You may recall that I designed a hat pattern as a fund raiser for Leukemia Research...
It was this one...
Marrowdale
And while I haven't sold as many as I'd hoped right up front, I did receive a straight up donation for Leukemia Research as a direct result of publishing the pattern! I will still be donating 50% of the proceeds of the sale of this hat to Leukemia Research. I hope you'll help me help.
Thanks Stuart!!
This past weekend, I took Kitty to DucKon - a ScienceFiction/Fantasy convention held in DuPage County Illinois. I took her as a life preservation measure -- saving my own skin.
Why would taking her to a con be a life saving measure? Good question. Most folks would consider it more dangerous to take her than to stay home. After all, taking her means exposing her to all sorts of tempting delights in the Dealers Room and the Art Show... and introducing her to all sorts of costuming ideas (and skills). THAT could be expensive!
But her favorite author in the world was the Guest of Honor. And she spoke on all sorts of panels. And she autographed books. And... best of all, she happily chatted with her fans for two whole days. Kitty spent a lot of time with her. Kitty's claws would have come out all over me had I deprived her of that. It just wasn't worth it.
Besides. I kind of LIKE going to cons.
In addition to all the fun panels, and fun people, there was GREAT entertainment and fun playing with lightning on Saturday night the Masters of Lightning brought out their
Tesla coils make -- well... lighting. Among the fun things about Tesla Coils is that they can also be modulated to make music...
From the side, in action, they look like this:
Yes, that's electricity barely controlled there. (Okay, the guys doing it know exactly what they're doing, but it sure looks like they're making lightning in the parking lot).
Once you're all happy with them making lightning, they start playing with it....
The dude is luring the lightning to meet in the middle and light up the lightbulbs on that bar...
And just to prove it's no fluke, he demonstrates that he doesn't really need both streams..
And here is he just plain showing off:
My second favorite trick was the one with the propane torch. For this one, they had the coils play the theme song from a familar movie ....
Who ya gonna call? eh? (Bill Murray, eat your heart out). That sounded rather like this (though the video for this part has him playing with the lightbulbs, not the propane torch)
My favorite part -- was the cage...
It looks moderately cool from the outside.... but very cool from the INSIDE
Kitty thought it was fun too.
If you'd like to watch the first ten minutes or so of the show (and hear the coils play more music), watch this:
Today, my dear Zara finally found a place on my chair that lets her sit with me without interfering with my knitting or laptop computing...
I actually hope this is the start of a trend.
Meanwhile I get to celebrate the generosity of others again. Last fall we switched financial advisors. My new advisor is also the advisor to an alpaca farmer. He sent me a box.....
full of yummy alpaca yarn!
It also had this in it:
Luscious soft bulky alpaca. This one creates a challenge for me. I've never knit anything with bulky yarn. I don't quite know what I want to do with this particular 200 yards of softness. Lots of folks seem to like working this up into scarves, but ... well, I don't WEAR scarves. I want something ELSE to do with it.
And the othe stuff -- I've just got to work out a scarf or hat for my advisor out of some of it. 'Cause you know, gentlemen do wear scarves. And it's unusually cold down there in North Carolina.
This totally offsets this:
What's up with these darned crochet hooks? Why are they bending and breaking like this???
sigh.
I was merrily reading my blog-friends' blogs this weekend, when I enjoyed some secretive pictures of a glove in progress. She's totally up front about knitting the glove, but wasn't all that informative about the name of the pattern... so I asked her.
That led me to the designer (Julia Mueller of Laris Deisgns). I spent a few minutes prowling around Julia's page on Ravelry, drooling at the gorgeous gloves -- the gorgeous BEADED, cabled gloves. And suddenly I thought of some yarn I've got in the stash -- yummy deep plummy burgundy koigu -- already paired up with the perfect beads. The yarn was going to be for an absolutely gorgeous pair of beaded socks (yes, I know, but they're GORGEOUS). I've not abandoned the thought of knitting those socks. But I came to an epiphany about the yarn.
