Betsey Do

2007-03-31T07:13:00.000-07:00

Irie Knits podcasting from Oregon.

I'm listening to back episodes of Irie Knits after just discovering this podcaster from Eugene, Oregon. Irie has a cool way about her - very calming yet straightforward and still fun, like there is an inner smile, soft eyes and her shoulders are relaxed.

I just listened to episode #2 where Irie talks about the (then) much-blogged discussion of baring our stash. I too am a little bit of a minimalist. I can easily get overwhelmed and resentful of the projects I wanted to do but haven't, so I keep my stash somewhat at bay, but will always grab a new yank or two when inspired by it or a pattern that needs it. So now, I'll not be measuring my stash for mileage of yarn, but envy those who have their miles and miles and can live with adding to it happily. It's fun to watch and listen and live vicariously through them, and then sit in my own space of limited stash.

In this podcast, she plays a really terrific jazzy Belinda Underwood. She's like a younger sounding Diana Krall, with a more wispy light sound to her voice, but Krall's styling. Love her!

I think I would like to invite some L.A. crafters and knitters over for some Church of Crafting, and Underwood could be one of the CDs to play. Sweet.

2007-03-31T06:53:00.000-07:00

A Lavender Celtic-cabled Bag is in Process.

I am almost done with one side of this bag. It's knit up from a lovely shade of lavendar wool from New Zealand from the Kona Bay company. It was a beautiful shade of lavender that I purchased the last 3 hanks (100 gms each) at Black Sheep Knittery at their kick-ass sale last week (50% off everything in this gorgeously stocked store). Crystal, who owns and runs this store, was very kind to let me sit and knit there all morning (to get away from the algebra homework and be around knitters!) and it was fun watching women come in, discovering that her on-line announced sale included everything, including needles and books! These girls were buying large bags full of Noro, Manos and KPPMs, handing over their credit cards and asking her not to announce the total, they'll find out later when they decide to take a look at the bill.

This was fun to sit and watch. I'd been mistaken twice for working there since I was the only one not wildly buying, but sitting, knitting and chatting once in a while.

The pattern calls for doing this same piece again for the other side, then knitting the gusset and piecing them all together.

If you hold the rows straight across so that the pointy ends hang down, it looks like this might make a beautiful flared out bottom to a skirt. I'm inspired to take this idea to a cone of tweedy, very light weight yarn (baby weight or fingering) to make a nice skirt out of this.
The bag pattern calls for #9 needles; for a nicer drape with the tweed fingering, maybe I'll try something still almost as large as #9s, maybe #7s.

Celtic knitting? I meant celtic cabling

2007-03-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

Back in January, I started 2007 with the first post listing the following 5 things to do:

1. Completing my first pair of knitted socks.
2. Learn spinning .
3. Finish the Swatch Blanket
4. Buy a pet Alpaca (or at least shear one).
5. Practice some Celtic Knitting.

Today, I have found the project I have been looking for in doing the Celtic Knitting. But I realize now that I meant a celtic-cables type of knitting. when I wrote this list, and added the celtic knitting entry, I was inspired by the cover of Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge. I loved the cabling of the scarf on the cover, but knew I would never use that type of a design in a scarf. But then I saw this bag on Moonlight Stitches Blog just as I was thinking how much I'd like to knit a bag. (A thought inspired by Tracey Ullman's tweed tote story Knit 2 Together AND the cool cable bag that Karen is working on.

I have two choice yarns in my stash to work from on this bag. Either the really nice cream wool that Adrian gave me, or the green over-dyed stuff from the frogged thrifted sweater. So I'll be swatching to see if they match the 14"=4 inch gauge on my #9s.

Oh, and to update on the 5 things list. 1) I've knitted both of the first pair of socks. Done. 2) Learned spinning and am on my second color - a beautiful pound of blue roving with subtle flecks of other colors in it - really nice! 3) Still working on the swatch blanket and am pulling it out today to plan the next few swatches. 4) Umm. Maybe a trip to the zoo this Sunday? and there we go.

Podcasting from L.A.

2007-03-15T11:36:00.001-07:00

Yo yo westside!
So I'm checking my emails yesterday.
Got the daily digest of postings from SnB LA. And Anne from Moonlight Stitches lets us know she's jumped into the knitting podcast arena.
Yeah Anne.
I just listened to it really quick this afternoon while finishing off some homework and she did good! She chose Aliens Get the Blues Too, Erik Lee when she brought up her UFOs - way cool.
Then she brings up stuff like knitting with this cool pink and green with sparkle thread yarn that I just scored a bunch of a few weeks ago (I loves this stuff, even though I'm not a novelty yarn girl, this yarn has a certain rustic quality that I got me), so I kinda liked having that "me too" moment.
And the subject of knitting at the movies. She was knitting at 300 and this is a great thing to blog about: go see a flick, knit there, talk about the movie = great!

While I haven't shelled the $ for the light up needles, my ex-boyfriend heard about these and showed me his stash of light-up pens (using an led light) that he thought I could use. I clip the pen on my shirt, sit in the back row, and it works great! While they're not cable knitting or lace knitting great, they're good for simpler projects that I might need a little dim light to just check how things are going.

anyway.
back to Moonlight Stitches.
Anne has a great voice for this, sort of reminds me of listening to The Knitting Cook, but with her own mellow quality.
Anne - thank you! I really look forward to hearing more.

