02.28.07
Posted in Knitting, Lace Knitting, Photos, Travel, Yarn at 7:43 pm by delipics
I took my new ball winder and swift out for a road test, using my handspun yarn for the inaugural wind.
It worked! How did I live without this wonderful tool for so long?
And I succumbed to a distraction: I put the lace shawl aside and knit up The Santa Cruz Hat - easy peasy. (Please excuse the bad lighting - it shows off the dark circles under my eyes very well)
Specs:
Yarn: I was stash busting and used a leftover skein of Zara merino extra fine. It turned out to be the perfect yarn because of its stretch-ability around my head.
Needles: Clover 10.5 double-pointed
Notes: I added an extra round of ribbing because I thought proportionally it would look better on my head. I followed the pattern for bulky yarn, where it calls for only one pattern repeat. I think I could have slipped in one more repeat before decreasing, to showcase more of the cables. All-in-all, a fast and fun pattern that can be cranked out on a lazy Saturday.
One more thing - I thought this was just too funny. Last the weekend I went to IKEA with Alex and Mark. They were doing serious furniture shopping and I went along for what I called furniture research (I long to redecorate. Maybe I’ll explain for another post). In all of the many displays, what did IKEA showcase for their small business idea? A yarn store!
Alex and I laughed and laughed. Knitting is so pervasive - I love it! The model store was called All Spun Out. Alex and I walked around in it and touched the yarn. I can’t help but wonder what they will do with all the yarn when they decide to take the model down. Will some lucky yarn-loving employee get to take them home?
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02.25.07
Posted in Fibers, Knitting, Yarn at 6:19 pm by delipics
For various reasons, I made a list of everything I spent on anything yarn or fiber related. I discovered last year I spent almost $2000 on anything to do with yarn and fiber. (Anything includes yarn, tools, books, magazines, patterns, classes, this blog.) I was very shocked. I didn’t think this could be possible. I decided to do a break down of the list because I wanted to know how much was spent on yarn alone. It turns out a quarter of the total amount was dedicated to yarn, which is still a lot of money. The smallest amount of money was spent on knitting books and magazines.
I feel guilty about all this money going to yarn. I am thinking about giving myself a fiber budget for myself. The thing is, when I buy yarn, I usually have a plan for it. I’m not an impulsive yarn shopper, nor do I feel I frivolously spend money on other yarn related items. The problem is the yarn plans change or get postponed, so the stash grows and grows.
So what to do? I think when one starts a new art, there is an initial amount of money that goes out - buying materials, building a library, acquiring the proper tools, storage, etc. At this point of the game, I don’t want to be a mindless consumer even for something as wonderful as yarn or fiber. Perhaps I need to be more discriminating about my purchases . . .
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02.19.07
Posted in Fiber Artwork, Knitting, Lace Knitting at 4:49 pm by delipics
I’ve added photos or updated the following pages: Handspun Yarns and Finished Projects 2006. Looking at the photos was a good review of what I have accomplished and for making new goals and plans for this year. Here are my fiber hopes for 2007:
- I will work on becoming better at knitting sweaters and lace knitting.
- I will learn how to spin on a wheel.
- I hope to take a weekend fiber class. I’ve been looking at the Peter’s Valley fiber workshops.
- I will enter my fiber artwork in more competitions. This is a very daunting task for me. While I would love to have my work hanging in a gallery, the prospect of it is incredibly scary. Where does this fear come from?
The length of the Lace Shawl has reached 40 inches - about 20 more inches to go! At this point it’s like second sock syndrome. I’m trying to keep my motivation going. I have the urge to find a small project to work on as a break from the shawl. I know this is a case of startitis coming on. I will resist it!
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02.14.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:11 pm by delipics
I’ve seen blogs with six, but I couldn’t think of six and since Marnie had five . . .
- I wear earplugs on the subway. Years ago I went to the New York Hall of Science and they had an audio exhibit on hearing loss. I’ve been protecting my hearing ever since. I also wear earplugs when I use my hair dryer.
- I love the way my cat’s fur smells. Sometimes I press my nose into her side and I take a deep inhale because she has such a clean smell. For some reason, it makes me think of baking bread or freshly mowed grass, not because she actually smells like that but because they are other good smells.
- I can write backwards in cursive. I’m not quite sure how to prove this on my blog. You’ll have to trust me on this one.