My koigu will no longer be used for socks.
There, I've said it. I love love loved my first pair of koigu socks. But I was heart broken when they blew out beyond repair. Worse yet, I could never find the color again.
And now another pair of 100% wool socks has bitten the dust.
The sock yarn with nylon seems to make socks that lasts. I have at least two pair that I knit over ten years ago, and wear regularly, that is still alive and well, thankyouverymuch. Nylon content. Or at least non-wool (I'm guessing that bamboo or tencel will have the same benefits).
Which means that all that delicious koigu meant for socks -- will be not-socks. Gloves maybe.... lovely Laris Designed gloves.... I could spend weeks dithering over which one to knit!
perhaps? Or maybe
Entangled Stitches ...... or what about .....
Gordian ... or .... ooh the Glittens... and ... or....
And that's just HER gloves. My brain may implode before I cast on a single stitch!
Well...maybe...
I may indulge myself with one pair of koigu socks -- I do love the way they feel, even if they don't last forever. I wonder if that wooly-nylon binder thread would be sufficient to prevent blowouts?
Hmmm.
Better to test my lovely lovely new Merino/Bamboo blend from Lost City Knits!
(it was a pressie!) Pics asap. I promise.
A while ago, I entered a contest in celebration of Gloria's (of the Chronicles of a Lazy Knitter) blogiversary. Much to my surprise, I won! And while I was off this weekend helping my Seasons of Lace co-moderator win the battle of organizing her yarn and fiber stash (okay, and rounding up all of her Lace UFO's), a package arrived at my house.
Lovely lovely things. A mug with the Elizabeth Zimmerman quote that I find useful all the time, several adorable stitch markers (I'm worried about these - I fear that Kitty will swipe them), some delightful note-cards (more E.Z. quotes!) and some cute socks to protect the points on sock needles. What a delightful treat to come home to!
I'm a little nervous about my knitting - I know that the miracle of blocking will cure the funny way it looks -- but until I see it happen, I'll worry that I've done something awful to this shawl.
Ah well, until blocking happens, and with many many thanks to the generous Miss Gloriea ... I shall endeavor to...
Even though I woke up this morning from a dream that literally left me with tears in my eyes, with a yucky feeling in my head that warns of EVIL cold coming on, it's been a pretty good day.
First, I've enjoyed knowing that there is a job opening at a company where two of my friends work -- which job is something I think I'd be pretty good at ... and I'll be officially applying as soon as they post it -- but it looks like I'll get to meet the person now in the job before she leaves.
Second, I've forgotten the dream that made me cry.
Third, I opened my Ravelry inbox to find that even before I'd gotten the old Prize Solicitation engine for Seasons of Lace running, someone has donated two wonderful prizes for the season that's just begun. I love volunteer prize donors -- they make my job as Prize Maven so very much easier!
Then, I discovered that I won some truly scrumptuous yarn in a Seasons of Lace raffle -- it's one that we have for folks who use and post about stuff that our sponsors and prize donors make/sell. Thus, just becasue I've been knitting with yarn that our Sponsors sell, I get more yarn from our sponsors! Oh darn.
That's Sheepy Time Fairy Fingering, and it's soooooo soft!
Then, I checked my email and discovered that I won a raffle prize on another blog! This time just for reading a blog and posting a comment! The blog in question allegedly provides the Chronicles of a Lazy Knitter, but if this charming lady is lazy, well, I'm a toadstool. And the post in question was celebrating her fourth Blogiversary. That sort of thing always makes me wonder.... when is my blogiversary again?? But I quickly got distracted by the thought that sometime soon, a package of undisclosed goodies will be arriving at my door.
Also in my email -- first round photos from one of my pattern testers. She found a couple of errors, which I fixed, and managed to produce a cowl that was just as I'd meant it to look. I'm eagerly awaiting emails from the other testers...
And finally, I ad libbed a whole new approach to mashed sweet potatoes tonight, and Ithink they worked pretty well.
