09.28.06
I’m Experimenting
09.26.06
Unexpected Time
Nothing like a bout of food poisoning — yargh! — to give you unexpected free time. During recovery, in between gingerly eating a bagel and sipping seltzer water, I tackled my knitting and spinning.
I finally finished spinning my Kool-Aid dyed, merino/tencel fiber. I had divided the fiber in half and carded them differently so I could see if there would be a difference. The skein on the top was carded on a drum carder, and the skein on the bottom I carded by hand.
Visually, I don’t think you can see a difference. When I touch them separately, they both feel soft. The difference was in the spinning. The fibers carded on the drum carder were easier to spin. My hand carded batch, not as smooth going. Contributing to that may be how I hand carded the fibers and the fact that I use a pet brush. What does this mean for me? Well, I am not going to go out and buy a drum carder but I will invest in real hand carders. I am also wondering how they will knit up - swatch time!
See this?
I look at this and hope it will end up looking like something a baby can wear. When I was moving the stitches onto the stitch holder (those are going to become the sleeves), I wondered how did knitters fifty years ago do this? Did they have nifty knitting gadgets and hardware (aka reason to spend more $$$ on anything fiber-related) to attach/weave/tangle into our projects? And what about patterns? When did people first start writing commercial patterns? Once I read somewhere that when a crocheter saw a stitch pattern they liked, they crocheted themselves a sample to keep, this way they always had it. I imagine it was the same for knitters.
Lastly, the Kauai Tropical Blue socks are moving along. I can’t wait to turn the heel!
09.24.06
Knitters & Crocheters All Need A Little Love
Knitting was put on hold this weekend because I was helping a very good friend out at the free Nivea Touches New York Event. It is going on until October 14th and is open every day except Mondays. Go check it out - knitters and crocheters all need a little love!
09.20.06
House Bound
About ten days ago work was done on the gas lines on my block and everyone’s gas in my building was turned off. I learned I had to call KeySpan to set up an appointment to have the gas turned back on. I wasn’t in a big rush to miss time off from work with so much to catch up on and besides, I live in NYC, lots of take-out options. I welcomed an excuse not cook. Besides, I have a microwave and a George Foreman grill. I’ll be fine.
After a week, I really missed being able to boil water in my teapot to make a cup of tea. Water boiled in the microwave is not the same, no matter what the experts say.
So today, I was stuck in the house until 8:00 p.m. waiting for KeySpan to show up. There were supposed to arrive earlier, and of course, there was a mess up, but I finally have a working kitchen. The first thing I did was to run across the street and buy myself a tomato saucy, cheesy, chicken parm hero for dinner. NO MORE MICROWAVE MEALS!
Are you wondering what I did all day? First I tidied up the house. Then I lay around a while on the couch, feeling paralyzed by my house-bound situation. Then I read some of the latest New Yorker (read The Bag Lady - fascinating), watched the last half of The View (the show isn’t the same even tho I like Rosie and Elisabeth, get off your high horse, puhlease!), ate, napped, and then I finally pulled out some knitting.
I know I shouldn’t have but I bought this luscious 50% cotton / 50% silk from School Products. The price was just too good for me to pass up. I’m using it to make a baby present for a friend, that’s why I’m not showing too much of it in the photo. I was originally knitting it out of wool and was half-way done when I realized an L.A. baby does not need a wool sweater. This yarn does have a tendency to split, especially with the pointy-tipped needles I am using (cheap Susan Bates but the only US5 I have in the house), but I have found a rhythm so I seem to be knitting at a good speed for me. I need to finish it pretty quick since I’m making the newborn to 6 month size and this baby may show up in the next week!
09.19.06
What Would You Do If . . .
The ShizzKnit asks a question . . .
And the answer:
I would go back to school and get my MFA. What stops me? The usual - time and money. I keep checking out schools though. Becky keeps me inspired with her back to school experiences. One day . . .
09.17.06
Fiber Fall Weekend
I know, it’s not actually fall yet, and the weather this weekend was summery, but it makes for a good title, yes?
Friday night Alex and I signed up to meet the oh-so-fabulous !!! Amy Singer !!! at The Point (I feel like a 13 year old putting hearts over my i’s). This was a much needed event after a week of busy catch-up at work. Amy gave tips on how to get submitted to Knitty, talked about her book, Big Girl Knits, and then moved around from table to table, hanging out and knitting. Amy is very friendly, funny and easy to talk with.
