Sock Wars

Sock Wars seems like it would be a lot of fun for a fast knitter.

Button & Badbusinesswomanness

I made a button:



And as if anyone needed further proof that I would make a bad businesswoman, I think I'm going to unlist the curry yarn after only a few days so that I can make something out of it. Like a hat.

Scarf

If blogger will let me do so, I shall now upload some pictures of the loop-d-loop leaf scarf

Skulls

There's an interesting article in the NYTimes styles section about the skull as iconography (here registration req)

curried yarn

Here are some yarns spun with tumeric-dyed wool (and a mix of other fibers). I like how they turned out, though they're both small skeins (as is a limitation of the drop spindle, of course). Once I get a description written up, I'll likely list them together as a pair on etsy

Gallery of freeform things that serve no practical purpose! pt. 1

I have no idea what this is, but I like it. It has a kind of seashore feel to it. Made with a combination of freeform spinning and crochet, it has some recycled wool, sari silk, thread of some sort, llama (I think), random blobs of other wool, and whatever else I didn't remember.

poor purl

I don't understand why so many knitters dislike the purl. I have no problem with it.

things to write about

When I have the energy

1. I took a spinning class and *bought a spinning wheel*! Yes I did. This was silly, of course, because we're moving soon, so it's staying in the box for a little while longer.

2. Knitting this lace leaf scarf from loop-d-loop for a gift. It is for an administrator at work who has pretty much saved my life lately - helping with neverending paperwork while I was in NM. I'm using a yarn I got on ebay that is spun in Nepal of 60% wine-colored wool and 40% multicolored recycled sari silk. I like it, and I hope it'll make a good gift even though it is one of the most weather inappropriate choices possible. It will need some serious blocking to avoid looking like a double-ended penis, though. Pictures later.

3. I didn't bring any yarn stuff on the apartment hunt trip to NY/NJ, and then I had withdrawl and ended up getting the Twisted Sister's Sock book (which is GREAT) and some cheap yarn stuff from Michaels. I got a set of #3 double point needles and some Patons Grace cotton in colors that I like, but a set of this brand of needles is 4, not 5, and metal (I really like the bamboo better). And so I was trying to make a sock in the car on the way back, and this didn't work at all. First, the metal needles kept slipping out of the stitches and onto the floor and once under the carseat. Second, all the bumps and turns made me wonder if a metal sharp needle would fly into my eye. Third, it was coming out too loose, and I really needed #2s or #1s, but I didn't have any, so I gave up and pulled it out. So now I may try to use the yarn to make those knucks from this summer's Knitty since I like the colors, but the 100% cotton isn't so great for socks anyway (it's just what they had).

4. I do, indeed, know how to put up buttons and join webrings and change the template and comment and stuff! My problem is not technical ineptitude but rather some sort of laziness mixed with general malaise. So I hope to do those things sometime.

5. too many various projects I'd like to make, or am in the middle of making, to list. Why can't I just finish stuff that I start. sigh.

Sufficient for now!

it's a million degrees in here, but I still like my wrists EXTRA warm

wristwarmer progress

I have finished one and am about 2/3 done with the other. I think it fits quite well - with the exception of the thumb hole, which is a bit too snug. I hope that some blocking/stretching will take care of that.



I also plan to crochet a little black border around the thumb.

Now, just to wait for it to stop being sweltering-hot so I can wear these.

fingerless gloves with handspun

So, I decided to actually make something with some hand-dyed, handspun yarn. It's based on the "voodoo wrist warmer" pattern on knitty, made with a version of my "rhododendron" colorway, in this case made into something like a self-striping DK yarn.

Fiber


Dyed hands = side effect


Spinning it




The first time I've ever tried double-pointed needle knitting. I started it off at Circles yesterday


Still in progress

podcast sampling

I am going to listen to the podcast at It's a Purl, Man. This was at least indirectly suggested to me by the guy who casts it; he was sitting next to me today at Circles.

If my camera batteries will stop dying after every 10 pictures and/or 1 week of disuse, I'll put up some pictures soon.

Back to Boston

1. Back!

My father's brain surgery went well - more can be learned at my (neglected) "real" blog boring sara

So I managed to knit and crochet a hell of a lot because of the long, long waits in hospital waiting rooms and in my dad's room once he was in the ICU. I'll need to put some pictures up when I de-lazify a bit (if that ever happens).

2. Not a morning person

I'm hoping to wake up adequately early to go to the Sunday AM social knitting group at Circles in JP tomorrow. I want to knit a pair of these with some handspun yarn. Or perhaps something "vintage"...

3. "Vintage"

My stepmother keeps EVERYTHING. She has a ball of salvaged rubber-bands seriously the size of a softball. Plus, she has a myriad of multi-colored twist ties from, I think, EVERY loaf of bread she has ever owned. She also has lots of old knitting and crochet patterns from the 1960's and 70's. So they are technically "vintage" (as am I if that date range meets the criteria)

I photocopied a bunch of random stuff that I liked. The photocopier was overheating, so I didn't necessarily get what came from where, etc. Anyway, Maybe I'll bring one of them and pick out some yarn tomorrow.

Maybe I'll join the Vintage Knit-Along too. Of course my 1970's vintage seems a little unripe in comparison. Oh well.

4. project jumper

Still thinking about the heart tank. Needs some more thought!

5. New Mexico wool acquisition

I bought a pound of Navajo Churro wool at Village Wools in Albuquerque. Luckily, it compresses well as stuffed into a suitcase. Will be spun at some point.

6. knitting podcasts

If anyone reads this, can you suggest a good one?