I'm feeling seriously lucky. Here's hoping its a sign of the times.
I seem to be knitting a whole lot with lace-weight yarns, and with fingering weight yarns.... but I seem to avoid the stuff that requires needles larger than U.S. 8's, or maybe 9's.
But suddenly...I find myself in posession of at least a shrug's worth of yarn that wants 9's or 10's. That's way out of range my little fingers are used to these days. The yarn was a gift from a long long lost friend (thank you Facebook) whom I've not seen since my sophomore year in high school. It turns out she works for the company that makes the yarn!
The yarn in question? Florafil. It's an unfairly soft cotton with an interesting texture that manages to be crinkly, but not loopy. And I've got five skeins of this:
and three skeins of this:
While I admit that I really prefer the second color, I'm enjoying the challenge of designing the shrug with the former color. After several false starts, I think it's going to have a 3x2 rib for the cuffs.
And I might even be able to resit overdyeing it when it's done. (Okay, I'm not a fan aof the camo look, and this color combination reminds me a lot of camo.) But whether I wind up with a dyepot or not, if it works the way I hope it will, it might even make it as a Holiday gift!!!
Why yes, I do say it's my birthday...
And I've had a lovely day. Golf Pro woke me with a cup of coffee.... and when I finally meandered in to my desk, I found a dozen roses waiting for me.
Then...he took me to the mall - a scary place at the best of times - and he helped me upgrade my phone (I do so love it when you renew your contract and they give you a new phone!). We wrangled our way into a deal that means our basic service goes up, but... the kids are free for the next year (and thus it goes back down again). And... my phone has APPS!
This whole week has been pretty good, actually.
Monday, I had lunch with a dear friend, and discovered a new drink made with a totally new to me, and totally awesome, liqueur: Hum "Inspired by the great amaros of Italy, celebrated mixologists, Adam Seger of Chicago and London’s Joe McCanta infuse organic rum with fair trade hibiscus, organic ginger, green cardamom and kaffir lime to create the beautifully balanced spirit called hum." The main thing I can say about Hum, is ... YUM!
Then, Monday evening there was a bit of a yarn fest at my house.
There was a BIG box from WEBS to distribute. Luckily for my pocketbook, only this much stayed here at the end of the evening:
And of that ... most of it will be converted to Holiday Presents before it's over. The cone in the middle is ssssillllllk. yum.
This one would have been at great risk of stealthy theft,
but it's a self striping yarn, and I'm not currently into stripey socks.
Tuesday meant another delicious lunch out (my friends are so nice to me)...
And tonight, I get to go out for dinner.
Tomorrow, I'll be making great use of the SparkPeople app for my phone -- but dieting is illegal on your birthday.
And an added bonus? On Monday, I got a clean bill of health from the doc (everything but my vitamin D levels are "perfect" (and I've got fancy prescription vitamin D now). (Of course, I also got the order to get a colonoscopy, but I'll leave that for later). AND The pond is all ready for fall -
Those fun arches are holding up the nets that keep the leaves out of the pond.
It's Tuesday. Many folks out there do a ten things tuesday. I've got no themes today... So, Ten random things for you.
Band Things:
The girls have a band concert tonight -- I still need to exchange a pair of pants for the right size so that Bookworm has something to wear that fits.
Kitty needs new reeds, and a "ligature". Preferably tonight. I can't grab them on the way to pick them up from school because I've forgotten what size reed she needs.
Weekend things:
I got something wonderful in the mail on Saturday:
That, my friends, is a hand-written note. Yes -- real mail, from a real person, written by hand! How many of those do you see a year? Okay, what if you omit the Holiday cards? yeah, I thought so.
It's a thank you card from Kym. I supported her with far less than I wish I could have for her recent Light the Night walk fund-raiser for Leukemia. And, despite the way too much on her plate that she has (like most women I know), and the lingering follow-up stuff she has to do as a cancer survivor, and and despite now having a full time job (yay), she took the time to write a personal note -- to me. I feel so honored! I wanna drive right over there and hug her!
