YarnAngelKnits

Oops!

2009-07-04T09:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, here it is these many months later...

Life has turned upside down and inside out and I know that no one wants to hear about that, so I haven't blogged in forever. I didn't really set out to do so today, but I discovered an error in the Red Scarf 2006 pattern and wanted to fix it. Blogger and I aren't getting along - a long standing tradition - and I can't get to that particular post.

So - if you stumble upon that entry and want to make the scarf, there is a corrected and much easier to follow pattern (free download) on Ravelry. Let me see if I can find a direct link...be back in a minute... download now
.
I'm not sure that the link didn't break. I'll try to edit to fix that if it didn't! OK, it's not broken - fingers crossed that it actually works! Just in case, you can search for Red Scarf 1 or you should be able to find it under yarnangel's patterns and then follow the link. Did I mention free?

You don't need to be a Ravelry member to access patterns, but you really should consider it. It's a wonderful source for all things knitted. Membership is now open, no approval needed.

In the way of good news, meet Chiquita, the newest member of the family. Can't have a blog post without a photo, and this is one of my favorites. The sink? I really don't know. I have a cat that loves to sit in the sink. Go figure!

New Pattern Available!

2006-12-02T10:13:00.000-08:00

With just a teeny nudge from Scout, I formatted the Taos Chullo pattern yesterday and up-loaded it this morning. To refresh your memory:

The original model, in grey Ecological Wool from Cascade. This is a real bargain - I made a collar and cuffs and the hat out of one skein (see Quick Chic in sidebar for pix of collar and cuffs - they were accepted for publication, but as far as I know the mag never came out, so the design is kind of in limbo for the moment). The stranded mohair color work serves as a soft, soft, lining to the hat and I love how comforting it feels on my head!

This hat was made of Loft from Zitron. The yarn has a kind of felted appearance, 100% merino, and is so soft and cuddly. It's a dream to knit with!

Detail of the color work.

The knitty gritty: the hat is made in the round on one long circ, top down. It's really quick to make - only took me one evening! At one skein of loft and some 50 yards of mohair, it's also quite inexpensive while looking and feeling luxurious.

Preview the cover here and download the pattern here. It's only $4.00.

Enjoy! Send me a picture and I'll post it!

New Pattern Samples Finished

2006-11-30T12:42:00.000-08:00

Like many knitters, finishing is my nemesis. Somehow, it just isn't as exciting as the actual knitting. Once the knitting is finished, my projects seem to enter a kind of limbo where they exist in their semi-completed state until I finally guilt myself into sewing/blocking/trimming/end-running-in them.

So, I am proud to declare two projects 'finished' - both the knitting and the finishing!

First, the second Taos Chullo. The first was in grey Ecological Wool (see photo in sidebar). I wanted to proof the pattern before posting it and I had a Christmas present in mind, so I made another. The Ecological Wool is not-so-soft and since the second model was for a gift, I wanted something super soft. I ended up with Loft by Zitron and I love this yarn. It is sturdy yet so, so, soft, as expected from a merino. It worked up really easily and was such a pleasure to knit. The whole hat took only one skein, so it's a bargain. In addition, the colorwork with the Katia mohair left the inside of the hat feeling like a cloud. I think she'll like it, don't you?

Next, I made an everyday version of the Holiday Shawl. The original is made of Fiesta's LaBoheme, which for me is a luxury yarn. I wanted to test the pattern with a more reasonably priced yarn to show an example for those who don't necessarily want to spend the Fiesta's price. This version is out of Camelia from Jo-Ann's. I used 4 balls for the main body and ran out of yellow. My local store had some blue, so I bought out their supply and used it for contrast. Two and 1/2 balls later, I had finished the neck, trimmed the sides and done a slightly different ruffle for the bottom. I see this one with jeans and a white T-shirt. Quite a contrast, don't you think?

This morning, I cast on for the second Waving Hands in my hand-painted blue/green yarn for my sons' stepsister. I'm also processing Christmas sock designs/yarns in my head as I go about my daily routine. Must finish the glove first!

Big Pattern News!

2006-11-28T16:28:00.000-08:00

Whew!

I did it! Or, at least I think I did.

I've navigated my way through the pages and links and more links and passwords and usernames and more and more and more of the above and...

They're Up!

Three new knitting patterns are available! I started with Temptation Recycled Sari Yarn Purse, Waving Hands Half-Fingered Gloves and the Holiday Shawl, because these are prime gift-giving patterns and/or timely knitting projects for you.

They're available in PDF format for instant gratification. Like Amazon, I put in a link to the cover, so you can check out what you're getting. The cover is designed to give you enough information about construction and materials to help you make your purchasing decision.

I hope to start an Angels' Gallery to show off the pictures you send me of your fabulous work. I can't wait to see what you do with these patterns - what fun!

Thanksgiving?

2006-11-27T14:31:00.000-08:00

What Thanksgiving?

Not that I'm not thankful - just not particularly thankful for this particular holiday this year.

A week ago, The Man Of The House came home with food poisoning. An especially virulent and nasty variety. Life As We Know It came to a screeching halt for two days.

Then I got it. Huh? Unless there is some food-borne pathogen contagion that I don't know about, it must have been some ugly stomach virus (we hadn't eaten any of the same things).

Thanksgiving, I was prostrate on the bathroom floor. The Man, feeling better, went to spend the holiday with his mother. He did call to sympathize and offer to drive the 3 hours back in an emergency. I wouldn't have been much company, anyway.

Here it is, Monday, and I'm just starting to be able to look at food. The head is still pounding, and... I haven't knit a thing! I must be sick or something!

Hope your Holiday was much better.

Oh, yes, and I'm thankful that the Aggies won! (the Texas Aggies over UT!!!) Yay!

Searching for Camelia

2006-11-17T15:22:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official; I must be suffering from OCD. I spent last evening working on the Holiday shawl in yellow Camelia even though it was obvious I didn't have nearly enough yarn to finish it. First, let me refresh your memory:

The amount of fabric produced by one ball. Remember, 4 balls are available.

Next:

I was really curious about the discrepency in the yardage used by this yarn compared to the Fiesta. Just to see what difference it would make, I took another ball and the next larger size needle and knit up 1 skein. I wanted to see how much farther I could get.

Answer: see the photos? I finished on the same row of the pattern, just a few stitches farther down the row. Not enough to make a difference.

But I liked the fabric on the first, smaller needles better. So, back I went to the original model and here is where I stopped (2 balls used).

I'd guess it measures about 7 inches.

There are petite shawls, I know, but to me they are more like pregnant scarves. Scarves, to me, are for warmth. I guess I'm a pretty casual dresser - I don't really like to appear too studied. I don't wear pins, hats for effect, or scarves for purely decorative purposes. Just not me.

So I really don't have an affinity for a cotton pregnant scarf. I want a shawl! I want a casual, keep the cool AC breezes off my always chilly shoulders shawl. The 4 balls of yellow Camelia, I'm guessing, would give me about 16 inches, maybe. I guess that could do, but...still, not what I have in mind.

So, today I went searching. I found some on-line, but then there's that shipping charge and I'm not patient enough to wait. On to my local Jo-Ann's. Where I hunted around and...

The good news:

I found some.
It was on sale for only $3.00/ball.

The bad news:

It's blue.

Well. The blue and yellow each have spots of the other color, so they go together. I like blue and yellow together - that's the color scheme of my kitchen.

Now I need to decide how to marry them. I have the bottom part of the shawl done in yellow (twice!). But, since the blue has more visual weight, I'm not at all sure that I'd like it on the top part of the shawl.

My choices (that I've though of so far):

Go as far as I can in yellow, then switch to blue.
Knit yellow until the shoulder decrease row then switch.
Finish in yellow, then do edgings all around in blue to get the length I want.
Start over, switching colors every row.

I'm mulling it over.

Loving Loft

2006-11-16T13:29:00.000-08:00

Look what I made last night!

It's the Taos Chullo (see original in sidebar) in Loft by Zitron .

I wanted to make it again to:

1. check the pattern

2. see how it worked in a different yarn. The original is in Ecological Wool that comes in a huge skein - I've made a large turtleneck collar, a pair of French cuffs and the hat out of one and I still have 96 yards. It occurred to me that knitters probably want a yarn choice that is more in line with the yardage requirements of the pattern.

3. Ecological Wool seems kind of scratchy to me. Not so much in the hat - the mohair in the color work forms a nice, soft lining, but I noticed it in the collar. I'm not sensitive to such but I know that many people are, so I wanted to find an alternative.

4. Most importantly, I have it in mind for a Christmas gift for a certain blonde I know.

Detail of colorwork

I love this yarn! It's 100% merino, so I expected it to be soft, but this is incredible. The flow of the yarn through my hands while knitting was almost sensual. I've tried it on, of course, and it feels like a soft hug. I'm more than pleased, so I hope the lady for whom it's destined enjoys it, too.

The knitting good news: it only took 1 evening and 1 skein of Loft.

Just needs the ties and blocking and it's finished!

Next up - second version of the Holiday Shawl. First one is in Fiesta's LaBoheme. It's quite expensive; in fact, much more than I usually spend on yarn. I was unbelievably lucky and found this on sale. Once again, I wanted to try it in a second, more affordable yarn. This is from Joann's. I rarely shop at Joann's here in ABQ because the local store is a disaster, but in Houston it was my go-to place for anything sewing. I'm not particularly enamored of novelty yarns, either, or, for that matter, yellow. Given all that, I'm not sure just why this yarn called my name, but it did and so here it is.

It's called Camelia and I think it's the store brand - the label says Sensations Bellezza Collection. I had it in my stash and it should have been enough for the shawl without the ruffle. I have 4 balls and this little bit used 1. So I'm now back in my familiar predicament of not having enough yarn for my project. I'm going to have to figure this one out - why should the yardage be so different for the same pattern in the same gauge on the same size needles?

I guess I'll go rummage through the clearance bins tomorrow - one thing about a messy store is that they just might have a random ball misplace somewhere - I know that this summer yarn in not going to be part of the regular inventory now.

I'm supposed to be working my way through 27 pages of acronyms and further information links to try to get my patterns up for sale. It occurred to me in the shower this morning (why are showers so conducive to creativity - or am I just weird?) that I want to do some Christmas socks. My head is just buzzing with ideas - not one of which is an acronym or contains one bit of HTML. Maybe I can do just one step and then reward myself with some charting?

One time only -

2006-11-15T12:09:00.000-08:00

a meme. I so don't do memes, but this morning I read Scout's blog and it's stayed in my mind all day. So, just this once...

Scout is missing her mother and reminiscing about the knitting that they shared and that continues to unite her with her mom. She asks for tales of learning to knit and tributes to particular knitters important to her readers.

So, Scout, here you are.

My aunt taught me to knit when I was about 8, I think. I grew up in NY, but every summer I spent time in Providence, RI, where my father's family lived. All of the adult women in my family were knitters with the exception of my mother. I have great memories of the excitement and anticipation my family had for the expeditions we took to the great New England wool mills, now sadly gone. We would all pet and gather and compare, figure pattern needs and enjoy ourselves thoroughly. My aunts and grandmother would make their careful selections and then we'd go home to display our purchases and plan our projects. Even though I was just an observer, I loved these excursions.

My mother, though, did not. She occasionally would try to knit, resulting in strangely shaped, usually unfinished garments which fit no one. Either nobody explained gauge to her or she was too impatient to bother. Anyway, knitting was a trial to her, and I think that the yarn trips just made her feel excluded. Even her best friend was an expert knitter!

But one summer, in addition to spending time with the usual aunt, I spent a week with a second one. There was some uncomfortable history between this relative and my mother. They had been close friends in high school, but things became very different when my mother began dating her friend's older brother. The marriage was despaired of by both families - different religions, different heritages, even different languages. Probably my parents were unaware of my vacation with this second aunt.

The aunt in question was noted for her fashion sense. She had waited to marry and been a career girl. I remember her glamorous wardrobe and I thought she had an exciting life. She was also a knitter. That week, I watched her work. No one had ever offered to teach me, probably scared off by the fact that I was left handed. She just taught me to knit the way she did - not backwards or face to face or any of that nonsense. I made a shrug for my doll - white with navy stripes on either end. I remember being perplexed because I'd knit during the day and my shrug would have lumps and bumps and holes. Magically, they'd disappeared by the next morning. I wondered if I was losing my mind - had I imagined the mistakes? It never occurred to me that my aunt was fixing my work.

When the summer was over, I showed my new skill to my parents. They didn't seem particularly impressed. Imagine that.

The next time I remember knitting was when President Kennedy was shot. Our school shut down and we were send home in the middle of the day. I asked my mother what 'assassination' meant and was shocked that there was a special word for murdering an important person. The whole country spent the next days in front of the TV watching the tragedy unfold. In my family, I was the only one thus occupied. I spent days on the couch - knitting. I made a very wide, very long navy blue scarf on blue and white needles. I was already doing my own thing - scarves were supposed to be narrow and just long enough to wrap around the neck. I was also already reaching for fiber as a means of consolation. Just a kid, but already an inheritor of the long female tradition of working with our hands in times of stress.

As a new wife, surprised when my husband seemed to turn from me to advancing his career, I knit. I remember an intricate Aran afghan and bolster set in particular. No one had shown me any knitting techniques since that first shrug, but I was a great believer in 'if I can read, I can do anything' and I had a pattern and figured it out.

When my kids were little, I knit and crocheted like mad. I actually wore out my crochet hooks - they'd get so sharp in the end that they'd cut me. One Christmas, I sat up late finishing the last present and then got up early in the morning for surgery on my wrist. The surgeon told me that I should not have been able to move my hand, that the tendon was completely shredded. He didn't know about mothers and presents for their children.

I've gotten way off the meme, here. Scout started me off on knitting and remembrance and it seems what I remember is how knitting got me through difficult times. I hope it can do it again.

I know, this is crocheted. I thought I was going to go somewhere else with this post, so I'd already loaded this photo. Hate to 'waste' it! It's the topper for my shower curtain. No, I don't have any knitted/crochet toilet roll covers!

The Wind is Howling

2006-11-14T13:57:00.000-08:00

and winter is definitely on its way. But I'm ready!

This is the first time I've worn gloves in the house (remember, I lived in Houston for centuries). I have to admit, though, these are pretty cool, er, rather warm.

This is the Waving Hands pattern made in that yarn I dyed last week. I had thought I'd wait a little before knitting them, but I just couldn't resist. Also, I had tweaked the left hand pattern and wanted to test knit it again. It's written up, both for men and women, just needs formatting - I'm working on that today. I know that there's an easier way than the way I'm doing this formatting, but I just can't seem to get it. So, since I want to get this up soon, I've chosen to concentrate on the pattern writing rather than the technology for now.

I also finished the Fiesta shawl. It's a Faroese style shawl worked from the bottom up. When I first started this shawl, I was thinking about our then up-coming trip to California and the cool evening breezes on the coast. Think cream linen slacks and shell. This time of year, how about a black turtleneck and those new-again skinny black pants? Perfect for those is it dressy or is it casual occasions.

And it only took 3 evenings to knit!

I'm calling it the Holiday Shawl. I've already picked out some less expensive stash yarn to make it again.

I'd been saving a pile of gorgeous leaves in my backyard just to photograph this shawl. For a backdrop, I mean. With the wind today, there's no way to photograph outdoors. I keep going to the window to check on my leaf pile. How weird - usually I'd be hoping they'd blow away - I hate to rake! Not the raking, exactly, the scooping up and putting in the trash bag part. I always end up with spiders crawling on me after that task and I'm allergic to spider bites. Today, I'm checking to see that they've stayed put - I want that photo!

More Great Stuff Online

2006-11-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

Online newsletters tend to come and go. Some are interesting and it's too bad that they don't make it. (What's up with SpunMag, by the way? Anyone know?) Some that last are simply promotional devices for some manufacturer or distributer or other. Nothing against these - they can be quite useful, but I really enjoy those that are written/edited by real knitters. People that I can identify with, whose interests also interest me.

One of these is Fiber Femmes. This is the third issue and it just gets better. I'm a big skimmer, especially on the computer. Reading from a monitor is just not conducive to concentration, at least not for me. It's a good thing I finished school before the technology wave hit big - I'd be in trouble if all I had was an e-book to study from. But the other day, when I opened the November/December issue of FF, I'd lost a couple of hours before I knew it. Not that I'm complaining, don't get me wrong.

The catch phrase on each page is "Great Women Building a Gracious World" and that's just a perfect description of what's going on here. The newsletter truly gives a sense of community, of a world community in fiber. The articles range from focusing on events in NM, to a travel review ofRomania and a class description of felting in Spain. It's so refreshing to get outside our US-centric comfort zone.

There is also a focus on the small fiber business - those family/farm based firms founded on passion and determination. I have a particular fondness for these and try to support the small enterprises whenever possible. Each issue of Fiber Femmes has profiles of some of these independents. I love how they come to life - that sense of community again.

Visually, I find this magazine to be a feast. I'm kind of weird that way - I'll describe a movie in terms of the colors the set designer focused on, the beauty of the photography, the fabrics of the costumes. I miss the plot line in TV shows because I'm appreciating the decor of the 'room' in which the action is happening. Or the sweaters the actors wearing! I always find something interesting to look at in FF. This month, it was the pictures of Romania. Just luscious! Go look!

