The Good, The Bad, & The Pain

The good-
The sweet and lovely Reese was visiting the Bay Area. She swung by the shop so that we could meet, and she could ogle the yarn of course. You can take it from me, Frank & Reese are just adorable in person as they are on Flickr. Also... Make sure to check out her hand dyed yarn... Gorgeous! I forgot to bring my camera, but Reese didn't. So hopefully, a photo soon to come.

The bad-
Saturday night my friend Kate, her friend Fiona, & myself were heading to get some dinner, and possibly knit later in the evening. Kate was driving, Fiona was in the front seat, I sat behind Kate. We were stopped at a red light, we heard crazy loud screeching, and then "SMACK! SMACK!" Everyone had seat belts one. I didn't realize it first, I was so high on my adrenaline. I got out of the car to see if Kate needed any help. Per the nice police officer's request, I moved Kate's ca into a nearby parking lot. That is when my neck started hurting, then my back.

The Pain-
I was in a c-spine collar, on a board in the ambulance for about an hour before we even left for the hospital. It was a super crappy night. The accident was around six thirty, and I didn't leave the hospital til after ten o'clock. After a dozen uncomfortable x-rays the doctor released me, with a stack of pain killer prescriptions. My neck, and upper back hurt so bad!!!! The worst part of the whole evening was that I had to pee really bad on the way to dinner. Then I was strapped down to a rock hard board, straps weighing on my about to burst bladder. At one point the pain from having to pee far surpassed my neck & back pain. I was crying like a baby. Much to my horror, a nurse wheeled me into a private room to "help" me pee. As humiliating, and horrifying as that experience was, DAMN if I didn't feel so much better from the waist down.

There were no major injuries to anyone involved in the accident, thank heavens. Kate's car had a small smudge on the bumper. The other two vehicles were screwed up pretty badly. Being in the backseat, I sucked up most of the impact. I actually flew forward & whipped back.
Ahhhhh, good times. Now back to my game shows & vicodin.

I am knitting once again

• Yarn-Mmmmmalibrigo, in Dusty Olive
• Needles-US#7/4.5mm
• Pattern-modified lace-up fingerless gloves, from AlterKnits
• Finished-almost there

• Yarn-Manos #'s 36 & 68
• Needles-Us#8/5mm
• Pattern-Directly from AlterKnits
• Finished-Sept 05

I LOVE my fancy lace-up mitts, but the laces make them hard to wear under coats, at work, or anything that requires me to use my hands. I really wanted a pair to wear for everyday use. I guess that I have freakishly small wrists because any glove that try one, store bought or handmade just swims around my wrists, no warmth there. So I played around with the numbers, knit the entire thing in the round. And am super dooper very happy with the results. I may make a few more of these for myself. My hands are always cold, and with all of the injuries to my upper extremities, warmer is always better.
Of course I started a whole new project, rather than finishing up one of the five that I already had going!
And now for the gratuitous yarn shots...
Malibrigo in Lime Blue
No plans, just had to have it!
Blue Sky Cotton, Cumin #605, Graphite #625, Pumpkin #622, Azul #628
It's going to be a baby blankie
Joseph Galler-Peruvian Tweed, in #113
Any ideas? It's 100% superfine alpaca, 600 yards
Louisa Harding-Kimono Angora, #5
No plans yet, it was given to me.
Prism's Kid Slique in Woodlands
This will be a fancy scarf/cravat type thingy. I have deep lust for this yarn, the colors are beyond perfect. I knit the shop sample of this yarn last year.
Plymouth Baby Alpaca #2160
This is going to my secret pal, she has a thing for alpacas.

Secret Pal... the Reveal

Check it out...

As it turns out, my secret pal hand dyes and spins yarns. She is obviously very talented! Now the pressure is on for me create something worthy of all this unique yarn.

After a long and stressful day, a package on the porch was just what I needed. It was a slightly heavy box, ooooh, even more exciting. Five skeins of handspun/dyed yarn, two Cat Bordhi books, a couple of lace cowl patterns, and candy candy candy! This was my first time participating in a secret pal exchange. It has been wonderful, & I look forward to the next round.

