Yarn Crawl

Here's the Missing Pictures from the Last Few Posts...

My posts either tend to be lots of words, no/very few pictures or very few words and lots of pictures. This one is of the latter type. I'm brain dead after two days of talking, listening, socializing and politicking, and now can only muster pictures (which I took this morning in goofy pre-dawn light). I haven't knit a stitch in two whole days. I cannot WAIT to get into the car for our road trip and start knitting again.

First - this arrived on Wednesday and I have not even had a chance to play with it yet. Waaaah. It's still sitting there by the front door.

Isn't she pretty though?

On my way over to my knitting room to take pictures of my projects (loooong overdue) - Satan Kitty a/k/a Gilda is giving me a red-eyed accusing look.

First project - Spicy Fitted Tee. I finished the sleeves and ripped back to fix the front.

Here's the front:

Back:

Close-Up of Back Eyelets - Toya, this detail is for you:

Second Project - Karolyn Vest from Berroco Keltic pamphlet:

Here's the end result:

Here's my progress - I am knitting this in the round instead of flat - can we say mindless knitting? It is 8" of mindless 1x1 ribbing, then switches to stockinette. I'm doing it in the recommended yarn/colors so the bottom is a variegated green; the top is a variegated red/orange. Perfect fall colors!

Project #3 - Chantal

I'm making this in olive green - somehow the picture must not have uploaded to Flickr from my camera, so I'll update you on this after this weekend. This will be good "car wool".

Project #4 - Indigo Ripples Skirt

I don't have too much done on this.

No update on the Silk Slip, as I haven't finalized the fabric selection yet.

Here's some new yarns I picked up:

At the yarn exchange last Sunday, I got this

and this Crystal Palace Silk Tweed:

I also bought these in Barn Red from the Have Ewe Any Wool? open house

and got these in exchange for the rest of that Crystal Palace Iceland I returned from that Loop D Loop project from hell:

Let's see - what else?

Adrienne told me about Zephyr Style's new pattern, Juliet, this morning and I bought it:

I brought some Lamb's Pride Bulky

with me to work today to swatch during a webcast this morning. I could also double some leftover Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece and use that. This might be another one to bring in the car with me. Also, Maryanne and Kasia's Wheat-Ear Cable Yoke KAL starts tomorrow, so I'm bringing that yarn as well. Did I mention that I will be in the car for a total of 14 hours this weekend?

Basically, I have no idea what I'll feel like working on this weekend, so I think I'm bringing everything that's wool. Cotton has not been my friend lately, hence the need for these on both hands

- thanks to Marjorie for pointing these out as I love them. I bought mine on Herrschner's web site (listed as a retailer on Berroco.com) and they are the best.

I'll ask the sage what I should work on - tell me, Oh Wise FatKat...(in a goofy mood today)

Have a great weekend, everyone! I'll be back on Sunday night!

First Clothing Construction Class

I went to my first clothing construction (sewing) class tonight and LOVED IT!! The environment was sooo interesting for this finance and tax girl. First of all, the class is held in the art building, which appears to be really new and is HUGE. There are kilns for firing pottery, sculptures displayed, jewelry making labs, and all kinds of interesting looking students around. Not the MBA crowd for sure.

So when I finally got to my classroom (a few minutes early, but by no means one of the first students there) I was impressed right away. The room was bright and airy with lots of natural sunlight, and different size dressforms around the room. It totally looked like the set of Project Runway! As I had guessed I might be, I was one of the oldest students. Me and the teacher looked about the same age, as well as a few other students. The others were all about 18-20, from my guess. And interestingly dressed! You could tell these were fashion design students. Not too over the top, still well-off suburban teens (yikes) but they definitely ranged from "a stylish edge" to "letting the freak flag fly". Which is kind of freeing in a way. I realized I'd never been in an environment where the freakier your look, the more positively perceived you'd be. I felt very conservative in that environment, which is a weird feeling for me. New brain cells were definitely being used.

The teacher is going to be really good, and I got a very helpful vibe from her. For example, she asked at the beginning of class if anyone had ever sewn before. Surprisingly (as compared to my previous non-credit course at an off-campus location) about 2/3 of the class raised their hands along with me. She then asked if anyone had never touched a machine at all before, and this scared-looking young girl sitting next to me raised her hand timidly. I gave her a reassuring smile. Marjorie is probably laughing at this right now, especially in light of her post today, but I have not really been in too many situations where I'm one of the older people in a room. It was interesting - I felt kind of wise and confident and reassuring all at the same time. Kind of maternal, almost. Very weird for me, as I always say I must have a wire crossed somewhere as I am much more likely to gravitate toward the kitties in a room instead of the kiddies!