Cool Stuff

2006-11-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

Do you get Knitter's Review? It's an weekly online newsletter that specializes, as the name suggests, in reviewing knitting related products. I've learned about all kinds of new yarns, needles, and books through Clara Park's articles. If the name is familiar, she also writes a column for one of the national knitting print magazines, but I can't remember which. Anyway, if you don't already suscribe, you should. Find it here.

This week was the first time since I've suscribed that the article was a how-to. I'm nutso about how-to's. Most of my reading material is provided by the public library and I never buy novels, even though I'm always reading a stack of them. How-to books are another matter altogether, though. I'll buy a how-to do something or other book just in case. You know, maybe someday I'll need to know something, and here, in this really nifty book, right here, are the directions. You just never know what might come in handy.

As a result, I have 8 (yes, eight) tall, wide, floor to almost ceiling bookcases in my house. Full. And more children's books packed away. My husband despairs. My kids give me Amazon gift certificates.

But I digress. The Knitter's Review how-to... how to make your own circular needles! Yes! Just what I needed. I joked this summer to a LYSO that I spin, dye, design and knit my own creations and I have 0 interest in weaving, so I do just about everything fiber related. She retorted that it was time I got some sheep. ABQ is kind of country, at least compared to Houston, but I think even ABQ would object to a flock of sheep in the middle of the city. Not to mention that there is not blade one of grass in our yard - the local thing here in the desert is landscaping with different colored rocks. I kid you not, our backyard is two tones of rock - pink and grey - separated by a serpentine marble rock border. Not conducive to livestock.

Oh yes, back to the circs - well, I just never thought of making my own knitting implements. However, after reading this, I just may have to. I wish the Man Of The House had not given away my drill. It was nice and slow and I could control it. His is so fast and has too many dials and things. To my mind, dials and adjustments do not belong on a drill. I may be ancient, or Luddite, but I grew up drilling with a hand drill. No power. Yes, there really was such a thing and I do know how to use one.

Here is the URL for the article with the directions:

http://knittersreview.com/article_how_to.asp?article=/review/profile/061109_a.asp

You know you're going to have to try it!

Oh what a tangled web...

2006-11-09T13:16:00.000-08:00

er, mess I make when I try to take a shortcut.

If you've been paying attention, you remember that I wanted to re-skein my sons's sister's yarn. Thinking it to be a 10 minute project, I started it this morning while waiting for the computer to load. I had originally skeined this yarn using the edge of my warping board. To mix the colors, I wanted a different diameter for my skein. I could have used the pegs on the warping board - that's what they're for, after all.

But no, I decided that would take too long. (Remember, Mercury's retrograde!) Way back when, in the olden days, I would use my arm to skein. So I thought I'd sit at the computer to prompt it when necessary and wind around my forearm.

Well, back in said olden days, I must have had a less stressful life. I tried to wind loosely, really I did. However, I ended up with my thumb completely stretched out, bent back almost to my hand. I can take it, I told myself. It's only for a couple of minutes more.

Not. I gave in to the pain and pulled that thing right off my hand. Ouch!

Okay, Plan B. I had about 2/3 of the original skein wound into another quite short skein. Well, back to the dining room chair method, I decided. The result:

Did you know you can't wind from both ends? The first end was buried somewhere in that short and now falling apart skein, so I started from the other end.
At first I wound around the chairs and was perplexed to discover that I was now winding 2 strands. Where did that come from?
Then I gave up and started trying to unwind from the chairs and make a ball. Not the finished product I desired.

Also not easily achieved. The tangles were growing exponentially. My patience was not.
I gave up.

I took the first short no longer a skein and went back to my office chair. They're pretty tangles, though, aren't they?

Finally, I came up with a untangled ball. I didn't want a ball. I wanted a skein. This is very soft yarn, and I've become quite absorbed in the shawl I'm knitting, so this is a not-right-now project. Before Christmas, yes, but not just right now. The ball I'd been able to make was not even a center pull - I'd needed both hands for the detangling, so there was tension on the yarn (not to mention me). To preserve accurate gauge, I needed a skein. Still.

Back to the dining room. This time I used all the chair peg thingies. And walked around and around the table. There would be no snarling!

If you look closely, you can even see the little clamp I used (on the left chair rung) to fasten off the starting end. Not taking any chances here.

Remember how when you were a kid you'd spin around and around until you fell over? Well, it works for walking around and around a table, too. But even I knew better than to reverse direction.

At long last, and I do mean looong last, I had this:

There was one final problem - the skein I'd wound was longer than my armspan, so I had quite a time of twisting it! Door knobs can come in handy, you know.

You know what? This is pretty much the color effect I had in mind when I set out to dye this yarn. Kind of watercolor -y, you know?

And yes, I have heard of a swift. I just don't have one, for complicated reasons having to do with marriage and all that. I keep hoping one will show up on some gift-giving occasion.

There's always Christmas! (hope, hope)

Sock Tutorial Now Up!

2006-11-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

Yes, I finally found a way to fix that link!
Learn how to start your sock on one long circular needle How to Knit Socks on One Long Circular Needle.pdf'>here.
Next up, heel flap and gusset! Stay tuned.

Pictures First!

2006-11-08T11:22:00.000-08:00

First, the yarn I dyed yesterday. It's actually looking better as it dries. I love the soft aqua in between the dyed sections. The 'sky blue' still looks too dark to me, but we'll see when it's reskeined and, the true test, when it's knitted up.

Since I'm in a mistake prone period, I decided to forget the lace pattern for my Fiesta shawl. All the stitch patterns I swatched looked like they were fighting with the yarn. Even simple yarnovers looked out of place. So, I did the math for a garter stitch Faroese shawl and have a luxurious edging in mind, pending finding the right yarn in the right texture and color.
I'm curious about the row gauge, however. I had some 12-15 inches worked before I frogged this the last time. The lace looked funny, but that wasn't all. Instead of a kind of a horseshoe shape, I had a boomerang.
Now, I'm about 1/4 through my available yarn and 1/3 through the mathmatically determined rows, and look at how short it is. My gauge swatch didn't indicate a problem, but as I knit and knit, this just doesn't seem to appear longer. I'm curious about how the yarn blocks out. It's Fiesta LaBoheme in the Coyote colorway, so it's an investment.

The women's version of my Waving Hands half-fingered gloves are finished except for the running in of the ends. I chose Jawoll Jacquard for this model because of the colors. I guess I didn't look closely enough at the dye pattern because the busy-ness was a surprise. Looking at the skein I have left (the pattern only took 50 g.!), I should have known.

Close-up of the tiny cables in the cuff You can kind of see the uncrossed
cables on the hand, even with the

busy yarn.

Still working on the sport weight short row beret. Looks like it'll be frogged again - those pesky technique mistakes again. Somehow I got a hole where there is no short row or wrap. Didn't drop a stitch - actually, there are too many! No idea how that happened.

Also still working on fixing the sock tutorial link. Tech support finally got back with me, telling me that files could not be shared on their file sharing site! Huh? So, I'm looking at other places. I'll post the new link as soon as I come up with one.

Now let's see if this will post. I'm so grateful that the pictures loaded!

Blame it on...

2006-11-07T15:34:00.000-08:00

Mercury! Yes, as in the planet. Mercury is in retrograde. I'm a Virgo and Mercury is my ruling planet and every time, and I mean every time, it goes retrograde, my life goes to hell. In a handbasket.

Seriously. Lately, everything has been going wrong. Everything I've done has been a mistake. Don't ask about my knitting - I'm making silly technique errors - dropping stitches, splitting stitches, not moving stitches off my needle after wrapping them, silly, silly things that I don't usually do.

My life has been taking a beating as well. Little things - burning the toast, dealing with a possible mouse problem (they're next door for sure), Explorer going wonky and randomly shutting down, losing a stone out of my favorite turquoise ring. Bigger things - the kind that really hurt.

It's getting to where I'm afraid to drive my truck. Why tempt the universe?

So, today I decided that instead of driving to my LYS to look for the yarn I see in my head for my sons' stepsister's Christmas present, I would dye it myself. I had the proper yarn, I had the dyes, already mixed even. A matter of an hour or so of effort and I'd have just what I had in mind.

I should have known better. I spent about an hour measuring and skeining the yarn and setting up my 'studio' on the back porch. The weather was georgeous and I took that as an omen. Wrong again.

When everything was ready, I opened my container of sky blue, dipped my brush and began to paint. Oh, my, no. What was this forest green blob? Where did my sky blue go? How old is this dye mix, anyway? Should have thought about that first. Should have done a test. Should know better by now - I've had a couple of these wish I had a pallette moments before.

So, okay, forest green, not sky blue. There wasn't going to be any beautiful blue/blue-green-turquoise gradual color change. So much for the subtle but clear colors I envisioned for this very trendy 16 year old girl.

How could I rescue this? With the colors I had? Took a look at my pitiful selection. Didn't see anything that struck me as useful. Well, I had forest green, maybe if I mixed that green with some turquoise I'd get something that I could use for some fair isle type dots. So, lacking any better ideas, tried that.

Then remembered that I hadn't soaked the wool. Well, that wasn't necessarily fatal. I remembered reading about a technique that used dry wool, but I didn't remember the result or if you had to process it differently. Oh, well, too late to turn back now.

Cooked my mess up. Let it cool. Rinsed. Yep, just what I was afraid of. When the dye had turned color, the first thought through my head was, oh boy, what are the odds that it's too unstable to set? I kept pushing that thought out of my head. Maybe if I didn't acknowledge the possibility, it wouldn't happen.

But it did. Pale blue rinse water. Over and over. Not admitting defeat, I glugged a bunch of vinegar into my bowl, added some water, put the yarn back in and cooked it again.

Still blue. Quite pretty, in a tidy-bowl sort of way, but still blue.

All right, already, I give up. This was obviously not meant to be. I'll figure something else to do with this yarn - maybe overdye it? Maybe yellow? And handwash with more vinegar and salt. Not for a teenager.

Mercury doesn't go direct until November 15th. Maybe I should just sleep until then.

Of course, Blogger won't let me post a picture!

Technical Woes Ad Nauseum

2006-11-02T12:06:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I'm whining again. My sons think I'm tech savvy - and they're of the generation that grew up with computers! I can't figure out why I keep having such trouble, but trouble I have. Again.

I owe apologies to those who've tried to open my sock tutorial, Part One. I tested it and I can open it, so I thought everyone could. However, that is apparently not the case. I've e-mailed tech support for the site that is storing my PDF, but have not received a reply. Apparently the default is a private, non-sharing setting. I found the directions for changing the setting, but they don't correspond to the actual design of the site. So, the file is there - you just can't see it! I'm working on finding another place to host this thing, in case tech support never gets back to me. At least I've found one place that won't be hosting my website whenever I get to that point.

In the meantime, I've been working on Part Two - the heel flap and gusset. The model is finished, the pictures taken. Next up - editing the pics, writing the text, converting the file and...finding a place to put it up! There are too many pictures for blogger to handle, so I'm not posting it here.

Also in the works - I've been editing, re-editing, math checking, formatting and reformatting several of my patterns, getting ready for publication.

Here's where the tech thing rears its ugly head again. I worked really hard to format a template for my sock patterns. I liked the idea of a brochure format. In spite of past experience with the trials of designing publications in brochure form, I just insisted that this time would be different. Not. While I like the idea, the finished product just didn't seem user friendly, so it's a no go.

Okay, no brochure. How about a leaflet? Not quite as portable, but easier to read. So I did the layout, messed and messed with styles and graphics and finally arrived at a test version. Hit print. Uh, oh - no leaflet. Single pages printed on one half of the top side. Turns out only the most recent software is capable of printing the leaflet. Not including my own. I can set it up, but I can't print it. Well, if I can't, how many others can't either? Not the way to go. Anyway, two sided printing requires the purchaser to do too much work.

So, I'm back to plain old standard paper size, one side. I'm disappointed, because it's just not as special, but it's more important that it works, right?

I have learned from my travails. It occured to me that the fonts that I use may not be the fonts that are available on other's computers. I'm checking that one out now. The formatting also must be tested - does it actually arrive looking/reading the way it should? Are the pictures still pictures and not gobbledy gook? My sons each have different computer set-ups, so I'll be sending to them as tests, and perhaps I can ask some other knitters as well. No offense to the men, but as non-knitters, they might not spot some text problems.

In the meantime, on the knitting front, I've sized my Waving Hands Half-Gloves for women. The first sample left hand is almost finished. I need to knit these again in a solid so the pattern will photograph!

Arrrgggghhhh! Apparently blogger isn't going to let me add photos from any source today!
(runs screaming from the room)

How to Knit Socks on One Long Circular Needle, Part One

2006-10-30T14:36:00.000-08:00

Like most knitters, I started out using DPN's to knit small circumferences. My kids were little when I started knitting in the round, and there were mittens and hats to be knit on demand and as needed (i.e., they lost one). It was fiddly at first - I've heard it described at wrestling with a porcupine - but I'm stubborn and I persevered until I'd mastered those sets of little sticks.

A few years ago, I discovered sock knitting. For some reason, I'd always thought that socks were impossibly difficult. I must have overheard something from my aunts or grandmother. Socks, I thought, were the true test of an expert knitter. Not for me.

One day, when reading a knitting book - yes, I tend to read knitting books. Not so much for the patterns, as for the how and why of the patterns - I read through the recipe for knitting socks. It was an old, old book, so yes, it was a recipe. Hmmm, that didn't sound so impossible. Pretty soon, I had some DPN's and yarn out and was trying the recipe for myself.

Of course, you know the rest. Knit one sock, wear one handknit sock, and you're hooked forever. I wanted so badly to share that wonderful custom knit feeling that I tried to talk everyone in my family into letting me measure their feet. Since at that time, my family consisted of only men, I was less than successful.

But, I continued to knit socks for myself. And discovered a problem. Pain. My long-ago damaged wrist began to hurt unmercifully. Now I loved sock-knitting, but not to the point that I was willing to exist in pain and perhaps further damage my wrist. I had a problem.

ABQ has a Fiber Fiesta every other year. The last Fiesta, I went on the first day, a Friday. I was relatively new to the area and was excited to explore the merchants' booths to see what was available here. I stopped by the local knitting guild's table and struck up a conversation with one of the knitters. She was telling me how wonderful the group's knitters were - one of them could even knit two socks at once on two circular needles!

Huh? Socks on circulars? I added this tidbit to my list of things to look out for in my continued trek around the Fiesta. I must have been pretty sure I'd find some information or figure it out for myself, since I bought two sets of circulars in tiny sizes at the Village Wools booth.

Finally, at the Good Fibrations booth, Bethe, the owner, told me that she had a book that explained the technique but had just sold the last copy. However, she just happened to be knitting a sock on one long circular. She pulled her knitting out of her fanny pack and showed me how to do it. Right there.

I've never looked back. My DPN's are almost never used. Occasionally for a 3-needle bind-off or some I cord, but that's it. Actually, my straights are in retirement as well. All circs, all the time. Easy, portable, you can try your knitting on while still on the needle, stitches don't fall off, and, yes, easy on the wrists.

I write all my patterns for one long circular. Experienced traditional DPN knitters will not have any trouble converting them, and novices, well, why not try something new?

Curious? I've begun a tutorial. Part One is ready - How to Get Started. Click hereto begin knitting socks on one long circular needle.

I hope you'll give me feedback - I'll edit to improve!

How to Kitchener Your Sock Toes

2006-10-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

Note: There will be no pictures!

For a long time, I needed to get out a book and look at the pictures every time I kitchenered sock toes.

Every time.

As a result, almost-finished socks tended to accumulate. They would pile up on my dresser, stitches held on safety pins, until I got around to getting out the book.

No more.

Now I finish the knitting, whip out my tapestry needle, and close those toes immediately.

What happened? Simple, I paid attention. Instead of following the instructions and looking at the pictures, I thought about what I was doing. And, you know what? It's really easy!

Here's how I think about it:

Hold your two needles with stitches on them parallel with the working yarn coming from the back needle.

Take a look at your knitting. See the knitting on the front needle? See how the knit stitch is facing you? This is the K needle.
Now, look at the knitting you see coming from the back needle. It looks like purl, right? This is the P needle.

Okay, now think about the stitches and the needles they're on as associations, or better yet, teams. The goal of each team (and you) is to get all the stitches off the needle. OK?

Rule No. 1: Go into each stitch twice.
Rule No. 2: Drop the K stitches on the K needle.
Rule No. 3: Drop the P stitches on the P needle.
Rule No. 4: Start with the front needle and then alternate. Logical, yes?

Set-Up: You are setting up here, so no stitches are dropped. Following rules above, you know you can't K on the K needle or P on the P needle. Rule #4 - we'll start with the front needle. Pull your tapestry needle (with the yarn tail, of course) through the first stitch as if to purl. No dropping, remember?
Go to the back needle, we're not dropping, so pull through as if to K.
The set-up is the only time you'll only work the first stitches.
Set-Up: no dropping and only one stitch each needle.

