Sorry. Had to.

So. The weekend. Much rocket action, not much knitting action. Not that I didn’t try, mind you, I just kept falling asleep.

The Jaywalker sock is just past the heel turn (maybe half way down the gusset or so?), the Sockotta sock got started and frogged, the Peace Fleece Father’s Gray Everyday Cardi is just past the half way point of the back (the first piece…), and the ruffly edge Adrienne Vittadini cardi thing is totally stalled out. I don’t even think I touched it this weekend. Hope I didn’t, since my hands were filthy most of the weekend…

Rocket photos and random sky shots are in the gallery. Feel free if you’re even mildly interested. Most of them aren’t commented yet, and the gallery has yet to be reconfigured to look like anything but ugly, but the photos are there. So have at it.

Comments Off | In: General | | #

Finally. I know, I know.

First, and most importantly, the goodies from my Secret Pal:

The finished Booger Socks (pattern to be posted soonish)

The blue stripey socks (yarn from Lara’s bottomless pit of self-striping sock yarn)(and yeah, my legs really are that color - gonna make something of it?):

And, lastly, more Trekking XXL (it’s color 109 for those of you who need to track down the elusive purple Trekking), being turned into a pair of Jaywalkers for my friend Barb:

So there you go.

5 Comments | In: SP8, knit-o-rama | | #

There was a WONDERFUL (as in OMG wonderful) package waiting for me when I got home last night! Hooray! My Secret Pal? The. Best. Seriously. She so totally rocked my world with this one.

And no, no pictures yet, but I should be home tonight at a reasonable hour, and will take a picture of (what’s left of) it. There was chocolate (Lindor truffles, which I am powerless to resist, and Hershey’s kisses mmmm), COFFEE (the elixer of life), and, get this, four skeins of Rowan Kidsilk Spray. Four skeins, y’all. Four! And coffee! And chocolate!

On top of that I managed to finish TWO pairs of socks in the last two days. The Booger’s socks are done, I just have to block the second one, and the blue-stripey cotton/wool socks are also done (and comfy! Thanks Lara!).

I’ll take pics of the stuff tonight and get that posted when I get home. Yes indeedy!

3 Comments | In: SP8, knit-o-rama | | #

Booger made the news! Well, her teacher and school made the news, but since the entire student body consists of three girls, she made the news too. (It’s the smallest public school in the state)

A friend forwarded me the link to the story on the Seattle Times website this morning, and Booger just called to tell me that the story made the front page of said paper. Above the fold, baby. (Click on the picture in the story there to see the rest of the pictures and the map)

And much to her dismay, the release of this story has focused a great deal of media attention on her tiny school. Evening Magazine will be there on Tuesday to shoot a segment, and there will be other papers and shows headed out there to do stories of their own.

Verklempt, I tellya.

2 Comments | In: General | | #

I recently got a USB hard-drive enclosure for the office. Nothing special there. Howevah! The instruction page that came with it? Freakin’ priceless.

For your enjoyment.

4 Comments | In: General | | #

Woo!

For xmas 2004 I gave Critterboy the experience of making his own proscuitto under the expert guidance of Armandino Batali at Salumi. (The Adopt-a-Proscuitto program has, apparently, been discontinued, so if you haven’t already done it, you missed out.)

A mere 15 (14?) months after he started the project, the proscuitto is done! And home! And there’s meat hanging in the basement! (Which, really, is kind of disturbing if you think about it).

We haven’t tasted it yet, since Armandino said that it will be pretty salty still and will get better over the next few weeks if we just let it be, so that’s the plan. But Meat! There will be meaty goodness aplenty (16lbs to be exact) at Chez Gravy for the birthday bash in July.

Now we just need to buy a meat slicer and one of those vacuum sucker food sealing thingamajobbers, so we can send some of his meaty goodness to his folks.

Yay! Meat!