Anyway, after going over the syllabus and supplies to buy for next week, the teacher told the people who had sewn before that they were free to go so she could work closely with the small group of people who had never touched a machine. She also said that our projects will be customizable to our level of experience and personal style, which is great. We will actually be using the serger toward the end of the semester, something else I was happy about. Also, she said to feel free to bring our own machines if we like, although I was impressed with the very nice electronic Bernina machines that were in the classroom.

Overall, a great experience even though we didn't do much yet. It really turned around my day as I was not having a good one (no big deal, just one of those days where nothing goes right.)

Yay!

Attn Chicago Area Readers: Knitting Class Announcement

I received this announcement from Fern at the Windy City Knitting Guild and thought I'd pass it along for local Chicago area readers:

Arnhild Hillesland, a native of Norway, specializes in two color knitting and she will be teaching three classes during the weekend of October 19-21, 2007 presented by the Windy City Knitting Guild (WCKG).

Friday night October 19 - Slide Show on Traveling and Knitting in Norway 6:30pm-8:30pm
Class fee: Non-members $20, WCKG members $15

Saturday October 20 - Mittens the Nor-Way 9am-4pm - Make a traditional Norwegian mitten using 5 double point needles.
Class fee: Non-members $80, WCKG members $70

Sunday October 21 - Sweaters the Nor-Way 9am-4pm - Make a mini-cardigan with all the details of an adult sweater working with double point and circular needles and learning her technique for stranding carrying both colors in the left hand.
Class fee: Non-members $80, WCKG members $70

Yarn kits may be purchased in advance of the class or you may bring your own yarn.

This weekend workshop will be held at the Evanston Ecology Center, 2024 McCormick Blvd., Evanston, IL.

For more information including the registration form please visit the WCKG website at http://www.windycityknittingguild.com/arnhild.htm or contact Deirdre Swift at 773-764-6466

Knitting Experience Questionnaire

I saw this on Kristina's blog the other day and thought I'd play along. It reminds me of those "purity questionnaires" (like have you gone to first base? played spin the bottle? kissed another girl? etc.) LOL.

I don't have any pictures to show, so I figured this would be good "blog fodder". Feel free to steal it and play along!

Here's what my formatting means:

Bold = have already tried this
Italicized = Plan to try this
Unemphasized = Have no desire to try this

• Afghan
• I-cord
• Garter stitch
• Knitting with metal wire
• Shawl
• Stockinette stitch
• Socks: top-down (once. Knitty pedicure socks - will only do any kind of sock again if it is non-sock size needles and yarn.)
• Socks: toe-up (only if with normal yarn and needles)
• Knitting with camel yarn (?? No, but I have some quiviut in my stash)
• Mittens: Cuff-up
• Mittens: Tip-down
• Hat
• Knitting with silk
• Moebius band knitting (Not on purpose...)
• Participating in a KAL (um, yeah)
• Sweater
• Drop stitch patterns
• Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
• Slip stitch patterns
• Knitting with banana fiber yarn
• Domino knitting - what is this?
• Twisted stitch patterns
• Knitting with bamboo yarn
• Two end knitting - huh?
• Charity knitting
• Knitting with soy yarn
• Cardigan
• Toy/doll clothing
• Knitting with circular needles (all the time)
• Baby items
• Knitting with your own handspun (no, I have enough crazy hobbies, thankyouverymuch)
• Slippers
• Graffiti knitting – I don’t know what this is, for sure
• Continental knitting
• Designing knitted garments (if using Sweater Wizard to help counts)
• Cable stitch patterns
• Lace patterns
• Publishing a knitting book (maybe?)
• Scarf
• Teaching a child to knit (I’ve taught adults, so I’m going to count this one)
• American/English knitting
• Knitting to make money
• Buttonholes
• Knitting with alpaca
• Fair Isle knitting
• Norwegian knitting - how is that different from Fair Isle?
• Dying with plant colors – again, enough crazy hobbies already – not going there
• Knitting items for a wedding
• Household items
• Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
• Olympic knitting
• Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
• Knitting with dpns
• Holiday-related knitting
• Teaching a male how to knit
• Bobbles
• Knitting for a living
• Knitting with cotton
• Knitting smocking
• Dying yarn
• Steeks (have done so in a workshop but will be incorporating into Mirepoix)
• Knitting art
• Fulling/felting
• Knitting with wool
• Textured knitting
• Kitchener BO
• Purses/bags
• Knitting with beads
• Swatching
• Long Tail CO
• Entrelac
• Knitting and purling backwards
• Machine knitting
• Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegating yarn
• Stuffed toys
• Knitting with cashmere
• Darning
• Jewelry
• Knitting with synthetic yarn
• Writing a pattern
• Gloves
• Intarsia (have done so in a workshop but plan to do it in a project sometime)
• Knitting with linen
• Knitting for preemies
• Tubular CO
• Freeform knitting
• Short rows
• Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
• Pillows
• Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine (Knitty.com)
• Rug
• Knitting on a loom
• Thrummed knitting
• Knitting a gift
• Knitting for pets
• Shrug/bolero/poncho
• Knitting with dog/cat hair (despite loving animals, I can’t say I have a good reaction to this – wet dog smell comes to mind!)
• Hair accessories
• Knitting in public (all the time, usually in bars)

