My summer vacation...

best viewed large- just click on the photo

I have a little over three weeks until school starts up again. I have been taking it pretty easy. I slaved over finals (actually got an art blister executing my final for sketching class), and it paid off. Straight "A's" in all classes again. WOO HOO! BTW- I didn't notice until i published this post that the colors of my final project are pretty much the colors of my blog. too funny. I wasn't thinking about that at all. Guess it's obvious where my taste in colors falls.
I have been knitting feverishly since school let out last week. The one item that I actually worked on while in school is the baby blanket fro Niko. The blankie is not yet finished, and I am ashamed to say that once school let out I have completed one other project, and started two others. One of the two new projects is for a birthday that is right around the bend. So there is slightly less guilt there.

The blanket in progress: I spent hours sketching out different schematics and color layouts for a blanket. Being me, one solid color was obviously not an option, and I didn't want to do stripes, that would have been far too easy. A postcard from one of the museum's that we are members to came in the mail. It was a picture of a Frank Lloyd Wright stained glass. And there was my inspiration. I love all things from the Arts and Crafts Movement. There will be a strip of orange running the entire length along the left side, and currently the plan is to pick up stitches and add a seed stitch border in the graphite color. I was working on the upper left section while in the hospital waiting for little man to be born. I was so nervous and distracted that when I went to change from blue to graphite I snipped the yarn to switch while facing the purl side. DUH! But, I loved the ridge and the added color contrast, so I went with it. Oh yes, I will use the three needle bind off to "stitch" the pieces together, it will compliment my oopsie color switch.

Another pair of felted slippers. These are a birthday gift for a friend of mine who lives out of state. I won't say where, just in case that person reads my blog. Although I seriously doubt it. This person loves camo colors and these colors are the closest to camo that I had in my stash, I think it looks pretty camo-ish. I am totally broke and having to limit myself to making projects from my stash. I started late Sunday night, finished one slipper early Monday evening, and am well into the second slipper today. Because of felting logistics I don't know if they will make it to the intended recipient on time. But I am ahead of the game for now at least.

I would love to introduce you to Frank, Bobby, and Molly. Better known as Frank Ochre, Bobby Blue, and Molly (it's like Madonna or Sting) from the Malabrigo family. I have loooong been in love with Frank, seriously in love. I have several skeins purchased long ago. Molly is a heartbreaker. I used her to make a gift for someone last winter, and had some of her leftover. Now it was when I first met Molly and brought her home that I noticed how spectacular her and Frank looked together. It was also at the same time that I thought about Bobby (he came to our shop a long time ago. I admired him them but did not act on my feelings and he was unavailable for many many months), and wished that I was able to bring him home.
Well recently Bobby came back into my life and I was able to introduce him to Frank and Molly. I have completed a project
with the trio, but you will have to wait to see it. It is to be felted and I want to show you the before and after at one time. I have never felted anyone form the Malabrigo family. They are way too soft. I have always thought of it as some kind of sacrilege. But the time came, and I am anxiously awaiting the results.

I have swatched for and about to start the Opera Gloves from "Mac & Me". If you aren't;t familiar with her patterns you should be. The money made from the patterns goes into a college fund for her daughter, Mac. Each pattern has a bio on the back telling us how old Mac was at the time that particular pattern was published, and what she wants to be when she grows up. It varies from waitress to diagnostician to firefighter and so on. There are so many great patterns from this designer. I will be using Koigu in a gorgeous blue grey brownish palette. Yes, it was in my stash. I will be doing these without the fingers. These may or may not wind up as a gift. Not sure yet.

This sack of stash will be transformed into the Rather Huge Carpet bag from Noni patterns. We recently started carrying her patterns at the shop. They are fabulous.

Two More Weeks...

I have finals in two weeks. In the meantime here are some photos of what's been going on. I will spare you photos of me hunched over the computer writing papers and studying.

BEFORE (one of my bestest friends was about to pop) this photo was taken three days before the stork arrived.


and AFTER (she popped) this photo was taken hours after the stork arrived. Niko is his name. 7 lbs, 5oz. super healthy, and dangerously cute!

That mmorning started at 4 a.m. and ended at 1:02 a.m. the next day. it was a long long day. but i got to see him minutes after he came screaming into this world! it's not often that you meet a person for the first time and are already madly in love with them. I creid a lot that day. A LOT!!


Months ago... (the wedding, the corset, etc.) this is not the greatest photo. i haven't yet received any of the professionally snapped ones

Barely Knitting, Always Busy, & Life

I have been super busy with just about everything... And still am super busy. School started. It's great and very time consuming. I will keep this brief. And btw, I miss everyone so much & have been very touched by all of the sweet comments and emails that I receive. I wish that I had more time to post, read all of your blogs, and return emails. I think of you all everyday. xoxox
Knocked out a kittyville hat in one day for a birthday gift. It was well received.
finally finished knitting the "stash bag" from Leigh Radfords' One Skein. Still have not felted it. :( So unlike me, the felting is the exciting part.
...Was a bridesmaid in my oldest friends wedding. I realized that we have known one another for HALF of our lives! jeesh, talk about feeling old.
I really liked my hair that day. I will have more photos of that day eventually. This was the corset wedding. So hot! ; )
Chris threw his back out at the gym. He finally made it onto the couch after four days of laying on the floor. The first four days he had to literally crawl on all floors up and down the stairs. It was heart breaking to see him in that much pain. He was cold, so I bundled him up & fed him almond M&M's.

Missing You....

I have truly missed y'all! I wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who has left encouraging comments, and sent emails with generous offers to come by & help out. Your words have meant the world to me. I have been very well cared for. Get this, my man is a freakin god, and my friends totally ROCK!. On his way to pick up brownies from my fave bakery, he stopped by my shop with a get well card & had all of the gals sign it. And get this, they forced money at him to go and buy flowers for me. I am one lucky punkrawkgurl!
I am okay. My neck & back are still fairly tweaked, but I am knitting, working, going to school, and getting back into the swing o' things.
I haven't had a chance to catch up on everyone's blog yet. I will do my best. School started last week, and it's keeping me pretty busy. I have finished three projects since we last "met". I will have photos and details soon.
xoxo

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 ; )