I make things

Stocking Cap

2006-03-31T21:56:00.000-05:00

In knitting news, I did manage to finish that stocking cap a few weeks ago. The thing is, I stitched it up while playing a game at Jenn and Leonard's house so I gave it right to them and never got to take a picture of it.

Jenn just sent me this picture today. Man, their kid is cute!

:)

I have found my next victim...

2006-03-22T20:49:00.000-05:00

Tell me if you like it.

Because I can't find blinding yellow sweater!!! He must be upstairs somewhere, but at the moment he is MIA.

I'm paying $10 for it, though, more than I normally would because I'm a cheapass. I haven't been able to find very many sweaters at the thrift shops lately, it still being cold and all. Hopefully I'll be able to stock up around August.

Ridiculously excited

2006-03-12T16:26:00.000-05:00

Last night I finally decided to try hacking apart a recycled sweater and see what I could make. I've been collecting the damned things for a year, now, and have never had the guts to do anything with them.

Look what I made!

No pattern, no model, just me and some scissors and my sewing machine. Broke four needles getting the handles on - lesson learned.

Let me know what you think!

(added pic to entry)

*EDIT(: Um, wow, like wow...thank you for the mad props, I am uber flattered. I was just in the other room hacking some sweaters apart to make into a funky blanket, decided to check my email and it's been bought! Like, wow. I'm so pleased I could spit!

I'm off to buy more needles as I only have one left, but for those who expressed an argyle fetish, this will be my next victim...

...those playing the home game will remember Blinding Yellow Sweater, he is next to go under the shears.

Thanks everyone, you made my grey gloomy Sunday.

Midnight oil, burned. Out.

2006-03-02T20:23:00.000-05:00

I am staying up far too late every night embroidering, blending tea, and watching bad movies. As in Scooby-Doo AND Scooby-Doo 2 bad. Oh yes. I admit it.

Jinkies!

Zoiks!

This Etsy thing is kind of taking off. It's scaring me. I've not been making a million bucks, but I have talked to a lot of people and had many requests for custom items. Lots of new ideas, too, which have me ridiculously excited.

Met with Madeline, my knitting friend, again today at lunch. On Tuesday we had one of the "regulars" from the Portland SnB group meet with us, and today we had the woman who helped to start the Portland SnB drop by! All because I put the invite on the group calendar! Totally awesome. I feel popular. It's great because I'm finally meeting people and getting out and doing stuff.

Madeline loved the embroidered wipes and ordered five for herself. She was wearing handmade jewelry as was the other woman I met today, Tina. It was stuff I could so easily make. Hm. But anyway, Madeline also complimented the backpack I made for Michael a while back, as did Joy when I talked to her on IM later. Hm.

Got some interest for collaboration from a few other Etsy sellers...I'm getting in touch with them to find out what they're looking for. It's very exciting! I'm also working on some stuff for withAUGUST in my spare time...ha, spare time.

I do believe that I need to be doing more sleeping, however.

I've also found that I am increasingly encouraged by the feedback I'm getting as well as the pace of Etsy...since I'm talking to people and drumming up business (quite unintentionally, but it's just working out that way) it's forcing me to create, but instead of it being a chore it's exciting and fun again. I don't feel isolated any more! It's also encouraging me to create MORE, and I've started thinking a lot about creating actual art and not just cunning craft projects. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy making things that are attractive and functional, but I've started thinking bigger. Quality instead of quantity. I wonder where I could go with that?

In any case, it's exciting.

Easily distracted.

2006-02-28T20:21:00.000-05:00

Ever since I've gotten on this Etsy kick I have been extremely busy. Aside from my full-time job and take care of/hanging out with kidlet, a lot of midnight oil has been burned at my house.

My shop isn't taking off like gangbusters, but I've had a few little sales so that's encouraging. Best of all, I've met a lot of cool crafty types on the site and have made a few trades, which I almost like better than money. I've traded for soap, lotion, and cloth menstrual pads.

The most amusing thing is that my most popular items are my tea blends, and I only added those because I thought it might be cool to have them there and they're fun to make - I'm already tossing something together nearly every day. Who knew? Last night I had to go to the co-op to get more herbs...I'm starting to think I might need to inquire about buying wholesale because between what I'm selling, what I'm drinking and what I give away to friends, I go through stuff like peppermint and nettle really quickly.

I've requested catalogs from Frontier Organics and Associated Buyers, so if there's anyone out there interested in forming a buying club to get a discount, let me know. I'm going to see if buying through the co-op or setting up my own account with the vendors is the most cost-effective.

Now I'm encouraged to make a few new blends and offer a sampler pack or something. For everyone that has bought my tea, I'm including samples of the other blends I offer to try and entice them. Since I didn't think tea would be popular, I wasn't prepared and have had to use plastic ziplock bags...serviceable but not very pretty. Last night I found a distributor that sells some pretty cheap muslin and organza bags with drawstrings and I placed a minimum order to see if I like them. I really like the organza colors...they're not exactly organic or even a natural fiber, but they look cool. Maybe I'll put the muslin bags inside of them? I got some in Moss Green, Old Willow, Rose, and Toffee.

With all of this reinforcement I'm seriously thinking about taking my tea on the road and selling at local farmer's markets this Summer. Would that not be cool? I could have a hot pot with me and let people try something out before committing to buy it.

I absolutely must give a quick shout-out to Joy, whose Kaleidoscope rainbow-dyed yarn made the front page of Etsy this morning! Woo hoo! If you want to see it you'd better go quick, because I'm positive it will sell in no time.

Etsy front page
Joy's yarn, in case it sells

Among the Etsy crowd being featured on the front page is a big deal, so booyah for her!

EDIT: Someone bought the yarn! Yaaaay! I'm so thrilled for her!

The latest thing I've been working on craftwise are flannel wipes. Last Summer I made a metric ton of the things for around the house, and at one point bought a bunch more flannel to make more. It occurred to me not long ago that we have enough flannel wipes to last us pretty much forever. We use them for Michael's diaper changes, as washcloths, napkins, cleaning the kitchen, you name it.

Anyway, I asked if anyone thought there would be a market for flannel wipes and got great feedback - even funnier, people seemed enthusasitc about custom embroidery. Therefore, I bring you...

Flannel wipes, standard:

and flannel wipes, embroidered:

Oh, I crack myself up.

Get it? Ha!

That's actually one of my first attempts at embroidery, at least words, and I'm pretty happy with how they came out. I have enough cloth cut out at home to make at least a few dozen more wipes, if not more. I've made up a bunch of sets of standard ones without embroidery that are cheaper, the "Butt" ones are more of a novelty. I've already got a trade in the works for Butt wipes. Go figure!

Knittin'

2006-02-14T01:40:00.000-05:00

Ok, ready for some yarn pr0n? Check it out!

Made the Flora hat a few months ago, still haven't added the flowers, though. This is that crazy Louisa Harding yarn that feels weird to knit, but the finished result really is quite cool.

Here's a picture from the book of the Bzzz Hat For Queen Bees:

I searched high and low to find just the right yarn to fit this project, and it took a while but I was successful. This hat is turning out to be a lot larger and floppier than I had expected, but I don't think it looks half bad.

(Please excuse the angle - it's really hard to take a picture of yourself while bending your neck down and to the side at the same time to show the top of your head.)

It might look done, but here's the secret escape hatch!

I also looked for a long time to find the right buttons - metal, hand painted, small, unique. I love these things though they cost me an arm and a leg ($3 apiece, yipes!):

These are the mittens I've been working on (well, one mitten) using that Korall Fancy I found on sale. I love this stuff. It sucks that this yarn is discontinued. Figures.

Modeling my mostly-done mitten is Hermie the Dress Dummy, who also happens to have articulated hands, which I think is amazingly cool. He also has some water damage, obtained before he came to live with me, one of these days I'll get around to recovering him:

I wanted to make a stocking cap for Jenn's baby, Katy. Except I thought I was soooo smart and would use circular needles instead of straight needles, and then I misread the pattern and some wacky-ass decreasing mishap occurred and I ended up with this:

It certainly won't fit Katy - maybe I'll Etsy it.

Here's the stocking cap, second attempt. I've got it all knit up, I'm about halfway done weaving in the ends, the bane of my existance, then I'll sew it up. Bleah. I much prefer working in the round because I'm lazy. It's going to be dang cute, though.

Last but not least, a test pattern for a teensy weensy blankie on size 3s for a certain someone :)

New knitting friend!

2006-02-08T19:11:00.000-05:00

Today's been a good day - first, I got in touch with a woman who works nearby and arranged to meet her at JavaNet for lunch knitting! I was really nervous to meet her, and even now I have some worries as she's psychologist...though she says she doesn't work over lunch so hopefully she doesn't think I'm crazy. Anyway, she turned out to be really nice, we had so much to talk about! She has a 14-month old son who is just so adorable, so we even have the young child thing in common. What a trip! We've arranged to meet again on Thursday and will probably make it a regular thing 1-2 times a week. We even talked about getting together on the weekend! How cool would that be? I wonder if she'd come up to my house and I could get my SIL to come watch the kids?

I'm ready to pimp myself out.

2006-02-06T20:47:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned previously, I set up an Etsy store to see if there's an interest in my arts and crafts projects that are threatening to overtake my house.

To start, I dug out the container holding the seed bead bracelets and necklaces that I made way back when - 2001, I think? There are also some Chipmunkats and a couple of candle holders. I really, really like all these things, but the bald honest truth is that I just don't have the room to keep everything.

I posted about 1/3 of the beaded items online, I need another evening where I can take pictures and post the rest. In the meantime, though, it's a start!

I welcome any comments.

My Etsy Shop

Peace out.

Knitting and Etsy

2006-02-01T19:59:00.000-05:00

I haven't talked about my knitting escapades in a while, mostly because with our living room in turmoil I haven't had the time or desire to take pictures and post them. I'll get to it soon.

Last year I found some fantastic Laines du Nord Korall Fancy at a local yarn shop and picked up a bunch of colors along with some of their coordinating solids. I had NO idea what to do with it, though, so it sat for a time. Then it occurred to me that one can always use mittens, and I was totally jonesing to try out the warmest mittens mitten pattern I found online. My mother always made two-needle mittens, meaning she would knit them flat and then sew up the outsides and the fingertips. I don't like the squared-off look of most two-needle mitten patterns. I was looking for a pattern knitted in the round, traditional looking and not knit in huge yarn on huge needles.

I decided to try the Korall color 1212 and see how it worked up - it looks fantastic! I used slightly smaller needles than I think I should have, only because the yarn is chunky and the pattern calls for worsted. The result is a very dense fabric that still has a decent amount of flex. I've finished the body of one mitten and it's a bit form-fitting across my fingers, which actually I don't mind. I still have to make the thumb. I'm very pleased with how it came out.

I'm also nearly done with the Bzzz Hat for Queen Bees (that picture is someone else's hat, not mine) and I'm very happy with how it's coming out. I got a fantastic yarn for it, I searched for a while to find just the right shade of gold/orange/yellow and then the bee buttons that I scrounged all over heaven and earth to find. (they had to metal, had to be painted, had to be small...I'm picky that way). I think I've got probably about ten more rows and then it's finished, but I got to the point I had to switch from the circular needle to double-pointed needles and my dpns are in another project right now so OMGBBQ!!!!!11eleventyone!!!1!

Yeah, I've had too much coffee today. Excuse me.

*drinks huge tumbler of water*

Ah. moving on...

At the suggestion of a friend, I checked out Etsy and decided to set up my own little store. There's nothing in it, yet, but very soon I plan to add the backlog of things around my house that I've made and have no immediate use for. I have a Tupperware bowl full of beaded necklaces from, what, 2000? I also have a bunch of sewn things, some knitted and crocheted tidbits, and who knows what else. I made a bunch of little animals out of Fimo, too, I just remembered that.

But I've started thinking about all sorts of things I can put up there that would be fun to make - for instance, every xmas (before kidlet) I would make my own handmade holiday cards. It was a lot of fun and I would always get comments from people thinking I bought them in some froufrou shop. So hey, why not sell them? I can make one and put a photo of it online, then make as many as needed as I sell them. God knows I already have all of the materials to make probably a gross of cards (no, really, no joke) so it's not like I'd have to go buy anything new.

I'll be sure to pimp my store once I get some actual inventory in it. I'm excited about this prospect.

Soupy knitty booky nerdy

2006-01-23T19:33:00.000-05:00

Wow, how neat. I went out for lunch to the local internet cafe where they have some comfy couches and chairs that are perfect for parking and knitting. I've gone there a handful of times, now, and the only actual foody-food they serve is soup, which changes daily, and bagels, if you count those. Other than that they have coffee, tea, and lots of baked goods and other sweets. I've found that their soup of the day has been consistently excellent, today I had Thai Chicken with Rice. It tasted something like panang curry, I'll bet I could replicate it easily. Only I'd put in tons of basil for greens instead of bell peppers. I could live on panang curry - honestly.

*drools*

Anyway.

I sat at a stool in the front window to eat my soup and noticed two young women sitting in the comfy section knitting! OMG! I got so excited I nearly fell off my stool. I tried not to rush while eating my delicious soup, telling myself that they would still be there in ten minutes. Then I started to worry. What should I do? Should I knit in my seat there at the window and hope they call me over? Plunk right down on an adjacent couch and introduce myself? I wasn't certain, and as I've mentioned I am so very painfully shy that these sorts of decisions are major stress.