2007-03-14T18:43:00.000-07:00

afghans for Afghans - Mother's Day campaign

* Mother's Day Campaign for Afghan Mothers *US due date: May 13.

Afghans 4 Tomorrow is the same organization that handled our two major collections last year. Afghans 4 Tomorrow is an experienced US-based non-profit organization with offices and relief and development projects in Afghanistan: http://www.afghans4tomorrow.com./ Afghans 4 Tomorrow has been distributing material supplies to the people of Afghanistan for many years. They have trained, capable personnel on the ground. Afghans 4 Tomorrow would like us to supply:Baby blankets (in a dense stitch; not lacy; minimum dimensions of 40" x 40")Caps for newborns and infantsSocks for newborns and infants (no booties).

When I took a look at the pictures in the afghans4tomorrow gallery, it struck me again how good I have it in Los Angeles here. These guys are walking around in the freezing cold happy to get our donated clothes and a handmade hat or some socks.

Yesterday we just got over the shock of hitting a 90 degree day in March. I got a @*!%$# ticket for not wearing my seatbelt today and didn't want to face my part time job tonight, I was so upset.

Yeah. Right.

I have a job. I'll pay the ticket and still buy anything needed for our basic needs and comforts. And the comfort of another mom too, maybe?

CMP ATC #2 Alphabet Soup

2007-03-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

YEAH. Judi from CMP sent to me this ATC.
I got this wonderful little card from Judi in the mail today. She and I swapped ATCs in Amy's ATC Exchange #2 where the theme is Alphabet Soup.

I've done other types of mail swaps, but never an ATC. I'm not stopping any time soon. What a great way to have fun and swap it all out and get some back!

Just wow.

Needle and the Damage Done

2007-03-13T09:01:00.000-07:00

Damn, I wish I thought of the name The Needle and the Damage Done.
So far, by far, my favorite name for a knitting blog.
And the weird thing is that this is the knitting blog by Faith, who podcasts as The Knitting Cook. I've been listening to her podcast ever since Amy mentioned her lemon cake recipe (which I've yet to try).

Faith, who just moved to Germany with her husband and two boys, And is pregnant with a third, talks about her knitting projects, great recipes that she cooks for the family and stories about living in Germany, in a small town, while learning her German really fast.

In he podcast this week, she talked about the Meathead Hat pattern, so I finally took the time to check her show notes about the hat. Any pattern with a name like that intrigues me. It's a neat hat pattern - kind of like an Elfin hat that would be a great snowboarder hat AND a nice hat for the Mountaineering girls. It would be way cool to knit up with all this leftover scraps of wool I have and make some christmas hats this year. I found the flickr group of Meat Heads and really loved one version where a girl knit up the hat and then added 2 long braids "ear-flap" style. I'm sorting out stash right now to see what colors are going into this idea! The hat pattern was being sold to raise some funds and the fund raise just ended! Hopefully I can still buy - awaiting a response when I emailed.

This week's episode of The Knitting Cook is equal to about of weeks worth (or more) of checking links and writing about things I like. Foe one thing, The Wallaby Sweater is so similar to the sweater pattern I'm planning for Ty in the Mary Rich Goodwin book of top down raglans I still have here. Goodwin's pattern is called Little Fair Isle Hood with a pretty neat construction for the hood and top down raglan design. A good yarn would be the Bernat "sweatshirt Denim" warn or Lion's cotton ease. Ty does best with a cotton/acrylic blend like these so I'll be checking out my yarn stash of the Bernat sweatshirt stuff and filling in the gaps needed to make this Little Fair isle Hood.

I Love the Merry Go-Round pattern in this book, which I'm still knitting up from the frogged oatmeal shade of wool.

This Merry Go-Round is definitely working. The shaping of the rolled collar before the ribbing neckline and the top-down raglan shaping looks pretty fun. The sleeves are 3/4. Because I love 3/4 sleeves.

So the Merry Go-Round sweater is getting close to done, just have the bottom of the torso to finish up in stockinette and ribbing. I tried it on Sunday night, just a few rows down from the finished sleeves and showed Robin. Wow. she wants one. In baby blue.

so I've decided to find a nice baby blue variegated yarn in a softer fiber than wool (Robin can deal with Any wool) and voila - I realized the perfect thing to search out: Light blue denim!

knitting 101

2007-03-08T20:17:00.000-08:00

Wow, Karen finished her pinwheel sweater! I love the colors she used. knitting 101

LURKING the Podcasters BRENDA DAYNE

2007-03-07T14:04:00.000-08:00

I listen to alot of podcasts.

Not just once, but many times. I will listen to the same one again in a later day or week.

Maybe one day I'd like to podcast a little. Robin and I play podcasting sometimes. We'll set the recorder and talk about stuff that we do and think about.

I've gone through all of Brenda Dayne's CAST-ONs, most of them twice. Most knitters know Brenda (and if you don't, PLEASE click the link and start!). Brenda started a knitting podcast when there wasn't one around. I found out about her when I got to listening to Creative Mom Podcast and started thinking, "maybe I'm weird, but wouldn't it be great to do a podcast and talk about knitting?". Amy at CMP turned me onto Brenda and bam, weird or not, Brenda did it first and made it work.

