May 24, 2008
I know, I know...
So much for me posting my stash from Greencastle! What are you going to do? The damn shawl is still chugging along though barely. I haven't touched it in about a week and a half, but I only have 1 1/2 sides left. As I have a five day weekend, I'm hoping I finish it up, or at least come close. I've been spinning and knitting a lot since my last post though, so I have plenty of pretty pictures to show in a moment.
I've been to two spin-ins on the river and had another bar knitting adventure at Starbase Q since my last update. I really can't say enough times how much I love Ravelry as I've made so many new friends through it. I also got the hook-up on some great patterns through a person on Ravelry. If you are a lace knitter, you've probably heard of Herbert Niebling. He's the godfather of lace knitting. He's been dead for forty years, but people are still crazy about his patterns. Most of them are out of print and only available through old issues of Burda magazine. The most popular pattern, Lyra, is really expensive. I have now obtained a copy of that pattern (and numerous others) though absolutely, 100% legit means * cough, cough *. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Say what you will about copyright, if the pattern is out of print and the holders refuse to republish, then I'm not opposed to obtaining it through sketchy means. The only person losing is the eBay seller. Trust me, I won't lose sleep over this. If you want the link to the patterns, leave a comment and I'll email it to you.
On the stash-y front I have some pretties from Greencastle and some more recent items to show off.
Have I said I love Creatively Dyed? I bought 8 oz. of her merino/seacell and I've spun 4 oz of it.
It spun up to a 3ply fingering weight yarn, approx 18-20 wraps per inch, 350 yards in all.
I also bought 4 oz of merino/bamboo that I haven't spun yet.
From etsy seller YummyYarn, I bought 4 oz of BFL in the colorway Ianto. It's inspired by our favorite character from Torchwood, and it's so pretty, I had to have it. I plan on spinning it up to a sock weight yarn. I'm currently working on a Ianto-inspired sock (and yes, I used proper grammar as it's pronounced Yan-toe).
From etsy seller allspunup, I about this merino/alpaca blend.
I ordered 4 oz of Targhee fiber in the colorway Northern Lights.
I dyed up some BFL myself and came up with this happy accident. It was supposed to be very bright with some dark spots. Whoops. But I LOVE this far more than the roving I'd originally envisioned. I call it 'Brooding.'
I've done quite a bit of knitting at work too. I've now finished three pairs of socks in the past month. Two came from handspun yarn.
The first are my Fancy Vines clog socks. The pattern is my own, and the motif is from Barbara Walker's 3 treasury.
The next are my Green Lake socks. The pattern is from a recent Spin Off. The yarn is a 4 ply cabled superwash merino.
Finally, there are my Fallish socks. These were knit with my merino/silk Head Over Heels kit. I utterly love this socks. The striping made it so interesting to knit up, as I had no idea what was coming next.
Posted by Holly at 11:38 AM | Comments (6)
April 23, 2008
Now where have I been?
Do you ever get that feeling of "Wow, I have so much stuff to post, I don't feel like doing it now?" Then you put it off. THEN more stuff to post about occurs? Yeah, that's what's been happening. It's a vicious cycle.
I've been working the late shift for almost 2 months now, so I haven't been able to knit with the Quills ladies. That's not to say I haven't been knitting though. I've been knitting with Ally (Knittin' Baby) on Wednesdays at Eureka Joe's. We started knitting together after she posted on Ravelry. This past Sunday, I went out and knit with two more Ravelers and a third knitter. I'd met Debbie once at the Rav meet up at Grinny Possum, but just met Sharri for the first time. They are both on the River City Knitters group, but we all came to each others attention from other boards we are all members of.
We ended up knitting at Starbase Q, this really cool gay bar on Main St. Sundays are movie night, so were were able to knit, then watch Juno. There were other wacky antics, but I try to keep my blog fairly inoffensive, so you'll have to ask for the story.