My three favorite skeins are pictured individually below. Debra, please feel free to share more accurate descriptions, and fiber contents of each of them here. One of the non pictured skeins is spun very tightly, resulting in a springy corkscrew, I am very curious about this one, what to do with this type of yarn. I am anxious to knit with it.

This one has "locks" of bright green, one of my favorites.

This one reminds me of colorful cocoons, like mini cones of cotton candy.

This one has puffs of hot shiny pink randomly spun into it.

Rosco checks the box to make sure that I didn't forget anything. He is so darn helpful.

The End

Rosco's end that is.

Stay tuned in...Tomorrow I will share photos of what I have been working on the last few days, my first knitting in almost a month. Also... New yarn porn.

How I Learned to Knit...

Beak Knits! has asked her readers to share their "learning to knit" stories. This is a timely topic for me to reflect upon, as my one year knit-iversary is quickly approaching, April first. Last year I decided that I was finally going to learn how to knit. I wasn't sure how to approach it, none of my friends knit. My buff's mom has knit forever, but I didn't want to go there, I guess I was too intimidated to ask a master knottier for help. Of course this was before I knew that anyone who knits LOVES to teach others to knit. And BTW, buff's mom has been one of my biggest fans. She goes on about how perfect my stitches are. Thanks Mary, xoxo.Being a sew-and-sew long before I had that yarn twinkle in my eye, I decided to sign up for a beginning knitting class at my favorite fabric shop. They offer tons of great classes on all kinds of crafty things, the fabric shop has a small but decent selection of yarn. I had never been into a real yarn shop, so I really had nothing to compare it to.

My first scarf
in lion brand woolease
Armed with my supplies list, I chose cascade 220 in a dreamy heathery robins egg blue #9452, and some #7 clovers. On the drive home I kept looking at my new yarn, the class was 2 weeks away, was I really supposed to just stare at it for TWO WEEKS? On the way home I swung by the local book store. I saw "Stitch n' Bitch", and I knew it was for me. I flipped through it, yep, definitely for me. I went home and scoured that book, page by page. Somehow I slept that night, but only to awake at 6 a.m. & attempt to wind that yarn. Using my knees, I eventually managed to wind a pathetic ball of yarn. Then I took it step by step by step, casting on, knit stitch for a dozen rows, then purl a dozen, then bind off. My stitches were super tight at first, and a little wonky. There were unintentional yarnovers, and my bind off was ridiculously tight that the edge was about two inches narrower than the rest of the piece, which wasn't very uniform in width to begin with. I decided that I needed a bit more help, but couldn't wait until the class. I went online. I found lots of great knitting blogs. People were so creative and very generous with their knowledge. I ended up at Knittinghelp.com. I wish that I could remember now which blog I was visiting when I discovered it. So to every blogger who has ever mentioned knittinghelp.com, I eternally thank all of you!

My first hat, first cables, and first attempt at knitting in the round
also lion brand woolease
I spent the next couple of weeks practicing everyday. I was knitting, and it was getting better every hour of each passing day. Fast forward two weeks, I get to class, & after 1/2 an hour, the instructor told me that I really didn't need the class. I had exhausted half of the cascade, ripping it out and re-knitting it a dozen times or more. I decided to practice on something less special to me. So I got a bunch of woolease, went home, and knit, and knit, and then knit some more.Although it was used for all of my first projects, I now use woolease strictly for practicing new stitches/techniques.

My second, or third scarf
lion brand chunky woolease Incidentally, I still have that half ball of cascade 220. It is safely stashed away in the special golden stash hall of fame. I like the idea of treasuring my first ball of yarn.
I have kept all of my first projects, in a storage bin, I look at them once in awhile, makes me giggle. I began working in a yarn shop last September. Depending on how slow or busy it is, we spend a portion of the day answering quick questions ("I cannot remember how to pick up stitches") to lengthier tutorials with newbies ("How come I cast on 20, but after a few rows I have 26?"). I have taught two people to knit, my guy, and my friend Stephanie. They both picked it up in one day, and continue to enjoy it. I have several other folks who have asked me to teach them, and I am looking forward to it.

