finally, a picture!

Even better than a picture, an announcement: we finally broke down and ordered DSL, which means I may actually post more frequently, and with more pictures (as it took 6 minutes to upload two pictures to my fotki site via dialup). In any case, here's a detail pic of the afghan (on a blue background, with bad lighting - but I'll take what I can get for now):



It isn't quite as golden as it looks in the picture, but that's the general idea. Even though I'm not a huge fan of mohair, I like what it does for the weight and texture of the afghan.

another temptation

StitchDC is opening its second location, 1071 Wisconsin Ave, NW (in Georgetown) in February. Between that, Paper Source, and Five Guys, I shall have to be banned from G'town all together.

Afghan is coming along -- I've finished 1 1/2 of the 3 1/2 repeats, and it's very purpley. I've also spun almost all of my Solitude Farms fleece from Eastern Market, which will be about a bobbin full, which will then be Navajo plied. And now, it's time for cake.

abfab

So I have at least done some research on the Ab-Fabbish afghan that I plan to start this weekend (especially if there really is snow and sleet! Woo!) -- I have looked up the contents of the yarns that are used in the original pattern. And, in case you're curious, here they are:

Skye: an aran wool yarn. 4":18sts x 15 rows on 7s
Zanziba: wool/viscose boucle. 4":11sts x 16 rows on 10.75s
Wigwam: cotton tape. 4": 18sts x 25 rows on 9s
Fandango: fluffy cotton chenille. 4": 11sts x 16 rows on 10.75s
Mohair: mohair w/a bit of wool and nylon. 4": 18sts x 25 rows on 9s

Later today, I will try to motivate and send a picture of my yarns...

on the needles

Well, first of all, I just took a pair of wrist warmers off the needles. Karabella Aurora 8 is a fabulous yarn. Merino, superwash, worsted weight, pretty colors. I knitted a pair of short wrist warmers in eggplant for Tim to wear while running:


It was a simple knit: CO 32 sts on size 7 dpns, work in 2x2 rib for a few inches, knitting to the next to last stitch; slip last stitch onto first needle, then knit back and forth in pattern for 9 rows. On the 10th row, rejoin the work, and then knit in 2x2 for another inch or so and bind off. Ta dah!

I'm about to start a pair of socks in Plymouth Encore DK:

I will knit on size 5s, so it should be less painful than the last pair of socks, which were knit on 1s.

yarn resolutions

Sounds like Paula and I have both resolved not to spend as much money on the knit/spin habit this year. This is probably just as well. We would both go broke if we kept enabling each other. I'm hoping to make it all the way to Sheep and Wool this year without making any fibery purchases. I have a couple of pounds of roving, and 4 tupperwares of yarn, so I think I can make it.

The holiday knitting seems to have gone over well, although Tim's grandmother was hoping for a hand knit blanket, and she got a store-bought blanket. Perhaps next year. Many hats and wrist warmers were knitted and bestowed upon people. The Rittrato shawl is oh-so-close to ready to be sent to its recipient. Phew.

inspiration needed

Awhile ago, wanting a warm yarn to knit with, I ordered two skeins of Reynolds Andean Alpaca 4-ply:



I thought it wanted to be arm warmers, but turns out, it doesn't, at least not on size 8 needles in 2x2 rib. Does anyone else have an idea for what it wants to be? I have 220 yards, and it knits 4.5 st/in on 8s.

Production Knitting

I don't think I'm meant to accept custom orders, as I'm not very good at finishing them in a timely manner. I've had a bag sitting here for three weeks, completed save for sewing the strap on, and I still have two scarves that I'm supposed to finish before xmas, not to mention all of my gift knitting.

I picked up my order of 8 oz of baby Romney roving from Solitude Farms at Dupont Farmer's Market today. It's soft and white, and supposedly won't felt too badly when I dye it. I'm going to bring it home to Chicago this winter break (ah, the joys of my academic schedule) for my sister and I to work on dyeing and spinning. No room in the Forester for the wheel, with two dogs and gifts and everything else one needs for a 2 1/2 week trip, but it'll be nice to get back to my spindle again, anyway.

Also, I once again won't make it to knitting meetup this month. Tim defends his dissertation proposal on Wednesday, which means we'll either be celebrating or drowning or collective sorrows. In either case, we're likely here for at least another year and a half, thanks to his advisor, so I'll have plenty more chances to make it back to one of my favorite social knitting venues.

I made this:

(it's thick and thin on purpose)

and I'm knitting a lot

and I wish I had time to write

but I have to meet with 300 students over the course of three weeks so I'm a little swamped.

