PonyPandaTurtle

Way late posting

2011-11-20T23:17:00.004-06:00

Quick update, I've started teaching at The Yarn Garden in Portland, I'm test knitting a cool lace shawl, and I have two patterns for sale online!

A swatch for the test knit.

Pattern one for sale, Portlandia Hat.

Pattern two for sale, Cable Loop Cowl.

Sock Summit Recap

2011-08-08T15:39:00.009-05:00

It was great!!!

I took a class on knitting and designing fair isle socks with Janel Laidman.

Great class, already designing a sock, here's the swatch.

I volunteered as a TA for Syne Mitchell in an eTextiles class, also very cool, working on putting some lights into my knitting (no swatches yet).

I got to meet Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

I had VooDoo Donughts.

I finished knitting a pair of stripy socks for me.

And, of course, I shopped!

Hand knit green cowl (made by me, worn at Sock Summit), yellow fluff is a verb for keeping warm BFL roving in the Nugget colorway, blue fluff is Sincere Sheep BFL roving (they are destined to go together in some project or other), and the yellow yarn is Jezebel in colorway 710.

Earrings by Jennie the Potter.

Blue and white merino/bamboo blend sock yarn.

The Jezebel 710 pictured above, this time on it's own on my desk.

Blue Moon Fiber Arts, rare gem colorway in Earth.

Hand dyed alpaca lace weight yarn in the limited edition (oh my) colorway Broadway from my new local yarn shop Yarn Garden.

More alpaca lace wight in Silver.

And yet more in Provence.

And some merino lace weight from the Carolina Homespun booth, this is going to be knit up into a stripy shawl with the Silver alpaca.

I had a great time all weekend, it was like summer camp.

Tour de Fleece Update

2011-08-05T16:28:00.002-05:00

I fell off that bandwagon.

My wheel is not yet back together (a few technical issues popped up during our move and have yet to be resolved, or, it's broken) and I hurt my shoulder by spinning too much on my drop spindle. So that was that for my first attempt at the Tour de Fleece.

I just attended Sock Summit 2011 where I bought more roving, so I need to fix my wheel and get back to injury free spinning.

I'll keep you posted.

Day Twelve

2011-07-14T00:41:00.003-05:00

I didn't spin yesterday because my shoulder was unhappy, too much spinning.

Day Ten

2011-07-11T12:25:00.002-05:00

More spinning!

Day Nine

2011-07-11T01:54:00.001-05:00

Just a little spinning today, same roving, new spindle. Well not new, just new to this project.

Days Seven and Eight

2011-07-09T23:32:00.004-05:00

I posted Thursday's spinning very late at night/early in the morning yesterday. I didn't spin at all yesterday, because we went to Mount Saint Helens.

Today I did yesterday's spinning.

And today's spinning.

Day Six

2011-07-08T02:27:00.003-05:00

Riveting, I know.

The big chunk of fluff attached to the spindle should be spun up as yarn on the spindle, but I was busy today and did not spin as much as I should have. I will work on it a little more before I go to bed.

Day Five

2011-07-07T01:49:00.002-05:00

Day Four

2011-07-05T23:52:00.001-05:00

Day Three

2011-07-04T22:31:00.003-05:00

Day Two

2011-07-03T19:09:00.001-05:00

Tour de Fleece

The Green Monster and some Spinning

2011-07-02T19:57:00.002-05:00

The big greenie is done!!! Two shots of it unblocked, proper blocked shots tomorrow.

A closeup, the lumpy bottom edge will look like lovely leafy lace once it's all sorted.

And a bigger shot, you can see we're still unpacking, please excuse the half empty boxes in the background.

And this year I decided to participate in the Tour De Fleece, where you set a challenging spinning goal and spin every day that the Tour De France rides. My goal is simple, to spin every day. I've been neglecting it.

So here goes, day one. A little bit of roving from Lorna's Laces. I forget the name of the colorway.

Green Monster Update

2011-06-30T15:33:00.003-05:00

Back to square one, or more accurately, where I was Tuesday night when I finally admitted that it wasn't going to work.

1:30 pm (Thursday)

I now know that I can knit 10,000 stitches in about 30 hours.

And I'm Back

2011-06-30T00:58:00.011-05:00

I'm working on a shawl/scarf design. I fell in love with this lace motif, and it hasn't been cooperating. I gave up, started designing the way that it wanted to work, and was well on my way to finishing the sample (and pattern) today.

Tuesday evening.

Then I realized that I had been optimistic with how big the thing would be and that there was no way I'd have enough yarn to finish. My only choice was to rip out the 80"x6" of knitting that was already done. That's 480 square inches of knitting and more than 11,000 stitches (yay math).

So this morning I set up my knitting station, comfy chair, computer loaded up with knitting podcasts (thanks Wonder Mike for getting me through), some water, and my chart.

I put on an inspirational outfit.

And I sat down to knit.

8:30 am (Wednesday)

11:00 am (Wednesday)

4:00 pm (Wednesday)

1:15 am (Thursday)

The yarn is the Pistachio colorway in Atlantis, a really great Silk Seacell and Rayon blend hand dyed by my friend Angela.

