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How Stacy got her groove back…

Well, as most of you can see, I have been pretty absent for awhile. My problem has been a big one.

The “powers that be” decided to steal my mojo.

For a girl who does something crafty every day (and I mean that…literally EVERY DAY), dealing with a creative slump is tough. I went though all sorts of phases. There was denial and mourning and letting go. I figure, why force something that isn’t there right? Maybe it was all the stuff I did before my slump that burned me out. All those projects *I didn’t post here*. I couldn’t bring myself to even take pictures of the garments I finished before this loss of creativity. I had no desire to knit.

Before you start thinking, “But Stacy, you have plenty of other hobbies. Why not work on something else?” The answer is: “I just couldn’t”.

All this happened at the height of Tour De Fleece, which turned out to be an epic fail for me. I finished NOTHING. I was so excited about starting, but I fizzled out quick. I had no desire to spin.

No knitting, no spinning. I had done a few sewing projects pre-slump. But even though my sewing machine is still sitting on my dining room table…it looks cold and lifeless.

My husband suggested our trip to Comic Con might help jump start things. It didn’t. A couple trips to the my local LYS had me sitting in a chair watching everyone else knit. How. Freaking. Sad.

So I waited, and waited, and waited some more. For what seemed like an eternity, I did nothing.

But then something happened…

It started with a request to knit for the shop. It’s a pattern I don’t care for particulary, but I decided to take it on anyway. I decided I was gonna force myself to soldier on through whatever this is I am going through. Then I was watching Being Human and decided I was going to try and sew this:

Annie

I started sketching right away. Hey, it wasn’t knitting, but it was *something*.

Then it got even better! I went to Stitch ‘N Pitch 2010 on Friday night. The Dodgers v. The Nationals. There was a big pre-game sale at my LYS (Unwind). I was there two minutes and zero’d in on the Madeline Tosh Merino Light. The Fjord colorway. I snatched up the 4 skeins that were left and carried them around for very little time before I walked up to pay for them. 4 skeins of yarn with no project…but I knew they were destined to be something awesome.

I got as far as Dodger Stadium before deciding what that yarn was destined to be. I met a lovely lady in line for a Dodger Dog that was wearing the most amazing sweater. I made a point to ask her about the pattern name twice and texted it to myself. Pas De Valse.

So now, I am excited about knitting again. I can’t wait to get started on my sweater. Thank goodness!

Tags: knitting, mojo, sewing, spinning

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.

Tags: Insanity Blanket, Sock yarn, Socks that Rock

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!

Tags: kataish, Wollmeise

Party, Party, Ravelry Party!

Ravelry folks are in town? It’s the anniversary of Unwind’s opening? Sounds like the perfect reason to have a party!!

Manos, Manos, Manos!

Still pretty quiet before everyone arrived...

The cool thing is that there was a VIP party beforehand that we got to attend. It was great fun. We got a sneak peek at all the fun stuff before everyone else. Manos, Namaste bags… all sorts of stuff! I had a plan going in, and anyone who knows me well knows I can stick to a plan.

Me and Meilan...and a bunch of people waiting outside.

See, I know sometimes these things can be overwhelming, so I knew what I was going for and kept my blinders on to everything else. It was kind of like my Stitches approach. Go with a list, do not deviate from said list…it was the only way I could keep within my budget. Of course I did see plenty of eye candy that made me all wide-eyed and crazy looking, but I was a good girl. I only really looked at the Manos color cards. I picked my color and I did two laps around the shop before I went up to the register to order and pay for it. 14 skeins in Bing Cherry. I also found a full punch card when I opened my wallet. That means $30 off my order that was *already* sale priced.  I had a *moment*. I believe I actually started jumping up and down and giggling loudly.

I bought enough Manos del Uruguay to make this:

It'll look awesome in "bing cherry"...

I can’t wait until it comes in. I have it slated as my next project.

So, I said it was pretty overwhelming, right? Hopefully Penny doesn’t kill me for this one, but sometimes she is so cute that I just can’t help myself…

I believe there was some swearing happening right before this photo...

Little did I know at the time, but I was coming down with something. That and the crowd inside would explain why I felt like I was burning up. I ended up keeping Emily company at the front door and working on my sweater. It was chilly outside, but it was nice to sit and get some knitting done.

Flo, Meilan and Patty outside chatting.

