummy Sport (also purchased at Sock Summit) and started Audrey in Unst. After knitting a few sloppy rows of twisted stitch ribbing I conned Amy Detjen into knitting on it for awhile for me. Her knitting is tight. She whipped that ribbing into shape and fixed an edge stitch error for me. I've knit a few more rows of it but I have to work so hard to keep my gauge firm I'm afraid I'll hurt my hands if I knit too much at a time.

I bought the pattern for the Double-V Vest and got the idea to use Silky Wool XL, when it comes out, for it from Heather from the Sow's Ear. As always I came home churning with ideas about what to knit for the next year and vowing to finish my Giant Latvian Mitten Cardigan by next year. Fingers crossed.

July 15, 2010

Fall IK Preview

It's up.
I'm at camp but feel free to discuss. Looks awfully good to me.

July 13, 2010

That'll Do



After visiting three area yarn shops other than my own I found two shades of progressively darker green in Harrisville Shetland DK. I have just a few rounds left on my yoke and am trying frantically to get done before I leave for camp first thing tomorrow!

Doubleknit #39

It's up.

July 11, 2010

Stash Contenders


More of the same yarn but the color's a bit drab.


100% alpaca, much finer, would have to use doubled.


Handspun, hand-dyed Shetland, color seems to clash a bit.


Now I'm just getting desperate. More handspun that is finer and would probably need to be held doubled. Also the color doesn't work.

Foiled Again

Lloie's Cardigan has it in for me. I spent two days getting the yoke pattern established. The first go was off by one stitch but I didn't recognize the problem until I knit on it for a day. Then I ripped it all out and got it set up again. But my original yarns for the yoke did not have nearly enough contrast so I went stash-diving and came up with a skein of yarn labeled Felted Tweed in a great green. It has amazing contrast.



The only problem is it isn't Felted Tweed. When I realized it I couldn't believe I thought for a moment it was. I believe it's long-discontinued Rowanspun DK. It's a single and Felted Tweed it plied. How didn't I noticed this? I think I was too focused on getting the color and pattern right. Anyway, I don't have enough of it to finish the sweater. I'm going to try to find something that will work. I really wanted to bring this finished sweater to camp and I leave in three days!

July 8, 2010

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

This week is a mixed bag of random designs I couldn't fit into other posts.

As we all know, babies love to rumba and must be properly attired to begin the beguine at a moment's notice.



This design is just dripping in elegance. Well..it's dripping in something.




There are only four words required for this one.



YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!


I have to thank you all so much for all the hilarious entries into last week's contest. You made me laugh out loud many times. The winner, selected by random, is Michelle!



Michelle, my commenting system does not give me any contact information for you. Please send me an email with your address so I can get you your prize.

July 7, 2010

Now That's My Hair

My haircut, still damp and no flat iron, on day two.

July 6, 2010

Is This My Haircut?

I don't know how this happened. I went to finally--finally!--get some color added to my hair for a little grey coverage. But somehow through a miscommunication I was not able to get my hair colored. So I asked if they could give me a trim. After a bit of discussion about how much length to leave the stylist chopped off a ton of my hair but left a small whispy section the agreed upon length. She thinned out my hair all over and flat ironed it which I have never done in my life and will never do again. The result is I think I look like Joan Jett.



Wes says he thinks it's cute but then it's his job to say things like that. Younger son immediately laughed at me and said, "Is that your haircut??"

In more satisfying news, I joined the sleeves to the body of Lloie's Cardigan. I feel like I've been working on this sweater since the dawn of time. Okay, since February. This feels really major. I have a week to finish the yoke, steek it and knit the edging. I might make it.




Heading off to spin a bit for Tour de Fleece.

July 4, 2010

Tour de Fleece Thus Far

Day 1



Finished spinning Suri/BFL that I started months ago.

Day 2



Plied it. It's a 2-ply heavy laceweight. I lost count when winding it onto my niddy noddy so I'm not sure yet what the yardage is. I think I want to overdye it.

July 3, 2010

As Seen on Twitter



I'm not sure what the issue is here. I have been able to download it on my PC using Chrome and my iPad using Safari. A friend was able to open it in Firefox on a mac. I haven't made any changes to the calculator. Is anyone else having a problem downloading the file?

July 2, 2010

Touring Starts Soon

I have been really remiss in not blogging this.



This was my birthday present from Wes. (I gave him the web address and told him exactly what to order.) It's a cherry Hansen MiniSpinner with a Woolee Winder. I love it. It hums along spinning away at an even speed. The Woolee Winder loads the bobbins so evenly my spinning looks just perfect there. It fits into a tiny tote bag that comes with it. I love taking it to spinning on first Fridays at The Fiber Gallery. So much easier than taking my Lendrum. But since we got George I put it away, worried that he or Isabella would get tangled in the cord and pull it off the table, or knock it off, or in some other way damage it.

But tomorrow is the start of the Tour de Fleece and I'm on Team Footloose. My goal is simple, to spin. I will be away from my wheel for five days while I'm at camp. I just want to make a point to do some spinning every day I am home. I'll finish that suri alpaca/Bluefaced Lecicester I got from Toots le Blanc at Madrona that's on the bobbin. Then I'll dig out some other long-forgotten spinning project.

Who else is doing Tour de Fleece?

July 1, 2010

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

These two necklaces deserve a Madlib. Remember those?






A (type of animal) ate a (type of performer who wears a sparkly costume) and then (expression for vomited).

Should we make it a contest? Give me your best responses and I'll pick a winner for a prize.