07.14.08
Posted in Brooklyn, Fibers, Knitting, Lace Knitting, Scarf, Sweater(s), Yarn at 11:41 am by delipics
I think I have actually used up all the memory in my iBook G-4! I’m having troubles - I can’t download photographs and I keep getting this message about not enough space on my start-up disk. Didn’t know I might actually come to this - I bet this computer is full of too many blog photos and free knitting patterns! Now this barely-able-techy girl is going to have to deal with these techy problems, grrr.
I actually had photos to show on my Cozy v-neck. I finished the body and started the sleeves, after running to Brooklyn General for DP #10. I’m knitting the sleeves in the round. Just as I am raring to finish this sweater, grr again - my 16″ number 9 circulars are too long for me to comfortably knit the ribbing section of the sleeve. It’s Monday so BkynGen is closed so I’m going to try and find time to run into the city and stop by The Point.
While also at BkynGen, I bought yarn and needles for my stayacation project because as of Saturday, I am officially on staycation for this week! No big plans - just knitting, puttering around the house and then a long weekend trip to the Boston area. What I really should do is organize drawers and take clothes to Salvation Army - but procrastination has a hold on me. I did accomplish one thing - I packed up yarn that I am planning to donate in two boxes. I did some research on the web and I think I found a place - it’s a women’s correctional facility in need of yarn for their recreation department. I feel good about doing this.
Oh, so back to my project, I’m knitting the Lace Ribbon Scarf from Knitty’s Spring 2008. The yarn I am using is Canopy from The Fibre Company. This is the same company whose yarn I bought in MDSW and I’m using their yarn for the Cozy v-neck. Canopy is a sport weight yarn of 50% baby alpaca, 30% merino and 20% bamboo. So soft on the hands and easy to knit up. I’m knitting the scarf on #3 bamboo circs. While at BkynGen, I looked at the other yarns from The Fibre Company that they had there, and I love them all. This may be my new favorite yarn company - there is something about the quality of the line they have created and the colors too that I am responding too. Grr, I wish I could show you photos of how it looks - this yarn is gorgeous stuff. I chose a similar color that is used in the photos of the Lace Ribbon Scarf - a beautiful dusky blue grey that makes me think of a fall sky. I hope to have this done in time to casually drape around my neck during my actual go-away-on-a-trip vacation in August.
Keep your fingers crossed on my tech/computer/memory problem.
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05.07.08
Posted in Fibers, Photos, Spinning, Travel, Yarn, cooking/food, shopping at 5:17 pm by delipics
Happiness is attending a fiber festival –
See more festival photos here.
What an experience! I went with Maria and Jocelyn, two experienced MDSW festival attenders who showed me, the newbie, the ropes. We did so much!
Day 1:
- Wake up at 6:30 a.m., shower, continental breakfast at The Days Inn because not enough time to go to Waffle House.
- Pack bags, load-up the car with spinning wheels, get breakfast / coffee for Maria & Jocelyn.
- Drop off Maria’s and Jocelyn’s spinning wheels.
- Run to The Fold. Stand amazed at the line that is already there. Push way in to look at the yarn. Stand in line and chat with other excited knitters. Spend time going back to look, consult with friends, go back, consult — purchase two skeins.
- Help Maria take her fleece to Zeilinger’s.
- Wander around main exhibition hall. Become very excited by the process of wool rug hooking. Buy a starter kit, marvel at the designs of the rug hookers working at the table. Very nice ladies - they answered all my questions
- Lunch - pit lamb sandwich. Decide still hungry and get a lamb burger.
- Go to Judith MacKenzie McCuin’s talk on Getting Your Fleece Processed.
- Maria & Jocelyn go to their spinning class.
- Find a grassy, shaded area and nap for an hour. Wake up and work on Raquel’s scarf.
- Eat vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate. Feel sick.
- Go back to main exhibition area and contemplate which yarn to buy. Decide to put off for tomorrow.
- Meet up with M&J. Share a plate of ribbon potato chips with everything - sour cream, cheese, jalapenos, bacon bits, fake green onion bits. Now truly sick.
- Just as we’re about to make our way to the car, we get distracted by the yarns and rovings at Persimmon Tree Farm. M&J buy more roving.
- Drive to the Ravelry party. Accidentally walk through a wedding reception. Arrive way too early so sit outside of the pool and chat with Michelle from Philadelphia & Kristy from Minneapolis. (Forgot their blogs names!)
- Ravelry party starts. Get nametags. Get drink tickets. Get drinks and munchies. We sit outside but get annoyed by the bugs and retreat to the inside. Get teased for being too New York and not able to handle bugs. Jocelyn’s friend meets up with us.
- Leave Ravelry party to get dinner - Ethiopian food in downtown Fredrick. Jocelyln completely charms the owners because she lived in Ethiopia for two years.
- Back to the Days Inn to pass out.
Day 2
- Wake up at 6:30 a.m. to pack up the car and check out.
- Maria goes to class. Go shopping with Jocelyn.
- Buy yarn from Persimmon Tree Farm in a beautiful orange and brown colorway.
- Buy yarn from The Fibre Company. $4.50 a skein!!! Go with ten of basic black and ten of a gorgeous blue to complement Darren’s eyes.
- Back to main exhibition hall to buy a rug hook and embroidery hoop. Want to start working on my rug hooking kit.
- Jocelyn convinces me to try out spinning wheels. Meet Jim of the Yarn Barn, bond over the fact that I’m from Lawrence, Kansas too. He teaches me how to spin and try out various wheels - the Lendrum Folding, the Kromski Sonata and the Ashford Traveller. So tempted to purchase one but exert self control . . . for now.
