Robin Hood Jacket finished

"took you long enough!"


Robin Hood Jacket from Adorable Knits for Tots
Rowan Cork, "delight" -- 8 skeins (more than called for)
US 9 (5.5mm), 24" Addi
Started: 30 August 2007
Finished: 26 September 2007

I swear, putting this thing together...! It was more than worth it, but my goodness finishing to me is like pulling teeth :) I need to invest in a good finishing book, Ms. Wiseman's was recommended by the knittyboard crew but I'm waffling between it and an all-in-one volume since I don't really have a good pull off the shelf and answer my late night questions one.

Anyways :)



I'm really pleased with it, though baby boy decided he didn't want to wear it "EVER!!"... the power of bubbles to bribe my child. :) The pattern was well written and I didn't find any errata in it as far as the pattern goes (errors were referenced by a reviewer on amazon)-- although I did need 8 skeins of yarn for the largest size, not 7. There's enough left over for a hat for him from the eighth, but the sweater was definitely not possible with only 7 sk. The arms also didn't increase to the size given stitchwise, but that be an issue with my column gauge.

I had to use a US 9 to get gauge (pattern calls for a US 10.5, 16 sts/4 inches over seed stitch). The math folks may tell me my assumption's wrong here, but since I used a smaller needle diameter-wise knitting this sweater than originally called for, I'm using less yarn as well... so anyone getting gauge with a 10.5 is going to be using more yarn and needing more of it (so, you'll need the extra skein of yarn like I did when knitting the largest size)...? If I said that out loud, it'd be in my brit uptalk with a questionmark at the end.

Moving on... :)



I'm super impressed with the yarn-- how the cables still pop after a good wet blocking (I needed to really shape this thing to get it to fit my kid-- it was much too small preblocking). I was worried the orange would be too little baby as opposed to "BIG BOY!" since we're getting very self-defining here lately, but it's fine and I really like orange knits on the kid :) Even though there is a lot of yarn in the sweater, it's not super heavy or dense even with the cabling, and I can imagine how soft it would be knit into a sweater for me in a larger needle and with a little bit of drape (this is solid!)



I knit the hood an extra 1/2" longer than called for... my son's head grows out of his clothes faster than the rest of his body :) I'm thinking about ripping and making the hood a bit smaller-- but it wouldn't solve how deep/wide it is (knit as written according to pattern). I don't really mind it, so it'll probably stay as is.

I omitted the tassel at the tip, thinking he already looks pixieish enough :)

Also... I have a confession. I may be a continental knitter now :) After seeing Roam and reading Laura's list for possible yarn subs, she included a sentence at the end that had me swatching for it with my Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK... "It is so easy to switch between knit and purl (it doesn’t require a whole half-a-stitch-movement) that my ribbing and seed stitch are almost as fast as my stockinette. Really." So I tried and though I'm not convinced that the DB will be good for Roam, Continental knitting is good for me :) The seed stitch of the hood was good practice for me and I've caught myself knitting Continental a lot now, for everything except stranded knitting. We'll see if it sticks!



The last button (or, the distance between it and the penultimate one) creates a small gaping bit when buttoned... not sure which one I'll move to try and fix it, though I really should. But I'm still calling this finished, so yay :)


(i did end up listing a few handspun yarns in my etsy shop as well as a few commercial sock and other yarns on destash. i'm running out of room everywhere, more likely to come :))

Knit and Crochet Show 2007

Being in my own literal backyard, I couldn't resist visiting the market at the Knit and Crochet Show this year. As with all of my fiber arts purchases lately, it's been spinning fiber heavy.


Yak fiber, 2 - 8 oz bags from yarnplace.com


Merino/cashmere (95/5), 8 oz from yarnplace.com

Yarnplace is slowly becoming one of those places I buy from whenever I run into them (last time it was the gold recycled silk at Lambtown). Really though, the yak is amazingly soft and a super short staple... I have it in the back of my head to save it to card with a natural brown merino for a sweater qty of spinning fiber... one of those pipe dreams similar to the baby alpaca/silk from matahari spinnery, but you never know :) The merino/cashmere is the same fiber percentage as the "clouds" yarn I have but it's not the one listed on their site right now... they did have it at the K&CS though, not sure the deal on that. They also don't have their spinning fibers on their website, but they had several grades of cashmere along with camel as well at the show.

I also picked up a 1400 yd ball of gentle, because yall know I knit *so* much lace.