I also got some great pictures of Bookworm on Saturday --
As you can tell from the sequins (no the green has nothing to do with this, she's just playful), it was dress up time. 'cause she went to the Homecoming Dance.
She tried to hide -- but paparazza mom won out in the end, and got some nice pictures.
Who IS that chick? and where did she put my little girl?
Monday stuff
Monday night is knit night around here. Here's what I worked on
What? yes, I know that's not knitting. But it's also not DONE. and though I tried to finish it before Holiday Time last year, I failed. I'm not going to let another year go by without Bookworm's stocking acutally hanging by the fire instead of sitting on my lap with threads dangling everywhere. Too much of it still looks like this:
That's not to say no knitting is being done. Inebriate of Air now looks like this:
Note the rapidly dwindling skein of yarn:
That does not look like it's going to finish this baby. Which confirms my decision to use this color (of which I have about 6 skeins) instead of the other color, which I like better -- but of which I had but one skein.
Someone asked (here? on Facebook? on Ravelry?): It currently takes about 40 minutes to knit one row (in Continental -- I'm speeding up slowly, and the rows are getting shorter.. it'll likely be down to 1/2 and hour in no time).
And to balance that, I taught my friend cgirl to knit "English" style last night too. So... I'm picking instead of throwing, and she's throwing instead of picking.
So... six (seven?) random things instead of ten themed things. Life's like that sometimes.
I'm actually making progress...
See.... several repeats of that edging:
But I also got a surprise in the mail.
Ages ago, I knit the Weekender Shawl for Crystal Palace Yarns. They've used it at shows and such to show off their yummy Panda Silk yarn. It came home! It's been well over a year (I'd almost given up hope on seeing he dear thing again).
I took it out last night to a dinner dance. Outside, it was hot and sticky and yucky. Thus, the venue was air conditioned to death. I wore the shawl happily until the dancing started.
And the wonderful folks at CPY also sent a thank you/apology for taking so long present!
Yummy new yarn to play with!
and ..
...yes..
AND!!!)
And oddly, I never realized that their colors go together until I saw these two pictures next to each other.
I have been ..... unfaithful...... and yet, in my unfaith, faithful.
Despite my keen desire to finish Irtfa'a, the interminable nature of the edging has weakened my resolve. I've knit and beaded and knit, and knit and beaded and knit, and still, despite two diligent weeks of effort, I've yet to hit the center panel. I've not even made it to the 58 repeats that would have gotten me to the center of the shawl had I not added to it.
And so, I've allowed myself to be distracted ...
... by being faithful to the members of Seasons of Lace, whose season changed on Monday. Season changes mean lots of work for me. Plenty to do keeps me distracted from lace edging that won't end. Here's a basic list of the major tasks involved in season changes (each, of course, has many steps):
1. Running the raffles for prizes that are awarded to those who posted in various categories based on size or other attributes of the projects (beaded, self designed, handspun), including adding up how many entries each person has earned.
2. Determining winners for the judged categories (including, of course, rounding up the nominees), and building posts that reveal who all the nominees are. (While I know this part isn't interminable, it seems that way -- every day I've got another whole swack of nominations (okay I do ask for them), so sort and, where appropriate, add links and images to the posts I'm building, and sometimes to the poll I'm building).
3. Setting things up so that the members can vote for the Viewers' Choice award.
4. Building new Prize and Sponsor pages for the upcoming seasons; and of course, updating the Prize and sponsor pages for the now past season, announcing who won which prize.
5. Registering all the new users. (More daily efforts that never seem to end).
By being faithful to my family. Secretly, quietly, I've been knitting along on a sock. Yes. It's true, there's a sock. It's for Golf Pro. And now that it's gotten to the foot part, it's easy knitting in line.