A Weekend With Leigh Radford

Look, It's Me & Leigh!!

It was a grand weekend. Leigh was at The Shop Saturday and Sunday. Saturday she held a workshop on shibori, followed up by a book signing. That evening the entire staff & Leigh went out to dinner. We dined at an amazing restaurant, Le Cheval. I was lucky to sit next to Leigh, and just soak up the wealth of her creativity. We had so much wonderful food, but my fave by far was the famous broiled green mussels, on the half shell with lemongrass sauce, peanuts, & grilled onions. Lucky for us that most everyone else at the table was either allerigc to shellfish, or just didn't like mussels, the platter wound up between Leigh and myself, my god they were delicious!
Sunday was The Alterknits workshop with Leigh. I urged my friend Nomi to take the class, and she had a blast, read about it on her blog. I was working in the front of the shop, & they were giggling, & laughing throughout the entire class. I was so jealous that I had to work both days, & miss both of the workshops. BUT- Leigh signed both of her books for me, & she was more than happy to honor my uber knitting geek request to have my photo taken with her. Also, I was stunned that she totally remembered me from when I first emailed her back in September about an error in the lace up fingerless gloves pattern. Besides being such a brilliant, & open minded artist, she is truly one of the warmest, nicest people that I have had the privilege of sharing Broiled Green Mussels with.

In other news, slightly Leigh related... I have Been looking for wool/mohair/angora, i.e feltable sweaters at thrift stores since I first started knitting/felting. Then the AlterKnits trunk show came & I loved that blanket way more than I thought I would. I always liked it in the book, great colors, composition, etc. But in person, WOWIE! I was out in San Leandro buying cat food, (I refuse to give money to petco, petsmart, or any of those mega crappy pet stores!) & there is a huge Salvation Army a few blocks from Mike's Feed & Pet. This SA occupies what was once a large grocery store, i.e HUGE. I found a couple of dozen wool blend sweaters, angora, mohair, even one charcoal grey heathered 100% cashmere sweater, all for $ 3.20 a piece. Note: probably won't felt the cashmere, it just feels wrong. Besides, it's in brand new condition & fits Chris. I narrowed my selection down to 12.
After laying them all out, I realized that I won't be using them all together in one blankie. Some of them just don't go together. The oddballs will become purses.

And here is my sassy new haircut. I was so long overdue for a new do. I had forgotten how dang curly my tresses are.

AlterKnits Has Landed!!

Remember me? Yes. I am still around. My arms were acting up for a quite awhile. Then they were on the mend, & feeling better. THEN I slipped off of the folding step stool while hanging up items from the AlterKnits trunk show. Using a long pole with a hook on the end, we hang the garments up almost ceiling high. As the stool collapsed while I was standing on it I began to fall back, so I grabbed the handle of the stool, it kept falling, bending my wrist backwards. Were talking the back of my hand flat to my arm. ummmm, OUCH! Within the hour my wrist and elbow was swollen. So I continue knitting not very much at all. I am "typing" this post via voice activated software. But most importantly... Leigh Radford will be at the shop on Saturday & Sunday. She is teaching two different workshops, one on Shibori, & the other is called AlterKnits workshop. She is also signing books for a period of time. Our Staff will be taking her out to dinner while she is here.
I have about a dozen of the lanterns finished. We strung them in our front window, where more of the AlterKnits show is located. I am going to try to get a couple done per day to add onto the display. I promise a photo once the display is complete. I cannot wait to make a set for my house. I think I want to make a couple of large sized lanterns to fit over standard sized lightbulbs. OOOH, also we have advanced copies of Leigh's new book "One Skein", it's a great book. You can call & order it from our shop

In other news, my dear friend and coworker, Kate shares my constant need to obtain more & more containers that just might be the ultimate organizational system for knitting supplies. She gifted me this cool GREEN fishing tackle box thingy. It has two sides that open.

So I transferred all of my stitch markers into one side. And some of my point protectors, & cable needles into the flipside. Then I have my cool aqua colored travel pill container that I keep in my knitting bag.

