Storm Moon Knits

A very belated update

2010-02-14T15:03:00.002-05:00

Well, obviously, work has kept me pretty busy, and I've been absolutely terrible about keeping this blog up-to-date. That's due at least in part to the fact that I spend most of my day staring at a computer screen (dealing with data, mailings, budgets, etc.), and when I come home the last thing I want to do is sit at my computer. Plus, the cat will yell at me and poke me until I sit on the couch.

I'm still knitting and spinning as much as I can, so long as I don't just fall asleep on the couch after work. I have a bunch of projects to put up on here, and hopefully I'll get around to that soon. But first, an update.

I am in the process of reformatting my free patterns because I'm going to be hosting them on Ravelry starting very soon. I'm getting rid of my current web host, which means pictures links on here might be broken for a bit as I try to update them.

So please be patient with me for a while--the patterns are my first priority, so hopefully they'll be on Rav in the next few days.

The Fiber Stash

2009-05-01T18:04:00.002-05:00

Even though I just started spinning in December, my fiber stash is freaking huge. At one point it all fit in a big paper bag, but the combination of the Homespun Yarn Party and Etsy (oh man, I've lost my mind with Etsy purchases) made it grow exponentially.

I was looking for a way to get my fiber consolidated, and since I took down the shelves in the bedroom that used to house all the dye and undyed Storm Moon Knits yarn, I have a lot more wall space available. So I took a trip to Ikea to get some hooks or something to put on the wall so I could hang the fiber. After getting angry at the crowds, I found these wooden hooks in the bathroom section. They only cost $1.99 each. Note: I know they're crooked and not in line with each other. :)

And here they are covered in fiber!

Here you can see the shelf of fiber batts and such. I wanted to get this taken care of before Sheep and Wool (which is TOMORROW!). I may have to buy more hooks depending on how much more fiber I buy :)

Here's my latest spinning. This was the February club batt from Politically Incorrect Yarns and Fibers (btw, if you're thinking of joining the batt club, everything I've received so far has been AMAZING). I love this yarn!

On a separate note, Mike recently got crickets for all the geckos--for some reason he got a ton so there were crickets running around and chirping in the tanks for a week or two. Here's Cece watching the last surviving cricket in Ember's tank.

Of course, it was taunting the crap out of her and trying to jump at her through the glass (clearly it was unaware of what happened to the cricket that escaped the leo tank--I found most of it).

I can't remember if I put up a picture of Ember before, so here she is. She's a crested gecko (we have two).

A more personal update: I'm changing migraine medications, and I've been in withdrawal from my last one for over a week, and it's been pretty horrible. I left work at 11am today because I was so nauseous. The lack of sleep has been fun too. I'm determined to go to Sheep and Wool and ignore the fact that I'll likely feel like crap.

Anyway, yesterday I went to Bayview to get an MRI, so I had to take all my piercings out. This is the first time this has happened in at least 6 years, so I took a picture of all of my metal. It makes me laugh.

I'm a terrible blogger

2009-04-21T18:37:00.005-05:00

For some reason I haven't been able to get myself to sit down at the computer and post. I think it's the spinning. It's taken over my life. I've barely knitted anything! I want to do a post about stuff I've spun, but I can't guarantee when that'll happen :) Anyway, I thought I'd post some pictures from my Easter break/super happy cat weekend!

For Easter break we get a 4 day weekend (yay Jesuit schools!) and I drove down to my parents house (which took FOUR HOURS--seriously, want to hear me rant about the idiots in the HOV lanes? because I really really can) where I got out of the car, slept a while, and then got back in the car to drive down to North Carolina to visit my brother and sister in law. But before getting back in the car to drive to NC, I saw this in my parents' back yard:

A pair of bluebirds have moved into the bluebird house in the side yard. My dad even bought mealworms for them.

Anyway, as I said, super happy cat weekend. Here's Rocco, my brother's cat.

And this is Vito, my brother's new cat since they moved to NC. He drives Rocco crazy. Which is understandable since he spent a good hour and a half trying to poke at gnats that were outside the window while yelling at them.

By the way, I had the best chicken portofino EVER while we were in Charlotte. Need to go back and get more!!

Then we drove back to my parents' house. Herbie is my parents' cat--he likes to go back and forth between being terrified of me and wanting to play.

Socks is still hanging in there, though it seems that he's gotten so old he doesn't shed much of his winter coat anymore (he didn't last year either). He's still my baby.

Socks has some new playmates (and by playmates I mean cats he chases out of the yard). This is Avery, the neighbor's cat.

After Avery left the backyard this cat showed up. Apparently he's new, since my parents hadn't seen him before. He was perched under the bird feeder. I have named him Mystery Cat.

Back at home. I've been spending so much time spinning lately that it seems to be driving the cat crazy because I don't sit on the couch (and knit) as much. So she spends most of the time I spin randomly poking me in the leg and yelling.

Of course, when she isn't bugging me she's getting into things, including plastic bags. I had to cut this one off of her. She was wearing it like a purse.

On a totally unrelated note, I got some AWESOME knitting pattern books in the mail (and we can thank the Ravelry Rubberneckers for finding the website). I have no idea what I'll make, but I had to have them. One of them has patterns for a Kermit doll and a Miss Piggy doll.

So here's a spinning tease! Perhaps this will prompt me to actually do the spinning post :) This was roving from Dancing Leaf Farm that I snatched up at the Homespun Yarn Party this year. There's also some metallic thread and sequin string in there.

Next Sunday: Homespun Yarn Party!!!

2009-03-07T21:10:00.004-05:00

Edit: SUNDAY! Not Saturday! For some reason my brain just isn't computing this fact.

I promise I'm going to try to post more. Really. I mean it. Anyway, I had to throw this up here:

Next Sunday is the 2nd annual Homespun Yarn Party! It's going to be AWESOME! We have over 30 vendors this year, and a MUCH bigger room. Click the picture above to go to the blog and get all the details. I CAN'T WAIT!

The ridiculously late Christmas post

2009-02-08T19:20:00.003-05:00

Yeeeeah. I'm a little behind. I really haven't been knitting that much because when I get home from work I either want to just sit on the couch and watch tv or spin and watch tv. Spinning is much more meditative for me than knitting (likely because I knit things that take too much concentration), so I've been making a buttload of yarn that I haven't knit up yet. It's just sitting on my table looking pretty.

Anyway, I promised pictures of Christmas gifts, so here we go.

Mom's Scarf (#63)

Pattern: Garter Stitch Loop-Through Scarf by Marci Richardson from the book 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders
Yarn: Three Irish Girls Wexford Merino Silk (wool/silk), in Donegan; about 1/2 a skein
Needles: US #8 (5mm)
Notes: Because the yarn I used is a lot thicker than what the pattern called for, I didn't increase as many times as the pattern called for (I don't remember what my number was, though). I was determined right after Stitches East to immediately knit with something I bought there, and this yarn is the great colors for my mom. Plus she doesn't like really long scarves, so this worked perfectly.

Candace's Beaded Scarf (#64)

Pattern: This is based on the pattern used in the knitting with beads class from the Celtic Knot Yarn Shop (which is now closed)
Yarn: South West Trading Company Yin (wool/silk/bamboo), in 824 - Desire; 1.25 skeins
Needles: US #5 (3.75mm)
Notions: Size 8 seed beads--a whole lot of them
Modifications: I made the scarf wider than the original pattern--I think I added 2 or 3 bead sections.
Notes: I made this to go with the chevalier mittens that I also gave Candace for Christmas. Since the scarf is knit in two halves and grafted in the middle, that means I had to figure out how to do kitchener 2x2 ribbing. That was perhaps the most obnoxious knitting thing I've ever had to do.

I also made mom and Candace necklaces from fantastic beads I bought from the last trunk show at Two Busy Beads. Mom's is the blue/green one (amazonite) and Candace's is the pink one (for the life of me I can't remember what that's called, but it comes dyed in many different colors--I knew Can would love the pink).

I also bought a lot of Christmas presents from various shops on Etsy.com. First, I bought a whole bunch of bath bombs from Moon's Harvest. I split them between mom, Candace, and myself. I used mine up so quickly I had to order another even bigger batch. She makes them to order but her turnaround time is *really* fast! I'm particularly fond of Crushed Orange and Diva (black cherry).

I also bought a ridiculous number of soaps from The Anderson Soap Company. Again, I gave some to mom, some to Candace, and kept a bunch for myself. Here's just a few:

I bought 4 bird prints for my mother-in-law from Mincing Mockingbird. I forgot to take a picture of these, but they were so pretty I think Mike and I might buy some for our apartment. I also have bought a ton of magnets from this shop because I think they're absolutely hilarious. I have a bunch of them at work on my cabinets.

I bought Mike a few prints from Misanthropic Cavalcade: Art by Joe Havasy. If you like hilariously inappropriate but really well done art, this is the place to go. The quality of the prints is fantastic, too. I've decided that Mike needs to hang these in his office when he becomes a professor.

I've been buying a ton of other stuff lately from Etsy (since there's still a lot of money in my PayPal account). I plan on listing more later. Hopefully though there won't be a month-long delay this time.

No more dyeing!

2009-01-10T23:28:00.002-05:00

I will be closing my Etsy shop on January 31st so I can concentrate on my new job (and be less stressed about juggling a full time job and a business). There's still a lot of stock up there, so if you like it you should grab it now. I don't think I'll be doing much dyeing for quite a while, which is kind of a relief.

I hope everyone understands. It's been a great year and a half, but I need a vacation.

I have a lot of updates to make here, including spinning, awesome Etsy purchases, and Christmas presents I never posted about. I have barely been knitting because when I get home from work I'm usually too tired to do anything other than sit on the couch. But work is good. My personal life is less good, but I don't feel like talking about that. Now I'm going to go to bed and really enjoy sleeping in tomorrow.

Gather, all ye who wish to learn

2008-12-13T00:15:00.004-05:00

I just had a flashback to my Israelite Prophecy class. Anyway, I do have sort of an announcement.

As of now, I am on a yarn diet. I intend to buy no new yarn until MDS&W. Roving does not count. Etsy trades not initiated by me don't count either (though now I generally would rather trade for roving).

This is in reaction to the ridiculous amount of yarn I've amassed in our tiny apartment. Everything I bought at Stitches this year is still in plastic shopping bags piled in various places because my stash shelves are really full. I made this decision after I ordered yarn at 3am while half asleep from the recent Blue Moon Fiber Arts online sale. When I woke up the next morning I thought, "What the hell did I do that for?" (well, the answer is of course 'the prettiness' but due to space constraints it's still completely ridiculous).

I'm also going to try to bust through as many projects as possible. This'll be interesting given the vast decrease in knitting time due to the new job, but perhaps I can be better about planning projects, since a good deal of my current knitting time is spent staring at yarn trying to figure out what to make next.

Also, I think I'm wearing the fingerprints off my thumb and forefinger from spinning. I've been spinning every day now, and on Thursday I went over to Spinster Yarns and Fibers for a lesson. According to Andrea I've pretty much gotten the hang of it and I just need to practice. She had a lot of good tips, and it's nice to see someone else do it before you try it yourself. She definitely helped me a lot with my joins, and I'm dying to try Navajo plying, but I only have one bobbin at the moment.

Anyway, I better show off my newest FO, for Helping Kids at Hopkins:

Munchie (#62)

Pattern: MMMMM aka. Mr Mighty Munchie Mouth-pouch Monster by Joan De Lurio (available at this etsy shop)
Yarn: Dark Horse Fantasy (50% acrylic, 50% nylon), in #2 (lime) and #105 (deep purple)
Dark Horse Lovely Lash (some kind of synthetic), in #216
Needles: US #8 (5.0mm)
Modifications: I didn't change this one too much. I did 4 legs instead of 5, mainly because I got tired of making them, and I did fewer rows of novelty yarn--the Lovely Lash is so fluffy that you really don't need that much of it to make it super furry. I also changed the inside mouth-seam to a 3 needle bind off.

Apparently this is how Elvis *really* died:

While I have your attention, I'll throw in some more spinning stuff. This is the yarn I made with the rest of the roving that Karida gave me. I'm hoping there'll be enough for a neckwarmer.

I also tried my hand at plying (since I only have one bobbin I wound the yarn into a center-pull ball and pulled from both ends). Doesn't look too bad.

When I got home on Thursday afternoon after my lesson at Spinster I spent most of the evening spinning. I'm getting a lot more consistent with my tension/drafting.

I spun all this while watching the Muppet Christmas Carol. I love that movie.

Ooh, I also made the most awesome batt at the batt station at Spinster.

The picture totally doesn't capture the awesome--it's a blend of undyed merino, white 'icicle top' (some kind of synthetic), blue/turquoise mohair, and a crapton of light blue angelina (the super sparkly stuff). Carma named it "Unicorns and Butterflies." I can't wait to spin it--but I'm totally terrified I'm going to screw it up. I ordered a few batts from Sugarbee Studios (i.e. Politically Incorrect Yarns and Fibers), so maybe I'll try those first.

I have more to show (awesome Etsy trades) but those will have to come later this weekend. I really should try to go to bed earlier than normal since I have to be awake and lucid at 8am starting Monday, but I really want to keep spinning. Crap.

FOs I can't show you, and spinning!

2008-12-10T00:04:00.004-05:00

I have a number of projects that I've just finished but I can't show you because they're Christmas presents. I do have one I can show you, though.

Winter Wreath (#61)

Pattern: Knitted Wreath by Julie Weisenberger
Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze, #634, a small portion of a skein
Needles: US #5 (3.75mm)
Modifications: The only thing I really changed was the wreath form. I couldn't find a 6" wire form, so I made one out of coated electrical wire, tape, glue, and ribbon. Pictures below.

I used a dark colored ribbon (eggplant actually) so that it blends in with the door and you just see the leaves.

On Saturday I met Karida at the Borders in Columbia and bought this:

So now I'm spinning! As you can see, that first attempt there kind of sucked royally. It looks like the wheel is pooping.

Oh, while I was at Borders buying spinning books, I found this:

Oh wait, it gets better!

Jesus is a coin bank!! And he sheds glitter on EVERYTHING. How could I resist the glitter Jesus bank?

Anyway, here was the first attempt at spinning (the roving is Neighborhood Fiber Co. Corriedale Roving in "Truxton Circle"). It's only about 4 yards, and it's pretty bad, but it looks a whole lot like Colinette Point 5.

And here's the second attempt. This one's a little more even. The roving is the autumn pack from Soup to Knits. There's about 25yds.

I spun more today but it's still drying. On Thursday I'm going to go to Spinster and Andrea's going to teach me how to spin for real. It'll be awesome.

