|
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
|
Oh, and...
Yesterday I visited a new yarn store in the area, Borealis Yarns, at Hamline and Thomas in St. Paul. I was wowed. There's a huge selection of Colinette (not that I can ever afford it, but it's sure nice to look at), Cherry Tree Hill, other handpainted stuff, lots of great sock and lace yarn, a HUGE selection of standard yarn, and, well, just the right amount of everything. It's all at a good price, as well.
I reined myself in and managed to walk out with only one thing: the Wings Wrap pattern. I have the Suri Alpaca already. I figured out that it doesn't take easily to complicated patterns, so simple pattern it is. Besides, I need more not-extremely-complicated projects.
Tipper @ 9:13 AM * link
|
|
|
Maybe the reason I haven't been keeping up with blogs is entirely subconscious, because I've been reading quite a few lately and all I wanna do now is dig up some cotton yarn and make some cute summery things.
*shakes fist*
(But then, even a poor girl like me can afford some Sonata, yes?)
Tipper @ 8:42 AM * link
|
|
Monday, June 28, 2004
|
High in fiber.
I am determined. To do what? To enter many knitted items in the Minnesota State Fair.
Item #1:
The now-finished Colorwork Hat:
Doesn't that top give you a thrill?
Item #2:
The accompanying mittens, yet to be started.
Item #3:
Highland Schottische Kilt Hose from Nancy Bush's Folk Socks:
I am using Lana D'oro from - *gasp!* - my stash! Please join me in praying that I will have enough to finish.
Other items:
Maybe I'll get a shawl finished in time. There's both a lightweight and heavy shawl category.
Happiness is spinning.
So, I bought this fiber at the Yarnover this year (my SOLE purchase!):
Looks harmless enough, yes? But I've been having a heckuva time spinning it on my drop spindle, Birdie. It finally struck me during a cursing session that my spindle was likely too heavy, hence why the fibers kept breaking. Today I set out to find a new drop spindle. I ended up making my own and am spinning quite successfully on my 60-cents-of-materials spindle.
The same fiber on two different spindles.
The new spindle is creating a much finer, stronger yarn.
Over and out.
Tipper @ 7:16 PM * link
|
|
Friday, June 18, 2004
|
Gettin' my Rogue on.
So, here's some pictures of Rogue. Not that I've worked on it for awhile or anything...
The hood. The seam isn't exactly the prettiest and where the neck splits it's simply horrid, but that's okay with me.
The side.
Part of a bloated me wearing it.
More of a bloated me wearing it. Ah, the joys of PMS.
In other news...
I got my article published in the Minnesota Knitter's Guild newsletter. It's mostly about the phenomenon of knitting blogs. Since I'm the young kid on the team, I'm being looked towards for the young-kid perspective on the knitting scene, and since I think the internet is a big reason why so many youngsters are picking up needles, I figured it was appropriate to start off with an article about the internet. And, of course, it seems to be what I know best.
Thank you to Sandy (and the other newsletter folks) for such a warm welcome to the group. Now, if only I ever had Tuesday nights free so that I might actually attend meetings...
I love shawls.
All I want to knit, it seems, is shawls. I've been picking away at the Lost Points Shawl. I take back what I said about that railroad yarn... sure, it's a little easier to use than Eros, but it's slinkiness made it explode on and get entangled with itself. Bastard. I'm almost to the point where I can pick up a lotta stitches and knit in the round. That is, I've barely started. I'm about .1% done. This'll be a long one.
Last night I started on the Rose Trellis Shawl from Jamieson Book 3. The pattern is quite fun, but I'm not certain about the weight of my yarn (Domy Heather), which I'm working on size 7 needles, as the pattern calls for. Although Domy Heather and the Jamieson's 2-ply are supposed to be the same weight, the shetland is a bit hairier. I'm not quite sure if I like the looseness of these stitches, but I'll give it a chance.
Then, there's this, one of the most fantastic shawls I've seen. Mm, complexity! This one is definitely on my to-do list, and I think I might be spinning some pretty merino I have in order to make it. I have to see if my Guild membership gives me access to spinning wheels at the Textile Center.
I leave you with another picture, that of my progress on the Colorwork Hat:
Tipper @ 4:01 PM * link
|
|
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
|
The last post I made must've opened up some sort of creative floodgate. I now I have three quite feasible ideas. They have three things in common:
STRIPES
BLACK
RIBBING
I'm having a knitting brainstorm.
After I do some more sketching and planning, I think I'll buy some yarn and get started.
Last night I cast on for and did a few rows of my Lost Points Shawl. The railroad yarn part of it is surprisingly easy to work with - much softer and drapier than Eros, and I don't have to watch every single stitch.
Tipper @ 3:36 PM * link
|
|
Sunday, June 06, 2004
|
I'm sad.
It seems like I'm continually running behind the knitting cart. Everyone else is coming up with designs and getting published all over the place, and I don't even have time to pick up needles to do stuff that isn't designed by me. There was a time I had a billion ideas in my head and the time to execute them.
Sometimes I feel that by the time I'm able to translate the ideas I have into designs and to get them published someplace, they'll already have been done, by other people.
It's not just that, either... I never get anything concrete done. I want to wear sweaters fresh off the needles! I can't even say that if I put more effort into getting fit that I'd be more motivated to make wearable garments, because even if I lose weight I'll still have the enormous bust that makes it impossible to find patterns for, let alone the cute little patterns in fabulous yarn that fly off of everyone else's needles.
I am so very ready to be done with school, and so very ready to have a job that doesn't sap all of my energy. To do both at once is very, very trying.
In lieu of actual knitting content (of which there is none, except to say that my traveler's socks won't be working out in the yarn I chose - it's too inelastic and too colorful), you get the above whining.
In about 14 hours I head back to Minnesota, and I hope to get rid of a bunch of my yarn on ebay. It's time to clear the slate, time to start anew.
Tipper @ 2:29 AM * link
|
|
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
|
Pictures at last! Please click on the thumbnails for the full version.
Here's my finished Charlotte's Web:
The colors are quite accurate in this picture. In the corner, you can see the wedding picture of my mom and my new daddy.
A little more detail.
I gave Charlotte's Web to my mom.
I don't have the colors that I used on hand right now, but I used six instead of five. I had originally planned to do the Koigu Alligator Wrap but quickly determined that it would bore me out of my skull. For the transitional color areas, I alternated a solid color with my favorite color of the bunch, a teal/green/red/orange/yellow mix of all of the solid colors. I left off the fringe, as you can see.
Broadripple Socks in Cascade Fixation.
I've been in Arizona for nearly four days now and finally got to The Fiber Factory today. I picked up one single item: the Lost Points Shawl in black/silver.
I started something new:
Traveler's Stocking from Knitting on the Road in some handpainted sock yarn I got off of eBay many moons ago.
Tipper @ 1:30 AM * link
|
|
|