4 Comments | In: General | | #

Bear with me here, folks. It’s late, I’m tired, but I wanted to get these posted before I forgot…

The (finally) finished Leaf Lace Shawl:

and close up:

Project specs:
Pattern: Fibertrends Leaf Lace Shawl
Materials: Fleece Artist Merino sock yarn, 2 skeins, which wasn’t quite enough (or, realistically, wasn’t quite as enough as I’d planned on it being. The shawl is PLENTY big, so I shouldn’t complain), and one tube of size 6ish clear seed beads
Time to knit: Oh, hell, I have no idea. Coupla weeks? Something. Not too long, and if I hadn’t been working on several pairs of socks at the same time I probably could have done it in half the time I did. But variety is the spice of life, no?

Sock 1 of O’s new socks - she picked the colors (it’s Socks That Rock, medium weight, in Cobalt Bloom and Seal Rock) and told me she wanted color pattern this time vs. stitch pattern. She asked for dingle balls, but got beads instead. She digs the beads, so it’s all good.

And, lastly, the necklace I made last weekend with Angela (she made shinies for her knitting, I made a shiny for my neck. Silly me)

There you have it. Pictures. Of stuff. Ooh! And happy mother’s day to all you moms out there!

7 Comments | In: General | | #

Just for good measure. I still have MANY more to take, but here are a couple to whet your appetite for more photo goodness.

Chickens! (yeah, yeah, I know, not even knitting related. But pictures! yay!)

And some individual chickeny shots (all the chicken shots were taken leaning out a window as the sun went down, so don’t mind the crap photo quality…)
This is Sunshine. Named for her glowing personality. Dripping sarcasm included at no charge!

And Nugget. The only surviving Nugget. There were three. They were always together and were just collectively named “The Nuggets”.

And some alpaca I spun up two weekends ago (the all jammies all day weekend). The fiber was from Winderwood Farm (gorgeous colors, yo), and was gifted to me by the unbelievably talented Lara. I heart Lara.

More to come!

1 Comment | In: General | | #

Excellent! I knew you could!

The answer to the question in the last post?

No.

No there wasn’t enough yarn to finish the damn shawl. Mind you, I got through 10 of the 16 border rows before I really, truly, finally gave in to that realization. Yup. Just call me Cleo.

So, yeah, a couple of hours of ripping back and picking up and tinking lace last night. Woo! Go me and my social Friday night self.

1 Comment | In: General | | #

Yes, kids, it’s another first for me.

La la la, knitting along, la la la, OMG! I’m almost out of yarn! Ipe!

That’s how it went last night. I had just finished repeat 16 of 17 for the leaf lace shawl, and looked down and thought to myself ’self? there isn’t nearly enough yarn there to finish this sucker’. What to do?! WWAD? (what would Angela do?) That’s right. I busted out with the calculator and the scale and I weighed the shawl, weighed an identical needle (shut. up.), subtracted the weight of the needle, divided the weight of the shawl by the number of leaves in it, figured out how many leaves I had left to go, weighed the remaining yarn, did some more math, and yup! Not Enough.

Ahem. Crap.

So, more calculations, some guesswork, and a dash of hope. I skipped repeat 17 and went straight to the border chart. I *think* I will have, get this, 2 grams of yarn left over. But I may not have budgeted enough to bind off. We shall see. Indeed. We shall see. Hopefully we shall see later this evening, ‘cos the suspense is KILLING me. That and I got 2500 yummy yummy yummy beautiful blue yards of merino laceweight from Lisa in the mail today, and I’m totally itching to start the next shawl.

Oh! And the new Mason Dixon Knitting book? Lots of fun, great pictures, and, frighteningly, has instilled in me the overwhelming desire to knit some dishcloths. Who woulda thunk.

One more thing - I found the camera, charged the batteries, and have actually taken some pictures. I still have some more to take, but I might actually be one step closer to slappin’ some of them up here and SHARING. Hold me back, people.