Now I'm happy!

2008-12-07T00:09:00.006-05:00

I've been slacking on posting this because I've been running a lot of errands for the past few days (a lot of getting non-knitted Christmas presents squared away so I just have to concentrate on the knitted ones now), but...

I GOT A NEW JOB!!!

I was trying to find a picture that would capture the excitement I was feeling, and this is what I came up with:

Yeah, I think that'll work :) Though it's way funnier if you know those people

Starting December 15th I'll be working for Loyola College. Bonus? It's only about a mile from my apartment. I'm hoping to walk to work once it stops being freezing/pitch black at 5pm (I'd be walking through very nice but dimly lit neighborhoods).

Now I just have to shorten all my new pants.

As an aside, these were the runner up photos. Funny, though not jubilant enough. But still funny. God I miss college.

In that first one I'm headbanging. But I can't for the life of me figure out what I was headbanging to. That one's from our rock star party, and I'm Prince. And the last one was from my bachelorette party, where my friends had set up a very dirty Lord of the Rings themed ring toss. That's all I'm going to say about that.

Mittens and updates

2008-12-02T00:01:00.004-05:00

I went down to my parents' house for Thanksgiving this year. There was a lot of eating, a lot of shopping, and a lot of knitting. And a lot of their cat staring at me from around corners or furniture. I also got about 12 inches of hair cut off--it's a short bob now, and my head feels soooo much lighter. Of course, Amy and I seem to have differing opinions on what "easy to manage" means. I define it as washing my hair, letting it air dry, and brushing it. She defines it as blowing it dry with a round brush and using a curling iron. Well, this should be fun.

I ended up buying a lot of new (nicer) work clothes and shoes, since the yarn shop outfit generally consisted of jeans, a tshirt, and tennis shoes. I looooove these shoes. And they're actually comfortable. And they're BURGUNDY.

Anyway, back to knitting. I knit most of these mittens while I was home.

Gypsum Mittens (#60)

Pattern: Lola Flip-Top Mittens by Laura Nelkin (another link)
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight in Gypsum, about half a skein
Needles: US #2 (2.75mm)
Size Made: 7.5" circumference (next to the biggest size)
Modifications: I changed the decreases at the top of the mitten because I prefer to do them symmetrically. It doesn't make a huge difference, but I like it.

As soon as I bought this yarn from Dip Cindy I knew I wanted to make these mittens. I'm not sure why it took 7 or so months to actually start them, but I did finish them quickly. And it gave me an excuse to dig through the button stash. I love the button stash.

I put up the Christmas tree today and started wrapping presents. Luckily, Cece didn't wake up until I was done wrapping, but she did come out before I could clean everything up. So yeah, if you get a present from me and the bow is flattened, it's because she was rolling around on them. Sorry about that.

I also fully expect all of the sequined star ornaments to be on the floor in the morning. She seems to like those.

Holidays and 2 FOs

2008-11-25T01:07:00.006-05:00

Well, not that it will make a huge impact since I've been lazy about posting, but I'll be away from the blog for Thanksgiving. I'm driving down to my parents' house tomorrow evening after work, and I'll be returning Saturday or Sunday. Hopefully I'll get a lot of knitting done, assuming their cat doesn't attack the yarn (as he's done before).

On a completely different note, I'm totally hooked on the History Channel. Tonight I watched Cities of the Underworld (looooove that show) and Valkyrie: The Plot to Kill Hitler. I knew pretty much nothing about that part of the war, and plan on doing more reading about it. The only problem was they kept showing clips from the upcoming Valkyrie movie, and holy good goddamn, Tom Cruise doesn't even attempt a frickin German accent! Hello main character of the film, kind of leaving out a crucial character trait there. Though I imagine that he tried and was so bad at it they said screw it (of course, I would've said screw it, get someone else). Sorry, I just had to let that out.

I've also fallen in love (again) with Labyrinth. When I was in college I would play the soundtrack as I was falling asleep (silence and I don't do well together), and I've been watching it a lot in the last week or so. Mike thinks it's cute that I've been humming the songs nonstop. I'm sure he'll get tired of it soon.

Anyway onto the FOs:

Spartan Tux (#58)

Pattern: Spartan Tux by Paola Navarro, available from the DeliciousCrochet Etsy store
Yarn: Dark Horse Fantasy (50% acrylic, 50% nylon), partial skeins, in the following colors:
#1 - black
#13 - gray
#18 - white
#20 - red
#99 - pumpkin
Hook size: F (3.75mm)
This was far more time consuming than I imagined--I didn't think about the ridiculous amount of sewing needed to put this thing together. She tells you to sew everything on at the end, but holy hell, do it as you're going along or you'll go nuts! Of course, that leaves him looking completely wacky at some stages--at one point he looked like a giant Dr. Mario pill with googley eyes.

He's one brave penguin. Don't poke the dragon!

Amanda Hat (#59)

Pattern: Amanda Hat by Gina House (free Ravelry download)
Yarn: Handpaintedyarn.com Colonia 140 in "Sapphire Magenta," 1 skein
Needles: US #9 (5.5mm)
Modifications: I left two rows of garter stitch off the brim.

This is one of those yarns I've had in my stash for quite a long time because I've never found a worthy project. It's just too pretty to knit. As I started making this hat I thought "No, it's too pretty, I have to rip it out because this hat isn't good enough." Then I thought "God, I'm a moron." Perhaps this will prompt me to use other too-pretty yarn in my stash.

I've started a matching neckwarmer as well. May as well make more pretty things.

FO: Striped Neckwarmer (#57)

2008-11-15T22:34:00.003-05:00

Pattern: my own--I want to post it here but it might not be right away
Yarn: Frog Tree Merino Worsted (100% merino), #100 Black, 1 skein;
SWTC Karaoke (50% soy silk, 50% wool), #300 Dipity, 1 skein
Needles: US #8

I actually finished this on Monday but kept forgetting to take pictures.

There was a lot of trial and error with this one--mainly getting it to a good width, and fiddling around with the button band. It still came out a little wider than I normally make them but I like it, and I probably should've made it a few inches longer.

Sorry for the wacky color in the action shots--I forgot to get pictures during the day, and it was probably too cloudy to get good daylight pictures anyway, so I'm in the bathroom there. And while I was taking pictures the cat decided to demonstrate the new way she's drinking from the tub faucet. And she's been sleeping in the closet lately since I cleaned all the yarn off the couch. She hates it when I do that.

My parents came up to visit today (they're staying through tomorrow) and we had dinner at McCormick and Schmidt at the Inner Harbor tonight. Holy hell I ate so much food. We had the crab and artichoke dip as an appetizer, and I had a pound of Alaskan king crab legs. Apparently the king crab they get is sourced from the Early Dawn (from Deadliest Catch) and I thought that was awesome, so crab legs it was! Mike did have to help me eat a little bit--it was 4 freaking crab legs! And they're all probably 14" long. Soooo good though. And I had apple pie for dessert. I had to come home and sleep it off a bit (the cat decided to nap with me on the couch with her head on the pillow beside mine, which was okay until she started snoring). Now I really want to make apple pie. Anyone got any good recipes?

Tomorrow we're going to have brunch at the One World Cafe (which is across the street from where we live). They make the best french toast.

And before I forget, I interviewed for a job on Wednesday at Loyola, so everyone please keep your fingers crossed that I get it. I REALLY want this job!

Etsy updates!

2008-11-14T02:05:00.005-05:00

Alright, I just spent the last few hours updating the Etsy shop. All the stock is now listed. I already got one order, but I probably won't make it to the post office until Monday. I'm really frickin tired, so I should go to bed soon.

But first, the weird dream I had last night. The dream started out basically with the feud between Dwight and Andy from The Office. This is the second time I've had an Office dream, and the first one also involved this feud. Apparently my brain can't wait for the new episode and makes up its own plot. Anyway, after that it transitioned into some sort of college party where I was only wearing rather small black underpants. But I wasn't the only one who was nearly naked, so it was okay (Kelly, if you're reading this, you were there too, and wearing the same amount of clothing--not too far from reality, huh?). Then at some point that guy friend from high school (that I posted about before) appeared, and this time when I talked to him he was happy to see me. I'm pretty sure I was still mostly naked, so perhaps that's the reason. Then I got a shipment of undyed yarn, and the quality was terrible (it was falling apart in my hands) and I was furious (and still almost naked) and determined to go bitch out someone from the company who was also there. Then I woke up.

My subconscious appears to be confused.

For Stitches people looking for the armwarmer pattern

2008-11-07T19:11:00.002-05:00

It's here. And, of course, the Rav page.

Mini update

2008-11-06T21:52:00.004-05:00

The cat is on my lap which means I won't be able to get up from my chair for a little while (usually when I do she yells at me, and from her tone I'm pretty sure she's saying 'go f*** yourself!'), so I'll write a quick post.

Madge and I set up the Stitches booth pretty quickly yesterday (we were out by 1pm)--and the market preview this evening went smoothly. I gave color cards to two different shop owners (woohoo!), and I did some shopping. I did manage to snag a skein of Malabrigo sock yarn from WEBS (they were our first stop before the preview started), and I actually got to Interlacements today--last year I didn't manage to get over there at all, but by Sunday I was told that they were pretty much sold out. And I've already met a bunch of new people from Ravelry.

Hopefully the rest of the weekend will go smoothly--the only part I'm concerned about is moving everything out, because when you're moving in the vendors all come at different times (it looked like a lot of people waited till the last minute this year), but everyone has to move out at the same time. Then you get people running to get their cars to try to drive in first to pick up their stuff. Last year it was a bit of a mess. And someone close to us was just BITCHING the whole time. Apparently she didn't like that other people were moving out before her. Funsies.

On a completely different subject, the people who live upstairs are making me insane. At least one evening a week they'll BLAST music--so loud that I can understand the lyrics--and goddamn them if they aren't completely inconsistent with what they're listening to. Tom Petty and Sarah McLachlan are fine, but tonight they started with some weird metal, then it switched to what can only be described as a base guitar playing two or three very low notes slowly, and repetitively (this I hear really often and it drives me crazy---it's like a weird tone that makes me afraid it'll trigger a migraine or something stupid like that), then an opera song, then old timey country music, and now they're playing Journey (which I like). I'd go up there and ask them to turn it down but I probably wouldn't be too nice and I'd have to put on a bra.

Okay, this is random, but perhaps someone else's cat does this. I seriously doubt it, but you never know. In our bathroom the toilet is right beside the bathtub, and the cat will sit on the toilet and as I'm stepping into the tub to take a shower, she tries to grab at my leg with her paw (usually the claws aren't out). I can't figure it out, and she does it every time. I used to think she was trying to prevent me from the horrors of water, like she was grabbing me and going "Don't go in there! It's wet!" but she's done it for so long that I would've thought she'd given up by now if that were the case. I don't know. She's so weird.

It's been an amazing race

2008-11-05T01:25:00.002-05:00

I was honestly afraid this morning that I would barf my peanut butter toast breakfast at the church when I went to vote. I'm pretty sure God doesn't like people barfing in his house. And it was interesting to hear a few people who were working there say that they weren't sure they were even going to cast a vote. I loved running errands this afternoon and seeing all the "I voted" stickers (though not so many at Target--come on, people).

Perhaps it's just because I'm a politics dork, but I was literally vibrating with excitement as I watched the results flowing in on NBC (I love me some Brian Williams). I love looking at state county maps, and the analysis, and hearing results from the exit polls--and I have to say, when the hell do I get to do an exit poll? I really want to! Again, politics dork. I know.

And McCain gave an absolutely fantastic speech. I cried during both his and Obama's speeches. I'm a big crier. I know my dad won't believe it because that's the way he is, but I really would've been excited for the future if either candidate won.

I really wish Stitches East wasn't this weekend, because (1) I'm still a bit shell-shocked, and (2) I'm not going to have enough time to look at the polls that will continue to come out. You know they're going to be asking who or what gets the blame for McCain's loss. How many people are going to blame Bush? I'm sure Palin will get some votes as well, although much less than Bush. By the way this is my favorite of all the SNL Palin skits (fast forward through the commentary beforehand).

It's going to be an interesting four years, no matter what happens. It won't be dull. So I leave you with this.

Hee.

Hey look, a yarn tower!

2008-11-01T23:07:00.002-05:00

Please god ignore the background.

I put together one of my two new yarn racks (they're actually for socks, apparently). I wanted to see how much I could fit on there, so I grabbed the closest bag of yarn, which happened to be Celestial Bulky. Don't be fooled, I only loaded the front side, because I'm lazy. Since I'm still relatively new to doing shows I have no idea how much space the yarn will take up. I have two of those racks plus 4 or 5 grid walls. Either I'll have way too much space or I'll end up with baskets of extra yarn on the floor. Because why would it work out perfectly?

And here are some Stitches teaser pictures!

So lately I've been reminded way too much of high school. It's been a combination of weird dreams where people from high school randomly show up, and the music I've been listening to while dyeing yarn--specifically Madonna, Garbage, and Depeche Mode (I actually had to turn off the Depeche Mode cd because it was weirding me out). And, for extra fun, for the past 3 or 4 nights I've had dreams involving the same friend from high school (who decided not long before I graduated that he was no longer speaking to me), and in them he either avoids me or doesn't want to talk to me. Thank you, subconscious.

And it's gotten to the point that thinking about it is making me nauseous. Excellent. So I switched over to Prince cds today hoping to break the cycle a bit, and I ended up thinking "why didn't Wes and I listen to Prince in high school?" and I changed the cd to Alanis Morissette. She doesn't remind me of anything, apparently.

So I'm mentally going back and forth on whether I should try to contact people. Which is usually where the nausea comes in.

Oh, and I finally got to sleep last night around 4am, after watching most of Spirited Away in an attempt to forget the kid from Pet Sematary.

3 FOs! And scary movies.

2008-11-01T00:42:00.002-05:00

First off, you may notice little green 'r' icons around the blog now. Thanks to Max over on Ravelry, anytime I link to a Ravelry page, blogger will put the icon beside the link. This way I don't have to keep typing "Rav link" every time. If you want icons too, the instructions/icons are here! <---See?? I'm a touch amused by this. Anyway, onto the FOs.

Rachel Neckwarmer (#54)

Pattern: Rachel by Mandy Moore (the pattern is for sale in her Etsy shop)
Yarn: Storm Moon Knits Celestial Bulky, in "What dreams may come," 1 skein
Needles: US #11 (8mm)
Modifications: none
Size: the smaller one

This is one of those patterns that grew on me--I wasn't so sure at first, but after seeing it a few times I needed to try it. I knit 90% of it in 2 evenings (I did a small bit of the upper collar section on a different night as soon as I downloaded the pattern). The structure and shaping is ingenious, and 95% is knit in one piece. Definitely well worth the price. And the yarn works perfectly, if I do say so myself.