Brenda made it work so well that many have followed in her footsteps - some at her suggestion to do one "your own way." If you didn't like her music and wanted a knitting podcast that was more punk, Brenda was telling y'all - THAN do it - we all want to hear yours too. And so many followed: Knitting Cook Podcast, Lime N Violet Podcast, Sticks and Strings, Knitty D and the City, Beneath the Fiber Moon, and scads more.

So Brenda lives in Wales (after moving there from Oregon).
I need to repeat this. She Lives In Wales.

I want to live in Wales. And I do, for a while every time she talks about being there. When it's St. David's Day, she'll talk about the procession of druids. She talks about the boot sales. I miss boot sales.
and Jumble Sales.
I picked up a wonderful pea coat for 5p back in 1979 when I first arrived in East Grinstead, England. It was much colder in East Grinstead during February than what I predicted as I packed my gear in Los Angeles for the trip (I was only sixteen years old and I knew England would be colder than L.A., I just wasn't prepared for COLD).

Brenda also finds the coolest podsafe music from all parts, but many great tunes from Brits with fiddles or synths - whatever. Its all soooo cool.

She did a series of podcasts in the Spring of 2006 which follows along with discussing each of the nine Muses in Greek mythology and what aspect of knitting that each Muse relates to. Her Muse series (which I believe starts in episode #15 or #16) will probably get another listening by me over the next year. In fact, I'm re-downloading them now since I know there's alot more I'll pick up in these podcasts that I missed the first time (and maybe second) time around.

There have been knitting bloggers from the early days, circa 1997 that, through the years, keeps on building up into the knitting community together to such a way now - I can't believe it. Through Brenda, and other podcasters of fiber who followed, this community has a voice and I'm listening to it all with an appetite that doesn't quite keep up with the time to digest it all, check all the links I want to follow and the projects I'd like to try as well. These are problems I do dwell on sometimes and really - have to just let it go.

In the Summer and Fall of 2006, Brenda she did some wonderful touring around Wales and close-by areas, to speak with locals who work with Sheep and wool. Oh and don't get me started on her music choices.

Okay, do.

Lascivious Biddies' Neighbor. My. What a great sound. What a ground song.
speaking of Brenda and music - her episode the MASH UP was one of those exciting thrilling dorky drive-way moments of WOW, she gets it. MASH UP is my life. I mash'd up on tape mixes getting the strangest artists together for the party or camping mixes thrilling my friends and brother with combining Country, Punk, Standards and TV Commercials into a fun ride with cocktails in hand. and MASH UP is my fiber life. Mixing up Red Heart acrylics with Noro Garden silk lite into a free crocheted hassock and pillows. Fair Isle strange 70s ombres with colors that don't come anywhere near matching thrills me straight out more than any soft cashmere pair of socks or Fetchings ever would. (I love socks, I love Fetchings. But I would rather do socks or Fetchings in something weird and make it work. THAT's thrilling).

This is why I love designers like Teva Durham and Betsey Johnson. and Norah Gaughan. and Leigh Radford. and folk work done by the hands of those in the roads of third world countries and Scandinavian type of places, and Latvia. These people MASH IT UP.

Whew. Passionate much?

If Brenda mentions a stash-along by Wendy Knits, I'm signing up and have signed up and have had the best five weeks of knitting just stash. Of planning mixtures and combinations to make single and small balls work together and the cushions I've made are truly exciting. One is sort of a smaller hassock that I place near on the edge of the bed, sit cross-legged on and do my drop spindle spinning with some nice length to the floor to work with. All this in front of episodes of and extra disc special viewing from the Lord of Rings DVD collection is priming me up for the Rennaisance Faire coming around in a couple of months.

Must lurk and plan some fyne garb for Robin and Ty Kai.

Toodles. My head is spinning and I still have to get some damn AA batteries for the camera to get some picks on this site.

Top Down Raglan Starts

2007-03-07T09:50:00.000-08:00

I've started my first knitted top-down raglan ever. From the frogged thrift shop sweater.

I've knitted a top down raglan before. It took 2 hours total. The second one I also knitted took just over an hour and was entirely done in Noro Silk Garden Lite. They both fit Barbie barely, so they hang now on nicely crafted Wire hangers (crafting little wire hangers could keep me happy many many hours).

So yeah, I've done a top down raglan. Even though it was in miniature, it gave me an idea of the whole raglan construction: increasing at 8 points on the increase rows in order to expand into front, sleeve, back and other sleeve; then doing the sleeves on DPNs, and then finally stitch the back to the front in the round with said DPNs. These sweaters inspired me to go for my First Ever Raglan for the human body. It's knitting up from a frogged sweater of some wonderful wool.

I did not refresh the wool so the stitches are uneven and bumpy. I thought I might like that and wanted to see how this would turn out without refreshing said wool (I have another project from yet another frogged sweater where that yarn was refreshed and redyed, so I'll get to see some of the differences).

