Betsey Do

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

Irie Knits podcasting from Oregon.

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

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

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

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

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

A Lavender Celtic-cabled Bag is in Process.

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

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

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

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

Celtic knitting? I meant celtic cabling

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

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

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

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

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

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

Podcasting from L.A.

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

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

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

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

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

afghans for Afghans - Mother's Day campaign

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

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

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

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

Yeah. Right.

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

CMP ATC #2 Alphabet Soup

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

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

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

Just wow.

Needle and the Damage Done

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

knitting 101

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

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

LURKING the Podcasters BRENDA DAYNE

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

I listen to alot of podcasts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay, do.

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

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

Whew. Passionate much?

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

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

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

Top Down Raglan Starts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sweater From the Top Down #1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

something like that.

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

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

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

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

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

xohe

L I N K S

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

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

Art, Spinning and Swatching

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Law, Art and Algebra

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

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

Stash Sorting and Social Change

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

Cool mittens to knit in the Stash-A-Long

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

No.

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

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

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

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

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

STASH-a-LONG

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

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

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

Eclectic Flickr Gypsy

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

Hot on the presses today - little queen

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

Velvety Flickr Monsters

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

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

Aphrodite: want to do!

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

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

Pimp My Bike

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sock of Dancing Nannies

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

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

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

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

2006 Ends

2007-01-05T10:35:00.000-08:00

Ahhh New Years Eve.
It's 2:30 a.m. and drunken types have lit a pitfire in our backyard. I only know this because I fell asleep at about 9:30 last night and stumbled around at 2:30 a.m to shouts from blurry voices muchly loud and I can smell the embers now at 5:30 waking up again.

So I missed midnight and everything. Did Robin stay up?

So 2007 is here.
2007 and time to think about . . .
1. Completing my first pair of knitted socks.
2. Learn spinning .
3. Finish the Swatch Blanket
4. Buy a pet Alpaca (or at least shear one).
5. Practice some Celtic Knitting.

I'm pretty sure 4 out of these 5 will happen by the end of Spring.

Hamo Neys

Meet dOe dOe

2006-12-27T18:04:00.000-08:00

Hey dOe dOe.

Hey everybody. dOe dOe's here. And now once again, I bid my hideous progeny to go forth and prosper. ...

prEmiE hAT Pattern

2006-12-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

Free pattern I've designed to make the premie hats:

It's knitted into a rectangle, then stitched together with stitches running sideways from bottom to crown.
FINISHED MEASUREMENTS:
Circumference: approx. 12 inches unstretched (stretches really well though)

MATERIALS:
These hats were made using leftover balls of acrylic yarn in my stash. Acrylic yarn is better for little preemie baby heads, since wool can be irritating. Don’t dis acrylic so quickly, there is some pretty nice softer acrylics. Other good choices are cotton or bamboo yarn (so soft!). I combined a sportweight yarn with a DK yarn to get the thicker worsted weight combination.

Suggested materials:
Red Heart Mystic Purple (SUPER SOFT acrylic);
Icicle light blue sportweight acrylic baby yarn

1 set US #8 dpns
1 set US #10 dpns
Tapestry needle

GAUGE
14 sts = 4 inches in garter stitch

PATTERN NOTES
The longtail cast on is used for this pattern. If you are unfamiliar with this technique, excellent instructions can be found at knitty.com.

This pattern was worked with two strands of yarn held together throughout.

DIRECTIONS
Using the long-tail cast on method, with #8s and MC, CO 25 sts.
Before knitting row 1, add second yarn if using two strands of yarn held together.
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: Knit
Switch to #10s
Repeat rows 1 through 3 eight more times (so you end up with 27 rows)
Switch to #8s
Row 28: Knit
Row 29: Purl
Row 30: Knit
With only MC, bind off; leaving a long tail (about 10 inches long).
FINISHING

Thread yarn tail on tapestry needle.
Fold right sides of hat together and stitch up each side,
using each yarn tail on a tapestry needle – using a back stitch about ¼ to 3/8 from the side “selvage.”
Weave in ends.
Turn right sight out and you’re finished.
Enjoy copyright Hilda Erb 2006

Socks

2006-12-26T15:38:00.000-08:00

So. It's the day after Christmas, and on the needles this morning is my very, very first sock ever. I've just spent 2 really cool hours learning and practicing the Magic cast-on for toe-up socks.

Even though I've never knitted socks before, I think it will be okay to start with toe-ups, rather than learning the usual "first way" by starting at the cuff. I'll take it slow.
So cool using such fine needles (size #2s and #1s) and working with this wonderful yarn from 40 years ago: fingering weight wool with 20% nylon in a classic beautiful dark steel grey-blue color with very subtle flecks of plummy grey in the yarn.

I kept thinking about my mom when she used to describe learning to sew handkerchief hems when she was eleven; and I was also remembering Brenda Dayne talk about her first sweater knitted as her first knitting experience. So I didn't want to baby myself on this experience, but rather take on a few real skills and master them from the first sock.

In fact, I was listening to Brenda's podcast from last spring, during her Muse series. The episode was about the Muse Thalia, the Muse of Comedy. Probably my favorite Muse.
And it's ironic, but I find that the less serious I take my knitting, the more I enjoy learning and practicing it's finer techniques and taking the process slow.
It's just not frugal or important to make ones own socks. And still, its so important that I make these for some reason.
(QUICK NOTE: any knitter reading this, you must listen to Mike Bryant – Knitta Please - JUST DO IT, funnnnnny and oh so well crafted too).