Mandrake Clapotis (#55)

Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert on Knitty.com
Yarn: Storm Moon Knits Nimbus, in "Mandragora," 2 skeins
Needles: US #7 (4.5mm)
Modifications: I did half the increase sections because I wanted a skinnier, scarf-sized Clapotis. I'll be wearing this at Stitches East next week. Unfortunately, it's really unlikely I'll have any of the yarn for sale since I haven't gotten my shipment yet (NOT HAPPY). I'll have some sample skeins, though.

My So Called Scarf (#56)

Pattern: My So Called Scarf by Allison Isaacs
Yarn: Storm Moon Knits Constellation, in "You are all weirdos!" 1 skein
Needles: US #11 (8mm)
Modifications: none

Normally I'm not too fond of the criss-cross pooling (dear god I just had a flash-back to Kris Kross), but I think it looks okay in this scarf. There's one section, however, where I must've been knitting a lot tighter because the pooling went completely wacky. Ah well. It's a design feature.

So for some weird reason I just love watching the 100 scariest movies countdown they do every year on Halloween (airs on Bravo). Even though every year it ultimately scares me. This year it happened to be the under-the-bed clip from Pet Sematary where the guy gets his Achilles tendon sliced that really got to me. Mainly because I was sitting on my couch (which is a futon) with my feet on the floor, and it just wasn't good. But it's such an entertaining show that I just can't stop watching it, and I don't like missing *anything* that's said. It helps that I like a lot of the commentators--Guillermo del Toro, Peter Jackson, Rob Zombie (looooove him), Bruce Campbell--although the guys from Upright Citizens Brigade are the funniest.

And it makes me think back to high school and how I was able to watch movies like Silence of the Lambs and The Exorcist over and over and over. Yeah, can't do that anymore. Last year I had just signed up for Netflix and queued a bunch of the movies listed--that's how I came to watch Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which I LOVED. The very end was just terrifying.

And I totally agree with their listing of Jurassic Park. I saw it when I was in 5th grade, and was completely traumatized--I had so much trouble sleeping after that, and I remember an incident where my family was on vacation and we were at a hotel, and as I was taking a shower I was freaking out because the shower curtain was opaque and I couldn't see the other side to make sure there weren't any raptors waiting for me. One time in 7th grade I was at a sleepover and they put Jurassic Park on, and I completely flipped out and made them turn it off after the first 10 minutes. After that I was figuring out places to hide in case dinosaurs showed up. I think the first time I watched it after that was in college when my brother gave me all his movies on vhs, and Mike wanted to watch it. We've watched it a bunch since and I seem to have gotten over the trauma, but if you come over you'll notice that our shower curtain isn't opaque. And it never will be. Thanks Steven Spielberg.

Woooo I got nothing

2008-10-30T21:28:00.004-05:00

Technically I finished two FOs this week (one Tuesday night and one last night), but I don't have pictures of the one, and the other just has a teaser picture since it still needs to be blocked (right now it's sitting happily in my sink in some Eucalan).

Anyway, teaser picture!

Yesterday while I was dyeing yarn I took a break to sit down, and it happened to be in the middle of the Cinnamini monster episode of Chowder, in which Shnitzel knits!

And yes, I took a picture of my TV. It makes me smile.

And, for reference, here's the Cinnamini monster.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get good pictures of both FOs, and hopefully I'll remember to post them right away, since I've excelled at forgetting lately.

Oh! Lindsay! I found a tshirt for you! I think his toes are missing...

FO: Bloody Vampire Armwarmers (#53), plus more!

2008-10-27T21:08:00.004-05:00

Pattern: Handschmeichler by Wollmeise (Rav link)--keep scrolling, there's more English
Yarn: Storm Moon Knits Twilight Sock, in "30 Days of Night", about half a skein
Needles: US #2 (2.75mm)
Modifications: I skipped the thumbholes since I didn't plan on wearing them that way. I also cast on with scrap yarn and did a 3 needle bind off instead of teeny tiny seaming.

I LOOOOVE these. I had to finish them in time for Stitches so I can wear them at my booth. After I got a hang of the button holes (which was pretty fiddley at first) they went very quickly, despite the tight gauge and teeny tiny garter stitch.

I got a lot of special orders for Twilight Sock in this colorway (of course, named after the book/movie) while I was working on these. I guess a lot of people saw the WIP pictures on Ravelry. :)

Yesterday I started a new project (why finish the old ones?), which is a neckwarmer out of my Celestial Bulky (colorway: "What dreams may come"). The pattern is called Rachel (Rav link), and it should go pretty quick. Another thing I can wear at Stitches!

The cat continues to burrow into the pile of yarn on the couch.

Today she made a nest with the blanket on one side and yarn on the other--that must've been nice and toasty.

She also found her new favorite box (well, boxes). She just ate--apparently she decided to sit on the boxes and clean her face--and she's been laying on them all evening. They contain the new racks I ordered for displaying yarn at Stitches. I'll probably put one together after work tomorrow to make sure it doesn't suck (you never know). I just had a panicky moment and had to go double check to make sure they're not way shorter than I thought--and they're the same height as me. That should work.

In other news, the new gecko (who Mike has decided to name Ember) continues to sleep in the bromeliad pot. Here she's waiting for me to put food in her tank.

I freaking love politics

2008-10-15T23:17:00.003-05:00

Oh man, this whole year has just been AMAZING, politics-wise at least. It's so weird to think that the election is so close. I don't know how many people reading this know that I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Politics (I also have one in Religious Studies, and a Master of Teaching in Secondary Social Studies education). I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE POLITICS. I think even fewer of you know that I student-taught an 8th grade civics/economics/English class (i.e. humanities class) for a semester. That happened to be in the fall of 2004, and I got to teach about the presidential election for an entire month. What's scary and yet exciting is that at least a few of those kids are old enough to vote in this election, and god I hope they do.

One of the best activities we did was to take weekly polls off the 100 kids I taught, total it up, and watch the vote totals change from week to week. And damn did they change. And yes, I made them watch all the debates.

Unfortunately tonight Mike isn't here so I had to basically contain my excitement, because the cat doesn't give a crap. I really enjoyed this one though. And McCain had what I'd say is the best sound bite (sound byte? I've seen it spelled both ways) of all of the elections: "I am not President Bush. If you want to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago." I love it. It reminds me of the Reagan quip from his second debate with Mondale in 1984, when the age issue was brought up: "...and I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience." (and yes, I know I was 2 when this happened, but I had to do a project on the 1984 election in college--and honestly, it was probably the most interesting thing about that election, apart from the female VP candidate).

I'm also fascinated by the number of times either the candidates or the running mates are asked what would happen if the VP candidate had to become president--the emphasis is really strong in this election compared to others.

So I honestly can't wait to see what happens. I think the turnout is going to be amazing--I expect the church where I go to vote will be packed, with long lines forming outside. I also can't wait to see Virginia's vote totals (and yes, I'll be looking district by district). If you ask my dad, he'll tell you that I've been saying since the beginning of the year that Virginia has gone purple (and if you don't know what that means, that just makes me sad). Plus we can see pretty clearly what the candidates think about how Maryland will go, since I've hardly seen *any* presidential ads on tv (or perhaps I'm watching the wrong channels? I kind of doubt it).

I'm rather disappointed that I won't really have time to spend the day after the election studying, well, everything, since I'll be at the convention center setting up for Stitches East. Not enough time!

Okay, I'm sure you guys may have skipped most of that, so here are some pictures of the cat. Light at the end of the tunnel, maybe? For the past week or so Cece has spent most of the day sleeping on my knitting stuff on the couch. Specifically, she loves to sleep on patterns and needles. With yarn balls as pillows.

FOs! And new WIPs!

2008-10-10T22:42:00.003-05:00

So lately I've been too busy to sit at the computer and post about what I've been doing. Plus, with what's been going on at the shop as well as job searching, I've been mentally, well, not too good.

So during the day I'm either at work or elbow deep in very colorful wet wool. In the evenings I'm usually either tying undyed skeins (so they don't get tangled in the dye process), or I'm cutting the extra ties off/twisting hanks/tagging hanks. After I finish that each evening I get a little time to knit, and I usually start a new project. I did manage to finish a couple though--both of which were started within the last week or two. The patterns don't involve too much thinking but the results are fantastic.

Boteh Scarf (#51)

Pattern: Boteh Scarf (Rav link) by Kathy Merrick, from Interweave Crochet, Spring 2007
Yarn: Storm Moon Knits Twilight Sock, in "Purple Rain," 1 skein
Hook size: F (3.75mm)
Modifications: I suppose screwing up the direction of one of the triangles counts as a "design modification."

This was a much faster, easier project than I anticipated. I only did as many repeats as the pattern called for, so I have some leftover yarn which will probably become wrist warmers. I'll have to weigh it and see how much is left. I love how crochet shows off the color changes in hand dyed yarn.

Beaufort Hat (#52)

Pattern: Beaufort Hat (warning! PDF file) by Angela Hahn (Ravelry page)
Yarn: Cascade Pima Tencel, in #7478, 1 skein
Needles: US #7 (4.5mm)
Modifications: none
Size: large adult

This is for someone who's getting ready to start chemo. Pima Tencel is such a fantastic yarn. I hope she likes it.

And, like I said, I've started some new projects. This is a neckwarmer that will match my Chakra hat. I'm pretty sure I've been writing it down as I go, so I should be able to post a pattern when I finish. I reeeeeally like this one.

And here's yet another half-Clapotis. The yarn is one of my new yarns which I call Nimbus (60% domestic alpaca, 40% domestic merino), and the colorway is "Mandragora." I want to get this done before Stitches East so I can wear it at my table.

Earlier this week Mike and I were watching Unwrapped on the Food Network, and they kept showing the damn Werther's commercials, so I had to go buy some today (both the original kind and the new chocolate/caramel swirl). I'm pretty sure that these things will be what kills my teeth. But they're sooooo goooood. I have yet to get the makings for root beer floats, which is one of the things they were talking about on Unwrapped (along with oreos [well, the Paul Newman version], spinach and artichoke dip, Andes chocolate mints, and cookies and cream ice cream--it's like they made the episode just for me!!).

I better get to sleep so I can dye a ton tomorrow. I haven't gotten to the point yet where the smell of wet wool makes me want to vomit. That's a good sign, right?

ugh

2008-10-04T22:26:00.003-05:00

I've been trying to deny it, but my sinuses are telling me otherwise--I indeed have a cold. I was trying to blame feeling crappy on the sudden change of seasons, but since the coughing has set in I think I'm screwed. My face hurts.

I've been slacking this week at dyeing. Wednesday I had no citric acid. That came on Thursday so Friday I start dyeing and I run out of plastic wrap. Since I have to order the 18" kind (it works way better than skinny plastic wrap), I decided to get other stuff done, which meant cutting the extra ties off the skeins and tagging. Now I feel like ass so we'll see how much I get done tomorrow. Bleh.

If the cat keeps me awake again with her snoring I think she might get locked in the bathroom.

EDIT: Ooh, and to top it off, here comes a migraine! At least that explains why I couldn't see half of a word I was trying to read on my crossword puzzle. God bless Imitrex.

Trunk Show Tomorrow!!!

2008-09-27T22:23:00.002-05:00

Don't forget, tomorrow (Sunday, Sept 28th) is the big trunk show at Lovelyarns, from 4-6pm!! I'll have a bunch of sock yarn there, and there will also be yarn from Blue Heron, Woolarina, Crash into Ewe, and Ellyn Cooper's Yarn Sonnets (you know I'll be fighting over that stuff). I'm planning on hanging out there, so come by and say hi, and try to beat the crowds (apparently last year it was insane)!

On a side cat note, Cece has figured out how to needle felt. She managed to felt two skeins of yarn together (I pulled them apart and they're fine but it was still pretty funny). Also, if you're keeping track, add peanut butter and strawberry jam to the list of things Cece will eat.

FO: Super Awesome Skull Neckwarmer! (#50!)

2008-09-21T22:18:00.003-05:00

Pattern: Fourteen by John Brinegar
Yarn: Material Whirled Skull Skein, in chartreuse, approx. 76yds
Needles: US #13 (9mm)
Modifications: I cast on 12 stitches instead of 14 and therefore had to adjust hte buttonhole row. I also knit the button band section first, and then knit until it was long enough. I did follow his stitch pattern on this one--I tried the true brioche rib at first but the skull beads got lost in the ribbing.

This only took an hour or two to make. I had to use it as soon as I got it. And I had these pirate buttons in my button stash which work perfectly! I can't wait till it gets colder so I can wear this!

On a separate note, Mike and I have gotten completely hooked on The Office. I had the first season on my Netflix queue, but when I saw this commercial during the Olympics I pushed it to the top of the list.

We're only through the end of season 2 (I'm pretty sure I went "EEEEEEEEEEEE" for a full 2 minutes at the end of the season finale), and I'm practically shaking with anticipation for the next season, which we should be getting in the mail either Monday or Tuesday.

And Jesus help you if you post any spoilers here. I have a lot of wrath bottled up lately and it's looking for a target.

Gah!

2008-09-20T23:24:00.002-05:00

I haven't updated in over a week, which is very weird for me. Especially since I finished two projects in that time--well, technically it's three, but I don't have pictures yet since I finished it about 20 minutes ago.

So we had a pretty busy day last Saturday. First we went to Spinster Yarns and Fibers which is only about 2 miles from our apartment. I bought a bunch of stuff, including this giant ball of sock yarn my Farmhouse Yarns.

It's weird because before I went to Lovelyarns for the first time I had a dream about what the shop would look like, and the shop in my dream was almost exactly like Spinster. Strange.

Anyway, next Mike and I were off to the reptile show at the fairgrounds. I had made a rule that we weren't going to buy anything living, which I quickly forgot.

We almost came home with a birdeater (tarantula) which would've grown to an 8 inch leg span. Instead we got another gecko. She's actually very very orange, but we had just taken her out of the container here so she was a bit freaked out.

We set up quite the tank for her which includes one of our bromeliads. Which apparently she thought made a nice little bed. She goes white when she's sleeping.

Later in the evening I finished another project.