Crosspatch Creations triple play roving (wool, silk & viscose), 4 oz in "Edgar Allen"
from Carolina Homespun

I've really been curious about Crosspatch Creations since seeing this awesome, awesome fiber sampler newsletter on The Bellwether's site (you do know Amelia has a bring you to your knees new website, yeah?)... and this purchase has spurred me on to subscribe. The color's just amazing, and will spin into a fun textured yarn for me (if I can manage to not spin it too finely!)


Corriedale roving, 2 - 4 oz braids in "chocolate" from RoyaleHare.com

I've finally come to terms with the fact I don't have to just spin superwash merino, or just merino :) The royale hare booth was so friendly (almost too much for staring at my shoes me), and told me that this roving was meant to be chocolate (brown) but instead broke into the beautiful purple/gold/brown you see here. I have been buying larger qtys of spinning fiber lately, always thinking I want to spin something substantial...

Aside from fiber, I snagged acid dyes and a set of US 3 Boye dpn's from SheepCityUSA (I swear this is the only needle size I constantly lose) and some wool/silk destash yarn from Caila Handknits (one of my favorite stops whatever show they're at). I felt the most amazing brown-black alpaca fiber at Pacific Meadows Alpacas but they only had 4 oz (I should have picked it up, it was amazing), and saw the cooooolest blocking solution at Article Pract's booth (my lys) called the "knitter's block." It's a set of interlocking foam pieces like little kids' puzzle mats, but the "foam" was covered and not just open and non-absorbant... it was packaged with t-pins and an Egyptian cotton pressing cloth in an adorable tote and gosh I wanted it but had hit my budget, so I hope they'll have it in stock next time I manage to pop over there on transit. My birthday's coming up, so we'll see :)

All of this fiber and no where to put it means I've come to terms with the fact I can't knit (or even store) all of the yarn that I spin, and will be listing a couple handspun yarns in my etsy store as soon as I wrangle time to figure out their weights and yardages (you can sneak a peek at them here, and I'll probably be posting about them on Wednesday.)

Til then! :)

etsy friday

Feeling a little rusty! I actually was only going to take 2 weeks off from blogging etsy fridays, but my blogfree pal Katy asked what I was going to do with my time off... it sounded like a good idea to take the whole 2 weeks off from blogging, and now I don't know how to start again :)

Jumping in with my clothes on...


Raised glass scrollwork pendant from LORiOLA.etsy.com

Oh, how I love these glass pendants :) It was near on impossible to capture, but the raised raku colored scrollwork ranges in color from brown to iridescent duck green to gold, and the grey flecked white glass is almost indescribable-- not looking like typical glass, but heavy on the collarbone when worn. Yay for LORiOLA (one of the gift certificates for the contest was to her store!)

Etsy's not only a place for handmade, but also for sellers selling vintage items as well as supplies. I buy lots of "supply" category things from etsy*, a few recent ones:


JehovehJirehFarm Coopworth/Silk roving from twistedSheep.etsy.com


HandpaintedYarn.com worsted merino from twistedSheep.etsy.com

Both of these "destash" items came from twistedSheep, who also sells spinning batts and handspun yarns in her shop. (If you've ever wanted to knit with handspun but don't spin, there's been a HUGE surge in handspun yarn listings on etsy lately! Just fyi...)

The pollen merino's a delight-- back from the day when handpaintedyarn.com was selling the worsted on ebay (you may know them now as a little company called Malabrigo...) I love stumbling onto things like this on etsy-- I wasn't looking for either, but both are current projects of mine.

Another stumbled upon find...




Lenticular vintage Mexican postcards from ArtPhotoGirl.etsy.com

I went searching on etsy for "lenticular", loving the way it sounded (never knowing the word for that winking jesus washboard effect before) and found these awesome postcards. I've slowed my roll on buying cards, the stockpile getting too large, but these I just couldn't say no to. ArtPhotoGirl sells lots of unique paper and vintage finds for art (or just for use as they are, for unimaginative souls like me), and has even relisted the ones I bought.

More serendipitous finds...


Etsy 1" pinback buttons from EtsyLabs.etsy.com

One each for the winners of the latest knitty/choka contest hot off of EtsyLabs' button press, and the rest for me ;)

Speaking of...