The pattern is coming soon, it will be available at Windy Knitty in Chicago.

Pinkerton Shawl

2011-05-03T09:09:00.003-05:00

Half plain, half mesh.

The artsy layout.

The basic unedited shot.

Knit up in a nice yarn in shades of blue gray and back.

Opening Day

2011-04-08T12:11:00.007-05:00

Josh won tickets to the Cub's first home game. It was cold, grey, and rainy. We had fun anyway.

OKC!

2011-03-21T17:30:00.004-05:00

Today started with Josh shaving most of his beard, leaving a handlebar mustache and soul patch.

Then we went to the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History in Norman, OK. There we saw all kinds of stuff native to Oklahoma.

A Wooly Mammoth stepped on Josh.

And we saw some artifacts from the Mediterranean.

A Hat, A Plan, A Canal, Panama!

2011-03-15T17:02:00.002-05:00

I have designed matching reversible hats for Sandy and I to wear at the Shamrock Shuffle this year (held in April of course).

The hat is designed in thirds with three simple celtic knots forming the bulk of the hat, with two shamrocks and the year in between the knots. The shamrocks and knots are regular double knitting where you have the mirror image on the reverse. The year is fancy double knitting where you can have different designs on each side.

Here you can see the bottom half of two of the knots, the year, and the chart.

Call me Martha

2011-03-09T22:47:00.006-06:00

Actually, call Sandy and I Martha.

We made this awesome, high maintenace, vertiucally layered, rose cake.

The Cake.

Chilling in the fridge, pre eating.

Icing the roses.

Assembling the layers, high maintenance vertcal layers.

The cakes, mid slicing and layering.

Sandy baked four layers, two chocolate, two yellow and glued them together using simple syrup (no icing) into one tall chocolate cake and one tall yellow cake.

After freezing them to help them stick together we cut them into concentric circles and reassembled the rings of cake into bullseyes.

Then we used more simple syrup/glue and froze them again.

We made buttercream icing and Sandy applied a crumb coat to the cakes. She made me do the roses.

We then force fed it to the regular crew after Sandy fed them lassagna and roasted chicken & vegtables.

Icing the roses was easier than I thought it would be. I'm probably never going to do the vertical layers again, they were so much work, and they fell apart when you tried to cut the cake. Next time I'll do regular layers and ice the roses.

Big Cat

2011-01-17T22:19:00.001-06:00

Cat, no hat

2011-01-07T12:33:00.008-06:00

With fish!

This is my first completed crochet project. I'm already making another one, and I have plans for a third.

I stitched up her little fish too.

I'm very pleased with myself. My cousin Laura taught me the basics more than a year ago when we were in London. I started two scarf/shawl type patterns, but never completed them.

I saw this pattern in a book (Hello My Name is Amineko) at Borders. The book was on a super sale, and the cat looked basic enough that I could figure it all out. It was a great first project. It's all single crochet, but you learn how to increase, decrease, and change colors. There is one fancy decrease on the mouth that I may not have done 100% correctly, but it looks ok to me.

Project Update

2010-11-15T16:32:00.003-06:00

A green cowl for me.

Hand dyed sock yarn from Kitchen Sink Dyeworks, knit up in a twig lace pattern, with the ends grafted together to make a seamless tube.

And a Space Invaders Hat for Josh.

Josh's hat was designed for his birthday. It's double knitting, so it's completely reversible and super warm. It's also made to measure, so it shouldn't squish his curls too much.

Happy Birthday to me!

2010-11-14T14:25:00.006-06:00

A snapshot of my yarn haul from yesterday.

A closeup.

Dream in Color, a yarn manufacturer in the Chicago suburbs, had a warehouse/mill ends sale yesterday, my birthday. I brought home about $300 worth of lovely hand dyed yarn for $75.

It was great!

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T21:33:00.000-05:00

Shetlandish Shawl

2010-10-22T07:32:00.006-05:00

Designed for an auction benefitting Family Rescue in Chicago.

Close up of it on the dress form.

A shot of it blocking.

Merino silk lace weight yarn with glass beads in the edging. The beads don't really show in these photographs.

Inspired by Shetland lace knitting traditions.

Mushroom Galette

2010-07-27T09:33:00.002-05:00

Mushrooms, red wine, fresh oregano, cheddar cheese, pastry crust, what could be better?

The guts, pre-assembly.

Can't figure out why this one is sideways, I'll fix it and re-upload.

The galette, assembled and waiting for the oven to finish heating.

Inspired by the SmittenKitchen, I love her.

Dinner

2010-07-13T23:06:00.003-05:00

I'm on a bit of a pizza kick.

Heirloom tomatoes, goat cheese, and bacon. Yum.

Feet

2010-07-13T23:04:00.003-05:00

Also for Danilo, although he'll have to grow a bit.

Another awesome pattern from Knitty.com.

July Cleaning

2010-07-13T22:59:00.002-05:00

Our living room.

Not anymore though, just for one day.

We cleaned out our closet, we pared down our boxes, our apartment looked like hell, and then we got it all back into the closet (including several new boxes). We took a lot to the dumpster, and a carful to Goodwill.

