Eeeeeek!

Posted on | June 21, 2009 | 7 Comments

1. Knit     2. Crochet    3. Cut    4. Phew!

In progress

Posted on | June 16, 2009 | 8 Comments

I’m torn lately between posting little snippets of current knitting and life versus the full detail that I would rather post with all my wordiness and such. But it seems it’s snippets or nothing – and I have so much to say about this particular project (Mystery Project 2, that’s been over there in the sidebar for awhile)! But if I don’t post about it quick, it will be all done, with none of the process shown or mused upon… And since this project has been very long in the making – over two years now – I’m quite attached to it. I think it deserves a little snippet here and there!

Shaping

The short story is that it’s a design project in process. It was one of my very first ideas/sketches which later became my first magazine submission & subsequent rejection. But I loved the idea too much to let it go, and it works out nicely that someone else likes it enough to let it see the light of day. I admit to a bit of nerves that the finished project won’t fully live up to my idea of it – but at the same time, I’m enjoying the process and the fact that it’s finally coming into being after all this time, and that it WORKS (and the numbers all MAKE SENSE i.e. I understand them!). And I am pretty excited to see how it turns out after all.

A little colorwork

So, I’m not really into astrology – not for any particular reason, I just don’t know a lot about it. But that doesn’t stop me from looking at my horoscope every once in awhile and noting the similarities (or differences!) in my life. Yesterday’s (via Twittascope – ha! There’s a Twitter thingie for everything, isn’t there?) was very pertinent (hm. Today’s too actually, now that I look at it!):

You might have an artistic vision today and, with a bit of patience, could manifest it in your world. Most likely, you won’t transform into a Mozart or Picasso, but your lack of technical skill need not hold you back from undertaking a creative activity. Of course you want others to appreciate your work, but take the pressure off and do it just for yourself. The finished product is less important than how you feel during the process.

A little horoscope!

I haven’t had a new idea, but I am at a milestone in this project, really enjoying the process and thrilled at how things are coming together – not just the knitting, but my understanding of the construction and geometry of fit and all of that too. I have certainly not let any lack of skill hold me back – when I first sketched this I was in the midst of blindly knitting my first pattern ever, and this idea was well beyond my knowledge & ability, so I’m pleased to have grown into it. Of course this is not just for me, since eventually it will be out there as a pattern, but it has felt very indulgent and exciting to finally work on something that I’ve been so attached to in my mind all this time, and the whole process has been really satisfying. We will see how it turns out!

And that lovely yarn? I’ll bet you can guess the source!

A beautiful expanse of RED

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Now playing: Iron & Wine – Belated Promise Ring
via FoxyTunes

NPR’s All Songs Considered blog has been keeping me going with some great music recently – This song is from a SubPop free sampler download of upcoming songs (the website is NSFW, but it is legit!); and another great Iron & Wine find, also via All Songs, is here – acoustic versions of songs from The Shepherd’s Dog. Beautiful stuff.

New Orleans Jazzfest

Posted on | June 2, 2009 | 12 Comments

I don’t have too many words for this trip really (but a whole lot of feeling!), and that’s part of the reason that this post is so belated, but I have a bit of a backlog going, so let’s see if I can bang this out!

I love my life, but the decisions that Tad and I have made have meant that we’ve done a minimum of traveling to date. I wouldn’t change this, because all that is what built the values and goals we have now, but I can understand now how people get bit with the traveling bug and never let it go. It was a great experience, and it was entirely infectious. I want to go back. I want to visit a million other places. I wanted to know more. About the places, the people, the history. The music was incredible, and everywhere. The atmosphere… The food… The people… It was an enduro road-trip, made so much fun by our traveling companions, and particularly our guide. But it got under my skin in a way that’s hard to describe. Challenging. Exciting. Humbling. I want more.

So, where have you visited that’s gotten under your skin? I’d love to hear about it!

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Now playing: Ani Difranco – Red Letter Year Reprise
via FoxyTunes

Not something we heard while there, but an NO resident and a great brass band, to give you some of the flavor!