I've worked the neck and yoke down so far to about 11" from the top. Since the "top" is a rolled neckline (the first eight rows call for stockinette stitch before changing to a 1x1 ribbing), the yoke really has a "lay" on the body of 9". Being nervous that maybe it was getting too big (it's really crowded on the needles!), I fed a "life line" through the stitches and took them off the needles to try it on.

WOW. (Sorry, no pictures taken). It looks way cool. I see flaws, yes. The increases could be done differently next time (and I wish I noted every stitch now, but that'll come with practice). The rolled collar is really a cool, sweet, funky take on the normal raglan cardigan and the sleeves look kind of like Teva Durham may have done this during her early "teen" years (in my imagination of her, just like I imagine what Betsey Johnson's trial experiments may have been like when I f up some shirt and then add some sweet embelishments, patch a Marilyn Monroe in ballerina dress onto my bike bag, etc.)

The un-refreshed yarn really is loopy and the #10 needles are obviously too big, but still - I LOVE IT for it's flaws. It's Garage-bandness. LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

So back on the needles they go for another four rows on the yoke to get a good 10" to 10-1/2" (or 13-13 1/2" laid flat) before I start working each sleeve. I'd like to keep it somewhat fitted, but have to make sure I can lift the arms or wear something under it when all is said and done. All increases after this try-on will be done at 2 stitches before and after each marker. Up to now the increases have been somewhat haphazard due to that being the instruction in the pattern.

Sweater From the Top Down #1

2007-03-01T17:11:00.000-08:00

In which I discover the sweaters coming up in Thrift Shops to frog and reuse. Then start to knit my first top-down raglan sweater from the pattern pictured above.

Last month, I had picked up a couple of sweaters which were both hand knitted in the round at the Thrift Shop. I'm beginning to think that this might happen more and more with so many people knitting in the past few years; which is a little sad to think that so many hours of knitting get donated to the Thrift Shop by, I'm guessing, people who received things as gifts and didn't realize their value, or maybe a knitter who didn't realize they could frog the sweaters for other projects.

It's bittersweet thrift hauling. I've found some gorgeous gorgeous yarns knitted up into scarves not quite right, that I've frogged for other little one skein, or less, wonders.

One recent purchase was of a great, large off-white sweater in a worsted weight yarn. the yarn is a really nice wool which feels it has a little mohair, just for that "Black Sheep" feel. Another sweater purchased, a snug little green number that felt and looked like it was made from some Debblie Bliss cotton/angora type of yarn. The frogging and reusing potential was just too good to pass up for the $2.00 price of each!

Each yielded more than enough to make some sweaters of my own. Very psyched am I.

So I've frogged them both. The green has been sitting in different dye baths for some variegated yarn. It knits up nicely into a swatch with #8s and I'm just short of a ragland sweater planned of it, so I'll search for a couple of comparable skeins to incorporate into said planned sweater (more on this in a few weeks I hope).

The off-white is being worked into my first ever top-down raglan sweater using the Merry-Go-Round sweater pattern featured above (sans any color change in the yoke). After trying to find Ann Budd's indespensible, I found said Merry-go-Round Sweater pattern in a really sweet book written by Mary Rich Goodwin:

Children's Sweaters and Hats - Knitting Seamless Raglan Top Down. Children's Sweaters and Hats - Knitting Seamless Raglan Top Down. It is discontinued so gratefully I have it from the LAPL for the next few weeks.

This little grassroot-type of a book has alot of basic ways to knit raglans from the top down, in both cardigan and pullovers. Even though it's written for children, I'm pretty "small boned," so I'm hoping to just change things a little for the one I'm trying: Ring Around the Cardigan.

The instructions show variations for Chest circumference from 24" through 39". It calls for #8s with a gauge of "4 to 5 st" to the inch. Really, this leaves alot for error, so I'm just plunging in with my off-white wool which gauges at 13 stitches to 4-inches and knitting up the size for "33" chest, hoping that I can let it be somewhat large on top and then "slim" it down into the torso section. I plan to keep the sleeves at 3/4 length as well. After all this, it should also be longer for my much longer torso than the standard 33" chested child!

Yes, this is a project to explore, take notes and see what happens.

Oh, and I didn't refresh the yarn by rinsing, so I plan for a really bumpy ride in this piece - going all out for the "first sweater" ever made look. But that's me. I really can't stand things tooo smooth and perfect.

Face Cloths are knitted, Death is studied, Perspective and High School Algebra

2007-02-27T14:28:00.000-08:00

Well it's been alot of homework and little things to knit in between the homework.

Little things like a really nicely designed flower-shaped face cloth from Melanie Falick's Book ~ Weekend Knitting. The fiber I used is some raw silk that was hand-spun so the yarn is thick and thin, the thin part being tight and nubby, the thick part soft soft soft. So nice to wash up with.

Also from her book is a miniature turtleneck sweater (egg warmers) that I loved making from scraps of yarn: I'm also knitting up some very very cute dishcloths from some thrifted vintage terry yarn mixed with some Sugar & Cream Cotton. Pictures as soon as I find some more AA batteries.

The Spring Law classes I had signed up this Spring changed around on me.