Funny thing about this sock. It was looking all... skinny, what with the elastic in the yarn pulling things in. So I fretted that it would have wound up too small for Golf Pro's full sized man feet. So I had Bookworm try on the sock, since green is her favorite color. It fit her. She wants it. But... it also fits the Golf Pro. So it's his sock.
I'm also being faithful to the folks who are knitting a sock of my design. Evidently there's an error or something in the instructions for the Illinois Corn Prairie Sock. I'm tickled to death that it's one of the sock of the month KAL's in the 50 Socks 50 States book's Ravelry group. I'm not so tickled that this problem, which caused one knitter fits, got past both of my testers. This means that I'm re-knitting the heel of the sock.
I've found part of the problem --- a wee typo. I so hate wee typos.
And, I've even figured out a way to let casting on for something entirely new be "being faithful"! you see, Seasons of Lace often runs a KAL (or two) each season. And this season we're going to be knitting Emily Dickinson. So, I'm joining in.
And there, were have just under half of the stitches cast on. I do so hate patterns that start with cast on an interminable number of stitches. Well, okay, 545, but still. There are 275 stitches on that needle. I took a rest and went back to working on the sock heel.
Better still, Kitty will be knitting one too! We'll be Emilying all over the house in lace-ly solidarity.
Meanwhile, I may need to go back to the labyrinth --
Even during that part in the middle where you begin to wonder whether the path you're walking on ends, you know that the center is there to reach. And once you've enjoyed the peace at the center the journey out is just as long, but you know it ends. Though it begins to seem as though everything I'm knitting has no end, just like the labyrinth, I know there's a center, and I know there's an end.
It is clearly the time of undoing around here.
I finally picked up the Wolf Hoodie to put on its hood, and discovered that I had somehow may one side two inches longer than the other. I've since cut out the sleeves, ripped out the sleeve caps and shoulder seams, frogged back the fronts, reknit the fronts, and restarted the sleeve caps. Only now they're not as wide as the tops of the sleeves...So I'll be frogging something again.
I found an error in the Wings of Bambu that caused me to frog again. And while it was off the needles, I put it on to discover that I do, in fact, need to add width after all. It's back in time out.
The only knitting that is working right now is the plain ribbing of a new sock.
BUT.
My wisteria is blooming like crazy, for the first time in its life.
Aren't they amazing!
I just KNEW this plant could do this....
Otherwise... I've been steadily putting the rest of my stash into Ravelry (so that I can list a lot of it for sale. I'll remind you of the page link when I've updated the page).
In between bouts of photographing yarn that I was sure I'd photographed when I got it, I've been peeking into the blog lives of my friends and of knitters who seem to be making actual progress with their knitting. One of them (Denise) is have a contest ... and will be giving away a luscious skein of hand dyed yarn. Go HERE, and play!
I've got to figure out how to make this keep happening...
Look what my mailbox gave me yesterday:
It's a prize from Seasons of Lace. This one comes from BBKnits. It's Divinity Lace (a luscious blend of alpaca, silk and cashmere). Yummmmmm. I was supposed to choose my own color, but I just couldn't do it. So, I gave Bette my top three choices, and asked her to surprise me. This color is called Endearing.
I've also figured out the little bit of trouble I was having with Wings of Bambu, and am once again enjoying the knitting.
I almost planned to participated in Ravelympics. But I failed to plan enough. Evenstar's first clue came out just in time too, but I'm still dithering away over my yarn choice, and ... well... I've not chosen and the opening ceremonies have come and gone. I have at least started one swatch -- I'm almost 1/2 way through, having knit the first half on size 3's and the second on 2's. I'll show you the result when it's off the needle and blocked.
I suppose I could use Wings of Bambu as my Ravelympics project if I held off on knitting it for a day (But do I have to watch they Olympics while I knit for it to count? the kids took over the TV earlier and were watching .... Shrek 2!)
Yesterday, I was determined to decide on a yarn for Echo Flower.
Instead, I seem to have found a pattern for the Bambu that I'd thought was going to be Echo Flower. Ravelry, that delicious time suck, revealed the Wings of Peace Pattern (for non-Ravelers, look here). I rather like the way it drapes, and it claims that it can be done with the yardage I have.
