or, how to avoid holiday deadline knitting

I'm not going to make it. However much you make me grin saying I'll make it, I won't... Grandma's afghan has 2 panels done and I need four. I could blame the hand and loom weaving obsession cutting into knitting time, but really, it'll be okay and no worries (she's already seen it in progress and is excited, which makes me excited, even if it'll be a week late :))

Lots of other little things done, but lots of little distractions as well. After coming home from a short holiday with family, I popped in on the Knit One One craft fair last weekend-- scored exactly what I went looking for too!


Girl on the Rocks merino-bamboo roving, 4.2oz-- "Fancy Luggage"

I haven't been buying fiber lately... I have some wonderful stuff waiting for me to spin in the fiber closet, belong to some awesome spinning clubs, some new partial fleeces *may* have stumbled their woolybullies into my house and are calling to be washed (why do I love washing fleece so much?!)... But! I was browsing Karrie's flickrstream via twitter and saw some beautiful fibers... she told me she and be at k11, and when I went browsing her etsy store saw this one and was like-- I'm going there for THAT.

I didn't plan on this though...


Stanley the penguin knitting kit from KnitWhits

SO CUTE!! I brought my son with me to k11 and he beelined to the KnitWhits table, *loving* this penguin designed by KnitSonya (hi!). So of course, sucker I am, promised to finish it for him by the holiday. (I'm hoping he forgot about it-- I stashed it and have been working on it when he goes to bed.)

This is the first kit I've ever knit from. Admittedly, I've always felt a little averse to kitted projects-- 'I could use stash yarn!' 'I could pick better colors!' 'I could dye better colors for cheaper!' etc. I have to say it was REALLY satisfying to just open this adorable box (perfect for gift giving, btw), and knit from already-wound skeins of coordinating yarns. I will be making at least one more for my sister's baby-to-be (!!) from stash yarn... but liked working from the kit a lot.

I should have picked up the kitted Elfin booties KnitWhits had as well-- ADORABLE. I know I'll be buying the pattern if I don't find a kit before my sister's baby shower.

Really though, you don't really need to leave the house to avoid the deadlines. You can just blame Kristine cos you're surrounded by amazing fiber you just can't keep your hands off of.


A Verb for Keeping Warm yak/silk, 2 oz-- "Capitan Pink's Lost Pearl"

Since this last aVfKW ultra fiber club shipment arrived, it has been just sitting on my desk taunting me with its loveliness. I told Christina I am besotted with angora lately-- it's not true. I'm head over heels for all soft, fuzzy fiber blends and my friends? Yak is amazingly soft, and halo-y, and gosh I shouldn't feel this way about an animal let alone its fur.

I've already spun up some yak/silk in another colorway, but I was impatient and already have it headed for the loom so no pics. Yet. :)

I do have some in progress pics of the last-last aVfKW club shipment though (I always wait to photograph them, hoping not to ruin anyone's surprise but then forget to take them at all :))...


aVfKW 2 oz baby alpaca-- "Witchy Woman" and 1.5 oz alpaca/silk-- black
(both fibers sent as club shipment)

Another soft soft soft fiber. Ultimate goal-- 2-plying the different colors into a super fat drapey yarn. For...? A cowl? Something to be snuggled in for sure.

MORE soft/fuzzy? Can't be.


Lavender sachet from spindlespun 70/30 aVfKW baby camel-silk-- "Succulent"
doubled and woven on the Weave-It

This was some of the first yarn I spun on a spindle. I still am, having 6 oz of the stuff...


Golding Tsunami spindle, .75 oz

Time flies and all that :)

I decided not to ply the singles before weaving, they look really cool doubled instead as woven fabric. The fuzz factor is super high and good too-- I'd be rubbing this all over my cheek if not for the super fresh lavender in a mesh bag I sewed up inside being way too strong for that. I'll make a bunch of these (lavender packs, not just in camel/silk) for little gifts and also perfect for slipping into the yarn and fiber stash, I'm thinking.

Aside from fiber, and spinning, and weaving away from meeting my handmade holiday goals, I had a hair to sort thru the large lots of Spin Off Magazines I'd been accumulating. And apparently duplicating all over the place!


just.the.duplicates

I'm destashing them, more info on specific issues over at Ravelry (and here at my 18+ tumblelog for non-ravellers).

Okay! Best of luck to all of you still racing towards holiday knitting deadlines :) Best wishes and thoughts if I don't see you before then, miss you!

catching bullets

my brain's all over the place the past week, i don't even dare try to number these :)

* the asymmetrical cardi grows.



norah gaughan has created a super interesting construction here-- you knit the two front panels separately, increase on either side for the arms, work out the neck opening on either side, then join for the back and knit on down. fold at the shoulder, seam up the sides and under the arms for a non-interrupted pattern (and no need to set in sleeves when seaming.)

i've modded the arms to have more pattern and less cuff (and under the arms for a faster increase rate), we'll see if it works when its time to origami this thing up.

the color in both of these is really off... but who knew a cable could pop so much?



yay o-wool :)

* i went to the bay area bead extravaganza and brought home fistfuls of new pearl strands for my knitting stitch marker shop. my new favorite? biwa stick pearls. paired with other pearls and semiprecious stones the stitch markers look like little surfers on surfboards...