So, like alot of knitters (or really alot of non-knitters) who've seen women knitting their own socks, I used to think "huh?"
Cool scarves I get. old fashioned looking mittens from nice wool - yeah. Felting bags and clogs - oh yeah.
But I've done them.
I've done the sweaters too.
And fair isle - which is really the best and my favorite knitting to get lost in.
But now I get it - this stupid sock knitting.
The smallest needle I'd used up to now were #5s, and that was for the miniature hats I had just done this Christmas. Previous to that, I was really a bulky-knit enthusiast who had many pairs of 10s and 13s, on up.
#8s got me onto hats and the fair-isle passion.
But the #5s knitting little doll-size hat ornaments made me want to keep going smaller. That and the recent fetish for socks in general.
So Christmas eve, at the family dinner and party, I started swatching with #2s and fingering yarn and oh-my-gosh, watching those fine little stitches and feeling their softness.
So now I'm making the first sock.
It's the Happy Sock pattern from MagKnits, with alot of help from Knitty for the excellent tutorial on doing the Magic cast-on for these little toe-ups.
Taking it slow and really reeling in the little moments sitting on the couch just doing increase rows right now and seeing the toes form.
Thrilling.

A favorite blogger YSOLDA has another dream project planned for the spring:
Stuffies!
Oh, and I must write about the book I am reading now. It's like what Twyla Tharp was describing in her book "The Creative Habit," where she writes about spending hours at the New York Library studying pictures of Martha Graham and Isadora Duncan and getting lost in their poses, gestures and attitudes. Like this sock knitting, with the hours of patient studying, stitching and mastery, I also feel like I am "earning my ancestry."

And finally. I can't believe I haven't mentioned this until now. But Christmas really pushed good blogging around. THE book I've loved the most this winter is John Murphy's STUPID SOCK CREATURES. Wow is this book inspirational. Ever since I got this book a couple of months ago, I've been stashing and watching people's old socks to make a couple.
Now that Christmas is over, I can.
Really.

Miniature Stocking Hat Ornament PaTTeRN

2006-12-25T18:24:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas today, late afternoon, Christmas day. I am typing this while I gather my thoughts about the knitting I've done these past weeks and the knitting projects set aside waiting to cast onto the needles.

Now that gifts are given and secretly done things are opened and seen, the following can be listed.

Grandpa Frank's sweater was frogged and the following were knitted and given to the family in memory of him, my dad Frank:
Using a slight variation on Susan B. Anderson's pattern posted on Craft Insanity, Miniature hats were knitted for each one of us in the family. The hats are so adorable on our Charlie brown tree.

Everybody received a little miniature santa hat to hang on the tree and keep forever to hang on trees of their own in the future. MAN these are soooo cute hanging on the tree. I'll try to post a picture of that too.

His sweater was knitted up from Bernat denim yarn - a super soft slub of yarn with a mix of cotton and acrylic (grandpa couldn't take wool, but this was a really nice yarn to work with in spite of its acrylic ness).

The pattern for the santa hat:

SIZE
Hangs nicely on a Christmas tree
will also fit a 12” doll

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Circumference: 5-1/4 inches / 13-1/2 cm
Length: approx. 3-1/2 inches/9 cm without folding up bottom brim

MATERIALS
Either worsted weight yarn (the hats I made came out beautifully when I combined a yarn that was almost dk weight, together with a string of lace yarn throughout).

1 set US #5/3.75mm double-point needles
Tapestry needle for weaving in ends.

GAUGE
16 sts = 4 inches in stockinette stitch

PATTERN NOTES: These hats were knitted in the round. You can knit as a flat hat though, purling the even numbered rows (except row 2); and then seam the hat along the back.

DIRECTIONS
K2 tog = knit two stitches together.

Cast on 16 stitches

Row 1: p1, k2 to last stitch, p1.
Row 2: k1, p2 to last stitch, k1
Rows 3 through 6: stockinette stitch
Row 7: k5, k2 tog, k6, k2 tog, k1
Row 8 (and all even rows after this): Knit
Row 9: k4, k2 tog, k5, k2 tog, k1
Row 11: k3, k2 tog, k4, k2 tog, k1
Row 13: K2, k2 tog, k3, k2 tog, k1
Row 15: k1, k2 tog, k2, k2 tog, k1
Row 17: k2 tog, k1, k2 tog, k1
Row 19: k2 tog 2 times
Row 20: k2 tog
Bind off
Weave in ends.

OTHER cool completed things (long!):
For Ty, a hat with the yarn from franks sweater, combined with some grey wool. It's cute, soooo cute. And Robin got her hat with franks grey slub ply'ed together with some really nice baby-soft white yarn that she likes alot. The pictures don't really show much difference do they? Practice this camera some more, I should.

I was also lurking sites for some patterns and stumbled on a really neat idea for a beer cozy. My brother Johnny is a funny story teller, delivers jokes masterfully and comes up with memorable riddles to tease the children at the dinner table. I blame Frank for inspiring this talent in Johnny. Johnny got the knitted beer cozy from Frank's sweater. BIG super thanks to girlontherocks for inspiring me to do this after sharing her KING BEER CAN COZY pattern. Her pattern has a cable pattern in it that I still want to do - good summer knitting idea with cotton. (wouldn't it be cool if there was a neoprine yarn?)