The real deal: We're back to the front needle and we want to drop a stitch. That means we go through it as if to K. Drop. Now, according to Rule #1, we need to get the second stitch set-up. No dropping. K needle, set up as if to P.
Move to back needle: P needle, P the first st and drop. Set up the next stitch as if to knit.

That's all there is to it. K needle, K the first st to drop, P the second to set-up. P needle, P the first st to drop, K the second to set up.

Simple, huh?

Little People Socks Update

2006-10-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

The Little People Sock is progressing nicely, thank you very much.
The heel fits well and there are no problems with the cables patterns matching.
Apparently there are problems with holding still long enough to take a closeup!
I guess I'm just going to have to break down and buy a tripod.
Just kidding, I love gadgets.

While we're on the subject of technological challenges, if you tried to participate in the sock toe poll, please enter again. I felt so proud of myself for finding this thing, setting it up and inserting the HTML code into my enty...just one problem. Not results were tabulated. Hmm... was no one interested enough to participate? Just for fun, I answered. Still showed 0 results. Oh boy, I've messed it up again. Tech support rescued me - silly me, I'd deleted the 'Submit' page! Kind of hard to get results that way. Anyhow, I just tried it and it works now and I'm really, really curious. Please answer!
By the way, I've set it up so that it does not collect your address, so it's totally private.

Now, go vote!

Little People Socks

2006-10-23T12:38:00.000-07:00

Arghhh!

I thought I had this down. I was zipping along on this sock, feeling so confident. The leg, from cast on to heel, took 1 evening. I spent the next evening experimenting with heel techniques and finally arrived at one I liked. On to the foot!

And came to a grinding halt. The Little People are formed by interlocking cables. Worked great on the leg. Didn't match on the foot. Why not?

Same pattern, different look. This can't be. I must have changed something. Tinked back and tried again, checking the pattern thoroughly as I did so.

Not the same cable.

Got out the graph paper and charted it out. Found the mis-match and figured out an easy solution. Simple!

Erased the pattern notes, wrote out the new directions, tinked back and tried again.

Still different, but different in a new way.

So I went to the computer and used a software program to chart it out. Quite a few times. Finally decided on another simple solution.

Erased and corrected my directions again.
Tinked back again.
Reknit.
Still wrong.
Ackk.

So I decided that I had a visualization problem. Obviously I was missing something. I remembered downloading a trial version of an aran charting program that let you see pictures of the stitches. Time to try it out.

Got some nice cable pictures, erased my directions once again and wrote out what the pictures told me.

Tried yet again. Looked familiar. I was knitting one of the mistake versions a second time. (Note to self: never, ever, ever erase mistaken patterns. You never know when they might come in handy!)

Frustration! I will not let this, this sock foot get the better of me!

Went back to old fashioned chicken scratching, charted out the entire leg pattern, figured out where the stitches went each time I rearranged for the heel and after the heel, drew lines matching them up, charted out the foot yet again.

I'm pretty sure I have it now.

Only thing is, while all this time passed, I had time to think about the heel. I'm satisfied with the method, but the fit could be better. I compensated for the drawing in of the cables by casting on more stitches than usual. The heel, however, has no cables (yes, I considered continuing them down the heel, but decided I had enough confusion for now). It could be a snugger fit. I guess I'm going to have to frog back to before the heel this time.

Which means the chart I've arrived at (finally) won't apply.

Arrrrrggggghhhhhh!

Harvest Socks and a Poll!

2006-10-19T14:43:00.000-07:00

The Harvest Socks are finished!

Take a look:

and

See the little sheaves of wheat?

These photos are the most accurate for the color of these socks. I'm pleasantly surprised with the color and delighted with the pattern. It works really well with self-striping yarn.

But now I'm interested in toes. I've made the traditional toes and variations of the star toe. I find myself returning again and again to plain, smooth toes. When my sons were little, we had great crises (usually when running late to some appointment or other) relating to wrinkled socks. They just could not abide any kind of uneveness in the way their socks fit into their shoes. This resulted in many, many attempts to insert their feet into their shoes and get their socks perfectly smooth. I seem to have internalized their conflicts and now I'm a smooth sock fanatic.

I'm curious. Which toe do you prefer? The traditional (bottom left) or the smooth (top right)?

Click here to take survey

How to Make a Purse Form

2006-10-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

When last we talked, I showed you a picture of the finished red recycled sari yarn purse. Scroll down and look, I'll wait. It's at the end of the post.

Back? Kind of shapeless, isn't it? Also, being a very loosely spun single, it wants to bias a little, though actually not as much as I'd feared. But, as a purse, clearly not finished.

I searched ABQ for some buckram. Apparently this doesn't exist any more and the blank stares I got when asking for it made me feel like a Civil War relic. I did find some Pellon that was very stiff and about 1/8" thick. I think it's Peltex 70, because the paper they wrapped it in said Peltex 70 and a couple of other numbers. The other numbers were described as fusible, which I did not want. So, Peltex 70. I bought 1/2 yard for around $3.

I set out to make a purse form to give this poor baby some shape. The purse itself it basically a box. I worked it in the round (didn't want to have to seam this stuff), though it might have been stiffer and straighter if I'd knit it flat and seamed it. I hate to seam and I couldn't imagine trying to seam this stuff. If you've knit with it, you know what I mean. When I'd knit a circle as long as I wanted the purse sides to be, I knit the bottom, joining to the sides on either end to form a box. I did a 3 needle (and one crochet hook) bind off to join the bottom and the second side. Thus, a box. Then, I joined a second skein to the base of the sides and knit about a 3" wide band until I was almost out of yarn, then picked up and bound off the bottom of the other side. This was the handle, attached to the bottom, not the top, of the sides. I then machine sewed in a zipper and went looking for interfacing.

To make the form, you need 3 measurements:

the width, the length from one side of the zipper around to the other side, and the width of the flat bottom part.

Add one inch to the width measurement and mark it on the Pellon. Use the length measurement as is to make the other side of the rectangle. Mark and cut the interfacing. You'll use the third measurement in a minute.

Fold the Pellon in half "like a hotdog" as I used to tell my first graders. Sew 1/2" side seams and trim to 1/4".

Now, fold the top of the side seam to the inside, to the center of the bottom. Here is where you'll use that third measurement. Find the place across the corner that equals that measurement and mark a line there. In the picture on the right, the line would go along the side of the measuring tape farthest from the corner. Stitch along the line and trim

The finished form is firm enought to stand on its own. I think this Pellon is all right - maybe even better than buckram.

Now, put the form inside the purse so that the seams are facing the inside of the purse and sew it to the zipper tape. This is a little tricky - the Pellon is thick enough that the zipper won't zip if it's too close to it. I found it easier to sew with the Pellon side facing my needle. My machine wasn't particularly happy with this procedure, but it's ancient and I think the newer machines are not as fussy.

Trim the Pellon close to the stitching and trim away all those loose threads from the sari yarn that are in the path of the zipper.

Next, I carefully fitted the handles to their proper locations and machine sewed across them a couple of inches down from the top of the purse. I had planned on two rows of vertical stitching, but my machine just refused to go there.

Last, I added a zipper pull I accidentally found when I was hunting for buckram. It's pewter and from Walmart, of all places!

Et Voila !

Note: My purse is designed to be box shaped at the bottom and flat at the top. For a completely box- shaped form, I would just add a narrow seam along the edges of the sides from the bottom corner to the top. Just a pinch to firm up the squareness of the side edges.

Project Update

2006-10-16T17:19:00.000-07:00

The Man Of The House had a birthday this weekend. Foolishly, all right, very foolishly, I decided last Friday to make him some gloves. Out of sock yarn. On size 1 needles. Oh, my.

You see, he's been asking for a sweater. Now, he doesn't wear sweaters. Nor does he particularly like presents. They usually end up hidden somewhere in the back of his closet.

I didn't really want to spend all those hours knitting a sweater for it to end up in the back of the closet.

Thus, gloves.

Kind of like a test case. Except I misjudged or was overly

optomistic about how long they'd take to knit.

I ended up staying up very late.

We'll see if they take up residence in the closet.

While the mad dash to complete the gloves was on, my harvest/Halloween socks had to come off the needles temporarily.

I guess photographing these on an orange background wasn't such a great idea. My camera seemed to be confused about what to focus on.

I love the wrapped stitches on these socks - they look like little sheaves of wheat - hence, harvest socks. I'm liking my 'mistake' dyed yarn better than I thought I would. It looks much better worked up than it did in the skein.

Since I couldn't knit on the gloves when The Man Of The House was around and awake, and my harvest socks didn't have needles, I had to start a new project. Since October is both Socktoberfest and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it seemed natural that I was attracted to this yarn and project:

The cables look like arms and legs to me (when the sock is right side up), so I've named these Little People socks. Remember, I was a first grade teacher.

And last, my forlorn sari purse. The knitting has been finished for some time, then I had to search out some interfacing. I have everything now; I'm just putting off actually getting out the sewing machine. It's on the floor of the linen closet, in the back, behind the vacuum and under the extra pillows. You see why I haven't unearthed it yet.

Taos Wool Festival, Part Two

2006-10-11T16:25:00.000-07:00

Let's try again...

Look closely at this roving - see the red flecks? This is California Red roving. Never heard of it? It's a new breed, developed by a California professor for meat. The people I bought this from, Shear Perfection Ranch, started their herd in Colorado and moved to northern NM. The sheep they began with had teeny, tiny legs, so they concentrated their breeding on developing stronger bones. Now they're concentrating on increasing wool production. I'm anxious to see how this spins up - it's quite soft, not as soft as the llama, but maybe a little softer than the merino/silk I have. I'm very interested in the variations possible with natural, undyed fiber.

I did succumb to one yarn. I know, I said I wanted fiber for spinning. I'm also interested in learning as much a possible about the different fibers and the breeds they come from. I'd like to start buying fleeces and developing my personal projects from fleece to finished object. I need to know more about breeds to make reasonable decisions about purchasing fleece and blending it into spinnable fiber. Thus, this yarn. It's cormo. Elsa Sheep and Wool didn't have any roving, but they had this very reasonably priced undyed yarn.

Elsa Sheep and Wool also had dozens and dozens of knitted up socks, gloves, hats, and what looked like felted garments. They must be commercially made since the prices were crazy low. They were also selling quite well, since most festival-goers were unprepared for the chilly, wet weather.

In line with my fiber/breed studies, I acquired a reference book. Oh, my, another whole field of books to acquire. I see more bookshelves in my future!

There is currently a severe shortage of natural dye materials. Apparently, there was one major supplier and he died. The company is currently in disarray, so no one can get any dye supplies. I was hoping that there might be some merchants at the festival who grew their own dye plants. No such luck. Liesel from Earth-Arts had some seeds, but my whole yard is covered with different colored gravels over plastic weed barrier, so it's not exactly conducive to farming.

I did find this stuff, however. It's a natural dye extract. It kind of seems like cheating, doesn't it? I'm going to investigate further. I can imagine a whole new (to me) range of natural dye effects possible with an extract.

And finally, a gift. On the T-shirt table, The Man Of The House spotted a box labeled free. Surely not, I thought. We found a salesperson an asked. Yes, free. Both of them? Yes, the publisher (Interweave) had sent them to give away. I'd been to the bookstore the day before looking for Spin-Off and couldn't believe my good luck. Free? For me?

Taos Wool Festival!

2006-10-10T16:11:00.000-07:00

Wet, windy and cold, but otherwise a great day ~~for football~~ a wool festival.

Sunday was an odd day for NM in that it rained all morning. And most of the afternoon. It was a Houston kind of day - even to the damp cold that blows right through you. Not the kind of weather I was hoping for for the Taos Wool Festival. Luckily, The Man Of The House knew how much I'd been anticipating this event so he was willing to drive the two hours there and two hours back in the pouring rain. I kind of think he'd been looking forward to it as well. There have been a few mentions of looms recently, and I'm not even the slightest bit into weaving.

There were only a handful of people at the park when we arrived. Interestingly, it made for tough exploring. The people that were there seemed to huddle at the entrances to the booths. There was a lot of visiting going on and I hated to disturb the conversations. I did, however, eventually investigate every tent.

The Man Of The House did a lot of standing under his huge golf umbrella, moving 6 feet or so down the infield as I changed shops. I overheard other husbands comparing umbrellas with him. That umbrella came with us from Texas, and you know what they say...

I was mostly interested in fiber this trip. The Taos Wool Festival is limited to wool and other animal fibers from NM, Colorado and Texas. I saw several exhibitors from Wyoming, though, and heard some discussion about expanding the geographically allowed area. No cotton or other non-animal fibers, even if natural. Thus, it seemed a great place to learn about the different breeds of sheep and their characteristics.

This being NM, there were plenty of places with churro. One sheep owner and I talked about churro's possibilities for the knitting community. We plan to keep in contact.

There were quite a few alpaca herders and I just had to pet the alpaca. I bought some llama roving, though, instead of alpaca. I was surprised at how very, very soft this stuff was and I loved the warm brown/grey color. I had been under the impression that llama was scratchy, so I just had to try spinning this soft llama. When I asked about the staple length (to evaluate how difficult it might be to spin), they told me that it was really easy to spin. They suggested to keep it loosely twisted so the softness will be accentuated. I also found out that the merino/silk combo that I've been spinning is supposed to be really difficult! Hmmm... I wonder if I'm spinning it correctly? It hasn't seemed to be that hard - I hope it's not a case of being ignorant of what I'm supposed to be getting!

Blogger has decided it's tired of loading photos, so to be continued...

My Fishing Tackle

2006-10-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

Really!

I have a new toy.

It's a line meter. As in fishing line meter. The package says that you use it to measure the depth to which you cast your bait so that you can cast to the same depth each time.

I'm not really too sure why that's important.

I have something else in mind.

As in, I have a pile of yarn on my desk. Some of it is still in those collapsed marshmallows that you get when you've knit most of a center pull ball. Some of it just used to be in one of those collapsed marshmallows and it now a tangled snarl.

Why is it there? Well, I confess, partially to hide the start of a shawl I started and don't like the shaping of. It's waiting to be frogged and restarted but I'm currently avoiding it (Fiesta's LaBoheme and a PIA to frog. Someday I'll be patient. I will! Quit snickering.)

Other than that, all those yarn puddles are waiting to be measured. You know how when you read a pattern it tells you how many yards of yarn you need? This stuff is the remains of FO's. I know how much I started with, now I just need to measure how much I have left, add a fudge factor, and I'll know what number to write in my patterns.

I don't like to measure yarn. The yarnstick method isn't all that accurate unless you take forever to do it and are super careful not to stretch the yarn. You also have to pay attention. You have to count. Now, frequent readers will know I seem to be challenged in the counting department. I have no confidence in my ability to keep track accurately.

I have done some measuring using my niddy-noddy. You wind the yarn around and around in V's, once again, carefully, without stretching. And count the number of wraps. It's supposed to be 1 yard per wrap. Except The Man Of The House and I made my niddy-noddy. It's not 36". It's more like 38". Or there abouts. Not a lot of difference, I guess. I could just consider it part of the fudge factor. But it bothers me. And it's an arm workout, so that would be kind of healthy and I don't really do healthy.

So, my new line meter. It clamps onto my desk and the yarn runs through it and it records how long it is. Quick and painless. Actually, fun. I'm easily amused.

The yarn being meaured in the picture is the yarn left from the self-dyed self-striping yarn socks recently finished. The meter shows 109 feet left. About 36 yards. Each round takes around 30" and 12 rounds made an inch, so...even though it looked pretty skimpy, I actually could have knit another 3 inches. I had plenty!

One problem, though. You're supposed to run your yarn through the meter and onto your ball winder. Which I don't have. Just a measured pile of yarn on the floor.

Oh, BTW, line meters cost $13. Yarn meters run $50-60.

Other fishing tackle I love:

It's a worm case! Yuck!

Look again. The inside cover has pockets that hold my stitch markers and the pockets have my circular needles. The pockets are really heavy plastic and you can buy extras as necessary. I think the whole set up was less than $20.

One day 'til Taos Wool Festival!

I love the smell of...

2006-10-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

hot, wet, wool in the morning! I've been dyeing that special churro. It's a time-consuming process - one day to mordant, another day to prepare the dyestuff, third day for first dyebath. That's where I am now. The yarn/dyebath is cooling, then I'll wash the yarn and hang it to dry. I've tentatively decided to over-dye it to get a soft green, so I need to set up an indigo tub. Another day! Updates to come.

I've been dealing with serious computer problems. The infernal machine has been slower and s-l-o-w-er lately. I did the whole virus, spybot, defrag scan thing. Still slow. Got an e-mail from my computer protection suite that described my problem exactly. Said expert e-mail maintained that cleaning my registry would solve all my problems.

Well, perhaps in comparison to all my new problems. Now, slow seems a blessing. I've spent the last two days trying to straighten this mess out, over an hour on the phone with tech support, then worked my way through 5 pages of fix-its. Now I have internet access restored, but still no e-mail. And 39 other files were also deleted - I guess I'll be finding out what else doesn't work as I try to use other programs. Just ducky.

In the meantime, while I've been waiting for my slow computer to cope with all of the repair commands, I've been working on the red purse. Did I mention that the Taos Wool Festival is 2 days away? I want to finish this thing for that, even though it doesn't exactly coordinate with the socks I'll be wearing. Nothing wrong with being colorful, is there? I'm on the strap and looking for buckram to stiffen the body.