Uh Ohs (#48)

Pattern: Uh Ohs by Anna of Mochimochi Land
Yarn: Dark Horse Yarns Fantasy (50% acrylic, 50% nylon) in #72 (misty green) and #58 (teal)
Needles: US #5 (3.75mm)
Modifications: I used a thicker yarn and skipped the whole felting thing. I knit with worsted weight on #5 needles to get a tight fabric. I stuck with the pattern for most of it, but on the little nubbins I added a row of decreases before pulling the top closed. These were surprisingly easy despite having to knit one around the other one. The seaming was a bit time consuming but I wanted it to be good and sturdy.

I also got more yarn mail! This is handspun yarn from Material Whirled and it's completely awesome. This is the chartreuse colorway, and according to my niddy noddy it's about 76yds. Go buy some!

I started another toy project on Monday and finished it on Wednesday.

Octopus! (#49)

Pattern: Octopus (Rav link) by Hansi Singh--available through her etsy store
Yarn: Dark Horse Yarns Fantasy (50% acrylic, 50% nylon), in #108 (jade) and #105 (deep purple)
Needles: US #5 (3.75mm)
Modifications: none! I left out the pipe cleaners since it's going to my cousin's baby (the uh ohs are going to him to).

The color in these pictures is completely off. I'll try to take new ones tomorrow in sunlight.

So that's how it ended up. But here's what it looked like before all the seaming.

I'm completely amazed by her ability to sculpt knitting into shapes like this. I can't wait to do more!

A hat and an Uh.

2008-09-11T23:32:00.003-05:00

Dye Flub Thorpe (#47)

Pattern: Thorpe by Kirsten Kapur (free Ravelry download)
Yarn: Storm Moon Knits Celestial Bulky, dye f*** up
Needles: US #10.5 (6.5mm)
Size: medium
Modifications: As before I went up quite a few needle sizes to get a more pliable fabric. I also continued to do the decreasing on the ear flaps so they came to a point, and I skipped the crochetted border.

This was a very early dye experiment--unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), the acid got washed out too early and some of the colors didn't take all the way--especially the black. All the grey areas were meant to be black, and the other colors got slightly stained by the dye that was washing out. But the finished product actually ended up being really pretty. Unfortunately though I haven't been able to recreate it, but it still makes an awesome hat.

I decided to do 8-strand twists instead of the braids because it just looks more finished to me. I love this hat.

So I have a few baby items I'm working on for Nathan (my cousin's son--born in June). I love the Mochimochiland patterns, and I started the Uh-Ohs right away. So I have one finished and now I just have to knit the second one--around the first one. This should be interesting. I imagine it's going to make the seaming wayyyy more fun.

I like yarn mail

2008-09-07T22:04:00.004-05:00

On Friday I got my package from Sock Pixie. I'd been watching the shop for a long time and wanting pretty much everything, but when she put up Carnevale I had to have it. And another one.

This is Carnevale in Merino Sock.

And this is San Marco in Merino Sock.

And then this other little bundle fell out of the package.

Containing an extra skein of yarn! This is one I probably wouldn't have picked out for myself, but it's really pretty.

The skeins aren't tagged so I went back on the website to figure out which color was which (because I ripped the little wrappers off without looking). Then of course she had new colors up, and I ordered 2 more skeins. I see an addiction forming.

I've been working diligently on my armwarmers in 30 Days of Night. I've only been minimally distracted by other projects :)

This is the first one which is about 3/4 of the way finished. Tiny garter stitch doesn't grow very quickly.

The cat has decided that she's determined to lay between me and the tv, which usually means on top of knitting books on my coffee table. And she will stretch out across all of them because she knows I'll want to look at one.

On a completely unrelated note, I found these buttons at the shop (while I was dreading the idea of entering all the buttons into the new computer). They're so glittery and tacky that they're awesome. So now I have to find some yarn that doesn't clash (well that's not an easy task) and make a neckwarmer. The picture doesn't capture how horribly wonderful they are.

ugh

2008-09-01T23:32:00.003-05:00

So between yesterday and today I worked 22.5 hours. That's almost an entire day. And I might take on another 10 or 12 tomorrow.

I'm starting to get the feeling in my spine that would happen when I'd pull all-nighters in college where my body starts to tell me that I've been perpendicular to the floor for far too long. At least the birds aren't singing. It would always piss me off when the birds would start singing and I'd still have a lot to write. I don't miss that at all. Whenever people ask me if I'd ever go back and do *more* graduate work, and I just think back to that and my brain screams NOOO! It doesn't help that I ultra mega suck at writing. Of course then I think back to all the TAs and professors that had to read that crap and I feel bad for them. It's just a bad deal all around.

I think I'm moving into a sort of stream-of-consciousness state, so I should probably go to bed. By the way, being determined to wear my pajamas to work today made me look kind of stupid at the gas station on the way to work. Ah well. At least I had makeup on.

EDIT: I just went back and read what I wrote and I may have surpassed stream-of-consciousness and gone into stream-of-brainlessness. Sleep time.

Hair + Good News!!

2008-08-28T01:16:00.003-05:00

Ok, I've rewritten this sentence a number of times and it always sounds odd, so here's the short version. Karida needed a picture of me (that didn't suck) for the book, since I have a pattern in there. Well, all of my pictures either:
(1) suck
(2) have backgrounds of the messy apartment/Mike's computer/Golden Girls or Spongebob on the tv
(3) have a myspace angle thing happening which just fills me with shame (and I'm not even on frickin myspace)

I have older pictures that may have worked, but since I was skinnier then I didn't want people to look at the book picture and then look at my blog and go "damn that girl got fat." I don't know why having them assume that I was always fat sounds better in my head, but as we all know logic does not apply in the land of Lindsay.

So I needed to take a new picture. Since my roots were 1.5 inches long, I figured I should probably redo the dye job. But I couldn't decide between hot pink or purple for the front sections, and since Mike wasn't a big help on deciding, I just did both. I hadn't done this before, so it was a bit of a gamble. Luckily, it does not suck. And I didn't get any on my face.

Okay, this looks oddly familiar. What is this reminding me of??

Oh yeah. Yarn. Duh.

So onto the good news. I can't remember if I posted about the fact that Mike is going to be on a History Channel show. Anyway, he's on a History Channel show called Evolve. His episode is on flight, and it airs next Tuesday, September 2nd at 10pm!!! Yay Mike! So if you want to see Mr. Lindsay, tune in at 10pm and you'll get to hear a small snippet of what I get to hear EVERY DAY. :)

FO: Longcat Scarf (#46)

2008-08-25T22:09:00.002-05:00

Pattern: Longcat Scarf by Enza Bird
Yarn: Storm Moon Knits Celestial Worsted (100% merino), in '13 o'clock,' 1 skein
Cascade 220 (100% wool), #8505, 1 skein
Needles: US #7 (4.5mm)
Modifications: I made the eyes one row lower, took a row out of the forehead, and took one row out of the ears.

New Yarns!!!

2008-08-22T22:29:00.002-05:00

So I've been sitting on this a while since I'm not going to have them available for purchase until Stitches East (November 6-9th), but I need opinions!

I'm putting together a giant base yarn order, and I need to know what people want to see at Stitches so I know how much to order of each. Anyway, onto the new yarns!

Tornado Sock

100% Superwash merino wool
approx 100gr/3.5oz - 365yds
7 sts = 1"
US #1-3 (2.25-3.25mm)

Yes, this is the same yarn I used for my Radioactive Jaywalkers. It has a tighter twist than Twilight Sock, and it's really nice to work with.

Nimbus

60% Domestic Suri alpaca, 40% domestic merino wool
approx 100gr/3.5oz - 220yds
5 sts = 1"
US #7-9 (4.5-5.5mm)

I looooove this yarn. It takes the dye beautifully (the colorway is called "A room with a moose").

What I need you guys to do is either comment here or go to this thread on Ravelry to let me know what you would like to see at Stitches (even if you can't make it--I just need numbers). My other yarns can be found here or on the Rav page.

FO: Lumpy Scarf (#45)

2008-08-22T22:16:00.003-05:00

Pattern: Farrow Rib Scarf (Rav link) from The Little Box of Scarves
Yarn: Handpaintedyarn.com Novelty Boucle, in Lilacs, 2 skeins
Needles: US #10 (6mm)

This is one of those yarns where the color is so insane I just had to have it. This is an easy scarf that I started a few years ago and finally got around to finishing. The texture makes stitch patterns nearly impossible but the mistake rib shows up a bit.

FO of AWESOME: Radioactive Jaywalkers (#44)

2008-08-18T23:52:00.003-05:00

Pattern: Jaywalker (Rav link) by Grumperina
Yarn: Storm Moon Knits Tornado Sock (100% superwash merino), in "The time I was radioactive," 1 skein
Needles: US #2 (2.75mm)
Size: smallest size (76 stitch CO)
Modifications: I tried doing a short row heel with this but it looked pretty bad, so I just went ahead and did it as written and it turned out great. Silly me, making things harder.

I'm kind of surprised how quickly I got the second one done.

The foot looks different on each of these because I screwed up the first one and had fewer stitches than I was supposed to.

Man this pattern eats a lot of yarn. I ended up making the cuffs five inches long--on the first one I actually made it six inches at first, but after weighing the yarn ball I was pretty positive I was going to run out of yarn, so I ripped back to five inches. There is a little yarn left over, but not enough for six inch cuffs.

Am I knitting too much?

2008-08-18T01:20:00.004-05:00

So between Thursday and Friday I finished two scarves, and on Saturday I finished the first sock in a pair. I guess the Ravelympics has affected my production rates :) And my increased knitting is cutting down on my blog posting time. Ah well.

Red Cabled Scarf (#42)

Pattern: based on the Four Rib Braid from Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury.
Yarn: Brown Sheep Burly Spun (100% wool), in Prairie Fire, 1 skein
Needles: US #15 (10mm)
Finished Size: 6" x 40"
Blocking: I pinned it to a towel on the floor and then sprayed it heavily and let it dry. This makes the scarf curl less but doesn't deflate the cables.

I knit the majority of this in one day, and it's super thick.

Artichoke Scarf (#43)

Pattern: Chevron and Feathers Scarf from The Little Box of Scarves
Yarn: Ellyn Cooper's Yarn Sonnets Woolly Bear (100% wool), in Artichoke, 2 skeins
Needles: US #10.5 (6.5mm)
Finished Size: 9" x 80"
Blocking: wet blocked

I made this one wider than I usually do because I had a lot of yarn. It still ended up being ridiculously long.

I finished this sock yesterday evening (and yes it fits!). Today I started the second one and I'm pretty close to being finished. The heel gussets are done and all I have left to do is the rest of the foot and the toe. I finally stopped about a half hour ago because my bicep is hurting. How knitting caused that I'm not so sure, but it does seem to be related. (Yes, this is the new sock yarn in "The time I was radioactive")

I should go to sleep.

Rolling in gold!

2008-08-13T01:43:00.005-05:00

Ravelympics gold medals, that is. I'm busting through my WIPs.

6th Short Row Hat(#40)

Pattern: Short Row Hat by Véronik Avery (it used to be available on the Interweave website but has been removed--perhaps they'll have it for sale soon?)
Yarn: Noro Kureyon (100% wool), #194, 1 skein
Needles: US #9 (5.5mm)
Modifications: Like usual I changed the garter brim from 10 stitches to 5 stitches because it usually ends up being really long. I'm not sure how I got the full hat out of one skein but I did. Woohoo!

I probably should've picked a skein that had the pink/green sections in the middle instead of the black/brown, because the front of the hat is dark and the back is bright and colorful. Ah well, I still love it.

Pretty in Pink Thorpe (#41)

Pattern: Thorpe by Kirsten Kapur (Rav link)
Yarn: Storm Moon Knits Celestial Bulky (100% merino), "Pretty in Pink," 1 skein
Needles: US #10.5 (6.5mm)
Size: medium (I tried the large but it came out gigantic)
Modifications: I used a much bigger needle than is called for in the pattern. I also skipped the crochetted border and did extra decrease rows on the earflaps so they'd be pointy.

I really love how this turned out. It's going to be super warm in the winter! And the yarn pooled in a really cool way.

2 Olympic FOs!

2008-08-11T14:38:00.005-05:00

So You Think You Can Hat (#38)

Pattern: So You Think You Can Hat (Rav link) by Insaknitty
Yarn: Storm Moon Knits Celestial Worsted (100% merino), undyed, 1 skein
Needles: US #5 (3.75mm) and US #7 (4.5mm) circs
Blocking: none
Modifications: none

I actually finished this on Friday but didn't get around to posting until today.

This was a very easy hat to knit--the pattern is easy to memorize and it goes pretty quickly. I was afraid it wasn't going to be big enough (it looks tiny when you're knitting it) but it has a lot of stretch.

Part way through working on this I got a lovely pink Crystal Light stain on it (the only white thing I ever knit and I stain it), so I had to rip back and reknit two pattern repeats.

Damn that's a bright Clapotis! (#39)

Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Storm Moon Knits Celestial Worsted (100% merino), "That girl is poison," 3 skeins
Needles: US #8 (5mm)
Finished size: 18" x 74"
Blocking: wet blocked
Modifications: I did a few extra straight sections. I also purled the stitches to be dropped and purled through the back loop on all purl rows--it makes the edges more consistent.

I loooove this thing. It's gigantic. I finished it at 3am because I didn't want to go to sleep until it was done--of course then I had to block it so I didn't get to bed until close to 4am.

But first, a mystery!

2008-08-07T23:33:00.002-05:00

So, it would appear that someone has signed me up for a year's subscription to Field and Stream magazine. It's addressed to me (name spelled correctly too!) and says it goes through June of 2009. I called Candace to see if my brother had done it as a prank, but no. And I know I didn't sign up for anything (seriously, fishing and hunting??)

WHERE THE HELL DID THIS COME FROM??!

So now the magazines will be taken to work for husbands to peruse while they try to mentally deny that they're in a yarn shop.

Anyway, back to knitting. Since I signed up for the Ravelympics WIP wrestling apparently my brain said since I'm going to be working on old projects during the duration of the Olympics, I should start a whole load of new stuff. Why not. Logical, yes?

Armwarmers. Twilight Sock yarn, "30 days of night"

My so called scarf. Storm Moon Knits Constellation, "You are all weirdos!"

Another My so called scarf. Schaefer Elaine.

Armwarmers--making them up as I go! Storm Moon Knits Tornado Sock (it's new!!!), "Muppets from Space"

Leaf lace scarf (no pattern). Grace Silk and Wool.

Also, I just sent a giant shipment of Twilight Sock yarn to Yarn Expressions in Huntsville, Alabama. Each of those giant balls is five skeins of sock yarn--I took the picture before I tied and tagged them. So if you're in Alabama, it should be there in a few hours!