* $27 GC to LORiOLA -- Camille
* $20 GC to Pigeonroof Knits -- Alyson
* $18.50 to Frost Fish Cove Soaps -- WonderMike
* Tissue Cozy and Keyfob Sets from Piddleloop -- salohlee, Val and Jeanie
* Knitting Box Bag from Japanese Handmade Etc -- Suzie
* $10 GC to creativeapples -- Amelia
* $10 GC to time2cre8 -- Turtle
* $10 GC to zero stitch markers -- Chris

Congrats all! I've contacted you all thru email or blogs. Thanks everyone for playing, it was fun!


*There is a recent debate on etsy's forums whether yarn and "knitting supplies" belong in the knitting category or the supply category. I list all of my stitch markers in the "knitting" category-- to me, "knitting" is the process and should include items for the process, not finished items. If you're interested in this, please wander over to this thread and voice your opinion for the etsy admin to hear :) You can also follow a discussion about categories on ravelry's etsy shops forum here as well, or on the etsyFAST forum.

Also speaking of, I was tagged for a new meme by etsyfast member Jean La Rue... I'm going to bend the rules a bit :) I think I've said all I want to say about myself in list form, but here are seven excellent shops administered by etsyFAST members to check out with a link to one of my favorites in their shop (it *is* etsy friday, yall!)

* Ashabee sells gorgeous handpainted yarns and roving, incl. this bump that's sat in my favorites list for forever

* SkiingWeaver has mad weaving skills, and this scarf that I've loved from since finding out she used FearlessFibers' cashmere laceweight in making it

* FeltCafe East & West has taunted me with this gocco machine since I discovered what gocco is

* FatCatKnits has spoken to my orange loving soul with this beauty beauty merino/tencel

* CherylAvenue has taken her felt loving self and made some wonderful felted soaps with surprise toys... for kids or the kid inside :)

* Confections brings out the green eyed monster in me-- spinning fabric strips into yarn is something that's on my too-long wish list

* Lazycats should be definitely be on your etsy checkout stop, because who doesn't need (homegrown, organic catnip filled) amigurumi rats in their lives?! ;)


Miss you, so much!

not etsy friday

I've been taking a little breather from blogging and meant to come back next Friday... but I had to update with an oversight on my part about my latest choka/etsy contest so here I am :)


Chrysanthemums on Black box bag, sock knitting pouch by JapaneseHandmadeEtc.etsy.com

Satomi had offered to donate one of her amazing box pouches for my contest months ago when I first found out my Q socks had been accepted for Fall 2007 Knitty... and I accidentally left it off of my contest post! :(

As yall know, I love love LOVE my Japanese Handmade bags for carrying socks in progress with me, and her new black chrysanthemum print may be my new favorite in her store. If you haven't yet, take a look at her store and check out the new fabrics (and her sold items, since she'll reproduce items for you if they're not listed in her store at the moment). You can also see all of mine here, here and here, and read about it on the contest post.

SO! New prize addition to the contest, if you haven't played already it's time :)

As for me, it's been knitting and spinning but I hate talking about things I don't have pictures of, so I'll be back next (real) etsy friday in full swing :) Miss you!!


....ps!!! a set of my zero stitch markers made the HOMEPAGE of etsy a few days ago (yay!! with some backstage drama, but YAY!!) so i'm celebrating with a free shipping sale in my shop zero.etsy.com from now til monday at 2pm pacstandard (9/24/07). i'm in the process of updating the shipping costs so you don't have to wait for a new invoice; if i miss one or you're too quick just let me know and i'll refund or send you a proper paypal invoice. offer good for domestic *and* international, and i'll be updating/restocking regularly over the weekend with new stitch markers in freshwater pearls, amethyst, garnets and others and even some more row counters.

i also am adding a new ring size to the custom sizing lineup (US 5-6), so you can now choose a ring size for your stitch markers from US 2, US 4, US 6, US 9 and US 13. and as always, ring sizing for your stitch markers is free!

did i say YAY?!

Fall knitty, q stockings and a contest

q stockings, my new pattern :)
published in fall knitty 2007
additional q stocking pics here in my flickr stream

Yall have no idea how hard it was to keep quiet about this pair of stockings! I breaknecked to get the second done recently (8 days), and liked the completed pair so much I actually bought a skirt (!!!) to wear them with :)

So, let's keep the happiness rolling...

Since contests make me happy, and etsy makes me happy... time for another etsy contest! For those of you who are new to my blog, Etsy is an online marketplace where crafters and artists can sell their handmade work. I try to feature various etsy artists I've purchased from every week here on my blog for "etsy fridays," and have picked a small sampling of favorite stores to give gifts and gift certificates from.