I was really looking forward to taking the special course in Bankruptcy Law while also signing up for the specialty course in Wills & Probate Law, filling out a class load with the other two courses in Drawing 101 and Algebra 112. The Bankruptcy course got cancelled this semester and the Wills & Probate Law turns out to be verrrrry cool to get into right now with the whole Anna Nicole Smith case going OJ a little.

The Wills course lecture is every Saturday morning wherein we end up bringing Anna Nicole up for a little while, asking about things in the news like paternity issues involving yet undetermined dad and his part of the inheritance to her little baby, or we talked about the mother and her inheritance issues, while the split with the fortune going to the "dead son's" wife. stuff like that.

I am soooo naive on the whole Anna Nicole thing and I really really don't care. Really. I knew NOTHING about the inheritance disputes with her and her deceased rich husband's son's fight over the money that went all the way up to the Supreme Court. While I've been reading way too much about the magic cast-on and listening to the Quirky Nomad or the history of Muses from Brenda Dayne, the whole world has gotten way too much ahead of me about this whole inheritance thing and Anna. This seemed fun to the rest of the students in the class that I kept going "what?" or "no way?"

Yeah, I live right in the middle of Hollywood for yearssss and I tune it all out.

What I like even more in class is the reading of certain Wills at the end of each class lecture. The first will that we read was Marilyn Monroe's. It's a nice short sweet will that's like her, simple, sweet, giving and just a little grown-up.

Last Saturday was the reading of the final testament of John Winston Ono Lennon. Yep - ONO. I never knew! And the will looked eerily like She wrote it. Everything goes to her. If anything is contested by anyone, then they lose every cent for contesting (except that everything goes to her). Whew. For some reason I kinda like Yoko Ono - something about her fascinates me. Her balls, maybe. Or that somebody like her, quite but with a strange voice could be such an overwhelmingly strong influence to Lennon. She's the ultimate in the "your no fun since you got married" type of girl to this universally loved friend of the masses of Beatle lovers.

something like that.

My favorite class? Drawing, followed closely by Algebra 112.
Really, it's been a nice semester forming of classes really.

Drawing helps me to go over the basic fundamental things like contour line and perspective. It's a nice 2 hours twice a week to sit in the room with HUGE sketchpad and pencil in hand and just focus on the subject to be drawn. And I'm all for anything that pulls me out of my Monkey Mind.

Algebra 112 is basically going over and really getting down the final stages of High School Algebra and Geometry. Restudying once more and really drilling exponents, formulas, perimeter and area formulas and fractions with variables.

My fantastic math tutor and teacher Jane Wiley helped me prep for this last November and December. Thank you Jane!!! Even though I missed the first test (Stupid Stupid Stupid - I just stayed home that one day, thinking the test was the following Thursday instead), I still think that I'll manage a B in the class because of her prepatory drilling.

So that said, I'm off to do some more Algebra homework on the www.educo-int site and maybe grab some AA batteries today.

xohe

L I N K S

2007-02-07T14:49:00.000-08:00

Links
activism198 methods of nonviolent action activist links for librarians activism.net activist network (canada)audioactivism behind the label bloodsisters the breast cancer site depresident district of ladies fair.org's activism kit indy media microrevolt reclaim the streets scavenge uk space hijackers working for change
crafting for charitable causesafghans for afghans binky patrol blankets for canada carewear chemocaps crafters for critters cubs for kids cuddles for newborns head huggers la casa de las madres mass youth in action mother bear project network for good olivia's angels peace fleece project linus rehumanizing quilt sewing charity snuggles touching little lives tsunami quilt 2005 warm hearts warm babies warm up america wool works
crafty inspirationanother girl at play blissen buzzville church of craft craft revolution craftster crafty chica devoted bee dioramarama ex libris anonymous gerbera designs getcrafty goblinko kinderart my paper crane sublime stitching subversive cross-stitch the arts & crafts society
weewonderfulslinks for the knit-mindedbritish hand knitting confederation castoff knitting club for girls and boys chicknits knitchicks knit happens knitlist knitting-and knitting and crochet guild knitting garden knitting guild of america knitting history knitty magknits not martha!menknit.net revolutionary knitting circle swapatorium virtual yarns yesterknits
links for the lit-minded.adbusters bee lavender bitch magazine boing boing bust knit knit knitlit loose lips sink ships microcosm publishing mother jones my my distro natalie goldberg pander zine distro pitchfork media plan b ponyboy press pop cultures pop matters punk planet soft skull press tni books turning the tide revolutionary media
people who rock.52 projects acechick acorn studios allyson shaw antifactory big box reuse bits and bobbins boygirlparty brainylady bloodredrose buy olympia copacetique courgettehouse crackers + honey crafty scientist cut and paste department of craft exploding dog i like is this you katherine bourke lady luck rules ok lauren cerand layers of meaning lekkner lindamade luka designs make and boo marissaland marc horowitz misshawklet morningcraft ms films obsessive consumption one inch buttons paper, scissors, soul pdx supercrafty pink acrylique plain mabel poise port 2 port the post punk kitchen purl pirate queen puff puff the sampler seamripper she's young and with it spasmodica stephanie syjuco stella marrs supermaggie susanstars the switchboards tatty devine tiny envelope the walrus + the carpenter wooster collective you grow girl
people who literally rock.airiel antifolk online chicks on speed kill rock stars k records mika bomb mog white merge records the nein saddle creek yep roc records
sociology, history, politics + modernity.24 hour museum designing britain 1945-1975 homework (1891)quilts of gees bend red cross museum london station sage publications semiotics links shetland museum undercity the victory home walter benjamin wonkette