Other coolness. Wow. The barbie knitting machine came through with Ty's snake scarf from the leftover Red Heart Camoflage yarn. I hardly used some of this yarn, which I needed for another project, so I just threaded it onto the barbie knitter and let it go to the end of the skein. The end product was this super long tube that just said "snake" to me. So the eyes and mouth were stiched on and Tyler finally got his first scarf (he really wanted one - he'd keep asking for a scarf and would take from Robin's collection alot).

This IS your granny's knitting

2006-12-22T17:03:00.000-08:00

A thrift score fell into my Christmas daze.
There is a little hospital thrift store where I used to score oodles of yarn donated by families of patients. It's sort of a surrogate attic for me, digging in there once a month for any new 25 cent balls of vintage wools and interesting left over oddlots.
Last June, I'd driven to this thrift shop and there was a sign taped up in the window, telling how it was closed for refurbishment.
No problem, I'll wait.
And hope it isn't opened up too polished and the 25 cent balls aren't charged way more.
2 days ago, I had driven by there, on the way to a friends house.
Big Orange Sign: SALE.
No way!
Okay kids, just five minutes.
Five minutes.
5 minutes later I had a really nice haul of anything which read "wool" on the label. Grab, grab, grab.
How much are these balls (there were so tiny, these little vintage balls of sock wool from the 60s, judging from the labels).
Twenty-five cents.

$7.00 later, I was so friggin psyched.
this morning I looked at them.
Many double skeins have I, including a favorite non-wool heathered blue 80%wool/20%nylon that's way cool. I think these will be my first sock - something really nice to practice with.

Yeah. It's that Good.

Also dreaming of stripes or fair-isle to use up the single skeins, in the massive amount of socks I can practice on with these. AND Thea at That Yarn Store just email'd me about a Kool-aid dye-ing party on the 5th of January, so I've grabbed some packets of grape, cheery and lime to play with the lighter shades in this thrifted haul.

All you living in Los Angeles into thrifting (and so many of us are!) check out the Glendale Adventist Medical Center Thrift Store.

And so, this leads into my major yarn purchase of the season too. Soon, I hope, to be in my hands and on the needles Violet's Pink Ribbon.

Lime & Violet is a favorite podcast of mine. It's two girls, in the midwest, who are truly yarn-crazed. Yarns are rated by their nipple-worthiness (uh huh) and lickability (yeah).
Violet needs help with a little more than a nipple right now, and Lisa Sousa created Violet's Pink Ribbon, to raise the funds and help her out. I'm there.
Love ya Violet.
sigh.

Shhhhhhh. Christmas is coming.

2006-12-15T17:28:00.000-08:00

If you can read this, you're not knitting.

Busy, are we?
I want to post so many little WIPs, but they are all part of a secret plan. I'm making alot of little somethings this year for Christmas, from a big something. Each for family members, so I cannot talk about just one.
After Christmas I'll post pictures and patterns.

Right now, I'll talk about my first Mrs. Beetons!

In part of an email from Amy from Creative Mom Podcast she was telling me how easy this pattern is, so I decided to give them a try. As I caught up on her past archived podcasts, I found she also gets a little passionate about these wrist warmers.

I love the idea of wearing something frilly with my jeans, tees and jackets. Just a little something to keep my wrists, and therfore myself, warmer.

The original pattern from Ms. Dayne calls for laces and beads. I dove in, though, with a tweed mix I'd plied up out of some thrifted yarns which were fingering weight and tweedy. Dipping the goldtweed yarn with flecks of red and yellow, into mixes of brown and green dyes created a really nice autumnal variegated yarn. Instead of the little beads, I cast on with a contrasting baby blue yarn plied with a twist of variegated (hand-dyed) string.

The overall effect was better than expected. The top bell used a mix of some frosty light brown lace yarn with tiny specks of gold threads mixed with the overdyed tweed fingering yarn.

The ribbed portion of the wrist used all three parts of the different ply yarns in the bottom bells.
One Beeton is done, the other are on the needles.

I just want to wear this Beeton a l l the time. I'm also dreaming of making some light blue tweedy ones now, using the yarn that edges these. It's a beautiful mix of light blue lace yarn with more of the nubby cotton "thick string" which I had handpainted in variegated shades of taupe, so the Beetons would have a colorway of power blues and variegated mauves.

AND, I have a bag of raw silk that might make some really interesting Beetons. About 6 skeins which I had eBay'd two years ago. All raw silk, that's both soft and nubby when knitted up. I'll start digging for a "ply" yarn and top bell to go with the silk.

This is all being dreamed up while I promise myself to make my first socks in January, along with a first spinning class.

And the yarn I'm lurking? It's called Gendarme
I keep clicking for it, dreaming of the socks this gorgeous colorway will make. Handpainted - $15 for a 4 oz skeins, so one should do the pair. Wow. Pretty, hay?

Oh, they'd make nice Beetons too.

Knitzella in That Yarn Store

2006-12-09T19:57:00.000-08:00

Knitting for charity.

Preemie hats.
Okay.
Preemie hats.
Yeah. Got it.
Afghans for homeless.
Huh?
Just a square.
A square?
Yeah, 10" by 10". It'll go into the afghan with all the other squares.
Oh. Okay.

About 5 years ago, Nine ladies in our Stitch n Bitch group stitched up an individual patch each (15" by 15") and gave them to Vicky. Vicky stitched them together into the baby blanket and sent it to me in a surprise package. I was floored. I folded up the afghan and put it on a shelf to look at every day.

Then, when Tyler was born, it got used. Used, used and used.
We just used the hell out of it.

