Woolgathering Dot Net

My mother and I drove down to West Friendship, Maryland for the Sheep and Wool Festival. I found out that it is the largest festival in America. Wow. Driving there was pretty uneventful and we talked about various things from the upcoming construction changes for our apartment and my sister moving downstairs to what I've learned so far regarding knitting. We had a few problems outside of Baltimore, going the long way 'round 695. We had the same issue on the way back, drat, although this time we followed signs to I-95 North and it took us the long way 'round.

Once we got there, there didn't seem to be very many vehicles and I thought it wouldn't be very big. Boy, was I wrong! We arrived around 1 and took some time out to visit the restroom and eat some lamb. Mm.

I held remarkable restraint throughout the day while we visited all the vendors. We took the time out to poke our heads towards each one, although we only made stops where I spotted something really interesting or different. I joked about how many of the places I stopped in during my vacation to Asheville had booths: Springwater Fiber Workshop, Carodan Sheep Farm, and Earth Guild. We didn't stop to see any of the sheep, but we did look at all the other vendors and I took some time to look at the angoras and alpacas.

My mom did the major purchases of the day. It started once we reached the main vendor building and she spotted the sign for cashmere. We went in the booth and she immediately fell for a scarf made of qiviut. I told her that I'd be willing to make anything she wanted out of it and she pointed to a scarf that she wanted. Unfortunately, the pattern was all sold out, but she talked to the dealer who told my mom that the pattern and yarn would be sent free of charge to her address. She bought a grey skein and I'm sure sometime in May, I'll be starting her qiviut scarf. Qiviut is wonderful in texture and I'm looking forward to working with it.

We then ran into the Interweave Press table where I bought a year's subscription to "Interweave Knits", along with a free issue of the Spring 2004 "Interweave Knits" issue (something I've planned to pick up for quite some time already). The woman who took my order was the editor of "Spin-Off" and I told her that I would love to learn to spin in the future. In fact, I hope that by next year's festival, I will know how to spin so I can take advantage of the gorgeous rovings. Next door was a table selling Koigu ends rather cheaply (10 cents a gram, which is about 50% off normal prices) and my mother and I spent some time going through to pick some colorways.

My mother's green colorway is very lovely.

I think I shall make a shawl or scarf out of it.

I couldn't pick a colorway that I really loved, so I got three different color groupings, although I suspect I will buy more Koigu to fill them out or split them into better groupings. (Click to get a larger version.)

It's a combination of two photographs since I couldn't take a single one that could show off all the colors at once. The purple/grey colorway on the right will probably be for Kim, since I always associate her with executive greys and purples. The middle is mostly browns and oranges, my favorite colors. The one on the left is a white dappled colorway, which only came about because I couldn't find anything that matched my favorite skein from the lot:

It's so pretty with the sand and blue colors. It reminds me of the beach. The other skeins were an attempt to match, but I don't think they do. I'll probably use up those skeins in another way while I work to match my favorite skein.

We left the festival around 5:30, expecting to be back around 8:30 when, on I-195, we ran out of gas! Note, it was not me driving; my mother didn't notice the "out of gas" light until we, well, ran out of gas. We ended up getting home at around 10:30, two hours late. My mom cooked some dinner and I got back to the hotel around midnight. A long, exhausting but exciting day!

I can't wait until next year. Whoop!

Live, from Northern New Jersey, it's the woolgathering dot net knitting journal!

Technically, this is the first day that it's finally together and "live". Over the next week, I'll be updating the website with old (and new) material that I've amassed over the past month and a half when I started working on the site. I've got my vacation to Asheville, NC to put up, along with details of my yarn crawls, stash, and completed projects. Lots of goodies.

It feels so good to work on something and finally see it finally coming to fruition. I'm not sure yet how this will relate to my other journals (eileene.net and my weblog and LiveJournal), but those are things that I'll deal with as time goes on. I haven't come to a solution, but I won't prevent that from putting this up. That's been plaguing me for a while, which is why I didn't put this up earlier.

I'm not sure how much knitting I'll get done over the next week: I've got two movie screenings to attend and my windows are being replaced this weekend, so I have to clean house. Cha-cha-cha-changes!

Tonight, I went to NYC to have dinner with Sara and hopefully see Troy. We were unable to go to Penang (the location has mysteriously poofed from Third Avenue), so we opted for the Blue Nine Burger Joint. It was fast, cheap, and quite tasty: a burger and chocolate shake! That only took us about 45 minutes, so we walked to KnitNY and took a gander at the lovely yarn. I told Sara that I'd love to knit something for her, since her birthday is coming up. She spent some time deciding between a number of different yarns, but then I pointed out a pretty good combination.

The photograph doesn't do it justice. The yarn on the right is the main yarn: Great Adirondack Yarn Company Merino Superwash in Candy Apple 322. The yarn on the left is the "fun" yarn: Knit One Crochet Too The Gourmet Collection Spinkles in Red. The fun yarn has lovely sparkly bits you can't see well in the photograph. Knitting with them together won't change gauge, I think. I'll knit a 13 stitch wide seed stitch scarf. It will make a lovely red scarf that will be soft yet warm and fun for Sara.

Alas, we didn't get to see Troy: too many people showed up to the screening. Instead, we watched Mean Girls, which was biting and funny. I spent the time in the dark knitting my PoA Scarf. I hope that our Thursday screening of Van Helsing turns out better.

Last night, I borrowed three DVDs from the public library: The Greeks, Crucible of Civilization, Shattered Glass, and Clueless. I popped in Clueless and started knitting up my Bottom's Up Bucket Hat.