1 Comment | In: General | | #

Just sayin’. Not to say that I don’t wish I could have gone, ‘cos I really really really wish I could have gone. You all make it look like you had entirely too much fun.

But me? I had Angela all to myself, all weekend. So there. And we did many fun things, which she has pictures of. You should know me well enough by now to know I’m not so good with the having the camera at the opportune moment. Although I do have a camera full of photos for you, which I will eventually get around to posting.

There was much food. There was good yarn (Trekking XXL 4tw!). There, was, granted, some getting up at 4am on a Saturday, but it was worth it! We got to hang out on a private island, y’all. Private! Island! All day! With sheep! (I could speak volumes about that particular island, but I’m not gonna. It’s better that way…)

I’m really hoping that a large contingent of my fibery friends will end up going to BSG and/or OFF. I’m reasonably positive I’m going to make it to both of those this year, and quite possibly Gibson’s Landing Fibre Arts Fest, just to round out the summer.

Any of you going to any of those? Hmmm?

2 Comments | In: General | | #

And I *finally* managed to get it together in time to get in on the fun. Woot!

So, here be the questionaire:

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I love love love love love Socks That Rock. That’s probably my favorite yarn of all. Beyond that, in no particular order: handspun, Peace Fleece, Rowan, Jo Sharp, Adrienne Vittadini, Jaeger, Mission Falls, oh, hell, the list is WAY too long. You get the idea, though, right?
The only things I really don’t like are novelty yarns. I used to be convinced that I really really hated anything synthetic, but I’ve recently received some handspun nylon that’s really nice, and have had some pretty decent knitting experiences with some synthetic/wool blends, so… maybe my horizons just need to be broadened on that front. Oh, and I have a serious hate on for Debbie Bliss.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I have two of these little organizer thingies. I think they’re meant to hold checks or something - they’re about the right size for that. They look pretty much exactly like these, and have 13 pockets, so one pocket per needle size. Since I only use dpn’s and circs, it works perfectly for me.

3. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
Um… I think I’ve been knitting for about 3 years now. Maybe 4? Something. I’d throw myself in with the advanced knitting crowd. I have yet to meet a pattern I’m afraid of, except maybe the princess shawl, but I’m going to do it anyway…

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I have an amazon wish list, but it could stand some updating. I would have a Woodland Woolworks wish list if they offered that sort of thing.

5. What’s your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
I’m really sensitive to scents, especially synthetic ones, but I love lavender (fresh, dried, essential oil), and the smell of cookies baking, orange, lemon, lime, and Lush’s Karma (in all of its forms - it’s about the only scented body product I can deal with).

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Oh dear lord yes. I love chocolate. A lot. Lindt bars in most any flavor are my current favorite poison. Mmm… And See’s chocolates. Mmmmm…

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I spin, I do cross stitch, jewelry, beading, origami, weave, you name it.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
There isn’t much in the way of music I don’t like. I listen to everything from opera to rap, and everything in between. The only things I can’t stand are contemporary christian and country (unless it’s that fabulous old super-whiny country, which can be a lot of fun). And yep, my computer can play mp3’s. And does on a regular basis.

9. What’s your favorite color? Or–do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can’t stand?
This is a funny one, really. Forever and ever I’ve loved purple and blue. And still like them both. And if asked I’ll tell you that I Absolutely Can Not Abide Orange. And yet? I find myself buying orange fiber. And pink. And yellow. And, really? I hate these colors. And yet I don’t, apparently. Must be something about getting older, but it’s been a hot topic of conversation amongst my friends lately.
So, truth be told, I like most colors. I’m not a big fan of pastels, and brown, unless it’s natural sheepy brown isn’t something I usually go for, but apparently the rest of the rainbow is wide open. (I am, however, red/green colorblind (deficient for you purists out there), so I could be totally smoking crack on the whole color thing…)

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I share a house with my partner CritterBoy and my daughter Booger when I’m lucky, three ginormous cats, a guinnea pig, three turtles, five chickens (ok, those are outside, but still), and a big fish tank full of… uh… some sort of cichlids (they tend to eat each other, so the stock in the tank is often changing).

