Rhinebeck Bound

Today was my last day in the office (we get Jewish holidays off sometimes, and then I'm going to a workshop thingie on Friday), so my mind is already on the weekend. I'm headed to Rhinebeck for the Sheep and Wool goodness. This will be my first visit, but since it's closer than Maryland Sheep and Wool from where I now live, it'll probably be the fest of choice.

I'm throwing around ideas of what it is I want to buy. I don't think I'll be able to pass up Brooks Farms' yarns again. They're just so amazing, and the colors really drew me in at MDS&W. Pictures don't really do them justice. Tomorrow I plan to do to reality check on how much yarn I actually have, so that I remember how much I don't need a lot more...

Crafty Success!

A fine time was had at Crafty Bastards '05, and now much restocking must be done, which means more fun with dye in the near future - hoorah!

Here's a pic of the booth with two of our intrepid crafty vendors:



Blogger can apparently do something with images that I haven't tried before, so let's hope this works.

In other news, thanks to the new job, travel, and possibly dim sum on Sunday, I have spent the last four days horizontal and fighting a virus. All is not lost, though -- I finished knitting three hats, and got some work done on the boy's scarf. Knitting was about as much focus as I had, but it was enough! Kids' hats = instant gratification.

Craft Fair this weekend!

Saturday, October 1, 2005 • 10am–5pm

Without even meaning to, I have two small grocery bags full of stuff -- one is all handspun, the other is hats and scarves and a pair of mittens -- plus the three wine cozies and three nalgene holders drying on the table. I don't even remember what we actually have in Maryland, but I know that we've created over 200 skeins of yarn at this point. Phew! I guess I was reasonably productive.

wrist woes

9-10:30am -- walk around neighborhood yard sale day. pick up some puzzles, a table, a gas grill, a book. spend whole time knitting a wine cozy. i was about 1" in when i ventured out, and halfway done by the end.

10:30-11:30am -- drive to Cambridge, watch the kids that the boy teaches in high school play soccer (they won - yay!), spend entire time knitting wine cozy. finish cozy.

11:30-12:55pm -- head to beer store, cast on hat while boy is driving, work on hat while in beer store, stop for pizza, knit while waiting for pizza, finish about 4" of hat (on size 13 needles), drive to A Good Yarn.

12:55-2:30pm or so -- alternately browse through fabulous yarn store and chat with fabulous Anne, picking up and knitting hat a bit, but not much. purchase Lavish Lace with Handpainted Yarns, which will hopefully help me in both my yarn and my lace designery. I like that it provides examples of swatches of the same patterns knit with different yarns. Nice lesson in the differences the yarn can make.

2:30-3:30pm -- drive to Jamaica Plain, drink bubble tea, finish hat, start another hat.

3:30-6pm -- drive home, stopping at our new favorite produce store (leaving knitting in car), home, watch some tv, finish spinning 125 yards of two ply worsted weight merino, finish a couple more inches on hat.

6-6:45pm -- play tennis.

6:45-8:45pm -- eat dinner, spin an ounce or so of merino, work hat a bit.

is it any wonder that my right wrist is killing me right now? i'd like to think it's a good hurt.

craft fair dilemma

Argh, so, Crafty Bastards is October 1, in DC. I am in Boston(ish). I want to go, but I'd be paying about $200 to be there for about 36 hours, and giving up a weekend in the middle of crazy working like a mad person time (I'm doing two jobs right now - my old one and my new one - so I work a good 55 hours a week). But we're all set to go, and I wanna see Paula, and help with the booth, but then I also want to go to Rhinebeck, and I have to go to a wedding on Oct. 8. I need a magic 8 ball, and a lot of money.