I screwed up my courage and decided to walk right over there like I did this every day. So I did! I went over and said, "Hi, I noticed you were knitting so I thought I'd come over and knit, too." One of the women was sort of lukewarm and didn't seem completely thrilled by my dropping in, but the other was very open and friendly. We chatted, starting with the requisite "What are you working on?" and things like that. She asked me a lot a questions, which always puts me at ease as I find it easy to answer queries because they make me feel that the person is at least marginally interested. I asked some questions, too, and the conversation was pretty comfortable. The other girl didn't say much but I didn't let it get me paranoid.

After a few minutes it came out that the woman I was talking to was the same one that had put a sign in the window of the coffee house about a book club she was starting up. I had seen this sign in December and put her number in my cell phone, meaning to call her to ask about it but ultimately chickening out. I said, "Are you book club Jen?" to which she replied, "Yes!" How cool! She showed me the book they were reading for this month, I took down the title and author and wrote the date of the next meeting.

She asked me if I was part of the Portland Stitch n'Bitch to which I replied I wasn't, but that I had been in contact with a few of the members online and hoped to attend sometime. Maybe I'll go and then encourage her to come, too! I haven't gone to any of the SnB meetings yet as they're not always held in town so I can't always make it - perhaps I will make a special effort to go the next time they're in the Old Port, just to get out and see some new people. That would be a nice opportunity for Katie to see little Michael, too, maybe she would be willing to watch him while I attend, or Michael and kidlet can visit her at the same time. Hmm.

I feel great this afternoon - what a nice surprise, and a window of hope - I may have just found a new friend, with the possibility of meeting more new friends in the Portland area. I hope things work out. For now I'm all giddy.

Wednesday.

2005-12-28T22:17:00.000-05:00

I've been knitting again - trying out the Flora hat again, this time using the proper yarn. It's a very weird yarn, as it's made up primarily of a cord made of polyamid (nylon) that reminds me of shiny embroidery floss, wrapped with a fuzzy strand of mohair and bound with a single thin black strand of nylon. The colors are fantastic, and after getting used to knitting with a novelty yarn, it's not too hard to work. I also started another smaller hat out of the remainder of that skein of Manos, probably for kidlet.

I so want another three-hour block to knit uninterrupted. Maybe Michael will drive so I can knit on the way to CT this weekend, and after that we can resume our babysitting/DnD tradeoff on Saturdays. My stomach gets all giddy just thinking about it.

Oops

2005-12-14T21:50:00.000-05:00

I started a new knitting project.

*hangs head*

But there's a REASON! Really!

I have a need for a hat with earflaps. Walking over a mile a day in biting wind makes this altogether clear...my current hat doesn't pull down far enough over my big fat head.

Last night I was online and saw all these people selling the apparently infamous Jayne Cobb hat. Not knowing what this was, I did some research and discovered it's modeled after a prop from the Firefly series. It's a rather cunning hat, I must admit.

Now, it's tempting to whip up a bunch of these myself as they're selling for lots o' $$$, but I'll start with making one for me because I need a bigger hat with flaps.

I was also wondering what to do with my crazy skein of Manos Del Uruguay (that's the color, though mine has more orange than yellow) and it came to me what to use it on!

So that's what I'm doing.

What's next? Who knows?

:)

Gah. GAH!!!!! (now with more gah)

2005-12-07T20:15:00.000-05:00

What is wrong with this picture? Other than the fact it's a hat that's not sewn up yet.

Here, let me give you a hint.

I MADE A FRIGGIN BEANIE.

I haven't worked on this damned thing for more than 30 minutes at a time, and it shows. I just finished off the pattern and thought, "That's it?" Then I actually READ the pattern and realized I had COMPLETELY MISSED the part that says to knit in stockinette stitch until the piece is three inches long BEFORE starting the shaping decreases.

So I made my hat, oh, three inches TOO SHORT.

Damn damn and double damn.

I can't frog this yarn, it just falls apart from the stress. I'm stuck with a really shishi hat that will fit a Cabbage Patch Kid.

Gah.

GAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*sigh*

I'll make myself feel better with some cute pictures of the kid I took tonight.

"Look, Mommy! Michael play 'tar!" (he's obsessed with guitars lately)

Showing me his nervous vibrating bunny

In other crafting news, there are a couple of things I DID do right. I mentioned that I made two more mobius scarves using that Landscapes yarn...here they are.

This one's for Katie in Spring Desert, first as a cowl/earwarmer:

(like my jammies?)

Then as a scarf:

Then as a totally kicky hat:

(okay, I was kidding about the last one)

This is the one I made for myself in Rose Garden. I love this color:

It's so warm! It's been getting a workout the last couple of days.

I should churn these babies out for $20 apiece. Any takers?

I am yarn ninja!

Tuesday!

2005-12-06T12:01:00.000-05:00

I finished that second mobius scarf in the car this morning, it's nice and warm and I love the colors. So far I've made the one in Malabrigo Purple Mystery, one in Landscapes Spring Desert (for Katie for xmas), and one in Rose Garden for me. I love the Rose Garden, and would like to get my hands on a couple of skeins of Coral Reef if I can find it. Being a yarn snob I'm not a fan of many Lion Brand yarns, but this one I really do like. I want to try felting it to see what it looks like since it's so thick. Works up very quickly, so it's a lot of fun and instant gratification. I feel a little bad temporarily abandoning my Flora Hat, which was what I was doing while temporarily abandoning the entrelac scarf, and of course I have a pair of mittens to finish too. Sigh.

This weekend I'm hoping to get some time to sew up some of the little xmas ornaments I cut out - the folksy stars and trees I mentioned in an entry a week or so ago. I have lots of cool buttons to use on them and all I have to do is find my bag of fiber fill. I'll take pictures, of course, should I actually manage to complete any of them.

Louisa Harding - wow!

2005-11-29T12:02:00.000-05:00

I finished that purple scarf for my Secret Santa recipient, and I love how it came out. I decided not to give it a half twist before joining it as it's made out of a worsted weight yarn and skinnier, so it's just a big rubber band, more or less...I like it this way. I tried it out and it's going to be very warm and snuggly. Now I just hope my recipient isn't allergic to wool!

I'm still plugging away on Entrelac, though I'm not feeling the burning need to do it that I once did. Sure, I'll finish it, but it's much more fun to dream up and start on other projects. I'm so bad. I need to finish some things before starting others.

Anyway, TK brought me to a keen yarn store that had a lot of wonderful things. I had to restrain myself, and even with doing so spent more than I really should have.

I discovered a wonderful book of accessories by Louisa Harding called A Gathering of Roses, and the yarns in her line are just beautiful. From the book I picked up I plan to make the lace scarf and the Flora hat out of the same Kimono Angora yarn (the color used in the scarf, #1 on the color card). I've never knitted lace before, so of course was motoring through the purple scarf so I could start playing with my new yarn!

The hat:

I wish I could get a closeup of the scarf, it is really pretty:

Yarn color:

2005-11-29T12:01:00.000-05:00

In knitting news, I started on the scarf, got about 15 rows into it, then screwed it up. I couldn't figure out where I made a mistake and while I was picking at it the yarn broke, so I frogged it and started over. The yarn brokw twice while casting on so I said "forget this" and started on the hat instead as it's a very simple pattern. Learning to be very, very gentle with laceweight wool/angora yarn. The hat is working up ridiculously quickly, it's just a basic pattern and the flowers are added afterward. I'm thinking of adapting the pattern for use with some of the other wool yarn I have kicking around the house.

After that I went to the yarn store, the used bookstore, and the button store (don't we all need a trip to the button store now and again?) in Freeport on the way home. I took a very long way around but it was a nice drive. I was actually hoping to put the kidlet to sleep, which he did eventually. He of course woke up when I tried to put him down, so I decided to keep his cranky ass up so he would go to bed at a somewhat normal time. Dad came home, we had dinner, took a bath, read books, blew bubbles, folded laundry, played with kidlet's toy farmhouse, nursed while watching TBL, put kidlet to bed, and now I'm here taking pictures of yarn.

Speaking of which, here is the completed Purple Thing:

Zee Palest Woman in Zee Univerz Prezents:

Eet ees a scarf without zee tailz...

Und eet ees a cowl-hood type zing!

(ai! zee greazy hair)

Here's the progress on the hat after ~2 hours:

The yarn, eet ees verry fuzzy:

Munchie has a new favorite hangout spot.

(don't all my books make me look smrt?)
(oh, those phone cords on the floor...for some reason I'm embarrassed because I don't notice them normally)

Amber has one, too...

Beat it, I am trying to get my beauty rest.

Wicked long entry about yarn and knitting etc.

2005-11-21T12:01:00.000-05:00

Come, my lovelies. Gather 'round, as we're going to talk about knitting.

Whenever I post pictures of my latest project(s), I always get a bunch of notes either asking questions or bemoaning the fact that the noteleavers don't know how to knit, but wish they could. Let me tell you right now that knitting is easy - so easy, in fact, that anyone can do it. Honestly. Don't get all impressed with me, because even my knowledge of the world of knitting is extremely limited and my skills only mediocre. No joke.

I learned to knit back when I was very wee, and plugged away at it for a while before giving it up. I just recently picked it back up a couple of years ago, and since then I've just practiced, practiced, practiced. I do have a few tips I can impart based on my own knowlege, however.

(Please keep in mind that I may not be 100% correct in everything I say, so please take with a grain of salt.)

1. Treat yourself to high-quality yarn and needles.
Sure, it might seem like it would be smarter and more cost-effective to start with something cheap just to get the hang of it, then graduate to something better later, but honestly, who has the time to knit something that they're not going to want anyway? I started off with cheapass acrylic yarn and cheapie bamboo needles. BIG MISTAKE. It was so hard to slide that craptastic yarn over the needles that my stitches were horrendously tight, my hands got cramped up, and the tip of my right index finger was red and blistered from pushing the needle back through stitches. At some point I wised up and got some aluminum needles, which worked a lot better with acrylic yarn, but it still wasn't smooth.

After working on a number of pieces I came to the realization that if I was going to spend the time and effort, I'd much rather be working with yarn I actually liked. That, and having the right needle makes all the difference. I picked up my first skein of Brown Sheep worsted and immediately felt the difference. I chucked the bamboo needles because they sucked, and became an aluminum convert. Recently I was pointed toward birch needles, which I have found to be even better - they have *just* enough grab to hold the yarn, but smooth enough to let it slide evenly while working. The needles themselves warm up as you use them and feel wonderful in the hand.

At the time I discovered birch needles, I was trying to use Noro Silk Garden on aluminum needles. That was a disaster - the aluminum needles were so slick that I was constantly dropping stitches off of them. I was working on the entrelac scarf that I'm nearly finished with, I've put a bunch of pictures up already, so had multiple squares on the needle at the same time. Dropping any of them was terribly complicated to handle. The birch needles grab the silk/wool blend just enough that I don't have to worry about losing my work while turning it.

There are also some really nice metal needles made by Addi Turbo, and I have a few of those, too...they're great for smaller yarns such as those for baby items or socks. Some people prefer them for all projects. The idea is to find the needle that works best for you, depending on the material you're using. I can definitely say that plastic needles aren't worth it, I have never liked working with those.

Now, on to yarn. Let me be blunt: Don't use cheap acrylic yarn. Sure, there are lots of synthetic yarns out there that are perfectly nice. I'm talking about the HomeTrends/Red Heart variety. Yes, they're cheap. That's exactly it. You get what you pay for. Last year I made Katie a scarf out of Red Heart Light & Lofty which worked up fast, looked nice, and was very warm. I recently saw that scarf after one season of normal use and it looked like a matted mangy dog. I'm so embarrassed. Sure, it was only $3 a skein, and now I know why. Those rough, squeaky, craptastic yarns are only going to result in a rough, squeaky, craptastic product, so please, please do not waste your time.

As an aside - when I went to craft shows this year, I saw many grannies selling mittens and hats and scarves and all that good granny stuff. Not a single solitary item was made with natural fiber, it looked like tables and tables of Red Heart all around. It made me so sad, because all of those items signified hours and hours of hard work, only to be made with something sub-par. Perhaps this makes me a yarn snob, but I don't know. Why bother if you're not going to do it right? My mother was able to find 100% acrylic yarns for kidlet's sweaters that turned out to be very soft and lovely, so it just goes to show that not all yarn is created equal. Spend the extra couple of bucks and get something nice. You'll thank yourself for it. Why not practice on something you'll actually ENJOY later?

2. Get a good book.
Since many of us are self-taught, or are not able to get access to experienced knitters to help us, or even if we are, inevitably we'll run into a problem at 1am that we need to puzzle out before going to bed. Having a good book, or multiple books, makes this process much less painless. Not to mention, I find that I learn best by tackling and figuring out a problem myself.

Whatever books you choose, make sure they have good diagrams. Look at them carefully and be sure that you can tell what the descriptions are talking about in the pictures. Also, look for books that maybe have a few basic patterns that don't take horrendously complicated materials, so you can get some satisfaction out of actually completing something. It's also important to have a book that can help you figure out things like yardage, content, gauge, needle sizes, yarn weight, etc., for making substitutions in patterns.

I have a few recommendations that I'll list at the end of this entry. Personally, I have a number of knitting books, and I find that each one has something explained a particular way that's better than the others or a method that the others don't have. Being a book collector, I enjoy having my little library.

