Author Archives: zardra

Searching for knitting satisfaction

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Imagine photos of cute baby items here.  They are currently trapped on my camera while I wait for the battery to recharge.

My knitting has been experiencing some ennui recently.  i have been unable to get a decent pair of socks started, and have cast on and ripped out 2 different patterns.  Maybe it’s the yarn.  I did get my first Mean Girls Sock Yarn club shipment a couple weeks ago and am now contemplating what kinds of socks it wants to be.

I have also been chugging away on my Miss Lambert’s Shetland Pattern for a Shawl from Victorian Lace Today.  I actually started it over a year ago, did about 10 repeats and promptly got bored with it.  But, I am knitting it out of Jade Sapphire Silk/Cashmere 2-ply that is quite nice and will be a treat for me to finish.  The photo here is from it’s sadly 10 repeats done state.  I’ve got about 13 repeats of the center panel to go before I can begin the border.  Unfornately, the way the pattern is written leads me to believe that I may get to the border and put it down again for many months as the instructions seem to be written in gibberish.

Because of this, and because Purlescence Yarns had assorted lace yarns on sale at 25% this last weekend, I came home with a very pretty ball of Mountain Colors Winter Lace in Deep Blue.  I found the solid color reassuring.  I’ve been doing a lot of variegated projects of late (even Miss Lambert up there has some variegation to it).    I’ve settled on the Aeolian shawl from Knitty.com because I wanted something with nupps.  I’m also considering doing the beading on the edging to give it a little glitz.  Just need to decide on the needle size I want to use.  I swatched on size 3 needles last night, but I think it may still be too closed.  I do tend to use size 4 needles for my laceweight projects, so that may just be the way to go.

Making it through another week

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One would think that with such a beautiful wheel and no thesis taking up my time, I’d be getting tons of spinning done (which I should be doing since I have tons of fiber lying around after joining the Spunky Ecelectic Fiber Club).  But after twisting my ankle last month the spinning slacked off.  It got better just in time for me to ingest some mystery item that has left me with a beautiful case of hives for the last couple of weeks.  Benadryl induced stupor is not the ideal spinning frame of mind, sadly.

I have been trying to get some knitting done.  I have a friend who’s baby tried to make an early appearance… 9 weeks early.  She’s now on bed rest and I have been given warning to get the baby gift finished cause the kid may be here sooner rather than later.  I picked up a skein of Dream in Color Classy in Happy Forest, a nice, cheery green because I don’t know if it’s a boy or girl.  I knit up a quick roll-brim hat and a couple of booties to match.

The booties were a lot of fun to knit.  I had picked up Cat Bordhi’s New Pathways book a couple months ago, but had done nothing but flip through it.  Someone at my Saturday knitting group had done a couple of the practice booties from the books and I liked the way they looked.  So, I whipped up a couple of the Sky Arch booties over the last couple of days.  My drugged attention span caused me to miss the instruction to knit 8 rounds after the ribbing, but I think they still look completely cute and should still fit alright even without the added length.  The baby won’t know the difference, and I won’t tell.

Happiness is a new spinning wheel

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I have to admit that while it’s terribly exciting to be done with my thesis and graduated, the best part of finishing was coming home to find this in my living room the day after submitting my thesis to the university  in April.

The husband had gone to Purlescence Yarns while I was out knitting with friends at a cafe and brought it home after paying it off (lay-away rocks).  It had been decided that it would probably be more fun for me to put it together myself.  It’s great to know how all the parts go together in case I have to break her down in the future.  After getting her together, the husband told me he thought her name might be Catherine.  It seems to be sticking.  So, presenting Catherine, my new Schacht-Reeves cherry 30″ double treadle spinning wheel:

She’s so pretty and spins wonderfully. It is an amazing experience to be able to spin laceweight yarn while still treadling at a pedestrian pace.

Getting back on the wagon

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So, I decided that if I was going to get back on the posting wagon, I should try to get back to the posting schedule I had set for myself before the insanity of graduate school dragged me away — Tuesdays and Thursdays, at the very least.

The hard question is where to start.  Things have happened in the last several months, but does anyone care now that they are done and gone.  Doesn’t matter, you’re going to see some of it anyways.  😛

Snow in Ontario

We went to Canada (Eastern Ontario to be precise) in December to visit family and get a chance to actually see Toronto.  The last time we went to Toronto was August 2003.  The few days we had set aside to do things like go to the ROM were a bust when the entire eastern seaboard was blacked out.  Things aren’t open when there’s no power.  We did take a tour of the islands in Lake Ontario cause it was one of the few things running, and it was cooler on the lake. I have a whole set from the visit at http://www.flickr.com/photos/zardra/sets/72157612587406314/.  I took lots of photos at the ROM of dinosaurs and statues.  It was a lot of fun.

It was kind of fun to see snow for the first time in over 10 years.  I thought I was done with cold and snow when we moved out to CA, but being in it I realized it wasn’t as cold as I remembered it being, and I really miss seasons.