Mystery Socks

Posted on | May 15, 2009 | 13 Comments

A mystery no more! You may remember that Kirsten of Through the Loops worked up a mystery sock pattern for last fall for Socktoberfest – and here it is nearly June. I kept up with the clues, at least on the first sock, right up through week three, despite a very busy Autumn, and then it all fell apart. I blame the yarn. What a sad thing to say! I have never felt this way about a yarn before, but this one and I, well, we simply weren’t a good match. I had heard that this could happen, but never actually met a yarn that wasn’t for me. I do love the subtle creamy colorway, it was the base yarn itself that was the issue – a superwash/nylon blend that to me seemed pretty splitty and uncomfortable. Which is really too bad, because from a pattern standpoint, these socks were totally enjoyable (well and clearly written, as always, cables for fun and repetitive but pretty openwork = enough challenge to keep it interesting, but not so much that I couldn’t knit&talk!).

So they sat for awhile, but I was compelled to finally finish them. This reminded me of my sometimes frustrating approach to reading. When I find after a chapter of a novel that this is not the book for me, I may sometimes take a break, but then I bullheadedly plod on, until the last page. No exceptions. No matter how frustrating. Why do I do that?! Square peg, round hole, wash, rinse repeat.  There’s a lesson to be had there somewhere, I’m sure. One of the last books I attempted to read & disliked I actually DID put down though (and have no intention of picking it back up again) – this gives me hope for myself. Change is possible!

These socks would have been better served by ripping and reknitting in a more enjoyable yarn, and at some point, perhaps I will. Or not. Kirsten has tons of other great patterns that I would love to knit – and now having done two of her socks, I would love to work through some of her mittens, or maybe a vest.

Vase/Feet(?) – And a bit of bagginess at the soles.

A friend of mine had suggested that maybe after washing, the yarn would soften up and I would fall in love, and they do feel quite nice on the feet – though there was another slight issue – not so much as to be a huge problem… But. You have heard of this phenomenon of superwash that stretches in the wash? These fit perfectly in the knitting, but did loosen up a fair bit with soaking – enough to be rather slouchy when worn for a little while, but very comfortable. I think they will be relegated to bed socks (as most of my knit socks are, it’s hard to keep them nice with all the fur around here!), though very pretty ones at that.

I finished these socks on the way to New Orleans, but somehow I neglected to take shots while I was there (that would have been SO COOL!) But alas, I was distracted. Still, it’s a neat tie in to have worked on them on that trip, and a nice way to wrap them up. I started them on another great roadtrip too – unintentional to end the same way, but life is nice like that sometimes.

Pattern: Through the Loops Mystery Socks
Yarn: Chameleon Colorworks Footsie, I believe. This is the original yarn that came with my Rivendell kit back in the Fall of 2007 – I had my heart set on making that lovely pattern in green, so this skein sat in my stash looking for a good mate. And I think from a color/pattern standpoint this was a good fit for the mystery socks. I want to emphasize that I love the dyeing, and have heard great things about this and other yarn from Chameleon Colorworks. Just because this yarn wasn’t a good match for me doesn’t mean it won’t be for you, or that I may not love other yarns in their line, I think I’ve just come to it that superwash and/or nylon content may not be for me – if you knit with and love these type of yarns, there’s a good probability that you’ll love this one to.
Needles: US2 DPNs
Time to complete: 8-ish months!
Results: The finished socks are a relative win – as described above, very pretty, very pleased with them aesthetically, not so much from a fit standpoint.
I learned: That superwash can grow!

Now, all you sock knitters out there, can we discuss sock yarns for a minute? I’ve knit with superwash that I’ve enjoyed and also nylon content, but the only other yarn that combined the two I also remember as rather splitty and not particularly fun (Lang Jawoll) – so maybe it’s just the combo of the two that isn’t for me. I loved Jitterbug, and also Gryphon’s Bugga! (Rav-links). I have to admit that I feel a bit weird about superwash though. Since I am not a “serious” sock knitter, am I asking too much? As my knitting and designing efforts and all evolve, I’m trying to work through the things that are important to me in yarn – I think there must be some sort of balance between what’s accessible and what I want to support. Ultimately a gently processed small maker/from the farm or indie-dyed yarn would be my utopic ideal, but will these hold up well under wear without nylon content? I’ve been doing some research, but am interested to hear your experiences and what you think? Are there any good sock yarns that are non-superwash? Maybe a silk blend? Or something else for durability? Just for research and future reference you see, as I have some work to do on my stash before investing in more yarn! Maybe in the meantime, this will be spun for socks?