A Whole Bunch of Bag

It is sad to me that this will felt down to just about 14" tall, but it was still a pretty quick knit. Just the strap left to go!

Knitting Machine

No, I don't own a knitting machine, but I feel like one when I'm getting ready for craft fairs. This weekend, I finished five hats:


All of them are wool-blends and chunky: Paton's Shetland Chunky, Plymouth Encore Chunky, or two strands of Wool-Ease knitted together. I knitted while hanging out at Paula's, and while watching movies. The hat in the middle of the bottom row was finished during Finding Nemo, and the blue/natural striped during Ocean's Eleven. Maybe I'll start naming my finished products after the movies that I watch while completing them.

...Corrientes, Nueve de Julio...

So I went to the Folk Art Studio in Bowie last night with Paula and picked up a bunch of Rio de La Plata yarn. First of all, I think it's cool that the random link above that I found via google lists the yarn's wool content (Material: 100% Uruguayan Wool. Composition: 27 1/2 microns corriedale and 19 1/2 microns merino). Second, it's great to knit with! It's very soft, especially after working almost exclusively with LP Bulky. The colors are nice -- I'm using a variegated, and it created an interesting stripe pattern on the hat that I just finished. Kathy at Folk Art Studio likens it to Manos, but I've never knitted with Manos, so I can't provide reference there, but I do recommend it, for those of you who can get to Bowie or otherwise find it. One skein was 140 yards and $13, which seemed reasonable for a soft, hand-spun, variegated-dye wool.

Oh yeah, and it makes me sing the song "Buenos Aires" from Evita. Hence the title of the post.

time to kill

I'm at work, waiting for an email merge to finish (Word has merged 1099 records so far!) and hoping that typing up an entry doesn't crash the whole system. I've been getting the Blue Screen of Death a lot lately at work, and I don't even have that much of interest on this computer, since it belongs to the school and all.

I missed the knitting meetup last night because a) I'm getting over a cold; b) it was rainy and nasty outside; and c) the West Wing premiere was on. Happily, the show wasn't awful -- I have high hopes that it'll get better before it's taken off the air (which I imagine will be soon) -- season five just wasn't very good, overall, but I will remain optimistic for six.

I am knitting for another craft fair. Sigh. My poor, neglected Top Secret sweater. I've also been doing a little bit of the holiday knitting, but not at the rate that I should. I had a little misadventure in felting the other night. I finished three projects, a hat, a small bag, and a wine tote, all ready for felting. Threw 'em in the washer, and didn't pay enough attention to them, apparently. The hat was supposed to be grown-up sized, and instead may fit a 6 year old, and the wine tote will only hold a bottle of Reisling. I knitted the bag with DK weight and novely yarn held together, and it didn't felt as tightly as I was expecting, so it's a little bigger and floppier than planned. Hm. Hopefully, prospective buyers will like these qualities in my slightly dysfunctional felted items.

I am the only person on livejournal who lists felted knits as an interest.

an update and a quiz

Looks like I'm craft fair knitting again -- I've finished two bags and a hat this week, all of them inspired by tweaking patterns from Felted Knits. A couple more wine cozies and I'll at least feel like I have a bit of inventory. I'm also going to knit and felt a bag to hold my Scrabble tiles for an upcoming Scrabble tournament. I've been longing for a bag with a flat bottom, and it shouldn't take too long. I may even do the drawstring rows in a non-felting wool, so that the bag will close snugly, but we'll see if I get that motivated.


You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting
and do it all the time. While finishing a piece
is the plan, you still love the process, and
can't imagine a day going by without giving
some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation
involves leaving ample space for the stash and
supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn
ends and you begin.


What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

success!

I had a lot of fun at the craft fair, and lots of positive reinforcement for my knitting. I really love it, and definitely knit too much to just gift all of my friends, so making a bit of cash on the side is a welcome opportunity. I think the wheel even managed to pay for itself a bit. We were invited to a gala event in a month or so, and are considering doing it, although I'm not sure how well that'll mesh with holiday knitting. Lots of fast and fluffy scarves in my future, I think, and I want to do some stocking caps.

It's nice to be back on my sweater again. I finished the body while sitting and knitting at the fair, and am working my way up one sleeve, in the round. I cast on 54 stitches, and will decrease down to the called-for 48, because I decided that I wanted bell sleeves. These things are huge. Fun, though, I hope, once they're done.