I'm also looking at this:

This is accidental Halloween yarn I dyed last summer. The gold was, well, orange. The brown/black was much more intense than I had in mind. I was looking for neutrals with a little spice. I got all spice. Must watch those concentrations! Thus, Halloween yarn. So, while I've been waiting for my computer to slowly return to functionalitly, and my churro to dye, I've been looking at this and thinking about Halloween patterns.

I'm really excited about a new heel variation I may be un-venting. I was looking for a reference for another heel, couldn't find it, and stumbled across a decrease method I can't wait to try. If it looks as smooth as I'm hoping, well, it's easy, so how great would that be?

Back to the computer fixing mess...

FO Alert!

2006-10-03T14:12:00.000-07:00

The first pair of Socktoberfest socks are finished! I can't wait to wear them , but I will. The

Maybe it's the first grade teacher in me, but the toes just tickle me. Somehow, I look at these and I think puppets - can't you just imagine them as talking snakes? Of the cute, fantasy, variety, of course. The real, live ones scare me to death.

Just made it on the yarn - and I'm a size 7. I'll have to measure the leftover, but it's closer than usual. I wasted a little by making them match. I usually don't bother, but this time the stripes were so pronounced and I accidentally got that coral stripe in the cuff, so I just had to match them.

4 days 'til Taos!

How to Fix Your Socks

2006-10-02T15:28:00.000-07:00

Note: This post was written on Monday, but due to computer problems will not appear until Wednesday.

Now, I ask you, however would I know how to fix socks? Because I make a lot of mistakes. I mean it, I must have done every back-aswards thing you can do when knitting a sock. I'm not particularly fond of frogging and I'm a Virgo (you know, those most irritating perfectionists of the zodiac). This has led to a certain amount of tension. Do I frustrate myself by starting over or by leaving a mistake?

Well, who says it's and either/or situation? There's a way to fix most anything, and I've found it. The hard way.

But this weekend, when I was chugging away on the second sock (I don't have second sock syndrome; in fact, I usually whip through the second sock double time) and this happened:

Okay, I'm used to holes from all sorts of causes in my sock heels. But, what's this? A pucker? How can there be a pucker? There just can't be a pucker. I saw this kind of lump thing in my heel, but chose to knit on. There was no hole, so surely nothing was messed up and this thing would straighten itself out as I knit.

Wrong.

An inch later, there was still a pucker. I tinked. Really, I tinked an inch of 76 sts and tried again. As I knit on, I checked my heel. Pucker. How could this be? What new kind of torment had I invented that I apparently could not refrain from repeating? What on earth could make a heel pucker - twice. I couldn't leave this thing - I'm not princess, but I hate wrinkles in my socks, never mind lumps. This heel had to come out - I'd take it all the way out and start over. No more puckers!

No way I was going to frog the whole sock for a lumpy heel. I got out a circular in a smaller diameter and carefully, slowly, threaded it through the last round before the heel started. I was very careful to pick up the second leg of the V of each stitch. It doesn't matter if it's the first or second leg, just that it's always the same one. I prefer even numbers for no reason whatsoever, so I chose the second leg.

Note: pick up means just slide your needle under the stitch - not pick up and knit!

Now I had two needles in one sock. I checked every stitch again. I checked to be sure I hadn't missed any - especially at the beginning/end of the round. Then, I took a deep breath and...

pulled out the needle and unravelled the stitches.

Finally, I ended up with this:

Now, in order to start my heel over, I needed to be sure that my knitting was set up properly - the needles parallel, points to the right, yarn attached to the first stitch on the back needle. If not, it's easy enought to set it right. It's a circular needle, so stitches easily slide from one end to the other. Look at your knitting and your working yarn and start slipping stitches around until they end up in their assigned places. It sounds much trickier than it is!

The coral working yarn is coming over from the back needle. Ready to go!

By the way, I finally figured out where the pucker came from to begin with. It's a short row heel and when I long rowed, I went too far on one row. Essentially, this method of long-rowing has you knitting across the heel and working the last heel stitch together with the first stitch of left-unworked stitches (the other side of the angle). I knit too far, crossing into the left behind stitches and then made my decrease. Pucker.

When I redid the heel the first time, I got another pucker. Another way. The decreases involve slipping a stitch, picking up a stitch in the row below the next stitch and then working these two stitches together. When I tinked, I didn't get the loop from the stitch in the row below back into the row below. Too many stitches smushed together gave me another lump.

Gave me fits trying to figure it out! But I fixed it.

Socktoberfest Special, Special Yarn

2006-09-29T14:37:00.000-07:00

This arrived yesterday and I'm so excited. Yes, I know, Socktoberfest was supposed to be a stash-busting experience, and heaven knows, I've the sock yarn stash to bust. But, you know how it is - every new project just needs, needs, a new yarn.

Actually, I've been waiting since July to order this special, special yarn. In July, I spent 4 days in El Rito, NM (up near Abiquiu, in Georgia O'Keefe country) participating in an intensive natural dyeing seminar at Northern New Mexico Community College. Liesel's (the instructor) web site in in the sidebar - Earth-Arts. I met some wonderful women at this class - weavers, spinners, a bride-to-be and one of her bridesmaids dyeing yarn for her wedding blanket, and the head of the Navajo-Churro Sheep Association. This woman provided all the yarn for our class and it was wonderful.

Living in New Mexico, of course I knew of churro. It's the fiber that the traditional rugs and embroideries are made of. You know, those Navajo rugs that are so prized and collected. Yep, churro. Those amazing colcha embroideries that you see in Santa Fe - churro. But it has kind of a bad rep here for knitting. Churro? You mean that scratchy stuff?

That's what I told Connie at El Rito. We were dyeing yarns meant to be used for the weaving classes at the school. I can't really knit with this, I said. It's kind of like lopi - you have to wear it over something else or you'd itch yourself crazy. Not so, she told me. Sure, the weaving weight is kind of stiff (those not so much after it's been cooked for a couple of days to dye it), but there is this finer stuff that you can knit socks out of. And she brought some in. "This is churro?" I marveled. It was much, much softer. Not exactly merino, you know, but perfectly wonderful for socks.

She showed me the natural colors is comes in - I love the idea of yarn that is the color of the sheep who grew it. She gave me some information about the breed. I knew I wanted to try this yarn!

So, Socktoberfest. It's a festival! Surely a festival deserves something truly, truly special. I started e-mailing back and forth (Connie is patient, patient) trying to determine the best weight for this festival sock. I finally ordered on Monday and the yarn arrived on Wednesday. Amazing - my rent check takes a week to get across town and it took 2 days for yarn from Ojo Caliente.

The package also included samples of other weights and colors.

Maybe next time I won't be such a pest in making a decision!

But, you ask, why am I so excited about this yarn?

I'm so glad you asked. First, look at this:

Isn't he great? I love the usual soft, cuddly looking white sheep you most often see. But this guy - why he has character. He is just so western, so wild and free looking. (Hmm...those look like babies beside him - maybe he is a she.) He/she looks just so right, so right for NM.

As well he should. Did you know that the sheep that the Spanish brought to the Americas back in the 1500's was a churro? This tough guy is the original American sheep! He has a long history of helping to sustain the culture and people in this part of the world.

He is also an endangered species. For a variety of social reasons, the churro very nearly became extinct. In the 1970's a few people set out to preserve the churro in New Mexico. Even today, true Navajo-Churro sheep are very, very few.

I'm going to dye this special, special yarn using some natural dyes I've been accumulating. I'm thinking either an light indigo blue or maybe a soft green. Either the color of the huge NM sky or that of the ubiquitous sage. I'll hold my breath the whole time I'm dyeing - I want so much for this to be perfect!

*for more information about Navajo-Churro sheep, click here.*

One down...

2006-09-27T17:30:00.000-07:00

and one to go!

Once again, the colors are wonky. I wanted the navy rug in the hall as a background, but it's a cloudy day and there are no windows in the hall. But you can get the idea.

Look at those coral stripes! I love, love, love the way they turned out. And they are coral, not orange, I promise. They're bright, just not that bright.

A long, long, time ago, my older son started kindergarten. He was, shall we say, a challenging child, and kindergarten was extreme culture shock for him. They wanted him to color inside lines? Not draw? There was no fence around the playground? Didn't they know he could escape (his word) any time he wanted? (and he did, often) Why did they want him to stay in his class when they weren't doing anything interesting and that other class, over there, was doing something really cool?

He was also exposed to popular culture. This kid, that I'd dressed in polo shirts and khaki pants, fell in love with a Spiderman t-shirt. It had to be peeled off him. I mean it, he wore it until it was much too small and he had to struggle mightily to get it on or off.

Which led to the request that these socks remind me of (yes, really, there is a tie-in). Keep in mind that this was a first grandson on both sides. Christmases were huge. When Christmas came around that kindergarten year, and I asked the boy what he wanted - he wanted striped socks. That's it. And he stuck to it. Striped socks. Not plain white or blue or grey, striped.

Of course, he got them.

And now I have mine.

You know, if I thought he'd wear them, I'd knit him some like this, in memory of the small boy that was, er, challenging.

First Socktoberfest Project

2006-09-26T15:15:00.000-07:00

Last June, Scout, of Scout's Swag fame, taught a dyeing class at our LYS, and I was lucky enough to get in. She taught us how to dye our own sock yarn and, even better, our own self-striping sock yarn. It was the start of a whole new fiber obsession!

But, I never knitted up the yarn I dyed at that first class. Or any of the other yarns I've dyed since. It's not that I haven't wanted to - it just seemed that some deadline or other kept pushing other projects to the front of the line.

Now, however, I seem to have come down with the cold that never goes away. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if this is some new and intense allergy thing. I should be feeling better by now, I tell myself. And cough some more.

Not that this is important, it's just by way of explaining that I need to do mindless knitting right now. After all, I sewed a button on yesterday and it took me several tries (and I was a 4-H leader in clothing construction). The first time, I carefully hid my knot, pulled the needle up through the first hole in the button and went over the edge of the button and back through the fabric. Completely missing the second hole and rendering the button unfastenable. Mindless knitting.

My sock-knitting stash is in a basket beside my bed. After last summer's trip, my stash overfloweth. As in, over, in, and around said basket. I even considered getting a larger basket, had one in my hand, but my New England heritage took over - did I really, really need it? A second indulgence to enable the first indulgence? No, no new basket. I would eliminate those errant balls (they just would keep rolling under the bed) by actually knitting up some of those socks.

I know a lot of sock knitters have a stock sock pattern memorized. They know the number of stitches they cast on, how many rows of ribbing they work, their heel and toe formulae. Not me. I can't bear to make the same thing twice. Round and round in stockinette? Heaven forbid! Thus, every new sock yarn means figuring out how I want the ribbing (or lack of) to look, what stitch patterns to use, what heel is best, etc, etc, etc. Not mindless knitting.

But I had this self-dyed, self-striping yarn and I wanted to see how the striping actually worked. How many actual knitted rows did each stripe yield? How did the color changes look? How about the heels? Did they pool? What could I play with for my next hand-dyed self striping yarn?

I knew when I dyed this yarn that I would want to answer these questions and that I'd have to knit a plain Jane sock to do it. Another reason that, even though I loved the colors, this yarn was still sitting in (and tumbling off of) the basket.

Mindless knitting - take a look-

The colors are pretty accurate - the coral is a tiny bit less so, and the lighter blue is actually a smidge more teal, but it's close.

I'm lovin' it.

I'm really, really loving the way the stripes and the wraps when dyeing it worked out. Lots and lots of ideas for future dyeing are percolating.

Check out this heel - it's my favorite one yet.
Absolutely no holes and really simple.

I tried to complicate it, though. Honestly, I did. I just couldn't handle any more stockinette, so I planned a cute design and knitted it into the heel. All complicated twisted stitches and stuff. Then I showed it to The Man Of The House. "What's that sh...?", he asked, ever so delicately. Needless to say, out it came.
Some other yarn, some other time.

So far, so good on the first Socktober project. So what if it's still September. If Mother Nature can be early, so can I!

The first snow of the season - in September - at Canjilon Lake in northern New Mexico. Isn't it beautiful?

Socktoberfest and other interesting net info

2006-09-25T19:48:00.000-07:00

I was perusing over at Scout's blog today and noticed that she's added some new buttons to her sidebar. Socktoberfest? What's this? I'm Marie and I'm a sockaholic...so, I had to check it out. You can, too, here. I'll wait.

Did you see all of those knitters already signed up? Can't you just imagine all of the creative socks we'll be seeing? Tutorials? Hmmm...I've been taking pictures of the basic Magic Loop sock I'm knitting now of the first self-striping yarn I dyed. Should I?

After you've signed up for Socktoberfest, take a minute and go over to Kristine's new blog. She's just started and it's already professional-looking. I've enjoyed her posts to one of the big knitting lists and am looking forward to seeing her knitting as well as reading about it.

There were two comments today about the Baked Oatmeal recipe I posted a couple of weeks ago ("and now for something completely different"). I forgot to include the amount of milk! Oops - that's what comes from typing the ingredients in a different order than I'd written them on my recipe card. Anyway, thanks to those who noticed and the correction had been made. Check it out if you've copied the recipe. It's perfect for our rather prematurely cool weather in ABQ.

Pics of the sock-in-progress and maybe the snow we drove through this weekend (yes, snow in NM in September) tomorrow.

Free Red Scarf Project Pattern, Part Deux

2006-09-20T15:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought I was so smart - I wrote up the pattern in Blogger for Word, carefully inserted the pictures and hit publish. It posted so quickly, so much faster than usual.

Except none of the pictures were there.

Nor would Blogger let me put them back.

So, let's try again....

Red Scarf - finished

Stitch Pattern 1 - left
Stitch Pattern 2
- right

Stitch Pattern 3 (please excuse the weird color - it's red like the rest of the pictures)

Stitch Pattern 4

The seaman's style neck

I guess I'd better quit while I'm ahead. I'll keep working on getting the pics and the directions in the same post...wish me luck!

Free Red Scarf Project 2007 Pattern

2006-09-20T15:36:00.000-07:00

Free Red Scarf Project 2007 Pattern

If you’re like me, you lose interest after a few repeats of a pattern. Sixty inches of just about any pattern will bore me to tears and deliver me from long stretches of stockinette! To keep me interested (and I hope you, too) I designed this scarf as a stitch sampler. Don’t let the length of the directions scare you off – it’s really easy. Oh, by the way – all of the stitches are reversible!

Knit a scarf for the Red Scarf Project 2007! See here for further information.

Materials:

3 skeins Lambs Pride Superwash, 100% wool, Color SW01 Red Wing, 200 yds ea. You’ll only need about ¼ of third skein

US 7 needles

Gauge: (not important, just for reference) 5 sts/in

Finished Dimensions: app. 7” x 62”

Note: for a pretty chained edge, sl all first sts pwise.

CO 45 sts loosely.

Border:
Rows 1-6: Sl 1, K across.

Stitch Pattern 1:
Knit rows 1-12 a total of 5 times.

Row 1:
Sl1, K3, (P4, K2) 6x; P1, K4.
Row 2:
Sl 1, K4, (P2, K4) 6x; K4
Row 3:
Sl 1, K3, (P3, K3) 6x; P1, K4
Row 4:
Sl1, K4, (P3, K3) 6x, K4
Row 5:
Sl 1, K3, (P2, K4) 6x; K4
Row 6:
Sl 1, K4, (P4, K2) 6x, K4
Row 7:
Sl 1, K3, P1, (K4, P2) 6x, K4
Row 8:
Sl1, K5, (P4, K2) 5x, P4, K5
Row 9:
Sl 1, K3, P1, (K3, P3) 6x, K4
Row 10:
Sl 1, K3, (K3, P3) 6x, K5
Row 11:
Sl 1, K3, P1, (K2, P4) 6x, K4
Row 12:
Sl 1, K7, (P2, K4) 5x, P2, K5

Repeat Border.

Stitch Pattern 2:

Row 1:
Sl1, K7, P4, K4, P4, K5, (P4, K4) 2x, K4
Row 2:
Sl 1, K3, (P4, K4) 2x, P5, K4, (P4, K4) 2x
Rows 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30: Repeat Row 1.
Rows 4, 7, 9, 12, 14, 17, 19, 22, 24, 27, 29: Repeat Row 2.

Repeat Border.

Stitch Pattern 3:
Knit Rows 1-24 twice.