3. Don't get frustrated.
It's so easy to get frustrated and quit. Don't! Figure out what is frustrating you and make changes if necessary. When I found I was pulling all of my stitches so tightly that I could barely get my needle into them, I realized that I had to loosen up. I got nicer yarn, slipperier needles, and consciously told myself to be loose until I could get my gauge under control. Once I did that, it was a matter of time before I was knitting much more relaxed and not having any trouble. Don't get annoyed and let it stop you, just take a break and then get back to it.

4. Keep it simple (and free).
Pick something easy to start with, like a scarf or a potholder. You can find a whole ton of free patterns online that can get you started. Choose something that calls for worsted weight yarn and a stanadard size needle, anything from 7-9 is pretty easy to handle for the beginner. Don't try to start with anything complicated as you'll only overwhelm yourself.

5. Learn to read yarn labels, specifically yarn weight and gauge.
I can't stress this enough. It was somewhat confusing for me at first, I think because I have a hard time grasping that sort of concept being non-mathematically inclined, but once I figured out weight and gauge it made my life SO much easier. On the side of a skein of yarn you'll see a bunch of information, all of it important. Content, first of all, which is pretty self-explanatory, washing instructions, also self-explanatory, then some stuff that might include symbols like a pair of needles crossed and a square with arrows in it, and a bunch of info about yardage and weight. This is crucial to understand so you don't end up not having enough of a certain color or knit the wrong size.

In front of me right now I have a skein of Treliske Organic Merino, so I'll use that as an example.

Let's look at the front of the label:

Here you see the name of the yarn, and in this case, that it's an 8-ply yarn. Knowing the number of plys isn't necessarily important, though it can give you an idea of how pilly the resulting fabric is likely to be. A 100% wool yarn with plies tends to be more pilly than a 100% wool yarn that's only one ply. This skein is 50g. Depending on the weight of the yarn, some patterns will call for yardage, while others will call for so much yarn based on weight. The assumption is that at a particular gauge, a yarn will have the same weight/yardage ratio.

Now let's look at one side:

This tells you what it's made out of, and blends will give you a percentage ratio (e.g. "20% mohair, 80% merino wool"). The number you see printed sideways is what's called the dye lot, in this case it's 18825. Each lot of yarn that's dyed is assigned a number and you can be reasonably assured that all yarn from the same lot will match. This is especially important with colored yarns. When you need more than one skein of a particular color, make sure you get all of your skeins from the same dye lot or you might see variations in shade or hue in your finished project. For some projects this won't matter, but for most it will.

Last but not least, the stuff that confused me the most:

First, let's start with the crossed needles. This is a symbol that tells you what the "standard" size needle is for use with this particular yarn. It also tells you the needle to use to get the listed gauge (which I will talk about next). This yarn calls for a US size 4 needle, or a UK size 6 MM. Unless I'm mistaken, and I did some research in my books and online to verify, but that UK needle size seems wrong. A UK size 6 needle doesn't exist, and a 6 mm needle is actually a US size 10. Anyone able to shed some light on this for me? In any case, it has the US size needle which is all I'm concerned with, and you who use the metric system can always convert the US size to UK.

**EDIT: Ah ha! I got the following note:
The label on the merina says US size 6 needles, which are 4.0 mm. :)
Durr, just like me to only read left-to-right. Thanks for the correction!

The gauge is denoted by the square. Some yarns have it listed differently and I'll find an example to show you. In this example, however, it reads that for a 10cm x 10cm square of stockinette stitch (knit one row, purl one row; your classic "sweater" fabric) will contain approximately 28 rows and 20 stitches on size 4 knitting needles. Many US patterns dictate gauge in swatches that are 4 inches wide, so you'll have to do some quick math to estimate that 2 stitches per centimeter equals approximately 5-6 stitches per inch (as 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters), or 20-21 stitches per 4" swatch.

Confused yet? :) The bottom line is, if you're making something that requires gauge (such as a garment that's not a scarf), you'll need to know how many stitches per inch your yarn makes. This is dependent on the yarn, the needle, and you, but I'll get to that later. Think "stitches per inch" and you'll be fine.

Beneath that is the length of the skein, which in this case is 101 meters or 110 yards. Many patterns call for X number of yards of yarn, so it's important to know that you have enough.

Washing instructions under that, these are written out so it's easy to understand.

Now, I'm going to show you a couple of other yarn labels, because depending on the manufacturer and the country in which the yarn is produced, labels can look very different.

This is the yarn from which I am making the entrelac scarf that I've been working on entirely too long now:

Unless you read Japanese, all you can tell from this label is the name and that it's made in Japan. And their website address, if you'd like to go and ogle more of their yarn online (yum).

Looking at the back of the label, however, is a whole different story.

As you can see, there's a lot of stuff to figure out. We'll start at the top.

First, we see the name of the yarn. The brand is Noro, but this type is Silk Garden. Noro makes a ton of varietes of yarn. Under that, we see the color number and the dye lot. Noro's yarns are often stripey and variegated, but it's still important to get the same dye lot for a project. Since it's hard to tell one color from another on sight, the color number comes into play. This is color 211 and the dye lot is A.

Under Quality we can see the content of the yarn. This yarn contains 45% silk, 45% kid mohair, and 10% lamb's wool. There's something written in Japanese above it that has different percentages, and I'm assuming that they just lump mohair and lamb's wool into the same descriptor.

Moving on, under Standard state we have information on weight, length, number of stitches per inch, and needle size. This is where powers of conversion (or carrying a handy chart with you) come into play. Most yarns are weighed in grams, so 50 grams is pretty standard. However, we in the States are used to calculating things by yardage so it'll be necessary to know how many yards 100 meters comes out to be (if we use the Treliske as comparison, it's about 110 yards).

Below that, the notation "8 ~ 10" stands for the number of stitches, I think. Again, I'm not sure. I'm also not sure if it means between 8 and 10 stitches per 10 centimeters, or 4 inches, or what. The variation in this number is due to the variation in yarn widths - this type of yarn has thicker and thinner sections as part of its makeup. This gauge is for 4.5 - 5.1mm needles, which translates to US size 7 or 8. The scarf I'm making is on US size 8 needles, and I average 5 stitches per inch. Then again, it might be denoting the US needle size as 8 ~ 10, and the size in mm under that, though they're not converted exactly. If anyone knows for sure, please educate me. All I need to know is that it appears to be close to a worsted weight yarn (more on that later) and that I'll use a size 7 needle. Most patterns calling for Noro yarns denote yardage, anyway.

Under all that are the washing instructions, which are little symbols in this case. THe first one, the beaker with the X through it, I have NO idea what that means. Maybe that it's not chemically treated? Beats me. The next one, the circle with the wave through it, denotes washing temperature, but since it's in Japanese I once again have no idea. However since it's a wool yarn, I'd assume that you'd only want to hand wash in cool to lukewarm water. The next one, an F with a circle around it, denotes that it is acceptable to dry clean with flourocarbon or petroleum-based solvents only. The next one states under it in English "Prohibit Bleach" so that's self-explanatory. As are the other three, "Iron on low degree", the single dash mark in the iron means cool iron (there can be between one and three dots or dashes for cool, warm, and hot, or an X through it for yarn that cannot be pressed at all). The P with the circle means that it can be dry cleaned with perchlorethylene or flourocarbon or petroleum-based solvents only, making the F symbol sort of unnecessary. The last says "Do not tumble dry". Never put woolen items in the dryer, or you'll run the risk of shirinking or felting them. Unless you're making a felted item, in which case go to town!

Then there are the yarn labels that make you fly by the seat of your pants:

Here you have brand, name, some codes, and some info.

C:30, DL: 9/13/05-1 stands for color #30, and the dye lot is denoted by date and a number, here 9/30/05, lot 1.

Under that you're told the number of yards, which is 215, the approximate weight of 3.5 ounces, and note that this yarn has a lot more yardage in relation to weight as it's a very fluffy and light yarn. It then tells you that you should expect to get 4.5 stitches per inch, and that the yarn is a worsted weight. There are places you can find yarn weights and their approximate sizes, either online or in a book. The only thing this label doesn't tell you is what needle size is used to achieve the listed gauge. In looking on malabrigo's website, however, they do list this yarn's gauge at "Gauge: 4.5 stitches per inch, Needle size 7-9". There you go.

Last but not least, you have content and their url.

This yarn label leaves a lot to be interpreted, but after working with yarn long enough you'll get to know what you're doing. Being a fluffy 100% wool yarn, I know that this should only be hand-washed and laid flat to dry as it would shrink very quickly if subjected to hot water and/or a dryer and/or an iron. Most wool yarns should optimally be hand-washed and laid flat to dry, blocking the item slightly so it dries in the right shape.

So, you got all that? I realize it's confusing at first, but if you make it a habit to read up on gauge and get to know your needles it'll become clearer for you.

Cast on and bind off using two needles.
Most people have the tendency to cast on rather tightly, and this can result in a very tight first row. That means your scarf will have one teeny weeny end that gets bigger as you go, or your glove won't fit right at the cuff, or a myriad of other problems. This can easily be remedied by using both of your needles while casting on (or, if you desire, just use a larger size needle for casting on, e.g. if you're knitting with size 7 needles, cast on using a 9 or 10). The same thing when you bind off - use two needles or a larger needle to be sure you don't pull the last stitches too tight. You'll save yourself a lot of heartache with this simple tip.

7. Knit a swatch before each project.
I mentioned earlier that gauge also depends on your personal knitting technique. If you pull your yarn tightly, your gauge will be smaller than that of someone who pulls their yarn loosely. This is why it is essential when making anything sized (such as a garment) that you knit a swatch so you know what your personal gauge is. Two people knitting with the same yarn on the same size needles could have totally different sized swatches, or, one person could even have different gauges, especially if working on different projects simultaneously that use varied materials.

Knit a swatch using the needles and yarn called for in the pattern, usually 20 stitches wide and at least 20 rows long to get a good idea. Look at your pattern to see how many stitches per inch it calls for (there's that mantra again, "Stitches per inch"), and then use a measuring tape in one of the center rows of your swatch. If you match perfectly, good for you! If you don't (as many of us don't), adjust your needle size up or down to get the desired gauge. Maybe you knit really loose and need a smaller needle, or you pull your stitches tight and need a larger needle. Ideally you should knit another swatch and measure again until you get the right gauge. Me, I'm not that exacting...I guesstimate and move on from there. When you're just starting out, though, your gauge might be all over the place until you practice enough to find your happy medium, so try to be as careful as possible until you know your own technique.

8. Have fun!
This is most important. Knit things that make you happy. If you don't like a yarn, or needle, or halfway through a project you decide you hate what you're making, change something! You can always unravel something you've made and re-use the yarn later. It sucks to lose your hard work, but it sucks more to work even harder and hate the result.

Here is a list of books and websites I like to use for my own knitting pleasure:

Books
1. Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Knitting: This book is great for reading up on needle sizes, yarn labels, yarn weights, and a bunch of basic techniques. There are also a variety of patterns from basic to advanced to try out. The entrelac scarf I'm making is from this book. A great overall reference book.
2. Stitch N' Bitch and Stitch N' Bitch Nation: I like these books because they explain things in a casual, easily-understood language that's great for the beginning knitter. They also have a bunch of cute, fun, easy projects to get started on.

These three books are the ones I probably refer to the most and would recommend to those starting out.

Websites
1. Lion Brand Yarns: This website has a wealth of free patterns for knitting and crocheting. Some of them are butt-ugly, but there are enough nice and easy ones to make it worthwhile. They also send out a newsletter that often contains handy tips.
2. Knitty: This is a great website. Every quarter they have an online e-zine full of reader-submitted patterns, and you can find a variety of fun projects to work on from easy to difficult. They also have a good reference section as well as a message board where you can go to ask questions of other knitters. A great resource.
3. Google: How else can I say this? If you want free patterns, Google it. You can find damned near anything with Google and this is my first stop when I want to make a certain something or have a question.

Yarns
1. Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted: This is a great yarn to get started with, and a great all-around worsted weight for just about any project. It's a smooth one-ply that's easy to work with and slightly stiff so it holds up great while trying to get technique down. Highly recommend it.
2. malabrigo Merino Wool: My newest favorite, this yarn works up so easily and quickly that I think it would be perfect for beginners. At $10-$12 for 215 yards, also a reasonable price for this beautiful yarn.

Needles
1. Brittany: Birch knitting needles and crochet hooks. I know I've been raving about them incessantly lately, but only because they are that nice. I can get them from $7-$9 at my local yarn store. Very easy to work with and worth every penny.
2. Addi Turbo: A fast needle that I prefer for small gauge yarn. Nice and smooth and clickety click fast.

I think that should be enough to get folks started who have been sitting on the fence - let me know if you have questions.

Actually, I was thinking tonight about starting a knit-along with interested OD folks...what I'd do is put together packages containing a set of Brittany needles ($7), a skein of malabrigo ($10.50), and a very simple pattern (free). Then we'd all knit it up together! Does that sound like something you might be interested in? If so, leave me a note with your email address and I'll get in touch with you with more details.

In other news, I saw some cute ornaments the other day at a craft fair that looked insanely easy to make, plus they use up cloth scraps and mismatched yet interesting buttons that one is loathe to get rid of. I, of course, immediately thought of Joy and her jars of hoarded buttons. This might be a good way to use some up in a manner that they'll be preserved. I know my mom has boxes of buttons that were HER mother's stashed away at her house somewhere, too.

It's simple - a small piece of cloth sewn into a star or tree shape, stuffed, and then buttons are tacked on using embroidery thread. The result is fluffy quilty-looking very country kitchy ornaments. I want to make a whole bunch to give as gifts. After seeing them, I went to the car and jotted down this quick sketch so I wouldn't forget:

Pretty self explanatory.