- Lunch - another pit lamb sandwich - this time the platter!
- M&J go to color knitting class.
- Find nap location from previous day. Start working on rug hooking. Take nap.
- Wander from tent to tent in case I missed anything good.
- Go back to the music performance area. Sit under tree and knit on Raquel’s scarf.
- Meet up with M&J, eat, pack and get on the road. There is so much in the car that I can’t see Jocelyn in the back seat. Thankfully we’re all petite women and we can fit amidst all the fiber!
- Arrive home safe, sound and fiber happy!
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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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01.07.07
Posted in Fibers, Photos, Yarn at 5:48 pm by delipics
. . . free yarn!
. . . and watching the first three episodes of The Gilmore Girls: The Complete First Season.
I’ve been gazing at these new additions to my stash all weekend. There is only one small thing - except for the orange lace mohair, the teal blue cone and the yarn threaded with black sequins, I don’t know the fiber content of the other yarns. Alex suggested the burn test.
Oh, the possibilities of new yarn - what to make? One thing is for certain, I really, really, really cannot buy any more yarn.
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11.25.06
Posted in Fibers, Knitting, Spinning at 9:32 pm by delipics
- Medical procedure - the preparation for it was horrible (if you know what HalfLytely is, you know what happened!) but now it’s over and done with. Results to follow . . .
- Thanksgiving - my honey and I cooked a successful turkey dinner with all the trimmings for his mom and stepdad. Considering we woke up late and the turkey was done sooner than I expected, I’m really proud of how well we did. I highly recommend this turkey recipe if you’re looking for something different next year.
- Roof - it has been repaired! The ceiling still needs to be addressed but at least I don’t have to worry about water dripping in my apartment.
- The Blog - still needs to be worked on, sigh!
- Knitting - still need to buy more yarn for the cropped cardi (thank you KB@W for all your work on finding the web links for me!) but
- Spinning - picked up my spindle during the Thanksgiving weekend to continue spinning my cashmere fiber.
Slowly but surely getting back on track - phew!
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10.22.06
Posted in Fibers, Photos, Rhinebeck, Spinning, Travel at 2:14 pm by delipics
What makes mine different from all other posts about Rhinebeck?
I went with Miss April of the Knitty 2007 calendar and her super-great boyfriend who drove, took photos and learned about spinning yarn. It was her first time to Rhinebeck, my third. Here we are reading the directions but a distracting conversation on Beethoven (?!) caused caused a missed exit.
It’s okay, we had snacks to keep us occupied.
We got there around 1-ish and the parking lot was packed! We found a spot at what seemed to be the end of the grassy field. Once inside, we thought about eating lunch first but the lines for the food were crazy long. So we separated for our own wanderings through the vendor barns and met again after an hour. I staked out a claim on the line for the lamb burgers - one of the best food deals at the festival. Ya can’t beat $2.50 for a burger with optional peppers, onions or cheese. It was tasty and yummy, until half way through I realized they didn’t cook my burger all the way! I thought about going back but not wanting to deal with the whole thing I assuaged my hunger with lamb stew from the 4H booth. I always like going to the 4H booth - the teenagers who man the counters are so polite - a refreshing change from some of the city teens I’ve dealt with.
You can’t help but run into friends while there (and I forgot to take photos of everyone, like Elizabeth and her cutie son, Caroline and her pals) -
Maria scored at the fleece sale! She is such an awesome fiber chick. I caught her in the act of weighing her purchases. I admire her fiber expertise - she knows a lot. Hey M - did you find the nostepinde?
Here’s a group of us flashing our purchases -
That’s Tania standing next to me - also her first time to the R&SW and her friend (sorry I forgot your name!). They were staying for the whole weekend. One of these days I’m going to do that. I know I can’t see it all in one day. I can’t help but think I am possibly missing the most fabulous yarn or fabulous sale or something! The ideal Rhinebeck trip would be go up Friday night, stay at a charming B&B, go to the festival for a couple of hours, spend the rest of the day wandering through the town of Rhinebeck, go back the next day and leisurely check out whatever vendors I didn’t catch the first time.
Next up, obligatory photos of animals - decided to go with the goats this time instead of the ubiquitous sheep.
But wait, what did I buy at the festival? Fibers for spinning -
The photos do not do the colors justice. On the left is a half pound of merino/tussah blend from The Sheep Shed at Mountain View Farm. I was immediately drawn to this colorway. The label has no name but it makes me think of vanilla ice cream with a blueberry stripe. On the right is 4 oz of a merino/wool blend called Autumn Maine Wood from Persimmon Tree Farm. I couldn’t resist the glittery angelica that sparkles amidst the gorgeous coppers and greens.
A practical nostepinde from The Fiber Kingdom -
Love at first sight -
My new Sweetheart Golding Ring Spindle. The whorl is two inches and the weight is 0.9 oz. I bought this size because I want to spin laceweight yarn. There were so many beautiful spindles on display. I had a tough time deciding on the style and the color of wood. I tested it on a wisp of my Sheep Shed fiber - the spindle kept spinning and spinning and spinning - amazing!
I bought this spindle near the end of the day, which coincided nicely with the end of my money. I set a budget for this trip (I’m still recovering from Hawaii!), and I’m very proud of myself of staying within budget. What’s strange was I did not buy any yarn on this trip. I really just want to spin right now, hence only fibers. I had planned on buying hand carders - that will have to wait. I looked at spinning wheels, but that’s just so beyond my budget right now.
Now that Rhinebeck has come and gone, whatever will we do next?
Well, we’re going to buy more yarn! We have to use our coupon at The Point before October ends.
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