I've done about 20 rounds, switching to the larger needle before I got sleepy. Yesterday afternoon, I spent time cleaning my terribly messy study and I found my US7 DPNs! Just in time!

Working with the chunky KFI yarn, I decided I didn't like knitting with cotton. It's not as sticky as acrylic, but I didn't care for the texture and I kept splitting the yarn with my needles. This thinner yarn was much better and I was able to work it easier. The cotton feels cool, so I probably wouldn't enjoy working on it when my arthritis flares up, but otherwise I am enjoying the texture. The more I work the hat the more I like it. I can't wait to wear it!

Tonight, Van Helsing screening. Wooooooo! I know it'll be bad, but it's Stephen Sommers directing, which means it will be an enjoyable bad. Plus, Hugh Jackman. Yum.

...and now I am done with my Bottom's Up Bucket hat!

It was dead-easy. I knit up to the purl for the crown shaping last night and worked on it once I woke up this morning. I should have taken a picture then to note my progress, but by that time, I was on to using dpns (US6, since I found US8s, not US7s). I still haven't learned to distribute the stitches evenly on dpns, although I'm pretty good at avoiding ladder problems. So, I thought the hat was too ugly to take a picture until I was done.

It fits pretty well; the brim isn't as long and stiff as I would like if I was wearing it down, so I flipped it up and pinned it with my knitted flower. I think it's very pretty!

Alas, Mike finds the brown very drab and plain. He also used the word "ghetto" to describe it. I like it and the brown will match many of my springy outfits.

I'm going to consider knitting a summer hat, perhaps light-colored. Other than the switch to US6 dpns, I did very little adjusting of the pattern. Next time, I might adjust the pattern. I am considering doing some YOs at the bottom of the midsection area so I can add a ribbon that will weave in and out of the hat. Or making the brim larger, since I like a large brim.

Oh... and then there's the ideas in my head for a felted fall/winter hat. Drool.

Yesterday was the fantabulous NYC yarn crawl hosted by Katie. Thanks to the trip, I am officially on a yarn diet. Serious yarn diet. However, I've got materials for the next, oh month or two for my new projects, so I'm very excited.

I got to meet some fabulous people, primarily Katie (not the one that organized the crawl, although Katie-that-organized-the-crawl is pretty cool herself!) and Karen, who I hung out with for the day. We did a lot of walking, opting to take the subway instead of a cab to the various locations. Later on, I got to talking to Chia (sp?) who seemed very nice indeed! Also, I got to meet Pam, Colleen, Elizabeth, and a bunch of other people whose names I've forgotten because of my bung memory. Oh, I couldn't believe there was another Eileen (although without the e); I think it's a name that people recognize but not that many people are named.

Someone pointed out that there were two reasons to go on a yarn crawl. One is to see the fabulous yarn at different locations, get a feel for yarn prices, that sort of thing. The other is to meet other knitters, get ideas from them, stuff like that. Quite true! I had a lot of help from others, picking out colors that match (especially with the Koigu colorways, which I'm not good at).

For the most part, I was very good today, only buying yarn for projects I knew I was going to do (more details about each individual store to follow).

I took the bus into the city, purchased a $7 funpass, and took the subway to the first stop, Purl.

It is a beautiful store. I had visited once before, but on a Monday when they were closed. The store's owner, Joelle, opened early just for us! I loved their Koigu and found some lovely colors there for my first pair of socks for the six sox knitalong: cloverleaf eyelet rib.

The colors are quite quite fantastic. This will be my "beach" socks, the colors remind me of the sand and sea on a beach. The tan skeins has hints of blue and the blue skein has hints of tan in the same ratio. Yum!

I was also strongly tempted by the Alchemy Bamboo, but at $21 per skein and no project on my list that would call specifically for it, I decided not to go for it. 138 yards. I might do something sexy, like lingerie, in it. I'll put it on my wish list.

After Purl, we took the subway to Seaport Yarns. The ACE dropped us about a block from the store. Fantastic! I need to remember how convenient it is if I take the bus into the city.

Seaport is as yummy as ever. Their placement of their hand-dyed yarn into the long main corridor makes me feel like a kid in a candy store! They also had bamboo yarn, but South West Trading Company, not Alchemy. The Alchemy yarns seemed much shinier, but it could be the lighting. The prices, as usual, were pretty fantastic. I considered getting more Silk Garden, but then remembered I had a project calling for four balls of 1824 Mission Falls cotton. I just couldn't remember which project! Three balls in a main color and one ball in a contrast, was all I could think of. I got these:

The main color is goldenrod (205) with moss as the contrast (304). Loverly! I especially loved that I got to ask my fellow yarn crawlers which colors would match the goldenrod; my options were either the moss or a brighter wintergreen (302). I also got a wooden knitting knobbie, for the times that I-cord is necessary.

It was only when I got home that I realized how my brain and instinct was working without my awareness. The cotton is for the fiona bag knitalong and it has an i-cord drawstring!

There were a number of gorgeous hand-dyed hanks in the hallway and I considered using them for my Salt Peanuts project. There was one in particular with hints of glitter that was especially lovely (it helped that a cardigan was on display using the colorway). The yardage was enough and the price was pretty fabulous for it. But, I wanted to wait until I went to Schoolhouse Products and indulged in their poundage.

Karen, Katie, and I went to Union Square to have lunch. We had a quick sit-down stop at a deli where I indulged in a roast beef sandwich. Mmm. We boarded the subway again for the trip to Schoolhouse Products.