***


$27 gift certificate to LORiOLA.etsy.com

There is a lot of beautiful jewelry on Etsy, but I am just smitten when it comes to LORiOLA's work. She is a glass artist with a great eye for color, a sense of humor about her art and a steady hand when it comes to creating scrollwork in molten glass. I truly believe each of her pieces is a work of art and I'm thrilled to own several different types.

***


$20 gift certificate to pigeonroofstudios.etsy.com

I go on and on about Pigeonroof Studios, but it's not without good reason. She hand dyes yarn and roving for spinning in some of the most exciting colors I've seen on etsy (outside as well), and sells a good variety of handspun yarn for those wanting to try to knit with handspun. I am *captivated* by her eye for and application of color across fiber mediums.

***


$18.50 gift certificate to frostfishcovesoaps.etsy.com

I have bought pounds of handmade soap from etsy for myself and loved ones, and Frost Fish Cove Soaps is my favorite vendor. Their molded, cold process soaps come in a wide variety of scents and ingredients that are foamy, cleansing and a luxury to use. I never thought I could be so excited about soap until finding handmade soaps, but I am and Frost Fish has made me a convert.

***


3 sets to 3 winners: tissue cozy and keyfob set by piddleee.etsy.com
donated by Jen and Wendy of Piddleloop :)

You guys know how I feel about Piddleloop's fabric bags for storing my knitting projects, but did you know they make other awesome fabric creations as well? I didn't until Jen sent me this tissue cozy and keychain set; turns out the Piddleloop team makes lots of things for their local retail markets they we don't see in their etsy store. Here's your chance to see for yourself the excellent handwork that goes into all of their products-- and really, I didn't know I needed to carry kleenex with me til I started, and now I can't stop. It makes me feel like supermom.

***


custom made Chrysanthemums on Black pouch by JapaneseHandmadeEtc.etsy.com
donated by Satomi of JapaneseHandmadeEtc, photo courtesy of her store

You know how much I love my Japanese Handmade Etc box bag pouches for sock knitting (see all SIX of mine here, here and here)... they are the perfect travel size for a sock, hang lightly on the wrist for walking and knitting, are heavily interfaced and reversible so no wayward dpns can poke thru, and really just seem made for housing small knitting projects. They are perfect for non-knitters as well (my son uses his for carrying important toddler boy treasures in, mom likes hers for carrying small essentials like a wallet and keys), and I'm still amazed at how well and with what detail they are put together.

Sorry for leaving this off my original post! :(

***


$10 gift certificate to creativeapples.etsy.com

Creative Apples, by sheer volume alone, is my favorite greeting card seller on etsy. She is a photographer with a huge range, and her work looks awesome mounted on the large blank cards I buy hand over fist. Her shop is full of subject matter (superhero toys, foliage and flowers, cupcakes, robots...) and she will make any image from her flickr stream into a card or print. The choices there are huge and even more varied, so it's no wonder why I have and send so many.

***


$10 gift certificate to time2cre8.etsy.com

I have been a fan of time2cre8 ever since opening up my own etsy store. I buy all of the recycled atlas/comic book handmade business card envelopes for my packages from her, and she constantly amazes me with what she can do with paper-- handmade envelopes, printed tags, aceos and cards. I love the variety of her art and talent across all sorts of media.

***


$10 gift certificate to zero.etsy.com

The best knitting stitch markers on etsy.

:)

Seriously though, this is my little corner of etsy-- I have a shop selling knitting stitch markers made from freshwater pearls, semiprecious stones, and other handmade goods that do well as markers (being light, being unusual and being handmade). As much as I love glass jewelry, I am a big fan of abandoning glass for natural stones for my stitch markers. Freshwater pearls are incredibly light on the needles, much lighter than glass while still a beauty and joy to use. zeromarkers will also custom size your stitch marker rings for free-- you have a choice of US 2, US 4, US 9 and US 13 rings that nearly all sets can be fit with, depending on your knitting poison.

I also, occasionally, sell superwash merino roving for spinning dyed in 4 oz braids when I need a little color outlet.

zero.etsy.com - zerOmarkers

***


photo courtesy of EtsyLabs.etsy.com

Each winner will also receive a 1" button made by at Etsy Labs-- the "gooey nougat center of the Etsy Executive Offices" where lucky NYC artists and crafters can hang out and expand their craft muscles by learning something new and soaking up the etsyness.