Last but not least, I wanted to share the progress I've made on the malabrigo scarf in just a few hours. It really works up fast-fast-fast and so far I'm loving it!

Also, I wanted to show you how far I've gotten on that entrelac scarf...after my mom died I put it down for a time, and recently only have had spare moments to work on it. I really want to get it done so I can use it this winter, though, so I've started picking away at it again. What you see there are the remains of skein #3, just one more to go after this. As you can tell, this thing is HUGE. It's more a shawl than a scarf, and I am so looking forward to wrapping myself up in it.

Okay, that's all the yarn porn for now. Go take a cold shower.

(Hehehe...only 2558 characters left.)

I'm a nerd.

2005-11-19T12:02:00.000-05:00

Speaking of Thanksgiving, Michael has a huge rollout that's coming due December 3rd, so he has to work lots of extra time getting data converted before Thanksgiving. What that means is he won't be able to go to CT until Thursday morning at the earliest. Which sucks. I'm seriously considering driving down on Tuesday night with the kidlet as we had originally planned, or Wednesday morning at the latest. Why, you ask? This is so nerdy - I've been talking to TK and she's invited me to go to her knitting group on Wednesday night! Eeee! I've never been to an actual knitting group before and I am so chomping at the bit. So much, in fact, that I'm considering making the four-hour drive to and from CT in my own car just to do it. Michael and his sister would drive down in his car on Thursday morning, then when we went home we'd be in separate vehicles. I really don't like that part. Then again, I don't feel at all comfortable taking the bus with kidlet and borrowing my MIL's car. Sigh. Oh, hell, I don't know. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that maybe by some grace of all that is warm and fuzzy that Michael is able to wrap up everything he has to do and we can leave on Wednesday after all.

I'm such a nerd!

Speaking of knitting, I went to the yarn store today to pick up some Brittanys that I need for the mobius scarf (still waiting on the yarn from Joann, grumble). I got a pair of 13s, a set of dp 13s, and a pair of 5s for another project. I love those damned needles, they are so awesome. Can I say it again? SO AWESOME. I was going on and on about them and Michael said, "Couldn't we just get you a complete set of every size?" I nearly wet myself, then calmed down and explained to him just how many sets of needles that would be: single points in ten sizes in two lengths, then double points in ten sizes in two lengths, and that's not even taking into account duplicates I'd need for popular needle sizes, and crochet hooks, and I don't even know if they make circulars...anyway, he realized just how insidious knitting needles can be, and decided that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that I go out and get what I need when I actually need it. Ah well, maybe someday I'll hit the lottery and then it's full sets of Brittanys for everyone!

(I so mean it, too)

While I was at the store the malabrigo once again called to me in its soft wooly hand-dyed voice..."touch me, feel me..." and it was something like a song by The Who except at the end of it a skein of Purple Mystery (though frankly it looks a lot more like Velvet Grapes) came home with me.

So OMG, does anyone out there want to take a trip to Maine just to go on a field trip to Halcyon Yarn with me? I seriously keep their catalogs just so I can look at the yarn porn when no one else is around.

I brought the malabrigo home and immediately wanted to get to work with it, as I am making a little something for a special someone who doesn't even know it yet. My favorite kind of project. The malabrigo is a dream to work with, it feels SO nice and I think it's going to be just wonderful worked up. It's extremely soft and not at all scratchy, and the colors are amazing!

Do you want to see it? Huh? Huh? I know you do!

There's not much to see, yet...this is the start of a scarf, something I'm adapting from the free mobius scarf pattern that I plan to make for Katie, only it calls for bulky yarn and the malabrigo is worsted.

And, just for giggles, here's a really awesome site I just found out about from a friend of an internet friend called You Knit What?? My favorite, by far, can be found under the August 2005 archive...scroll way down and look for something blinding and yellow.

Tuesday evening.

2005-11-15T12:02:00.000-05:00

I'm all atingle waiting for my Joann yarn order. I'm not atingle waiting for Michael to see the credit card bill. I am determined to be extremely good for the remainder of the month to offset my naughtiness. In any case, I'm going to make this scarf for Katie for xmas in the color pictured, and maybe one for myself in another color. I also got two other colors to choose from. I like the scarf design because there are no long ends to get caught in things, and with how clumsy I am this is key.

Plus, "mobius" is just a cool word to say. Mobius. MO-bius. Say it with me.

Tuesday early.

2005-11-15T12:01:00.000-05:00

Oh, for pete's sake...Joann is having a huge online yarn sale. Be still, my heart.

...shortly thereafter...

Okay, that was slightly ugly. I'll have to justify my yarn discretion by making xmas gifts out of it.

Moving on...

I've been getting back into sewing again, mostly because Michael is starting to run out of fitted cloth diapers that fit him. Rather than spend lots of money buying diapers, I decided to figure out how to make my own. I think I mentioned that already. Anyway, I put together a pattern based on a few of my favorite diapers and got as far as I could without using my serger. Here are some pics, for those who are interested.

Here's the diaper pieces cut out and partially assembled - I'm using one layer of cotton broadcloth for the outer, one layer of cotton flannel for the sandwich, and one layer of french terry for the inner. Originally I had thought to go with two layers of flannel but after feeling how thick it would be compared to diapers I already had I decided against it.

Here's the fabric I got off of the clearance rack that I'm using for the outside layer. It's completely an aesthetic thing as no one will ever see it, but I like it anyway.

I decided to put my snaps inside the diaper so the french terry layer covers them...I've seen diapers with snaps hidden and exposed, and prefer them not to be seen on the inside. That and all I have are metal snaps, so I'd like to avoid them being in contact with skin. Once I use up all the metal snaps I have on-hand I plan to get plastic ones.

A view of the snaps on the inside of the tab.

And then the outside.

Here's the diaper pinned up in preparation of putting on the snaps, which are already done in this shot.

When I put snaps on the soaker pad I wasn't thinking and used the colored caps, which won't matter because these will be under a layer of french terry, too. Duh. The soaker is three layers of flannel with one layer of french terry.

Now the diaper has its layer of french terry over everything and it's ready to be serged:

So is the soaker:

As a special treat I got myself a new box of pins. I needed some that were easier to see and I just love these pearly ones.

Now wasn't that exciting? ;)

I got out my serger and studied the way the person who serviced it threaded it. There were a few things that didn't look quite right such as threads crossing and etc., but when I tried the machine it serged fine. I did what was recommended and tied new thread to the ends to keep it threaded the same way, but of course something didn't go right and a couple of threads broke. Fortunately I also took a ton of pictures of the threaded machine before attempting this experiment so I could theorteically rethread it as it came to me.

I went to rethread the machine and found a diagram inside the casing, showing me exactly how to thread it. It was completely different than the way the serviceman had threaded it. Great. I decided to follow the machine's directions and threaded it as such, only I couldn't figure out how to get the threads to go up through the corresponding holes in the plate. With a regular sewing machine, the needle thread catches the bobbin thread and pulls it up for you, but the serger didn't seem to work like that. As a result, it kept tangling horribly and I couldn't get it to work. I futzed around with it for a couple of hours to no avail. How frustrating.

I went online to see if I could find a copy of the BabyLock EA-605 manual that I could download or look at, and the best I could do was find photocopies for $12-16 from random people online. Sheesh. I even looked on the BabyLock website and they had nothing for machines as old as mine (1977). I went with what I thought was the cheapest option, the $12 copy, and it ended up costing me $16.85 - $12 to photocopy the manual, then $4.85 to send Priority Mail...which was the standard $3.85 plus a buck for who knows what: handling, I guess. I pretty much paid $13 for the cost of paper and time to photocopy a copyrighted manual. Friggin hell. I had hedged about it for a couple of days, then admitted to myself that spending the money now and saving myself the hassle would be better worth it. I could have taken the serger back to the sewing machine shop to talk to the serviceman, and then taken a class, and still not have had the actual manual for that actual machine, but what a pain in the ass (and expensive to boot). I just hope I get my pricey photocopy soon so I can photocopy THAT and put one in a safe deposit box after all this hassle. Geez!

I am very much looking forward to being able to use my serger...the two minutes I was able to try it out with the original threading it was fast fast fast. It'll take some getting used to, maneuvering the fabric to sew a curve was tough. Overall, though, I'm most excited as I don't want to have to sew and turn, sew and turn any more.

It occurred to me that if I cut out a bajillion diaper pieces it would be a cinch to assemble them, then sew them up once I have a working serger so I've started doing that. Pounding snaps is therapeutic, so I've been enjoying that too. I should be able to get four diapers out of the french terry I bought, and I'm searching around online for a cheaper source. The terry was the one fabric I bought at full price, 9.99 a yard, and I don't want to be doing THAT again.

Today I took kidet on a trip, first to the library so I could return my books (on time, even) and then do some browsing. I can't wait until he's old enough to read, we're going to go to the library a LOT. So many great books out there and I forget that they're free at the libarary! It's also Childrens' Book Week at the library and they were having a drawing for a free hardcover book. I entered kidlet.

Then we went to Lowe's...not exactly my choice, but the stuff I was looking for wasn't available at the farmer's union or any of the other local places. I picked up a bunch of that stretch film window stuff to keep out the drafts...some for outside, and some for inside. I'm going to plastic the windows that the kidlet isn't likely to mess with on the inside, and the ones he will mess with on the outside. I'd do them all outside except it's going to be more of a pain in the ass, especially the dining room and kitchen window which are two stories up the way our house is situated. Nooo thank you. I also got some foamy things that you put under switchplates to keep drafts out, I figured at $1.88 for six outlets or four light switches it's not a bad investment. Top that off with a new sweep for the mudroom door and that should help with weatherproofing.

Ah, god, I am such a grownup.

In knitting news I am still plugging away at the entrelac scarf. I wonder if I'll ever finish it. I get a few rows in every couple of days. I want to hurry up and get it done as I have a ton of projects I want to get done in the next couple of months, some xmas presents, some other stuff I've been needing (such as wool soakers for kiddo). I'm looking forward to the 35 minute commute each way to work every day and my lunch break. Booyah!

Crocheted rugs

2005-10-05T12:01:00.000-04:00

Regarding the queries about crocheted rugs, I saw a woman at the Common Ground doing it, and what caught my attention was that she was using strips torn from sheets that are the sister of the set of ugly-ass magenta/teal plaid flannel sheets I have at home. They were my first college sheets, in fact, and I bought them in queen size since I had an extra-long dorm bed. They looked ever so much better as a rug, I assure you. Anyway, after watching her for a minute I was all like, "OMG, it's just a chain and then sc through the back loop over and over again in the desired shape." How simple is that?

Here are some links for crocheted rug patterns.

And here's another that just looks pretty.

Because I know you're foaming at the mouth with impatience, the entrelac scarf is coming along nicely. I didn't bring it upstairs so there will be no photo update in this entry. I've gotten about halfway through the second ball of yarn, only two more to go after this.

Entrelac

2005-09-30T12:01:00.000-04:00

In knitting news, the kaleidoscope scarf is coming along nicely. I am really enjoying this pattern. I've just about burned through the first of four skeins of Noro Silk Garden and so far I think the color is great.

Here's a closeup so you can see the neat basketweave effect. I really like the fact that the stitches go in different directions, and it's not hard to do at all.

Bag lady

2005-09-16T23:46:00.000-04:00

Today was an eh day. It was hard, as I suspected, due to my not getting very much sleep last night. Kidlet roused me by shouting, "Wake up, Mommy! Wake up!" and pulling the covers off of me. We doinked around and headed out to Norway for the mom's group...today there were actually a number of people, five moms total and the group leader. It was an all right group, nothing too earth-shattering. It made me realize, though, that in the whole natural birth/breastfeeding/attachment parenting scene here in Maine it's all very cliqueish. If I become a midwife I'll have to deal with that BS on a regular basis. It almost makes it not worthwhile to pursue, but I have some time to think things through before I set anything in stone. If the next Autumn's schedule coincides with this year's, the deadline will be in May sometime.

A few days ago little Michael was insisting on wearing the backpack that goes to this dress-up mouse and it is very very small so it just barely fits over his shoulders with his shirt off. Needless to say he looked goofy. Then he was trying to pick up my big backpack that I use as a diaper bag, then the little pack I use to carry my wallet and keys. I kept thinking it would be nice to have a backpack his size that he could carry around, especially when we go for walks in the woods as he likes to collect tons of acorns and sticks and rocks, etc. I thought about it for a few minutes and figured, "It can't be THAT hard to make a little backpack," so I got out some fabric remnants and cut out what looked like a viable pattern. After some tweaking and sewing, I came up with this:

It's nothing fancy, and the seams on the inside aren't finished nicely (the horror!). It was enough to make matching fabric bias tape for the top edge. It is fully lined with white cotton fabric and the flap attaches with some Aplix (another type of Velcro usually used in diapering). I finished stitching on the shoulder straps, an oversight when I first put it together. I was pretty happy with how it came out, considering I didn't use a pattern, didn't use a tape measure, and pretty much eyeballed everything.

I finished it just before leaving this morning so Michael wore it out to the mom's meeting, to the co-op and the farmer's market. He was so proud wearing his backpack, he would patiently wait for me to slip it over his shoulders, then stride around swinging his arms in big arcs. Inside we stashed his latest acorn collection, a couple of snacks, and the cucumber he bought at the farmer's market. I got many comments on it from complete strangers saying how cute it was and asking if I made it. I was suprised at how many people noticed and admired it, and it made me feel good even though it was a really doinky little thing that wasn't my best work by any stretch of the imagination.