The problem is, my stitch counters are too wide/tall to fit. So I left them in the "old" box, the clear one.

Is everyone thoroughly bored hearing all about my obsession with organization? I promise to talk more about the actual knitting, once I am able to actually knit. : )

Some of you have already seen this silly photo of me from my corset fitting. I am a bridesmaid in a wedding. One of my oldest friends, since freshman year of college, who is a hard core Goth chick, wants her bridesmaids to wear custom fitted corsets, in red silk duchess. Not my style, but it's her wedding & I would wear a potato sack if she asked. I will go ahead and answer the question that everyone else has asked. It was shockingly comfortable to wear, even while seated. And it pretty much forces you to have perfect posture. The woman fitting me said "WOW, you have a very compressible body!" wtf does THAT mean?! She went to say that basically I have a good body for corseting. Again, wtf?! I choose to take it as a positive thing.

It turned out that a friend of mine owns this book. She loaned it to me. I read the first few pages of the introduction & I was hooked. I highly reccomend this book. And Yahaira... If you are knitting harem pants for Amy, I want a pair too. he he ; )

I'm Alive

Yes, I know, I haven't posted recently. I have a really good excuse. My hands & arms have been acting up, so there has not been much knitting or computing around the PuNk rAWk household. It has been freakishly cold for the Bay Area this past week. And that certainly hasn't helped anyone's achey muscles & joints. If I didn't think it would totally gross everyone out I would post a post-op photo of my elbow. It was a 7 inch incision. The surgery was a year and a half ago, and I still have no feeling in certain areas around the scar. Though in the areas that I can feel... OUCH! I am not looking forward to the feeling coming back in the remaining numb spots!
I did not make it to Stitches West this past week. I had to work. The lack of funds wouldn't have made it much fun for me anyway. PLEASE... Just allow me to believe that!!
I DO want to include something knitting related in this post. So please enjoy these old photos of yarn porn...

Although at the time of purchase, I had very definite ideas for each and every strand of these yarns, I am pretty sure that none of it has been knit up into anything. It is all safely snuggled up in one of the many many yarn stash receptacles around my house.

Does anyone have this book? Any thoughts or comments? Love it? Hate it? I want to give sweater knitting a go again. I made ONE sweater about a month or two after I first learned to knit. It was beautiful, a 2x2 rib. All of the stitches were even & nice. I had completed the entire thing only to find that it was way too HUGE!! So I vowed that the next time I tackled a sweater it would be top down, & in the round so that I could try it on as I go. All of the patterns that I like are knit in pieces... BLAH! So I want to learn how to either convert flat knit patterns to round, OR just design my own damn sweaters.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

My Guy is THE BEST

He always orders the gourmet-est of gourmet fancy chocolates. We take chocolate very very serious around here! Last V-day & this past Xmas I received chocolate from this amazing company, John & Kira's. I cannot say enough about just how amazing & delicious they are. They work with & support local community organizations and farms. My favorite is the "project mint patch", they purchase fresh mint from an elementary school mint "farm" to use in their chocolates mints, which tastes like mint fresh from your own garden, enrobed in dark chocolate, and nothing like peppermint patty mint. You can actually taste the love & care that goes into their candy. My fave flavor from John & Kira's is the earl grey & orange blossom in dark chocolate. drooooool! Some of the other fab flavors are, lemongrass, start anise, coffee whiskey, pistachio cinnamon, and, lavender honey.

This year my sweet sent me sweets from here. Also very delicious!! Super "exotic" flavors; tahitian caramel, pumpkin pie, vanilla rum, apple, banana, peanut butter & jelly (it's actually chocolate with peanut butter & jelly inside), cookies n' cream,...
The packaging was pretty fancy too. It was like a puzzle getting into it. You really earn a piece of chocolate once you get into the damn thing! hehe Thank you to my true love, my best friend, that tall blonde guy that lives here! Love you!!
And HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all of you out there in blog land!! XOXOX

Socks, sons, & work

I finished the super stripy "first-time-knitting socks-with-sock-weight-yarn" socks. And I must say that although I am learning, and LOVING, the magic loop thang.... I truly do enjoy working on DPN's. I know!!! I must be a freak. It wouldn't be the first time I have been accused of total weirdness. I may just have to work up a pair of socks the old fashioned way once in awhile. Can you see me now, a closet DPN sock knitter, hiding it from all of my knitting buddies? I haven't been working too much on the new fangled two@once-toe-ups. My arms have been acting up a bit, so I have been working on larger gauge projects, and just not knitting as often. For those who don't know, I had some severe RSI problems with my arms, & surgery on one of my elbows. Now and then I get carried away, and push myself too far, and then have to cool off for a bit. I am chomping at the magic loop bit though!