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Yes, yes, yes, NO. I look like a dork in hats, but I wear them all winter anyway, scarves and mittens are also winter staples (more so than hats, even), but ponchos are the devil’s own fashion statement. I love shawls and wraps, though.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Right now I seem to be in lace mode. Lace and socks. Or lacey socks. But I love to make sweaters and really almost anything else too. I’m pretty happy as long as I’m working on anything that requires needles smaller than 8’s. Anything above an 8 and I feel like I’m trying to manipulate stitches on tree trunks. My favorite sizes are between 0 and 4, with, generally, one project going on 6’s just to give my hands something different to work with when they’re tired of the tiny stuff.

13. What are you knitting right now?
On the needles right this second:

• plain socks in Socks That Rock in Cobalt Bloom and Seal Rock for the booger
• lacy scallops socks in STR in Fire On The Mountain
• Pomatomus socks in Lisa Souza Sock! in pacific
• some random lace pattern socks in Lorna’s Laces in a subtle grey/green colorway (that I can’t find a picture of)
• a Leaf Lace shawl in Fleece Artist sock yarn in cosmic dawn with clear beads
• a wee little cabled sock in Lorna’s Laces, which I will finish even though Gigantor Baby has outgrown them already
• and, finally, the Bloomfield Bolero from Interweave Knits (website only?) in Mission Falls cotton

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Oh my yes. Absolutely.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Circs. Addi turbos are the favorite, but I have others that I use regularly too - Denise’s, some random aluminum ones from Canada, Addi Naturas. I’m generally just too uncoordinated for straights. Sad, but true.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Yes and yes.

17. How did you learn to knit?
Heh. I saw a this pair of socks in a Nancy Bush book and HAD to have them. So I went up to the Weaving Works, which was what was close to me at the time, and showed the woman there the picture and told her that I was going to learn to knit and needed the stuff to make them. She got SERIOUSLY huffy and informed me, in No Uncertain Terms, that it Was. Not. Possible. to learn to knit with that pattern. I got to thank Nancy Bush in person at Madrona (and totally didn’t throw up or anything!) for writing a book well enough that I did, in fact, learn to knit from that pattern. And yeah, I avoid the Weaving Works for the most part because most of the dealings I have had there have been about as good as that first one. That was about 6 years ago, although once I finished the first sock I felt like I had the knitting thing down and didn’t bother with the second one (or any other knitting) for two or three years. I found the one sock and the rest of the yarn in a box when I moved a couple of years ago and decided to finish the second one (that would be the left one in the picture linked above), and haven’t put the needles down since then.

18. How old is your oldest UFO?
Shhh. We don’t talk about that. (But, really, it can’t be more than a few years at this point, so it’s not *that* bad, but still. Hush.)

19. What is your favorite holiday?
Ummm…. Probably winter solstice/xmas/yule. But I’m not really a holiday kind of person. I tend to forget about them until I see the candy on sale the next day…

20. Is there anything that you collect?
Bugs and bones and spinning wheels. I hoard yarn, so that doesn’t count as “collecting”, right?

21. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I have a subscription to SpinOff. I don’t quite understand why Interweave can get that one to the subscribers intact and on time and they can’t seem to do it with IK, but whatever. I’d love to get my hands on the new Jaeger book, and the Barbara Walker stitch treasuries. (and while I’m dreaming… some Alice Starmore books other than Aran Knitting and the Celtic Collection)

22. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn?
Hmmm… I know there’s stuff I haven’t tried yet, but I can’t think of anything off the top of my head.

23. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Ayup. Love me some hand-knit socks. If I could find my tape measure I could measure my feet… I wear a 6.5US/37, narrow feet, high arches, average to chunky calves. I generally just make it up as I go along. Sooo exact. I know. I’ll work on this one.

24. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
December 31.

Comments Off | In: General | | #