Thomi really liked his bag, too, and spent a lot of time later that day taking everything out and putting it back in. When I got home tonight (at a decent hour, even!) I decided to make a bag for her, too. She didn't like having the backpack put over her shoulders, instead carrying it like a shoulder bag so I made that instead:

A better view of the straps...

I'm pretty happy with how it came out, and I even put a little pocket on the front because little pockets are cute. It's also lined like the backpack and I did a better job finishing the seams that could be seen from the top. Both of the bags are toddler-sized, about 10" x 7" or so with appropriately sized straps. It got me thinking that I should make up an assload of the things and if I ever make it to a craft show or fair or something that people just might buy them.

I wonder if I could bill the fact that they're all made up without a pattern and are bound to be imperfect? Heh. I could call them "Little Bitty Ditty Bags."

I'm such a craft nerd.

Serger, sewing class, remnants.

2005-08-31T12:01:00.000-04:00

After that we went to the sewing shop so I could drop off my serger, which needs a tune-up like you wouldn't believe. The woman there was a bit daft...I knew that the price of a tune-up was $89, but there were a few parts that looked rusty in the serger's guts and there were a couple of pieces that needed to be replaced that I could see. I asked her if the repairman could give me a ballpark estimate before actually doing any work, and she was very hedgy with me. I told her that I knew there could always be more that he might not see initially, but I wanted to know if it was going to be a huge amount of money before committing myself. She finally wrote a few things down on the service tag so I hope I'll get a call if there's an issue with it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it won't cost too much more to fix.

In other news, there's a basic sewing class that's being held in October, twelve hours for $199 and you get a sewing machine with the deal. I took a look at the machine they're offering, and it retails for $199 on sale, $259 regular price. It's the lowest-end Bernina model, nothing fancy, but it looks decent and does ten or twelve different stitches. The antique Singer I have is a total workhorse and still works fantastically, but it only does an overlock stitch. I really want a machine that can do zig-zags so I can sew myself some more PUL diaper covers. I think I might ask Michael if I can take the class because first of all it would be nice to actually learn how to make buttonholes, hems, zippers, applique, and various stitches, all the stuff I sort of know how to do but I figured it out on my own (or learned it in 7th grade). Getting the machine would be a nice perk. Well, we'll see. Maybe I can go as a birthday present this year.

Yesterday I picked up some fleece and microfleece remnants as well as some clearance rack flannel with Heide and Thomi, and it was a fiasco. The kids were, well, kids, and I had to take Michael outside at one point to calm himself. I got the cloth to make more flannel wipes and the fleece for diaper liners. The nice thing about fleece is it wicks moisture away from the skin and frankly poop peels off it rather nicely. I figure I'll cut a bunch of liner-sized pieces and just lay them in the diaper. Sort of the same idea as those rice paper diaper liners, only they're washable and reusable. The best thing about fleece is that it doesn't unravel so you don't have to sew a thing. The microfiber fleece I got is hot pink and the regular fleece is a Strawberry Shortcake print. I don't think I'll be challenging Michael's masculinity because he'll be pooping on them and no one will see them, heh.

Tonight I'm going to tear up the flannel for wipes, and I'm wondering what a good size would be. I think I want square ones, as I find I'm using two of the 9 x 6 wipes at a time, now. I was thinking 10 x 10, that way I could get four across a piece of 45" wide fabric and I also want to sew them with two layers. I plan to press all the seam allowances and just go around it on the right side with a straight stitch, keep it simple. The last thing I want to do is stitch and turn flannel wipes, too much work. The wipes I have currently I got with my first cloth diapers and are just one layer of flannel serged around the edge, very simple but not really thick enough in my opinion. I'll experiment and see...at least if I make them a weird size they can still be used, no big deal. I also have a ton and a half of diaper making fabric kicking around once my serger is working.

Tile desire

2005-08-30T12:01:00.000-04:00

Stopped at Marden's to see if they had any good tile I could use for our kitchen countertop, didn't find any. That's my latest nefarious plan...I want to take off all the cabinet doors, fill the holes, then paint them inside and out with two different shades of blue - lighter on the outside, darker on the inside (I'll admit, I got the idea from Martha Stewart) to match the curtains I'm also going to make. I decided that I really do like that blueberry print that I used on the pillow I made so I'm going to make curtains out of that, with a stripe of the dark blue as trim along the bottom. The cabinets will be coordinated with the lighter shades, the walls will be a nice white, and then I want to put tile down on the countertops to replace the plastic laminate that's there now. I'd love to find a dark blue tile to match the berries on the fabric, but I don't hold out a lot of hope if I'm buying from end lots.

Here's a reminder of what I'm thinking of:

Other things...I finished that right-hand arm warmer, now I just have to start on the left-hand one. I'll try to get to that tonight. I'll take pictures at some point.

Booties

2005-08-28T14:36:00.000-04:00

Got those booties finished up today, here they are. I'm not super duper impressed with how my straps came out, but the buttons are cute and large enough to cover my mistakes. I totally have Mommy Brain, though, as I had two chickie buttons, I took both out of the bag of assorted buttons I had available, and between putting the first button on and threading the needle for the second I lost it. What the heck? Fortunately I had a single bunny button in the same style and only a wee bit larger, so I sewed that one on and called it good.

I'm pleased with this yarn, now, as its colors are muted and vintage-y, and the enameled metal buttons compliment the look overall. I dipped them into warm water and stuffed rolled-up flannel wipes into them to block. The pictures kind of suck as kidlet was throwing a tantrum six inches away while I was trying to snap the photos.

A friend asked about blocking, and it's something I never did until recently, and now I don't see how one can live without it. Even though a garment is washed and worn, the initial blocking helps to set the stitches and allows you to tug and pull your work into the desired shape. After all that work knitting, I found this to be a necessary part of finishing a piece. A warm-water blocking for wool works great, and provided you only wash gently in cool water for the life of the item, it shouldn't get warped out of shape too badly. It's good policy to reshape the garment and lay it flat to dry after washing, anyway, and this is why.

Here's more on blocking on the Knitty website.

08/27/05

2005-08-27T02:26:00.000-04:00

I honestly don't know what it is lately, but I have been totally motoring on the craft projects. I have been knitting like the wind! I got a ton more done on those gloves for Katie, and considering I have never used double-pointed needles before, or followed an even slightly complex cabling patterns, and have never made a gusset for something like a thumb, I am totally rocking this pattern. It's hard to see in these pictures of the front and back of the glove, and it's also the right-hand glove so it's even more difficult to take decent pictures using my dumb hand while holding yarn out of the way.

I am very much not thrilled about the big yellow stripe and I think it's ugly...the skein looked like it was all pinks, purples, and blues with a splash of orange, but that yellow was tucked in there and now it's too late. I guess I'll just have to live with it, and get myself two skeins of that nice autumn range to make these for myself. I think Katie will like them as-is.

I have two more rows of cabling and then an inch of ribbing all the way around, finish the thumb, then I'm done. Well, done with the right one and ready to reverse the cabling pattern to make the left one next. I'm extremely surprised at how quickly I've gotten this far...I've been able to work on it maybe ten hours, total. It's hard to see the pattern in the back of the arm picture, but it's viny/leafy and quite pretty. In the inner arm picture the glove is a little twisted (again, a result of my contorting myself) but you can see the stitch holder that's holding the gusset for the thumb, which I will finish once the body of the glove is done.

Jenn and Leonard were kind enough to take a picture of that hat I made for their baby, so here it is with the cuff turned up...

...and then today I decided to try another Stitch 'N Bitch Nation pattern for these "One Hour Booties". They really were quite easy, once I figured out SKP (Slip, Knit, Pass). They are so teeny tiny! I have one stitched up, the other is ready to be stitched, then all I need to do is add the straps and buttons, then block them to get the shape right.

I might even have a little yarn left over to add to Little Michael's Scrap Drawer. That's where I put all my odds and ends of yarn and cloth so he can play with them however he sees fit. It's been a great way to reuse the little scraps of fabric that come from cutting that are too small to use in piecing.

08/23/05

2005-08-23T12:01:00.000-04:00

In crafting news, I've been hitting my stride with this whole SAHM thing and have actually been finding the time to make stuff. I'm also picking my projects more carefully to choose small enough ones that I can get them done and feel a sense of accomplishment (I am the queen of unfinished craft projects, you see). On Sunday Katie came over to play with kidlet and it freed me up to do something. I decided to make some new throw pillows for our couch as the ones I made when I was 13 are pretty ragged. One had frayed to the point that Michael found the cord inside the trim and started pulling it out. Not to mention they're looking pretty rough.

I have a ton of quilting fabric though I've never been able to get past the thinking about it and putting some colors together phase - I think I've cut pieces twice, but never dared to put them together. I'm so OCD I can't take it, something about "If I use it I won't have it any more" or "what if I don't like the combination I put together" and shit like that...keeps me from even starting most of the time.

So I squelched my OCD and picked three fabrics that went together and made a damned pillow, dammit! I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, though I can definitely see some things I would change should I do it again. First, I would make some sort of box or the border pieces wider so they don't get lost in the fluffy width of the pillow. Then I'd make the center blocks smaller as I think they're too large. It looks sort of like a window with all that light color in the middle. Last but not least, I like the blue and the green, but I need to use something with a little more contrast as they blend in a little too well. Overall, though, I'm pleased with how it came out and I adore the blueberry print so I plan to make some more living room things with it seeing as I have a couple of yards and I know where to get it at the fabric warehouse in town.

I love this print

They look good close-up, but blend a little too well from a distance

Last week I got this brainstorm and thought to myself, "Hey, I've never really tried embroidery! I want to try embroidery!" I pulled out some floss and a retro book from the 70s and started on this giraffe. It's pretty easy, I'd love to do some custom embroidery on a few plain pieces of childrens' clothing.

A giraffe. With flowers.

When we went to Nezinscot with Heide and Thomi last week I picked up some yarn. *hangs head in shame* It was from the 2001 flock so it was pretty cheap, at least cheaper than their newer yarns. I saw a pair of mittens made with contrasting stripes, and now I want to make two pairs - dark with light stripes, and light with dark stripes. Or maybe a hat and a pair of mittens. Anyway. Aren't they just lovely? I love undyed wool that has character like this.

Then on Sunday Michael wanted to go the gome store to play war games and I was feeling sulky so after visiting the store I went to the yarn shop across the street. I got some wicked cute yarn and made this hat for Jenn's baby...of course I gave it to her before taking a picture, duh. It came out pretty adorable though.

I also got my very first Noro Kureyon, which I've never knit with before but have admired many a time. I bought two skeins with no project in mind, then found a pattern in Stitch N' Bitch Nation that called for, strangely enough, two skeins of Noro Kureyon. Now I'm knitting on double-pointed needles for the first time (and totally rocking them, I'm proud to say) and trying my hand at reading a slightly complicated cabling pattern made to look like vines and leaves. A challenge, but I feel that I'm picking it up quickly. I want to give these to Katie for xmas.

Closeup of needly needleness

I also got this yarn, which is so amazingly soft that I can't even describe it here. It's so nice. SO nice. I think I might make socks out of it, or a really plushy scarf for yself. They had a gorgeous chestnut color but it was combined with lime green. Ew. Oh well, you can't always account for hand-dyed wool.

Mmm, soft and mossy

Spinning

2005-07-24T12:02:00.000-04:00

Okay, on to my latest compulsion...spinning! I've been using a top whorl drop spindle and while it does take some practice, I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

This, my friends, is the first yarn I ever made. Please do not point and laugh at it, it's sensitive.

Here are some closeups of My First Yarn. I like the way the dark and light twist together, but I do not like all the little overspun/underspun sections and knobbly bits. Not terrible for a first attempt, but I know I can do better. It has plastic clips on it to keep it from tangling up while being soaked and dried. Now it's ready to be rolled into a skein and used...though on what, I have no idea.

This is the second yarn I ever spun, still on my niddy-noddy. I need to soak it to set the twist. I'm a lot happier with this skein as the twist and width are more consistent. This took me a couple of hours to spin. I'm still too uncoordinated to spin and draft at the same time, so this skein took so long because I would spin the spindle, park it by holding it with my knees or toes, draft, twist, then repeat.

When I bought the top whorl spindle I also got some dyed roving, though I didn't start with it because I didn't want to screw it up. This is the stuff that I plan to spin one skein of each color, then spin them together to make a two-ply yarn. I think it'll look neat.

Here's what I have so far. I'm trying to make this ply fairly thin and the darker wool will be slightly thicker if things go as planned. I'm finding my fingers with spinning and I'm able to pretty much keep the yarn the same width and I don't have as many overspun areas. I'm also experimenting with dropping the spindle and letting it spin while I draft, to moderate success. I still park the spindle more often than not.

At the yarn store in Bridgton I got a bottom whorl spindle, which I intend to try when I feel brave enough. I like the sheep pattern on it.

I also got some very interesting roving from the same store that I plan to spin...well, someday. I really liked the blend of colors. It's not quite as magenta as the picture, more of a deeper wine color.

Here's a picture of Amber and Munchie crashed out on the doggie bed...I don't think the dog ever actually uses it, preferring instead to sleep on the hardwood floor. Dogs are weird, and cats know a good thing when they see it! This is one of the two LL Bean dog beds, incidentally, that Kerry got for me at that warehouse sale for under $3 each.

Projects

2005-07-24T12:01:00.000-04:00

With everything I work on, I really do manage to finish things on occasion.