more q and a

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I'm married (for 4 1/2 years -- crazy that it's been that long) to a math geek/high school teacher/dissertation writer. I'm trying to finish a scarf that I've been knitting him for way too long now. I have a Border Collie named Jasper and a Dalmatian/Pointer/Garbage Disposal named Cassie, and they're 7 and 6 years old, respectively. We're all getting old.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)
I wouldn't complain about owning a fiber store. I love to arrange shelves full of stuff, and I imagine having cubbies and cubbies of yarn would keep me happy for a long time. Until I can afford to take such a risk, though, my life dreams are mostly focused on enjoying now, but not to the extent that it leaves me broke later.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
I wish I could afford my favorites in any great quantity! Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, Cherry Tree Hill merino, Koigu, Reynolds Odyssey. I've wanted to try Schaefer's Helene, Laurel, Marjaana... and I guess my favorite yarns that stay within my budget are Brown Sheep Prairie Silk and Karabella Aurora 8.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Scratchy non-wool ones :) -- the scratchy wools I can always felt. Oh, and mohair without coordinating non-mohair yarns. I'm just not sure what to do with them.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
Spinning is my current obsession, really. I covet Paradise Fibers' Rhapsodies. I'm also working an afghan along the lines of the Ab Fab kit -- just a lot of my scrap yarn in deep purples, blues and silver. It's been awhile since I picked it up, though - it was too warm to work on in the summer!

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Hats and arm warmers for the instant gratification, sweaters for the longterm usefulness.

17. What are you knitting right now?
That afghan, the scarf, a bunch of stuff to sell at craft fairs, a pair of Prairie Silk wristwarmers... plus I'm conceptualizing holiday gifts that will need to be done soon.

18. What do you think about ponchos?
They look cute on some people... I'm still on the lookout for a perfect half-circle shawl for myself. I'm getting to like shawls. I wear my Clapotis everywhere. I might even wear a cape if I ever made one of those, but ponchos and I don't really get along.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
circs. I knit almost exclusively on circs these days. Straight work I try to do on 16" circulars. It has something to do with the way I like to hold the needles.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Bamboo! Or addi turbos.

21. Are you a sock knitter?
Barely...

22. How did you learn to knit?
At a college where I worked. From this lovely lady.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?
Old.


24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
Umm... I like dragons, I suppose.

25. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas. The family-centric, decorating, gift giving and eating variety. I could take or leave the media hype, the overblown retail madness and the religion.

26. Is there anything that you collect?
Non-knitting related? Not really. At least I try not to. I refuse to throw out any back issues of Real Simple, but I've convinced myself that I can cut select articles out of other magazines rather than keeping every issue.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Spinoff, Interweave Knits.

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?
There's a special section of my wish list devoted to them.

29. Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven't bought for one reason or another??
The shawl I mentioned above, mostly 'cause I haven't found a good one yet.


ETA: 30. What are your foot measurements, and what kind of socks do you like?
Oh lord, my feet are huge. I wouldn't wish sock making on anyone. They're pretty much a foot long. Size 12.5ish.

I have finally gotten around to participating...

...in the secret pal-ed-ness. Behold the button:



And in that spirit, the beginnings of the survey:

1. Are you a yarn snob?
I do prefer wools and blends, especially really soft ones.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?
I spin and dye. A lot. Mostly merino, but all kinds of fibers. I don't crochet.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
Mmm.. I don't know if I have a smoke allergy, but the smell makes me pretty irritable.

4. How long have you been knitting?
Since February 2001.


5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Indeed. here 'tis.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
I like lavendar, lemongrass, chamomile...

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
Not as much as some, but sure.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I stick mostly with spinning/knitting/dyeing. I do make a lovely mix CD, though. And I bake, occasionally.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Folksy types with good lyrics and harmonies like Indigo Girls and Kings of Convenience; bluesy-folk women like Emmylou Harris; fun, eclectic "world-like" stuff like Pink Martini.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
I tend to stick with deeper colors and earth tones. I'm still looking for a perfect combo of browns and dark greens. I love blue-based purples, forest greens, cobalt blue, greys/silvers. I just bought some Reynolds Odyssey in Granite Mix and I looooove it. There was a loose ball at a yarn store, and I bought it because I loved it that much:



I may have to track down some more, or maybe just make arm warmers. I tend to stay away from pastels and super-brights. But then again, I love all of the Noro Silk Garden colorways, so I guess brights in moderation are okay.