It sucked but it feels good to have done it.

Pee Pee Teepees

2010-07-13T22:55:00.002-05:00

Because it's a funny name, and because Maria was having a baby boy.

Two pee pee teepees.

And Danilo obligingly peeing on one.

Elephant Update

2010-07-13T22:53:00.004-05:00

A few gratuitous shots of the pair.

Kaufman Stadium

2010-07-13T22:49:00.003-05:00

Josh, trying not to look too excited.

Me, not trying to look anyway but happy.

And two attempts to take our own picture with my cell.

Beachathon

2010-07-13T22:42:00.005-05:00

Sandy and I made tropical cocktail costumes for the Beachathon.

I was a Mai Tai and she was a Blue Hawaiian.

(We decided to put our "names" on our backs as our costumes might be a little obscure)

Mai Tai in progress.

Cocktail umbrella hat prototype.

Mai Tai try on (it ended up being shorter to accommodate running).

Cut out fruit, and the Blue Hawaiian.

The race ended up being a little lame, but we had fun getting the costumes up.

Feast

2010-06-01T06:24:00.006-05:00

This is what happens when I have an extra day at home.

Chopped veggies.

Blanched brussels sprouts.

All the veggies ready to roast.

Roasted.

The turkey breast, it fell over in the oven, still tasted great.

I also made cornbread stuffing and gravy, but they weren't very photogenic.

10 Miles

2010-05-29T16:29:00.002-05:00

Before

After

The Infamous Hat

2010-05-28T09:07:00.005-05:00

Last week I entered a design competition at a local yarn store, sponsored by a big yarn company. You had to use their yarn, so I designed a three color hat with a graphic olive branch pattern around the sides of the hat with a fancy "braided" edge and fancy two color decreases at the top.

Friday night I found out that I took third place, and that I was going to have my pattern published by the big yarn company!!!

Originally only first place was going to be published, but Mr. Charles liked our designs enough that he decided to publish the top three.

So I spent the rest of the evening feeling rather giddy (the whole weekend really, well, actually I'm still feeling giddy). Josh and I went to our favorite Thai place to celebrate.

So here's the side view. It looks better on a real head, this form is a bit small.

And the front view.

The card listing my info, I didn't realize that they wanted the title of the piece where it says "description". I would have put "Olive Branches" instead of "color work hat". Oh well.

And my Certificate.

Updates

2010-05-28T08:49:00.004-05:00

Because I've been lax.

I knit up these cute little garter stitch elephants for a coworker's new nephew.

And the edge of another shawl/wrap/scarf that I knit for myself. It's the Bitteroot pattern from Knitty out of some lovely alpaca yarn that Sandy and Derrick brought me from upstate NY.

The alpaca is all warm and soft, the beads aren't as noticeable in the finished product as they look here. They're subtle. It's a little sheddy, but I'm hoping it will stop at some point soon.

Lace

2010-04-20T06:52:00.004-05:00

My Emily shawl blocking.

A blend of merino and silk yarn, kind of shiny.

The First Elephant

2010-04-13T07:34:00.003-05:00

The garter stitch elephant, a free Ravelry download. Pretty cute. I have another one in the works in green.

They're for a friend to give to a new baby. The sex is unknown and the nursery theme is Noah's Ark, so I went green and yellow with the elephants.

Peanut!

2010-04-01T11:02:00.002-05:00

Two skeins of Peanut, ready to be knit up into something awesome.

A close up shot of peanut.

Peanut ended up becoming about 100 yards of three ply yarn. I had one thicker single and one skinnier single. I plied the skinnier single back onto itself, but it was all overspun and coiled because I hadn't put enough twist in when I was plying. The thicker single was also coiling up on itself. So I plied the two ply with the single, and voila, it all ended up a pretty calm balanced three ply. Not exactly what I had planned, but it should work out just fine.

Handspun!!!

2010-03-31T23:14:00.008-05:00

This past Sunday Loopy Yarns held a spin in. It was great. They had a table of free fiber, two drum carders, and snacks. I made a crazy batt of stuff from the free table, and I carded up my alpaca fleece. And I spun like crazy. Look at all this yarn!

This is Peanut, partway through being plied up. Not sure how many yards of Peanut I've got. I plied it further and will wait until it's dry to try to figure it out.

This is the crazy skein made from all kinds of stuff from the free fiber table, about 30 yards. It has some merino, some tencel, several colors of angelina (the sparkle), some mohair (I think), and some mystery wool. Pretty random and pretty awesome.

This is a merino/tencel skein, about 140 yards. I bought the roving from Miss. Babs at Stitches last fall.

This is the skein of mostly alpaca, about 75 yards. Sandy's dad brought me a bunch of alpaca that I had no way to card. Luckily Loopy had those drum carders out. I threw in some dark brown wool, some purple wool, and some angelina (the sparkle).

The alpaca on the wheel.

Yay! So much fun.

Shamrock Shuffle

2010-03-31T23:09:00.005-05:00

Sandy and I ran the Shuffle again this year. It was cold but no blizzard this time around.

