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September 09, 2008
One thing I forgot...
...but it merits its own post: Franklin's Guys with Yarn: The 2009 Calender. Needless to say, I must have one. Or two. One for home, one for work.
And to pimp myself just a bit, my fair knitting got a mention in issue 30 of This Week in Ravelry!
Two posts in one day... the world as you know it may be ending.
Posted by Holly at 10:56 AM | Comments (1)
Spinning Sundays
Yeah, I know it's Tuesday, and I'm posting about Sunday, but it's only two days late, for me, I'm being prompt. Shut up. Leave me alone! Now that Labor Day has come and gone, Grinny Possum is open again on Sundays and Ann has made them Spinning Sundays. We had a nice time. Andrea and I showed up with our wheels, Sonya had her knitting, and Ann spun on the Mach 1.
The morning before I went, I'd finished plying my second yarn from some of Creatively Dyed's roving. This time it was 60% merino/20% seasilk/20% milk protien/100% YUM! I don't have a creative name for the roving yet, but wow, it's just delicious. I ended up with about 260 yards/ just under 4 oz. I should have pre drafted better for a finer yarn, but it'll still make squishy warm socks. I don't have a cool name for the colorway at this point, but oh well, it's beautiful.
I spun up over a third of the BFL I dyed and named Brooding. I posted a pic of it a few months ago about 3 posts ago.
I was going to post more pictures of us all spinning and knitting, I need to make the bed and straighten around my apartment before work. I've made myself a deal. If I keep my apartment clean for 3 months (I'm past the 1 month mark! W00T!) then I get to buy a new spinning wheel. I'm going to get the Lendrum Original, double treadle, with carrying bag, fast flyer and very fast flyer (plus a few extra very fast bobbins). I'm looking at about $750.00 for everything I want, but I'll have a bonus coming in around that time. Plus... it'll make me feel better about my upcoming 30th birthday.
Posted by Holly at 09:53 AM | Comments (0)
September 02, 2008
My Ravelympics project was made of WIN and AWESOME!
Much of this story is copy and pasted straight from Ravelry since I can only type it so many times. Some of you will see this in several places.
For the record... this beats my fair ribbons, hands down!
Let's start with the Ravelympics. The point was to start and complete a project during the Olympics. I decided to spin and knit a hat for Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto from Torchwood) and give it to him at Dragon*Con. Before the Ravelympics began, I prepared the spinning batts.
Once the Olympics began, I could start spinning my yarn.
Then I knit the hat.
At the Con, I met up with Susi (AKA Sushi the Great, who's blog I've been reading for a few years. We decide to go to the Torchwood panel on Friday. I get in line early and save a spot for her and her boyfriend. We end up in the second row, and I tell Susi that I have the hat with me. I had also bought two very dark chocolate candy bars for him since I'd read on his website that he loves extremely dark chocolate.
Anyway, Susi tells me I should give it to him during Q and A. I tell her no way, since I hate getting in front of people. She gently prods and tells me everyone will love it. I mull it over. Half way through, it's time for questions. Susi tells me to get up and do it! I take a deep breath, wish to myself I could take a shot of something strong, and I get in the line.
My question was lame. "What was the most fun episode to shoot?" He answers, and I'm only half listening, because I'm FREAKING OUT! So I tell him I had a gift for him. I walk up to the table and hand it to him.
He kind of teases and says "Do I want to open this?" Peeks in. "Anthony? You look for me." (Anthony is Anthony Lewis who played Tommy in an episode. Anthony's brother plays Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter movies.) Then Gareth opens the bag. The first thing he pulls out is the notecard in its envelope
He says he'll read it later. I make a lame attempt to say "I swear it's not dirty pictures or anything." It's not. It's a thank you and washing instructions for the hat. Gareth pulls the hat out.
And he puts it on. He says something during this and I remember "Rock and Roll!" being exclaimed. I don't know why, because I barely remember any or this. I'm convinced now that Gareth wanted me dead and tried to make my fangirl brain explode in front of everyone.
I tell him that I knit the hat out of yarn I'd spun up. His jaw drops. "You SPUN it?" I nod or something. The audience and everyone else at the panel table claps for me. He says something about "It's a good thing everyone likes it!"
Finally, he pulls the last two gifts out of the bag. Two bars of extremely dark chocolate. "Just like I like it" he says. Again, I nearly die.
He then wears the hat for the rest of the panel. And for at least an hour or so on the Walk of Fame. I hear on Sunday morning that he wore it most of the day Saturday, and to the special dinner that James Marsters had for fans.
Posted by Holly at 02:09 PM | Comments (4)