Spin In!
A few weeks back the ladies on the Antelope Valley Fiber Fiends group had a Spin In. I couldn’t resist going because…
1) This group includes the lovely Nicole of FreckleFaceFibers and Laurs of BeeMiceElf. Both of which were bringing their beautiful fibers!
2) They were going to have dessert.
3) SPINNING!
4) The ladies in this group are made of awesome!
So I showed up with my wheel and a desire for fiber. I got to meet some great new ladies (well, new to me), hang with some lovely enablers, and consume mass quantities of sugary treats! What could be better than that? I also brought some spending money to get some purty new fluff.
Tubs o' fluff!
The fiber I brought home with me...
I also learned (via Casdena) all about a new Ravelry group called 10 Shawls in 2010. Since I was looking to knit a bunch of shawls and kill my sock yarn stash for scraps, it seemed like a good idea to join. They do have prizes every month. Maybe I might win something? I also got to see a beautiful shawl that LimeJuicy was showing off (Loremor made it for her). It was so gorgeous I asked about the pattern…and so gorgeous that I have started crocheting one. Yes, you heard me right.
It was so much fun being a room full of wheels! I hope I get to make to to more meets. It is very much worth the drive!
Carnival of FO’s: Part Two
‘Cause I know how to get crap done…
Can you tell someone has been blocking at my place?
Rainbows and Unicorns Simple Things
Tudor Grace Scarflette started at Stitches West 2010
My Very First Fair Isle!
My Aestlight
My Aestlight made use of a good 600 yards or so of 100% Fine Alpaca dyed by yours truly! I was glad to finally get it out of my stash…it had been there a long time.
I am very much on a shawl crawl lately…
Because torturing myself is fun…
I have issues.
I could totally fix this situation, but I choose not to…because I like to torture myself.
I work in a bitterly cold office. You would think that, because I am a knitter/spinner/crocheter, I would be able to fix this situation pretty easily. Knit or cro something up and wear it up in this icebox I call “work”. Do I do that? Of course not.
Back in our old building, what seems like ages ago, I had started the Office Blankie of Doom. I pulled that sucker out of hibernation in March. I am knitting it on something crazy like size 17’s or something. No, I am not done yet.
So, I started a couple of shawls. Aestlight is one of the patterns I started. I worked on it today at lunch…and this is where the torture begins…
Look at me! You know you wanna...
Here she is…three repeats of edging left to do. I left her sitting on my desk all afternoon. I am rubbing my nose in the fact that I am freezing here and this 100% superfine alpaca shawl is still not done. Take that Ice Girl! Not even your knitting gives a crap that you can’t feel your extremities.
Classic Elite KAL time!
00So, for the past two months, I have been involved in a Classic Elite KAL at Unwind.
It’s been fun getting together with the ladies, but as I mentioned in my last post…318 stockinette stitches in the round is painfully boring.
Good thing my project is pretty. It sorta makes up for it.
Ooooh...
Ahhhh...
Everyone’s projects turned out beautiful. Yay for summer knitting!!
Everyone did a beautiful job!
Carnival of FO’s!
Man, I have been busy!
May is normally a pretty busy month for me. My folks make their regular trip out to stay with us for a few weeks, during which time we celebrate my Dad’s Birthday, Mothers’ Day…and the Twin’s Birthday.
This year the twins turned 5…which is a big one…
My babies are so big!!
But despite the multiple birthday party plans (we threw two parties for the kids…that a lot of freakin’ cupcakes…) and my folks a good time while they visit sunny California, I did get a boatload of stuff done. Mostly various “life” type things…but some knitting too. Plus, to be honest, I have held some of my finished objects back. I’ve started a “Block Party” bag. I have just been throwing various knitting projects in it that need to be blocked.
So let the Carnival of Finished Objects begin!
My Twin Cities Headband...
First I finished my Twin Cities headband, which was a kit I bought from The Sweatshop of Love. It is a great little headband and I have been itching to knit a few more…especially now with my new short hairdo!
Baby Hat
Damnit! It just occurred to me I needed to send this home with my folks and I didn’t! Doh! Oh well, I guess I will have to box it up and send it. I totally just ruined the surprise. Baby Gillies, this one is for you!
My Second Simple Things...the first isn't blocked yet...
A Simple Things all blocked and ready for my mom to wear! Woot!