Last week, I saw him snuggle into that blanket. Ty grabbed it after a long day at pre-school, still adjusting to a full day without napping now. I thought about those ladies. Vicky, Shannita, Ellen, Faith, Allison, Karen, (and damn, maybe I shouldn't be naming names because I'm not remembering a few after all these years. I would be so happy if you are one of them and called me on this!)

So, I was thinking how each one took the time to make a patch. A 15" by 15" square. How one of them, must have loved practicing that lace pattern in that square, and how another did some cabling which inspired me to learn cabling and practice it. How they must have planned this and laid out the color scheme of blues and grays - all wonderfully muted and working together and each picking out the fiber from her stash, or perhaps to try something cool in a shop in this 15" swatch. And how Vickie chose the blue print flannel to back it with and then wrapped it and shipped it to me. How much each part, done individually, meant to the whole piece.

Man, I just wanted now to really carry this forward.

I'll start with preemie hats to keep babies warmed and loved; imagining a nurse tending a newborn preemie with the warmth of a hand-made hat. The nurse would pick up on some good vibe while placing it on a newborn babe's head. And the babe would pick up on this tenderness and be warmer.
Or,
to knit a rad beanie for some older child, from a rough inner-city street life, who's hitting the mountains and seeing of what they're capable. Some of these kids can get a handmade hat made by some lady like me who wanted the kid to have something just for being there and trying something better. To put it on and get warmer.

So I took off and dug into the stash and knocked out a hat this week real quick. Then took off onto preemie hats. Oh wow.

Then . . .
today, I met Bug at That Yarn Store.
Bug knits and gathers knitters for KNITZELLA. She gets the word out so that people can donate their time knitting, or yarn so others can knit, things for people they don't know. Hats for those girls hitting the trails, in heavy backpacks, hiking, walking away from the city and discovering that they can do this.

When I gave Bug the hat I made, she handed me a purple little tag to label it. She told me that the girls really dig the tags and keep them on the hats while they're up there. They read each other's tags and start up conversations like "who's Karen?" or "what's alpaca?"
I'm buzzed by this. That my hat is going to this kind of thing. I want to make way more now.
Everybody, try this.
Really.

So many ladies showed up there today. Seating got scarce and there were little pamplets from "Stitches From the Heart," to give us ideas on making more baby stuff. I was making some preemie hats and pledged to make 2 by December 31. It took me 2 hours to finish both of them; so really . . .

By the time I had to leave, I swear I was gushing to Thea at That Yarn Store. The store has a homey nice relaxed air about it. Interesting mix of fiber and yarns including some bamboo in a really nice colorway that I had to swatch to see . Royal Bamboo from Plymouth Yarn. This yarn is incredibly soft and durable. The draping is like a drapey linen with a silky feel to it. The site recommends #8 needles. Use #5s. Really. I saw this yarn and figured it to be DK weight at the largest, maybe sportweight so I immediately went to my #5s and really liked the results. Tight but still drapey. Perfect for Baby things since it's natural, non-itchey and super duper soft.

I tried #8s (I wish I scanned this so you could see). Really not good.

The store can order other colors and they're really helpful here. They like knitters to stop by and knit awhile. I could tell. Just an easy going way. Softly playing in the back was some of the coolest spanish folk music. I almost felt like I was visiting my brother in Guatemala (and get this, they do sell, um, acrylic, but it's straight from Guatemala and I had to have some translating done to read the label. Not the hard yucky, with a slight sheen of acrylic looking type of acrylic. It looks more like the kind of yarn you see done in the yarn work pieces done from Guatemala. A great find for anyone who wants to do some South American folkwear and would like to get some of the real stuff used down there.

Anyone new to knitting or crocheting is invited to come by on Sundays at 3:00 pm and make their first scarf with them. But come by at 11:00 a.m. and sit around the radio for GARRISON KEILLOR'S Prairie Home Companion. More at their site for stuff they're always arranging. No charges here.

If you want to pay them some money, they'll gladly have you at one of their workshops as well. I'm diving in with spinning in January. Cool.

If you meet Evelyn, ask to see her yarn dolls. They're about 2 or 3 inches tall and incredibly cute in real life. This picture only hints at their cuteness.

Painting with Yarn

2006-12-05T05:57:00.000-08:00

I was listening to Episode "Green" (#12) from Brenda Dayne's Cast-on podcast.
It was gratifying to hear her talk about "painting with yarn."
In the section where she describes the sweater she's wearing, she doesn't.
She instead, tells of the mittens she had made.
She was knitting some mittens which used alot of different colors. As she described the process of looking at the picture she worked from and substituting colors she had, she experienced, for the first time, "painting with yarn."
Of just picking up a color that "just goes next" while following a "colorway" of lights and darks in the mittens; a theme which had inspired Brenda in the original mittens she was working from.

This was so cool to hear while I was trying to describe and relate my way of knitting. I've only realized lately that I am an artist. The light bulb went off after all these years (decades!) that I just was. I didn't have to be an artist anymore. Or try to be an artist. My colors came out of sentient emotion.
Whether I was adding a color because it followed an emotional colorway or added the color to be irreverent or experimental.

This reminds me of my brother Johnny and several friends who have told me how much my music mixes use to blow them away. That they never would have had the guts to mix into a part mix snatches of Mose Allison, followed by Bronski Beat, then with pop Van Morrison, Stevie Wonder, Genesis, Tom Waits and make it all work. Like painting with music, I loved to throw it songs just because the next one seemed right or to change up the mood irreverently.
That's what carried over into my fiber arts.
And now I can call myself an artist.
Whew.

