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Sunday, April 30, 2006
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Aftermath
Yesterday was Yarnover. I had good company: Jess, Jess, Mona (who joined us for breakfast; do you have a blog, lady?), and Becky (who should have a knitting blog, darnit). I didn't meet Annie Modesitt like I wanted to, but I did not want to seem stalkerish.
But enough about that. Y'all want to see what I bought.
From top:
Dancing Feet in Forest Floor from Joslyn's Fiber Farm - 600 yards of fingering weight wool (Oh my gosh - this booth had tables full of some of the most gorgeous handpainted yarn I've seen. There were huge hanks of laceweight that I had to pry out of my fingers, a glorious silk/wool blend, delicious sock yarn (a composition similar to Schaefer Yarn's Anne, but less fuzzy), worsted weight, etc. and HUGE hanks of solid-colored Zephyr-like laceweight. The prices were awesome, too. This set me back $16 and I'm going to get some sort of shawl out of it, maybe a Flower Basket Shawl?)
Handpainted sportweight superwash wool from 2 Dye 4 (email: kristinknits @ mchsi . com) in Lakeshore (This chick has seriously good color sense. I love this color combination; blue is my new green. She custom dyes, too!)
A closeup of handpainted goodness:
2 skeins of Louet sportweight linen, destined to be face cloths. I feel like an idiot because I thought they were $7 each, but that was for the 50g skeins. Still, $23 for two skeins of linen is not bad, considering others at the same show had them for $17 each.
1 - 45g skein of Allhemp3 sportweight in Deep Sea, which shall become this necklace.
Plus, four balls of Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4-ply to make these lace knee highs (and, darn, I think I'm using that same color!). I've already started:
The hemp/Interweave Crochet, and knee-high yarn were purchased at the Yarnery. I love their inventory reduction sale, especially when they end up putting yarn I've wanted for ages (the Rowan) on clearance, so I got it for 40% off.
It's time to start the Shepherd's Harvest countdown! I should aim to finish something by then. (Like, say, Forecast? It sure would've came in handy this very cold weekend, though my Viennese Lace Shrug did the trick and got lots of compliments to boot!)
Tipper @ 2:57 PM * link
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Thursday, April 27, 2006
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New goal:
Don't set goals.
Let's recap. I wanted to finish the sockapaloooza socks and my Forecast by this weekend. Who would like to hazard a guess as to their status? Answer: I have a few inches to go on the sock (no problem, but it needs to be severely blocked), and many, many inches to go on Forecast. It seems that when I set goals for myself, I do anything but knit. (I guess it doesn't help that I wasn't able to do much last week, so I want to run around like a headless chicken this one.)
I wanted to wear Forecast this weekend, but I will settle for my pretty, pretty shrug.
Speaking (again) of Forecast: Holy cow does that make my bazoombas look, er, bigger than usual. It's a magic bosom booster. I was almost frightened. Let's hope it can be worn in public.
I am keeping my Yarnover Excitement goal. I'm so excited! I'll be having breakfast with some great gals beforehand, and I've got plenty of money to spend should I do so (a combination of a well-timed stash sale, a well-timed "holiday" (Administrative Professionals Week, for which we got a bonus), and a well-timed end to a work-sponsored fitness challenge (since I met my goal of losing at least 10% of my body fat, I got my entry fee of $50 back, and the winner of the pot gave everyone who met their goal another $50 out of the goodness of her heart). It will be SO NICE to not worry about money, since I am a money-worrier, and this is the first week in a very, very long time that it's possible.
Now I just have to worry about not having enough time, right?
Tipper @ 5:05 AM * link
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Saturday, April 22, 2006
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Change is good.
Like the new layout? (Those of you reading via Bloglines might want to take a look at the website!) My friend Zach worked his graphic arts magic and came up with the banner above. There's also a button (after all these years!):
(As usual, save to your own server, blah blah blah.)
What else is new?
Not much, folks. Today I finally feel mostly recovered from the flu or something of that sort, which knocked me flat on my bottom for a couple of days. The great, cruel irony of being home sick from work is that if you're too sick to work, you're too sick to knit, so I don't have much progress to offer you. Oh, wait! I do have a picture, taken not long before I had to pass out once again.
See? It fits.
I have been inspired by some sewn bags on Craftster, but Craftster is being a big meanie and not letting anything load. One of them is on A Mingled Yarn; she also recently posted a very cute cardigan pattern.
Did I mention I'm in a sewing mood? The other weekend, Matthew and I bought fabric for two Hawaiian-style shirts for him (he spent an adorably long time searching for buttons, but found perfect ones made out of coconut in the end), and a skirt (using the fabric on this magazine cover and strapless dress for me. Strapless, can you imagine? This amazingness brought to you by the YMCA and Lane Bryant, which sells a strapless bra that's wearable.