I also finished my strappy tank…and finished before the Classic Elite Yarns KAL deadline.
318 stitches in the round is really painful.
I know, the mere fact that I get anything done is amazing. Yet I still don’t feel like I’ve accomplished anything. Mostly because I am out of my freakin’ mind, but that is common knowledge. Do I dare talk about all the projects I just started?
Maybe I will wait for the next post.
I made it to 50!
And I am nowhere near being even close to a quarter done. I have been burnin’ through my sock yarn stash though making gifties. Too bad I can’t post any of them yet.
In the meantime, here is blankie update in pictures!
A blurry pic of my 50th square!
It's getting harder to fit the entire thing in a photo...
If I wasn’t crazy enough as it is, I decided this morning that I should get some double pointed needles to work the squares on. I figured it would be easier to maneuver with a dpn then to worry about the super long cord on my circular needles. Yes, I am knitting these dinky squares on a pair of 47 inch circs! What can I say? I am a magic loop fan!
Anyway, the circs are getting difficult to deal with the bigger this blanket becomes. So this morning, I thought I would buy a set of dpns from Knit Picks. Normally I would just go buy them at a store, but my LYS doesn’t have metal needles and ordering them from Knit Picks means I can nerd out and find an excuse to buy the Time Traveler sock yarn. It’s a Doctor Who thing…
The socks won't be larger on the inside?
But I am nerding off topic here…
So I decided, and a good move on my part, to double check the needle size I am using to knit that bad boy blankie of mine. Wouldn’t ya’ know, I am not knitting it on size 2’s! I am knitting it on a size 1!
::faints::
I am nuts.
Sidetracked? No.
Today I had posted a picture of a project I am working on to my Twitter account. I immediately got a message from a friend telling me to get back to my blanket!
Let’s crunch some numbers, shall we?
In my yarn stash, I have enough skeins of sock yarn to complete somewhere in the neighborhood of 26 pair of socks. No, I’m not joking. If I want to have scrap yarn for my blanket, common sense dictates that I best get my ass to knitting!
So, in the last week in a half I have finished my Tudor Grace scarf, which got me a nice ball of shiny purple yarn…then I did my first Simple Things with some Socks That Rock in “Fire on The Mountain”. Nice scraps there too. Now I am working on second Simple Things that will eventually be a gift… even more yarn for my Insanity Blanket.
Simple Things alongside my Strappy Tank
More knitting...
I have started to make plans for the other sock yarn in my stash. The stash has yet to include my Wollmeise acquisitions… but I am planning projects for those too.
I also snagged some of the sock yarn out of the stash to put up for trade on Ravelry. So far, so good. I actually traded four balls of Knit Picks Palette for sock yarn scraps. Yes, I am *that* determined to get this blanket to work.
I have also gotten some great donations from friends of mine at my LYS!!
So, blankie update time…
So far...so good.
I am 49 squares in. 2 are not attached. One more to the 50 square mark! I am moving slowly right now, but once I get a few more projects under my belt I can start to devote more time to this. Plus I will have more colors to choose from once I get some of my swap stuff. I am hoping for some yellow.
Solid. Yellow.
I never knit anything for myself in yellow and there is spot in the blanket that looks like it wants it.
How dealing yarn is like dealing crack.
Hi, My name is Stacy and I have an addiction. It’s been getting progressively worse over the past few years, but I feel like I have fallen off the wagon hard this time.
My drug of choice? Wollmeise.
I haven’t quite achieved snob status just yet. I mean, come on, I haven’t even knit with the stuff yet! But I see it coming…oh yes, it’s coming…
I have to say I have enablers…those little devil’s on my shoulder pushing me in one direction or another. This one’s name is kataish.
First let me say, this girl is amazing. She can knit and draw and is generally an all-around craft goddess. She is also my biggest crack dealer.
Last week I decided to put the call out on Twitter asking where she scores her Wollmeise. Now, for those of you out there still into acrylic, or maybe those of you that don’t knit or cro (GASPS), Wollmeise is a highly coveted yarn. I know of two places that sell it, The Wollmeise website (in Germany) and The Loopy Ewe. I also know that the chances of scoring said yarn on those sites is pretty darn low. Unless you are one hell of a sniper up at insane o’clock, you probably won’t get any.
