I’m finally back. I’m exhausted. It was SO much more fun this time than the last time I went down, just because I knew a bunch of vendors and got to see a bunch of good friends I never get to see. OFFF 2004 was my very first fiber fest, and I went down solo, and really enjoyed it, but it was kind of lonely (and slightly overwhelming). This time I was prepared for the sensory overload, and I had a List with me (fat lot of good it did me, mind you, but I had it - mostly the problem was that only two of the four things on the list were actually available).

Many cute critters, some joyous allergy attacks, and lots of good time with wonderful folks. I have pics, but have to unpack and figure out where the camera landed before I can post those. Full report when I’ve slept and recovered.

Comments Off | In: General, Outings and get-togethers | | #

You know that nagging feeling you get when you leave for the weekend? That “I know I’ve forgotten something” feeling? And you know how it’s usually either a)imaginary or b)something utterly trivial? Um… Yeah.

I had that feeling when I left. I knew pretty soon after I left that I’d forgotten some yarn for my secret pal, but I was soooo sure there was something else.

And then it hit me.

Pants. And shirts. PANTS AND SHIRTS, PEOPLE. Ferfuxake. Spinning wheel? check. Knitting? Check. Bathing suit? check. Entire car full of probably unnecessary crap? check! 6 different spf’s of sunscreen? check! Pants and shirts? D’oh! Damn good thing there’s an Old Navy about every three miles, huh?

Aaaaaanyway. Oregon! Ahhh, Oregon.

I’m now here in lovely Oregon City, in a hotel room with some… uh… Very Vocal neighbors. And no, they’re not arguing, if’n you get my drift. With any luck they’re getting it out of the way now, and it won’t continue on through the night, as always seems to be my luck with hotel rooms.

ANYWAY! I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am, that I just had dinner with my secret pal! It was soooo cool to get to meet Lori and her husband and two very cute and charming daughters and have a VERY tasty Italian-ish dinner. So good. I really liked her in email, and it turns out she’s even more fun in person. The whole family was absolutely great. Much fun! (but DAMN I’m full) (but wild mushroom risotto with marinated-for-24-hours steak and grilled asparagus!).

And tomorrow and Sunday? OFFF!

Kim and Angela and Sam and Barb and Tina and Sheila and Jessica are all going to be here, and there will be more Socks That Rock than you can shake a stick at.

Now, if only the wireless here at the hotel were actually working so I could post this…

2 Comments | In: General, Outings and get-togethers | | #

Especially when you put absolutely NO effort into it? Ooooh yeah.

So, back in… February? At Madrona, I saw this hank of Dicentra targhee that for whatever reason I couldn’t resist. It made no sense at the time. NONE. It was ORANGE! and MAGENTA!, two colors which, honestly, I CAN’T STAND. But I couldn’t walk away from it. It exerted some sort of freaky fiber-power over me, and I had to buy it. The look on Angela’s face spoke volumes, since she knows the colors I like and these? Not on that list. Anywhere.

It took me a while to spin it up, but the Reeves 19″ saxony did a lovely job with it, and I ended up plying it from a center pull ball, and it came out soooo beautifully. And it has languished on top of the basket o’ fiber ever since.

I saw it sitting up there the other night and thought ooh! that would make a lovely panta! So I pulled it down, and got out some needles, and waffled for a bit between making a panta or seeing if I could get a pair of fingerless mitts out of it. I opted, finally, for the panta.

Not only is the panta SOO perfect - it starts orange, and fades gently to MAGENTA at the center, and then, amazingly, PERFECTLY back to orange! Like I planned it that way. And on top of that little bit of joy? I found another skein of it, having totally forgotten that I ended up with two skeins, so I still have plenty for a pair of fingerless mitts! Hooray!

Musta been meant to be…
(batteries are dead, pics to follow)

EDIT: For those that don’t know, a panta is a headband. The pattern that I used was the translation from Crafster, but I think this one might be a better version of it.

4 Comments | In: Mmmmm, fibery gooness, knit-o-rama, spinny spin spin | | #

I wondered that last week. Just exactly how long does it take me to knit one sock on my usual needles in sock weight yarn. Enquiring minds wanted to know!

I set Sunday aside to find out. And now I know. I now know that it takes me 9.5 hours to crank out a basic sock. I now know that I am even more easily distracted than I thought I was. And I now know that if I sit in one place and knit with 2.25mm needles for 9.5 hours straight that I will a)lose the feeling in my arse and b)not be able to move my fingers the next day.