This one's for Holly

2008-08-01T21:21:00.002-05:00

Today I impaled my leg on a knitting needle.

Now, I know what you're thinking--must've been a pretty sharp needle, right? One like this perhaps?

That's a US #3 sticking out the bottom of my Ravelry tote bag. Nope, that's not the one. Though don't be surprised if I post about impaling my ass check on a knitting needle while carrying my bag. Anyway, this is the culprit.

Yeah, that's a *blunt* US #15 needle sticking up out of a basket. I managed to stab myself while walking by the basket. At first I looked down and thought "damn, I'm bleeding," then I looked back at the basket to see which needle it was, and this was the only one with the point sticking out. Color me surprised. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person to ever impale herself on a blunt #15 needle.

To make this post less stupid, here's Cece's new sleepy place.

She barfed on this same pile of patterns earlier in the week. Wait, I guess that makes this part stupid too. Ah well. As long as it makes Holly Anne laugh, I'll continue to tend to my knitting wounds and clean up the barf.

Happy 26th Birthday to me!

2008-07-30T15:36:00.002-05:00

I'm officially closer to 30 than to 20 now :) When I checked my voicemail this morning I had a message from my dad saying "Happy birthday! 26! You're getting old!" I love my dad.

Since I have to get back to dyeing yarn, here are some pictures of me and Brandon as kids! Ooh, it's thundering! Yay!

They only last a day

2008-07-29T21:32:00.002-05:00

One of my vines bloomed today. This one is passiflora belotii. Another vine is putting out a ton of buds, so you'll probably be seeing more passionflower pictures before too long.

For some reason all of a sudden I've developed an incredible desire to learn to spin. Ironic, also, since I'm currently at the poorest that I've ever been (except for that short period between the end of college and getting a job). And for those of you who know me it shouldn't surprise you that instead of learning on a spindle I'd much rather jump in feet first and get a wheel. Now the likelihood of that happening is SUPER low, so in the meantime I might just be stocking up on awesome roving.

And, of course, this kicked in right *after* Insubordiknit's last spinning workshop in Maryland. Blast!

So in the meantime I'm going to stop looking at roving on Etsy, because it's soooo not helping.

The Muppets!

2008-07-19T23:33:00.002-05:00

It was aaaaaaaaaaaawesome!

Today Mike and I met my brother and sister in law in DC to go see Jim Henson's Fantastic World at the Ripley Center in the International Gallery. My brother was actually really excited about it. Totally worth the commute down.

Unfortunately you can't take pictures in the gallery (insert giant sad face), but I took one outside.

The International Gallery was packed with people and kids. The exhibit is a combination of puppets, sketches and doodles, photos, and video. They have a couple tvs set up so you can watch some of the early commercials and interviews. There's also a big kid's section where they can do puppet shows and make muppet faces.

They had some of the earliest commercial puppets there, as well as Kermit (right as you walk in); King Goshposh and Featherstone--which are huge, by the way; Bert and Ernie; Rowlf; a couple Fraggles; and the Mahna Mahna guy and the Snowths (the video from the first episode of the Muppet Show is below). Am I leaving anyone out?

Anyway, if you can make it, you should definitely check it out. It's running through October 5th, and then it's going on tour through 2011.

Of course, the exhibit also made me really sad that they're not producing Muppet anything anymore. :(

Afterwards we walked down to the botanical gardens and took a ton of pictures. I'd never been there before, and I really enjoyed it. Despite my fear of heights I went up on the catwalk thing in the jungle room (I was fine once we got up there but I didn't like being near the stairs).

Then we had lunch at Cosi and headed home. By the way, Coppertone Sport SPF 30 is excellent stuff. Blisteringly bright sunshine all day, and no sunburn!

As for knitting related things, I've decided to sign up for the Ravelympics. My event will be WIP wresting. I spent the evening taking pictures of all of my WIPs that I have yet to document (damn, there were a lot). We're probably going to be forming Team Charm, so if you're in the Baltimore area you should join!

Demolition would be a fun job

2008-07-18T21:42:00.004-05:00

Mike's going to be surprised when he gets home.

This afternoon our downstairs neighbor came up to see if I had been running hot water, because he thought there was hot water running down the inside of his bathroom wall. A little while later one of our maintenance guys (Mr. Ed--yep, I'm serious) came up to check my wall. There was a warm spot down near the floor and we could hear a hissing sound (which the cat heard before we did).

A while later Mr. Ed came back with another maintenance guy who ripped this hole in our wall in about 3 seconds. It was seriously impressive. They could hear the water running, and the inside of the wall was wet, but they couldn't find the leak. So he went downstairs and busted a hole in the neighbors wall right by the ceiling. Leak found! I watched it through the hole in my wall.

Howdy neighbors! The arrow points to the hole in their apartment. They got it fixed really quick, and the wall will be patched up soon. The cat has already stuck her face in the wall to try and see the people in the apartment below (it's bugging the crap out of her since she can hear them but can't see them).

Tomorrow we're going to DC to see the Muppet exhibit at the Smithsonian! I doubt we'll be able to take pictures, but if I can I will. :)

FO: Striped Illusion (#37)

2008-07-16T23:50:00.003-05:00

Pattern: Striped Illusion (Rav link) by Lynne Barr from Knitting New Scarves
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Worsted (85% wool, 15% mohair), M05 Onyx, 1 skein;
Noro Kureyon (100% wool), #188, 2 skeins
Needles: US #9 (5.5mm)
Finished Size: 7" x 58"
Modifications: I started out by following the chart. A few repeats in I just started to wing it--still following the set row pattern, but basically just changing where it would zigzag. I also didn't increase the number of rows in each pattern section, as the chart has you do.

I really love how this turned out with the Noro. It's a great design, but I think just using two solid colors doesn't show it off enough.

As always, I can't decide what to make next. I know I want to make a pair of fingerless gloves out of my sock yarn (in part so I can wear them at Stitches East), and I also want to make Short and Sweet out of Celestial Worsted. I just can't decide on the colors! I started a swatch for S&S with "She blinded me with science" and it looks really cool in variegated yarn. But I can't pick a frickin colorway. I may take a poll.

FO: Sugar Skull Yorick (#36)

2008-07-14T19:41:00.005-05:00

Pattern: Yorick by Kate Kuckro
Yarn: Frog Tree Merino Worsted (100% merino)
#0 (white), 1.5 skeins
#100 (black), 2 skeins
For the needle felted designs:
Lamb's Pride Worsted in Onyx (M05), Christmas Green (M165), Limeade (M120), Amethyst (M62)
Needles: US #11 (8mm)
Modifications: I doubled the yarn so the felted fabric would be nice and thick for the needle felting. I also did one extra decrease section at the top of the skulls. Don't know why, just did. There may have been a reason, but I kind of doubt it.

I didn't want to overdo the designs--it's easy to just keep adding more until it looks like a giant mess. Plus, the few hours of needle felting was enough to make me start to go crazy.

So here you have the pre-felted and finished scarves with DVDs for scale. In the picture above you have my boobs for scale.

So this was the evil giant thing that I was trying to hand felt the other day. No fun. It still has a tiny bit of stitch definition, but at 2am I stopped caring. I test felted a small swatch of the white Frog Tree to make sure it would actually felt. Frog Tree Merino makes a super soft felted fabric (my first Yorick, which is made out of Cascade 220, is a bit itchy).

I don't have a proper needle felting pad thing, so I used the styrofoam from my printer box.

I decided to use Lamb's Pride because, well, I have a lot of it, and it's a single ply yarn which usually felts faster. I basically cut random lengths of yarn and felt them on one at a time. The teeth were the easy part. The hard part was deciding what the designs should look like. I had wayyy too many ideas.

To make it felt even faster, I would untwist the ply so it became like a very skinny roving. It was also good for filling in the sections I had just outlined with yarn. For one side I'd usually just wing it, and then to make the other side symmetrical I'd draw on the scarf lightly with a 5B drawing pencil. It's still hard to get it symmetrical, but good enough.

I only stabbed myself twice--on the same finger, both times into my nail bed. Awesome.

Ugh

2008-07-13T00:18:00.002-05:00

I forgot how much felting by hand SUCKS.

I'd use the machines in the building but (1) it costs money and I have no quarters, and (2) they break a lot. Mike was washing his clothes last night and the motor (or something) in the washer broke and flooded the machine. So he had to wring all the water out of his clothes and then run the dryer twice, which still didn't get them totally dry. At least *this* time it didn't flood the whole laundry room.

I really don't want to go finish felting this freaking scarf.

FO: Red Winkie (#35)

2008-07-11T22:58:00.003-05:00

Red Winkie sounds kind of dirty. Or unfortunate.

Pattern: Sweet Winkie by Woolly Wormhead from the E-book Going Straight (both are Ravelry links)
Yarn: South West Trading Company Yin (60% wool, 20% silk, 20% bamboo), #815 "Vitality", 1 skein
Needles: US #5 (3.75mm)
Size: 22"
Modifications: I don't think I made any modifications. This was definitely an at-home project. It required much more concentration than Abalone, so I couldn't take it to work.

I didn't do my usual modification, which is doing a three needle bind off instead of kitchener stitch. Mike wasn't allowed to talk to me the whole time I was sewing this thing up, because if I screwed it up, there would be a bit of wrath. It doesn't look great, but it's not particularly noticeable either.

Blocking: This hat really requires blocking to make it look and sit right. I decided to wet block it. I let it soak for a while as I created this bizarre blocking form for it.

I had a piece of cardboard sitting around that amazingly the cat had not destroyed, so I cut out a large triangle. I stretched out the hat lengthwise while it was still dry and measured from the edge of the brim to the pointy bit.

I covered the cardboard in a plastic bag, got as much water out of the hat by rolling it in a towel, and then I pinned it to the cardboard. Since I was trying to get the edge nubbins to lay flat, I had to push the pins all the way through on both sides. It ended up looking like some weird torture device. I only stabbed myself twice.

Too many WIPs, so look! Flowers!

2008-07-10T00:06:00.002-05:00

Yeah, I have so many projects going on right now that I'm having trouble concentrating on any one thing. So instead I'm posting pictures of prettiness. Mike and I went to the Baltimore Conservatory (again) on Saturday. We really love it there. In case you're wondering, the cat adopted by the Conservatory is still there, and is still very happy. She spent most of the time we were there laying on the front desk.

Mike's favorite room is the orchid room. Which isn't surprising since he has...wait, let me go count...11 orchids in the apartment. Our dining room table (which I don't like anyway) is pretty much just the orchid table. Anyway, here's one from the Conservatory--I love how much it looks like a face. Of course then I got that song from Alice in Wonderland stuck in my head.

My favorite room is (duh) the tropical one, because it has the passionflower vines. Here's their coccinea plant (I haven't had good luck growing this kind)--they pretty much cut back the other one, and I still don't know what it is (it was marked wrong, but they took the sign down).

Japanese beetles are apparently in the desert room.

The outdoor gardens are in full bloom right now too. I love the Conservatory.

So this one's for Jody. Here's 12 of my 14 passionflower plants (the other two are to the left and didn't fit in the picture). And there's a gecko in the white box there, fyi.

I'm bored, so I'll list them for you--I have passiflora edulis (3 plants, all grown from seed), caerulea, belotii (2 of those), 'Elizabeth', 'Purple Tiger', 'Balam', 'Lavender Lady', aurantia, atropurpurea, 'Sunburst', and 'Jennifer Grace'.

The one in the next picture is Purple Tiger. It grew 4 feet in about 2 days. It's currently weaving in and out of the blinds.

The main problem with having this many is that they're rather aggressive vines and they grow together and try to become one giant plant.

And because I was taking pictures over there, here's a picture of our turtle Atuin. She's a mata mata. We have her in a mini pond--and her little house there is a flower pot with a hole broken in the side. She really loves her little cave.

Our apartment really is turning into a little tropical jungle.

Ooh, gemstones

2008-07-04T23:35:00.003-05:00

So you may not think this is knitting related, but it is. Well, sort of. Last year Two Busy Beads moved into the back room of the Celtic Knot Yarn Shop, which has caused me to have a little mental battle everyday to not walk out with tons of strands of gemstones. Well, right now Two Busy Beads is having a trunk show of some of the most beautiful gemstone strands I've ever seen. Plus, they're amazingly priced (I found a strand originally marked as $60--the trunk show price is $15). So I finally broke down and bought some.

I'm not sure what the green is (wasn't marked), but the other is red tiger eye. I spent probably a half hour picking out the green beads on Thursday because I was trying to figure out what my mom would like (belated birthday present).

So I just whipped her up a necklace. The smaller green beads are moss agate which I had in my stash (yes, I have a big bead stash too). Anyway, the main point of this is to say get your asses down to the shop and get some awesome beads at really good prices! Go!

p.s. If you don't know how to do any stringing/crimping, they can show you.

FO: Purple Chevaliers (#34)

2008-07-02T23:03:00.006-05:00

Pattern: Chevalier Mittens by Tikru (also available as a Ravelry download)
Yarn: South West Trading Company Yin (60% wool, 20% silk, 20% bamboo), #824 "Desire", 2 skeins
Needles: US #5 (3.75mm)
Modifications: Like last time, I changed the very top of the mittens. The chart for the front side is here, and I did something completely different from last time for the top of the palm side. Why be consistent??

ANOTHER EDIT (i.e. damn I suck): I almost got BOTH mittens out of one 163yd skein--but sadly, I had to go to another skein to knit just the thumb on the second mitten. So close!!

These are actually a Christmas present for someone. Yes, I already started my Christmas presents. Though I'm willing to bet that it'll be the only present I start/finish before December.

I do have to say that I *LOVE* this yarn. Seriously, it's awesome. Go get some.

EDIT: Yes, this yarn is available at the Celtic Knot. I think we have 7 colors? ish? Something like that.

Aaaaaaaaaaand cat pictures!

FO: Blue Starghan (#33)

2008-06-30T20:37:00.007-05:00

Pattern: Baby Starghan from The Diva Crochets
Yarn: Dark Horse Fantasy (50% acrylic/50% nylon)
#76 - aqua; 1 skein
#75 - turquoise; 1 skein
#28 - royal blue; 1 skein
#19 - navy; 1 skein
Hook Size: H
Finished size: about 36" x 36"

Like the pink version, I changed the number of double crochets on each round. And of course, I seem to have lost my little piece of paper that had the numbers on it. Good thing I only had to make two.

Candace's cousin had the twins, and everyone is doing well. I think she's going to go visit them soon and take the blankets with her. Baby blankets are way more fun than adult blankets.