Art, Spinning and Swatching

2007-02-05T17:58:00.000-08:00

Spring Semester just started today. First class: Art 201 - drawing.
I know that this means less knitting.
The weather is warming up, I'm on my bike and heading to the pool more and the only knitting I'm getting done is just a whole lot of swatches. Because of the Stash-A-Long, I've been swatching all my stash without any real plans but just a lot of oggling and dreaming of possibilities.
One thing I do know is that I'd really like to make a cardigan. I really really like the Enid Cardigan from Interweave Winter 2006 Issue:

It's knitted in the round and then involves Steeking the front. I've never really steeked before (on purpose), but I can see how it would work and saw a great episode of Karen B on Knitty Gritty showing the whole world how. But, just in case, I plan to thrift a sweater and steek it into a cardigan for practice.
Yep, that's a good plan.
Yeah.
I like the Enid Cardigan also for the cool fair isle type stitching, that mixes knit and purl for texture as well. Very cool looking pattern.

Something that can use different colors and yarns - like a fair isle nordic-type thing with a wider, more ballet type neck.
Then there's the Body Count Mittens that some yarns are swatching on #3s for.
The AfghanforAfghanistan mittens that can use different colors as well.
Some swatches are going into the felt pile since they will felt and don't look all that great otherwise.
One example is the Soy Wool.
I love love love the feel of this yarn, but it's the most unforgiving yarn to knit with - splitting all over the place no matter how careful I've been. The finished product kinda looks like a cheap washed wool before it even hits the water for the first time.
And finally, I'm starting to dig on this old stash of 80's terry cloth nubby yarn of 100% cotton. This was originally intended to follow the trend back then of terry, nubby cotton 80s sweater. I didn't know what to do with it, but at 25cents a skein, I grabbed about six: 3 light blue, 2 white and reddish purple. Swatching the blue gave me some great ideas for it. when knitted loosely, in garter stitch, it makes are really nice nubby face cloth so I'm thinking some wash cloths for the gym and maybe even a Calorimetry headband for the gym and yoga. Then I stumbled on some great muted green cotton and mixed the terry blue with the green cotton and they look great together. So a Calorimetry it is; plus some washy things.

So now I better take picks and post it here. Just for posterity . . .

S p i n n i n g . . . . .

2007-02-02T12:37:00.000-08:00

A hand-made drop spindle from Annie May and a half pound of soft white wool = hours of process learning ultra joyous friggin fun!
Before Annie May Stone was going to teach the beginning class on Spinning tonight, I wanted to try a little. So a few days ago, David from That Yarn Store (a store that really really likes to help people try anything) thought he could get me started, just by kind of telling me what he'd seen Annie May teach in previous classes.
So he set me up with one of Annie May's handmade spindles from his store and gave me a few basics to get me onto my first ball of beginner's very thick and thin yarn. The session lasted all of 15 minutes (at best) and I put it down.
Got home and picked it up again and tried some more.
5 minutes later, put it down, satisfied that I could still kind of do it.
Throughout the next few days, the process continued: walked by the spindle, stop and spin another five minutes, put it down. Each time, satisfied that something was coming along and letting it slowly come and go.
By the time I had arrived to the Real first class by Annie May herself, I had pretty much spun a half-way decent yarn that maintained something between fingering weight to light worsted weight throughout.

The real class helped tremendously.
First Annie May was excited to see my first amount of effort and began to show me how to ply it while newcomers were coming in to sign up and prepare for their first time.
Then she began the class by showing us the simple act of winding the threading string and spinning the spindle clock wise.
Next, we put the spindles down and took out about 12" of roving, about an inch or so thick, and practiced drawing the fibers to a pencil size thickness. Just drawing, no spinning yet. She explained that these fibers were about 5" from the sheep, so you need to keep the fingers a good 5" apart to really draw the fibers out smoothly.
After drawing the fibers out for about 5 minutes we were ready to pick up the spindle and practice spinning the wool onto it.
Putting down our already drawn fibers, we picked up another 12" yank of roving, an inch thick.
Began drawing out the beginning and were given the ogling balance of steps to maintain at the same time: spinning the spindle while holding the roving onto the thread off the spindle, while using both handles to break at each spot to draw out finer fibers to incorporate into the spinning - all at the same time!
It felt stupid.
And contagious.

It seems impossible at first and if you do this on your own, HAVE PATIENCE AND JUST DO BITS AND PIECES. I cheated and draw the fiber first for a couple of days before joining onto the fiber, until I felt that this was getting relatively easy. After a good several days of practicing this (five days, of about 15 minutes a day), I finally clicked where I can really do it all at the same time now, but it's still awkward - great improvement!