New Toy and Weekend Recap

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I'll start with my biggest news first - last night I was the successful bidder on a nearly-new Husqvarna Viking Platinum 735. Pics to come soon. I am really excited about the one touch buttonholes and Sewing Advisor. Just in time for my new sewing class that starts tomorrow - I should have it for next week's class. I think I am going to keep my metal workhorse machine - the Viking 960 (that I bought on Ebay about four years ago) - as a backup machine as it sews well and really is a nice machine despite being 20+ years old, it just doesn't do things as easily as a new machine will.

I worked on my Indigo Ripples skirt (only on Round 25 - I had to back up a few rounds as I made a mistake), got an answer on the Chantal pattern I started so now I can continue that, started a new project (the Karolyn vest from the Berroco Keltic booklet) and got about six inches done on it in the round, and fixed my mistake a few rounds back on my Cotton Tape Spicy Fitted Tee. I also went to Zora's Yarns and returned the remainder of that Iceland wool that I bought for the Girl's Bolero that didn't turn out too well - exchanged it for some apple green Misti Alpaca worsted - enough for a sweater as I already had two skeins from there of the same dye lot.

Saturday was fun - we did our KIB and added a new knitting friend to our group. Tia is a lot of fun and we hope to see her at future KIBs!

Heather and I also went to the stash swap at Arcadia yesterday afternoon, and although I ended up bringing home my more expensive yarn that I was thinking of trading, I did get 8 skeins of Connemara Endless Summer (Elann) in lilac and 3 skeins of Crystal Palace Silk Tweed in a gray/tan/cream variegated colorway. I just left my acrylic and some novelty yarn there, as well as books I didn't want, so they will likely end up going to charity. The shop owners said they had a list of potential recipients, and the stuff wasn't going to good use sitting in my closet, so it was a win-win situation. I cleaned out my closet and the charity will get the yarns. I also saw one woman there that I hadn't seen since the last Windy City Knitting Guild workshop I attended about a year ago, so it was fun to reconnect with her. Hi Fern! Thanks for reading my blog!

It is going to be a busy week for me. Today I have back to back meetings, tomorrow I have my first sewing class at night (yay!), Wednesday and Thursday I have all day planning meetings. As part of the planning meetings, I have a dinner with everyone (30+ people from our various business locations and here at the corporate office) on Wednesday and have to give a presentation to the group on Thursday. This is the first time I've been included in this meeting, so I am happy about it. Test run for VP is the way I'm looking at it...

On Friday, Jim and I are leaving for Rhinelander in the afternoon (for his mom and dad's 50th anniversary party). A few of our friends, Tim and Steve, may also be coming along as they like it up in the "north woods" and also have known Jim's parents since they were kids, as they all grew up together. They haven't booked their room yet, so I'm not sure if they are going or not, but it will be fun if they do. They are my husband's two closest friends and I like both of them a lot. I also got a new iPod dock thing for my car so we can listen to good music on the way up. I may need to put the earphones on if I decided to listen to audiobooks as I don't see the group wanting to listen to that, but at least I have the option to play the iPod over the radio again. My last one broke - I think it was a faulty design as it had this really thin cord that was pretty fragile and it ended up breaking when I accidentally shut the glove box on it. Anyway, the party is on Saturday and we'll be driving back on Sunday, so we'll be back Sunday evening. I have to think of a gift for them. Ideas??

So, that's my crazy week in a nutshell. I don't expect too much knitting progress to occur.

KIB Reminder

Just a quick reminder that the first KIB (knit in bar) get-together is this Saturday, August 25th from 2-5 pm, at Ballydoyle Irish pub in Downers Grove. Weather permitting, we will be in the outdoor terrace; if we continue to have nasty weather, it will have to be inside. Keeping my fingers crossed for better weather! I'll also be at Arcadia on Sunday for the stash swap. Hope to see you there!

Wordless Wednesday

Got my Yarn, and Road Trip!