biwa stick pearl knitting stitch markers at zero.etsy.com

less valleygrrl but still fun...


sample of what's to be added to the shop over the next week

* i warned christina. when i went to this month's tahki stacy charles yarn tasting at article pract, i warned xtina i'd sit up at night and weave all of the yarn samples when i went home (i took my weave-it instead of knitting needles). which wasn't bad...


top left and clockwise: takhi tweedy alpaca, filatura di crosa zara, loop d loop moss, s charles trapper

...because, oh do i love stacy charles collezione trapper. 70/30 merino-cashmere, very reminiscent of felted tweed. but cashmere. oy. i want to marry it and have red tweedy babies. or a sweater. or knit it a sweater.

filatura di crosa superior may object though. i can't tell who's been leading who on.



i think there's enough squares to tack them together tip to tip (five times fast!) and end up with a cravat. of brushed cashmere and silk.

!!!

absolutely gorgeous woven up, the cashmere just fills in the blanks.



doesn't it always?

seriously, superior is the most decadent feeling yarn i've ever, ever encountered. thinking hard about making mary-heather's lace capelet with it (only one skein of superior! and i have a 25% coupon from the yarn tasting for as many tahki yarns as i'd like!)

* speaking of weaving, while at article pract (best yarn store in the bay area), i fell down on the no more yarn oh goodness no the boxes are still overflowing sort of not announced diet i've been on.


a verb for keeping warm 70/30 alpaca-silk

don't tell anyone, but i think kristine sold her soul to be able to dye such glorious colors using only natural dyes.

:)

how could i help myself though? it is an article pract staff pick for november (20% off!) and can you imagine what a great scarf it'll make? i'm really drawn to green lately too. weird.

* if you're in the bay area, this wednesday (11/12) there's a spinning meetup at knitoneone in berkeley between 7 and 9pm. well lit studio space (plenty of room for wheels tho i'm bringing a spindle) and BARTable via ashby. it's really neat sitting in a circle of spinners. tactile fiber arts' trunk show will still be on display, if you need a fiber/yarn fix mid-spinning :)

more info here on ravelry in the bay area spinners forum. we're renting the space ($60) and splitting the cost amongst us-- last time we had about ten people? good times! i'm bringing wisteria for show and tell :)


photo by wondermike-- header for the fabulous yknit podcast re: knit one one!

* did you have a good hallowe'en? we did. yes we did ;)



i think i'm all caught up :)

miss you!

new obsession: weaving on a weave it

I blame Karrie.

I should really, really be working on this...


Asymmetrical Cardigan from Knitting Nature
Vermont Organic Fiber Company O-Wool in saffron

...but this little demon child Karrie sold me at Color Fiber Festival has been taking over the waking minutes around here instead.


vintage Weave-It, 4"

I've admired Karrie's weave it squares and projects for ages now-- but having this in my hot little hands and a huge (really, you don't want to know) bag of sock yarn scraps within easy reach means this...



and this...



The handspun I listed in my etsy shop? Pulled for weaving.



My son's getting in on the act, demanding a blankie for his bear, Bear, out of this ball of mystery yarn.



Even my bead and wire stash is getting into the picture...


woven square pulled into diamond shape and secured at wrist on itself

Reminds me of the wire bracelet I knit a while back (I like that one better, just for the seed pearl details. Weaving with wire again will have me adding pearls and semiprecious stones, no doubt.)

Woven fabric is a totally different animal than knit-- not as soft when worked tightly. I'm still learning, but decided to not double the sock yarn for weaving squares so they're left openish...


koigu

...but have much more drape and let the softness of the yarn still peek thru than when doubled. In a far off galaxy I'd plan to make a million of these little less-than-5-yards-of-sock yarn squares and seam them for a blanket (a 4x4 square on the loom is SO MUCH FASTER than a 4x4 square handknit by me)... in this one, I'm content with making them and not really-really having a project in mind yet.

It's not to say there aren't any-- Karrie has a whole host of idea from her "week of weaving" on her blog, eLoomaNation has vintage Weave It booklets in pdf form, Hazel Rose has a bunch, there is a whole book dedicated to projects for small hand looms (Weavies One), and Spin Off even published an article in Winter 2005 with an accessory project-- "loom blooms". And as with everything, there *is* a Ravelry group :)

Me? Aside from the very vague idea of seaming the drapey sock yarn squares into a blanket (and the hotly demanded baby bear blanket), I was driven by circumstance to make a few things myself. My mom recently adopted a shelter kitten (aw...) and I figured handmade is in order for all new arrivals, furry or not.


Single and double dumpling woven cat toys

The one on the left, one square of doubled Lisa Souza Sock! that had a single bell inserted in the center and seamed like a flower dumpling. The one on the right, 2 woven squares of mediumweight Socks That Rock seamed flat with two bells inside. Mom had bought a bunch (and I mean, a BUNCH) of plastic ball cat toys with bells inside, and the little monster (whom she called my brother!!) has already rolled them under immovable dressers and places where mom or kitten can't rescue them. Apparently, these don't get as lost as easily-- although I've already fielded requests for more (and with catnip)... oy.

But how can I say no?



Larson likes 'em.

:)