In February, there was, of course, Stitches West in Santa Clara. I didn’t sign up for any classes this year, so it was just the market place for me.  I tried to concentrate on things that I can’t usually find in the immediate area and also fibers that I haven’t worked with before.  I got some madder dyed BFL, some plain targhee, and some merino silk laceweight in Chartreuse’s Sister from A Verb for Keeping Warm.  I got some gorgeous baby camel and silk roving from Red Fish Dye Works.  I got a huge thing of dyed BFL from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  Picked up some blue dyed Wensleydale, some blue carded batts, and a skein of sock yarn from Lisa Souza.  Got a small ball of merino, silk and qiviut from Windy Valley Muskox that I think I’ll make into a cowl.  A skein of MadelineTosh sock yarn in Kale from Webs.  And last, but not least, a skein of sock yarn in Opal from Abstract Fiber.  Rather amazed at the amount of fiber I was able to get for my budget this year, all of it wonderfully squooshy.

La’s Boozer was a smash hit.  Got to sit around drinking, knitting, and spinning with La, Didi, Michelle, and Rosemary (and I’m sorry to say several other people who’s name I either didn’t catch or have completley forgotten by now cause I’m horrible with names).

Returning from hiatus

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I have a very good excuse for not posting on the blog since February.  I spent the spring semester writing my thesis… actual writing, not just prep and research.  I got all three needed signatures from my committee and turned it in at the beginning of April.  Then, there was the breathing period of 5 weeks while the university checked it over.  I got it back a couple of weeks ago with a short list of changes that needed to be made but it was otherwise good to go.  So, corrections will be made, three copies will be printed out on fancy, 100% cotton rag paper and submitted for binding.  This makes me officially graduated with my MLIS.  A little hard to believe.

Public Service Announcement

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If you hadn’t been aware, Stitches West 2009 is this weekend.  While I am not taking any classes this year, I do have plans to be out and about Friday and Saturday (Sunday is still up in the air).

Most importantly is La’s Boozer Friday evening.  Sounds like things will be getting started at 6 pm (although the hostess with the mostess is not going to be arriving until 7:30 pm) in the Hyatt Magnolia Room.  Just wondering if anyone out there, who’s planning on being in the area, would like to meet up for food before the drinking starts.

Second most importantly will be the Knitmore Girls meet and greet at the Purlescence Yarns booth Saturday from 2-4 pm.

I’m hoping to be wearing my Ravelry pin (of I can find it) with my Rav name — Zardra — so keep an eye out.  😀

Yarn!

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Purlescence Yarns held a yarn swap on Sunday in keeping with the Knitter’s Review slow stashing idea.

I rummaged through the fiber bins on Saturday and picked out the things that no longer made me happy or that I just really couldn’t see myself ever actually knitting.  This included a whole plastic bin of the stuff that I bought back when I first started knitting over 6 years ago (e.g., Homespun and Wool Ease).  I figured that if someone wanted it they could take it, otherwise, everything left on the swap table at the end of the day was to be donated to charity.  Either way, it’s out of my apartment.  Surprisingly, someone actually took the sweater’s worth of Wool Ease I had brought.

I came back with 2 bags of mostly sock and laceweight yarns.  Now, they will be going through quarantine.  I think I’m going to do it the quick and dirty way and stick everything in a garbage bag with a few moth balls.  There’s too much to stick in the freezer.  Besides, I don’t think The Husband would appreciate opening the freezer door looking for vodka only to find sock yarn.

Getting up and running

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I hope that everyone is having a good start to their new year.  Me?  If you hadn’t noticed completely unable to managing posting in the month of December.  Now that international trips, family visits, holidays, and drunkeness are behind me I hope to get back on the blogging horse.  Many things to share, too, if I can get around to uploading my photos.

Startitis

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I finished my Gretel hat a few days ago and it is currently blocking in the bathroom.  I’m working on a pair of basic socks for The Husband and I’ve got a surprise on the needles for The Loopy Swap Round 3 on Ravelry.  So, why is it that I keep looking at my stashed yarns and thinking of the various things I could cast on?  

I’ll admit that the things I’ve been eyeing are mittens, which would be handy to have for Canada (it’s snowing and cold there, ya know) but I don’t have enough time, and a sweater vest, which slightly confuses me because I’ve never really been a sweater vest wearer.  Both these things are probably on the forethought of my thinking because it’s finally starting to look like winter around here (I actually had to turn on the heat for the first time Sunday).  

The startitis really doesn’t make sense when I haven’t been knitting.   The last few nights, when I would normally sit on the couch watching TV knitting, I’ve not.  It’s sitting right next to me.  Instead of knitting the projects I have going and need to knit, I just plan all sorts of other things I could be working on.  *sigh*

Being Thankful

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I meant to post this sooner, but the cold knocked me on my butt hardcore.

Finances are tough all around, which means that as more people need the help of their local food banks, people donate less. If you are able, please consider donating to a local food bank — if you’re in the US, you can check the Feeding America website for a list of local banks that will be grateful for anything you are able to give.  

Okay, public service announcement over, onto knitting.  I cast on and finished my Gretel hat.  It is quite nice and warm, which will be great for an upcoming trip to Canada.  Now I need to figure out how to block it since it has a tam shape.  The question is whether to block it with a plate in it or not.  

On the sad knitter front, I was forced to go out and buy a couple of sweaters to make up for the great lack of sweaters in my wardrobe and the coming of the voyage into the cold.  Can someone please explain to me why I go to the store and all the women’s sweaters are mostly cotton and acrylic with a little bit of wool and the guys get the 100% merino wool sweaters?  Aren’t women supposed to be the ones that are always cold?  Cotton just doesn’t do it in the warmth department for me and it has the unsightly tendency to grow in length.  It’s a  good thing I knit, cause it’s a pain in the butt to find basic, classic wool sweaters.