I got my Elann order last night - I ordered Den-m-Nit for the Indigo Ripples skirt in the summer Interweave, and Brilla for Go for Baroque, a crochet jacket from Stitchdiva.com (also in the Happy Hooker crochet book.)

I was going to wait to start the skirt, but I needed a new project to tide me over until the Wheat Ear cable raglan KAL starts 9/1. I am going to need to have plenty of car knitting, as Jim and I are driving up to Rhinelander, Wisconsin for a dinner with his parents for their 50th wedding anniversary on September 1st. Jim is the youngest in his family and I'm the oldest, so my parents are quite a bit younger than his. 50 years - it really is mind-boggling!

Another interesting thing is that Jim and I had our first date also on September 1st - in 1995, 38 years later! Jim was 28, I was 23. So young, really, looking back - but I felt like I had already lived so much at that point and didn't feel the way I think of 23 now. If that makes any sense.

So, I started the skirt last night. I finished the eyelet waistband and just finished the first row of the skirt body. I am going to shorten the area between the waist and the hip as this is one of my measurements that are in the petite category - I have to do some math on it, but I'll just be doing the hip increases more often than the pattern indicates. That will shorten the overall skirt by about 2" but that should be ok - then I don't have to worry about trying to modify the lace pattern's increases as I'll just do that section as is. I have to also take into account the shrinkage factor as this yarn shrinks in length. Got all the makings of a trainwreck, right? But nothing ventured, nothing gained. Look at Fifi - I didn't think that was going to work and it ended up being almost my favorite FO!

Anyway, on the road trip, Jim's aunt and uncle, and his cousin and her husband and kids (that I made all the Christmas gifts for) are also coming along. They are all driving together in their minivan, and Jim and I are just taking my car. It takes 6+ hours to get there, and we're driving up on Friday (a week from this Friday) afternoon and coming back on Sunday. I'll work on the skirt on the way up there, and then cast on for the KAL sweater on Saturday, the official start date. I think it's fun when people stick to the start date on KALs, because then everyone at least starts out at the same place!

I'll bring my camera - any ideas about cool yarn shops and/or wool-related adventures on the way from Chicago to there? It is in the north woods of Wisconsin, very far north central Wisconsin.

This Yarn is Cursed! (Or, Another Fugly FO!)

OK, you may remember my misadventures with Waterlily that won me Sarah's Fugly FO prize. Here's a reminder - as if I haven't been humiliated enough.

Now for the next installment in the saga.

Presenting - the One-Shoulder Tunic (from Teva Durham's Loop D Loop):

This looks a *little* better on me than J.Lo, but not much. I'll have to have Jim take pictures. But the bottom line? I think this yarn (Colinette Giotto) is possessed. The bad news? I have two other colorways of it - blue/purple and coppery/orange. Maybe it's just this colorway.

Experimentation

Don't get too excited - not *that* kind of experimentation....

I was invited to participate in a wonderful cause today, Campanula for the Cure, to benefit a Breast Cancer walk in Canada.

I donated my $$ and got my pattern from the organizer. I had the best of intentions. I thought maybe this would be the time I would turn over a new leaf on sock knitting, as the end result in this case is a beautiful pair of lace socks and it is for a good cause and all. I also thought as this pattern is toe-up, I would get an opportunity to try this method of sock construction, which probably would end up working well for me as my feet are wide just across the toes. Delusional.

After wrestling with the provisional cast-on, then messing up the short rows, and fiddling with the size 0s I needed to get gauge (8 stitches to the inch) I am officially DONE with sock knitting. Never again. I don't wear the end result, so I would probably just end up admiring it in a "performance art" sort of way if I did ever finish one or both of the socks.

To give you a window on my state of mind after this experiment, I even found myself googling "I hate knitting socks" after this experiment and I found out that I am in good company. If Eunny Jang can say it, so can I. I HATE KNITTING SOCKS!!

As she also says, I only really wear heels or am barefoot (with my addition of wearing gym shoes for working out or golf shoes for playing golf - and then I only wear short athletic socks.) I also have a theory that knitting socks is probably more fun for people that tend to knit more tightly, also, as they don't have to go down to size 0 needles to get gauge.

Don't get me wrong, this is a beautiful sock pattern, and I am sure that the avid sock knitters (Tiennie?) will do wonderfully with it and produce gorgeous socks that for them will be more than performance art. However, I refuse to assimilate. I tried and I just "can't hang", as Jim would say. So go check out the Campanula for the Cure site and make a donation to get the sock pattern, if you're so inclined. It really is for a good cause.

Back to our regularly scheduled program of sweater and KAL frenzy....