Schoolhouse Products was pretty crowded, since Lily Chin was there signing and giving advice. There was some lovely Italian cashmerino blend, but I feared I wouldn't make proper gauge at the recommended project yardage for Salt Peanuts. Plus, it was pretty expensive. When I asked for some help, they pointed out some one pound solid-color cones, 100% Italian merino, 500 odd yards each for $25 a pound. That was a bit more expensive compared to the hand dyed yarn from Seaport and I made the decision to go back to Seaport and buy my Salt Peanuts yarn from there. I didn't pick up anything from Schoolhouse, although I was strongly tempted by some hand dyed fingering weight cashmere yarn (again, the little 'not unless you have a project!' voice popped into my head).

We walked to the Yarn Connection. They didn't have the recommended yarn for Salt Peanuts, but they did have Rowan's Calmer, which was simply lovely and soft soft soft. I need to find an appropriate project for it. Yarn wish list!

I noticed that the NORO Lily from last I was there was still around and I realized the yellow would be perfect for a summer bucket hat! So, I picked up another skein which would make enough yardage for my project. I also picked up four skins of Classic Elite Waterspun 100% Felted Merino Wool in blue to white colors (5002).

The Waterspun? For a winter bucket hat! Nice and warm. I also love the look of the already-felted yarn. I've got a yen for felting. Someday, I will make "I love felting" icons. Save it for a sleepless night.

I love the Yarn Connection's metallic yarn selection. Katie bought a ball and started knitting with it as we sat outside the shop door on the carpeted staircase and talked about past, present, and future projects. Katie's yarn was gorgeous, described by Karen as "looking like a penny". I need to pick up some for a flashy gift for someone (possibly myself!). The Yarn Connection will definitely be a great source for novelty/fancy yarns, for perusing the shelves for fun impulse-buying.

The weather was holding up nicely so we walked to the subway to take the trip to Downtown Yarns. The store was bright and open and lovely; this was my first time there. Their Koigu colors were different from the ones at Purl and I couldn't help myself. Broadripple, I fought the voice in my head! For Broadripple!

Actually, I considered getting the materials for Charlotte's Web. Originally, I pulled out an orange-no-blue-multicolored skein first and the brown and dark orange, since they matched. Then I pulled the bit-of-blue skein I eventually purchased since it matched nicely with the brown and dark orange, but not quite with the orange-no-blue-multicolored skein. I pulled a yellow, which made five that sort of all worked, but no "Wow!". I asked for a pattern copy, but they only had the store copy left. I decided to wait, finish my other projects before moving on to CW. I returned the yellow and the bit-of-blue, but picked the bit-of-blue up again because it was just too pretty to put down. Someone said, "You know, you keep going back to that one." That cemented it, and I returned the orange-no-blue skein.

Oh. So. Pretty!

It was only 5:00, and the woman from Seaport Yarns said she would be open until 6, so I waved farewell to the lovely yarn crawlers and took a cab to the seaport area.

There was only the owner, Andrea, and one of her regular customers working sales for a day left at Seaport Yarns. Typically it is only open until 5pm, but they extended their hours for the yarn crawlers. I felt like they stayed open just for me! I started looking closely at the large hand-dyed bundles in the hallway when Andrea noticed and asked what I was looking for. I took out my notes and we talked about what would be good substitutions. We decided to look at the Cherry Tree Hill Potluck Worsted, which she had hanging on a door. I told her I'm not too much into blues, but I liked the fall colors: red, gold, orange, green. We picked two bundles, one with more green and the other with more purple.

Ooh, which one to pick? She pulled them down and led me to a mirror, where I held them up in front of me and turned them around to see the colors. I opted for the green instead of purple. The potluck wool six-pack worsted (six four ounce hanks!) didn't have a color checked on the label. The other bundle was, I think, Fall Foliage, so if you can picture that bundle with green instead of purple, that would be about what I selected. It's a more intense version of Cabin Fever.

Doesn't that look like a whole mess of yarn? 1680 yards worth, enough to make Salt Peanuts and something else. It'll be small, but two projects! For something like $65! Wow.

I was also tempted to get a Colinette kit, since she said they were on sale, but that voice in my head popped up and I resisted temptation. Plus, not getting more would mean that I made my goal of spending less than $200 for the day. Not a bad meal for my last now that I am on a yarn diet, right?

Ooh. Fantabulous!

Andrea and I talked for about 45 minutes after I made my purchases, talking about yarn, future projects, stuff like that. She talked about "making your own yarn" and encourages her customers to do so, by selecting multiple favorite skeins and blending them together. She lives about a block away and plans, in the summer, to make weekends 'by appointment' only. She was wonderfully friendly and mentioned that they shall stock Koigu in the next six months or so. Woo hoo!

Yeah. Yarn diet. It's a good thing. The subway was less than a block and it took me directly to Port Authority Bus Terminal. Too convenient, great selection, and fabulous prices? What else can I ask for? It was a great day, coming home with some great yarn and met some great people. Huzzah!

It's 3am and I can't sleep.

So, I go button crazy:

Feel free to take one! Share the felting love!

The background of the first was from my first booga bag, made in the same Kureyon colors as the one pictured in the pattern. The second was from my second booga bag, made from NORO's Silk Garden. Boy, it took a long time to felt compared to Brown Sheep and Kureyon, but it feels lovely, thanks to the silk content!

It's a passalong!

I've joined LiveJournal's Pass-Along Scarf Community and I'm a member of Group 1. Each group member will begin a scarf and at a set time, pass the scarf to the next person on the list. At the end of the project, each person in the group would have knit a scarf section and every member will have their own personalized scarf, knit by six hands (including their own).