This was something I was really trying to ponder and express as I described the process of my granny square blanket from stash scraps.
Or in the Process of my Fair Isle blanket in progress.
Or in the freestyle crochet boots which I was inspired by a 70s book "Creative Crochet."
And many more projects I can know go back to, photograph and discuss.
Come back.
You'll hear how I describe alot of these.
And other frugally minded moments of alchemy.

oOoooh. Shiny.

2006-12-04T17:50:00.000-08:00

Toothpaste for dinner, again.

Can I ask you all? How do you keep up? Blog, blog, Blog, Blog, Blogs.
I love knitters, sketchers, creative types and artists.
I love being one, I love reading from other ones.
I love to read your thoughts, see your works in progress and follow your prompts and blank-alongs.
You show some gorgeous alpaca or sock yarns, cool drawings (amazing drawings), links to a pattern or six.
I follow the links. And follow links on those links.
I read the comments and chase even those links.
Who's commenting and what are they like on their site?
While my knitting doesn't get done.
Unless there's a nanosecond lull in the download. but after turning the row I look up again.
click
click
oOoooooooh.

Like just this weekend:

The Panopticon
So Queer
Cast-On
CreativeMomPodcast
Knit Mongrel
Now Norma Knits
Yarn Harlot (don't you know already?)
Crazy Aunt Purl
Lime & Violet

And these are just the starting points. They all link well.
Stop now.
Jeopardy's on. Robin's on her 114th origami crane.
I'm going to step away from here and frog the grandpa sweater (more to come later).

Okay. Back.
Um. What I did do this weekend was make Robin some mittens. She r e q u e s t e d them.
Yes.
"Mom, I need some mittens, can you make me some purple ones."
It was such a moment. She wanted me to Make her something.
After searching some really great patterns on the net, I chose the Gifted Mitten by Kate Gilbert. Kate's fabulous classic design called for chunky yarn and #13 needles.
Robin can't wear wool. Yep, no Cashmerino, for her (sigh).
She wanted soft purple fuzzy mittens like her soft fuzzy (acrylic) socks.
I had to face the soft fuzzy acrylic yarns row at a shop that was not my lys.
No, this was everybody's mys (main yarn shop aka michael's yarn shop).
But I don't knit acrylic anymore . . .
oOooooh. Shiny.
We found something.
Soft and fuzzy.
Yes, acrylic.
Yes, Red Heart.
But not like the itchy, spongey acrylic I'm trying to forget.
This was a soft mohair-ish acrylic that had only the slight acrylic sheen.
Just really slight. Only the ladies who Bitch would notice this.
But this Mystic Purple shade of marbled grey could almost pass for pure mohair.
From a distance.
It even felt like it might have some real mohair in it. 11, maybe 12%.
Yes, I could handle this.
I knit the mittens in the "large child" sizing of Kate's pattern.
The first mitten fit Ty perfectly. Okay.
Nice swatching.
After finishing the second mitten of Ty's pair, I set again to knit Robin's pair from this Mystic Purple cloud and the size 6s.
Following the largest size (Men's) actually worked. They fit her perfectly.
She wore them to school today.
The friends all want a pair.
They ran up to me and told me so.
It was Sally Field time all over again.

2006-11-28T18:50:00.000-08:00

I want to be a nerd more than ever now.
And eat toothpaste for dinner.

So thanksgiving.
This was a "first" thanksgiving for Mark and me. We cooked our first dinner. Roasted our first turkey, made our first stuffing. bourboned our first yam. Busted our first under sink pipes from abusing the garbage disposal. Robin made her first pie crust from scratch (and the pie too). Tyler set his first table (2 coffee cups, both piled two plates and a bowl - wonderfully consistent at each setting). First sit-down good conversation with Luke.

I began listening to Brenda Dayne's Cast-On just last week (yes, my head has been under a legal-study, yoga escaping, backtrack to GED attainment, ROCK). Listening to Episode 1.5 "Snow Day" the day before Thanksgiving left me with a warm fuzzy magic all through the waking up Thanksgiving morning, to the setting of the meal at the table:

"One of the things I miss most about the Thanksgiving holiday in the US is the unified hush that seems to come over the entire country. I love the quiet stillness of it, first thing in the morning, when you notice the absence of early traffic sounds. Lights come on in the neighbor's houses, and you know they're making coffee, and wondering what time they should think about getting the bird into the oven. Or they're grabbing a quick breakfast, packing the kids into the car, and hitting the road for the long drive to . . ."

Wow. the podcast is beautiful to listen to and the transcript is still wonderful to read and save. Her writing is powerful, beautiful and soft.

Traditionally, Thanksgiving has been about huge family dinners at my sister-in-law's Nancy's house, with 30 or so people showing up. Arlo Guthrie's Alices Restaurant usually plays each year, Nancy wraps bacon around water chestnuts and fries them, Johnny cooks at least two turkeys (with more bacon and water chestnuts mixed in the stuffing), Robin gets to play with cousins she rarely sees and misses, and I'm always given the job of making the traditional green bean casserole.

This year there was no green bean casserole. It was fresh green beans, snapped in the kitchen while Robin and I talked about family history. They were steamed and mixed with dried cranberries soaked in butter. Yams were cooked with butter, bourbon and pecans, not Marshmallows. The mashed potatoes were chunky yet smooth, mixed with even more Butter. I am such a Whole Foods/Trader Joes type of girl. Nancy's very much Costco and Vons. I'm a dreamer - cooking slow and low. She's a giver - big and generous all the way.

