Resolution Weekend

This weekend, I just realized, I worked on two things I resolved to do this year which by definition have been difficult for me. First, I exercised. It helped that I had two incentives to do so. First, I got a new bike for my birthday. Yippee. Second, I rode along this bike path called the Capital Crescent Trail, which happens to have one of my LYS's at the halfway point. It was the nicest day in the DC area so far in 2010, as you can see from this beauty of a photo:(Isn't it backwards that my cellphone takes better pictures than my camera?)

So then God rewarded me for my efforts when I found out that all bamboo circular needles at said yarn shop were 50% off because they are not selling bamboo needles anymore (they will sell only addi's...I love those too but don't get me started on optimal yarn and needle combinations...)

I also knitted a lot and made markable progress on several different projects.

I am a toe away from the first sock of this project:
Can't wait to block.... these are a little snug.

Finished the transition gloves:
I must've been tense when knitting the first one (on the left) because it is way tighter. Luckily I have tiny wrists.

Made progress on my petal halter, which was my Olympics Knitting project:
I give myself an honorable mention for this. If knitting was really in the olympics, SPM would have gold with her fair isle sweater made of sock yarn and I'd be that athlete in 26th place who just barely qualified for the olympics and went just for the experience, knowing that I wouldn't actually win. See how that hanging string is a little wavy? That's because I seamed and unseamed the blasted sides a few times, ending with an unseam. Grr. At least I've made progress though.

I love the progress I've made on the February Lady sweater:
I also made progress on my After Dark Robe. A picture of it would be way too boring to post though.

And I end with something I've been pondering. I have added in the column to the right a countdown to the MD Sheep and Wool Festival. Like many others, I will be making the vow to not buy any yarn until then. Most people call this a "yarn diet" but I propose calling it a "yarn fast" because you are ridding yourself of all yarn intake... using only what you have stored up (stashed), much like a hibernating bear. Just a thought. Feel free to share your opinion.

Round 1

Emmybear has had a strong performance in the first round of 8 of her Knitting Olympics event, the Petal Halter top. If you don't know about this event, the first 6 rounds consist of making 6 identical petals knit one side at a time from the center-out, the 7th is joining the petals together into a top, and the 8th is making and attaching the straps.

One petal of the 6 is completed and even blocked! And only after 1.5 days. She really made the most of training (if you remember, she made a perfect swatch the first time). At this rate, she may be finished with the halter top long before the February 28th deadline. She had to learn a new skill for this event... the provisional Eastern Cast-on, but with her experience with the Figure-8-style cast-on it was a cinch, except that she tragically dropped two stitches off the cast on, which will probably negatively alter the final product, despite the fact that she made adjustments to make the final stitch count correct. That might be a cause for deduction.

A few times she got too much in the groove of knitting when on the WS selvage and kept knitting when she should have purled, and had to frog and do the row over, which cost her some time. She made up with that fabulous muscle-memory most knitters are known for, which increased her speed. At times she doesn't even need to look at the work as she is doing it. Her only spectator--her boyfriend--was shocked at the ability.

Interveiwed after the event, Emmybear commented, "after doing side one I really got the hang of the complicated shaping and short-rows, and was able to do the second side without looking at the directions too much." She hopes to memorize the petal pattern by the third petal. She also plans on altering the two top petals to add another selvage edge under each armpit. She learned this from Ravelry where others who knit this suggested an alteration there. In regards to the blocking process, she commented later, "I'm glad I opted for a cotton-wool blend rather than the simply plant-based yarn that was called for... It has more memory thanks to the wool while the cotton makes it good for summer."

She showed off her finished first round product to fans:

And for bonus points, while waiting for the petal to dry, she finished the Panel Jacket she made for her mother for Christmas 2009.

Stay tuned for more updates on Emmybear's knitting!

Finally I'm an Olympian

A knitting Olympian, that is. I joined the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics Athletic Team. I will be making the Petal Halter from the Spring 2009 issue of Interweave Knits:

I am using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in a sort of slate blue. Here is my perfect swatch, completed on the first try after guesstimating that I'd need one needle size down to reach gauge:
I was going to choose the Central Park Hoodie or Swirl Scarf, but I didn't want to end up curled in the fetal position in the corner out of frustration.

Man, I am finding it difficult to wait until tomorrow night to cast on!

Best deal ever

So I've started my spinning expedition (pictures later...too lazy) and it's going pretty well. I read and read and then went to A Tangled Skein's monthly Sit n Spin, where I felt both part of the community and an outsider at the same time. Some would knit in between spinning and talk knitting terms, but then all of a sudden I would hear strange words like "draft" etc and would have to look them up briefly in the dictionary in my head. I sat there quiet for a while spinning nervously, as I hadn't manipulated roving around a spindle in about a year. I felt like a novice knitter. Whenever I made a mistake like a break in the yarn I felt like stopping and putting up my hands and saying "ahhh I made a mistake," fully expecting a spinning aficionado to come to my rescue, much like my students do with me. But I didn't, I kept on chugging quietly at the end of the table, occasionally watching others' rhythmic movements making yarn. I also listened to them totally supporting Jay and dissing Conan and thought...am I the only representative here from my generation?