This is our pre-race snap shot.

And this is me, after the race, with a guy who ran the whole five miles in a Mr. Peanut costume.

We spotted Mr. Peanut somewhere in mile two, and we vowed that we would not let the peanut beat us. (We were successful, we soundly beat the peanut)

My Shawl and Steph's Scarf

2010-03-31T07:46:00.006-05:00

Stephanie's scarf. Made from two skeins of yarn she bought on a little vacation she took. One was handspun, the other hand dyed. I striped them together to make a little dropped stitch scarf. Now I want one for myself.

The last time you saw the scarf it probably looked like this...

My Olympic Knitting!

The Onvera Shawl being blocked on our futon. I know, red shawl red futon, not the best shot. I'll have to find one of me wearing it.

As you can see it's pretty big. It's nice and warm too.

Malika's Birthday Hat

2010-03-30T21:56:00.000-05:00

Olympics

2010-02-13T13:09:00.005-06:00

I have decided to participate in the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics!

Last winter olympics, because knitting is clearly a winter sport, she organized this event, where basically you pick a project that will challenge you, you cast on during the opening ceremonies, and you knit like the wind to complete the project by the closing ceremonies.

I chose the Onerva Shawl because I have tried to knit it three times already and it keeps kicking my butt. I am determined to win.

The shots above are what I have accomplished so far. I did have to restart the thing three more times during the opening ceremonies.

Guacamole & Empanadas

2010-02-10T22:55:00.003-06:00

The spread, three kinds of guacamole, and two types of empanada (the third type of empanada was still in the oven when this photo was taken).

That's Sandy's arm, she couldn't wait.

Ham and cheese empanadas.

Black bean empanadas.

I didn't get a good shot of the chicken and green olive empanadas, they looked pretty much the same as the black bean ones, only they didn't all explode while baking. They're actually the empanadas on the blue plate in the top picture.

And, of course, the guacamole. We had a sort of cook-off, even though you don't cook guacamole. The guacamole cook-off inspired the empanadas.

There was knitting too, I just didn't take any pictures of it.

Quick Update

2009-12-06T15:20:00.005-06:00

I've been super busy, here are a few shots of what I'm doing right now.

Plain sock, knit with colorful yarn and contrasting heels and toes.

These were my train knitting, brainless and entertaining.

Now I'll have to come up with something else simple to work on while traveling.

I just started a swirl scarf, from the Swirl Shawl pattern that Mom gave me.

Knitting these little hexagons is probably not the best train knitting. They're easy enough, but don't seem like they'd be good for frequent stopping and starting.

Hat and more of the Mittens

2009-10-09T13:40:00.008-05:00

I have decided that I need a hat that won't clash with my Bohus Mittens.
I started playing with excel, and have cast on for a Bohus inspired hat.

Knitting close up.
It will never be as delicate, or look as blended, as the true Bohus. This yarn is heavier (though still fine at 7 stitches to the inch) and doesn't contain any angora.

The yarn, the chart, the knitting.

I'm reworking my charted ideas as I go. Some things that looked great on paper just don't seem right in yarn. I was going to try a tam type of hat, but then I decided that I shouldn't mix colorwork and major shaping in my frist color design. So it's slated to be a basic beanie style hat, with colorwork going around the side, one color ribbing, one color top.

And, a mitten update.

Close up of pretty cuffs attatched to mitten hand.

Left hand progress, hand is done, thumb is almost done.

The two in-progress mittens together. Phase one is almost complete, just a little knitting to go on the left thumb. Next I knit the flip top part of each hand. Then I'll work on the lining.

Then I can wear them.

More Mittens

2009-09-30T12:38:00.006-05:00

I started the mitten part of my mitten last night!
Still obsessed.

Mitten number one, thumb gusset created & held on thread untill I can come back and knit it. Hand progressing nicely, almost time to work on the flip top that I'm planning. These are mittens for a girl who needs to use her fingertips in a cold, cold city.

These are also mittens for an ambitious knitter who thinks the mitten part of this pair needs to live up to the cuff part of this pair. They must be fancy with couture details, just like a Bohus sweater.

Sunday's are for Spinning?

2009-09-27T20:39:00.003-05:00

I'm copying the Yarn Harlot's idea that one day should be for spinning, so that it doesn't get taken over by the knitting. And we all know that I let things get taken over by my knitting.

So this is what I worked on today.

It looks better in person.

This is the roving I haven't spun yet. It's so pretty.

It's a merino bamboo blend called Galapagos. It's super soft. I can't wait to ply it and make something, maybe a hat.

More Secret Knitting

2009-09-27T20:34:00.003-05:00

Secret knitting for Sandy's birthday!

I designed a hat a mittens with matching cables. Designing the cable took a minute, but I really like how it turned out.

This is a close up of the cables on the hat.

And the set.

They are made from Malabrigo, a super soft merino yarn from Peru. I have it from the birthday girl that they are "so soft!"

Bohus Stickning

2009-09-25T07:06:00.002-05:00

My current obsession.
Blue Shimmer wristlets and the alpaca blend I bought to turn them into mittens.