Row 1:
Sl1, K5, (P1, K1) 8x, K2, (P1, K1) 8x, K5
Row 2:
Sl1, K3, P2, (K1, P1) 8x, P2, (K1, P1) 8x, P1, K4
Row 3:
Sl1, K7, (P1, K1) 6x, K6, (P1, K1) 6x, K7
Row 4:
Sl1, K3, P4, (K1, P1), 6x, P6, (K1, P1) 6x, P3, K4
Row 5:
Sl1, K9, (P1, K1), 4x, K10, (P1, K1) 4x, K9
Row 6:
Sl1, K3, P6, (K1, P1), 4x, P10, (K1, P1), 4x, P5, K4
Row 7:
Sl1, K4, P1, (K6, P1, K1, P1) 3x, K6, P1, K5
Row 8:
Sl1, K3, (P1, K1, P1), P5, (K1, P1, K1, P6) 3x, K1, P1, K4
Row 9:
Sl1, K3, (K1, P1) 2x, K11, P1, (K1, P1) 3x, K11, P1, K1, P1, K5
Row 10:
Sl1, K3, (P1, K1) 2x, P11, (K1, P1) 4x, P10, (K1, P1) 2x, K4
Row 11:
Sl1, K3, (K1, P1) 3x, K7, (P1, K1) 2x, P1, (K1, P1) 3x, K7, (P1, K1) 3x, K4
Row 12:
Sl1, K3, (P1, K1) 3x, P7, (K1, P1) 6x, P6, (K1, P1) 3x, K4
Row 13:
Sl1, K3, (K1, P1) 4x, K3, (P1, K1) 3x, P1, (K1, P1) 4x, K3, (P1, K1) 4x, K4
Row 14:
Sl1, K3, (P1, K1) 4x, P3, (K1, P1) 8x, P2, (K1, P1) 4x, K4
Row 15:
Repeat Row 11
Row 16:
Repeat Row 12
Row 17:
Repeat Row 9
Row 18:
Repeat Row 10
Row 19:
Repeat Row 7
Row 20:
Repeat Row 8
Row 21:
Repeat Row 5
Row 22:
Repeat Row 6
Row 23, Repeat Row 3
Row 24:
Repeat Row 4.

Repeat Border.

Repeat Rows 1-15 of Stitch Pattern 2.

Repeat Border.

Stitch Pattern 4:

Row 1:
Sl1, K3, (P3, K3) 2x, (P3, K2) 2x, (P3, K3) 2x, P3, K4
Row 2:
Sl1, K3, (K3, P3) 2x, (K3, P2) 2x, (K3, P3) 2x, K7

Repeat these 2 rows for 2 inches, end after knitting Row 2.

Knit Row 2 again, then Row 1. Continue alternating 1 &2 for another 2 inches, ending after knitting Row 1.

Neck Ribbing:

Row 1:
Sl1, K1, (P2, K2) 5x, P1, (K2, P2) 5x, K2
Row 2:
Sl1, P1, (K2, P2) 5x, K1, (P2, K2) 5x, P2

Alternate Rows 1 & 2 for 7 inches, ending after knitting Row 2.

Now you’re going to reverse the stitch patterns for the second half of the scarf as follows:

Stitch Pattern 4, 2 inches of Row 2, Row 1, 2 inches of Row 1, Row 2.
Border.
Stitch Pattern 2, Rows 1-15.
Border.
Stitch Pattern 3 – 2 repeats.
Border.
Stitch Pattern 2 – Rows 1-30.
Border.
Stitch Pattern 1 – 5 repeats.
Border.
BO loosely.

© 2006 YarnAngelKnits
http://yarnangelknits.blogspot.com/
yarnangelknits@msn.com

You are welcome to make one copy for personal use. Please do not sell items made from this pattern.

Please send a scarf to the Red Scarf Project, http://www.orphan.org/!
Mail your scarf in January to:

Orphan Foundation of America
Red Scarf Project
21351 Gentry Drive, Unit 130
Sterling, VA 20166

Monday, Monday

2006-09-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

Fall is here already. The nights are getting cool, the days are beautiful, with that I've-got-to-get-outdoors feeling. And, of course, I have a cold. Already.

But, before I got sick, I stopped by Village Wools and picked up the skein of red yarn that Scout had saved for me. Thank you again, Scout!

Here is the finished scarf for the Red Scarf Project 2007. (Whew, last time I linked to the Project, my whole blog went blooey and it took forever to unscramble it.)

I'm going to post this as a free pattern in support of the Project, so more detailed pictures and the instructions to come when my head clears up.

In the meantime, I also worked on the sari-silk purse.

Notice the knitted in corner.

And, once again, I ran out of yarn.

Kind of. I have enough to finish the body of the bag, but not the strap. I thought about using the almost full skein left from the Red Scarf, but unfelted yarn doesn't make the best strap. Too stretchy. The red yarn is superwash, so no can felt.

While at Village Wools on Saturday, I checked out their recycled yarns. They don't have the same brand as Espanola Fiber Arts, but I'm not sure it would matter. There isn't much consistency in this type fiber, anyway, so I went for contrast. What do you think?

So, Red Scarf finished, red purse waiting on a zipper...what's next?

Stay tuned...

Ho, hum...

2006-09-15T16:02:00.000-07:00

This has been a draggy kind of week. Monday started out OK and I got a good start on my to-do list. It's been downhill from there, though.

I finally remembered yesterday that this always happens around my birthday. It's weird. Something goes on in my subconscious that has never made it to the surface. Since I was raised to be a human-doing rather than being, these periods are doubly confusing. The birthday was yesterday, so I sure hope this stuff will be over soon. Like today!

On the knitting front, thank you, Scout! I'm fortunate that Scout works at my LYS. She read my blog yesterday (about the yarn that ended before the project did) and offered to check for the final skein I needed. Yes! They did have it and it is on hold for me. Great!

But I had nothing to knit on last night.

So I spun. Almost a full bobbin.

And I still have a half bag of this roving!

Look at the label - I started out with 4 ounces. My bobbin is supposed to hold 3-4 ounces. Okay, not all fibers weigh the same, obviously. So, it seems that I should get two full bobbins out of 4 ounces on merino/silk. I'll measure it on my niddy-noddy to get the yardage, but I know already that it's more than I expected.

On the other hand, I've been investigating some churro yarn to dye. The recommended sock yarn is 1000 yards to the pound. That seems like a worsted weight to me. And when I compare to the merino/silk...how much difference is there between fibers?

I'm so impatient. I'll have to spin the other bobbin and ply and niddy-noddy (is that a verb?) and count and skein while I wait for the churro to arrive and then I guess I'll have to dye and knit each fiber to figure out how they compare and the yardage/pound thing. I want to know now!

I've also started on this. It's the recycled sari yarn that I bought at the Santa Fe Rag Rug Show from the Espanola Fiber Arts Center. I've been thinking about containers and their shapes for a while and how to get the shape purse I want out of this yarn. I know just how I would sew it, but I don't want to sew it, I want to knit it. (willfull, I know) Yesterday, I finally figured it out and it's so easy, it's embarrassing. Swatched, cast on, and...wait for it...after knitting this far, about, oh, 1/3 to 1/2 way...I'm looking at the ball...and...I pretty sure I'm going to have to figure a way to finish in another yarn. Will I never learn?

And, while I really like the fabric I'm knitting with this stuff, it's not particularly easy to work with. Each stitch must be quite deliberately knit. Somehow it's both overspun and unravelling at the same time. And, look at my fingers - is that the red dye coming off? Will it keep coming off - like on my clothes when I carry this purse? I had a purple fabric purse that I bought on Venice Beach years ago and it left the shoulders and hips of my shirts striped purple for quite a while. I finally soaked it in hot salt water and it stopped. Looks like this purse will need a similar trip through water before I use it.

Back to work...

Oh, dear...

2006-09-14T16:44:00.000-07:00

...here I go again. I've been working on my scarf for the Red Scarf Project. It's kind of a sampler stitch design with a seaman's scarf neck. It's been fun finding all the reversible stitches and making them fit into the stitch count.

Just one problem. The scarf (right) shows my progress. I've folded it in half at the neck. I have just one stitch pattern to go - and - do you see it?

Yeah, that's it. I'm out of yarn. Again. This always happens to me. I go to the LYS, project in mind, buy wayyy more yarn than I think I could possibly need and I run out. Unless, like last summer, I order online and figure, oh, simple lace top, sleeveless, how much can it take? How about 10 skeins? The yarn arrives, I knit the top and l0-and-behold- it takes 5 skeins. Huh? Is the yarn curse broken?

I bet not. That means I have 5 skeins left over. You know, I bet I could make a shrug to match that simple sleeveless lace top. Use the same stitch pattern for the sleeves, maybe a little cap thingy in the bodice pattern, add an eyelet ribbing - that'd work. How much you want to bet I run out of yarn on the second project. Now that the color has been discontinued.

Back to the scarf. I'm a little worried about this. My LYS is moving, so they had a big sale and last time I was in there (to buy my red scarf yarn), the inventory was pretty scanty. I think that they had one (1) skein left in this color. Last week. What are the odds that they have it still?

And you know, I already have a project in mind for the leftovers from the last red skein (the one I haven't found yet)!

Beret and Socks Finished!

2006-09-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

This fall is turning into a clean-up the projects time. I've always been kind of turned around as far as the calendar goes. I guess I'm stuck in childhood - my year seems to start with the fall, rather than Jan. 1. Comes from the back to school thing and it doesn't help that I was a teacher. So, with the beginning of my new year, I'm finishing things up and starting new projects. Now, if I can just get around to the fall (spring for the rest of the world) cleaning!

I've finished the beret - or at least this version of it.
I love sock yarn - this is made in Opal Rainforest Zebra. It has matching socks. Why, you ask? Because when I showed the finished socks to The Man Of The House for effusive praise, he said they looked like a hat. Hmm...but the hat turned into a beret and the beret turned into a short row beret and...turned into an exercise in shortrow wrapping and picking up in pattern and ended with grafting, also in pattern. Actually, it's not hard. Once I figured it out. By the time you knit this pattern, you'll understand how short-rowing and grafting actually work and they'll never frighten you again.

Actually, I lied. This pattern isn't finished. Oh, the beret is. But not everyone likes to work in fingering yarn on size 0 needles. So, next, I need to adapt it for DK or worsted. Stay tuned...

Next kind- of- finished project. The lollipop socks. These have been submitted for publication, so I can only show the bottom at this time. The yarn is Lorna's Laces in H appy Valley. I used a new heel on these - or at least new to me. It's the Sh erman Heel from Mary Lycan. It's a kind of finished project because I'm not certain of where her copyright ends and public use begins. I've e-mailed her for any objections.

Now, for the new. I've started my scarf for the Red Scarf Project. Several times. In fact, if I were to have to cast on yet again, I'd need to trim the yarn and start on a new part. I'm finally happy with this section...but ready for a new stitch pattern. Back to charting...

By the way, it actually is a beautiful red from Brown Sheep. The pillow it's resting on is a bright orange.The light around here is weird today, and with or without flash, I can't get even enough color to Photoshop.

Okay, I confess. I just included this photo because I wanted to play with writing on photos. It's not as easy as it should be.

I highlighted the border because it gave me fits. What looked great on paper looked awful in wool and so - back to the graph paper.

And now for something completely different...

2006-09-06T16:19:00.000-07:00

Three years ago, The Man Of The House and I went on what we call The Big Trip. We started in Houston, drove to LA, and then went up the Pacific Coast Highway to Seattle. From Seattle we headed across country to Montana, then went back south through Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, and finally back east to Houston. As I said, The Big Trip.

On said trip, we spent one night in Santa Cruz, CA. The Man had been there before, when he was working in the Bay Area. He remembered a place for breakfast that he just knew I would like. We had to drive around a bit, but we found it. And I did like it. A lot.

Last year, we were in the area again. The Man went to the motorcycle races and I explored. Once again, I drove around a little and finally found the restaurant. It was just as great as I remembered it.

This summer...yep, third visit. Why do I keep going back? This year we stayed in San Jose and I waiting until I got to Santa Cruz for breakfast. And I'm an out-of-bed-and-get-the-coffee kind of person.

Baked oatmeal. Wait, it's better than it sounds. I'm not much for oatmeal - that texture reminds me of old-time school paste, and I learned early on not to eat that. But baked oatmeal - well, to me it's kind of like bread pudding that I can have for breakfast. Without all that guilt.
I love this stuff. The restaurant knows they have a winner, and they aren't divulging their secret. But I've been thinking.

And I think I've arrived at something very, very, similar.

Try it, you'll like it.

Baked Oatmeal

1 C oatmeal
1/2 C brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
1 t vanilla
1 C flour
3 eggs
1/2 C raisins

3 cups milk

In a small bowl, beat the eggs lightly. Add cinnamon, vanilla and flour and stir to mix. In a large bowl, measure oatmeal and add sugar. Add egg mixture, stir lightly (don't overmix). Stir in raisins and milk. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, spray 13 x 9 pan and pour in batter. Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes. Serve in a soup bowl with a sprinkle of cinnamon and brown sugar and a drizzle of milk or cream.

Keep in mind that I'm in the high desert at 5000 feet. At a lower altitude, I'd add a smidge more flour, reduce the milk a little, lower the temp 25 degrees and shorten the baking time (start checking at 30 min.)

Bon appetit!

It's Here!

2006-09-05T16:47:00.000-07:00

At last! A wheel of my own!

Such a little box...

So Many Parts...

This is Easy. The lazy kate's already together.

Here goes the flyer.

Uh,...what? Where are the words that go with these pictures?

The Man Of The House to the rescue.

Here is where the picture of the finished wheel will go when Blogger lets me put it there!

Tid Bits

2006-09-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

Today is a day of waiting. Since I am a naturally impatient person, days like this are difficult. I like to get things done...now!

I'm waiting on my birthday present. Oh, it's not as bad as it sounds. I know what it is, I was there when it was ordered, it's not simply that I'm greedy. It came in today...Yay! But, I have to wait until tomorrow to go and pick it up. Oh, my, the hard life. You'll see why I'm having such a hard time waiting...tomorrow.

I'm also waiting on Fed-Ex. Now that we are a gated property, and I'm the designated gate-keeper, Fed-Ex can't deliver unless I let them in. They're supposed to be here 'guaranteed by 4:30' today. Since I've already bugged the shipper about this order, I'm feeling guilty about being here today, as in this afternoon, to let the poor guy in.

Next, I'm waiting on my top to dry. The one I've decided to submit to Interweave Knits. I washed it yesterday prior to photographing it for the submission package. The Man Of The House looked at the photo I have and declared that it must be true about the camera putting on 10 pounds, didn't I look heavy? Well, not going to use that photo. Not that model either. Any volunteers? If no one turns up, I guess I just put it on the wicker stand. Anyway, I washed it, blotted the moisture with a towel and left it on a rack to dry overnight. It didn't. It didn't appear to dry at all. It's cotton, and cotton knitted garments tend to grow, sooo...I threw it in the dryer.
(I hear a sharp intake of breath) Told you I'm impatient. I'm also still waiting. Forty minutes in the dryer and the skirt is bone dry. But the bodice...still damp.Waiting.

Waiting to go to restaurant suppliers tomorrow. I'm anxious to set up my dye kitchen. I miss the smell of wet wool, what can I tell you. I've e-mailed about some special yarn I can't wait to dye and- you guessed it- I'm waiting for an answer. In the meantime, I'm searching for some non-reactive 5 gallon pots. Yep, gallon, not quart. And a large strainer. And probably some sort of tarp or something since I sure can't lift 5 gallons of hot water, so plenty of bailing is likely to occur. And most likely, all that bailing will lead to at least some spilling, and thus the tarp.

You'd think that I could do something productive while I wait. Bake the baked oatmeal that I've been working out the recipe for (the restaurant in CA ignored my request for the recipe, so I decided I'd come up with my own). Finish the heel and foot on the second Lollipop sock. Write up the backlog of patterns that I've knitted and noted but not formatted so someone other that me can knit them. Clean house. Study some of the dye, spinning, knitting reference books that are multiplying around here. Nah...I'll just wait.

Connections?

2006-08-31T14:31:00.000-07:00

What's this about, you ask? Good question!
I've been collecting containers recently. And taking them apart. Isn't it interesting how such bizarre shapes can be folded into simple rectangular boxes?
Why am I doing this?
Hmmm....because....well, I don't know.
They just seem to have caught my attention. Back when I was in school, when this type of thing happened, whatever the item of interest was, it started to appear in some form or other in my paintings or photographs. I wonder what's percolating in my mind?

Yesterday was my last spinning class and we learned how to ply our singles. This was fun! I was trying to use a single treadle wheel and the operative word is trying. I appear to be solidly biped. First I tried to use two feet on one treadle, though I had my feet in an incorrect position. I tried to correct my foot position, but my feet didn't like it. Eventually, I settled on treadling with my left foot and using my right big toe to kind of nudge the drive shaft in the proper direction. Not orthodox procedure.

This is the yarn that resulted. I wound it up on the niddy-noddy and said that I wished it were red. Bethe suggested I dye it and I think I might. The two tones would make an interesting red.

Speaking of red >>>

This is some recycled sari yarn that has worked it's way out of the stash and onto my desk. I'm thinking of a purse. I like to have a small, lightweight, purse to take to museums, Santa Fe, and generally places that I'll be standing or walking a lot and my leather purse is too heavy.

Interesting...red and containers. I wonder what's going on in there? When my brain lets me know....

Spun Magazine!

2006-08-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

Tara Schorr from Spun Magazine contacted me today to let me know that the fall issue will be up in a couple of weeks. Why did she notify me? Because I have a set of patterns in this issue! My collar and cuffs will finally hit the e-waves. Keep checking back for the exact link to my stuff, or, better yet, click on the button to the left.