Law, Art and Algebra

2007-02-01T15:30:00.000-08:00

I got my books today for new classes next week.
Pre-Algebra (looks easy enough. And I was worried).
Law 037 - Introduction to Bankruptcy Law
Law 013 - Wills, Trusts and Estate Law.
No books for the ART 201 class. But $50 saved for the supplies, which I know will be heinous more amounts of $.
The Bankruptcy Law book was cracked open as a head start.
Fascinating!
Only a few pages in, but really cool stuff about the history of debtor's prisons over in England and here in the USA.
But before all that, the work bankruptcy actually goes back to early days in Italy and the term "banco rotta" where a debtor who didn't pay his debts got his bench broken in front of his store to show others a little of his character. Italians seem pretty friendly about this.
And, by the way, even though rumour has it that the early Romans could cut bits of body parts of the balance-owing debtor, it simply wasn't done really. Instead, selling the debtor into slavery was the exercised solution.
Gee, if bankruptcy can start out this interesting, I can't wait to read about death, errr, Wills, Trusts and Estates law.
Cheers~

Stash Sorting and Social Change

2007-01-28T14:52:00.000-08:00

Cool mittens to knit in the Stash-A-Long

The Book I'm reading now is Knitting for Peace by Betty Christianson and Kiriko Shirobayashi. This book is just great.
Bug suggested it way back before Christmas, so I went to check it out. At first I was attracted to the patterns in it, but then began reading the stories. A favorite so far is the one about Afghans For Afghanistan. What really struck me in this story of this wonderful group is the measure to which they have to go through to pack and send the donated items in order to get them to the intended recipients in Afghanistan. This isn't just send them a bunch of hats and scarves and then send them off to somebody and we're done.

No.

The folks at AfghansForAfghanistan are so careful in the timing of when to send the goods. The boxes are triple taped to make sure the items inside are safe and recipients on the other end need to be lined up just so, in order to get our knitted goods properly disbursed to those who most need it.
AND, please, they request, no acrylic things or scarves - they need warmth. Wool warmth. Hats, blankets, sweaters, vests, socks. Bright colors are a no no as well.

So I'm sorting my stash during my stash-a-long now and sorting out:
the acrylics (good for PREEMIE needs)
wool (needed for the Afghanistan), and
any interesting cool for the Rad Beanies project.

Also, I loved the Peace Fleece story. I knew about their cool work with the folks in Russia during the really scary times in the 80s, but there's more to them. But with the scary shit happening in the Middle East, Baghdad Blue has been introduced. They call this blue shade vibrant, "as bright as the desert sky." All proceeds of the Bhagdad Blue yarn, 100%, goes to two organizations in the Middle East: Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salaam , a community in Israel where Palestinians and Israelis families live together every day struggling with the realities of war and peace, and Seeds of Peace, a Palestian-Israeli summer camp based here in Maine.
And the price is really really nice: $7.50 for 4 ounces!
Yeah, $7.50 per 4 ounces for 70%wool/30% mohair (worsted).

At Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salaam, they not only live together, but they provide an oasis for those who can learn that the Palestines and Israelis families can cohabitate. They practice and preach this. Marty spinning wool of Beit Sira Village, West Bankin the home of Zacharia Zumbaty

So I've decided that I would "tweak" the Stash-A-Long rules. Since, I'm not the great sock yarn fiend, it's not hard at all to go without buying any until the September, 2007 deadline.
Instead, I've decided to exempt the purchase of any yarn that would help others in remarkable need. This would include buying yarn from Peace Fleece, Thrift Shops or things like the Lime & Violet sock yarn that Lisa Sousa worked up.
Alright.

STASH-a-LONG

2007-01-24T06:25:00.000-08:00

I've joined my first Knit-A-Long for 2007. Wendy from Wendyknits started this Knit from you STASH a-long.
The rules are fairly flexible and I should still be able to come visit favorite yarn stores and support them a little since I can buy sock yarn and roving.
I see lots of socks or sock-yarn based projects this year, among a new found passion (I hope) for spinning.
Here are the rules:
1. The Knit-From-Your-Stash-a-Thon will start January 1, 2007 and run through September 30, 2007 -- a period of nine months.
2. We will not buy any yarn during that period, with the following exceptions:
2.a. Sock yarn does not count. What? You think we are made of stone?
2.b. If someone asks for a specific knitted gift that we really and truly do not have the yarn for, we may buy yarn to knit that gift.
2.c. If we are knitting something and run out of yarn, we may purchase enough to complete the project.
2.d. We each get one "Get Out of Jail Free" card -- we are each allowed to fall off the wagon one time.
3. We are allowed to receive gifts of yarn.
4. Trading stash is allowed.
5. Spinning fiber of any sort is exempt.

Fantastic!
So I see many striped scarves, hats, miniatures and one-skein projects and swatch stuff to do with the cool balls I have around here.
So I'm committed.
Which means that I shall start taking inventory and track myself on this blog.
Ooooh, this really sounds like fun.

Eclectic Flickr Gypsy

2007-01-18T18:02:00.000-08:00

Hot on the presses today - little queen

She's in Normandy, France. Electic Gypsyland has The Most Amazing Flickr album. Gypsy room ideas, very cool made things, Oilily displays she's taken photos of. And on and more. Robin and I want so much to live in this gypsy caravan.