This is that diaper cover I was working on for. ever. I knit this out of Brown Sheep Worsted, and it ended up somewhat stiff. It also ended up being a total PITA to put on the kidlet, so I think in the future I'll use a pattern I either pay for, or in the case of the other diaper soakers I have in progress, use a pattern for shorts.

The other two soakers I'm working on aren't all that far along, sadly. I started with what seemed like a pretty soft one-ply wool, but I'm running into the same stiffness problem as with the Brown Sheep. Maybe I'm using needles that are too small. I really like this yarn, though, so maybe I'll tear it out and make something else since I have two skeins of it.

When I picked up the Laines Du Nord I noticed it was a much more flexible yarn so I decided to try the same pattern with this instead. The end result is a much nicer drape and a more flexible and stretchy fabric. Not as soft as I'd prefer, but it's getting there.

Here you can see the holes I tried to make using YO that I screwed up on the first soaker...

...and then I started another soaker using the LDN and finally figured out how to do them right.

The star sweater that I've recently started has been working up rather quickly. I'm enjoying working with the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran - very soft and smooth, feels great and slips easily. Granted, this is a very easy pattern, but I am very pleased with my stitches and how much I've gotten done in just a few hours' time.

I went through a cotton yarn phase, probably because I was so busy at work that it was easier to have a small crochet project with me rather than a more complicated knitting project. That and cotton yarn is cheap, so I don't care if it gets dragged around a bit.

I made a bag! it was a free pattern that came with the yarn. I made this up in about 2-3 hours, I think. It's hard to get a good picture of a formless net bag. I like the way the handle came out.

I also made a busload of washcloths in all different colors and shapes. One of my favorites was this star shape, once I got the hang of it I could really churn these babies out. The tie dye look is kind of funky!

Another quick project were these little jewelry bags. I made one in pink and purple for Kerry's daughter, Katherine, who was turning 6. I put some colored rocks and other interesting things inside it.

Still in progress, I started the Anouk originally for my niece, but then never got back to it and now I think that even if I did finish it that my brother and SIL wouldn't wash it properly so I might just make it for Jenn's baby instead. She can wear it next Summer. It looks a little rumpled as it's been stuffed in a ziplock bag, unloved for a number of months.

And I finally frogged a heinous garter stitch vest I found at Goodwill. The yarn is truly WEIRD. It's wool with what looks like a nylon thread, but it's a crazy combination of colors and I've never seen anything like it actually being sold for money. I have no idea what I'll do with the yarn now that it's unraveled. The middle skein is about the size of a softball.

I must have been in a real craft funk because I started messing with acrylic granny squares. I made one with a flower on it before getting annoyed with having to run in ends for so many fucking colors. I'm going to make a rotten granny. Acrylic yarn feels awful.

Last but not least, the Cotton Tots yarn I was obsessing over is slowly being made into squares for a baby afghan. I'm just knitting random patterns out of the Harmony Guide to Knitting.

Nearly caught up - spinning is next!

Yarn!

2005-07-24T12:00:00.000-04:00

Finally, I'm able to get my photos online of various crafty endeavors of the past couple of months.

First, let's look at yarn! I have lots of neato yarn to show off.

I got a bunch of neat yarns at a yarn store in Standish. I normally only buy from LYS closeout bins, it's like a treasure hunt.

These three are some sort of acrylic light-weight yarn, looks DK to me. Only one has a label on it and it's called Mexican Wave. Might be nice for socks, though I don't know how good acrylic socks would feel. In any case, I was drawn to the hot pink, strangely, and for $2 to $2.50 a skein you can't really go wrong.

I found two skeins of this Paintbox and absolutely fell in love with the earthy tones. It's 100% merino wool and bulky, very soft. I have no idea what to do with it...with only two skeins, it'll either be a baby item or maybe I knit and felt a bag out of it.

This is the one skein I paid full price for...I really have thing for pumpkiny/earthy stuff. It's also soft, though more of a smooth than a soft, 100% wool. Llamas, I think. I love hand-dyed yarns for the variation.

Here's a sampling of that Laines Du Nord I scored for $2.38-$3.52 a skein, also 100% wool and DK weight. I'm currently working on a diaper cover out of this though I haven't looked at it in a couple of weeks. The skein that looks black is actually a deep chocolate brown, it didn't come out so good in this photo. Some of the skeins were pretty mangled but I managed to wrap them up.

This next yarn is Bartlett Yarns, a local Maine farm. I already pulled the skeins apart and rolled them into pull balls. This is a very bulky yarn, about the thickness of a pencil and wonderfully soft and warm. I'm thinking about some sort of funky cabled hat, or two if there's enough. Not a lot of twist in this yarn, it makes me think about clouds. I just want to cuddle down into it and take a nap.

Maybe it's just because I really like naps.

Purely out of curiosity I fell victim to the charms of this ribbon yarn, which was also on clearance at Craft-Mania. I'm not at all sure what to do with it. I liked the bluey stuff a lot and there was only one skein of the green so there's not enough to do much...any ideas?

I did think of a project for this batch...the ribbon yarn will become some sort of square-bottomed bag with woven handles, and the crazy puffy stuff will go around the top. I'm not sure yet how to construct the bag so it won't collapse, and I won't even use a bag made out of magenta yarn, but again I am a slave to inspiration though I don't have the time to make all the projects I dream up...

Coming up next...finished projects, WIPs, and spinning news!

I'm a spinnin' fool

2005-07-19T16:16:00.000-04:00

In the world of crafting I have been quite busy! Over the weekend I bought some multi-colored dyed fiber from a yarn store in Bridgton, as well as a bottom whorl spindle to try out. I haven't tried it yet but I've been working a lot with my top whorl spindle to get the hang of it.

Last night I spun about two ounces of cream-colored wool to continue practicing. I still can't get the hang of drafting the fibers while the spindle is spinning, so I'm taking the easy way out and spinning the spindle, holding it between my knees (or my toes, if the yarn is long enough) and then holding the yarn taut to draft new sections. A couple of times I tried dropping the spindle and it's easier than it was initially, so I guess it's all just a matter of time.

What I mostly wanted to practice was the muscle memory for drafting and pinching the fibers to get the desired yarn width. Since I would like to make at least a 2-ply yarn I needed to make something fairly thin so it didn't bulk up all hooge. After a couple of hours I was able to produce a somewhat uniform yarn, though I still had a few slubs here and there. That's fine. I don't mind that.

My very first skein of yarn was on the niddy-noddy for a few days so I took that off, soaked it in lukewarm water, then hung it up in the shower with a bottle of hand soap weighting down the end as I had a little too much twist and it was doubling back on itself. It's an interesting combination of natural cream colored and dark brown colored wool - I pretty much grabbed a piece of one or the other while I was spinning and the result will likely be somewhat stripey. I like the sections where the two twist together - I definitely want to make a two-ply yarn with one ply in each color for the contrast.

After feeling comfortable with the test fibers, I started on one of the huge balls of rust-colored fiber I got at the Fiber Frolic. I have a pumpkiny orange and a rust orange that I think I'd like to ply together. The colors are gorgeous and compliment each other well. I started on the lighter color and decided to make it the thinner ply, so it will wrap around the larger, fluffier dark ply. We'll see how it works out! I was able to work with the dyed wool pretty well, it was definitely drier and stiffer than the clean, undyed wool. One of the perks of working with minimally processed wool is your hands get really soft from the lanolin. My fingertips feel great today!

I literally spun until I was too tired to spin any longer. It was fun. It wasn't so fun collapsing on the couch at 1am only to be woken up at 2:45am by some kid lifting my shirt and climbing on me so he could suck on my boobies. Gah. Thanks a lot, kid. Lots of, "Mommy! Mommy! Come! C'mere! Bed!" shouted in my face until I got up and went into the bedroom with him to be further mauled in greater comfort.

But I did get to spin. There's that. It just sucks that my only crafting time these days is really friggin late at night once everyone else is asleep.

Knitting news.

2005-07-13T11:45:00.000-04:00

In knitting news, I did learn to knit cables on Sunday, which were much easier than I thought they would be. I was so intimidated for a long time and once I did it I thought, "So that's it?" Heh. I've been working on those Cotton Tots squares and have about seven done so far. I've stalled lately as I have so many things I want to work on at once!

So I started another project. Heh.

I totally caved and started the sweater on the cover of this book because it's SO FRIGGIN CUTE! I can't stand it any more. I also had a whole mess of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran begging to be worked up. I could ignore it no longer.

(The one really annoying thing is that the entire time I've been working on this sweater I have the song "Feels Like the First Time" by Foreigner running through my head continuously.)

I decided to make the sweater with the body in blue, and the star in sand. In my case I have a lighter blue, sort of a dusky colonial blue that I really love. I also have a lot more of that I thought it would be safer to make the body of the sweater out of it so I didn't run out.

The nice thing about this pattern is that because it's in a beginner knitting book, it's super duper easy. Of course I screwed it up, heh...I knitted the hem, then forgot to change needles and knit about 20 rows in blue using 6s instead of 7s. Friggin hell! I decided the heck with it, I'd just keep going with 6s, only I dropped a stitch and said to myself, "Oh, I can fix that." I did fix it, but in the process I messed up something else, so I went to fix that, and messed up something else, and ended up frogging the whole damned thing out of frustration. I waited a few hours for the sting to subside and the kidlet to go to bed, picked up the needles and started again.

I even used the right size needles this time :)

I've gotten the back done and have started on the front. I made one small mistake and twisted a stitch, but it can only be seen on the WS of the fabric and not at all noticeable on the RS. Very much against my anal retentive nature, I decided to leave it. That was a hard decision, but I suck at frogging things and successfully getting the work back on the needles so I decided to keep on truckin' and try not to think about it.

The nice thing is I'm really enjoying this sweater as it's working up very quickly and the yarn is super nice to work with. I am totally in love with this cashmerino stuff. Anyway, I plan to take pictures and someday I'll actually get them posted...computer still isn't hooked up and I haven't even turned in on in weeks. Sigh.

Walking on the beach in my head.

2005-07-01T16:59:00.000-04:00

OMG I am still here at this job. I am feeling SO unappreciated today. My manager is such a dick. Why am I still here? I just can't believe it. I had thoughts months and months ago to quit this place yet here I am. What the fuck is wrong with me?

I have more weekend/vacation stuff to talk about, or I could complain about my job some more, but all I really want to talk about is my son running on the beach and how incredibly cool that was.

There was a building in the village area of Ogunquit that would be perfect for a yarn store, with an apartment upstairs we could live in. Michael could still work in Portland and I could run my own business. We could go to the beach to walk every morning before work. Problem is, the building is $725,000. Yeah, that's right. Three quarters of a million dollars. That's a lot of fucking yarn.

But it is a really cool place and just perfect, right on the main drag. Check it out here: 54 Shore Road, Ogunquit

So go ahead. Ask me what I want for my birthday.

Damn, if it were even affordable I'd seriously consider selling the house and moving down there. It's just that nice. Touristy, sure, but lovely and close to Portland and Boston at the same time. The building looks different now...they did a mess of landscaping in front and planted all sorts of pretty flowers. The sign says "Price Reduced." Damn. I wonder how much it was originally selling for?

Here's a nicer picture:

Why do I suddenly feel like I want to cry?

Defeating clutter!

2005-06-23T12:01:00.000-04:00

I know I'm talking about cleaning up a lot, and it's got to be pretty dull, but this is how I process stuff and get it out of my head. Last night I did more laundry (yay, though now I have to fold it - boo) and tackled the rest of the yarn.

The end result is that I have three 60-gallon totes and another smaller tote full of yarn. Dayum. It's nice having it all gathered together in the same place, organized by content and how likely I am to use it immediately. I got rid of a bunch of yarn and even that felt good, too. I put ALL of my knitting needles into a pitcher and it helps to see them all in one place...my next task will be to sort through them and decide what to keep and what to get rid of. The first ones to go? Those damned size 1 plastic needles from hell, those bastards hurt my fingertips with their merciless pointiness! I actually went and bought a pair of aluminum size 1 needles at retail just so I didn't ever have to use them again.

I also did a little sorting and poking around in the piles of random crap on and around my desk. The piles on the desk are temporarily higher but I'll be tackling them soon enough. I was able to throw a lot of stuff in the recycling bin, which is a good thing. I'm finding that it gets easier to get rid of stuff once you steel yourself and start doing it. One bin of stuff for eBay, three bags of stuff for yard sale. Took down the annoying curtain in that room's tiny window, Michael helped me wrench the damned thing open (it was sealed shut the last time it was painted) and now all that corner has in it is the chair I stood on to get the curtain down.

I had intended to wash that curtain and possibly cut it in half to make two curtains as I'm not fond of the design of the original one, but much to my dismay I found that it had been sewn around the 3" wide curtainrod. There's not much chance of my getting it off short of cutting it apart again (which I just might do, mind you). I can't even wash the damned thing! It's way dusty. I like the fabric but I hate the way it was draped and tied up with red bows. Bleh. Let me see if I can find a picture of it to show just how awful it was.