***

All of the certificates should be enough to cover at least one item in the above shops with shipping, so no worries about needing alternate payment methods (unless you want to stock up, which my fellow vendors and I fully endorse ;)).



"How can I win something etsy-fabulous?"

By submitting a couplet to the world's longest poem at Choka On It and copy/pasting your couplet in the comments to *this* post. I reserve the right to disqualify you if you don't follow their (simple) submission requirements... I'm mean like that, ask around ;) Any doubts, check my past choka contests here, here, and here for more info. You must leave me either a link to your blog or a valid email address with your comment, no anonymous entries (so the vendors and I can contact you if you win!)

Contest will run til Friday, Sept 28 at 12pm PST (the next Etsy Friday for me, I'm taking a few weeks off!)... and winners will be chosen *at random* (one entry per person), so no worries about your poetry skilz or lack thereof.

Good luck! Keep on stranding on!

finally

I've been *struggling* with this handspun, finally off of the bobbins!


Handspun, handcarded naturally colored merino-- 3ply
36 gm, fingering weight

This is yarn spun from the unwashed fleece I purchased when I bought my ashford joy, washed at Deep Color Studio's Fleece Day class, handcarded into rolags... and let sit for WAY too long. It looks wonderfully woolly and it is, but look closely-- it's a 3-ply! My singles were crazy thin... Kristine (we met at the fleece day class! she has a super awesome site selling yarn and rovings that are naturally dyed as well as some that are acid dyed; an etsy store too) had asked me how the merino fleece was spinning up and I replied that I was waiting to spin it all once it was carded, and then I remember reading somewhere that the "beauty" of rolags was that they were so light and airy...

I had been carding these and shoving them into gallon ziploc bags, compressing them to get even more into the bag. And zipping it closed.

I also remember reading that fleeces could generate more "grease" even after scouring if left to their own devices... my goodness. All of these newbie mistakes meant that the rolags were greasy, tightly packed together, drafted ugly and had to be (p)inched out instead of truly woolen spun (PDF!) like I'd wanted. It made my fingers greasy, not dirty but just sticky... I couldn't help but worry that they were making my bobbins sticky (no), and wondered what I could make with it. It breaks my heart a little (relative), but now I don't even want to use the rest of the fleece. I know I can re-scour it but... I don't want to and it'd be really hard here in my small space. Sad to think of it sitting unloved, uncarded and unused, but it is :(

I just wanted the spinning to be over, really... so filled 3 bobbins lightly and plied them together for this.



Once skeined up, I scoured the yarn in hot soapy water and smacked it around to slightly shock/felt it and now? It's soft, very oddly squishy (very dense and slowly expands back out instead of bouncing back when squeezed), and I really like its woolliness... have a thing for that though, not a shocker.

I had no idea it was SO light though (36 gm!) I was hoping for enough for mittens, but not here. I think I'll pair it with some Rowan Felted Tweed from the stash...


Rowan Felted Tweed, "ginger"

I've had this nagging need/offhand request to knit a pair of fingerless gloves *with* a fliptop mitten. I've been trying to work my mind around how to do it, and then the Stash and Burn podcasting crew talked about the Urban Necessity gloves from magknits and it's just what I was thinking about! (You know they're holding a one-skein contest, right?) Except, I really wanted to work in some colorwork, inspired by my most recent mitten book scores...


Knitting Fair Isle Mittens and Gloves by Carol Rasmussen Noble
Latvian Mittens by Lisbeth Upitis

...both purchased from Velona Needlecraft (the Noble book is sold out at Velona now; sorry Stacey! :)) I still want to figure out how to knit a fliptop colorwork mitten that looks good, but this pair (merino & felted tweed) will likely just be some sort of fibonacci or other non-random mathematical striping instead. I have a Palette color card on order from Knit Picks for more colorwork mittens though (and a set of their new Harmony interchangeable wood tips and long cables for a big holiday project I'm batting around).

More on everything later though :) It's shaping up to being a good week ahead despite missed connections; miss you!

etsy friday

Nicole's blogged about this shop before, but I've actually had this etsy purchase under wraps for months til I worked up the courage to send it on to its new home :)


Earthenware tab from circaceramics.etsy.com

I love Circa Ceramics, for the range of handwork that goes into their products and just how neat they are. They start by screenprinting (or gocco-ing) images and fusing them to brightly colored earthenware or porcelain. They make a range of fired items, like magnets, bowls, coffee cups, and tabs like this one.