Mom and I took Susanna Hanson's Bohus Stickning class at Stitches Midwest. I am completely in love! I love the geometric designs, I love the subtlety of the fine color patterns, I love how the angora blooms and makes it even more blended, I love how the angora feels. (Mine haven't really bloomed yet as they're still beeing kept in a plastic bag)

A close up of one wristlet. The red thread at the bottom is a provisional cast on and will not show in the final mittens.

Susanna told us about the history of the Bohus Stickning company/movement. I imediately grabbed the Poems of Color book from the library and started obsessing. I really want to get one of Solveig Gustaffson's kits. She is meticulously recreating the dye formulas from the original sweaters. Look at her site and drool a little. I have been. Mostly over the Wild Apple, the Egg and the Forest Darkness.

Paraphrasing Susanna:
Bohus Sticking began as a way to help out an economically depressed region of Sweden. It was a coture design house, retailing sweaters for hundreds of dollars. About a third of the profits went back to the knitter (not the percentage usually paid to textile workers). The company closed it's doors when the demand started to die off in the late 60's, not wanting to sacrifice construction methods or materials to bring prices down.

Secret Knitting

2009-08-28T00:39:00.007-05:00

I have been doing a little secret knitting.

I designed a little cozy for the teapot that Sandy & Derrick wanted. Sandy liked a teapot with a little leaf detail that Derrick wasn't so into. They opted for a simpler teapot, I put leaves on the cozy.

Great little fabric buttons.

And their tea tray. You can barely see the tray because our table is almost as dark as the tray. That scone mix is my all time favorite, super easy and always delicious. I like to add things like dried cranberries or almonds, but it's great plain too.

Delicious Pasta

2009-08-24T22:00:00.005-05:00

From the fantastic Smitten Kitchen site. Thanks Sandy!

My pasta shells.

Home made roasted red pepper vinaigrette (in the jar the roasted peppers came in) with the snow peas.

My peas, I did not buy fresh and shell them, I defrosted them.

And voila! The lovely pasta salad, not a nicely photographed as the original, because I was hungry and impatient.

More Baseball

2009-08-24T21:57:00.005-05:00

Baseball

2009-08-19T09:14:00.001-05:00

Sweaters

2009-08-19T09:13:00.010-05:00

See this sweater that I am knitting, see how far I am?

I am going to rip it all out.

It was going to be like this green sweater... Very cute, right? Good design, nice shape, flattering on the model. Only problem is I'm not built like the model. And my yarn is a bit bulkier than called for, making the sweater even less drapey than the original. Not good.

The February Lady by Flint Knits.

See this sweater? (Tiny picture I know) It's made from a yarn as bulky as the red yarn above. It's also pretty cute, good design, etc... And I think it will look much nicer on my figure than the green one.

Carmela's Cardigan by Patton's Design Team.

So I am ripping the sweater, to use the yarn for a something I'll actually wear. Maybe I'll try the green one again some day.

Beauty Shots

2009-07-26T18:50:00.005-05:00

The hand painted sock yarn that I took with me to knit a wrap while on vacation.

The two colors of tweed yarn that I bought at This Is Knit in Dublin.

The roving and drop spindle from the Handweavers Studio in London.

Silk top also from Handweavers Studio.

Eggplant colored wenslydale wool from I Knit in Waterloo.

Hand painted roving, also from I Knit.

Silk lace weight (yes it's from Habu, but I never see Habu here in Chicago), also from I Knit.

Lovely soft merino cashmere blend that I bought at Loop in Islington.

And lambswool, also from Loop, that I have now seen all over Chicago! Oh well.

One of my yarn buying goals was to try for things that I can't get here in the states.

New Favorite Yarn

2009-07-26T18:45:00.006-05:00

I ordered this blue green yarn from an online shop. It is super soft, very cushy. I made everyone pet it.

I think I'm going to use it for a gift though, so I hunted online and in real life for more.

I bought this at Jo-Ann Fabrics, and I'm going to order some in a pale pink from e-bay. Yum.

A Little More Detail

2009-07-21T22:54:00.023-05:00

All cell phone photos, sorry for the crappy quality.

Josh, on the plane.

First sight of Ireland.

First pints, Bulmers.

Saturday morning.

And 5 minutes further down the street.

The Bride! This was very late and we were all quite drunk.

Salamanca, a lovey tapas place where we all met for dinner the day after the wedding.

Trinity College.

My peeps on Grafton Street, no family discount.

Delicious kebabs from Zaytoon's, highly recommended post pub.

Pints at O'Neil's.

The Guinness Storehouse, completely overrated, even when we were in the mood for touristy schlock. I say wikipedia how beer is made (if you aren't already aware) while you grab a pint somewhere else.

Josh, on a bus, whizzing past Christ Church. We did go in, another day.

First sight of London.

Parliament.

Dr. Laura Miller, my cousin, knows how to show a girl a good time.

Mr. Toby Joe, best dog of the trip!

Pigeon wanted in at Tate Modern.

Josh, pretty much how he looked the whole trip. (Camera to face)

Harrods.

Regent Street Apple Store.

Need I say more?

Our last look at Dublin.