Tired now! more soon!

Not quite as tall as me

I have corraled my entire yarn stash:



I guess it could be worse.

From top to bottom:
Roving, spindles, yarn baller, niddy noddy
Neutral wools and mohairs
Various larger lots of wool, mostly purples (some Patons grey, a bunch of Karabella)
Novelties and non-wools
More wools, including most of my hand-dyed, plus some cotton
Handspuns

I'm down to one tub of non-natural fibers, and I hope to keep it that way. Even my projects are all in these buckets (a tank top, a scarf, a sock, an arm warmer, I'm not sure what else). It's about 5'7" tall, all stacked up. Also note the motor oil in the bottom right hand corner, with which I grease my spinning wheel.

wheel to be packed last!

So we're moving in less than a week! Phew! My local knitting circle list is going to have to change substantially (although kniterati will now, finally, be accurately in place). Woolarina North will be located in Waltham, Mass. (I need to learn how to spell that state name consistently). I'll be back down in the DC area for Crafty Bastards in October, though, and I'm sure I'll make it back for Sheep and Wool!

The knitting and spinning have been on hold, more or less, for the past two weeks. Our last dyeing session was a couple of weeks ago (stuff to hit the webpage soon), and I'm packing my dye equipment today. Won't pack the wheel til the last minute, though - whenever I'm feeling overwhelmed, it's still the place I go to unwind (although this week, the wheel has lost out to the bed on many occasions -- at least I've been sleeping well in preparation for the move).

Those of you in the Boston area, any and all suggestions on things to do (and eat!) and places to shop (and eat!) are welcomed.

one house for sale

First and foremost, check out all the work Paula has done at woolarina.com! The yarn pages are getting updated with all new pictures, and they're much easier to see now. The sock page, for instance. Mmm. We're doing some more dyeing this weekend, so if anyone has color requests, speak now!

In other news, our house is now officially on the market, and Tim will hopefully be signing a lease in the Boston area over the weekend. We still have no official move date, but I will be starting a new job on August 22, so it'll be before then. There will now be a Woolarina North post, and I hope to continue dyeing (and will definitely be spinning and knitting) up there :) I think the wheel will be the last thing that I pack up. The boy is a little concerned at potential buyers coming by during a dye day this weekend, but they will just have to deal. I think that the yarns hanging on the porch make the house look that much more festive.

retreat into spinning

I can tell by my sidebar stats that, in this time of stress (both good and bad stress, but stress nonetheless), my spinning production goes up a bit. It also helps that it's way too hot to keep knitting on my lap for very long, and the wheel is set up in front of the air conditioning vent.

My favorite roving of late was the Cormo/Alpaca. It's hard to go wrong with Corriedale, Merino, and Alpaca, all in one. Plus, it was a natural roving, so no random felty bits from overly enthusiastic washing and rinsing. The roving is fabulously soft (I've heard the term "buttery soft" applied to yarn a lot -- why is that? Is butter that soft?) and easy to draft. One oddity, though -- there are quite a lot of little slubs in the roving, so my yarn isn't nearly as smooth as it is with a lot of other fibers. I don't think I was being lazy about my drafting -- I think it was just a quality of the roving. In any case, I will be dyeing the yarn and knitting it into gloves for myself, I think. My first pair of handknit gloves. I'm pretty sure it's a thin enough yarn to work on 3s or 5s, so that should make not-too-bulky gloves.

Plus, I will be moving in a month to the Boston area, so it's time to start thinking warmer garments and accessories! I am quite excited, and with the decision made, the stress is going down a little (although the spinning, I think, will continue).

I leave you with a couple of links to Knitted Superhero Costumes and the ElevenEleven gallery, the latter of which is in DC, and I really should get there some time soon...

*thump thump*

When felting a Nalgene holder with a Nalgene bottle in it, the washing machine makes some funny thumpy sounds. I'm curious what it'll do during the spin cycle.

Felted Nalgene Bottle Cozy (which needs to be tweaked).