What's a tab? What to DO with a tab? Fall in love and let it go? Keep it though you haven't figured it out yet?

Onto the fiber portion of our program... seriously, Ravelry needs to get a fiber stash database going; my yarn stash page is the little white angel on my shoulder when it comes to etsy and yarn.* Until that void's filled I keep getting sucked into buying more (and finding new places to stash it around the house...)


Scoured merino fleece from shunklies.etsy.com

Despite the fact I am wrestling with spinning my brown merino fleece I handcarded into rolags (more on that later), I still am interested in handcarding wool. Shunklies had this 3.5oz listing of scoured merino (cleaned of grease and farm grime) and I immediately thought it would be rad to card it with scraps of dyed superwash merino leftover from spinning. There is at the most 2 oz of dyed scraps, and they're all different colors-- once carded the result will look just flecked with color. Can't wait :)

The fleece is very clean of grease, soft with very little vm. And all the way from the UK!

From stateside, a small family Maine farm where they process their own wool...


Merino/silk/sari silk batts from enchantedknoll.etsy.com

I really like batts, and I really like when I can get more than 4 oz of fiber at a time. 4 oz just seems too small for me when I'm not spinning for socks... so when I saw that Enchanted Knoll had 4 oz listed but could card more, I pounced and bought 8 oz total. It's 50-48-2 merino-silk-sari silk-- sounds cool, eh?

A closeup:



Still in love, hasn't waned.

Both Enchanted Knoll and Shunklies sell yarn as well as fibers in their shops for those of you who don't spin (yet!) :)

A few more headsups...

* Jolene (blogless!) sent me a link to a NYT article featuring ikea hacking and handmade; etsy snags a mention but it's interesting overall even though i have a bit of an agoraphobic skincrawl happen when thinking about ikea
* Alyson has rounded up a bunch of shops (etsy based and others) that are having sales on fibers and yarn... you may see some on upcoming etsy fridays :)
* Elizabeth (blog?) showed me this awesome broken plate pendant necklace that i fell in want.love with, a mirror too much into my heart right now
* LORiOLA, one of my favorite etsy glass artists, is still having a sale and listing new items daily. i love this orange bone! she's already shipped my order (whoa!) or it would have been added to my collection of her glass jewelry...

and not etsy but...

* Mags Kandis linked the weaving in ends as you knit tutorial i shared a while back in the comments to the latest Knitting Daily post! i'm a dork, a fangrrl but still-- it made me grin :)
edit afternoontime, 9/7: another link from Knitting Daily!
9/10: Sherry W loves it too :)
9/11: so does Lime & Violet's Daily Chum blog, and Yahoo! Bookmarks

Miss you. Wish me courage and luck...


* Don't be bummed if you're not on Ravelry yet! For the super curious I have been trying to keep all of the stash pics hosted in this folder in my flickr stream.

robin hood and the merry train fair

Despite the fact I've been spending my nights in a tank top (shocker!) and shorts (double shocker!) to keep cool, I've started knitting a new wool project...


Robin Hood jacket (back and two front pieces)
(from Adorable Knits for Tots)
Rowan Cork, sh 040 "delight" (orange)
US 9, 5.5mm 24" Addi
Started: 30 August 2007



Not just wool, but a bulky chained wool prodded into thick cabling (and a tighter gauge than usually called for). Sure it's a toddler's coat, but still :) I needed a new big project after Hanami, and a combination of acquiring more Cork from Val destashing thru Ravelry and wanting something other than socks has this coat flying off of the needles. Originally (insanely?) I wanted to knit a ball a day and have the knitting done in a week; needing to focus on something else besides nagging reality it was on track til this weekend...


Checking out the G-scale train layout
Rail Fair 2007, hosted by the Society for the Preservation of Carter Railroad Resources

A bunch of train buffs set up a range of model trains at Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont every year-- they also have rides on a restored 1890's engine, handcars and a small collection of engines and railroad memorabilia. There was lots of things to see trainwise: up close, i wouldn't sunbathe on a coal car, what are her legs doing up in the air like that? While my son found the train exhibitions the most interesting, one of Ardenwood's normal staples caught my attention instead...