My Loot!

Irish yarn purchased in Dublin at This Is Knit.

My new drop spindle, handmade on the Isle of Wight, with a little wool I purchased to play with, from the Handweaver's Studio in London.

Silk for spinning, also from the Handweaver's Studio.

Cashmere Merino blend, so soft, from Loop in Islington.

Lambswool, one of the softest things I've ever touched, also from Loop.

Reddish silk from Habu on a cone, a braid of hand dyed roving, and DK weight Wenslydale in an eggplant color (it just looks black), all from I Knit in Waterloo.

And on our last day Laura taught me how to crochet! She also bought me a wonderful little book, so I practiced all the way home on the plane and was able to complete my very first granny square. Yarn is GGH something or other purchased at Loop solely for the purpose of learning to crochet.

The whole trip my travel knitting was the Clapotis Wrap knit out of a Cascade hand painted sock yarn. I got this far.

I actually ripped out the entire thing tonight. I had started it a little skinny, hoping to get by with one skein, I realized that that wasn't going to happen, so I bought another skein and am starting over, full sized. Why knit it skinny when I now have enough yarn?

I'm back!

2009-07-17T20:00:00.003-05:00

The trip was awesome.

The wedding was lovely, the reception was tons of fun.

Getting to go on vacation with lots of our friends was a special treat.

I bought lots of yarn.

Getting to spend time with my cousin Laura was awesome, also she taught me how to crochet.

Josh and I got to see and do so much, photos coming soon.

More Dress

2009-06-30T22:29:00.005-05:00

As you can see, the skirt is on! It actually looks like a dress now.

The top is lined, the skirt is still unlined, the zipper is not in yet (you can see I'm holding the side closed where the zipper will go), and none of the three skirt layers are hemmed. I can do it though.

This is how I look when I should be in bed, late at night, with oily skin.

Dress Update

2009-06-29T06:29:00.003-05:00

Two cell phone shots of the dress so far. I have all the skirt pieces cut out, and most of them are sewn together. I just need to sew the outer layer together and attach them all to the bodice. Then I'll still have to put the zipper in and hem the thing. The skirt is very full and has three layers, the plum colored silk you see, a cotton under layer to give the silk more strength, and the lining layer. Hemming all that will be a while. The silk feels great though.

Aeolian Shawl for Me!

2009-06-27T14:32:00.013-05:00

All lumpy, as yet un-blocked.

First go round of blocking. Center of each flower pinned out.

Each flower with five points pinned out. The shawl gets stretched further and further as I work my way around and around.

Flower close up.

Hair Cut

2009-06-27T12:56:00.006-05:00

Me, this morning. (In our bathroom)

The ubiquitous cell phone mirror shot (Josh was asleep and couldn't be roped into helping).

Shots from the front and side, showing just how long my hair had really gotten. I've let it go unmolested for over a year.

And now, me this afternoon. All gone! It is a lot shorter than I thought it would be. I asked them to take off a foot of hair. They took closer to 16 inches.

I was in total shock for a good while. I think I'm getting used to it though. Josh said nice things about the new cut. Mostly I'm just having to adjust because I had a very different notion of how it would look when it was done (3-4 inches longer).

Dress

2009-06-22T23:14:00.008-05:00

Two shots of my dress muslin so far.

It kinds looks like hell. The boobs are wrinkly and the darts are pulling a bit. It's because I was lazy and didn't iron anything. I just finger pressed the seams and darts as I went.

Also, I fill it out better than my dress form. She is drastically smaller than I am. Maybe I should give her a sandwich.

New Project

2009-06-21T22:42:00.008-05:00

Cable Baby Blanket

2009-06-19T07:24:00.006-05:00

The blanket for Melissa's baby.

It's a boy, and her wallpaper has a really cute fish design on the chair rail portion. So I figured that blue and white would be good, with a little cable detailing.

This is the blanket, blocked out on our futon.

The corner (while blocked).

The center of the blanket.

All folded, ready to gift.

Socks!

2009-06-16T06:43:00.007-05:00

An adaptation of Barbara Walker's Northern Lights stitch pattern.

Theses socks are for my enormous feet.

Stephanie's Socks

2009-06-13T08:26:00.008-05:00

I finally finished Steph's socks! Just in time for the event that they were intended to celebrate.

We work together, and I enjoy sending odd things through inter-office envelopes. So I inter-officed her present to her. The next thing I see is Steph, coming down the hall towards me, 'modeling' the socks!

I'm pretty happy with how they worked out. My own split rib pattern in Knit Pick's Essential Peacock Multi. I was a little annoyed that the yarn striped, Knit Picks sells a striping yarn, so you'd think that the 'multi' wouldn't stripe... anyway, they came out really well.

10 Miles!!!

2009-05-23T18:21:00.003-05:00

Sandy and I ran 10 miles this morning! 10 miles! I never could have done it without her, best running buddy ever.

Our race started next to Soldier Field, ran down to Hyde Park (51st street or so) and back up to the field. The finish line was on the 50 yard line of the field. They had us on the JumboTron as we crossed the line. Then they gave us water and medals.