I knit my scarf quickly over the weekend using this yarn:

It's NORO Lily in a purple multicolor #122. I bought some bright yellow NORO Lily to match with the purple, but then I decided to use the yellow in a bucket hat and the purple was projectless until the passalong scarf project came along. I knit up a ~ five inches by one-foot section for the passalong in seed stitch. I don't have a photograph because my father had my digital camera and I had to seal it up and mail it away to the next person before I could take a photograph.

Today, I received a scarf from upstream:

This is Shannon's (adaintum) scarf. It's about a foot long and ~ seven inches wide in lovely green and white. It's very soft in a dropped stitch pattern.

Also included with her package was her purple sparkly notebook, for us to jot information about the scarf and get to know each other in the passalong ring. Her book has black pages and she included a silver gel pen with her book. How I love silver gel pens on black pages! I spent some time considering what I would do for my section of her scarf.

I searched through my current stash and found this:

A ball of Debbie Bliss Merino in a forest green color (325506). It looks like the best match. The purple/green NORO Kureyon that I have is the way-wrong value of green and would be too radical texture-wise from what she sent. All my purples don't match, too, alas. I read her comments in the notebook she sent and she writes that she chose her LJ name because it is an adaptation of the Latin name for fern. Oo. I remember reading or seeing a pattern or two with a "fern lace stitch". I quickly skimmed through my magazines when I remembered the Forest Path Stole from Interweave Knits Summer 2003. The fern block is 18 stitches wide, which means I'll probably do some sort of seed stitch border and do an increase in order for the scarf to look even. wrote to Shannon to see if it would be okay to do a pattern which would cause the scarf to have a right and wrong side, and she gave the go-ahead. Woo hoo! I've got about a week and a half before I have to mail this downstream. I can't wait to see my scarf when it comes back.

Yesterday, I picked up Sex and the City Season Six, Part One, which came out on DVD on Tuesday. I decided to start working on the fern lace stitch as a break from Salt Peanuts. I had to rip it out a number of times. The first time I started was on a walk with Mike. Halfway through my walk, I realized that I started the pattern too soon and I was using knitting needles that were too small (US8) compared to the dropped stitch pattern done by Shannon. When I got home, I tried putting the stitches on US10.5, but discovered that was too tight for my comfort. The US10 was perfect, though, and I began knitting again.

I took one of Mike's suggestions: I would start off with Shannon's dropped stitch for a number of rows, then transition into the seed stitch borders and then the proper fern pattern. This time, it looked good, except I started the pattern too soon and the lacey portion looked too close to the border of the panel. Again, rip rip rip!

Third time's a charm! Or so I thought. I was about 3/4 done when I realized that it looked funny. Really funny and weird. Well, it turned out that I read the pattern incorrectly. On one side of the pattern, it was k3tog. On the other side, it is sl k2tog psso! Barnacle! So, I had to rip that back again. Grr.

Fourth time's a charm, I suppose.

Due to the lace, the pattern dips inward, so it has a convex lens shape. I think it will look better after some blocking, but blocking will only help a little, perhaps to help it lie flatter. Plus, you can't see the fern pattern too well in this photograph; the white tablecloth doesn't show through as well as I would like.

I really love the lace work. Someday, I'd like to make the Forest Path Stole. Learn entrelac AND lacey fun!

I drove into the city this afternoon for the Critter Knitters Central Park Knit-Out. I expected to take public transportation, but then things got a little crazy and I needed to drive in if I wanted to get there at any reasonable time. I've never been to Strawberry Fields; I only think of it when the news mentions the John Lennon tribute gatherings, and I don't deal with large crowds that well thus I never go. It's a pretty high-traffic spot with people streaming in and a small group of mediocre guitar players doing the Beatles.

It wasn't hard to spot the Critter Knitters group. Katie from Little Italy and Katie from NJ, from the yarn crawl, were there already, sitting in a fairly small circle with food (Oreos! Pringles!) in the center. I pulled out some blue acrylic yarn, US10s, and started working on a blanket. I got to meet Sage and Liz, both were very cool and friendly. I got to see Chia again and met Leslie, who wowed us with her entrelac technique.

The weather was hot but nice, thanks to a constant breeze. It was only until late in the afternoon when the breeze died down that I noticed how hot it was. The shade kept moving and we found our tight circle slowly dispersing. I saw Anh,one of my former coworkers, and we chatted for a while. It was good to see her again, although I was sad to hear that they're still working pretty long hours. I worked about two inches of my blanket when I decided that I'll just work on squares instead. I grabbed some US15s and donated uberchunky cotton yarn and quickly knit up two squares by the end of the day.

There were three raffles, won by Leslie, Katie (from Little Italy), and Chia. Very cool that the people I got to know all won! The next knit-out is probably in Prospect Park. I'm not sure if I'll go, since it's a bit far but I'd like to. Katie from NJ suggested that we should go together, which could be very cool. We need to get together anyway; she has a friend in Montclair who has a homemaker husband, like Mike and me, and suggested we should all get together for coffee someday. I love how knitting is expanding my friendships,getting me out of my hermit nature, and allowing me to volunteer.

Note: I didn't have my digital camera (parents borrowed it), so there are no pictures I could take at the event. However, Liz has some up. I'm on the far left of the third picture.

Yesterday, Mike and I went to see Mean Girls in order to use up the $12 movie coupon that was expiring at the end of the month. The comedy was still fresh, even though I've already seen it. I wanted some mindless knitting while we watched the movie, so I picked up the red yarns I bought for Sara early in the month. During the movie, using just the Great Adirondack Company Merino Superwash, I knit up a couple of garter stitch rows then started some seed stitch. It looked really good on US10s with 17 stitches.