I've got two fears.
1) that I'll wind up being myself and changing the last half of it (it gets very simple at the end); and
2) that I'll go insane trying to knit without a chart.
Who knew? I learned to knit without charts. I even learned to knit lace without charts. Then, I learned how to read charts, and now I can't seem to read a pattern that's written out without going insane! I'm pretending, for now, that I'm not going to chart this puppy. I mean, c'mon, it starts with 77 stitches, and gets BIGGER. We'll see how long that lasts.
Meanwhile, here are more signs that I'm not myself.
Do you see all those markers? i mean seriously! Who is knitting this thing anyway?
Since when do I put markers in every dozen stitches? Since I keep losing track of how many repeats of the pattern I've done.
But I do think that this pattern agrees with the yarn more than the Echo Flower did.
(sorry it's so pale).
And when fussing about with out a chart drives me to the edge...I've got a new visitor to play with!
Look what came to visit!
My dear friend Mother Chaos has lent me her wheel for a bit. During my last spinning escape, I found that this one
was fighting me every step of the way. I tried Whichy's which seemed friendlier. I pondered whether it would be the better part of valor (or sanity) to sell the old wheel, much as I had loved her, and replace her with a new one that wasn't at odds with me. And now I get to spend more time with the same type of wheel to see if this is indeed what I want to acquire.
I'm kind of hoping that selling two single treadle wheels will get me enough money to afford one new double treadle wheel.
Though the frugal part of me wonders whether simply getting the double treadle attachment for the old wheel would be enough. The nervous part wonders if it's more in the mechanism than just the single treadle -- single treadle never used to bother me (Besides... that pretty up there folds up and is portable!!)
Lookie at what I made!
And lookie what else I made
The recipe is calls it a Brigid Braid. It has tomato and herbs in it. It's my first ever braided bread; it's also my first ever herb yeast-bread, much less one with tomato, and it came out really well. Yummy I tell you... Just yummy! Even if it did take longer than it should have to rise.
Meanwhile, just to show you that my mailbox is still on duty.... this arrived today.
There I have two 5ml bottles of Limited Edition Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume oils, a full "Imp" of a bonus oil, and three partial Imps of three more Limited Edition oils, AND two samples of oils from a company that is new to me... PLUS - yummy candy for my kids (well, wait, that Ginger Chew is MINE).
Better still - the box in which I will be keeping the imps ALSO arrived today. I have a safe place to keep the imps.
I resisted BPAL for a long time, despite many efforts by my Thriller friends to lure me in. But after a weekend surrounded by delicious smells... I'm doomed.
But for now, they physical therapist wants me to rest my right arm for the next 24 hours -- no typing -- which means I'm typing this with one hand -- which sucks. Also no knitting, no writing, no spinning - I asked. It's going to be a long night.
I'm beginning to love my mail box. And I'm totally enjoying February.
Not so long ago, I won a raffle. I didn't feel wholly deserving, but I'm thrilled about the prize!!
What is that? Well, from right to left, we have two lovely stitch markers (they were bonuses, wholly unexpected, amazing little treats).
Aren't they adorable?
And there were more treats. Adorable little treats
You know what those are? Those are... well, here, read the labels
The labels read: Swatch Me!! Ten yard sample. I've got one each of "Yummy" Sock Yarn (100% superwash merino 2 ply) and Yowza What A Skein (4-ply superwash merino (worsted). What delightful fun!
But those aren't actually the "real prize". Those treats go with this...
That's silk my friends. Silk...
Miss Babs "Mulberry Silk" Lace-Weight yarn. 1250 yards of delicious exquisite silk.
Is is strange that I still want to drool even when I have it in my hands?
(Have I said thank you Babs??)
February is a month that everyone seems to think of as bleak. Odd that. It starts with Candlemas/Imbolc - which is a celebration of the increasing light and/or the celebration during which the wax candles to be used at Mass are blessed (hmmm there's that light thing again).