We had a tasty brunch to celebrate, then I took a nap (and some ibuprofen).

Malika's Aeolian Shawl

2009-04-22T20:14:00.009-05:00

I used a beautiful lace weight alpaca to knit this for Malika. In my mind this is like a long distance hug of fibery goodness.

All done, un-blocked in it's "cat yack" stage. I had to use a contrasting merino lace yarn to bind off the edge because I ran out of the main yarn.

Soaked, squeezed dry, and stretched to within an inch of it's life! Pinned out to dry on our futon. It's beautiful, I love it and can't wait to see how mine comes out.

The yucca leaf pattern that makes up the main part of the shawl.

The agave and flower edging, pinned out to dry in perfect little points.

Another shot of the flower edging.

There are actually little tiny glass beads in the flower that didn't show up in any of these photos. They are very nice and add just a touch of glitz.

Lia's Blanket

2009-04-22T20:12:00.006-05:00

A blanket designed for my friend Malika's little one, Lia Christina Barros.

I adapted the Northern Lights stitch pattern from one of Barbara Walker's stitch dictionaries, and added a contrasting seed stitch border. I might rework this pattern. Then Lia will get another blanket.

Lia's Bear

2009-04-22T20:11:00.009-05:00

Made from a super soft chenille like wool acrylic blend. The bear feels like velvet.

All photos taken with my cell phone, sorry for the poor quality.

Succulent Garden

2009-03-30T07:53:00.013-05:00

My new little succulent garden.
In a cereal bowl from JoAnn's Fabrics.

Not sure what this one is, maybe a sedum.

I'm pretty sure this one is a sedum.

Some sort of echiveria.

Not sure about this one.

Another echiveria, probably of the same variety as the first.
This one is going to flower soon. It has a long stem with two little buds on the end.

The buds (resting on the probable sedum).

I couldn't stop buying these guys at $2 a pop.

Shamrock Shuffle 2009

2009-03-30T07:52:00.005-05:00

Pre race, in the slush and snow.

Post race, Sandy and I looking very pleased with ourselves.

While training we decided that we wanted to be able to run the 8K (5 miles) in less than an hour. On race day we decided that we just wanted to finish the race. We managed to complete the course in 58.75 minutes, running 11.75 minute miles.

We felt pretty hardcore about the whole thing as only 13,500 or so of the 40,000 registered runners showed up.

The Chicago Tribune's write up is here.

Fern Cowl

2009-03-13T20:06:00.008-05:00

Stephanie's birthday present. Fern stitch cowl out of Cascade Pastaza, a wool and llama blend. I didn't block the cowl because it started developing a really nice sculptural quality that I thought the birthday girl would like.

And two "detail" shots. The picture quality is pretty crappy since I had to use my phone.

Dirty Sheep!

2009-02-02T23:02:00.005-06:00

More Peanut! I've been spinning up the second batch of washed wool. You can see that it isn't quite as washed as the first batch. The new batch is to the right, the first batch is under it, to the left. It's not too different, enough that I feel like a slacker though. I'm pretty sure that the rest of the dirt will come out when I wash the finished yarn. We will see I guess.

You should see the floor under my wheel! I pull out the little burs, plant stems, and short bits of wool as I go. It gets pretty bad by my feel. I need to sweep.

Welcome Eliot-Anne

2009-02-02T22:58:00.002-06:00

The body of the blanket I knit up for TJ & Erica's baby Eliot.

The shower was this weekend, I was down to the wire, or I'd have better pictures.

A detail shot of the corner.

Ta Da!

2009-01-10T15:53:00.008-06:00

The birthday girl, in mom's lap with dead fish hat.

Dad, with the catch of the day.

And the birthday girl again, with mom holding up the tail for effect.

Tee Heee

2009-01-10T08:49:00.005-06:00

Done! The dead fish hat from Knitty.com. I'll try for modeled shots later today. I love it.

Fishy

2009-01-08T22:34:00.005-06:00

Just finished knitting this guy today. Soaked it and laid it out to dry. I have to sew the eyes on, and hopefully I'll get pictures of it with it's intended recipient this weekend.

More Sock

2009-01-06T14:43:00.003-06:00

One down, one to go. No sign of the dreded second sock syndrome. The sock toe is actually very pointy, I have posed it for maximum roundness. And the sock is a bit short. Not by much. I think that my toes are longer than Ann Bud thinks my toes are. Oh well, I'll keep that in mind for the next pair. This second sock needs to be slightly too short with a very pointy toe. I am compulsive enought that matching is more important to me than fit.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T13:30:00.006-06:00

I hope everyone had a lovely time last night.

Here's my sock progress. I love them. And I'm already planning future pairs to be knit. I want striped knee socks!

Merry Christmas Yarn

2008-12-31T07:22:00.004-06:00

Josh's parents gift to me. Some yarn money. And my favorite downtown yarn shop announced a sale yesterday. I ran over after work and grabbed these three skeins. I'm very into the idea of fingering weight lace wraps. I keep buying yarn to knit them, but have not yet started to knit any. Odd. Anyway, I love the color and the yarn is so soft, 100% merino. Yum.