But this year she just wanted to skip the cooking for 30, and go to her sister-in-law's house instead. We missed each other, the cousins missed each other.

Even though the "little" dinner Mark and I cooked was lovely. Next year Nancy and I decided that we wanted the big Thanksgiving at her house again.

Nancy's After-Thanksgiving Turkey Sandwiches:

Ingredients listed as they should be layered for one sandwich:

First Slice of soft wheat bread (Supermarket "wheat")
Spread thin layer of mayonnaise
Thinkly sliced sweet pickles (sliced vertically)
Strips of leftover turkey
thin layer of stuffing (but not too thin)
a few slices of black olives (supermarket kind, not specialty olives)
thin layer of cranberry sauce
closing layer of 2nd slice of soft wheat bread.

I tried this for the first time last Sunday; after watching these made every year now since 2001. My niece, Miranda, offered me half when she could only finish the first half.

No, no no no no no no no. Well. Ok.

Well. actually, nice! Really.

The best turkey sandwich I've ever tasted. Has that innovative, simple, really good thing going like the scrambling eggs into top ramen, tuna and peas in our Kraft Macaroni and Cheese or Melted Sharp Cheddar on apple pie.

Arthur's variation: use the leftover Pillsbury Grands flaky biscuits instead of
bread and add a thin layer of mashed potatoes.

2006-11-26T14:22:00.000-08:00

oN and On.

Disclaiming this blog now.
I have way too many WIPs, 2 kids, a full study schedule and bla bla bla. this blog was, and is, intended to just put down "show notes" for an intended podcast (good luck to me!).
This blog will tend to be cryptic as I tend to intend to blog things that happen and end up doing this in spits and farts. So I count on readers to creatively complete any sentences I've written incompletely and follow with me on ideas vague and ambiguous.
There.
.
Last week, Robin bought lots of new pencils. We spend 25 minutes at Staples weighing the pros and cons on the different types to pick from and after choosing between the gross dozen of already sharpened golf pencils, cheap dozen disposable mechanical pencils and some nicer mechanical pencils with the slight thicker leads that could be refilled and used with more pleasure, she picked the ladder.
She lost them all the following week through a newly discovered hole in her old backpack.
I bought her a new backpack (ohmagawd, you should see it, it's so pretty - khaki olive green and light rasberry pink, padded straps, a little hole to slip mp3 player ear bud cord through, the works.
I was listening to (addictively) to earlier creativemompodcasts from the past summer and while keeping in the flow of journal-making, sketching and pencils - I thought a roll up pencil case (ala knitting needle case) would be so fun and easy to make; especially from the saved and saved and couldn't throw away, but didn't have any ideal idea to use felted pieces I had in storage. It all came together, problem, solution, another past problem, a better part of the solution and . . . ta da - the roll up pencil case I made for Robin was so easy, came out beautifully and I'm putting these on Christmas lists for other little sketchers and crocheters in the family.

ORANGE and BRICK RED FELTED WOOL

100 Things and Clutter Fast

2006-11-20T14:06:00.000-08:00

100 Things about me:

I love condiments.
Especially rice vinegar and balsamic vinegars.
A little boy wearing a handknit Hat melts my heart
I've had a Barbie Knitter since I was 8 years old.
My daughter robin has made oodles of Barbie Tube dresses on Barbie knitter
We love to shop at Trader Joes and Whole Foods
We still call Whole Foods "Mrs. Gooch's" or "The Soup Store"
I've been called Boho
I grew up alot in Mill Valley, California (it was one year, but a really big year).
I've been called a hippy (alot)
I've been called a dyke
A dyke is a little cutting tool that electricians use
I love Northern Europe
I fell in love with Brugges, Belgium and stayed there for a week after intending to just pass through it for a day.
Gypsies are dark nomads.
I wish I was darker
I grew up with Heart in the 70s
Favorite Heart albums are Little Queen and Dog & Butterfly
My sister is Little Queen
My sister taught me to crochet
I love to fly
It's much nicer to swim though
I love aiports
Have to be careful to take crafting on airplanes
I'm sad about America
Sad to be American sometimes
I like many people from many places with many ideas
Many people from many places are not too crazy about many Americans
I have Mark
Mark has Ty with me
I share Robin with them
we have a family
But Luke came first
Luke gave us Ty for name
I picked Kai
Luke & Tyler Kai
My favorite movie is Spirited Away
Previous favorite movie for years was Kiki's Delivery Service
Current eBay handle is Hals Moving Castle (Howls Moving Castle was already taken)
I have nothing to feed No Face
Katherine Hepburn was my idol growing up
almost as much as Betsey Johnson
I had every single one of her Butterick patterns (Betsey's, not Kate's)
I wore many appliqued apron dresses, wrap skirts and lace inset tee shirts during the 70s.
Then I discovered Deborah Harry
I changed a little
Favorite 80s bands: SHRIEKBACK, Police, B52s, Bronski Beat. Not Heart. Pretty much if a band kept their hair short or thin in the 80s, I was into them.
Favorite 80s game: Trivial Pursuit
Pink was my favorite category
I still play Junior Trivial Pursuit with Robin and her cousins
And watch jeopardy with brother Johnny many nights.
It's not fun to watch Jeopardy alone.
Robin napped through her first two years in my lap, while Food Network was on t.v.
Robin is passionate about cooking.
Especially baking. She's going to be a pastry chef when she grows up.
The Sheriff on Eureka is too cute.
The bald guy who married Charlotte on Sex and the City is cutest.
Mark is not bald
Mark is not even balding
Skinny Mark is very, very cute.
I love to dye things
and felting too
I am very DIY
I am very not Di.
I wish to be living in UK
Queens must survive
Princesses dream
If a princess knits enough, she will survive enough
Red is inflammatory
Red patent leather is mean
Blue is universal
What does that mean?
Bitter is universal
My closet is pink
My bedroom was orange
A soft, marbled, earthy, wiped over orange.
Tweeds are strong
Yucky pink tweeds were only fun for 10 seconds
Martha Stewart had to happen
Without her, the alternative could only be sad
I discovered Nighthawks at the Diner in 1983.
I wished I saw Tom Waits perform drunk in a piano bar during the 70s.
Did see Tom Waits on stage with Carol Kane in a play Called Demon Wine.
I was really young, I didn't get it - but they were so cool to watch performing together. (Waits seemed very sober, and somber).
Favorite female performers are Carol Kane, Catherine Keaner, Francis McDormand, Myrna Loy, Audrey Patou, Ani Difranco, Rickie Lee Jones, Eryka Badu, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald.
All time favorite song is "I loves you Porgy" as performed by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.
Favorite song to Karaoke to: "Fever" by Peggy Lee
I lived with Nighthawks at the Diner and Tom in is Wild Years during the 80s.
I lived with a Girl at her Volcano
I grew up with Ladies of the Canyon and a Tapestry of rich and royal hues.
I am 32 flavors and then some
Bucheron is my favorite cheese
I am not cheap, I just reuse, renew and recyle alot
I grew up in Puerto Rico
I've lived mostly in Hollywood since I was six
Went to at least a dozen different schools during my childhood
I like cold, rainy weather. I have to take a walk in my Thompson Green Wellies each time it rains here. Being hot makes me miserable.
Naturally, I live in Southern California
Would love to change places with Franklin Habit
I just want to have something to talk about afterwards in the Locker Room