Amy Idolatry - can I just say thank you to Amy for creating Knitty? Not only is this online magazine a creative boom to the fiber community but Amy is also a model of someone who clearly loves what she does and shares her enthusiasm with everyone.
Accompanying the evening were gift bags and door-prize drawings, yummy snacks and wine. We all received a skein of yarn, a free pattern, and the best part - a coupon. I think I know where I’ll be buying my yarn for my fall sweater project. I even actually won a door prize (this never happens to me), a lovely shawl stick topped with a sea green aventurine stone from Designs by Romi. Her website suggests using them in your hair as well, which I promptly did and it stayed put.
More photos . . .
Alex casts on and checks her gauge for a new project. Yeah, she got the correct gauge the first try!
Meeting other knitters.
I over came my shyness and asked Amy if I could take a photo for my blog.
Then there was Knit-Out. Honestly, I think I’ve outgrown this event. I am no longer interested in muscling my way to the vendors tables for free patterns or equipment. I know most of the yarn stores in the city so I didn’t need to elbow my way to those areas either. I wandered by the guild, lessons, and charity-knit/crochet tables. I did some people watching. When a table cleared up, I picked-up some stuff for my KB@W that I thought they might like.
Mostly, I was amazed by the lines. I have no idea what was going on at this table but everybody wanted it, and in the second photo, these are all people waiting to get free Clover needles. The line snaked to the opposite end and was starting to wind around one corner of the park. I wanted to yell, “People, take those 20% off coupons some of the stores are giving out and buy needles from them instead!”
In the past it was always more interesting because I helped at the Habu table or hung out with The Yarn Tree folks. I enjoyed answering questions and talking about the yarns. I loved watching people’s faces when they learned a yarn could be made from paper or stainless steel. It felt a little sad to not be excited by Knit-Out anymore. I suppose that’s how it is some years. Is this some type of a sign? Have I moved to new level? I assuaged my disappointment by eating a big breakfast of eggs and bacon at the diner on University Place - food always helps!
09.14.06
The Sweater From Another Galaxy
It is 2002 . . .
I am a new, enthusiastic knitter. I have under my belt a bag, scarves, and one hat disasterously knit on double-pointed needles. I convince myself I am ready for Very Easy Very Vogue, and I select pattern #17 from Vogue Knitting (Winter ‘01/’02) to be my first sweater project. It looks like a simple shilouette and hey, it’s all in garter stitch! (I was not really comfortable with purling at the time.) I buy the yarn in a deep plum purple, new Addi needles and I am off and running.
One year later . . .
It must have taken me four months each to knit the sweater front and back. They took forever and a day to knit. Okay, I know it did not help that I would knit a couple of inches and put it away for a couple weeks. Then I knit one sleeve . . . at a time! I learned pretty quickly that I should have knit them at the same time - I’ll never do that again. Then the seaming - ai yai yai! I finally get the damn thing all sewn together and even though it is longer in the body and sleeves then I wanted and a funky fit under the arms, I proudly wear it to work. The lesson I learned by the end of the day: acrylic yarn is hot and unbreathable. The yarn looked cute in the store, felt soft, knitted up easily but wearing it - unbearable. I put the sweater away and you know that thing you do? It’s the following winter, I unearth it from the bottom of the sweater bag and persuade myself it really wasn’t that hot wearing it and maybe if I wear it on one of the coldest days of the year it should be just fine. Then you wear it and you think, “Oh right, now I remember why I don’t wear this . . . ,” but you do this again and again each year. (I’ve done the same thing with several pairs of shoes.) Looking at the photo of it now it does seem alien to me. I finally regretfully put it away and spend the ensuing years avoiding adult sweaters.
It is time. I can no longer accept the excuses (although learning to spin yarn this summer was an excellent reason to put it off). Today I found this and this as possible projects. As you can see, today I am leaning more towards cardigans rather than sweaters but I am still looking around. Any suggestions out there in the blog-universe? I tend to like simple patterns because I don’t think I look good in anything with too much frou frou or bold patterns because of my petite-size, otherwise I remain open to anything. The sweater project research shall continue!