Tonight, I brought the knitting with me to SNB NY and spent most of the time in transit and at the meeting on it. I added the Knit One Crochet Too yarn to it, hoping it wouldn't affect gauge. Alas, it did. So, I plan on ripping up the work I did yesterday and binding off the end, so it looks like I started with the glittery yarn from the beginning.

I'd say I'm about halfway done. Not bad for about four hours of knitting. I love the glitter bits in it.

It just shimmers lovely in the light. The seed stitch not only shows off the color changes in the Merino, but the ridges in the stitch allows the glitter bits to pop up and out from it. I think I'll need to make up one of these for myself in future.

I'm still working continuously on the Flame Sweater, since I want to make sure that I complete it by next week. Today, I thought all my projects were languishing. Then, I remembered by passalong scarf and it needed to be blocked. Well, the last few rows needed correcting and then it needed to tbe blocked. So, for about 30 minutes today, I set about tinking, making the stitches look good, and blocking.

I'm not the greatest blocker. I improvised with a small ironing board; someday I'll get one of those large blocking boards with proper inch markers and everything. Perhaps I'll make my own with a cork board. In any case, it's blocking, to be dry by this weekend. I realized that Monday is a holiday, so I'll mail it out first thing on Tuesday. Woo hoo! I can't wait to get the next scarf.

Just in time for Memorial Day!

In the afternoon, Mike and I went to Jockey Hollow, a park outside of Morristown, New Jersey for some promised hiking. I brought Sara's scarf, trying to finish it. We took a trail that was probably 2 miles long. I was doing fine until the end, when the trail became narrower and had steeper inclines. I don't mind walking far, just not too uphill/downhill. It was good to get some fresh(er) air in my lungs and I did get a good bit of knitting done.

I spent the evening watching Mostly Martha and finished up the scarf. The film was good, although predictable, a German romantic comedy about an introverted cook. The yarn lasted a lot longer than I expected; it is a good 76 inches long. I made sure to knit myself a little swatch with the two yarns combined, just so I can remember the fabulous combination. I also have a small square of just the Merino Superwash. I'm surprised at how warm the scarf is when doubled around the neck. Fantastic! It's a really nice, glittery, almost-all weather scarf.

I will probably mail it out on Tuesday. Woo hoo!

When a knitter as multiple projects, at least one needs to be the "mindless knitting" project. This is the object that is relatively small and compact. It can be worked on in relatively dark places (like a movie theater) or in tight places (like a crowded subway). The knit-at-the-same-time sleeves for Salt Peanuts, the intarsia sleeves for the Flame Sweater, and the triple crosses of Fiona are require some degree of attention. So, I picked up the skein of quivit and began working on the quivit scarf for my mother.

This is what I've done so far. Not much progress, but I think it's forgivable considering:
1) It's a size 6 needle. Small for the sizes I normally knit at.
2) The yarn is quite fine. I can't easily feel it underneath my fingers, so I need to look down at it at every stitch (while I can look away for longer stretches with thicker yarn). It reminds me of mohair, but with the warmth of alpaca and the softness of cashmere. It is wonderful. Unfortunately, it seems to pill. I need to pay attention to see if the pills are coming from the ball or if they are from the already-knit fabric.
3) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I've seen it twice already (took Mike this morning) and will see it again tomorrow at the IMAX.
4) It's not entirely mindless. It's knit-purl on one row then a 10-4-10-4-10 stitch pattern for the second row. So, counting. And much tinking when I forget.

I love how it all fits in a small part of my bag. Other than the above, the ideal mindless knitting project. I expect to finish it by the end of July.

Whew!

The past three days have been quite a blur. It started on Thursday night with the Harry Potter Line Party. Then, on Friday, I brought Mike to see it during the daytime when, we thought, the theaters would be quite empty. It turns out that there was a birthday party taking hold of the first two rows. But we got pretty good seats and I got a positive reaction from Mike.

Then, today, I went to the IMAX in NYC for the Leaky Cauldron's IMAX Screening. I loved seeing all the cute fangirls and fanboys all dressed up sweet! I was next to an "older couple" and we talked a bit while trying to ignore the groups talking about the movie details (she's seen it, he hadn't). In the theater, I met up with Siobhan and we chatted away! She's pretty fabulous and her scarf is loverly. I can't believe how fast she knit hers up. I'm still in a bit of a daze.

To keep my hands busy in line, I worked on my mom's quivit scarf. I'll be putting it down for a while, since I don't expect to do any mindless knitting for a few weeks. I need to get back to Fiona and start my cloverleaf socks. After that, I'll probably pick this one up again.

Everyone that sees me knitting it loves the fabric. It's so soft and warm! It's cheek-soft!

I never knew that there was such a thing as Sunday postal deliveries, until I received one today.

It's one of the LiveJournal Passalong scarf. This one is for Libbet (trillian42). I love the stitch and the lovely purples! Unfortunately, Libbet is allergic to sheep wool and so I need to look through my stash to find something that would agree with her. Probably the purplish NORO Lily that I have left, but double-stranded to give it more weight. Lily is Cotton/Silk, so I think that should be okay. I love the journal she placed with her project! Very cool.

Libbet described the stitch pattern in the journal, which is fabulous and I plan on knitting a few rows of it for my part of the scarf.

Last night, I logged into the Theadbear Fiber Arts Studio website for my daily Charlotte yarn porn fix when I spotted the pansy colorway.