Okay, so it's also Groundhog Day, and what we usually learn is that there will be six more weeks of winter. Well.. duh. Winter ends between March 20 and 23. Every year Why are we so surprised that it takes six weeks to get there from February 2?? This year, for those who care, Winter will end March 20 at 1:32 p.m. EDT.
Anyway, despite the fact that the days are getting longer, and we can finally tell that, February seems to be the month folks think of as bleakest.
Well.
MY February is starting out anything BUT bleak.
We ended January with good news on the medical front (as much as I liked our Neurologist, I'm glad we've no cause to see her again).
I got goodies in the mail on the first. And...
I got more goodies in the mail today! These are pressies from people who are entirely too generous. I didn't buy them, I didn't win them, these lovely ladies just... SENT them!
First, from Sallee of Nana Sadie Rose', I received a surprise sundries bag.
Some people might try to put make-up in it (but then, I hardly ever wear make-up, so I won't be doing that). I'm sure others would have some other silly use for it, but I think it's just the right size to store all those knitting tools and gadgets -- with actual room for real scissors and a box of stitch markers. But check out the fabric!
C'mon. I mean seriously, what else would I do with it.
There's another box from her on the counter. It's a prize that Kitty won over on Seasons of Lace.
But that wasn't all. In another box, I found this:
That's from Lindsay of Prolonged Sunlight. See that wee sheep box? Isn't it adorable. Aren't you jealous? don't you wish YOU had one? Well, it's not just a pretty face!
It has something in it. Several somethings in fact. Lovely somethings that Lindsay makes (and sells).
These somethings:
I love the beads. They're all tuquoisey on one side, and plummy on the other. Well except for this one, which shows a bit of both.
And I think they go with the sheep box too! But I'm unlikely to keep them there. I'm thinking that the sheep box might work to store my favorite BPAL Scents... but I've not checked the height yet.
Excuse me. I seem to have slipped into something perilously close to Gloat Mode. I must go do penance.
I got yummy stuff in the mail today.
First... a wee box ..
If you know about Romi, you can guess what's in here.
But, just in case you don't know about Romi, who is one of Seasons of Lace's extremely generous sponsors, I'll just show you.
That, my friends, is a wonderful shawl pin. I love it! I'm now looking for some kind of "event" to give me an excuse to wear one of my shawls, so I can use this lovely thing.
And... as if that weren't enough, there was a little something from Earth Faire (another sponsor).
A kit, to knit the lovely Susan Pandorf pattern, Dragonfly! Personally, I think that the shawl pin will look lovely on that shawl.... but I'm guessing that I'll finish Irtfa'a first, and wear that with the pin.
Sometimes it's lucky living in ShadowLand!
What a glorious weekend.
On Thursday, I loaded these things into my car:
a bag full of this:
(well, there was more, but I spun it),
and bags filled with this
and yes, that black blob is Irtfa'a
which has now reached the shiny black blob stage,
and this
which you may not recognize as the lace cowl. That's because once I finished it, I discovered that it was far to big around, so I frogged it, re-did it's chart, and am starting again.
Then I stuffed another bag in the car in which I had put the Wolf Hoodie, and two different sock projects. A girl has to have options.
Once all this stuff was loaded (oh, yeah, and a bag of clothes and such), I ran away from home ... to Whichy's house.
I picked her up at work, took her to her parents' house, where we enjoyed a lovely dinner, and then headed toward "home" via the grocery store where we bought some sinfully good ice cream. In the morning, I got to sleep in. I was treated to a very tasty smoothie for breakfast, and introduced to a new temptation that I almost wish I didn't know about. Okay, that's not fair... others have introduced me to this temptation before, but somehow having so many samples to try pushed me right over the edge. That consumed lots of time as I browsed the myriad options for exquisite smells. I sniffed "Imps" and made lists and joined the Ravelry of Scents, and even wound up with a winning bid on e-bay.