I actually finished this one Thursday at work, but I haven't felt like sitting at the computer and posting about it.

Here's your weird factoid for the day: I made my super sour lemon bars last night and apparently my body is telling me not to eat them right before I go to bed, because I had a rather bizarre dream about a knitting icon posing nude in a knitting magazine. Technically no naughty parts were showing, but from now on lemon bars are midday treats only.

Too much awesome reality TV

2008-06-26T22:35:00.003-05:00

So it's become pretty clear to me that I've been watching the Discovery channel far too much. The other night I had a dream that I was married to Josh from the Cornelia Marie, and then later the same night I had a dream that I was looking in a mirror and I was Adam from Mythbusters (with a sunburn).

So last night I watched a full 5 hours of Ghost Hunters on the Scifi channel (I'm sooo addicted to this show)--and dude, they were 5 awesome episodes. As it so happens, Mike usually hangs out with his friends Wednesday nights, so I'm left alone in the apartment watching Ghost Hunters and sometimes getting freaked out--and last night's episodes definitely freaked me out. The worst part is, well, I'm alone, but when Mike comes home I try to tell him what happened on the show and it just doesn't have the same effect when I'm going "Man, they had some really creepy EVPs!" Yeah, he doesn't seem to get it.

Anyway, so I'm probably halfway through the mini marathon, and I'm riding my exercise bike and getting kind of scared. Then I start hearing cardboard moving, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out where it was coming from. Then I look over and I see this box rocking back and forth.

The timing was of course just perfect, but I knew what was going on right away. By the way, the 'empty' sticker LIES.

So Cece has found a new bed in this box that was previously filled with a yarn shipment. She manages to get in without pushing any of the flaps back, so it's a rather effective hiding space. I came home from work today and she was in the box. She only came out of the box because my dinner included cheese and tuna, and then she went back in the box.

By the way, I have new yarns to show you! But not right now, because I'm tired and I want to knit before I go to bed.

Hey, there's stock in the shop!

2008-06-25T01:10:00.004-05:00

That's right, I spent the entire evening putting all my dyed stock in the Etsy shop and watching Deadliest Catch.

If you order yarn, you're helping me out a lot because (1) you're getting it out of my living room, which isn't that big, and (2) you're helping me be able to order new stock for Stitches East in November, which will include NEW BASE YARNS!!! A new sock yarn, lace weight, and alpaca!

I should probably go to bed soon.

FO: Moldy Cupcake (#32)

2008-06-19T22:55:00.003-05:00

Pattern: Moldy Cupcake by Julie King
Yarn: Feza Zarone (100% wool) #4705; Dark Horse Fantasy (50% acrylic, 50% nylon), #2 Lime; scraps of mohair for the 'mold'
Hook size: F (3.75mm)
Notions: 9mm black safety eyes, polyfil, clear glass teardrops
Modifications: I changed the shells to 4 double crochets instead of 5 because it totally wasn't cooperating with stitches being so squished. I also added the teardrops, because crying cupcakes are hilarious.

Crochetted this puppy up at the shop. Note: crocheting with a multi-strand yarn is a major pain in the ass.

Right now I have so many project ideas that I can't figure out what to work on next and I end up thinking too much and working on nothing. So the Moldy Cupcake distracted me from my own brain, albeit temporarily. Tomorrow I'll go back to looking through pattern books and stitch patterns and yarn and it'll be 9pm and I won't have knitted anything all day. Maybe I'll make another cupcake.

Oh how hilarious

2008-06-14T20:34:00.002-05:00

So Mike and I left this morning at 7am to go get my car from Ohio. $700 poorer, I got my car back around 2pm and started heading back to Maryland. It pretty much rained the entire ride back, and despite stopping for gas twice and food once, I was making pretty good time.

Guess who got rear-ended 2 minutes from her apartment? That's right, ME. No damage to the car, though I may have screamed at the woman, and I may have made her start crying.

Seriously. Can't make this shit up.

I might knit a row or two before I fall asleep on the couch.

I crocheted the devil! Neat!

2008-06-13T22:15:00.006-05:00

Pattern: Devil from Creepy Cute Crochet by Christen Haden
Yarn: Cascade 220 (100% wool), #2413 - red, less than 1/4 skein
Cascade 220 (100% wool), #8555 - black, a few yards
Crochet Hook: F (3.75mm)
Notions: 6mm safety eyes, black crochet cotton, polyfil, glass beads to weigh down the bottom
Modifications: I changed the face a little bit, but that's the only mod.

The one horn is a little loopy, but it's still adorably evil. I screwed up the single crochets on the top a little, so the top of his head is a little swirly. I like 2 hour projects.

This also marks my 31st project of the year, which is the same number that I finished in all of 2007. Granted, a few of the projects were smaller (like this one) but it's still awesome. Woo!

Happy and sad

2008-06-11T22:15:00.004-05:00

Today we celebrated Brie's life. It was sad, but it was also really uplifting. I'm happy I went--I made an exception because I almost never go to memorial services, but this one was actually comforting. And I was so happy to see Holly Anne smiling.

Today was also my third wedding anniversary. So this is going to be my fourth summer in this ridiculously hot Baltimore apartment. :)

I'll write here later about the disaster that was the TNNA weekend. In short, my car is broken and in Ohio, and hopefully it'll be fixed tomorrow. Which means we have to drive *back* to Ohio this weekend. Woo!

Edit: I forgot to note that this means I won't be a vendor at the Takoma Park knitting fair this Saturday. Lindsay need car bad.

It's a very sad day

2008-06-05T11:29:00.002-05:00

Brie passed away today.

Tattoo fun at the art museum

2008-06-05T01:56:00.003-05:00

Mike and I walked down to the Baltimore Museum of Art today to see the iconic photography exhibit--it's ending Friday so get your asses down there because it's awesome.

I was really excited when they first put up the advertisements for the exhibit because the photo they used is the same one that I have tattooed on my arm (Larmes by Man Ray, 1930), so I really wanted to get my picture taken beside the original. But, since it's a temporary exhibit you can't take pictures inside the gallery. So instead we took pictures by the giant poster outside. (Note: my tattoo isn't as faded as it appears--it's just slightly obscured by the bright sun reflecting off my impressively pale arm)

Anyway, this weekend I'll be at TNNA in Ohio, so I won't have computer access until I get home late Monday night. Oh yeah, don't call me on Tuesday. I'll still be recovering from the weekend and odds are I won't be nice. :) Especially since I'll probably spend most of the day sleeping.

I better get to sleep so I can finish packing tomorrow and prepare myself for 13 hours (total) of driving, vicious games of yellow car/punch buggy, and looking for bears.

Finish one, start the next

2008-06-02T22:15:00.003-05:00

Goblin Clapotis (#30)

Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Gypsy Girl Creations Fingering weight, "Goblin", 2 skeins
Needles: US #3 (3.25mm)
Finished size: 8" x 56"
Blocking: wet blocked
Modifications: I did fewer increase sections to get a scarf-sized clapotis. It still came out way bigger than I thought it would.

I really love how this turned out. And it only took a little less than a year!

I bought this yarn from The Fold at MDS&W last year after KnitGlit bought some. HAD TO HAVE IT.

So, of course, right after I was finished weaving in the ends of the goblin clapotis, I cast on for another one--this time with worsted weight. Hopefully this one won't take me a full year. It's my Celestial Worsted in "That girl is poison."

I'm debating whether or not to make this a full sized clapotis or do another scarf sized one in this colorway and do a full sized one in "Feed my Frankenstein". I have enough yarn for either, but I don't think I need two full sized clapotises (okay, what the fuck is the plural form of clapotis?).

Either way this will make an awesome model for shows. It's hard not to notice the blindingly neon clapotis!

New Yarn!

2008-05-29T00:53:00.004-05:00

Today I delivered a bunch of my yarn to Lovelyarns in Hampden, including my BRAND NEW YARN!

Constellation

81% wool, 17% mohair, 2% polyester
approx 100gr/3.5oz - 200yds
3 to 4 sts = 1"
US #9-11 (5.5-8mm)

It has a wonderfully nubby texture with just a little bit of sparkle. I have to figure out what I should knit with it!

Withdrawal really sucks

2008-05-27T23:13:00.003-05:00

Sooo. Apparently last night I forgot to take my medications, which resulted in today's withdrawal. It's the first time I've missed meds since they doubled my dosage and the withdrawal hit much faster. It took me a while to figure out that that's why I felt like I was going to pass out/barf for most of the day. Awesome.

Now I am mostly back to normal. I'm getting a bunch of yarn tied and tagged which I'm going to deliver to Lovelyarns tomorrow!

I think I'm going to go make peanut butter toast. Mmm, toast.

FO: Abalone (#29)

2008-05-26T22:55:00.003-05:00

Pattern: Abalone by Woolly Wormhead, from the e-book Going Straight (both are Ravelry links)
Yarn: Storm Moon Knits Celestial Worsted (100% merino), "She blinded me with science," 1 skein
Needles: US #9
Size: large
Modifications: none to the pattern--I knit from both ends of the skein (alternating every two rows) to keep the colors from pooling.

I absolutely love this hat. Plus I have enough yarn left over to do fingerless gloves to match :) It's a simple pattern which goes very quickly--I knit it up in two nights. I love out-of-the-box hats, and this whole book is fantastic. I can't wait to knit the rest of them!

I see this future for a lot of hand painted yarn in my stash.

Side note: I was trying to straighten up the closet today which led to me getting out scarves/hats I knit a long time ago, photographing them, and putting them up on Ravelry. So there's a buttload of weird hats and really long scarves on there. Just to make you laugh.

I ended up going over to Joann's today to attack the 50% off button aisle. I was relatively restrained (for my standards), and I got these buttons around which I now have to design a knitting project. Because dinosaurs are awesome. On a related note, the History Channel people are coming to Hopkins on Wednesday to film/interview Mike about pterosaur flight. I'll update when I find out when it'll actually air (because I know you all are just biting your nails with anticipation).

Speaking of dorky things, look what just walked through the door! It's the skull of an ichthyosaur!

Welcome to my life.

FO: My Pomatomus Hat (#28)

2008-05-24T23:31:00.004-05:00

Pattern: Pomatomus Hat by West Coast Creative
Yarn: Woolarina Handpainted Sport Weight (totally awesome yarn)
Needles: US #3 (3.25mm)
Modifications: I did 7 rows of straight ribbing instead of 10, and I did 1.5 repeats (instead of 2) before I started decreasing. Fits perfectly!

You'll have to forgive the blindingly pale pictures that are happening here. One time in college I was told (by a complete stranger, by the way) that if I walked in the sun I'd blind people. I think we just proved that she was correct. Oops.

I couldn't not make one for myself. I totally luuuurve the yarn. The colors are awesome (if you're not in blinding sunlight it looks very close to black) but very subtle. Plus I have leftovers for I don't know what. Woo!

Oh, and just to be extra fun, I seem to be coming down with a cold. My throat has hurt all day, so I'm taking zinc, and I'm probably going to down a ridiculous amount of echinacea in a minute, even though I don't think it really works (but hey, if you take 6x the recommended dose *something* has to happen). Hopefully the zinc will keep it from turning into a full blown cold. Because we know if it doesn't I can't go anywhere near Carole because her eye will blow up and she won't be able to breathe for another 6 months. And somewhere in there Alex will give her another concussion.

FO: Star Stitch Neckwarmer (# 27)

2008-05-21T22:28:00.003-05:00

Pattern: Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks by BeforeSunrise
Yarn: Manos Del Uruguay (100% wool), #32 - gasoline, 1 skein
Needles: US #10.5 (6.5mm)
Finished Size: 4" x 20"
Modifications: I CO 25 sts and knit 1x1 ribbing for 3 rows.

[knitting all knits and purling all purls]
Button band row 1: rib 4, (BO 3, rib 3)x 3
Button band row 2: rib 4, (CO 3, rib 4)x 3
Rib 3 more rows, then begin star stitch pattern. Knit until it's 20" from the CO edge.

I had started a short row hat with this yarn, but it was ending up kind of big and I probably would've ran out of yarn anyway, so I ripped it out and knit this up in a few days. I also got to delve into my kickass button collection. I have a drawer full of buttons now. Seriously Karoline, it's all your fault.

Oh yeah, bitches!

2008-05-21T21:15:00.003-05:00

I'm so frickin happy right now! Of course, when they announced it I started crying, and I immediately called my mom who picked up the phone crying :)

I mean really--my dad, who is 68, has been rooting for David Cook the entire season. I'd say he has a rather diverse fan club :)

FO: Violet Rose (#26)

2008-05-18T22:00:00.004-05:00

Pattern: Rose Red by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers (100% wool), #2421, 1 skein
Needles: US #6 (4mm)
Size: medium
Modifications: none

After making Brie's Rose Red I had to make one for myself. The pattern calls for a DK weight yarn, but I used 220 because I sub it for DK yarns a lot, and I have a lot of it. It came out a little bigger than I think it's supposed to (probably because of the 220), but I like it looser. I don't think I'm going to block it.

Hat nipples are HILARIOUS.

So because the knitting fair was cancelled, I decided to spend the day cleaning the apartment--mainly my desk and craft table. I should've taken a 'before' picture, because without it any 'after' picture probably doesn't actually look that impressive (a normal person's messy is my version of clean)--but it was A LOT of work.

One side effect of cleaning is that Cece can lay on my desk again (or stand in front of my monitor when I'm not paying attention to her). So of course as soon as the desk was clean she jumped up, and discovered the extra catnip pouch for the sheep toy Carole bought for her. And this is what ensued.

I had to grab the pouch away from her and throw it on the floor to keep her from knocking everything off my desk.

Tomorrow I might try and clean the bedroom (oy). The end of the bed has become a depository for my coats, summer clothes that have been there since last summer, and knitted things. I'm trying to be organized, so I'm planning on putting all the knitted accessories into Mike's sweater boxes, which used to hold his Reptile magazine collection (I bet you think I'm kidding). Currently that collection is taking up the top shelf on my giant Ikea shelving unit filled with yarn. The juxtaposition is hilarious. He also managed to snag a cube for biology books.

...one of these things is not like the others...

I also need to put away my knitting fair stock, since it's still sitting in the center of the living room in giant ziploc bags (best invention ever). I also have to take pictures of a lot of it. Sigh. I just want to knit.