In other news, I'm blocking the short-row beret. An almost finished object! I was commenting to The Man Of The House that this pattern was a great learning experience and I was going to include it in the Learn Something New series. It's a great way to learn short rows and grafting. Not just learn to follow the directions, but to learn how to do any short row, any grafting, and how to read your knitting when doing these techniques. The Man Of The House says,"Well, that sounds like a class idea." Duh! Why didn't I think of that? I was given the option of teaching a class of my choice and have been trying to think up something new to teach. There are short row classes out there, but I'm pretty sure that this project takes a different and perhaps more comprehensive approach. What do you think? Would you be up for learning how to short row in any situation? Graft in pattern?

The eye-candy of the day- the view from Sandia Peak, taken last Sunday during the beautiful cool weather.

Free Simple Scarf Pattern

2006-08-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

Materials: Any worsted weight yarn and needles appropriate for the yarn.
I used Lion Wool-Ease for easy care.
Gauge: 4 sts/in
Finished width: 6"

Cast on 28 sts.
Sl 1st st of every row, Pwise wyif (as if to P, with yarn in front). K last st of every row.

R 1-4: Sl 1, K1,*K4,P4* across, K2.
R 5-8: Sl 1, K1,*P4, K4* across, K2.

Repeat these 2 segments until as long as desired. (Red Scarf - 60 ")

BO loosely, steam lightly to block.

Please make a scarf for the Red Scarf Project!

Red Scarf Project 2007

2006-08-28T14:08:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you a story...

A couple of years ago, I was teaching first grade in an inner city Houston school. It was close to the end of the year and the kids (not to mention teachers) were getting that antsy 'aren't we done yet?' kind of feeling. Just before lunch, my door opened and the attendance clerk walked in with an unfamiliar boy. "Here's your new student!" she exclaimed brightly, and she turned and hurriedly left the room.

Now, the arrival of a new student is always disruptive. A new student just as we're leaving for lunch is guaranteed to create havoc. A new student at the end of the year? Unthinkable! I was less than pleased.

The new student himself was not encouraging. He stood at the door, not moving, not looking at anything. He was small, even scrawny. His face, when I got close enough to see it, was expressionless. He was unresponsive when I asked his name. He was unresponsive when I asked him to get in line for lunch. He wouldn't take my hand. He ignored the super-kind boy I asked to be his buddy. It was like he somehow wasn't there. His body was, apparently, but only his body. My class needed to be on its way for our 3 minute get your lunch window, but this small boy was plainly not going anywhere, never mind hurrying.

And so it went. My heart went out to this nearly invisible soul. Even if his face hadn't been a mass of bruises, his behavior, his absence from his surroundings, his unwillingness or inability to acknowledge the existance of those around him, all spoke to the extent of the abuse he had suffered. The other students were at a loss as well. He wouldn't talk or play but he took their things. They were uneasy because they knew he was different, sensed that he was damaged, but in their 6 year old law and order minds they had difficulty reconciling different treatment for him than for them if they behaved similarly.

He only stayed a few days, a couple of weeks. We tried mightily, but we were unable to warm him up even a smigeon. One day, he just wasn't there.

Of course, he was a foster child, just removed from his home. His one year older sister had been removed as well, but she was functioning normally. My guess is that he had been the scapegoat child. We were part of his first placement, but he was moved again quickly to a place farther away and considered safer.

This small boy challenged me and my perception of myself as a teacher and person. I was known in my school as the teacher perhaps most concerned with the emotional and psychological health of my students. I was the one who recognized symptoms of mistreatment and got help for the kids. I was the one referring families for counseling, getting clothes for cold kids and those wearing shoes they could only fit their toes into. And yet, here was this child, plainly hurting, whom I couldn't reach, couldn't communicate with. Who also disrupted the hitherto smoothly running classroom constantly and made learning difficult for the other only relatively less struggling children. I couldn't figure out how to cope with him.

All of this, to introduce the Red Scarf Project. The Orphan Foundation of America works with children in the foster care system. Only 50 % of children in foster care graduate from high school and less than 10% go on to college (from the Foundations website, Care Packages page). These resilient few go to university without the family support system to back them up. The Red Scarf Project is an attempt to let them know that they are in the thoughts of someone, that someone cares.

The Red Scarf Project collects hand made, unisex red scarves and distributes them to these foster graduates. The scarves are to be mailed in January, so there is plenty of time. The request is that they are red, 5-8 inches wide, and about 60 inches long. Go here and here for more information, a free Lily Chin cable pattern, and the mailing address.

Check out my sidebar for a simple, simple free pattern.

Send a scarf in honor of the small boy from Houston.

I'm A Spinner!

2006-08-24T15:05:00.000-07:00

At left: the light colored yarn is from the drop spindle and the dark is my first wheel spun yarn.

Last night was our second spinning class. We had started out with drop spindles (see previous post for what that led to). I practiced diligently all week, using all the roving and filling the spindle twice. I was pretty worried that I'm too slowww at drawing out the fiber and how would I ever cope with the speed of a wheel? So I practiced and practiced, figuring that I needed a lot of improvement before this week's wheel class.
I took my spindle to class and Bethe, supportive teacher that she is, congratulated me on the smoothness of my yarn. Looked pretty awful to me, but hey, what do I know? She pronounced us ready to start learning how to use a wheel. We started out by just treadling for about half an hour and then we added the hand part that we'd been practicing. Well, to my surprise, it's actually easier to spin on a wheel! By the end of the lesson, we were treadling with our feet, drawing with both hands, and talking, talking...

Now:

I need a spinning wheel! Really. I have a birthday coming up, but new spinning wheels are pricey. I've been all over the 'net today looking for a used double treadle spinning wheel in good condition that doesn't cost $150 to ship. Anyone know of any?

On the knitting front, as usual, I was thinking up new variations to my moebius lace pattern instead of writing up what I'd already knit. Well, I thought, I have a 1 skein scarf version, a 2 skein hood version, I wonder how many skeins a shawl would take? Just to get an idea, I tried on the hood on my shoulders instead of my head. Look at what I found!

Wow! This is great! Now I have a shawl that won't fall off, I can't lose, and I don't need to hold it on! Just need to format that pattern...

Remember those socks I was going to tinker with last weekend? As usual, tinkering became Changing In A Big Way and I started all over. I've gotten used to this by now, so I didn't frog the first sock, just started the second in a different way. That way I have the first as a reference and I can decide which parts of each sock I prefer. So far, I'm liking this new version much more, but it's been slowww going. I seem to have forgotten how to count again. I had to redo one repeat 5 (five) times. It's not hard, I promise, but you do have to keep track of where you are. As I've already said, apparently I can no longer reliably count.

I can't show you a picture of said sock (it's tentatively promised), but I can show you the sweet yarn that inspired the design:

Isn't it gorgeous?

Of course the design is feminine and romantic.

Not my usual thing at all, but, hey, I never thought I'd be craving a spinning wheel, either.

Another FO!

2006-08-22T16:10:00.000-07:00

Another day, another Finished Object. I love when that happens.

This one has a story. Back when my kids were little, like many children, they lost everything. Things went to school with them, never to be seen again. Sweaters, jackets, hats, mittens, scarves - you name it, they lost it. Not to mention the standard homework, notes to/from teachers, lunch money. Those I couldn't do anything about, but the hats and stuff...well, I had a system. Each boy had his assigned color and I kept a supply of yarn on hand in those colors. I had a set of standard hat/mitten/scarf patterns in multiple sizes always available. So, when 2 mittens went to school and only one (or none) came home, I would pull out my supplies and get to work. The next morning, the forgetful one had a replacement.

Of course, the boys came by this knack of losing their apparel naturally. Oddly enough, their mother has a similar skill. I have a coat and matching scarf that I bought when my older son was about 6. The scarf was attached to the coat with one of those plastic string things (like the ones that hold on the price tags). It still is. All those years and still, the plastic loop. That's the only reason I still have the scarf!

Last winter, The Man Of The House gave me a new coat. (Do you think it might have had anything to do with the shape the coat from DS's childhood was in?) This coat is beautiful. It didn't come with a scarf attached with a plastic thingy. Oh, dear...a beautiful coat deserves a beautiful scarf, and what knitter worth her/his salt wouldn't provide one? Except...you know. I'd lose it.

Thus, the moebius scarf came to be. If it's hung around, completely around, my neck, just maybe I can hold on to it. So, here it is - modeled with said coat.

OK, but now my head was cold. So, I designed a hood...but winter became spring, and the project lost its urgency. The hood sat, 3/4 knit, on my desk (where I put projects that are supposed to nag me). And today, da da dee dah!

Though I think it needs a better model!

Lace top finished!

2006-08-21T14:34:00.000-07:00

I feel pretty... oh, so pretty...

Well, not me, exactly, the top. It's finished! I wore it to the big sale at my LYS, Village Wools on Saturday. Scout gave me lots of praise for the design and suggested I submit it to Interweave. She even called over several others from the shop to check it out and they commented positively as well. I went out of there walking on air - nothing like a little ego-stroking to build confidence.

Look at those ~~hands~~fists
in the pic - can you tell I've had the headache from hell for days now? Now look at the mess I made later that day -

Uh, where's the spindle? Welllll...I'd filled it up. Bethe had said to come and get another spindle, but I was too lazy/cheap to drive to Edgewood, so I Looked In A Book. Said book instructed to slide the spun yarn off the spindle and onto a spike. I found an appropriate knitting needle to use as a spike and proceeded to slide the yarn. Except it didn't slide. Uh, there's a hook on the end of the spindle, of course it won't slide. Only it wouldn't go back to where it started, either. I ended up, finally, after much struggling, cutting my first spun yarn off the spindle and here is where it ended up (see above). The Man Of The House very wisely remained in another room while this disaster took place.

I have since moved my first spun yarn from the floor to the trash. And out of the trash to any empty spot on the shelf in my office/studio. Where it's looking at me. I could attempt to untangle it. Maybe I could untwist some of the ends and twist them back together. Perhaps I could salvage some of this, my first spun yarn. Or maybe it's a lesson in letting go. Maybe it just belongs in the trash.

The same headache that I'll blame for this disaster is keeping me from making a decision already. Later...

Update...

2006-08-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

Project 1: lace moebius hood, finished knitting, on the blocking wires awaiting garter grafting.

The case The Man Of The House made for my blocking wires, pins, and yardstick. Uh, oh, please excuse the foot!

Which of these objects doesn't belong? Current home of the blocking wires in their new case.

Project 2: short row beret: awaiting grafting in stitch pattern. I'll probably do both grafting projects together. Keep the frustration opportunities to a minimum.

Project 3: lace top.

and:

Actually, I finished the knitting last night, but these are the most current photos. Just needs last few ends dealt with. I used Russian joins to attach new skeins but I'm going to try duplicate stitching the ends that are left and sealing with Fray Check on a toothpick.

Project 4: spinning. I think I've almost filled up this spindle. I have a lot of roving left and I sure need the practice, so I'll try slipping the yarn off and holding it on a long knitting needle until the next class. We're going to try plying!

Project 5: one finished sock of a pattern I submitted a while ago. I have only heard that the submission arrived and selection has been delayed, so I don't know if this is mine or not. Anyway, it's been marinating and I've decided (as always) to tweak it, so I'll run in a life-line and frog back to where I want to change things. Good TV project for the weekend. Has college football started yet?

That's all! Not too bad - only 5 and 2 nearly, nearly FO's.

Nature for today:

One of the Window Arches (the right one, as I remember) from Moab, Utah.

Look, Ma...

2006-08-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

I'm spinning! I finally had my first spinning class yesterday. Actually, it was pretty much a spinning lesson, as the class consisted of two students. It's held at Good Fibrations! in Edgewood, NM. I've been waiting for this since the East Mountain Fiber Tour a couple of months ago.

Bethe, the owner of the shop and teacher of the class, was soooo patient with me. The other student is a natural and was instantly spinning like a pro. Me, well...let's say my spindle is very durable. It hit the floor quite a bit - spinning too tightly, spinning too loosely, just coming undone for reasons unknown. My old hairdressing days are coming back to haunt me - I have a habit of combing the roving with my fingers instead of drafting. But I loved it! I knew I would! Bethe kept reassuring me that I'd get it, don't give up, but I wasn't discouraged. I'm always slowww at picking up anything requiring co-ordination. You should have seen me trying to learn how to drive a stick!

Look at all the roving I brought home to practice with! This class is amazing, Bethe lent us spindles and supplies all the fiber we need to practice.

My first spun yarn! As they say, it needs work, but I can't wait until I get this. The muscles better hurry up and develop their memories.

I was thinking last night about my fiber interests - knitting, dyeing, spinning (and I can crochet, tat, embroider, needlepoint, quilt, sew - did I leave anything out?). Why am I not interested in weaving? After all, NM is a treasure trove of weavers. I can appreciate the beauty of some of the looms I've seen, but I have no burning desire to learn how to use one. Why is that? I'm guessing that it's because there seems to me to be a remove between the artist and the fiber. The loom is kind of a machine that the weaver manipulates to create the fabric. I need the tactile sensation of the wool sliding between my fingers. I often decide which project to work on by what my hands need to feel. Seriously, some days they need the comfort of worsted weight wool and others the lightness of sock yarn or lace. Perhaps this is why I have to push myself to get out the sewing machine these days...What do you think?

Wellll...Blogger won't let me add any more pictures to this post, I've tried and tried, so here it is...

In conclusion...

2006-08-14T16:25:00.000-07:00

Sunny, sunny Seattle and points east...
Yes, I know Seattle is grey and rainy all the time. Or, at that's what people tell me. I wouldn't know personally. It's always beautiful and sunny when I'm there. Perhaps they ought to import me every few weeks...hint, hint.
We hit the usual high points, Pike's Market, the original Starbuck's, the houseboat village. We got lost a lot and I saw (very quickly and accompanied by frenzied ranting from the Man Of The House And Appointed Driver) a number of points of interest and neighborhoods that I'd read about/seen in movies. Seattle definitely deserves more time to explore (perhaps via public transit?) We stayed in Eastlake, a lovely neighborhood (Eastlake Inn, web address on the sign, but link didn't work) and ate at 2 favorite places, 14 Carrot Cafe and Serafina. Wonderful eating and lovely ambiance.

The second day, we drove around the coastline and over the bridge to Bainbridge Island. I'd read about Churchmouse Yarns and envisioned a tiny, well..., mousy kind of place. Wrong, wrong, and wrong again.

This is probably the sleekest shop we saw on this trip. This is perhaps the sleekest yarn shop I've ever seen. The elegant exterior is certainly deserved by the amazing interior. Knitters from all over the country were in awe. There was quiet classical music playing, people sitting and knitting, people petting the luscious fibers and gazing glazed eyed into space (seeing possible creations in their minds?). True to its name, there is a tea shop in the back. There are also comfortable benches in front where non-knitterly escorts can enjoy a beverage or an ice cream from across the street and bask in the pleasant weather.

My favorite part of this shop? Samples! They had samples for everything. They had current shop designs for many yarns. When I read their newsletter, they have classes incorporating many of the shop designs. In fact, a newsletter from another shop I visited on this trip referred to a shop pattern from this store! What a wonderful community they must create! And, look what I found...

The highly touted Socks That Rock! STR to the initiated. I confess, STR is one of the yarns I was really, really hoping to find on this trip. I can't wait to swatch with it and see what all the fuss is about.

After dinner in the marina, we took the ferry back to Seattle. Not quite as romantic as it appears on Gray's Anatomy...

From here on, TMOTH was focused on getting home. The mad dash across the country was about to begin. When we were driving around in circles trying to get on the freeway, he casually remarked, "I'm surprised there aren't any yarn shops in Seattle." Wherever did he get that idea? Apparently, since I hadn't dragged taken him to any, he assumed there must not be
any. We happened to be only a couple blocks from So Much Yarn (I spotted it in the circling process), so I suggested we stop and check it out. TMOTH was willing, parking was readily available, so we made one last stop before the freeway.

I think that this is a relatively new shop - it seems like there was something about a second anniversary coming up. They had some really luxurious fibers here along with the novelty yarns that it seems new shops always have. There was a seating area in the back, where a woman was finishing an afghan and a table for classes. I don't know if it was the getting to the freeway mood, but I didn't see any yarn that called out to me. I did find something to add to my collection of...

Harmony books. I'm just missing 1 and 5.

After this, we just dashed across the country towards home. We stopped for the night in Boise and Moab and finished with over 6000 miles in 8 days. The Man Of The House was very patient to fit in all those yarn shops on his vacation!

In Boise, we looked in the windows of Drop A Stitch. They don't open until 11 AM, and we had to hit the highway. They have an interesting arrangement. This picture is of the front window to the right of the entrance hallway (if you look carefully, you can see TMOTH reflected in the window). From this room, they have a stairway to another, lower, level, also opening off the hallway. Then, across the hall there is a duplicate of this layout. The hall is open to the general public and is the entryway for the entire building (there are offices behind the store and upstairs). I wonder how this works for them?

Peeking in through the window in one of the doors (4!).

The marina on Bainbridge Island.