Too bad the sewing machine is in the dark and gloomy basement and it's been so beautiful outside. And since Sophie goes a little nuts when she's left to her own devices, I'd have to put her in her crate, and that's just sad.
To do this week: finish Sockapaloooza sock #2. Finish Forecast. Dream sweet dreams of Yarnover '06 and all the luscious things waiting there for me.
Tipper @ 6:04 PM * link
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Monday, April 17, 2006
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Very brief, shallow thoughts on a few new books.
Knitting Rules!: My brief look at it didn't really pull me in. The impression I got was that this is a book that will inform beginning knitters and entertain the more experienced ones. Seeing as though I find it really difficult (that is, dull) to read instructions about knitting, no matter how entertaining (though I should probably give Elizabeth Zimmerman another try, eh?), I'm not sure this one is for me.
Mason-Dixon Knitting: I was surprised by this one, maybe because I never found the blog to be particularly entertaining. I don't know what I was expecting, but it seemed to be the kind of book you could just pull off the shelf and read a blurb and maybe get some inspiration. The nightie pattern perked up my ears (fingers?) a bit.
Inspired Cable Knits: Ms. Harlot's review of this got me all excited, but the real thing was a little disappointing. I'm not fond of the gimmick (it seems, I dunno, gimmicky?), and I suppose there's only so many cable patterns you can see before they all look the same. My favorite was the unplugged cables sweater, for some reason, and there were others that probably made the book a worthwhile purchase, as well.
Big Girl Knits: My hopes were high for this one, but they were quickly dashed amongst the rocks that are the models' boobs. The thing is this: no matter what you put a fat girl in, she's still going to look like a fat girl, unless you do some serious design mumbo-jumbo. The one design that really struck me as achieving that goal was the hourglass one by... was it Kate Gilbert? (All I can remember is that I seemed to like her patterns the best.) Most of the patterns looked absolutely no different from anything in any other books or in magazines (what's with all the heavy, rather shapeless coats?) except they used a lot more yarn. There could very well be a lot of great info in the front, but I was expecting amazing patterns that didn't get delivered.
Tipper @ 9:08 PM * link
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Friday, April 14, 2006
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Take my stash... PLEASE.
Stashes are much-talked-about in knitting blogland. I haven't much to say about them except YOU SHOULD BUY MINE. Well, the stuff that's for sale.
THE STASH SALE...AGAIN
My stash is getting a bit more concise. I'm learning about what I will knit, and what I'll put of knitting for ages. I know that I'm not the sort to stock up for gift-giving occasions, for example. And I don't like oddballs, maybe because I don't have the jolts of creativity that make them useful for things like toys.
There's some yarn that I've had for ages and can't bear to part with, such as the light blue silk/wool tweed, purchased years ago from Knitpicks. I even know what I want to knit with it (some sort of cabled vest), but can't seem to find the right time to start. Maybe I'll declare this year the Year of the Vest. I was thinking about the Koigu I purchased to make a second Charlotte's Web, back when I wanted to make a second one. Now, I don't want to make another, and I have no clue what to do with it that will really do justice to the yarn and maintain my sanity, but I don't want to get rid of this yarn. I'm sure most of you have yarn like this.
I'd really like to be one of those people who only has a tiny stash, for in-queue projects only, but I'm far too unreasonably attached to some of this stuff.
And, for the record, I think that flashing one's stash is silly, and I might be the only person in blogland who thinks that way. That's what makes me a unique and special snowflake.
Tipper @ 6:50 PM * link
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Thursday, April 13, 2006
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Green Blob, meet knitters. Knitters, meet Green Blob.
This is my new green blob:
Do you ever see something and think, "Hey, I should make that," even if it might not flatter you and might be a total waste of time and, y'know, you don't really need any more projects? That happens to me. This finished sweater did it for me this time. I never even noticed Forecast when it was published, but this gal's posts about it made my ears perk up. Her finished sweater made me dig through the stash and come up with a victim.
My chosen one is the Debbie Bliss Merino DK that's been sitting around since... well, a long time (I bought 11 balls at $6 each at a yarn shop in Tucson, Arizona; come to think of it, it probably wasn't as great of a deal as I thought at the time). It is a very nice yarn, and even though it's "DK," I think it's on the heavy side. My half-assed gauge swatch told me I'd be a little off/small, but I plod ahead anyway. Hell, it's a top-down raglan. I can keep knitting as long as I want. The fabric is knitting up really nicely on 7's, so I am hopeful that whatever discrepencies between the sweater and my bosoms will be fixed by garter stitch.