Rainy rain rain rain

2008-05-18T07:56:00.002-05:00

The knitting fair in Takoma Park has been canceled because of the possible thunderstorms (metal needles would just become lightning rods). They said they want to reschedule it, so I'll put updates here when I get them.

oh goddamnit

2008-05-16T23:33:00.002-05:00

Somewhere under my couch there's a cave centipede. And it's taunting me. I HATE CAVE CENTIPEDES. Cece managed to spot it in the middle of the living room carpet, and in the time that it took me to get a paper towel from the kitchen, it had disappeared, and the cat was staring underneath the little side table beside the couch. I'm pretty sure she managed to knock it under there--they don't move *that* fast. She has taken up station in the area where she first saw it (because clearly it's going to go back now) and I'm sitting at the desk (no more couch for me tonight) trying to keep my feet off the floor.

Most bugs don't bother me that much, but I fucking hate cave centipedes. I thought I'd gotten away from them when I moved out of Brown College, but noooo. We had to move to a charming old building which apparently also resembles a cave to bugs. It's neat that we have stalactites and stalagmites forming in the garage. It was cool when I saw a bat in the garage. It was really cute when there was a bunny in my parking spot in the garage (which Mike and I failed to get back outside through the garage door (this adventure involved us running around with a cat carrier and a towel--I saw way more dirty parts of the garage than I ever wanted to). But I fucking hate the goddamn bugs.

The cat has given up her post and is now yelling at me from the hall. Way to be a hunter.

Better with bangs!!

2008-05-16T20:56:00.002-05:00

See? It looks way cuter with my bangs down!

Knitting Fair this weekend!

2008-05-15T22:27:00.001-05:00

Come buy my yarn!

Event: Old Takoma Knitting and Craft Fair

Date: Sunday, May 18

Time: 12:00pm - 4:00pm

Location: Old Takoma Gazebo - Red Line Metro to Takoma Station, four blocks North on Carroll Avenue
(across the street from House of Musical Traditions)

Because: The Sheep & Wool Festival inspired us! Join some of your favorite local yarn dyers, including Ceyberfiber, Storm Moon Knits and Woolarina, plus designers, writers, jewelers, and crafters for an afternoon of wool-inspired bliss. Designer Amy O’Neill-Houck will be signing copies of her two latest books - Crochet Me and The Color Book of Felted Crochet. Also enjoy the Takoma Park Farmer’s Market which will be open from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm

Classic Silk apparently makes a good sleep mask.

I wish she'd go to sleep right about now. She's just standing by the front door yelling at me because Mike isn't home.

FO: Little Red Riding Hat (#25)

2008-05-15T19:32:00.003-05:00

Pattern: Pixie Hat by Fuzzy Galore
Yarn: Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky (100% baby alpaca), #572, 1 skein
Needles: US 10 (6mm)
Modifications: The pattern calls for super bulky yarn, but I wanted to use the baby alpaca which has been staring at me from its shelf since the fall. So I cast on 66 stitches and followed the rest of the pattern as written. Well, except for the end--I did a three-needle bind off instead of kitchener stitch. I hate kitchener. It taunts me.

It looks a lot cuter when my bangs are down, but since I had an evil cowlick happening, they had to be pinned back. I'll try to take another picture tomorrow, assuming they actually behave.

Package time!

2008-05-09T23:21:00.003-05:00

I got my PRGE swap package yesterday!

Amazingly, I haven't broken into the chocolate yet :) Now that's self control.

And here's a picture of a huge skein of yarn! This is one of the skeins of Woolly Bear that I bought from Ellyn Cooper at MDS&W. The colorway is 'Diva' and there's 475 yards. The soda is there for scale. :)

I really love having a Netflix membership, because we pretty much never go out and see a movie. Of course, this week I forgot to check my queue before they mailed out the new DVDs, because I probably would've pushed Saw back a few spaces, but no. So we watched Saw tonight.

And to give you an idea of my emotional state after watching the movie, I'm now watching Follow that Bird (the first Sesame Street movie ever! according to the box). I figured that's pretty much about as anti-Saw as it gets. The Grouch Anthem cracks me up every time. I truly am 8 years old mentally.

Oh! and here's your TMI for the day! Earlier this evening I went to the bathroom and when I went to flush the toilet, there was a 6 inch piece of yarn in the water. So either I'm peeing yarn, or it was stuck to my ass all day. That's just fantastic.

FO: Rose Red (#24)

2008-05-05T20:57:00.002-05:00

Pattern: Rose Red by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Cascade Pima Tencel, #7478, 2 skeins
Needles: US #6 (4mm)
Size: small
Modifications: none--the pattern is fantastic

This is another hat for Brie. She picked out a lot of slouchy hats, and I found this one which is sooo pretty, so I figured I'd give it a go. Plus I had red Pima Tencel in my stash (which was originally going to become a tank top--oh well). This is definitely the girliest hat I've made for her. :)

I'm definitely going to make one for myself out of wool. Because Brie's is out of cotton, it doesn't have as much stretch (especially in the cables) so it's a little tight on my head, but my head is big anyway.

As a side note, my hibiscus plant bloomed again today. It was pretty fitting, since the size I chose to make (small) makes a 5 petal flower on the crown of the hat, and the hibiscus has 5 petals, and both are very very red.

And here's Cece. She's been sleeping on my empty backpack a lot lately. She has a weird obsession with backpacks--she claims the crap out of Mike's, and then will roll around on it and attack it.

A Wooltastic Weekend

2008-05-04T22:50:00.004-05:00

I feel like I haven't slept much this weekend. I worked at the shop all day on Saturday, and then we headed over to the Ravelry party in Columbia. We snagged a table before it started raining--though the two people who were already sitting at the large table decided to get up and sit with other people--and we didn't even have time to be annoying. Weird.

In short, it was a lot of fun, and I got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in quite a long time, as well as meeting new ones--I even met a girl who knows Mike through Hopkins--his department is Functional Anatomy and Evolution, and hers is 3 floors up, which is Art as Applied to Medicine--the art students take the anatomy class that Mike's department takes/teaches. That was a really long explanation. But she managed to figure out who I was (I'm betting the hair gave it away)! I got to see Karida--she's so busy we hardly ever get a chance to talk. I got the tentative release date for the book, which is March 2009.

I even won a raffle prize! MORE Woolarina yarn! Since everyone was shouting out different things when they won a prize, I joked around that I should yell "fuck yeah!" but what actually came out was a really high-pitched "it's me!"

Today we got to Sheep and Wool when it opened--which meant I had to get up at 6:30am, but it was worth it. We had to make it sort of a whirlwind 3 hour spree since people had to be elsewhere (not me, since I have pretty much nothing going on here). But I did get to talk to Kate of Dragonfly Fibers, Gryphon of Sanguine Gryphon (after I bought more of her yarn), Dalis of Dancing Leaf Farm, and I got to meet Steph of Loop (we were both really busy at the Yarn Party and we didn't get a chance to talk). I soooo want her spinning bats even though I don't freaking spin. I'm tempted to get one and just put it on a shelf to be pretty. Or maybe I could fashion a wall hanging out of it...I will have to think about that.

I also finally got to see NittanyKnits, and I actually remembered to bring the pomatomus hat with me so I could give it to her (in the process of remembering the hat I forgot my camera--well, I remembered something at least).

I was totally on a yarn high and bought quite a bit--but I'll just put up a few pictures here.

The only thing I bought that wasn't yarn was soap. I love handmade soap.

The one on the left is from My Essential Fragrances, and the sheep on the right is Woolyqueen Goats Milk Soap, and the scent is kumquat (which is freaking fantastic). Though part of me doesn't want to use that one because it won't look like a sheep for very long :)

2 FOs that I don't get to keep :(

2008-05-01T20:32:00.004-05:00

Pink Star Blanket (#22)

Pattern: Baby Starghan from The Diva Crochets
Yarn: Dark Horse Fantasy (50% acrylic/50% nylon)
#81 - light peach; 1 skein
#34 - light rose; 1 skein
#33 - dark rose; 1 skein
#82 - plum; 1 skein
Hook Size: H
Finished size: about 36" x 36"
Modifications: I increased the number of DCs per round so it would lay flatter. Every other round I would add two DCs on both sides of the shell instead of one.

You can barely see the border on the top photo since it's about the same color as the blanket it was laying on--it's a really pretty pinkish/burgundy color, even though it looks kind of black in the pictures.

This is for my sister in law's relative who is having twins--I'm working on a blue version as well.

Pomatomus Hat (#23)

Pattern: Pomatomus Hat from West Coast Creative
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Mediumweight, colorway: "Highway 30"; 1 skein
Needles: US #3 (3.25mm)
Modifications: I did 1.5 pattern repeats instead of two before starting to decrease. I tried it the other way and it ended up super long, but that may have been due to the needle size I chose.

This is another hat for Brie. I have a lot of the skein left over so I might make matching fingerless gloves. I definitely have to make one for myself now. :)

I will sum up the weekend...

2008-04-29T00:35:00.003-05:00

...with a picture.

Yep. And by the way, in case you were wondering, those are official University of Virginia bikini tops. Tops. There are no bottoms in existence. So the university is promoting girls wearing as little as possible in non-swimming situations. Awesome.

On a more serious note, I wanted to give a heads up to people in the area--we are going to be hosting a bone marrow donor drive at the Celtic Knot Yarn Shop. We're mainly waiting for date confirmation, so I'll update you on that later. It's really easy to get on the bone marrow donor registry--all you have to do is come in, fill out some paperwork, and they swab the inside of your cheek--no blood, no needles.

Also, Johns Hopkins hospital has a platelet shortage and needs more donors. Platelets are fragile, so the blood needs to be taken at the hospital. If you are able, please call (410) 955-8951 to make an appointment.

And of course, no post can be complete without Cece smashing her face against my yarn. This time it's a new all-pink colorway which will debut this summer.

Another absence

2008-04-25T00:55:00.002-05:00

I'm going out of town again. I pretty much never travel anywhere, so twice in one month is just weird.

This time Mike and I are going down to Charlottesville for the Brown College/Monroe Hill reunion (which is the residential college at UVA where we lived for most of college).

And my hair is pink again! Wee!

Hat crazy

2008-04-24T00:20:00.005-05:00

I really do love making hats. And I want to make Brie the most awesome hats evar!

So I've started on two new hats. The first is Rose Red by Ysolda. I'm knitting it in Cascade Pima Tencel.

Ok, I have to admit that half way through knitting it yesterday I shouted at Mike "Hey, it's like a yarmulke with a nipple!"

The second is a pomatomus hat in BMFA Socks that Rock. The colorway is "Highway 30".

All I want to do is knit these hats. I love them. But I should probably go to sleep. Damn you sleep! You take away from my hat knitting time. Bastard.

The Richmond trip, and an FO

2008-04-17T00:38:00.004-05:00

So I'm going to try to put this together quickly since I want to go to bed, and it's 1:40am. I took about 300 pictures, so it was kind of hard to reduce it down, but I think I managed.

Since I left my last post with Socks, I'll start this one with him too. Like always, he came right out to see me when I got home. Socks is at least 16 years old--he showed up at our house when I was in 7th grade and has been living in our yard/garage/screened porch ever since--he's been in the house too, but doesn't like being stuck inside. He's also rather territorial, and, when he was younger, was known to fight off other cats as well as raccoons, so being inside the house with other cats wouldn't work either.

As soon as I went outside to take pictures he came out and wanted attention, and started rolling around on the ground, getting as dirty as possible. Because that's what he does.

If you drive through Virginia this time of year, there is wisteria EVERYWHERE. Drive down 295--you'll see a ridiculous amount. This wisteria is in Maymont Park, in the Italian garden. If you look in the picture on the right, down at the end under the dome is where I got married.

Yep, right there.

I also really wanted to see the new bears at Maymont. Some of you might remember the 'incident' a few years ago where the two bears that had been in the park for years were euthanized. It created an uproar in Richmond (I was completely fucking pissed--I had been to the back of the bear enclosure, within a few feet of one of the bears, and that kid would've had a hard time getting over the first fence by himself), but by that time it was too late. Since then Maymont has brought in two more rescued bears, and improved the fencing around the back of the enclosure--which I had to go check for myself. As usual, the bears were pretty close to the fence, and one was happily playing with a stick.

This is one of the new bears (the other one had moved into a crevice where he/she was hard to see)--these pictures were taken from the front of the enclosure with my crazy zoom.

There is also a new statue as a memorial to Buster and Baby, the two bears that were put to sleep. It was also nice to see that a blue heron and a family of ducks were also hanging out in the bear enclosure, which has its own pond.

I also had to go see my favorite tree, which is a giant mulberry which has grown around a part of a wall. If you want to go see it, it's between the mausoleum and the back of the bear enclosure.

This is Herbie. My parents have had him for about a year now, and apparently he's gotten a little skittish around people he doesn't know. The picture on the left isn't particularly good, but you can see the expression on his face, which is how he looked at me for pretty much the entire trip. Except usually it was only about half of his face peeking out around a corner. He pretty much would follow me around the house and watch me, so I guess he wasn't that afraid.

It was a really good trip. I also finished Brie's hat while I was in Richmond.

A hat for Brie (#21)

Pattern: Shedir from Knitty
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (80% cotton, 20% wool), Lime Light, 1 skein
Needles: US #6 (4mm) circulars
Modifications: I changed this one up a bit since the Cotton Fleece wasn't feeling as soft when I tried it on US #3s, so I changed to US #6s. I cast on 96 stitches and did 6 repeats across the row. I also knit all knit stitches through the back loop to make the cables more defined. I did 4 repeats of the main section instead of 5, and omitted most straight rows between decrease rows. It might be a tiny bit long for Brie, but she can always roll it up.

You can read about how Brie is doing on Nittany Knits. I really hope she likes her hat.

A short hiatus

2008-04-12T23:25:00.003-05:00

For the next few days I'll be down at my parents' house in Richmond. I haven't been there since Thanksgiving, so I'm really looking forward to it. Mom's taking off work, and we're planning on going to Maymont, which is where I got married; as a side note, I haven't been there since the wedding. I spent a lot of time there during my last year in college--it was only an hour drive, I was planning the wedding, and it was the subject of my last photography project.

Plus I get to see Socks again. He's an old man now, but he still comes out to see me whenever I pull into the driveway. By the way, this picture is from another college photography project. He's the most photogenic cat I've seen, and one of very few that doesn't face the other direction when you try to take a picture.

I'll be back sometime on Wednesday, hopefully with a whole lot of pictures. And maybe a finished crocheted blanket.

Bountiful sock yarn?

2008-04-11T23:56:00.006-05:00

I had a decent amount of yarn leftover from the socks, so I decided to weigh it.