I am on a mission to take down all of the awful curtains I hate, even though I know it bothers Michael not to have anything there...personally I'd rather have nothing at all than something ugly, and dusty as all hell to boot. The curtains have been around for 2-3 years of our occupation and he's not said a thing about replacing them, so I've been slowly taking them down a bit at a time. Let's count the casualties so far (rollover for captions [EDIT: for Mac users I've put them in over the pics])...

bedroom curtains, you were the first to go, and it was a cleansing experience...you were so cheap and thin and flimsy
that I couldn't even put them in a yard sale, I'd be too embarrassed to sell you to some unsuspecting person

SO much better, you see?

living room curtains, fugly can't even begin to describe thee...now you languish laundered
in a drapery bag awaiting the yard sale. you will find some old french lady to love, I assure you

Ah HA! I found it! Mwahahahaaa...the newly defeated peppermint-stripe cutesy pukesy curtain

*******

your days are numbered, kitchen curtains...you are next!

And just because I can, I'll throw in another blast from the past. Michael is around 3 months old here, maybe four...I can barely remember him being this little. *sob*

the other photos were cuter but much more...um...revealing

Sigh.

Restraint!

2005-06-21T12:09:00.000-04:00

In knitting news, I was so good last night! When I bought the cheap-ass Cotton Tots yarn I only got two skeins of the pink/white variegated called "Very Berry" (ain't that cunning?) and I really liked it. I went to Joann's last night to see if they had dredged up any more skeins, which they hadn't, so I also checked Craft-Mania and they did have it for $4.79 a skein. Yeah. Don't think so. I was tempted, though.

Then I did the unthinkable...I drove over to Wal-Fart. I walked in feeling like a fugitive and made my way to the craft department. They had a metric ton of the color I wanted, for $3.88 a skein, which is the cheapest I've seen it not on clearance. I held a skein and considered it, then thought hard about my resolution to never buy another thing from Wal-Fart as long as I live...then I sighed and put it back.

I went home empty handed, which first of all is good because I have a very hard time ignoring the siren song of yarn, and second of all is great that I didn't cave in and get the cheap-o Wal-Fart price. Good on me. I rationalized it that I probably had enough to finish the project I was working on, but if I needed more there was plenty available at Craft-Mania.

Today I looked online and found it for the Wal-Fart price at a couple of online yarn stores, if I buy it by the bag (three skeins). If I get desperate that's what I'll do, or see if the neat LYS down the street can order it for me even though they mostly carry specialty yarns and not the big names like Bernat.

Speaking of the project I'm working on, I finished my first swatch which I did in white in the diamond brocade pattern. It ended up being 33 stitches wide by about 48, I think, which on size 9 needles is larger than I expected - about 7 inches square. It came out really nice and I'm quite happy with it. I started another in strawberry, this time a double moss stitch pattern, which is 32 stitches wide since it works up in multiples of 4.

I've downloaded the driver for my camera and will hopefully be able to install it tonight so I can get my photos uploaded.

More nerdy yarn talk.

2005-06-20T11:07:00.000-04:00

In knitting news, I hit the Joann's Firefly Sale as I had two 50% off coupons I was emailed and had another 40% off coupon that I got in the post. Unfortunately Joann's does not carry Stitch 'n Bitch Nation, which I don't really need, but would like to get, but I did manage to get three books with the three coupons I had...

Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Crochet - not something I direly need, but it has a nice stitch library in the back and some cute patterns.

Donna Kooler's Encylopedia of Knitting - again, not something I direly need, but it also has a nice stitch library and some good diagrams I've started using so I can aspire to do more than garter or stockinette stitch.

Knitting for the First Time - okay, I'll admit it. I bought this book solely due to the picture on the front. I LOVE that sweater, and hat. Love it. There are pictures of a winsome baby inside the book wearing said sweater and hat and it made my heart melt. I figured at $6 after using the 40% off coupon that it was worthwhile enough. There were a few other patterns that were nice, but I just love that sweater.

Those were my big splurge buys, and I am ashamed. I suppose being addicted to knitting and crochet books isn't really up there on par with using drugs or pushing little old ladies, but I'll admit it's an addiction.

I also scored some great yarn buys. I got a whole mess of Bernat Cotton Tots yarn for $1 a skein, it usually retails between $4-5 a skein. I got lots of white (which I'm thinking of dying some of) and some pink and pink variegated, which is wicked cute. I also scored some Lion Brand Cotton, the big skeins, for $1.50 apiece, and some mega-size Sugar and Cream in blue denim variegated for $1 a skein that was hidden on a clearance shelf. I now have enough cotton yarn to last me through about three thousand dishcloths should I ever desire it.

Actually, what I'm doing is using the Cotton Tots (which knits up so nicely) and making 30st swatches using the patterns in the DK sitich library, with future plans to perhaps put them together in an afghan? Not sure. It's been really fun, though...small projects that have a beginning and an and and I can feel like I accomplished something. I'm working it on size 9 needles which are just slightly too large but I really like the floppy drape of the resulting fabric. I just hope it washes well. I'm enjoying trying out new patterns when there's not some huge project hanging in the balance.

I still have a whole TON of pictures that are on my digital camera but haven' t made it to our computer yet...I need to install the photo software onto it and haven't had time to download it using our crappy dialup connection. I'll get to it eventually.

In other project news, the Laines Du Nord soaker is coming along pretty well...I'm knitting a few rows here and there, and I'm at the point where I'm just going back and forth in stockinette until the work measures eight inches long. A little boring but I'm glad to be out of those increases.

I don't know if there's a better way to do it, but the ribbing is worked on size 1 needles, then the body is worked in size 4, so when starting the increase rows I was working the stitches off of the size 1 onto the size 4 but because I had to work three partial rows for the increase I had the size 1 needle holding up the remaining stitches while I worked the increase rows on size 4 needles and it looked weird with points sticking up all over the place. I didn't want to keep using the size 1 needle as the stitch sizes would be all wonky.

Yarn news, Joann's is overpriced.

2005-06-16T11:47:00.000-04:00

I went back to the craft store and managed to find four more skeins of that Laines Du Nord Giunco that I liked, two in chocolate, one in baby blue, and one in cream. I really like this yarn because it's a classic, simple 100% wool, so it'll be good for many projects even if I don't get around to using them immediately.

This time around, however, the woman who rung me out was infinitely cooler and gave me all four skeins for $2.38 apiece even though some of them were marked higher. Why couldn't I have gotten her the first time around? Oh well. Good karma to her.

I have a couple of 50% off coupons for Joann's that I want to use, but the problem is the local store is tiny and never has what I want. What I really want to get is a ball winder, which usually costs around $35 for the basic plastic model (I would love to get a nice wooden one but I need to keep it as cheap as possible for now). On the Joann's site it's marked up to $49.99, and with the 50% off online coupon I have it would cost me $25 plus shipping, making it around $30. I feel sort of compromised, buying Joann's inflated priced item just to save five bucks, but there aren't a lot of places around here I can get one. So I'm still undecided.

I also want to get a swift for processing all of the recycled yarn I frog from sweaters, but I wonder if it's heinously overpriced, too, even at their "sale" price of $50.99.

It just makes me mad. Joann's charges so much for things so they're able to offer all these coupons because they get stuff for peanuts. They're always having a 40-75% off sale on seasonal crap, which tells me that it's not even worth 25% of the original price to begin with. Feh on that.

Those coupons aren't even worth it because if I wanted to buy something legitimately priced, such as yarn, I could only take the discount on one skein. Durr. Yet I refuse to pimp myself out to Wal-Fart any more so I don't have a lot of choice.

I did find the Donna Kooler's Encylopedia of Crochet, however, which I would like to have, so I slipped it behind a pattern leaflet for some really ugly doilies and I'm hoping it'll still be there tomorrow. Their book and leaflet selection is also pretty bad and seemingly random...if they had the Donna Kooler Encyclopedia of Knitting I'd be all over that, but they don't.

I wish I was spinning right now!

Adventures in Spinning

2005-06-15T14:27:00.000-04:00

Well, okay, there were no real "adventures" to speak of, but I did experiment some more and had moderate success. I'm still having a hard time drafting properly.

I used up the little piece of practice fluff that came with the spindle and cracked open one of the one-ounce balls of a lovely brown that I got cheapie-cheap. They were so inexpensive as they were from 2004 so had gotten a little smooshed over the past year of being shuffled around, the woman who sold them to me explained that all I had to do was draft them a little before using to loosen them up. Good enough.

It turned out that I couldn't get the hang of drafting while spinning the drop spindle so now I have thin off-white yarn that changes to dark brown yarn that is huge. It's kind of funny when you look at it.

The thing that I finally came to realize is that the spun yarn is supposed to be kinky if you release the tension on it, the trick is to hold it somewhat taut and wind it onto the spindle before it can wrap around itself. I hadn't realized that was how it was supposed to be, which is why my spindle kept breaking the thread. Now I'm just afraid of getting it OFF the spindle in preparation of setting the twist by soaking it. I don't want it to turn into a kinky mess in the sink!

I think that once I use some of the newer fleece it'll be more idiot-proof and I'll be able to draft properly since it's not at all matted. I'm still too much of a chicken to crack into the dyed roving I bought in two shades of orangey rust that I want to spin together. I think I'll work my way through all of the natural and brown first, see how that turns out.

Now of course I'm jonesing for a spinning wheel. One thing at a time.

I have a blog button!

2005-06-15T09:49:00.000-04:00

Woo hoo! I've already met a bunch of great crafty types in the short time since putting this blog together, and was flattered to find a couple of them have already linked to me (aww, I'm so touched :). So I got off my ass and made myself a blog button of my own...it's not perfect, but it's okay for a first draft.

I was thinking Maine...yarn...hmm. Moose?

Here it is!

Please feel free to link to me and use my button, just leave me a note so I know to look you up and link to you too!

Fotos forthcoming and Fiber Frolic

2005-06-14T15:40:00.000-04:00

Friday evening I took a metric ton of pictures of stuff I've been working on to update my knitting blog. Now I just need to get the time and inclination to see how Michael's set up the joint computer and upload them.

After breakfast on Sunday Chris and Chantel went to Jenn and Leonard's, I packed up kidlet to go meet Kerry at the FIber Frolic, and Michael went to Standish to play Warhammer (he was so disappointed to be missing the Goat Show but somehow he managed).

The drive out there wasn't too bad, about an hour. Kidlet fell asleep immediately and I was grateful as he hadn't napped or slept very well with everything going on. I got to Windsor and realized that the Windsor Fairgrounds used to be the site for the Common Ground. What a great fairground! Kerry was just arriving and met me in the parking lot with her brood. I don't know how she does it, lots of practice I guess - four kids at once in public. Thankfully the three oldest were able to help with things like pushing strollers around and the like. I put Michael in his rarely-used stroller and wore a backpack with diapers, clothing, and my camera.

Michael got to the point that he didn't want to ride in the stroller, didn't want me to wear him in the sling, didn't want to walk...he just wanted me to carry him, which was tough while trying to push our cheap-ass umbrella stroller with one hand. Add to that the temps in the high 80s (which may not sound like a lot to most, but we're talking about muggy Maine here) and it was a load of sticky sweaty fun. Eventually both he and Matthew (who is two months younger) were running around in shoes and just their diapers, which of course had knitted covers over them (we WERE at the Fiber Frolic after all!).

Can I also just say how much crap I got from my friends about going to the Fiber Frolic? I was asked if we would be eating bran and dancing around. Mostly I got incredulous looks and the question, "What?"

It ended up being really awesome. Like, a fiber crafter's dream. There was so much yarn that I literally didn't buy anything, there was too much to choose from. There were sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas everywhere! Total sensory overload. What I did get was a niddy noddy (yes, I could have easily made one, but after a year I still haven't so I said screw it), a drop spindle and some inexpensive roving to practice with. Handspinning using a drop spindle isn't difficult in theory, but it takes practice. For now all I'm good at is letting the fiber get too thin and the weight of the spindle breaks it. Durr.

I'll be happy if I can just figure out how to make a fairly uniform skein of yarn, so I'll report back once I get that working. Of course on my way home I called the game store to talk to Michael and got Chris, the bookstore owner who I used to hang out and do scrapbooking/artsy fartsy papercraft stuff with and she said, "You don't want a drop spindle! They're a pain in the ass. I would have given you mine!" Gee, thanks...you've not only made fun of my new toy (pppbbht), but you dangle the prospect of a free spindle in my face, too. Nyeah. I said, "Maybe so, but I'll just have to find out for myself." If I hate it I figure I can use it to stake up my tomato plant or something. Maybe I will ask for the one she's offering, though...it can't hurt to have differently weighted spindles.

Bottom line, though: It was friggin hot and sunny. Again. I spent two days in a row in hot and sunny and I assure you, that is not normally where I can be found since I burn to a crisp under a 100 watt light bulb (okay, maybe not really, but you get the point). I made sure to put plenty of sunscreen on kidlet and I, but there was no escaping the fact that my kid was just plain sticky and unpleasant to be stuck to. It also seemed sort of weird to be shopping for wool and yarn and looking at sample hats, mittens, and scarves when it was so hot. One vendor had a couple of big cartoon sheep, one wearing a knit bikini and the other knit swim trunks. Little Michael got a kick out of those, pointing and laughing at them.

We visited the kids' area so Kerry could learn to make felted balls, and the babies enjoyed splashing around in the buckets of water. I joked that Michael thought the hand-washing demonstration was awesome! We saw another mom with a teeny weeny baby in a sling, and talked to her for a few minutes. I'm hoping she didn't think we were crazy moms, approaching her to ask to see her baby and exclaiming over it. She probably did think we were crazy...oh well. Cute baby.

Kitchen remodeling

2005-06-09T16:47:00.000-04:00

Argh, I can't get all the thoughts out of my head today! I'm trying to concentrate and I keep thinking "kitchen cabinets kitchen cabinets ceramic tile sippy cups baby carrots and I say hey (hey!) did I clean the cat box this morning?"