I've sort of challenged myself to finish this by Yarnover (aka next Saturday), but let's not hold me to that. It would just be nice to have a new sweater for it, like I did last year, and I think I have a better chance of finishing this than the argyle vest. Let's just hope it's cold and rainy as it usually is on that day!
Tipper @ 9:07 PM * link
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Wednesday, April 12, 2006
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In which I review the new Knitty's patterns well after everyone else has done so.
As I like to say, better late than never.
Mesilla: My first reaction was that it was adorable. The color combination and embroidery are fresh, fun, and a bit retro. However, I think the design could benefit from being knit at a smaller gauge and having fewer stripes. Really, stripes are not the most creative design element and get old very fast. (Some people have made the "wow, really, a raglan?" comment, but I think those people are loony. Raglans are the best, yo. Raglans in da HOUSE!)
Anatolia: A design more suited to IK than Knitty, but nice just the same. The squares get just a bit tiring, but I love the center motif.
UnGranny Smith: "Hi, my design idea is to take the noble ugli fruit and translate it into knit form. I will, of course, include far-too-large armscyes so absolutely no one looks good in the resultant sweater. And don't forget its inability to stay closed - despite the overlarge pins used as closure, since buttons are so passe - unless you're positioned oddly!"
T Twist Tee: People have described this as "Good for curvy girls." Hello! The model isn't even the really curvy sort and she looks dumpy. The yarn's too heavy, the shaping is weird (unless you're going for the hippie tunic look), and, I'm sorry, but the front looks like a butt.
Jamesey: I have not seen anything much hotter in quite some time. The color, the shape, the texture...! Oh, wait, I'm supposed to talk about the sweater, yes? (How many people have done that joke now?) Cute sweater, although apparently prone to wrinkling. The ribbing is so simple, yet instantly modernizes the gansey.
Jardin Anglais: Folks, I literally jumped out of my seat when I saw this, and not in a good way. Britons: this is how France sees your gardens. People of Earth: the French want to burn your retinas (in addition to being able to hold onto their jobs indefinitely). Notice how the model has to wear TWO shirts underneath, as if the colors (and don't forget that RUFFLE) burn the skin upon contact. I wouldn't doubt it.
Exchequered: Perfect for people who are so cool that none of their clothes can be allowed to match! It made me want to race cars.
Tendrils: I can't say it's bad, but long rectangles of the same stitch pattern do not impress me.
Nagano sakura: Because when it's so cold in Japan you need a scarf, you'll want a scarf the size of a ribbon to go with your tank top. (Cute, but... warm? I doubt it.)
Convertible: I love it when designers come up with some genius sort of construction. It's pretty and wearable and like a knit Swiss Army knife.
Topi: It's okay. (That's really all the commentary it inspires, in either direction.)
Reid: My ovaries just popped out an egg. I'm not sure if it was the baby that did it, or the complicated lace. (What, lace doesn't turn you on?)
Double Scoop: Don't they sell this one at Walmart come February?
Tiny Tether: I almost popped out an egg until I read that you could use the wee tether for non-baby items, such as keys.
Pedicure Socks: I would knit them if I had money for a pedicure at a place where I wasn't scared I'd emerge with some sort of foot fungus or blood disease.
Hedera: Are these socks meant for lone mannequin legs dressed for the street corner that roam the countryside in place for a swimming pond? I hope the designer makes gloves and steals someone's hook to use as a model! I think a volcano would make a good background.
Nautie: Who thought a mollusk could be so adorable? Now to figure out how to rig them so that they'll swim on their own...
Tipper @ 5:22 AM * link
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Tuesday, April 11, 2006
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Socks 1
Sock2
Swatch3
1They're finally finished. They ate most of the knitting time I had during my three-day weekend, but they're done. My irrational prejudice has not subsided, but others think they're a-okay. It's a good thing I wasn't planning to keep them, or you'd see them in a year all limp and tattered, believing that no one will ever love them because they're not worthy of love and maybe if they're good little socks they'll be able to get through the day without someone yelling at them.
2Sockapaloooza sock #1 is complete. I designed it myself (big whoop), with cables continuing down the back of the ankle. I'm nervous about the size. My sock pal seems to have strange (to me) feet, and these might be on the small size, since I was operating on the assumption that socks, well, stretch. Let's hope these do. (The yarn is Claudia Handpaint Originals, so if they suck, I'll suggest my sock pal rip them out and reknit them, since the yarn's awesome. Really, it seems selfish for ME to be knitting these, since the process is a little more thrilling than the product.)
3This thing here is my Deep-V Argyle Vest swatch. Rowanspun DK on size 4's = too small, I think. Moving to size 5's might just make it too loose (compounded by the lime yarn being MUCH smaller than the aqua). Eunny sent me the larger-size version today, so I hope to start s-o-o-n.
Tipper @ 8:45 PM * link
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