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Now playing: Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
via FoxyTunes

MDSW Recap

Posted on | May 9, 2009 | 8 Comments

One of my favorite things about my local knitting and spinning guilds are the people that are a part of these groups. I had the opportunity to jump in with a few friends from the spinning guild at the last minute to join them in their trip to MDSW (Thanks again Kathryn, Frith & Heather!) last weekend. Where I was, as usual, excited & overwhelmed, (and still in need of a little decompression from our trip to NO) requiring much sleep to recover!

There was a stunning lack of photos on my part due to my failure to bring my camera from the hotel room on Saturday (What??!) and the weather, but some other folks have managed to document the days perfectly – just check out some of these great photos on Flickr. It was a great time with my friends, we ate some great food, and had good times – I wish I had documented it better!

I went with the intent of not purchasing much, perhaps some yarn for a sweater and a pretty spindle. Instead, I narrowly escaped charging the entire stock of the Cloverleaf Farms booth to my credit card before anyone else could get to it. Despite the fact that I haven’t done any significant spinning in nearly a year. Heart palpitations, sweaty palms. That shopping rush. Seriously. Many of you know what I’m talking about. I thought that I may have become immune after significantly cutting back on consumerist activity in recent years (but, no, clearly no). Thankfully reason prevailed and I left with *just* a few things that couldn’t have been pried from my desperate arms under any circumstances! I blame it at least in part on the excitement of having fortuitously bumped into Kirsten in that very same booth just prior to the incident – While eyeballing the merino/silk top, I spied a shawl that looked very familiar, and picked up my head to see Kirsten looking right back at me! Hey! It was SO great to finally meet you!

Cloverleaf Farms 50/50 Merino Silk

CloverLeaf Farms 100% Silk

I did make a few other purchases, and arrived home feeling a little guilty. Especially after going on to my friends about how I don’t have that much stash – boastful, boastful, and yes, unintentionally false. Liar! It’s all relative, I know, and compared with some, my stash might be considered small (you know, or not…) – but comparisons aren’t worth much and frankly, the fact is that when I was thinking about it, I was only envisioning about half of the stuff that I actually have! Stash to me seems to be all about what you are comfortable with (and can afford, purchasing values, etc. of course), and my forgetful brain tells me that I’m comfortable with significantly less than I have – the amount I thought I had is fine, the amount I actually have results in hyperventilation & sweaty palms – familiar, but without the shopping-high! I seem to have forgotten some things, as I found when I got home and viewed the room-that-is-my-stash (it doesn’t *actually* take up the whole room – it just kind of covers the surfaces – due to an explosion resulting from some search for something weeks ago), some of which have yet to be documented. I find the stash cataloging feature of Ravelry very useful – but seeing what I have without digging through the plastic bin & bags (and causing explosions!) only really works when I have listed what I have and it seems that I’m a bit behind. So I’ve come home determined to knit & spin down some of my stash before doing any more purchasing. Exceptions will be made only for design work or very specific gifting, and only when something suitable doesn’t already live in my stash. And the process begins with documenting the stash that has not yet been catalogued! And there it is – Another goal! I will knit at least 3 quantities of yarn and spin at least as many quantities of fiber or fleece before buying more, except under the above conditions.

All that said, I’m quite in love with what I bought, despite the purchasing guilt; in love with spinning again as a result of my new spindle;

Golding Ringspindle – Antiqued Rosette II – .6 oz.

eager to make some of the lovely fiber into yarn (it’s very hard not to catch the spinning excitement of my traveling companions, all very talented spinners, and especially at MDSW, the event that pushed me over the edge in wanting to spin in the first place!); and excited for these to become a cardigan.

Peace Fleece in Volgassippi Blue and buttons from Jennie the Potter

Also loving Knit Circus (I was so excited to find some copies, I picked up issue 5) – That Peace Fleece is actually thinking about becoming Elizabeth Morrison’s Kate’s Cardigan, if I’m not struck with other inspiration – great pattern, no?

Does everyone come home from festivals determined to knit & spin from their stash? Or do you stash with wild abandon?

P.S. I’m still catching up a bit from being in and out of town recently, and now being struck with the Spring Yuck (aka the common cold), if you have left me a comment or an email and have not yet heard back from me, replies are coming!

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Now playing: Metric – Gold Guns Girls
via FoxyTunes

MDSW

Posted on | May 1, 2009 | 6 Comments

Just a *very* quick “Hello!” to say I’m headed to Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend – Any of you that might be there also, if you see me please say hello, I’d love to meet you!

Be back soon with pics from New Orleans (amazing.), MDSW, finished socks, and some swatching!