So, I put the call out and Kata responds. She says she will PM me on Ravelry. So I sign in and I wait….and wait….and wait. Surely it couldn’t take that long to shoot me a PM? Then it comes…what is now the longest personal message I have received on Ravelry to date. She goes into your standard methods of getting the stuff. Waiting for updates, sniping…ya know, the usual. Then I see this:
“Now, onto the ways you can REALISTICALLY score WM ;)”
She launches into how you can get it from other people. Swaps, trades, commission knitting…oh my! My head was spinning. Now, I know I have WAY TOO MANY projects right now. How the heck could I knit anything for trade? I barely have the time to do everything I am doing now (luckily I don’t sleep much and it helps that I know how to walk and knit at the same time).
So I told her what I was looking for and she hooked me up with a friend that worked out a deal for me. Nice right? See…it’s all about who you know.
Woohoo! It's much prettier that my crappy phone camera allows it to be.
And just think, After I am done with whatever project I decide to use this for, I can use the scraps in my Insanity Blanket. Bonus!
Slowly…things progress
I haven’t been sleeping much lately and that seems to leave me with a lot of time for crafting. I mean, God forbid I do the dishes or vacuum the house. Not that it would be a wise thing to do at 11 o’clock at night. I mean…what would the neighbors think? What? I don’t have downstairs neighbors right now? Um…yeah…well…
Crafting is pretty quiet.
Except for the sewing, which I try to keep to a minimum after 9 p.m.
I finished two skirts recently. Yay, something to wear this summer for work! The hand sewing hook and eyes with black thread was a real treat for some evening fun in low light. MY EYES! MY EYES!
I had some fun with a hot glue gun after knit-a-long last Sunday and made some cute hair flowers.
My daughter is thrilled with Mommy's attempts at girlieness
Then there is the knitting…all the knitting…
I have slowed down a little on my strappy tank, but it is pretty much all stockinette at this point. So it is more my mindless knitting. It’s “I’m half asleep on the couch watching bad t.v. shows” knitting.
So. Much. Stockinette.
Then my baby for the moment, the Insanity Blanket. It is coming along nicely. I got some great yarn from Vilma and Camille this week!
Vilma's contributions.
Camille's samples: noro from her poncho, and some of her koolaid dyed yarn from a class she took
The new stuff is amazing, and it is hard to get sick of knitting the same thing over and over when you get to try out all kinds of different yarn. It is really starting to grow.
I am going to knit some more squares as soon as I am done blogging.
I have been making sure to keep track of where everything is coming from. I have been tagging all of my flickr photos and labeling each square. Yay me!
Also, in a “hell must have frozen over” moment, I have started spinning again! My wheel and I have not had the occasion to spend much quality time together since the new year. It feels good to get reacquainted.
Of course I have been spinning all of my fiber samples for use in my insanity blanket. Man, ulterior motives!
I spun them end to end...
Later I will break the ends and ply them on themselves.
Now, off to knit some squares!
Go ahead and say it…
I am clearly insane. I *know* this and I really can’t help it.
This week’s craft update is just stating the obvious, because what would I be doing if I *weren’t* crafting?
Oh yeah, probably cleaning my house or something…
So, my WIPS (”works in progress” for you non-knittahs):
Classic Elite Strappy Tank.
Faerie Mountain Fibers spinning (drop spindle, this may take awhile).
2 skirts I am currently half-done sewing. I have waistbands and hems left.
Grey, my little alien friend.
An Insanity Blanket.
<insert screeching tires sound here>
What the heck did I just say? An Insanity Blanket. Yes that is right! For the record, I am not the first one to make one of these…you can see the original, and find directions on how to make your own on The Heathen Housewife’s Blog. That banner at the top….that’s it. The one that pushed me over the edge belongs to The Other Side of The Pom. Really, click that link…you may fall prey to it’s magic too.
So what is an Insanity Blanket? It’s a blanket made up of mitred squares. Sound crazy? Not really…until you throw in the fact that it is knit up of stray sock yarn…and I am knitting it on size 2 needles. It is sure to take me a very long time to finish, given that I don’t even own enough sock yarn to complete it, but we’ll see what happens.
I am also planning an taking it an extra step further and journal/blog my progress and chart where each square “comes from”. I figure there is a story in just about everything.
So here is a little example of what I have so far…
My squares.
The attached ones on the end there are the foundation corner of my blanket. Now to figure out how many 2 3/4 in. squares I will need to make a Queen size blanket. Eek!
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