Great for keeping your Nalgene from "sweating" water all over your stuff when you shove it into your bag, fresh from the fridge, in the morning.

CO 40 sts worsted weight yarn on a size 11 circular. Join.
Knit around for 11" (but I think it should be closer to 10"- this guy seems a little long)
Decrease every other round, starting with K6 k2tog, until 20 sts remain, then decrease every round until 5 sts remain. Pull through and secure.
Pick up 6 sts at the top. St st for two rounds, then garter for 10.
Decrease to 5 sts and work strap: K3, yf, sl 2 pwise.
Continue in pattern til the strap is almost as long as you want it.
Go back to garter, increasing one stitch, garter 10 rounds, st st for two rounds (i.e., make a mirror image of what you did on the other side). BO. Sew to opposite side of holder.
Felt til it's done.

facelift and new fluff

I gave up on trying to coerce this journal into being a three-column format, because I don't know enough about html and css to keep from breaking it on a regular basis. Someday, I will take a class. The problem with the classes I've tried to take is that I know about enough of the basics to get me through the first three or four lessons, and once I've made it through those, I'm bored because I haven't learned much new, and I've lost interest before getting to the useful stuff. I also hope to learn to use Microsoft Access at some point. Not at all intuitive to me, that program.

Anyway, aside from giving in to a new format on this journal, there has been much activity, although not as much fiber-related as I would like. I have managed to procure new balls of colorful and soft merino:



We've sold a few skeins, I've spun up a few more. We dyed lots of merino sock yarn for the store, including this guy:



We also dyed 6 or so skeins of worsted wool yarn for making felted totes. I bought a smallish (16 or so ounce) Nalgene, which I plan to knit a cozy for soon. I also knitted a larger Nalgene-sized cozy, and will felt it up this weekend as a prototype for some of the stock for Crafty Bastards.

So, I guess that's some progress. I'm also learning that there is a lot about knitting that I love, and a lot that I just plain don't like. I'll revisit that later, but for now, I know I don't like ribbing on double pointed needles. I like ribbing, I like dpns, but I just can't deal with both of them together -- too high maintenance, or something.

My favorite thing right now? Simple, memorizable patterns, with some variation in what you do with the rows, but also some plain knit and purl rows to take a break from the patterns. I'm working on a scarf for Tim right now in a woven sort of pattern that only has four different rows, one knit, one purl, and two 2x2 rib variations, and it's easy and it makes a pretty pattern. It's a dark yarn, but I'll try to get a picture up some time soon.

spinning stays constant

Things are very up in the air in my life right now, and I have very little control over which way they're going to go. I do, however, have control of the tension of my wheel, the weights of the yarns I'm going to spin, the rhythm of the treadle, and all of this has been very comforting over the past week or so.

Every day, coming home from work, I'm faced with many tasks around the house that I could, and perhaps should, be doing. I've been trying to get a load of dishes, dirty in the sink, to clean in the drying rack, or I don my workout clothes and brave the humidity that makes my lungs poke at me and ask me what I'm doing, biking in 87 degree weather. But mostly, I sit at my wheel, which has found a permanent place in my tv room, turn on a disc of West Wing, and spin from the beginning of a ball of roving to the end.

This week, I've made these:




They will make the fluffiest, softest hats, and they are what has kept me sane.

This weekend, Paula and I will dye some more merino, which is great, since I'm out at this point, and I will once again have pictures of big, bright balls of yarn potential. And maybe I'll be able to stop thinking about everything else, just for a few hours.

absenteeism

Time is racing by, perhaps even wearing rollerskates or some such. Between travel, work, an upcoming wedding, and an ill family member, much has kept me busy, but has also kept me knitting for my sanity. I have been toting Clapotis III around with me, and am about halfway through. My dye job on this batch of yarn (darn superwash - never dyes quite as I hope it will) is lighter in one skein than the other, and it stands out to me as I look at the last 25 rows or so that I've finished since switching skeins. I don't think it's feasible to rip back a Clapotis, so I will just have one swath that's a little less color-intense than others. The way that it hangs, I don't think anyone will notice much. Of course, I'll know, which is enough to make me slightly insane, but eventually, it'll just become part of the character of the piece.