Emily and I...

I enjoyed playing “bouncer” with Emily. Don’t mess with us ladies…..we carry pointy sticks!

The funny thing about this whole night…and I am not quite sure what I was thinking (for now I will blame the fever that came the next day) but I didn’t even think to go introduce myself to the Ravelry folks. I saw Mary-Heather a few times…and I think saw Jess and Casey once, but I didn’t get any photos of them. Blogger FAIL!

I did have fun though. And it’s getting me primed for Stitches West in February.

Tags: interweave knits, Ravelry, sweater, unwind

CogKNITive Fiber Retreat - Afternoon Session

Shari waiting for lunch while I snap a picture...

So after a very good, but very long lunch, we bought fudge…starbucks…and headed back to the retreat. We didn’t get there in time for Mindy’s class, so I brought out the wheel and started spinning my new fiber!

Alexis, Me, Jo and MeiLan doing our thing...

Jasmin...spinning

Look at that new FreckleFaceFiber I am spinning!!!

So I spun and spun until about 6:45 p.m. and then headed for home. I made it home in record time. The 2 1/2 hour trip, according to Mapquest, only took me 1 1/2. I updated my facebook status to warn my husband about how much I was bringing home with me.

This was my backseat right after lunch...

The back of my van before I left.

Tags: CogKNITive, Fiber Retreat

Sick Day…

It is normal for me to, while sick and feeling like I’m dying, feel compelled to all of a sudden clean the house. Please someone out there tell me that I am not alone in this. Is it because I am a mom and my work is never done? Possibly. Or maybe actually sitting in my home all day and having to see that pile of dishes in the sink pushes me to the edge. I dunno. Maybe it is just that I am insane. What should I have been doing? Sleeping. What did I catch myself doing? Cleaning the kitchen. How did I stop myself? I decided to ply myself some self striping yarn. See….craaaaaazy.

Oooh....stripey

I can’t really tell you when I spun this single. It was sometime within the past two weeks. It is 4 oz. of Red Fish Dyeworks in like merino/alpaca/and maybe silk? I dunno for sure without digging around in my stuff (and through the power of sneaky internets, you won’t ever realize that I am typing this while up WAY past my bedtime…on a school night, no less). My hazy memory is only made hazier by my short attention span. Lookie! Stripey!

Ooooh....ahhhhhh

So, I ended up plying it on itself. It’s just been sitting on the bobbin ever since.

I can't wait to see it *off* the bobbin...

It wants to be “Quant“. It really, really does.

Oh, and for a little extra sprinkle of psycho, I also decided to give 1 lb. of alpaca a second dye bath in the pot on the stove. I can always catch up on the resting later, right?

Round 2 - Alpaca and black food coloring

Tags: plying, spinning, striping yarn

Better late than never…

I didn’t quite make that Tour de Fleece deadline, but I was determined to get my yarn done no matter what. I finally got some plying thread from WEBS and ebay and got busy!

Purple Passion Butterfly Loop SSB, 226 yards

The Purple Passion Butterfly Batt (which ended up more of a lime green than anything) I decided to ply with some leftover Habu Stainless Steel/Silk yarn I had left over from my Kuscha Kuscha Scarf.

Ocean inspired Loop SSB, 285 yards

Can you tell I am a fan of Steph Gorin’s batts yet? She is amazing with the colors. I really want to call this one “Tell me ’bout the ocean movin’ in slow motion” ’cause those were the lyrics to the earworm I had at the time I was spinning this. It is very reminiscent of my Saltwater Waves Batt, but more on the green side.

And last, but certainly not least…

Tidal Wave Loop SSB, 230 yards

OMG! Tidal Wave…this sucker has been sitting in my stash for what seems like an eternity! I had 6 oz. of it and just looking at it make me all nervous. I wasn’t sure that it wanted to be reborn into a yarn yet…so I let it sit and chill out for awhile. It turned out all gorgeous like. I think it wants to be a warm winter hat…and I don’t even care that I live in Southern California and it never quite reaches freezing.

Tags: art yarn, etsy, Loop, plying, spinning, SSB, Steph Gorin

Summer is coming…

…so why am I looking for alpaca projects? I do live in Southern California after all…

Lots of things happening around here. I wish more were fiber related, but we have been super busy and my folks came out to stay with us for a couple weeks to help celebrate the twins’ fourth birthday. There have been trips all over the place, including Disneyland (which I hear will not allow needles in the park…good thing I didn’t have any down time there)!