Today is Wednesday. My hands still hurt. Me am dumb.

But hey! Now I know. And if you want to see a basic sock progress in half hour increments from start to finish, click here. (bump up the pic size and set it for a 1-3 second delay between pictures. - I’m working on getting it animated so it will just run with a timeline at the bottom, but I haven’t gotten that done yet). (and yeah, some of those pics are mighty blurry. sorry.)

The finished sock, with 25% more Hugo!

7 Comments | In: Socks, knit-o-rama | | #

I just love the magic of turning a heel on a sock. That and lace blocking I think are two of the freakin’ coolest things we knitters get to do.

In my ongoing quest to have every skein of sock yarn I have on the needles (ha!), here are three of my most current socky projects (These are the travelling socks. There are several others that live at the house in various rooms, so that I always have a project at hand):

The third incarnation of the Lisa Souza Sock! in Pacific. First it was an ill-fated slip stitch rib, then it made a valliant attempt to be potamawhateverthehelltheywerecalled, and now Diamond Patch socks from… Heartland Knits? I think that’s it. They’re in the car or I’d go check.

I tried and tried and tried and tried to get the damn camera to pick up the actual colors in this yarn. It’s SOOOO much prettier than what you’re seeing here. Lots of purple in it that doesn’t show up at all. Stupid camera.

Moving on. Here we have the Japanese Feather sock designed for me by my KSKS pal, Jess. I’m digging this pattern and the yarn. This was where I was at with them yesterday morning on the ferry (note the bitchin’ car-interior-photo-studio action I’ve got going), at this point the heel has been turned and I’m almost to the end of the gusset. Woot! Go me.

And, lastly in the sock category, we have the stripey super-plain sock that I work on when there isn’t enough light to do anything else. The lovely wooden sock-in-progress-holder came from John and Dee. I have the rest of their info on a different computer, so if you need one of these (and you KNOW you do), leave a comment or send me an email and I’ll hook you up. They’re VERY sweet people, and the sock holders are soooooo wonderful. I won’t tell you how many of them I have now…

Yes, it’s a sleeve. This is another piece for Melissa - this time the Must Have Cardi in Shaba Green Peace Fleece. I’ll definitely be knitting one of these for myself. It’s about the most mindless pattern, and I really like it. Both knitting it and the way it looks.

And, finally, I’m going to totally break my own rule and talk about something work related. Just because this one had to be shared.

We ordered some new laptops from Dell a few weeks ago, and they showed up yesterday. I had to go out to my car and get my camera just to show you how totally over the top and ridiculous the packaging on these were. Four lappys, four boxes. Gigantic warehouse guy included for scale (he’s standing several feet behind the boxes).

I think that one gives overkill new meaning. At least they weren’t full of styrofoam…

16 Comments | In: KSKS, Oh Fuck I Mentioned Work, Socks, knit-o-rama | | #

You know how, a few weeks ago, you thought to yourself “whew! Lisa has come up with the most gorgeous colorway EVER, and now that I have some in the stash I’m safe!”? Remember that thought? I know I do.

Um. Yeah. Once again proving herself to be the evil genius that she is, she gives us Mars Quake. Sigh. When will it end??? (Quick! Run get some before she wises up and raises her prices!)

HA! Clicky clicky!

5 Comments | In: Enabling Alert | | #

No, these are not the photos you were looking for.

But oooh! Yummy handpainted sock yarn goodness, courtesy of Kirsten at Through The Loops (and I know you’re jealous of my consistently crap photography skills and inability to get any kind of lighting to ever work FOR me…):

And (no laughing, Lara), a genuine quilting injury (caught my arm on a pin while reaching across it, and rrrriiiiiiiiippppppppppp went the skin. Woot! And who knew it was that difficult to take a picture of your own forearm? Not I, certainly):

And, a truly rare (for me) good wildlife shot (mama seagull on the piling at the ferry dock - the babies are Not Cute anymore, sadly, but this picture makes me giggle):

That’s it for now. It’s been a tremendously fucked up couple of weeks, so not much has gotten done, and really, there’s just not much to tell. Things are picking back up and getting less crappy, so actual knitting content will return soon.

2 Comments | In: General, Mmmmm, fibery gooness, Socks, Wildlife | | #