Back to Chicago this weekend, and then a week in the basement of the library, helping new students put together class schedules. The excitement never ends.

weekends in fiber!

Sunday was the Mount Pleasant Craft Fair, at which I gave out many of my personal knitting "business cards" (thank you, free offer from VistaPrint), so hopefully I've had a couple of new people surf by -- if so, please don't hesitate to introduce yourselves! and, if you bought yarn from us, send along those pictures of whatever you make, and we'll be glad to post them on the woolarina.com site!

The fair was a big one, with food vendors, music stages, and a couple of blocks' worth of vendors (I don't know how many to be exact, as I tried to keep myself from doing too much shopping -- shopping negates the point of selling in some respects, although I'm always interested in trading with other crafters). I applaud all of the knitters who, like me, would brave 85 degree weather to sift through wool yarns. We sold a couple of my favorite handpaints, which is great, because it means I can make more to replace them!

Paula and I have purchased new dye colors, so keep an eye out for even more color in the near future -- and if you have any requests (e.g., "ooh, I'd love to see what you'd make with colors x and y," or, "there's this great Miro painting, and I wonder what its colors would look like in a yarn"), don't hesitate to let me know!

This coming Saturday is the Takoma Park Jazz Fest, 11am-7pm. We will be there, wearing our sunscreen! Stop by and say hello.

And so that you aren't deprived of a picture, here are some of the felted wine totes that have since gone to new homes, but never fear, more are being knitted as we speak (I'm currently working on a pink/blue/purple) and will be available on Saturday!

crafty alert

Come and visit me and Paula and possibly Christina at the Celebrate Mount Pleasant Craft Fair!

Sunday, June 5, 10am-6pm

Entertainment stages and craft vendors galore!

Mount Pleasant Street between Irving St and Park Rd. Mount Pleasant is a seven-minute walk west of the Columbia Heights Metro Station on the Green Line. Mount Pleasant is also served by the the 42 and H buses (check with WMATA for re-routing on the day of the festival), and is just a block west of the S bus lines.

Our booth will include some knitted items, stitch marker tins, magnets, and other goodies, as well as our mountain of dyed and spun yarns, including these guys, plus a ton more, some of which aren't even up on the website yet:

so about that yarn...

I like this feather and fan/wave scarf pattern, but will also head to the library and browse through the books. I'm thinking a semi-circular or faroese-type pattern would be fun to try, if I can find one that isn't too complicated/fluffy looking. I really don't need another shawl, though. Maybe Charlotte will be gifted away to a deserving relative at some point, since I don't wear her very often.

All of the newly-dyed yarns are up on woolarina.com now, including these cool worsted merinos:



They're spun such that one ply picks up color differently than the others, so there's a darker stripe running through. Observe the blurry close-up:



There are a couple of different blues, the pink/purple highlighted above, a red/green/blue/purple, and green/blue/purple that I LOVE that didn't photograph that well. Must take Yarn Photography 101. I'm sure they offer that at a school near me :)

shawl ideas?

I have 850 yards of this lovely merino, in its impressionistic handpainted loveliness, which knits at 6sts/9rows = 1":



What shawl pattern would you recommend for some/all of it?

(much) more dyeing madness

So many people came over that I actually cleaned my living room! Paula, Christina, and new-to-blogland Libby, with boy in tow, descended upon my dye kitchen, which is really just my regular kitchen, with all gadgetry, dish racks, and sharp objects moved into the dining room, and all surfaces covered in newspaper. From about 10 a.m. until about 9 p.m., there was much dyeing, eating, learning to use niddy noddies, and other general fun. Thank goodness for nice weather - it would've been awfully stuffy if all of us plus the yarn had had to huddle in the house. As it was, the yarns got their dye treatments, and then bathed lazily in the sun to dry. In all, I think we must've dyed four 12 miles' worth of yarn. I haven't actually added it all up, but the share that will go into the store is about a three miles' worth:

The details should be up on the website in a few days!