So, it started with the Cookie A class I took after meeting her at Unwind. I designed my first pair of socks! Of course I am still test knitting them…so we’ll see how they turn out. Then my folks came bearing gifts from Frankenmuth.

Pictures from my parents trip to Frankenmuth

My folks scored me 2 3/4 pounds of fluff!

1lb. white combed top, 1 lb. white alpaca, 3/4 lb. of dyed alpaca

I am now swimming in alpaca and I have no idea what to make with it. The hot weather is here, but the office has been in deep freeze, so I might have a good reason to make some alpaca garments. I still have the bag of alpaca and bunny that my mom got me on her last trip to the mill. That will be the next thing I spin. I have some yarn on the bobbins right now that has just been chillin’ there. One of the bobbins is a surprise project I can’t write about here….the others have just been waiting for me to get some time to dump my photos onto any random computer I can find so I can make room to take proper, non-mobile phone pictures.

Once the parents left I went a little cuckoos mcgoos. The last two days I have spent dyeing fiber after the kids have gone to bed.

Messin' around with acid dye

I dyed some mills ends wool with some Jacquard acid dyes. I was messing around with dye to try and find my groove. I am new to this.

Then I decided to take that pound of alpaca my folks brought and hit it with some black food coloring. It turned out gorgeous!

Alpaca in purty greens and purples...

Of course, this whirlwind of crazy doesn’t include all the stuff I did last night which included handcarding some other stuff I dyed and making goodies for my Fiber Collective Swap Partner. But those are secret….shhhhh…..

Tags: alpaca, dyeing, fiber, mill, roving, The Fiber Collective, wool

Cookie A!

Friday night was so much fun! I had missed a few Friday Night meetups for various reasons, but I couldn’t miss this past Friday. Cookie A was at Unwind and I was going to hopefully get my sock mojo back. The place was hoppin’…

Everyone hanging out...

Pagewood Farms!

Of course, later on I was sitting with one of the ladies from my regular Friday Night Knitting group that scolded me a little for my fiber stash. I told her my folks had just gone to Frankenmuth and my mom had called to tell me she had gotten me 2 3/4 pounds of fluff. She may have mentioned an intervention, but I am not certain.

So we spent the evening hanging out, I got Cookie to sign my book, and I even worked on a pair of socks that have been sitting since February (for the record, I am still working on them).

Cookie A!! Oh...and me...

But there is bigger news. Since Cookie was here for the weekend, she was teaching classes at the shop. I signed up for Sunday’s “Top Down Sock Design” class. Wow! I am so glad I took it! I have knit plenty of socks in my short time knitting, but now I really feel like I can design my own socks. We got to chart out patterns and now I am test knitting my chart! OMG! I am so excited!!

Socks!!

Tags: class, Cookie A, LYS, Pagewood Farms, roving, socks, unwind, yarn

Meeting up with the Fiber Collective…

Time for a little lunchtime blogging. It seems to me I am starting to get in some sort of groove with this lunchtime blogging situation. It helps that the work computers are fast…and quite frankly, as far as our home computers are concerned right now, we are practically off the grid. But that is another story…

So, on 3/29, the ladies of the Fiber Collective (on Ravely) had a meetup up at Edward’s Air Force Base at Stashymama’s place. I convinced Wendy to go up there with me, which took absolutely *zero* armtwisting on my part. We don’t know many folks around these parts that are into spinning, so the idea of getting together with a bunch of spinner’s for the day was incredibly exciting! So we packed up our wheels and some food and headed up there!

We got up there a little late, but we walked in to see this:

A Louet, A Lendrum, a Ladybug

 

A Mach 1

All sorts of fibery goodness!

I want a drumcarder...I had better start playing the lottery...

Wendy's grey angora with purple mohair

The Alliance Starbird.

Oh, and if they are out there reading this….the Log Cabin Linus is in my possession. I will return it soon…and probably with more extras thrown in the bag.

Tags: Ashford, carding, combing, Edward's AFB, Fiber Collective, fleece, kromski, Ladybug, Lendrum, loom, Louet, Mach 1, schacht, Shawl pin, spindling, Spinolution, steam setting, washing