Off to a conference in Cincinnati tomorrow, which means lots of time to knit in the airport!

checklist

Things I have left to do for the craft fair (off the top of my head):
-come up with a design concept for the booth
-make some bag/hat racks
-label and price painted yarns and knitted items
-stuff and sew mice
-make an inventory of what I'm selling, so I can track what sells
-finish a few hats and bags
-write up small bag pattern
-put together and write up 100 yd hat pattern (kid size of some variety)
-xerox patterns
-figure out how much to charge for handspun
-make labels for handspun
-get a bunch of small bills and change
-make signs or other eye catching display items for the booth

What I've made:
-4 wine totes
-5 or so felted bags
-3 dozen hand-dyed 100 yard skeins
-6 or so hats
-20 catnip mice
-a dozen or so dishcloths
-3 scarves

What else I'd like to make (in the next week - ha):
-small felted bags
-hats
-skeins of handspun

early!

Nothing like getting to work at 7:30 to give you time to update and surf the Internet. My brain isn't awake enough to do much else quite yet.

Went to The Folk Art Studio in Bowie last night (and look! it has a webpage now!) for bulky Lamp's Pride and a kiwi bubble milk tea, complete with whipped cream and green bubbles. Mmm, my favorite variety of "green tea." I purchased a skein each of dark green and pink LP to go with my various purples and a pair of size 11 16" circulars. I am 16" into my third wine cozy, and I think I'll try my hand at Nalgene holders next. I also did a thorough search of my house and have found seven ready-to-felt mice. I almost put them back in their hiding places to see if they would multiply more extensively -- I could've sworn I'd only knitted three or so.

I'm in the process of designing labels for my yarn skeins. A rough picture:


Modeled after business cards I ordered:


Thoughts? Comments?

Craft Fair Countdown

First, big thanks to Paula for my fabulous birthday present! It's featured here and is so wonderful!

I'm knitting like a crazy person for the craft fair:


Saturday, October 2, 2004, 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Columbia Heights Market Place at 14th & Irving Streets.

I've done a bunch of mice recently, and two felted wine totes. I have to pick up more bulky feltable yarns, since everything I have left at this point is purple, and none of the purples really go together as well as they could.

I have also been dyeing. An insane amount of dyeing. I now have 3 dozen brightly colored (and fruity smelling) 100-yard-ish skeins of wool. Half of them have been bundled up and are ready to go, and the rest I'm probably going to have to rinse again, to try to at least mellow out the kool aid scentedness.

How much would you pay for 100-ish yards of one-of-a-kind, feltable yarn, which will come with a free pattern that I made up?

Tonight is the meetup, but I don't know if I'll make it. I may go out to Bowie's Folk Art Studio and grab some more Lamb's Pride, and a kiwi bubble tea.

I'm still daydreaming about the post-fair knitting. I now have 7 balls of Aurora 8 - two lime green, one forest green, and four eggplant. I don't know what they'll be, but they're so pretty and soft...

the perfect work bag

Just one of the many projects that's on hold until after the craft fair (the afghan is the other big one that I can't wait to start). I've been conceptualizing a work bag in my head for a couple of months now. It all began when I realized that my current bag is a) too heavy; b) boring and black; c) dressed with too many pockets that aren't suiting my needs.

My perfect work bag will be a felted bag, probably striped, but possibly just with different blocks of colors. It will not be variegated, I don't think. It will probably at least complement my lunch bag (which is also the Fiona bag), which is burgundy with a black trim.

It will need to hold the following: altoids, keys, planner, clipboard, wallet, mp3 player, glasses/sunglasses, a knitting project, with room for other incidental things.

It will probably have a specially-sized mp3 player pocket, plus a front pouch pocket, and a big middle compartment.

It will probably not be knitted in Lamb's Pride, since it's got the mohair halo thing going. It will probably be worsted weight. Maybe I'll try Cascade, since I've still never knitted in it.

Someday, I will knit for myself again, and not for the craft fair.

In other news, the knitting circle that I'm starting up at my campus (UMBC) begins next Friday. I can't wait.

hat madness

I have a big head, as heads go, and I think that it makes me automatically knit big hats. I just finished a hat with Takhi Baby that's even too big for me, which means I know it won't fit most of the populace. I'm hoping to felt it just a little bit, and call it normally-sized.

I have also done quite a lot of Kool-Aid dyeing recently:


All of the skeins are right around 100 yards, and will go into felted bag kits for the craft fair. Me, my giant bottle of vinegar, and my packs of Kool Aid have been banished to the basement and an extra microwave, as the smell gets a little overwhelming.

Sweater Progress

With the help of a meetup.com gathering, and a Knitting-N-the-City yarn swap night, I've made a little progress on the Knitty Top Secret Sweater:



I guess it's striping a little, but I don't really notice it while knitting or looking at the actual sweater as much as I do looking at those pictures. I should really be doing more craft fair stuff than sweater stuff right now, though...