It did not, however, stop me from employing my wheel. First thing I did was Navajo Ply some stuff I'd spun up the last time I spent a weekend with Whichy spinning. I got this wee thing from the very last bit I'd spun
and this from singles that had been waiting patiently on its bobbin
(which now looks like this).
We watched a great video by Abby Franqumont on drafting (during which I learned a lot), and I started to spin something else in an attempt to use what I'd just learned.
My wheel was not cooperative. Sure, it would let me ply some stuff, but when I started spinning -- well -- lets just say I wound up fighting my wheel every step of the way. Whichy, generous soul that she is, took a break from her own spinning to let me try her wheel...
And I grabbed up some fiber I'd gotten from DyakCraft's (formerly Grafton Fiber Arts) ColorWays Club last year, and spun up two full bobbins of this
And then plied it up
Until it looked a lot like this
Which ultimately looks like this:
We also made this:
That, my friends is some seriously yummy mushroom soup. We started mushrooms, and leeks, and mushrooms, and scallions, and mushrooms, and garlic, and mushrooms, and onions, and cream, and thyme and butter, and oh, yeah, mushrooms. There was cleaning and chopping and sauteing and stirring.... and then savoring.
I drove home today, and when I started this post, I was ensconced in my knitting chair surrounded by family I stayed away from long enough to miss, watching Castle......
Recently, Lynn Barr published a lovely book called Reversible Knitting: 50 Brand-New, Groundbreaking Stitch Patterns
Well.
You know what happens next, right? I read, I voted (my choice didn't win) and I commented, I went about my business... and way back at the Winter Solstice, I learned that I WON!! (I was a tad busy at the time, and blogged about other things).
Yesterday, my copy arrived in the mail! I love me some pick-me-ups after hard days. And though I didn't spend too much time whining about it, my hip was giving me fits yesterday.
Today, I have this:
This book has disclosed to me that there is a certain amount of fuddy duddy-ness that has taken over my brain. There's a pattern for a two-tone vest in there that I actually quite like, but which, at least in my no-longer-in-high-school opinion, becomes nothing but trashy when worn backwards (an option that they propose on page 100, and which you can see in the gallery for the book).
However, there are other things in here which I find quite delightful. Particularly the stitch patterns. I will be browsing heavily. It may not hold anything that I wind up knitting, but it has lots of fun ideas that I'm likely to use as springboards.
Meanwhile, I'm helping a friend design a hooded scarf. Yesterday, we fiddled about, chose the cables she wants to use, and charted the tails. She's off swatching/knitting a tail, and when she's done, we'll have a go at implementing my secret plan for the hood itself. (Row gauge is about to be seriously relevant.)
I try to avoid being one of those people who parades around an incredible gift crying out "Lookie what I got, lookie what I got!". But sometimes... well, I fail. 'Cause...
LOOKIE WHAT I GOT!!!!
What is that? Well, for starters, it was a block of PurpleHeart wood that my Dad got ahold of. It's now a beading hook stand in the shape of a crochet hook. (Ain't that neat -- a crochet hook to hold my crochet hooks?).
It holds ten steel crochet hooks at a time, in holes drilled perfectly -- deep enough to support them steadily, and just wide enough to let them slide in and out with ease, but not so wide that they go all tippy.
And the hooks still stand tall enough that I've plenty of room to fetch up a hook loaded with beads when its time to put another bead on the lace...
(Not only that, but it's color coordinated with the beads I'm currently using).
Last night was the first chance I've gotten to use it, and even with only 2 hooks small enough to apply these size 8 seed beeds, it really make the process easier! I love my hook hook! I've got 9 more size 13 hooks in my "shopping basket" at Bead Wrangler right now.
I'm so tickled with this I want to knit a massively beaded something for Dad. Luckily, for all involved, I do recognize that he's unlikely to be as thrilled with a beaded knit thing as I am with my Hook Hook. So I'll refrain. But Mom may be in for more glitz than she's used to ....
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