Five minute brain dump starts now.

We've started getting ants in the kitchen again. Yay, summer. It's only been a few, not at all as bad as last year or the year before, but Michael hates the buggers and is going through that freakout phase in dealing with them. He's cleared everything off of the countertops, cleans daily with vinegar and water, has been sprinkling cayenne pepper around where he thinks they're coming in, and we haven't been using the kitchen sink to keep it as dry as possible.

Yesterday, however, I went into the kitchen and was struck by all the open counter space and I had this sudden urge to rip off all the cabinet doors, fill the screw holes, repaint the cabinets, then take off the warped laminate on the countertops and install ceramic tile instead. I even have it all planned out in my head, what colors to do the cabinets as I want to leave them open...two shades of a light Delft blue with the darker shade inside the cabinets and on all the shelves, the lighter blue on the outside, maybe mix it with a little grey to soften the hue. There's a piece over the sink that would need some sort of stencil as I don't want to take it down but it's pretty boring, so I'd match that to the counters maybe with a pineapple theme or something generic. The countertops I'm not sure what color I want to be, but I definitely want to replace all that plastic crap with ceramic tiles. I found myself picking at the edges wondering how easily it would come up (very, I think) and what the wood underneath looked like.

This morning I discovered that we're short on sippy cups again...I'd send a regular cup to daycare but little Michael still gets a lot of satisfaction out of dumping liquids on himself so maybe not. I don't know where the damned things go but I'm sure some day in the future we'll find a whole cache of them tucked into a wall vent or something.

I don't know why I'm so afraid to start any kind of home improvement project, I have this fear that I'll get started and then never be able to finish. I get overwhelmed too easily.

Yet another reason my husband makes me laugh:

From: Jen
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 9:40 AM
To: Michael
Subject: Order

Note: forwarded message attached.

Hi, I absolutely had to get more nursing bras, the ones I have are coming apart and I need to throw a bunch of them out, that's how bad they are.

I found a 30% off coupon online so I got four to take advantage of the savings and make the shipping worthwhile. Just wanted you to know.

xo

Subject: RE: Order
Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2005 09:47:09
From: Michael
To: Jen

Are we going to be able to reuse the old ones?
Maybe you could make an infant hat for Jenn or dice bag we can give to someone for xmas. I just don't want to see them goto waste.

Michael

Garden art & Fiber Frolic

2005-06-06T13:40:00.000-04:00

The fence Dave put up around my garden is only 2' high, so I have these green metal posts sticking up all around it that I want to do something with. They're about 4' tall so I have 2' to work with. I'm thinking about something decorative. I thought about birdfeeders but I don't want to deal with the dropped seed sprouting in my garden.

Maybe I can find something in my cache of craft supplies that I can make something out of? I have lots of those glass vase gems and iridescent marbles, maybe I can make things out of twisted wire and incorporate them somehow.

I also found a cache of old sterling silver silverware that I picked up at a yard sale last year with the intent of making wind chimes out of it. I could pound some of those pieces out and string them with bits of colored glass between the posts, or make little mini chimes to hang along a piece of twine.

I'm thinking something tinkly and colorful/shiny, now I just have to figure out what that would be.

OH! and in other news...the Maine Fiber Frolic is this weekend! I really want to go, maybe I'll take the kidlet with me on Sunday.

This is why my husband cracks me up:

From: Michael
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 12:14 PM
To: Jen
Subject: Weekend
I have no plans on my calendar for this weekend. Do we have anything going on?

From: Jen
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 12:17 PM
To: Michael
Subject: RE: Weekend
The Maine Fiber Frolic is this weekend, I was thinking about going on Sunday. It’s in Windsor. If you have any Warhammer stuff going on in Standish, I could take the kidlet to the Fiber Frolic and you could have the day off to game. http://www.fiberfrolic.com/

From: Michael
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 12:25 PM
To: Jen
Subject: Weekend
I can't goto the MFF? I'll miss the Goat Show! I guess if I have to I'll goto the game store for the day.

Yarn entry that probably only I shall find interesting.

2005-05-31T17:36:00.000-04:00

Some good crafting news! My MIL was in town so I was able to find a little time to sleep, to knit, and to crochet. That was really nice. I'm still on the tail-end of my sinus infection so I had very low energy, and it was wonderful that she was willing to watch kidlet so I could sleep in a little.

First, let's talk about yarn. I did purchase some yarn this weekend. I suck. Even if it was all bargain-bin yarn I SO shouldn't have been spending money. I need to take pictures of it to show it off, it's so pretty.

On Saturday I went to Craft-Mania with my MIL as I had a $30 gift certificate from xmas that I needed to spend. I hadn't been in C-M for a few months due to our budget, and it was nice to walk through those hallowed halls again.

Fortunately for me they had a huge bin of discontinued yarns at rock-bottom prices. I saw a LOT of stuff that I would have liked to snap up, but I did my best to remain focused and not go too crazy.

My big find were skeins of 100% merino wool from Italy in sport weight, very soft and wonderful. Perfect for knitting soakers as it wouldn't come out stiff or scratchy. Some of the balls were marked $2.38 and some were marked $3.53, but the woman who owns the place wouldn't give them all to me at the lower price because she claimed they were "marked wrong". Not my problem! However, she did give me the lower price on the balls that were marked accordingly. I wasn't super happy, but it was only six bucks and I was getting a great deal on this yarn. I also picked up a pair of Susan Bates size 1 aluminum needles so I don't have to skewer my fingertips on those bastardly plastic needles any more.

Most of the merino I got was in a lovely winey-red color, there were a few skeins of light blue, one cream, and I think a couple of tan? I don't recall at the moment. Sort of a mishmash but I'm hoping to get a soaker out of one skein so if that's the case, it doesn't matter if I only got a few colors here and there.

I also picked up a few balls of Sugar n'Cream (like I needed more, but hey) in Ecru because I saw a cute free pattern for a string bag that looked like it would be easy and useful.

It's funny that I can have six projects going concurrently and still pick up another, I said to myself, "This would be a nice palate-cleansing quick project between projects." I'm so nuts.

The good news is that in a matter of hours I had the entire body of the bag done and all that's left at this point is the handle and to finish the top edge. It's been a fun little project.

The wool soaker has been going okay, I'm in the portion where I'm just knitting a stockinette stitch until the work measures 8" long. Back and forth, back and forth, a few rows a day if I can fit them in. I'm worried that my stitches are too tight because whenever I use one-ply wool of the slightly raw variety like Brown Sheep or a local brand of worsted, my cloth comes out really stiff. I made my last soaker out of Brown Sheep worsted and it's very stiff. I wonder if washing it will relax it, if I let it soak in cool water for a while.

On Monday we drove out to Standish and totally by chance Korner Knitters was open. I hate their intentionally misspelled name, but they do have a very nice store. I dug through their sale baskets and found two nice skeins of Paintbox yarn and a couple of other goodies. I checked out birch knitting needles (intriguing, but not in the budget at the moment) and I picked up some more yarn needles as I lost the two I had.

Overall it was a nice weekend for yarn. I'm also glad I got as much done as I was able to accomplish, I hope I'm able to keep motivated and the kidlet gives me enough peace.

2005-05-23T12:34:00.000-04:00

After leaving Deering Oaks Park I pretty much begged Michael to let me go to the Central Yarn Shop on Congress Street as I had seen it many times while closed and never got to actually go in.

It was heavenly! They have a great selection of yarns, not just the well-known better brands but a whole bunch of unique local and artsy brands. I could have spent all day in there. I also noticed they have a huge selection of pattern booklets, many of them looking fairly vintage. Since they weren't in any order, mostly grouped by subject, I didn't take the time to look through them.

Among the yarns I literally drooled over were the Brown Sheep Burly Spun Handpainted yarn. They had two colors, Mountain Majesty and some red/rust/orangey variegated and they were both GORGEOUS. Like, wow. So nice.

There was another super-bulky brand there called Bongo that was just fantastic! They had this crazy fire-colored 100% wool yarn that was wonderful. At $30 a skein, though, a bit out of my price range.

I've decided to find out when they hold spinning classes as I would love to learn how to use a drop spindle.

The good thing about my visit is it inpsired me to do more knitting. I went home and put aside the crochet project I've been working on and finally finished the Tiny Birds soaker I'd been working on. I sort-of learned how to use the mattress stitch to join the edges, though I did it wrong it still looked good from the right side. Then I finished the leg holes with a single crochet stitch all the way around. I think the soaker is ever-so-slightly too small for kidlet now (that's what I get for procrastinating) but I might be able to squeeze it on him a few more times if I soak and stretch it.

I also started on another soaker, using a pattern out of the Botany Baby Hand Knits leaflet from 1946 that I found in the attic - probably my grandmother's as my mom was born in 1945. Instead of a regular soaker pattern I decided to try the short pants for a sweater set. It pretty much looks like a soaker, and it has a gusset which I think will make it fit better over a cloth diaper.

The only really bad thing about this pattern is that it calls for yarn that no longer exists so I don't know the weight...I'm guessing and using a one-ply wool that's somewhere between sport and worsted. It also calls for the ribbing to be knitted on size 1 needles, which I only have in plastic. That's not totally accurate - I do have a set of size 1 double-pointed needles, but they're too short to cast on 72 stitches. In any case, size 1 plastic needles are very sharp and painful. Yeowchie. I can't wait until I'm done with the ribbing so I can move up to size 4 needles.

I am a wild woman. Yes.

I like yarn.

2005-05-19T16:38:00.000-04:00

Oh my goodness, I am totally coveting this yarn right now:

It's made by Little Turtle Knits and it is so gorgeous! I love love love it. They also have a few patterns like the Earwarmer Cap, the Felted Mocs and the Elfin Hat that I think are quite fetching but I can't afford to buy either.

Sigh.

Tales of yarn and recycled butt sweaters

2005-03-30T15:01:00.000-05:00

Last week I got the afghan pattern I've been searching for. My mother had found the pattern in a book that she ordered from someone, but then told me she wanted to "keep the book in case I want to make something." Yeah, right. So she's pretty much holding it ransom and I'll never get my hands on it. I was totally thrilled to get my very own copy so now I don't have to borrow the book and hear from her every day until I return it, where she will put it on a shelf and never look at it again.

I think my mother is the person who instilled in me the unquenchable thirst to obtain and own things. I wish I wasn't so materialistic.

THEN, Monday I was having a perfectly craptastic day, and I found in the mailbox a huge envelope full of diapers that were just gorgeous, and another smaller lumpy envelope that I wasn't expecting. Another dear friend sent me some wonderful yarny love! It's so pretty I just don't know what to do with it. I think I'll have to put it somewhere I can see it so I can touch it and think about it for a while. Something will come to me.

Last night I picked up the kidlet as Michael had some work function and was going to be home late. I made us some macaroni and cheese, which was actually pretty decent, and some peas. I wasn't in the mood to do anything overly ambitious. Little Michael was thrilled as can be with dinner, you have to love kids. I remember as a child being thrilled by the concept of pancakes for dinner, like it was a special treat and not because we were po'.

After dinner we retired to the living room where I got him changed for bed and we hung out for a while. I eyed a lightly felted striped purple sweater I had gotten at the Salvation Army for the purpose of making wool longies and thought, "why not?" My sewing machine is currently put away while Spring cleaning is underway so I couldn't use it, and I haven't dared to even take my eBay serger out of the box it was shipped in yet. So I dug up a needle and thread (imagine that!) and grabbed my pair of scissors.

Before I could chicken out, I measured Michael's leg and inseam and sliced off the sleeves. Whew. Once that was done, I was much more bold in cutting the seam down to the right inseam length and putting the sides together. I think I just had to get over that hump of cutting a sweater apart.

I doubled up my thread and started an overcast stitch to put the two halves together. I knew this wouldn't hold by itself but I wanted to see how they went together. I was very anal about matching up the stripes exactly. About halfway through I realized I had somehow put the wrong sides together so I was sewing on the right side, duh, but it wasn't a big deal as I planned to sew another seam to reinforce it. I just turned them right side in and completed a French seam of sorts on the wrong side using a tight running stitch.

(I'll admit, I love French seams. Just about everything I sew has French seams because they look so finished and are durable. It takes me a lot more time but I can't help it being so OCD.)

Once I finished that, I was able to admire my work. I have to admit they looked pretty cute. Then I evened out the waist (which was easy when sewing with striped fabric) and hemmed the top with a really simple running stitch, then cut some small holes all the way around for the tie. I crocheted a chain out of some kitchen cotton and ran it through the holes, and voila! Wool soakers! I put them on the kidlet, tightened the waist, and he was good to go. They were really damned cute. I need to take some pictures.

The only bummer is that they are ever-so-slightly snug on him, he'll have grown out of them in no time. That's what I get for using a sweater made for an anorexic teenage girl. Next time I'll use a bigger sweater so there's more butt room.

I am super happy, though, at how easy it was. Sure, the hand sewing took longer than it would have with a machine, but I feel as if I wouldn't have been able to match the stripes so perfectly if I were machine sewing. I also feel very proud of my work as I'll admit I don't hand sew often. If I had used matching thread they would look perfect on the inside.

The next thing I have to do is take the poor pitiful armless sweater and make two more wool soaker shorts out of it.

Michael got home right around the time I was finishing the French seam and was surprised and impressed at how quickly I got them done. Within half an hour our kid was running around stripey! He said he was really happy to see that I was able to get some crafting done. He does appreciate my talents :)

I think kidlet looks nice in stripes.