...at Ardenwood they not only raise suffolk and romney sheep, but volunteers like Carol card and spin the wool for one of the ongoing demonstrations of life on the farm. She was a great teacher, answering questions from adults and children alike on how spinning and plying work, offering clean wool to children and finger spinning it with them to show the strength of it once spin has been put into it. Really a fun thing to stumble upon when we went to look for trains :)

...back down the rabbit hole with my heart jacket in hand...


an aside: i know it's not etsy friday yet, but one of my favorite etsy glass artists, LORiOLA.etsy.com, is having a "glass in my eye" sale in her shop. just fyi :)

etsy friday

Mini box pouch by dreamrains.etsy.com

I may not be feminine, but I sure do love the cutie kawaii stuff in moderation. This little (super little!) box pouch came along from dreamrains when I bought the superfluous tissue cozy-- even though I had no use for the zippy pouch, I couldn't say no. I've since found a great occupation for the world's cutest (fabric) box...



...an adorable house for the pendants I've purchased from etsy vendors. (i do have a thing about seeing inside and underneath, don't i?) It's not lined or fused with interfacing, a little origami with fabric and thread. It's very simple, and just very cute :) I'm not enough of a real girl to opine on other uses for it, but I'm sure you could think of a few.

Also filed under "more than a few", I've become a bit of an etsy fiber junkie lately. Ravelry needs to get a fiber stash database up so I can stop (my yarn stash notebook has been keeping the yarn purchases somewhat in check with its ridiculousness). Til then, though...


Superwash BFL from dyeabolicalyarns.etsy.com

I'm still choked with undyed superwash merino at home so don't really look to buy it dyed-- but superwash BFL (blue faced leicester, for the secret message crew ;)) is high on my covet list. So is dyework by dyeabolical yarns, aka Rachel. Her scratch art yarn is still sitting on my desk pining for attention, but I think this braid of fiber will have me first :)

I was really drawn to this American Maid colorway since cracking the spine on Deb Menz' Color in Spinning (and also the Twisted Sisters' Sock Workbook)... I keep wondering how the primary reds and blues will 1) draft together and 2) look to the eye once spun as singles and 3) as a plied sock yarn. Can I make purple, or the illusion of it? Dunno, but the color's peaked my curiosity.

Something else has peaked...


Baby alpaca/silk from mataharispinnery.etsy.com

...namely my rational sense. 12 ounces (!!!) of 50-50 baby alpaca and silk in black from Matahari Spinnery. You may remember from a long while back that Arianie of MatahariSpinnery.com sent me a fiber sampler package for winning a contest on her blog-- she included a bump of baby alpaca and silk roving in fawn that I just was head over heels for. It's what my love feels like, my heart as it wavers and aches. She's since opened an etsy storefront to compliment her website. Browsing etsy I found that one of her revolving sales was on this fiber... and I bought it all.

Now really, this is a lot of fiber for me. Even though I keep buying larger qtys of fiber lately, my attention span... well. I really did have a reason for it though-- I've been kicking around an idea I shared on the Stash and Burn podcast a while back, namely to knit a circular scarf using the bmp space invaders sock charts, something decadent and worthy. And because I am like, mad... I wanted to spin the yarn myself. Maybe someday this'd be the background for that.

Maybe it'll just sit in my fiber stash and never be used but just longed for. I don't know.

I do know someone else who thinks space invaders and etsy is a good combo though...


Space invaders handknit sweater by n2Imaginations.etsy.com
(picture used with permission from n2i)

n2Imaginations has HANDKNIT this invaders sweater and has it for sale in her etsy shop. I was blown away browsing and running across this-- dude. so.much.work and something so familiar. Nancy told me that though the charts weren't from bmp, they were inspired by the socks! Yay :)

I think the sweater's already terribly underpriced at $60 (?!!), and she's also selling a pattern for the sweater for $3. Very nice! :)

Also on the very nice front... Pantheon Acres, Knitting in Pink and Grad School Knitter have all posted about some of their favorite etsy finds and I loved them all :) I've been backlogged lately with life and... life, and it was really nice to see and hear from other etsyphiles.

I'll be back Monday (or tuesday-- it's a holiday in the states for the working wo/man... and me) with an odd project I hope to have some progress on. I miss you terribly.

close to surfacing

Thank you all for your kind words about Hanami-- I was glad you guys liked it as much as I do, unwieldy and "chinese" as it is :) Took those photos during a break spinning this over the weekend...