Velvety Flickr Monsters

2007-01-17T20:11:00.000-08:00

Can they make a half monkey/half pony?
It all started with buying a really large enormous 100% CASHMERE sweater today at the the Thrift Shop. Said sweater (red) went immediately into the washer with some soap and a few dirty duds and some very hot water.
The felted result is yummy - incredibly soft felted goodness.
So I went searching for ideas to use this redness.
Which came up with some good ideas like using parts of the sleeves to make mittens and kid hats.
But then hours were wasted discovering Flickr albums of the crafty and talented out there. Links going to the blog side over to the right of this page!
Wow!
My favorite starter is CRAFT's flickr pool site. After I join, I'll be spending other countless hours looking, hitting links, cut and pasting ideas and so on.
Just wow.

Aphrodite: want to do!

2007-01-16T14:44:00.000-08:00

Wow.
From Berrocco's Free Patterns. This is really nice - definitely something fun to whip up from the random balls in my stash.

Pimp My Bike

2007-01-11T20:55:00.000-08:00

I gotta bike for Christmas which my dh, Mark, got for me.
It's really nice.
A hand-me-down of 24 gear goodness that makes riding uphill pretty easygoing.
I didn't post about it until tonight since
a) I've been on it alot, and off the computer;
b) Just spent two fullish days taking my GED this week (yey!); and
c) Got the friggin sore throat, lungs hurting, head throbbing thing going around and kinda've been babying myself.

But during the laying down alot, daydreaming comes in and I got to thinking about knitting or crocheting some bike frame cozies. Wouldn't that be so cool? Maybe some celtic cabling round things to coat the frame. Or something felted. More daydreaming to do.
In the meantime, I caught up a little on past podscasts by the Great Brenda
and found this: While the mail brought this in today: . Hmmm.

Ow, my right forearm hurts and my wrists are sore . . .

2007-01-07T08:10:00.000-08:00

Sock knitting. Repetitive stockinette stitch on #2 needles to make socks started as an exercise in patience and reflection. However, the repetitive sock knitting worked this past week had followed repetitive little projects for many Christmas presents.
And my right arm hurts.
Mostly in the forearm.
And mostly in the right wrist.
It's a muscle that feels like raw meat and oh, so tender.
Somebody migh call it carpel-tunnel or repetitive stress syndrome.
I've typed as a word processor all my life (90 wpm, thank you);
except for a nine-year break as an electrician.
Two things typing and electrical have in common: extreme, repetitive use of the wrists and forearms.
But never before had I experienced a soreness or pain from these two activities.
But then, I didn't type or splice wire on every waking chance I had.
I never typed at the park with the kids. Or go walking through the zoo, whilst knitting away - walking, knitting, walking, knitting, and looking up every so often.
I've never spliced wire nuts while watching a dvd or cable t.v.
When sitting at a cafe, I don't usually type; althought I have.
Even then, it was broken up with alot of looking around or watching the people around me - during which I stopped the typing.
Not with the stockinette projects I always carry with me to do while walking, going to the zoo, going to the park, watching a movie or talking with friends. Even at the cafe, looking around or people-watching, the fingers continue the mundane stitching I save for doing while doing other stuff.
If I sit and knit with nothing else distracting, I'd rather do some fair-isle, cabling or interesting lace patterns. If the project involves several rows of stockinette, then it is generally set aside for working during more distracting moments of the day; thereby utilizing a full potential of knitting time. But this has gone a little too far.
Time to rest the right arm, maybe practice continental-style knitting (stop that - just put it down); catch up on some book reading, take photos, read emails, and generally walk away from (not with) the knitting.

2007-01-05T12:58:00.000-08:00

You are Merino Wool.
You are very easygoing and sweet. People like to keep you close because you are so softhearted. You love to be comfortable and warm from your head to your toes. Take this quiz!
Um, okay. Thanks.
Next year, maybe I can be alpaca with some mohair.
But yeah. Thanks.

Sock of Dancing Nannies

2007-01-05T12:25:00.000-08:00

What's blue and brown and worn not yet? This first half of woolable goodness.
Oh I was ready to frog this after turning the heel and starting the dancing ladies. Really ready to let her go, especially after the short rows in the heel.
But knowing that so many of my best-loved projects have had "rip-it" thoughts along the line, it was "put it down and walk away."
Which I did, for a whole six hours; then we trudged on; then we waded through. And after a while, as i was doing the cuff ribbing, we began to sort of skip along.
When it was done I had to walk away and do something big, simple and chunky, like a requested blue hat for Robin.

Now I see it as I should: homemade, grassroots goodness of something I've pined for many years. I didn't realize the pining I've done until I catch myself now, while looking at it, in flashbacks of seeing scenes of Dicken's time with the cottage made shawls, socks and fingerless gloves. Trips to the Renn Faire in homespun fiber goodness. And this sock is all that (or half that) and more.

So what did I learn in making the sock?
That the magic (figure 8) cast on is really easy if you just slow down, focus and practice it.
That magic cast-on looks totally cool in the toe area (I may never learn Kitchener).
That I need to find a better way to do the heel than the short-row method (or figure out the little gaping holes my short rows make).
And that knitting fair isle in the round on #2 dpns shows up EVERY LITTLE flaw and gap, and I'd better get better (or more careful).
AND that knitting lace socks and/or with variegated yarn should be a cinch after this.