Oops! and other not-so-random topics

2006-08-13T15:20:00.000-07:00

I awoke in the night after posting the last item about Lamb's Ear in Tacoma. It had come to me in my sleep (!) (no wonder I don't feel rested) that I had spelled Roxi's name incorrectly. When I checked the post, wow, I not only spelled it incorrectly, I spelled it 2 different ways (incorrectly). My apologies, Roxi!
I've since corrected the spelling - just check out the nifty HTML I found and - I think- was able to use for strikethroughs. In my research for this, I also stumbled across yet another way to attempt to add buttons to the sidebar. Maybe this time I'll get it...

In a mostly unrelated topic, I think that some people are having difficulty with the comments section. I have it set up so that I approve comments after having received a surprise early on. So, if your comment doesn't immediately appear, check back later. I love comments, they make my day, please leave one!

Yet another topic - I posted on the KnitTalker's list last week about a cotton top I'm designing that wasn't fitting properly in the armholes. An update - I eliminated the last two increases and increased the bodice depth (worked in the round from the bottom up) and the armhole now fits. I started on the lace 'skirt' part of the top, had it almost finished and then decided to change it. I spent part of last evening tinking. I could - and probably will- put in a lifeline and just rip, but I needed more light than I had to do that.

Lastly, finished the knitting part of a moebius hood. This has been an on-and-off project since last Christmas. Interesting how the moebius concept came up again (on the lists as a result of Cat Bordhi on Knitty Gritty) just as I took up this project for the third or fourth time. I've made two variations on this design, now. The first was a one skein wonder made to match my new Christmas coat. I always lose scarves, to I made one that was easy to put on and take off, but wouldn't come off on its own accord. Then I decided I liked the pattern so much, I wanted a hood in a similar design. I used 2 skeins for this one. They are both E. Lavold's Silky Wool and both in a reversible lace stitch. I'll post pictures when the blocking is finished.

On the road again...

2006-08-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

across Oregon and into Tacoma. We spent the night in Eugene, OR and did some exploring the next morning. What an interesting place! A friend of mine went to school there (Go Ducks!) and had told me that if I ever visited I'd never leave. Well, I did leave, but I'd like to go back. I wonder if they need any teachers? Interesting co-incidence - when I got back I was looking through a blog-index thingy and clicked on an interesting-sounding blog. It turned out to be a knitting blog from Eugene - and - it turned out the author was transplanted from ABQ - and- she linked to Scout's Swag (remember - my hand-painted sock yarn teacher). Hmmm...

Tacoma was nothing like I thought it would be. I had the idea that it was an industrial kind of step child to Seattle. We went to the LYS I wanted to visit (read on) and then had some time to kill because of the traffic into Seattle, so we explored quite a bit. We found a lovely park where The Man Of The House enviously watched the joggers. We walked and walked around the downtown area where there is quite a lot of revitalization going on. The condos on the water looked like they afforded quite a life-style! We stopped to ask directions and TMOTH met the owner of the local baseball team. Poor guy tried to talk minor league baseball, but TMOTH has a certain disdain for it (he's a native Houstonian, only the big leagues for him).

Back to the LYS - I've seen Lamb's Ear Farm many times on the various knitting for sale/swap lists. ~~Roxie~~ Roxi
seemed to advertise many of my favorites, so I just had to check out the actual physical shop. I had a map downloaded from the internet, which was a good thing, because TMOTH kept asking me where I was taking him. It sure didn't look like a retail destination. Which turned out to be right - it's a house.

It's a cute place. We parked on the street, but ~~Roxy~~Roxi
told us they have a brand new parking lot behind the store. Next time!

It was a treat exploring the many and varied yarns displayed. I've never seen so much Opal in one place! I was sorely tempted but...

Look what I found! What a beautiful colorway! I just adore the muted peaches blending ever so softly into the tans and soft greens. Kind of a Zen thing. Or maybe you just have to be there.

Back to the shop...~~Roxy~~Roxi
,smart cookie and friendly person that she is, kept my husband conversationally occupied so I could look around to my heart's content. He found out that they had been in business for 7 years, had a daugher in Dallas with 5 kids and had a large family herself (was it 5 as well?). She certainly didn't look old enough to have grown kids, never mind a raft of grandkids! He also found out that they had just finished the addition to the back of the shop. What a wonderful room - lots of windows, therefore lots of light and a great class area in the middle. I bet the classes are fabulous.

On to the daily eye-candy...several shots today of Tacoma's Glass Museum's pedestrian bridge...

one of the glass columns - look to me like rock candy

(above) part of the wall of the span

and....

The Ceiling---fabulous color explosion!

And, another coincidence - the artist has a Taos connection and gets some of his inspiration from Rio Grand rugs.

I left my heart...

2006-08-09T15:24:00.000-07:00

I know, cheesy, cheesy. I couldn't resist since today is San Fransico. I only had time for one shop, but what a shop! We went to Artfibers downtown. It was kind of hard for an out-of-towner to find and I always get the willies in San Fransisco traffic anyway. I guess it's adding those spectacular hills into the mix, for I'm surely used to traffic from all those years of living in Houston.

Finally, I spotted the pink sign kind of in the middle of the picture and we were lucky enough to park right there. I could have sworn that there was a joker waving at the camera when I took this picture, but lo and behold - he isn't in it! Where'd he go?

The front door - inviting, but, uh...where's the shop?

Down the hall and around the corner, another door, a little less inviting. With an arrow pointing up the stairs. Okay, I get it now. This is like New York. I could feel The Man Of The House getting restless behind me (neither ABQ nor Houston has much in the way of downtown retail) so up the stairs I went. Quickly, before he changed his mind.

And this is a portion of what we found at the top of the stairs. Lots and Lots of fabulous, original fibers. This store has its own mill and the yarns are exclusive to it. And, wow, what yarns they are - and at reasonable prices. I was salivating heavily and my mind was whirling with ideas. I could camp out here for at least half a day!

I guess I'm not the only one - they sure are ready for us. The chairs (and someone else's DH) are what they call the Yarn Tasting area. There are drawers with samples of the yarns they carry and you're free to sit and try them out. [I saw today on Make 1 Yarn Studio's blog that they have Yarn Tasting classes - both great ideas...when I have my own shop...hmmm...]

In the foreground, you see the computer work station where the owner will custom design a pattern for you. She also sells the design software, Knitscape. This was a new one to me. Anyone tried it?

The view from the window. Don't you just love the way it opens?

For the KnitTalkers among you: here is a photo of the sleeveless cotton top I've been talking about (in the process of re-knitting).

Oh, and I almost forgot... my Artfibers purchase - amazing lace weight in a gorgeous teal.

Finally, today I have for you Mt. Shasta, seen from the town of the same name...

California Dreaming, Part II

2006-08-08T13:34:00.000-07:00

Back in San Jose - I visited one of my favorite yarn shops ever. Wish this were close enough to be my LYS! It's commuknity. I first found out about it by stumbling across the blog written by the owner as she worked on opening the shop, though I think that it has changed hands since then. It was one of those serendipidous things - I found the blog, wished I could see the shop, and found out we were going to be in the area all within a couple of days. So, last year I was so excited to actually find the shop. It lived up to, no, surpassed, my expectations as far as ambiance. It's truly a calm, welcoming, kind of sheltering place for fiber artists. I wasn't so fond of the inventory last year, though. I have some sort of bias against shops that seem to carry the entire Rowan, Jo Sharp or Debbie Bliss lines. No reason whatsoever, I admit. Completely irrational, but there it is.
This year, however, was a different story. The inventory was much more varied and much more interesting. They had some great lace weights and a large inventory of sock yarns. I think, though I'm not sure, that this is the place that had such a huge selection of Cotton Classics. It's curious to me that the West Coast shops I visited on this trip all seemed to have so much more color selection than I've seen elsewhere. How lucky you guys are!

And my purchases here: some Frog Tree Suri Aplaca for, you guessed it, socks and a couple of Harmony Guide books. I can never find these, so I've decided to get any any time I actually see them. They're such wonderful reference books!

After my visit to community, I drove out El Camino Real, trying to find the yarn shops and other points of interest. This was all new territory to me and it was fascinating. All of the place names that I'd read about and visualized so differently. Somehow I had the idea that Stanford was in the country. Ha!

I didn't have much luck with the yarn shops. Most were closed (it was Sunday) and the one that I really, really wanted to find, I couldn't. I sure the explored the neighborhood, though, looking for it. I called for directions, but no one answered. Redwood City was a visual tree, however, so I didn't mind too much. Oh, the shop was Amazing Yarns. Someone on the Knitlist recommended it. She said that it is built around a redwood tree. Sounds heavenly...

Speaking of the Knitlist (or was it Knittalk?) - I've read all those posts from Half Moon Bay and been really intruiged. I just had a quick and hazy memory of passing by on the Pacific Coast Hwy a couple of years ago. My memory was of fog hugging the water - an eerie kind of mood. I wanted to see it again and check out that spookiness. I checked the map, checked the time and decided I could do it. I turned off the Camino and took what I thought was going to be a highway to the coast. Well, it started out that way. For about 10 minutes. Then it turned into a traffic jam. Absolute gridlock. For a couple of hours. It was in the midst of the heat wave, I turned the AC off to prevent the car from overheating, and I waited. And waited. For No Apparent Reason. I marveled at the scenery and enjoyed the fragrance of the trees and tried to ignore how thirsty, hot, sweaty, and eventually, hungry I was.

Finally, got to the village, still in traffic, took one of the first turns, and the first parking space I saw. The village is charming. It looks like it should be fictional! Not at all gloomy and foggy - at least at this time. I'm not even sure I have connected the correct memory to it, but I was in a completely different place than a couple of years ago. I walked around and around, found a bagel place for a cool drink and snack (too late for lunch, too early for dinner). I wasn't looking, but I found a funky yarn shop, Fengari. It's in an old storefront type building and doesn't appear to have experienced much modernization. It feels like the old west type of general store. There is yarn everywhere, and I do mean everwhere! In boxes, baskets, precariously pereched on shelves. in stacks on the floor, everywhere! Patterns, too. I liked the relaxed feel of it, but I'm a Virgo, the Martha Stewarts of the cosmos, and I would go crazy if I worked here! Inexplicably, I didn't buy anything. Too frazzled, I guess. Also, seriously dreading the trip back to San Jose.

And, today's eye candy:

Gives new meaning to the phrase 'flower bed', doesn't it?

California Dreaming

2006-08-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

July was a busy, busy month! Most of it was spent elsewhere than hot, dry ABQ. First, I went to El Rito, NM for an intensive seminar in natural dyeing. More about that later...let's just say for now, that I'm missing the smell of wet wool!

The Man of the House and I made a repeat trip to CA for the MotoGP (motorcycle race) for him and vacation (stash enhancement and 'market research') for me. Today I'll give you Part I of my report.

But first, a couple photos of the top I finished the night before we left. It's only been designed on paper since December!

I've always been a sucker for voile. I love the texture contrasts in this top and its cool feel. The yarn is Mirto from Filatura Di Crosa (cotton/linen/rayon blend). I think that I got the fit right to allow for cotton's stretchiness.

Okay, first stop on the Great Yarn Tour of 2006. The race was at Laguna Seca, but the nearest place to stay was in San Jose. Day One I went south and checked out the shops on the coast.

This is the front of The Golden Fleece in Santa Cruz. I'd been there last year (organic cotton for a shell, Danish pattern) but I found this year's inventory much more interesting. They must have every shade of Cascade 220! I saw several good, basic lines and some intriguing luxury yarns. The staff is friendly and left me alone to pet the yarns and check out the samples. If I lived in the area, I think this would be my go-to shop. [It says Sash Mill because it's in an refurbished old industrial building - BTW, great restaurant next door with baked oatmeal for breakfast.]

My big purchase - a couple of skeins of Fixation for socks. I've never found this in my LYS.

While in Santa Cruz, I shopped around the downtown district (and explored some neighorhoods - great houses). Last year, I searched for a coffee shop, this year there were loads of them. Also, I checked out the bookstores. There is a very interesting used book store that had a book on breeds of sheep and their wool characteristics, but I refrained (!). I did get Margaret Radcliffe's book because I always learn from her articles and posts to the lists.

Across town, I found The Swift Stitch. Last year, Knit-Listers had told me about a second shop in Santa Cruz, but I didn't find it. This year, I asked at the tourist information booth in downtown and they showed it to me on the map. I recognized the route as the one I had taken before, but I just didn't go far enough. This time, even with the map, I ended up calling for directions. I was a little embarrased when I found out that I was calling from the parking lot!

Here it is - it's in the corner of a plaza kind of place. There is seating in the courtyard for the French bakery and cafe on the front corner. Very pleasant, even though it was a major heat wave day.

The inventory here seemed to me to have a lot of novelty stuff. I did see some yarns that I've seen on the lists, but not in person. The overstock was in a loft accessed by ladder! There were a couple of young women KIPping in the courtyard and the customers were of a similar demographic. I did, though, hear one woman of a certain age tell her friend that The Swift Stitch would be her new LYS.

My purchases here: more Fixation and some silk ribbon. Notions are hard to find in ABQ (buttons and ribbon especially). Here is the ribbon with its intended home - a baby doll type top with a lace skirt.

Next, I drove down the Pacific Coast Hwy to Carmel. Always one of my favorite destinations. As always, I checked out Knitting by the Sea (no web site that I can find. BTW, did you know that there are no street addresses in Carmel? The shop address is: Fifth Ave. 2 NW of Junipero!). I love the Dutch door and that the weather permits it to be open. This store is generally organized by color intead of the usual format of grouping all of a certain type of yarn together. Last year I hated this arrangement, but this year I liked it. Go figure! I talked to the owner and she is wonderful. Hi, Maura! First thing, she complimented me on my glasses. You have to like that!

Here I bought more sock yarn - I think I sense a trend.

This time it's Sockotta - another common yarn I don't

generally see. Isn't the color appropriate for Carmel?

And finally, I leave you with the sunset over the beach, Carmel-by-the-Sea. Enjoy!

Just Socks!

2006-07-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

My holiday package

...or how I spent my 4th of July weekend.

Several months ago, there was a call for submissions for a new sock book. I didn't check my emails for a couple of days and, of course, MSN and Yahoo were not speaking, so the emails I didn't check were a few days late in coming to begin with, so I didn't see the call until after the deadline. Just, though. I thought a minute about the request and about the yarn I had in the house, made an x and o kind of quick chart, cast on, knit a few inches, scanned my knitting and sent of an email submission.
The request was for a hurry-up project, so when I didn't hear anything for a while, I figured that the editor had been submerged with proposals and that mine hadn't made the cut. Not too mention that it had been late. Oh, well.
Then I got the e-mail that my design had been accepted. Tentatively. Pending approval by the yarn company. OK, I thought. We'll see.
Time went by. Finally, another tentative approval. Still waiting on publisher, yarn company, something.
More time. Another email, this time asking for an address to send yarn. Maybe this was going to happen after all.
Days. Trips to the mail box. Looking for the UPS truck. Nothing.
Email - 'some of you have gotten your yarn' and 'deadline - ASAP'. Well, what about me?
Late that afternoon: UPS truck stops outside gate. I was at the computer or I never would have known that he was there. Gate is locked. Grabbed keys, sandals, ran to gate. Just caught the driver. Opened package - yarn for Just Socks!
This was Thursday. Thursday afternoon. 4th of July long weekend.
So...I got the finished two (2) pair (one men's) in the mail today. Priority mail. To be photoshot next week.
Whew!
I can't wait to see the book! Everybody buy it, now. Well, not now, when it comes out in the fall. Remember, Just Socks!

Check out the editor's website - I'll bet you've seen her other books! She's been super about the whole thing, delays (not her fault) and all.

My Own Hand-Painted Yarn!

2006-06-28T12:36:00.000-07:00

I took my first crafty type of class in years and years and years these past two weeks. Usually I just buy a book and figure it out for myself, but this time I decided a little company would be fun. The local LYS ( I know, I know, how redundant, but somehow local YS just doesn't do the job) offered a handpainting class and I signed up. The summer class schedule came on Saturday, I enrolled on Monday morning and the class was almost full already. And, the LYS is closed on Sunday! Handpainting must be popular!

The class was a lot of fun. The teacher kept us on track and moving right along. As a former classroom teacher, she had her lesson plan prepared, a great visual handout, and materials ready.
We dyed two types of sock yarn and left the second class with yarn ready to go. In the picture, my variegated yarn is on the left and self-striping on the right. The rose is peach, for color reference. The actual yarns are not so electric. I need help figuring out how to take more accurate color pictures! I guess I'll have to read the camera's manual (again!).

But, back to the yarn- I love self-striping yarn. Absolutely love it. Though, come to think of it, I rarely knit it plainly enough for it to just stripe. I've designed several sock patterns and am presently working on a beret pattern (needs me to figure out how to graft in pattern) in Opal self-striping. I can't wait to work up swatches with this yarn! I've already had the stitch dictionaries out looking for possibilities. I kind of think I've found one, but not in the dictionaries, in a British thinking about your knitting kind of book. We'll see if I can adapt it and what it looks like in the swatch. Probably socks, but I'm also wondering about the dyeing repeats and sweater patterns. So Much Fun!

Scout's warping board - used to measure out the repeats for the self-striping yarn.