Handspun single, spun from a batt made by stringtheoryfiberart.etsy.com
75/10/10/5 merino-silk-tencel-silk noil, 4 oz
"evening shade" colorway

I think this is the first single I've spun for a singles yarn since my very first time spinning useable yarn. I wanted to keep the shaded color bands separate (there are no obvious bands, but parts of the batts were dominantly green, purple, teal...) as well as the areas with lots of silk noil from those without, so plying wasn't ideal and a navajo ply would have left me with a nice yarn but not enough yardage for a non-hat or non-accent project. So here you go :)

Not plying has left me with a yarn that's still springy, but doesn't have that bounceback of 2- and 3-plied yarn. I'm not quite sure if I like that, but it is kinda fun just taking what you want and being done with it when you are. I admit I prefer the pairing in the longterm, though.

I think these'll work into something nice, like the hexagon spiral scarf from knitting nature...


(this color's the most true)

...or Argosy from knitty. The color's good for someone, but there's a lot of shine not showing up in my early-morning light pics from the tencel and the silk (tencel is like that fun you have in your hands that you can't keep still or there), so even though the colors are dark overall and the noil looks tweedy I think has more of a femme bent.



I wasn't sure what to "do" with the noils, so I just left them alone for texture. This is the first batt I've been pretty much happy with my spinning from; it's not the batts' fault, just my tendency to spin too fine means all that great blending and texture and fun of batts gets whittled down to a tiny fine line that's just no fun for anyone. I'm working on that fun though, really want it but not sure if it wants me.

Does there always have to be a last one?


...a force when we're together

Hanami stole completed

Hanami Stole by Pink Lemon Twist
Henry's Attic Carrera (aka "silk and ivory": 50/50 wool/silk, 2000ypp)
200gm of Carrera, approx. +880yd
US 5 (3.75mm), 24" Addi
8/0 clear glass beads, lined in colonial blue
Started: July 2, 2007
Finished: August 19, 2007
Blocked: August 24, 2007

I was really excited seeing all of the winged mystery stoles lately, loving the asymmetrical turn they took. The dissonance that works was the reason I chose Hanami (or why Hanami chose me); so different from "regular" lace but makes sense as a large piece worn wrapped around and seen as two halves of a whole.



The back transition is organic and elegant-- a simple execution that really makes you want to see the sister pieces.





Yes Virginia, it is giant. The Carrera is a heavier weight yarn than the Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud the pattern was written for, a stash busting effort even though I have about 4 oz left on the cone I knit from (a guess). I think the Carrera was a good choice for me-- having little experience with a large lace piece it wasn't unwieldy or too gossamer, easily tinkable. Unblocked, the piece measured from my wingtip to wingtip (I'm about 5'6, so my love arms stretched is about that; about as accurate as measuring a bed with a bible...) and blocked it submitted into 92" x 18". So like, giant.

It would look breathtaking in a super lightweight yarn, though. (My favorite I've seen so far has been splityarn's-- ebony seasilk!) I really like the basketweave motif, think it'd make a great scarf in a heavier weight yarn.



I used 8/0 beads strung with my 1.0mm steel crochet hook-- the same one I used to fix bent prongs in my camera's media slotty, earning me my level two macgyver knitting badge (check them out from the way bottom of the page, amy turned me onto them). They're almost like a secret detail; the 8/0 beads called for matched the pattern's laceweight, but on this light fingering weight yarn they almost disappear and add little to no weight on the edge. (Better pic of the beads here). My final shawl weight of 200 gm was with the beads, so it may be a bit lighter yarnwise but really not by much.



Other than changing the yarn used, the only other thing different from the pattern as written was the beaded garter stitch bindoff instead of the ruffled edge on the "cherry blossom" half. It isn't even a mod as Melanie's pattern tells you how to do it-- I love the suggestions she offers in her pattern as far as tweaks go.

My blocking job obviously isn't stellar, and I think I'll try to diy some lace blocking wires before my next lace project needs to be held down. (I've heard now that people are using welding rods and floral wire... any other diy suggestions for blocking wire?)



I still am on the fence about this stole *for me.* It is stunning, but a huge departure from my tshirt and jean lifestyle-- even when it turns cold in my neck of the woods it's a black wool coat and overly large and hugely loved malabrigo clapotis with the tshirt and jeans, not lace and beads. The off-white still looks formal, bridal to me-- I thought about dyeing the finished stole when I started, but I just couldn't now. The white's stunning and reminds me of Moca and its mundillo lace, the unspoken ending-up dream.

I love it, I loved making it and I loved that I could (anyone can! it's not a hard pattern, it made lots of sense once i found that home in the rhythm of it)... it may make a stunning gift, I don't know. I do love it though... think I said that already :)