Image by Threadbear, used with permission

I just had to have it. The green, purples, and yellows were too beautiful. Something stirred in me and screamed, "You'd hate yourself if you let that colorway get away from you!" So, I emailed Rob to see if I could get me some of that pansy action.

He answered me soon afterwards, saying that it would be making its way to me! I can't wait. Soon, Charlotte will be on my needles and I will be knitting through its lacey goodness.

June 9, 2004 Update: I spotted a colorway in Rob's journal called "Lichen" which I tried to jump on, but alas was taken by someone in Europe. Although I love Pansies and can't wait for it, Lichen is definitely more the colorway I would wear. In other words, Pansy will be knit and placed in a display box and Lichen would've been knit and worn until it was (pun intended) threadbare. Hopefully, there will be a similar colorway in the browns/oranges/reds subtle shading in the semi-distant future, after I'm done with Pansy and looking for a new lace project.

Now that I'm done with the Flame Sweater, I'm back to Salt Peanuts, which I worked a few rows at my local knitting group tonight. I brought my knitting magazines (IK Summer 2003, IK Spring 2004, and IK Summer 2004 which I just got in the mail last week!) and my recent acquisition of Alice Starmore's Tudor Roses (I plan on knitting a modified version of Elizabeth I, modified since the largest bust size is a bit too small for my bust).

One of our members showed off her inexpensive H&M skirt which she added a fun fur trim to the hem. We all got a kick out of the fun fur ads in IK, especially since I think that a photograph of her skirt would be more effective than the jeans-trimmed-with-fun-fur ad that is making the current rounds. Her skirt seems more "wearable" and gave her professional outfit some flirtateous fun. Seeing her skirt (trim made from two balls of red fun fur) makes me want to do it too, while the ad does not.

About IK Summer 2004: there are so many nice things in this issue that I want to knit. The photograph of the "knitted artifact" on page 7 gave me a ton of ideas for my Christmas ornament. Every year, Mike and I purchase an ornament for our tree. This year, I think it would be fun for me to knit one! I'd probably make it pretty small, no more than seven inches in diameter. It could be a good idea for fairly inexpensive, heirloom-quality gifts for our families. I would make it out of it silk or soysilk. Oo, possibilities!

I can imagine my cousin, Kim, looking pretty fabulous in the Gibson Girl Pullover. It's got just the right balance of formallity and sexiness. I think I will make the Victoria Tank (done by Veronik Avery, quickly becoming one of my favorite knitwear designers). I love the generous sizes she provides in her pattern (up to 54 inches!). The Lace Blouson is also very pretty: I find myself attracted to the insertion of ribbon in a pattern. I think this is why I love the Juliet Pullover, too, although I'm not too keen about the beads in the pattern. I think I would find the beads irritating. Madli's Shawl is simply gorgeous! I don't wear shawls, but I think I will begin to do so with my new knitting obsession. I love the Fair Isle Bag pattern, but I want to find a modified version of the pattern for circular needles.

The article about alternative yarn sources was really cool and I can't wait to see some pina yarn out there. I will definitely design something once that comes available for the handknitter.

My Charlotte Koigu has arrived from Threadbear Fiber Arts Studio!

Gorgeous! I kept rubbing it against my cheek; the material is absolutely delightful. After I unwound the ball, I worked out with Mike the order of the colors for my web. This is our result:

I explained that the colors towards the bottom are the dominant ones for the piece, since they are the largest wedges. I knew the bright yellow needed to be down there, with the darkest shade next to it, for contrast. I originally had the light blue-heavy skein at the bottom, but Mike rightly corrected that choice and now the purple is the last color. The light blue skein was placed on the other side of the darkest shade, for contrast, and the other purple skein was placed at top. Loverly! Absolutely loverly! Pansy is going to rock my socks off.

For the ones who really want to know, the colorways are (from top to bottom):
P521
P403
P429? (Not sure about this one.)
P330
P407

All in KPPPM. Yum. I've strung them up and they are hanging from a hook in the doorway between my study and the living room. I can't wait to tackle it!

Today, I sat down and knitted the 7" section required for my passalong scarf. I considered double-stranding the NORO Lily that I used, but I believed I wouldn't have enough to complete it properly. I think with proper blocking, it can become wider and even itself up compared to the previous two sections.

I bought a cheap stitch holder for Libbet, since her scarf didn't come with one (just a waste piece of yarn). I hope she likes my section! I used the same stitch she used on hers; I like how she noted down the stitch she used. It's nice and open. I can imagine using it someday for a light shawl.

Libbet's stitch:
Requires and odd number of stitches
Row 1: K all
Row 2: *(K1, S1) repeat until last stitch, K1
Row 3: K all
Row 4: K2, *(S1, K1) repeat until last three stitches, S1, K2

In order to compensate for my thin yarn, I used US15 needles. Sometimes, at that size with the thin yarn I used, it's hard to manipulate the stitches well. Plus, my tension seems uneven (even though it might not be). Thankfully, it all evens itself out in the end. As I noted, a good bit of blocking can put my section to right with the others.

This scarf will be sent off next week. I wonder how my scarf is doing.

One new knitter for the PoA scarf:
Suzi is from Australia (hello down under!) and the film just opened there. She's working on a Hufflepuff scarf for herself and a Ravenclaw (in film colours) for her sister.

Yesterday, I went into the city to hang out with Rakshinda (my Little Sib in the Big Brothers/Big Sister program). We ate at McDs, watched The Day After Tomorrow (my review), and went to Knit NY where I introduced her to the yumminess of good yarn.

I pointed out the various yarns to her as we walked around the store, but we ended up with two skeins of bubble gum pink Koigu.