Amazing Lace Redux

2006-06-19T15:31:00.000-07:00

Yikes! I am beset by technological traps. Either that or I'm developing digital dementia. Last night I worked frantically to be able to post about Extreme Lace before the deadline. The Man of The House had been away and I was unable to figure a way to take photos of myself, so this was a totally last minute project. Then, the pictures taken, I quickly quickly quickly turned them into an easy-peasy (former 1st grade teacher, remember) montage. Holding my breath, I uploaded the project into Blogger. It took! It actually appeared and agreed to be moved to where I wanted it! Published the entry, copied the URL and went to the Lace site to enter the Challenge. Turns out it isn't a matter of simply pasting the URL. There is the dreaded HTML involved. I found the directions, carefully copied down the necessary code, was sure I understood what to do and did it. And...no link. Tried again...highlighted text appeared in the right place, but no link. This stuff is kicking my...afghan... but I'm not giving up. I learned PhotoShop, I can do anything. I just need to find a help source that actually helps. I want to know how to:

add buttons to the sidebar
add links to the sidebar
add links to free patterns to the sidebar and add the patterns to a separate page
add copyright information to bottom of said pattern pages
caption the pictures and wrap text.

It can't be that hard - how is it that so many other knitters can find out how to do this stuff and I can't?

If you know, please leave a comment!

Help!

Just for fun:

The first flowers on our heirloom miniature rose bush -

2006-06-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

Today I have for you my entry for Challenge II in the Amazing Lace Summer of Lace. It's supposed to be a photo of extreme knitting of some type on the designated lace project. I have already learned that this project requires extreme attention. Thus, this montage of my OCD knitting (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). Clockwise from top left:

1. Checking my stitch pattern.
2. Checking my design typed out on the computer row by row.
3. Placing lots of stitch markers at every conceivable place.
4. Ka-ching! at end of every row.
5. The chaos of my desk while designing this project!
6. Adding lifelines at every pattern repeat.
6. Keeping track of gusset increases, edge increases, and pattern rows with tally marks.

3rd Annual New Mexico East Mountain Fiber Farm and Studio Tour

2006-06-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

Wow! This time I uploaded the photos before writing the text and it seems to work better. Now to see how the text wraps the photos...always an interesting proposition.

This weekend was the Fiber Farm Tour. I'd heard about it last year but somehow didn't get around to participating. This year, with The Man Of The House's new found interest in things
fibery, we both wanted to see what's going on out there in the East Mountains. The tour had 11 stops at farms and studios, bit we only made it to the first seven before running out of time. For some reason, we started at number 7 and worked backwards to number 1. Actually, I know the reason - The Man wanted refreshments and we thought the Dairy Association was located at #7.

The barn at Prairie Wood Ranch, our first stop.

This farm had mostly Pygmy goats. They are absolutely adorable, even though they are not fiber animals. When we first arrived at the barn, they told us that a new kid had just been born 30 minutes ago. It was surprisingly large compared to the mother and was so hariy! It was covered with long black hair. I had my camera, but I didn't want to bother a newborn with a flash. The lady of the farm was spinning and she graciously gave me advice about a wheel. I really liked the ergonomics of the one that she was using, a Lendrum folding wheel. Hmm... have to do some research about that.

Baby alpaca (left) and llama (right)

Many of the farms had alpaca. The people at Milagro Moon Ranch were sooo patient with our questions. I had been curious about the difference between llamas and alpacas. At Milagro Moon Ranch, there were both llama and alpacas in the same pen and the differences were obvious. The alpacas, so help me, look like they have elastic necks. It's the weirdest thing. They'd be right at home in a Dr. Seuss book!

Milagro Moon was also the location of the South Mountain Dairy tent. The Man was extremely pleased to see goat cheese. We bought some raspberry chevre and crackers and had an impromptu picnic. It was absolutely delicious cheese, so good that I saved the carton to try and find it in ABQ. What luxury - raspberries and goat cheese and fiber animals, not to mention the much cooler high altitude temperatures.

Shooting Star Farm had all kinds of animals, alpacas, llamas, donkeys, angora goats, and churro sheep. I took a picture of the goats. They had a pen set up as a goat petting zoo and I couldn't resist going in with the goats. When I looked around, I was the only adult. Oh, well...

The goat-petting pen

There were several tents set up with fiber arts demonstrations. The Man visited with an expert spinner and she showed him the fiber that she had spun that day. He thought it was amazingly soft (angora) but was appalled at the quantity. The masculine point of view - how could anyone make any money doing that? Why would I ever want to spin when it takes so long? I whispered to the spinner when his back was turned and she started talking about the peace that spinning gives her and the quality of the handspun yarn. When we were leaving, she said that she hoped I decided to learn to spin. I gave her a thumbs up (behind the Man's back) when he said he was sure that I would! Up with the sisterhood!

My purchase of the day

I was a very good girl and only bought 1 skein of yarn. The Man was pretty surprised. He was the one who actually found this yarn in a basket kind of under some other stuff. The label says wild goat yarn, some 500 yards. How could I not buy it? I'm thinking socks, how about you?

Westfarthing Farm was a stand out. Sharrie was a wonderful tour guide through their sheep operation. I learned a lot about different breeds of sheep and their fibers. I was so, so tempted by some natural grey corridale yarn, but I've a great big order from Webs coming this week. So I resisted and hoped (hoped, hoped) that I'd win the door prize of 3 skeins. Oh, well...maybe next time.

The farm tour was simply inspiring. I don't understand why the connection between the animals and the actual knitting is so moving, but seeing these farms and their animals made a difference for me. It's like there is a whole new world out there and it's calling to me. So far this week, I've signed up for a handpainting yarn class and I've been e-mailing to register for a natural dyeing class and a how to spin class. I feel the need for a closer fiber connection than just knitting and designing patterns. What a summer it could be! Wish me luck...

Oops! Maybe I can fix this: additions to previous post

2006-06-13T16:34:00.000-07:00

I've tried for hours and hours to include some links and pictures in the post about Tapetes de Lana and Tierra Wools with disatrous results. I don't know where the pictures actually go when Blogger says they have been successfully uploaded! After several sessions where whole segments of the post just upped and disappeared, I decided to just try a kind of P.S. post before the main entry lost all semblance of coherence.
First, the lost links:
Tapetes de Lana

The Yarn Harlot

Now, to try for the pictures!

Tapetes de Lana (from their brochure)

More shots of Abbiquiu Inn:

Los Ojos:

Tierra Wools:

The View from behind Abiquiu Inn:

The Haul from TW!

Tierra Wools, from their brochure

Crossing my fingers...that seemed to work. This time.

Blog at last....

2006-06-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

Well. It's been a while. I've a whole list of topics to blog about, just haven't gotten it done. I was busy working on a project with a deadline, then I was interrupted several times, then Blogger was down, then my computer was crawling.... well, anyway, no blog. I was feeling really badly about this, then this morning I checked out The Yarn Harlot's blog and found her post about general work malaise. Just what I was feeling. So, knowing that I'm in good company, here goes.
I'm reaching my mental hand into my bag of blogging topics and...
More trips and more stash enhancement!
The Man of the House has shown an interesting curiosity about fiber production lately. Apparently he read something about fiber in NM in some magazine in the doctor's office and he was intriugued. Notice how I'm not complaining!
First we went to Mora, NM to find the Tapetes de Lana Weaving Center. The Man has a head for numbers and probably remembers the route number associated with every road he has ever driven down. I, on the other hand, have no idea of route numbers and prefer to identify roads by landmarks or occasions traveled. The Man remembered the exact directions from the magazine. So when we got to Mora, we drove through town seveal times looking for the intersection of 518 and Main. Finally, I stopped looking for the road signs and began looking at the actual buildings. There it was - Tapetes de Lana (and yes, we'd driven right by it each time). Only...it was closed. It looked really, really, interesting, however. I guess we'll just have to make the trip again (sniff, sniff.)
Then, Memorial Day weekend, after the Indy 500, of course, The Man got the idea of visiting Tierra Wools. I had picked up a brochure for them when we had our unfruitful excursion to Mora. It's north of Abbiquiu, the location of Georgia O'Keefe 's famous Ghost Ranch and not far from The Abiquiu Inn. We have eaten dinner at the Abiquiu Inn several times and been pretty impressed. Not to mention, the fabulous, fabulous landscape therabouts. Georgia O'Keefe has been quoted as saying that God told her that if she painted it enough, she could have the land. I'm not sure anybody can ever own that land. It's like a cat, it owns you. I never turn down a trip in that direction, even without anything fibery on the itinerary.
So, the man made reservations at the Inn and off we went. It seemed like no time at all until we got there and checked in. Our room was an oasis (I told the Man that when I write my book[!] that that's where I'll retreat to do it), but it didn't feel like we'd had enough scenery. So, off we were again, still travelling north. Our destination was Chama, about 10 miles from the Colorado border. The road was under construction, had been removed actually, but was still open. Driving was kind of slow, but with such views, who cared? Except, perhaps, the Man, who was actually doing the driving. We arrived in Chama, drove around a little, past the old time train, the churches, the school complex, and saw a sign for the Elk Reserve. Elk Reserve? In New Mexico? We've seen elk herds before, but somehow in my mind, an elk reserve was something found near Jackson Hole, not right here where it was accessible. So, off we went to explore the Elk Reserve. Only to find the gate closed and firmly locked. The Reserve was closed for calving. This was even more interesting. Baby elk! But, we respected the locks and turned around. Another reason for another trip.
Now, we had a teensy bit of a problem. The only place we've found to eat in Abiquiu is the Inn and the Inn's restaurant closes at 8PM. With all of our travelling around and the road construction, making that deadline was kind of uncertain. The Man does not miss meals. There was Chama, but the couple of possible dining places seemed to have an abundance of Harleys parked outside. I remembered that there had been a sign for the Cliff View Inn a little way outside of town. A cliff view seemed a perfect ending to the day. Back we went. We turned down the small road and drove. And drove. We saw the cliffs we must be going to dine in view of, and the road kept going, past woods and cabins and it seemed, along side a river. After a while there was a sign informing us the road was now private property, but it was still open to the public, so we kept on. And on. And finally, finally, found the Cliff View Inn. Which was closed. Oops! Back we went, though we stopped and got a look at the river. Way, way down below where we were standing. Another cliff view.

Now we really did have a dinner dilemma. Back to Chama to see if anything at all was open. There was a rustic bar/grill kind of place and the Harleys were gone. The weather had gotten quite chilly and our shorts and my sleeveless shirt were tourist labels, but the restaurant turned out to be a diamond in the rough. I had a great steak, garlic mashed potatoes and wonderfully seasonded vegetables and the Man was pleased with his meal as well. We dined well and made our way to the Inn without incident.

The next day, it was off to Tierra Wools. It's in Los Ojos, a tiny hamlet with a picturesque entrance. The building is old, old and looks like a general store kind of place. There are fantatic handloomed rugs on display and for sale everywhere. There is a whole room full of working looms and another couple in the display room. I'm not a weaver, but looms fascinate me. They just look so satisfying. The woman who was minding the store could tell us about the creator of each rug and there was a bulletin board with their pictures. She showed us the dyeing room and discussed the methods with the Man, answering his questions patiently. I looked around at the many yarns on display without hurry or pressure. I asked my own questions about spinning and it turned out the spinner had been at the Taos Wool Festival where we had watched the spinners last fall.
Of course, I ended up with more yarn. This is the most amazing red ever. And what's that you say? What's that other bag over there in the picture? Why, it's roving of course. Do I spin? Do I even have a spindle? Nope! At least not yet. I guess another addiction is around the corner.

Can you count to 6?

2006-05-23T15:08:00.000-07:00

Apparently I can't. I've been working on a simple stitch pattern and I can't get it right. I'd like to call it a lace pattern, but I think the definition of lace knitting is that it includes both YO's and decreases on the right side. This stitch has plenty of YO's but no decreases. It gets rid of the extra stitches by dropping them. So, it is a dropped stitch pattern. Are dropped stitch patterns considered to be lace?
I worked on this pattern during the finale of Will and Grace on Thursday, and it was my knitting for the weekend. The whole weekend. I think I have a net gain of one row. And, remember, it's a simple, simple pattern requiring nothing more complicated than counting to 6.

Here's the offending project, pondering time out. The yarn is Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool in color 18. I found it at my favorite yarn shop, Taos Sunflower, in -you guessed it- Taos, NM.

Notice: Stash Acquisition!

2006-05-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

What a great day! Yesterday morning The Man of the House suggested Santa Fe for breakfast. I'm always beyond glad to go to Santa Fe, so I was ready to go in nanoseconds. The Man wanted chocolate croissants, and they are scarce in ABQ, even scarcer on Sundays. So, chocolate croissant = Santa Fe. Fine with me! What's a 57 mile drive for breakfast? What $3.00 and gallon gasoline. The Man felt like chocolate for breakfast. (To be fair, his car gets some 40 miles to the gallon.) We got to Santa Fe, found a parking place near the Plaza and walked to our favorite French cafe. We ordered drinks and I went to check out the pastry cases. They had my favorite almond tart thing so I ordered it. Then The Man went to look for his chocolate. 57 miles and ...shhh...very quietly now...they were already sold out... Not a good thing. Nothing else would do. Oh, well, I enjoyed my almond tart and we went down the street to the ice cream store where they did, actually, have a chocolate croissant. Two, in fact...eaten in the cool of the morning on a park bench in the plaza in Santa Fe. Such a life.
All this, to lead up to Stash Aquisition. Breakfast over, soaking up the morning peace over, The Man of the House asked if I wanted to shop for the sock yarn I'd been looking for. There are several delightful yarn shops in The City Different, but New Mexico is not an open on Sunday kind of place. The only shop available doesn't carry the sacred Opal. Thank the chocolate, The Man offered Taos. Wow! What a morning! Another hour north and we were in Taos and a few minutes later I was in my favorite LYS, Taos Sunflower. Taos Sunflower, despite it's name is actually in Arroyo Seco. Somehow I don't think the average tourist has a passing acquaintance with Arroyo Seco, and I guess the people at Taos Sunflower don't think so, either. Thus, the name. And, anyway, Arroyo Seco Sunflower doesn't have quite the same ring.
The shop is in between the village of Taos (pop. around 7000) and Taos Ski Valley. It's in its own building behind the Gypsy Cafe. The outside of the building only hints at the delightfulness within, even with the wide porch (with comfortable rockers for all of the Spouses Who Must Wait and the romantic tin roof.
Inside, the ceiling soars. There is light colored wood every where and a wide open spaces kind of feeling. There is room for everything, plenty of everything and no sensory overload due to clutter. The fixtures are sleek and neatly feature the yarn while making petting and selection easy. It just feels like a comfortable kind of place.
The yarn...well, those people who work there, who select the colors and fibers and manufacturers must be my long lost cousins or something. Somehow, they just know the yarns I love, and those are the ones they have. They don't have everything on the market, but they have what I like, including the beloved Opal. The DH knows to just settle in on the rocker and get out his cell phone. He'll have plenty of time to catch up with his family while I drool inside.
So, to make the circle complete (see title and picture above), I was a very good girl. Very disciplined and restrained. See the small, small bag? I bought Mary Thomas Knitting Book (after all, it's a revered reference book), the Knitting Pattern A Day for 2006 (I know it's almost May, but I missed it in December waiting for a coupon at Border's and it was on sale for half price and what do dates have to do with knitting patterns anyway?) and, dum, dum, de dahhh.... Opal Flamingo! The Opal I've been looking at (lusting after) at many, many places on the net. Oh, how I've wanted that yarn! And here it was, where I could actually touch it. And it was a gorgeous as I imagined it would be. I know, I have just a couple of sock yarns in the basket by the bed and several patterns more or less designed for those yarns, I just had to have this yarn. And so I do.

NAYY, by the way.

Who's an angel?

2006-05-18T14:24:00.000-07:00

Well, certainly not me!
And, those who know me will certainly agree. Although, my DH has been known to call me angel on certain occasions (ahem).
Yarn Angel Knits came about because I used to be a first grade teacher. Thus, I had almost daily exposure to the Tooth Fairy and her exploits as related by my students. Wouldn't it be nirvana if there was a mystical creature who magically delivered the yarn of my dreams? Wouldn't it be delightful to wake in the morning and find the yarn I'd been drooling over had appeared under my pillow (or even under the bed - in case of large quantities) during the night?
But, what would be the trigger for the Yarn Angel's visits? Certainly not lost teeth! FO's? No, no, no! That would limit knitters to one, one (!) WIP and that would never do.
A new pattern design? Weelll - but how would I/we (after all, it wouldn't do to keep her to myself) swatch without the yarn in hand?
How about need? As in, I need such and such yarn. You know - all those yarns we drool over on other people's blogs, at all those websites we have saved in your favorites, we just had to pet at the LYS when we just had to drop in to check out the buttons? You know, the yarn that we just need - even if we don't yet know what we need it for?
Hold on just a minute here.
But I 'need' quite a bit of yarn every day. If 'need' triggered magical deliveries in the night, I'd soon be drowning in yarn. DH would have even less room for his stuff than he does now. Things just might get sticky on the home front.
So, what about it?
When do you think the Yarn Angel should visit?