A woman my age entered with her wheel, carried by her boyfriend, and parked it next to me. She wore this beautiful sweater that she had handknit, and which everyone fawned over, and whose pattern I have since bought and added to my queue. It's #396. It was around that time that I made a mistake and someone asked me how long I'd been spinning. I looked at my invisible watch and answered sarcastically, "how long have we been sitting here?" They were shocked not because of my quality of work, but because starting to spin is such a momentous occasion for a person, much like knitting is.

It was an overall successful night. I got some tidbits of advice without feeling that I pushed someone into a free lesson, which I wanted to avoid doing (the drop-spinning teacher was there). My new friend with the wheel let me try hers, but it was too overwhelming at the time. I'll try again at MDSW.

* ~~ * ~~ *

I have been inspired all month by craftzine's Make Space for Crafting theme. I decided to embark on the brilliant idea to use one of those cylindrical wine bottle gift boxes to hold my spindle and fiber. I thought Michael's would be a great place to look since I saw them there before and thought, "why the h e double hockeysticks would I ever need that?" Well now I do. I went there on Saturday morning, passing the Christmas merchandise in those metal cage bins outside; crap that they were practically paying people to take home. I circled the store 4 times trying to find those dang wine gift boxes and none could be found. I thought looking near the 1000 shoebox photo boxes would have been a good idea. Nope.

And then...



I remembered a Christmas item I had seen outside. An ugly wine giftbox that had a plush reindeer head glued on, as well as arms. I hurried outside and saw that they were only 49 cents! Jackpot! I grabbed two.

Here is a picture of the transformation from wretched to chic:

Yay :)

Fun fun fun

Over the past few days I been more creative and productive than usual. I present my three acts of fun:

Fun 1: I have been on Team Conan from the beginning and thanks to Vickie Howell's blog (via Craftzine) I can show my pride:


Fun 2: Also via Craftzine, I made my own gummy candy yesterday! This tutorial is from Skip To My Lou and requires only a small box of your favorite jello, 2 packets of plain gelatin, 1/3 cup of water, and candy molds:I will definitely leave my core gummy candy needs up to the masters, but this was fun, easy and cheap.

Fun 3: This will be a long-term fun project. In reading my new book, Respect the Spindle, I have been revisiting my small group of spinning and roving related crafting stuff that I have picked up from MDSW the past two years (which were my first two years). With knitting as my main passion I have ignored my spinning, a dynamic which I hope to be resolved with Abby's new book. I realized with help a few weeks ago that the yarn I had started spinning (on my $4 CD drop spindle) was in fact felting wool and not intended to be spun. This plus cheap spindle plus not really knowing what I was doing has produced the following--Ladies and gentlemen, I present what I will now refer to as "before":
My first and absolute only attempt at spinning. It's beautiful and totally unworkable at the same time. I will always keep it around, just like my first crochet project; the measly skein isn't enough to knit anything, really.

So at this point I'm reading the book, and have a new spindle and roving ready for when i am brave enough to start. Meanwhile, I am finally getting to some needlefelting that I bought from Thistletown Alpacas last year at MDSW, and am thinking up what I will use the rest of my needle-felting wool for now that I will not spin it.

Call me old fashioned...

So I have been waiting and waiting for a package to arrive and it finally did!

Background story: I have a Blackberry Storm (not bc I can afford it. i happened to stumble upon it when a family member partook in a buy one get one free sale)

Complete with a picture of my mom's cat taking a self-timeout.

So to help lighten up my purse I transferred the information from my Moleskine datebook into my Blackberry and stowed the obselete paper product away. The Blackberry calendar was ok but there was something about the moleskine that just drew me to Amazon.com to buy it for this year and undo my act of technology addiction manifestation. And finally it arrived!

I outfitted it with a Knitty sticker for a personal yet sleek touch.

Ahh...feels like home.

New danger zone

Today I went to The Yarn Spot, the new yarn store that opened up recently in Wheaton, MD near the intersection of University and Georgia. For those of you unaware, that is freakin up the street from me. I see empty bank accounts in my future.

It is in a new strip mall off of Georgia perpendicular to the road. The parking lot is a little tight. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the subtle industrial feel; buffed cement floor, high ceilings. They also have the Expedit bookcase (comme moi) to organize all their yarn on. They just have a few more than I do. There were a handful of women sitting and knitting at the large table in the middle of the room. I think one person was a vendor. They were welcoming yet not too in-your-face, which was great (I'm saying this because a post on Ravelry said there were too many employees or something).

But of course the best part was the merchandise. Only about 10% had I seen before. All the rest were yarns and even brands that I had never heard of in a wide price range. I bought a beautiful skein of alpaca/wool superwash sock yarn from the Alpaca Yarn Company for $11 which comes with extra coordinating yarn for the heel and toe (called Paca-Peds), and when I want exquisite luxurious yarn for a special project I'll remember their wide array of Jade Sapphire brand yarn. Here were my purchases:
Said sock yarn in purples on top, 2 skeins of Classic Elite Jill Eaton 100% extra fine superwash merino, and a cotton tote with their cute logo. It's only $10 but is discounted depending on how much you buy. I got out with three skeins miraculously under the discount threshold, but I put out the ten bucks for the bag.

Great customer service, great selection, great location. I will be going back. And my credit card whines.