I will knit up a lacy scarf for her. It's a belated birthday present (she turned 18 recently, which means our BB/BS relationship is officially over, but we're pretty good friends and I intend to see her frequently in the future). I'll have about two and a half weeks until I see her again; she is going to Saudi Arabia to do a pilgrimage to Mecca with her family.

Talking of yarn, I find the new Dale yarn, Hauk, really cool. I wonder what it would be like if I knit a rain poncho out of it.

Passalong time! Actually, I've been a really bad pass-alonger. I was supposed to mail this on Monday, but life craziness didn't get me to get this out there until now. I actually did about seven eigths of my section quite a while ago, when my family went out to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for Father's Day. My mom drove, which afforded me about fourty five minutes of knitting one way. I finished the end at knitting meeting tonight.

I was excited when I got the scarf. It was delightfully colorful and I happen to have some sunny yellow Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport. But... what stitch? I decided to do my first basketweave stitch, to match the other solid color section (in sky blue basketweave). Check out my basketweave!

I like the texture of basketweave, but don't like how it is "one sided". I need to start compiling a list of beautiful two-sided stitch patterns. They don't have to be reversable, just look pretty good on both sides.

I'm having a bit of difficulty with the passalong scarf I received last week.

It's very pretty, in pink and blue, but I don't really have any appropriate colors to match it. None. I'm considering a grey yarn I have which kind of matches, but it's "waste" yarn, a really drab acrylic which I'm none-too-proud to use.

So, I'm probably going to pop out to a LYS and pick up a ball or two of something that matches well, probably in thick-ish wool. Something that gives good stitch definition, since I'm probably going to do a cabled design.

Argh. I dislike being indecisive about my project choices.

So, I'm not knitting. However, that doesn't mean I can't buy fiber, right?

Right?

Today was Mike's birthday (isn't that convenient? We essentially have three days of non-stop celebration) and I took him into the city to visit his favorite gaming store, Compleat Strategist. It's in midtown on 33rd street. Only a short walk from Habu and Schoolhouse Products. I brought along my just-received copy of Interweave Knits to see if I can pick up some yarn for the sweater vest.

Alas, there wasn't anything to my liking at Schoolhouse that would make an appropriate substitute. However, I did find something to love at Habu:

It's a fringe tape ribbon choker crochet kit. Their fringe tape is amazing and, combining it with a feather yarn and a fuzzy yarn, it makes the most unusual thin "boa". I can imagine wearing it with a very plain black or brown dress, the choker becoming the conversation piece for the outfit. So, I had to get it. Mike splurged today at the comic place and we had some delicious pizza and a walk in the Village for dinner.

My thumbs still hurt, but they appear to be healing quickly. Thank goodness for small favors!

Staying away from the knitting needles has caused me to spend a bit of time playing with my graphics programs. Over the past few days, I started working on this:

pixelFiber is one of my two new online projects.

It started from my birthday. I thought it would be cool to have a little graphic saying "July" and an appropriate-colored yarn behind it. So, one late evening, I made appropriate graphics for all the months. I was about to post it here when I decided to not post them up. I wanted a central location for all my graphics that are knitting related. Originally, I was calling it "digital fiber", but then I changed my mind and went with "pixelFiber" instead. Pixel is a nicer word and "digital fiber" sound too much like "fiber optics". After some development, I put up my subsite. I think it's very pretty, sporting my Charlotte colorway.

Feel free to take a month graphic. I'm hoping that other people will be inspired and can point me/send me photographs of yarn they know would make a good month/yarn icon. This is especially true for months I had difficulty matching, like March, May, and poor poor August (Peridot? Not a common color). I'd put a from X credit next to the icon and would send them much knitting love.

My second online project is still in the idea stage. It'll be a web page for people who make/provide graphics/development/assistance to the online knitting community. The "Knitternet" as I've read it called. I've been tossing around ideas in my head (and sending some to missa). "The Knitternet Artist Collective"? My brain has settled into just calling it "An Online Space for Digital and Fiber Artists" (with the 'and' emphasized). Each artist would get a space, 210 pixels wide, 350 pixels high, to do whatever they want. I may probably make it an iframe, so that they can change the HTML page (hosted on each artist's site) anytime they want, showcasing their latest creations.

My current project objective for this is:
"Our purpose is to display the talents of digital and fiber artists that would like to contribute to the online knitting, crocheting, and spinning community."
It needs to be fine-tuned. Suggestions would be welcomed (and artists who want to participate, please contact me)!

I managed to get working and today, I finished my contribution to the passalong in my hands.

I am using the climbing branches band pattern in Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge. I'm using some Patons yarn I bought in sky blue. I had no yarn in my stash that could match this project that I found acceptable, so I went and got a ball of it. I've got over half a ball left, which will be good for some other small project. There are a number of mistakes, but I think it looks okay and not TOO bad. I wish I wasn't in such a rush so that I could go back and really make it error-free.

The pattern is very nice when you can really see it.

Yes, it is very late. Sigh. It does look very nice, though, and it was good to get back to knitting. My thumb is still a little sore and only hurts when I jab it by accident.

Boredom + New Yarn Shop Stop = Yes, most definitely a new project!

Today, I drove Mike to a gaming convention, which he was attending from 10am to around 7pm. I didn't want to drive back (about 45 minutes) home, so I decided to just hang around the newby Princeton area. I looked up some local stores in the area. I went to Glenmarle Woolworks and spent the time trying very hard not to drool over the yards and yards of Rowan yarn.

I love Rowan yarn. I love the designs. I just wish they were made for women with my bust size! Someday, I'll probably join the knitting circle.