And there you have it, my first go at a 100 things list.

Something tells me this will be done again. and again. Already, I'm working on a "100 things" about the year 2006 to put in the Christmas cards to family this year. I was never a newsletter to the family writer, just a quick Merry Christmas note in the cards I send out. This year I plan to try a 100 things list and hope that maybe, sooner or later, it will catch on and we can exchange them with each other. (Wouldn't that be so cool???)

I've been thinking more about Clutter. Especially after listening to CreativeMom in her Episode 9 podcast on the subject.

Clutter in so many parts of life.

I've turned to Yoga, meditation and methodical crafts (origami, granny squares) for my cluttered mind;
a Journal and To Do Lists for my cluttered schedule;
even noticing a little bit of the cluttered body facing the sunny side of 40s.

And craving alot of moments to kind of go on a "clutter fast." Clear the mind, just sit with friends and be busy doing absolutely nothing.

So look what Robin did:

I couldn't keep my brush paws off either. But I did the tiny parts, the horse hairs and some slight shading; she did the rest. Why did they say this was for ages 8up? I'm 38+ and it was not easy! But well worth it; Robin's excited to tack up it up on her freshly painted, pink walls.

Thinking along these lines, I made myself watch a 2 hour dorky movie with my daughter. Not doing anything else, no crafting or crocheting or anything while we watched the movie. My body was buzzing, my brain was aching to keep up the daily nonstop activity - it was incredible just noticing the ease it began to feel after just 2 hours of no-thinking in watching this movie.

Amazingly refreshed after the two hours, I just felt "reset" and easy-going.

Crafting had become an obsession rather than the calming cure it used to be.

So we went to the Park the next day just to hang out, talk to strangers and not bring any knitting, crocheting or podcast listening. There's a balance thing going on here. Cool.

Going Blank

2006-11-20T06:25:00.000-08:00

I've been listening to archived podcasts from Amy at CreativeMomPodcast . In Episodes 7 and 8, she talks alot about journals and journaling. She asked about our favorite journals. What is my favorite journal? The one I just made.

After listening to her explore the world of Moleskines and seeing a few for myself, I just fell for these little journals from Italy. I loved the little flap tabs and elastic bands to keep the book together, lined pages, graph paper pages, sketch paper pages and watercolor books. I wanted All of them, since I like having a lined page for writings, graph paper for fair isle sketches and ideas, Sketch paper for pencil drawings and playing with shading and so on.

So I had to make my own.

Obsessively, I finished it in 36 hours - in between kids, family, visiting nieces, a park trip and a dorky old Hanibal Lechter movie. With little origami breaks to cleanse the prototype-designing pallette.

I was just finishing off the final stitching of the fabric cover on the drive over the park Sunday morning. After pushing the swing with the little one, playing some frisbee and checking out the Merry Go Round (closed for a private party today), I got a chance to break in the my newly made journal and started sketching a leaf on the table.

Click on either picture to enlarge image

So I love this journal. Already I've enjoyed my first sketch and keeping track of podsafe songs I heard and want to download, and mixes to start making for Christmas.

It's a journal I can use, let the kids play with and use, easily add pages or tear out any and change the choice of papers in the future when I make more of these. Or adding little origami made pockets to hold found things, scraps of yarn or even a CD of Robin or Tyler talking, singing, stuff like that. Yes, I designed the slightly larger than 5 by 7 size of this journal so that it would be big enough to contain a pocket sleeve for a full size CD to slip into after the journal is filled and I'm off to work on a new one.