That's right, there's 41 grams of sock yarn left, which is about 172 yards. That should be enough to make a pair of ankle socks. Dude, there's a lot of yarn on those skeins.

Thunderstorms! And FOs!

2008-04-11T22:11:00.004-05:00

Thunderstorm! Storms make me happy. Unless I'm driving in this frickin city.

Anyway, two more FOs! I'm on a frickin roll. I think I'm going to be saying frickin a lot in this post.

Brain Slug Hat (#19)

Pattern: my own, which I'm in the process of writing up (I had to write up a different and more important one first)
Yarn: Dark Horse Fantasy (50% acrylic, 50% nylon), color #2 - Lime; 1 skein
+ scraps of black and white yarn
Needles: US #8 (5mm)
Size: 1yr-ish

Here I demonstrate why adults shouldn't try on hats made for kids.

Goblin Socks (i.e. my first pair of socks!) (#20)

Pattern: On Your Toes Socks by Ann Budd, from Interweave Knits, Summer 2007
Yarn: Storm Moon Knits Twilight Sock (80% superwash merino, 20% nylon), "The Goblin Battle"; 1 skein
Needles: US #2 (2.75mm), and US #4 (3.5mm) for the bind off
Size: adult small
Modifications: I used Judy's magic cast on instead of the one in the magazine, which was totally not working for me. I also did straight stockinette for the instep instead of ribbing. And I did 3x1 ribbing on most of the cuff, and 1x1 ribbing for the last inch of the cuff.

I looooove short row heels. They are just awesome. And they work best for my yarn, because they keep the spiral pattern going. If you do a heel flap, weird things tend to happen to the pooling.

And yes, they do fit. They're a tiny bit loose around the foot. Next time I'd probably do the ribbing on the instep to compensate for that (and, you know, since the pattern said to).

Ahh striping. It makes me happy.

Swap package!

2008-04-09T23:12:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I got my awesome PRGE swap package from Girly with a Twist!

Which includes a *signed* copy of Knitting Rules! Which brings my number of signed Harlot books up to 3 :)

The Harlot in Annapolis

2008-04-09T22:52:00.003-05:00

On Monday we ventured down to Annapolis to see the Yarn Harlot speak. We got there relatively early, so I did end up getting a lot of knitting done. Before we left, I had to reclaim my knitting needle from the cat so I could take that project with me.

Knitters! This doesn't include the 5 or so rows right behind me, because holding your camera above your head at the crowd behind you doesn't work really well. But laziness prevailed.

Success! Ok, so I'm shiny and Lindsay looks...apathetic. But we had a great time :)

As a side note, if you read the Stephanie's blog post about the event, we were in line right behind her friend who she hadn't seen in a very long time. And she told us about her, I think because she was still in a bit of shock. While waiting in line we did discover that they now make Nascar romance novels. Yes, I'm being serious.

FO: Woodlands Neckwarmer (#18)

2008-04-06T17:29:00.003-05:00

Pattern: Fourteen by John Brinegar
Yarn: Woolarina Handspun
Needles: US #13 (9mm)
Finished Size: 4" x 18.5"
Modifications: The same as usual. And I did the button band first, as usual.

I wanted to do a simple pattern to show off the yarn, so of course I picked the neckwarmer pattern. It's really really soft, and the buttons work perfectly with the colors in the yarn

Yesterday I had to free the cat from the printer box, and it wasn't the first time, either. She does love cardboard.

An FO and stash from the party

2008-04-02T22:55:00.004-05:00

Baby Shedir (#17)

Pattern: Shedir (PDF--scroll down to pages 3 and 4) from Knitty, with some mods as outlined on Something from Nothing
Yarn: Kollage Yarns Corntastic (100% corn), turquoise, 1 skein
Needles: US #3 (3.25mm)
Finished size: 12" in circumference (unstretched) and 5.5" from cast on to top of crown
Modifications: For the most part I followed the mods listed on the website above--the main difference is I (sort of accidentally) did 5 pattern repeats in a row rather than 6, so I cast on 80 stitches. Also, for all knit stitches, I knit them through the back loop--this twists the stitches and makes the cables/ribbing more tight and defined.

I made this hat for my cousin who is pregnant and due in June. It's a boy, and they're planning on naming him Nathan.

Now to the spoils of the Homespun Yarn Party.

The table right beside mine was Spirit Trail Fiberworks. This was pretty dangerous since she had bins and bins of beautiful yarn. I managed to limit myself to two skeins.

I also picked up a few skeins from Woolarina. The handspun is currently becoming a neckwarmer, and the picture of the sport weight doesn't do it justice. It's bright and fantastic.

I also got a chance (when the crowds died down a bit) to stop by the Sanguine Gryphon. I bought two skeins of the 100% silk (on the left) and I think I'm going to make a lacy scarf out of it. After seeing her yarns in person I'll probably end up ordering more from her website.

Yarn party success!

2008-03-30T21:50:00.002-05:00

Holy crap, it was so busy! So many people were in that room at one time that I started getting short of breath from my lame crowd-phobia.

I brought my camera with me but never had time to take it out--luckily, other people did. Here is the Flickr group.

To give you an idea of the crowds, here's a picture of our table from the side (picture taken by dccraftaholic128).

Whoo, it's over! You know what I'm not going to do tomorrow? DYE YARN! But I'll probably be back to it on Wednesday.

The calm before the storm

2008-03-30T00:21:00.004-05:00

I spent pretty much the entire evening getting everything ready for tomorrow, but this afternoon Mike and I went to the conservatory. I just got a 2gb memory card for my camera (the old one is 512mb), so I could take a lot more pictures. In fact, I took 307. Here's a few:

I finally got to see one of their passionflower vines in bloom--I'm not sure what happened to the other one; either they cut it back or it died off. This one is labeled as passiflora coccinea, but I'm not entirely sure that's right (if it's not, it's very similar). The other passionflower vine was definitely labeled wrong, but I never got to see the flowers so I didn't figure out what it really was.

Also, sometime over the winter a cat showed up at the conservatory and they decided to keep it. So now there's a very adorable cat wandering around a few of the rooms, and using the shoestring acacia tree as a scratching post.

I can't wait to see people tomorrow at the yarn party! I should go to bed.

Party prep

2008-03-28T01:18:00.002-05:00

Don't forget about the Homespun Yarn Party this Sunday! It's going to be so much fun--I'm still dyeing yarn, but I have a ton finished (and tagged--which is oddly time consuming, but easy to do while watching Eddie Izzard on dvd).

And that isn't all of it either. But it's taking up half of my couch.

I'm trying very hard not to stress out over this show too much. I'm still randomly clenching my jaw which lead to nasty headaches, but I don't *feel* stressed. So I'm sitting here eating the last piece of my Easter cheesecake (and by last piece I mean 1/4) and watching the Family Guy Star Wars spoof (called Blue Harvest).

So tomorrow brings more yarn dyeing and running errands, and Saturday Mike and I are planning on going to the Conservatory and maybe the zoo.

And Cece has been nicely occupied by a giant piece of brown paper. It's a bed AND a toy!

At-work quote of the day

2008-03-22T23:11:00.003-05:00

"I had to wait two hours to see his wang!"
~me
(Re: David Bowie in The man who fell to Earth)

There weren't *many* customers around.

Just in time for Spring (well, technically a day late) my hibiscus bloomed!

Here's a picture with my hand for scale. Whenever we go to Watson's I want to get more. There's a variety of hibiscus there that has yellow flowers with pink centers--I love those.

Free pattern: Celtic Cable Neckwarmer

2008-03-20T00:52:00.011-05:00

Update: This pattern is now available as a free pdf download in my Ravelry Store!

If you don't have a Ravelry membership yet, it's free and there's no waiting list!

1.5 FOs: Red cable neckwarmer and a sock

2008-03-20T00:05:00.003-05:00

Red Celtic Cable Neckwarmer (#16)

Pattern: my Celtic Cable Neckwarmer pattern, which I'm going to post in a few minutes
Yarn: Frog Tree Merino Worsted (100% merino wool), color #23; 1 skein
Needles: US #8 (5mm)
Notions: three 1 1/8in. buttons
Finished Size: 4" x 21.5" after blocking

I made this one so I could write up the pattern (since I technically knit most of the last one at least 2 years ago). It's super soft, and now I have a scarf to go with my Red Green hat.

I got my first sock finished yesterday. Now I have to see if I can do that cast on again...

FO: Celtic Cable Neckwarmer (#15)

2008-03-12T23:47:00.004-05:00

Pattern: My own. The cable was based partially on one found in many stitch dictionaries, as well as the Kepler sweater pattern, but I added a little to it.
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Worsted (85% wool, 15% mohair), M165 - Christmas Green; 1 skein
Needles: US #8 (5.0mm)
Notions: three 1" wooden buttons
Finished Size: 4.5" x 21"
Notes: I made this cable band a few years ago (like 2005ish) intending to turn it into a hat. I blocked it, and then put it in my stash. I pulled it out the other day to check to see if it was long enough to turn into a neckwarmer, and it was only about an inch short. So I took out the bind off and picked up all the stitches to make the button band. It worked really nicely, and I think I'm going to do another one and write up the pattern.

Also, I obviously found the buttons. Where were they? On my craft table. In my defense they were under mail. But I could've sworn I put them *in* something.

On Sunday Mike and I went to the Maryland Orchid Society's orchid show at the fairgrounds in Timonium. Mike's much more interested in the orchids than I am--passionflowers are my game. The great thing about the orchid shows are you get to meet the vendors, and the prices are awesome. We ended up getting two orchids--one small one that has a bud on it (it's a single bloomer), and a really huge one (it's at least 3 feet tall--it almost didn't fit in the car) that's got 3 open flowers and 3 or 4 buds. We were going to go to Lovelyarns afterwards, but we didn't get there in time. We may try again on Saturday.

Buttons?!

2008-03-11T01:31:00.002-05:00

I cleaned the apartment the other day and I can't figure out where I put my stash of buttons.

THIS IS WHY I DON'T CLEAN.

My new neck warmer is sad and buttonless. :(

PRGE Questionnaire

2008-03-07T20:21:00.005-05:00

(I'm a bad partner and waited till the last minute on this--sorry)

1. Why did you join PRGE? I really enjoyed the last swap--buying yarn for other people is actually fun

2. What are your five favorite things?
photography, dyeing yarn, my cat, baking, chocolate/candy

3. What are your three favorite things that you have made with knitting/crochet? the brain slug, the eyeball scarf, candace's scarf

4. What five things would you love to see in a swap box someday?
hand dyed yarn, hand spun yarn, something that I can't get in every yarn shop, something from the swap partner's home town, and candy :)

5. What are your three favorite yarns?
pretty much anything hand dyed, noro kureyon, Frog Tree Merino

What are your three least favorite yarns?
most acrylics, cotton yarns, eyelash/furry yarns

6. What are your five favorite delicacies?
anything entenmann's, dove milk chocolate, cheesecake, milk, cinnamon buns

7. What are your three favorite guilty pleasures?
bad reality tv, gossip, baked goods

8. What are the five things you look forward to every week?
American Idol, various awesome Discovery Channel shows (Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, Deadliest Catch), Project Runway (I'm sad it's over--but now Top Chef is starting!), Ghost Hunters, sleeping in on Mondays

9. What do you collect?
yarn (obviously), dvds, knitting books, tacky earrings, Muppet stuff

10. When is your birthday?
July 30

11. Do you have any wishlists?
amazon.com, and hot topic

12. Do you have any allergies or health related conditions that your pal should know about?
nope

13. What do you do for work and what do you do for fun?
I work at a yarn shop/I own a hand dyed yarn business--for fun I watch dvds and knit, take pictures, and nap with the cat (woooo exciting!)

14. What would you like your pal to know that is not covered here?
My ravelry ID is stormmoonknits, and last year's PRGE questionnaire is here.

Bunny car

2008-03-06T23:41:00.003-05:00

Yes, oddly enough, the title means exactly what it says.

As I was driving home from work, I was cruising happily down Howard Street when I saw a bunny car. Bunny. Car. Indeed, it was a white station wagon with bunny ears on the roof, and a poofy bunny tail on the back.

Since things such as this always need to be documented, I proceeded to take pictures with my camera phone while driving. This should pretty much tell you that the pictures I did get sucked. But I will post them anyway. Blown up. With edits.

She also had a bumper sticker that said "My other vehicle is the Mahayana."

I was about to get a good picture and then she turned onto 31st. Damnit!! You know, it's instances such as this that make Baltimore rather amusing, albeit quite briefly.

Socks...

2008-03-06T01:03:00.004-05:00

Well, hopefully this will make Large Marge, Nittany Knits, Knitglit, and Dip Cindy happy. I started a pair of socks yesterday.

I'm using the On Your Toes pattern by Ann Budd from Interweave Knits, Summer 2007. The yarn is my Twilight Sock in "The Goblin Battle" (and no, Lindsay, you don't have that one yet). It seems to be a little loose on my foot even though I'm dead on with gauge, but meh, I don't care that much. It's hard to take a picture of your foot while it's on a table.

Then this evening I started a scarf from the book Knitting New Scarves by Lynne Barr. It's the Striped Illusion scarf, and it's turning out nicely so far.

On a different note, American Idol, Ghost Hunters, Project Runway, and Mythbusters all on one night? Awesome.

Plus Top Chef starts next week and Deadliest Catch starts at the end of the month. I'm never going to want to leave the apartment. I need grocery delivery (i.e. Mike).

Party Planning

2008-03-03T22:45:00.004-05:00

So over on Ravelry we've been planning the Homespun Yarn Party, which is going to be a quick but awesome event on March 30th, 2-6pm (all the info is on the party blog). The idea came from a thread about how many amazing dyers and spinners are in the area, and we decided to make our own little vendor event.

So come check out all the pretty yarn and fiber and hang out with other local knitters! It's going to be really fun!

I'm dyeing like crazy, and I'm going to try to have all my new colorways available (at least in sock yarn).

FO: Pink Celtic Hat (#14)

2008-03-02T19:07:00.003-05:00

Pattern: Celtic Cable Cap by Jenna Wilson (of the Girl from Auntie)
Yarn:Dark Horse Rhapsody (100% merino wool), #69; 1 skein
Needles: US #7 (4.5mm)
Modifications: I cast on one less stitch than called for so I could do the picot hem
Notes: I did the 5sts/in version with the picot hem option. I'm really happy with how this turned out, even though I managed to fudge one of the cables--but it wasn't bad enough to warrant going back a few rows to fix it. It only took me a few days to knit it (with breaks in between for work and dyeing yarn).

I'll definitely be making more of these. It's a very detailed and well-written pattern.