I didn't plan on getting anything until I saw a very pretty shawl on one of the table's stores. I asked the woman at the store and she pointed me to some lovely "Anne" Schaefer yarn. I think the colorway is Isadora Duncan. Something red to contrast against the purple/green/yellow of my Charlotte.

So, I've got a new project on my needles. I think it will take me a week, maybe two, to use up the yarn. Something short and fun.

I love the Internet.

I bought some back issues of Interweave Knits and they arrived today. One is a copy of an issue I already had (oops!), but the others are pretty gorgeous. I was especially looking forward to the Fall 2003 issue and its article on seamless intarsia knitting in the round.

Tt's all in prep for continuing my work on Ron's Animal Cracker hat. I was disappointed with how holey my swatch was, so I hope the article will offer something useful. I want to collect, say, the last four years of IK. There's so many useful stuff in there!

I worked some more on the scarf. I didn't like the plain garter look and the pattern I got at Glenmarle was only the structural construction and not the lace details.

So, I found the feather and fan pattern in Folk Shawls and modified it for this short shawl. So far it looks pretty good.

Check out the feather and fan detail, along with the lovely center increases.

The yarn is so soft and sweet. I can't wait to finish it, so I can take it off the needle, block it, and fully appreciate the scalloped lace. My tank yarn is drying on the line outside and I think I'll pick it back up after I'm done with this. The summer is nice and hot and it's the right time to finish it so I can wear it.

Oh, and thumb appears to be almost back to normal. The tip's tissue is still sensitive, but the skin is now unbroken and no longer red.

The latest Pass-along scarf arrived in the mail today.

Red white and blue yumminess! But... can you see how I would be frustrated with it?

It's color-symmetrical! Very nicely color symmetrical! The white in the middle bordered by blues and reds. I'm torn about adding another color to the end. Adding another section to the end would make it look asymmetrical and wrong.

Since it is Erin's scarf (she's the one I mail the scarves to), I'm thinking of selecting a color and knitting a segment but not technically attaching it to the scarf. I'll utilize a provisional cast-on, which will allow her to decide to attach my piece to the work or not.

Perhaps I'll pick a cream yarn and do something unassuming that doesn't draw attention to itself. Not sure. I'll probably ask her if she has an opinion.

Looking at it makes me feel like I should say "pass me". It's just feels too perfect to make changes to it.

Check out what the lovely mailman brought to me this past week.

Thank you Amber and Megan! I can't wait for the next shirt.

This weekend, I needed a break. Or something. I have been trying really hard to knit a pair of socks, any pair of socks, and I was feeling down and defeated. I can't handle the four US1 dpns. I get pissed off and I curse it after two rounds. I'm supposed to love this, aren't I?

I've frogged my two attempts (first to make Broadripple, the second to make the Cloverleaf socks I was supposed to start in June for the knitalong) and now they are sitting in a corner of my shelf, waiting for me to buy two long US1 circulars to try my hand one last time, using the double loop method.

If that doesn't work, I'm going to give up doing anything like socks.

So, to cheer myself up, I started my tam again. Get back to feeling the love for my circular needles. I followed the pattern to the letter, instead of trying to adjust it in the wonky way I did before. I was a bit worried about the size of the band as I knit it up, but it turned out okay!

Too bad it's so hot and sticky that I can't wear it. It will be nice to wear in the fall, with my long chocolate cordurouy jacket.

Here's the top:

And for full disclosure, my fair isle.

Not too bad! I'd like to work on the pretty fair isle bag in Interweave Knits, but adjust the pattern so I can knit it in the round. I have enough yarn to knit another one, probably, this time either removing the red or the dark brown. I haven't decided if I will go monochromatic or colorful. I used US8s to get gauge.

I think the larger needles make the knitting with dpns okay. I just can't knit well with US1 dpns.

Today, I had my cousin come up and install my new stash bag.

I got the idea from a different cousin who uses one of these to keep her soft items, like mittens and scarves and socks. It is hanging in the corner of my study by the door that separates my study from Mike's. I'm in love. I adjusted it by collapsing the bottom-most container, so that it wouldn't hit the radiator underneath.

The bottom of the stack holds all my Kureyon and other "small project" items. The second is all my Koigu. (Drooooool.) The middle container holds all my project yarn. Projects lined up, current projects, stuff like that. Then I've got bulk yarn (Lana D'Oro and other stash exchange stuff). The top-most is yarn I don't need or use very frequently: acrylic, remainder balls, etc.

I still have my little stash cupboard, but now I'm using it to store other projects, like my beads/jewelry materials, ribbons, dye, etc. I also managed to clean my room to a fairly manageable state. This weekend, my relatives are coming over to demolish my kitchen (whee! New kitchen coming!) and I need to prepare the apartment for it.

I know that a shawl is not the same as a scarf. However, I can't help myself. I couldn't really think of what I could do with the pink koigu for Rakshinda's scarf that I would love. So, I decided to try working on Charlotte with the two skeins I had.

Beautiful!

I'm finding the pattern really easy, actually. I think my brain was made for lace. Not for socks (cry cry cry).

Let's lookie close.

I'm not sure how much knitting I'll get done next week (two interviews and lots of organizing of my study), but I hope to finish this mini-Charlotte in two weeks or so.

Erin's scarf is finally in the mail.

I just improvised stockinette blocks with seed stitch borders.

I've held on to it for so long that I made her some stitch markers.

Black hematite with red and white beads. Oh, and one that is made from mother of pearl chips. Pretty pretty! I need to start taking standardized photographs of all the stitch markers, so I can make a gallery of them.