As I also heard about, from creativemompodcast, is another journaler with great ideas as well. In her blog, Heidi gives some really fun ideas with journaling, like adding little ring tabs to the binder with the dates of when the journal starts and ends, or making a table of contents on a nearly finished journal.

So, on this Monday morning, I'm starting to listen to another wonderful archived episode of Amy's ~ Episode 9 of CreativeMomPodcast, and Amy discusses CLUTTER! Another SMALLWORLD moment, since I was just starting to clear out clutter as I finished up the journal project, putting fabrics and projects away I know should wait while I kept a few high-priority projects around. This led me to the storage room where I ended up getting lost in time as I was going through my old files, sketches, paintings.

So I'm really looking forward to listening to the rest of this Clutter Episode tomorrow, early morning, feeling probably yet again "me too," "Me too," "Me Too," as she talks about her Clutter(s).

One Skein and Under Wonders

2006-10-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

Here is where I think I should link to same favorite projects to make with scraps of yarns, quick things to make and items to make with gorgeous super nice lusciuous (expensive) yarn:

First, a coed perfect little thing to keep the beer warm:

*Girl on the rocks made this really nice pattern for a cabled KING COZY; as well as these other cool quick ideas:

One time I had made some really cool fingerless mittens from a felted sweater, but didn't take the time to create a tutorial. Thank you Girl on the Rocks!

The yarn they sold is mostly the acrylic stuff that I'm not too crazy about. However, they did carry a fun skein of camoflage-colored variegated yarn by Red Heart. I thought that I could have fun making the girls little fingerless gloves from these. They were really into Avril Lavigne, and gloves with the camoflage colors could be something cheap and fun to keep my fingers busy while hanging with Heidi for many marathon sit and chats about stuff that we do on my visits with her.

Those gloves came out really cool. They were fun to knit up and all the girls liked them.

So this year, when I found the camoflage-variegated wool from Patons (color: Forest #77014), it was like, what could I make and felt for the kids and how could I play with this? So I'm swatching and felting while I come up with ideas.

Robin and I dug out her Barbie knitting machine and used up a whole roll of the Red Heart acrylic stuff to make a long tube. I plan to make it into a snake, fill it up and use it has a "hot buddy" for colds, sore muscles and gentle heat padding thing.

I FOUND a great site that you can actually learn to make a granny square from.

Swatching Paton's New Wool in FOREST

Book/Blog / Podcast Mentions: Creative Crochet Book;

Question:

2006-10-26T22:12:00.000-07:00

Granny Square Afghan

Finally, I have started my granny square afghan. It's based on the classic scrap craft granny square aghans that the bohemian hippy cool ladies made when I was a little girl in the early 70s.

The colors I've dug up from my stash convinced me it was time to get this project maybe started. My stash had this gypsy feel - alot of these rich colors, mixtures of wools and hand-dyed fibers, along with some funky old sparkly Red Heart acrylic from the 70s that I had thrifted.

After getting away from yarns and wools this summer (yes, Faith, we do have our seasons in Hollywood, CA), I dug out old boxes and bags of odd balls and leftover yarns and a J-Hook and just started to crochet around the end of September. Just simple 4-round granny squares to get my fingers warming up into working with yarn again.

This is such great use of this old stash while playing with the colors. The yarns kept urging me on as I combined the colors on each square.

Cleck on any square to see larger images

Well. So. Piles of the finished squares started to build up out of categories of colors and a theme developed of blackish squares, goldish squares, reddish and brownish tones, blues and squares with little accents of greys and greens. I threw the squares out on my bed and started to sort them out and lay out an afghan row by row.

After I had about 140 squares completed (pretty easy at 10 to 20 per day, I could see a pretty nice first four layers and realized that I had used up most of the blacks and browns type of squares and this was what I wanted the theme to be in the overall coloring - dark, rich, browns, deep dark reds, black with "accents" of the off colors and variegated wools

Then they were laid out while I arranged four more rows, stiched them together and attached them to make eight rows completed which I hope to finish next week.

I'm also swatching, felting and playing with some Army Camoflage yarn. It's pretty fun and I'll post some pictures and talk about this next week.

Blog Mentions: I became a little "homesick" for knitting with the Stitch N Bitch gals. It's been well over a year and I started to catch up a little on their blogging. It was at SNB that I learned to granny square from Faith, mentioned above. I was a knitter since I was eleven, but never crocheted - that was my sister's specialty and I somehow thought of myself more special as a "knitter" so I never wanted to acknowledge the crochet world.

Finally, around 2002, I asked my sister to teach me to crochet. I was hooked.

Then, when the little one was born, I realized the biggest advantage to crocheting around kids and cats: no worries about dropped stitches. So I had set aside my knitting needles for those early years and started to crochet.

After struggling with learning the granny square from books and the internet, I saw Faith with her little baggie of granny squares she was working on and asked her to please teach me the Granny Square. It took all of 5 minutes teaching and one hour practice there and I had it! Maybe that's why it's called a "granny" square - cause you need your granny (or a friend) to show you how.

Podcast Mentions: CreativeMomPodcast. Amy is a mother of two boys, a fantastic essayist and you don't need to be a fiber artist, knitter, mom or whatever to enjoy her. She wanders through the wanders through the funnest sites for music, books, sketching and artistic ideas and provides fun little Prompts that I love. Check her out, she's on iTunes too.