The stripy Socks Stats:

• Yarn: Lion Brand Magic Stripes in #201 (denim stripe)
• Pattern: Ball Band of Yarn
• DPN's: U.S. #'s 2 & 3
• Start: 1/12/06
• Finished: 2/9/06
• Special Notes: switched to smaller needles for the ankles (I have skinny ankles)

This is my friend Jeanette. We met years ago while working for Trader Joe's. We were both managers & had way too much fun. We instantly hit it off!! Jeanette shares my goofy sense of humor. Like a couple of 12 year old boys, we find words like fart, butt, poop, and booger to be hysterical! We share an unhealthy obsession for the same celebrities; Johnny Depp, Crispin Glover, Christopher Walken, Benicio Del Toro, to name a few. And a neverending appetite for crab rangoon. Jeanette is 5 months preggers with a boy. (and yes, like a couple of adolescent boys we made all of the jokes about there being a penis growing inside of her. & sorry ahead of time if that offended anyone). We spent one day last week eating pancakes, shopping at Target, & listing possible names for her son. To my shock and horror I discovered that my boyfriend's first pick for a boys name is Ulysses. IF we have children, I hope they are girls! ; ) My top five boy names for Jeanette's son are Jackson, Cosmo, Nigel... & I forgot the other two.
And now for your viewing pleasure, some photos of my workplace...

The Purple Rain Picture Show

So we went to the Parkway last night & saw Purple Rain. It was a sell out show. We got there an hour early in anticipation of the crowds. The couches were all full, so we sat in super comfy (IKEA) Poang chairs, drank beer, ate pizza, & knit while waiting for the movie to start. The movie was just as FABULOUS as it was 22 years ago. WTF??? Did I just say 22 years ago?!!! Holy Moly! I was in junior high, UGH. So anyway. It was cheesy fabulous! The crowd was cheering, singing along, waving hands in the air, bic lighters in tow, & reciting all of the best lines. I will admit that I was leading the crowd in cat calls, & song. Frank-N-Furter would have been proud! btw, I still get a teeny bit teary eyed when he dedicates Wendy & Lisa's song (Purple Rain) to his dying father. I am a sap. Man oh man, that Apollonia was a tramp.

And there was the knitting.... er, uh, the felting

On the way to the movie, I stopped by Kate's house & felted the long overdue slippers. Here are the before & after photos, & details;

• Pattern: Fiber Trends- felted clogs by Beverly Galeskas, #ac-33x
  
• Yarn: Lambs Pride Worsted double stranded (bronze patina, seafoam, & spruce)
  
• Needle: US #13
  
• Pre-felt: 14" long x 6 1/2" wide
  
• Post-felt: 11 1/4" long x 5" wide

They fit PERFECTLY! They came out nice & super fuzzy, love that 15% mohair!! I was very happy with the color effects! The soles are bronze patina & spruce, the foot is seafoam & spruce, the cuffs are just spruce. These are so fun to make (when you don't get side tracked by new sock knitting techniques), & they are so comfortable. I will be making a couple more pairs for gifts. There are some important people in my life who are in real need of pampering. And some comfortable slippers would be a good start.
At the movie theater I worked on the second red/white/blue/brown stripy sock, possibly the last pair that I will knit via dpn's . I am halfway through the gusset decreases, I should be done with it by Thursday at the latest, today if I have the time. I feel like I have cleaned out my "knitting house" of ufo's. Now I can not only concentrate on my magic loop socks, and habu lanterns, but I can start a couple of new projects with a clear conscience. ahhhhh