Knitting Like the Wind

2008-12-31T07:13:00.005-06:00

My sock! I know it looks rather odd to you non-knitters, but it is actually progressing very nicely. The part at the bottom where it gets a bit skinnier and has the needles in it is becoming the heel. and the peach thread running down the middle is just to mark how far I've knit. I'll pull it out when I'm done. That is one day's worth of obsessive knitting interspersed with real life. I hope to finish this one today and cast on for the next one tomorrow. I do have to stay up until midnight.

Happy New Years Eve!

Not Josh's Gloves

2008-12-30T09:44:00.007-06:00

Cast on last night. A little sock. For me. This is my seccond attempt at socks. Last time I got bored and ripped out what I had started. This time the yarn is more interesting and I'm knitting on double pointed needles instead of one long circular. I prefer double points.

I should be working on Josh's gloves.

Damp Wool

2008-12-30T06:28:00.008-06:00

The hat, now blocked, on our bathroom counter drying.

Click on the image to view full sized!

And a Hat

2008-12-29T12:30:00.008-06:00

When I used up the second ball of yarn for Stephanie's scarf I checked the length. It was longer than I am tall, and will probably stretch more when I block it. Usually you make a scarf as long as the wearer is tall and I am a bit taller than Stephanie. I sent her a quick email to see if she would prefer a very long scarf or a ridiculously long scarf. She chose very long, and I offered to knit a hat with the remaining yarn. This is the hat, as yet un-blocked.

Blocking is a process where you wet down the knitted object and stretch it to it's final dimensions. Depending on the type of object/garment you are blocking you will stretch it more or less vigorously, using one of many stretching/wetting techniques. This guy was supposed to be wet down and stretched over a dinner plate. The hat seemed smaller than a plate while dry, but once soaked, it grew on it's own. The hat is now larger than a dinner plate, so I didn't bother with it. I simply shaped it by hand on a towel. Blocking smoothes out all the bumps and wrinkles you see in these pictures.

The bottom of the hat, I'll weave in that loose strand of yarn. The ribbing won't fold over on itself after blocking.

Several Projects at Once

2008-12-26T17:03:00.015-06:00

My techno-geek gloves, still very much in progress. These were sort of a prototype for gloves that I wanted to knit Josh. His gloves are pictured below. As you can see I am also not very far along on that pair.

Steph's scarf, also very much in progress. I'm almost done with the second ball of yarn (Stephanie bought three). So not too much more to go.

And some sock yarn I just bought for myself (I had cupons). It is a rather pretty self striping colorway, in a yarn that the Harlot speaks very highly of.

I've been reading the Yarn Harlot's site, and some Elizabeth Zimmerman books this past week. They've got me all worked up and ready to knit (I hadn't been working on Josh's gloves at all before yesterday). Worl wears me down, I arrive home in a semi-comatose state and get very little knitting done.

I've been spinning too, but it looks pretty much the same as the last photos. Today my clunky wheel repair kit arrived! I'm excited to fix my wheel, and a little nervous. I have to drill into the hub of the wheel to install the new axel. Taking drill to wheel is giving me pause. I'll work up the nerve soon.

Spinning

2008-12-15T11:37:00.006-06:00

This, is becoming yarn!

I've started spinning the birthday roving. It's really beautiful. This photo looks browner than the real stuff, but there's no accounting for computer monitors.

I wanted to make this into a lace weight two ply. It might end up being more of a fingering weight though, which will still serve my purposes very nicely.

Drop Stitch Stephanie

2008-12-07T19:35:00.012-06:00

I'm using this beautiful yarn that Stephanie bought to make her a scarf. She found a really lovely dropped stitch pattern that she liked. It's my train knitting because it shouldn't get to big or too intricate to haul around.

I had almost three feet of scarf knit. On my lunch break the other day I lay it out to take a blog photo, when I noticed a giant mistake. And the giant mistake was only about a foot from the beginning. Argh. I had to rip back, it was a little demoralizing. Now that I've knit back to where I was, I can talk about it again.

The scarf pre rip. You can see where my circular needle is, way back by the beginning. That's where I had to rip to.

And the offending row. You can see how the scarf is all wavy lines and offset openwork. But mid frame there is a big honking straight line, where I did not offset the openwork. There was no way I could leave it.

This is actually very addicting to knit.

Sorry for the poor photo quality, all taken with my iPhone.

New Hat?

2008-12-07T19:21:00.011-06:00

Every year I tell myself that if I knit a really great hat, that I will like wearing it. I hate wearing hats, I live in Chicago. I need to wear hats. It never really works.

This year I'm going to make a really great hat from my own hand spun. Maybe that'll do it.

My hand spun in a little skein. I have more than 100 yards of an almost lace weight (it's heavier than true lace weight).

I'm not sure how much lace weight I'll need, I feel like I have enough.

This is what I'm working on. Adapting it to be a hat.

A crazy lace doily! I love it.

Here is my sample. This isn't quite big enough for a hat. I'll have to add more patterning to the edge. I'm going for a beret type cap. I need something bigger and slouchier to fit all my hair inside.

And the close up shots.