- I will not sleep next to a window. I also have to make sure all closet doors are closed before I go to sleep. It’s all Stephen King’s fault.
- I have a thing about my bare feet touching the floor (carpeted or wood). In my own house or my family’s houses it doesn’t bother me. In unknown places, like hotels, it bothers me. If I think the floor is the tiniest bit unclean, it’s not happening. In my senior year of college, there was a specific dorm that was coveted to live in because they had kitchens, but it was an older building. Well the floors there skeeved me out big time. I wore flip flops all the time when I lived there. That was my senior year uniform - flip flops, yellow cut-off overalls ($2 from Domsey’s Warehouse!) over leggings (it was the 80’s), and a paintbrush in my twisted-up hair to keep it out of the way.
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02.13.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:07 pm by delipics
I’ve been holed up in my apartment for the last couple days getting over a cold. Plenty of knitting and spinning time, alternating with napping time with the kitty. I’ve been taking Dayquil because it doesn’t give me that spaced-out, drug feeling.
Tomorrow the East coast is going to get it’s first big Nor’easter. It’s not a real winter without one snowstorm - but - I can’t stand how all the local news stations hype it up. It’s just snow folks! This is what is supposed to happen during winter. The reporters all have this anxious yet earnest tone to their voices, and they have to give us constant updates on the progress of the storm. Gawd, it drives me crazy!
Where does this all lead? Nowhere, I’m just venting, and now I’m bragging: I just bought this and this with a 40 percent off coupon!
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02.09.07
Posted in Lace Knitting, Photos at 7:27 pm by delipics
I know, I know - finally! Everything is working: comments, archives, pages, categories.
I don’t know why it took me so long to do this. Real life kept getting in the way. First I thought I could tackle this on my own. I went to Wordpress support but I wasn’t really sure where to start. I went to the bookstores and tried to find a computer book to help me. No answers there. Some how I stumbled onto a Wordpress page that explained how to do a search on blog problems, but even when I found discussions mentioning “404 Page Not Found,” I still didn’t get it. I had to admit defeat to myself and find someone to fix my blog - thank you Wizard Computing!
But let’s get back to Delica’s Yarns. Last night Alex and I went to The Point. They have a great example of Stefanie Japel’s Simple Knitted Bodice, short sleeve version, on display in the window. I happily knitted my lace wrap and Alex is working on a secret birthday gift. We made an important discovery while there: classic black bean soup and apple crumb pie go very well together. It’s got to be the spicy/sweet combo.
Here she is, I estimate about a quarter of the way done -
She looks goooohd.
And it sure feels good to have the blog back at one hundred percent.
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02.04.07
Posted in Fiber Artwork, Knitting, Lace Knitting, NYC, Photos, Spinning at 1:49 pm by delipics
I was hoping that the next time I posted my blog would be all fixed but I can’t wait that long. I hope to have it fixed this week.
I took a little break from the knitting world to catch up on some reading. I got tired of rereading the books in my personal library, although I do have some really good ones - several Jane Austen novels (personal fave - Persuasion), all the Barbara Kingsolvers, Roddy Doyle, A.S. Byatt, Jhumpa Lahiri, just to name a few. A couple weeks back I went to B&N and indulged myself; I bought four books: Never Let Me Go, The Jane Austen Book Club, The Blue Flower, and The Gate of Angels. I’ve been trying to make them last but I just finished Never Let Me Go and I only have the Blue Flower left. It’s been very satisfying having new books on my bedside table. I’m still processing the story from Never Let Me Go - I can’t get the characters and plot out of my head. Ishiguro is a beautiful writer; I’m going to have to read more books by him.
So now I’ve been trying to keep busy fiber wise. This incredible cold weather helps - below zero temps makes staying at home and knitting very easy. I’m about sixteen inches into my lace wrap. I’ve picked up the spindle again and I’m tackling fiber I bought from Rhinebeck. This is the knitting highlight of my week.
Here are three of my knitting friends (Diana - a very good KB@W, Maria, and the Sock Maven) at Sabrina Gschwandtner’s art piece at the Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting show at the Museum of Arts & Design. When we got there, Alex was already knitting the balaclava, which she basically finished but for the ribbing. Maria went for the slippers pattern, and Diana and I picked up the half-finished blanket squares. It was a very good night out - knitting, talking, seeing the show (I want to go back!), and then yummy Japanese ramen afterwards. Hey KB@W - remind me I’ve got your yarn that you left that night!
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