In some knerdy-knitter knews, I'm going to DragonCon this Labor Day weekend. Kirstie goes every year, and I've want to go but haven't. I found the one thing that sold me on it though for this year - my favorite actor on Torchwood, Gareth David-Lloyd is going to be there. I'm going to bled up some fiber, spin it, and knit him a hat. I'm such a nerd.
I went to the Fiber Event in Greencastle with Nicole where we played co-enablers. Then next day, was the alpaca show with Nicole, Sonya, Becka, and Cheryl. Since I'd come in under budget at the Fiber Event, it was justification to buy at the show.
Now to the knitting and fiber-y portion... I'm not going to go into too much detail, because I'm lazy and there's LOTS to post.
First, I'm done with the body of the damn shawl, and I'm on the border! I have one side done so far!
Close up!
I finished the body of the baby sweater and the sleeves. I cut the steeks as well, not I just have to seem everything up and knit the edging and button band.
Some before steeking images...
Now a grainy video of me cutting the front steek...
And the steeks cut.
Okay, that's it for now. I'm going to post some fibery stuff this weekend for you all to see.
Posted by Holly at 04:47 PM | Comments (4)
March 19, 2008
What constitutes productivity?
If you spend an entire weekend watching a two TV shows that you've become hooked to, is that productive? What if you knit the entire time you are watching them? If the latter counts, then I've been insanely productive in spite of my newest obsession. Since last Wednesday, I've spent every waking moment main lining Doctor Who and Torchwood. It's really all the fault of th LSG board on Ravelry. Someone posted the link to THIS VIDEO and it was all over. I've been a big Buffy fan for years, and James Marsters is HOT. Put him in the sexiest fight scene with an even hotter man, and I'm hooked. I've watch all 23 available Torchwood episodes and 18 Doctor Who episodes. In a week.
What does that rant have to do with knitting and productivity? I busted my ass and finished the scarf and hat set (except for weaving in). I'm really happy with it and glad it's over.
I've since started on this cardigan. It's being knit with Knit Picks Palette. If you notice the stripes between the pattern, that is my steek panel. This will be my first real steeked project, so keep your fingers crossed for me.
I'm mainly working on that at work (love the freedom I have on my new schedule). At home, it's back to the damn shawl. In two days, I've completed more than half of the 6th chart repeat. One to go after this, and then I do the outer chart and the border. I'm figuring about another month.
See how much I've progressed since the last pic? What? It looks the same? What do you mean? Oh that's right! IT'S A GIANT BLOB!!!
I've worked this week also on charting out colorwork patterns. One for the fair isle sweater I'm going to spin and knit, the other for my felted project.
So what do you think? Have I been productive despite my TV addiction?
Posted by Holly at 11:02 PM | Comments (3)
March 05, 2008
The World's Worst Blogger Returns!
Remember that last post when I said I wouldn't have long lapses between blog posts again? Yeah, apparently I lied. During Christmas I fell into a knitting slump, mainly because work was so busy and I was really exhausted. Then came January, and I was going to update but my dearest friend was going through a rough spot and she lived with me for three weeks. During that time, she needed me more than my blog did. February? Okay, I don't have an excuse! Aren't you just glad I'm back??
I guess first, what's new in Holly's world? I'm finally getting that promotion at work, I just have to wait until a position opens up to move into it. Until then I'm working the late shift on a dedicated line where I take about 10 calls a day. My goal is to get about 1 - 2 hours of knitting in at the end of my shift. That'll help with my fair projects.
Mom and I were discussing spinning wheels the other day, and I told her once I had three grand in my savings, I was getting a Schact Matchless double treadle. She told me that if I waited until a birthday or Christmas, she'd give money on it. I pointed out that this year is my 30th birthday, and money toward the wheel would be a great gift. She's promised $500, and I'll be asking my family not to buy any gifts, but to give money towards it. I plan on ordering the High speed and Super High Speed whorls and bobbins. It's just such a pretty wheel. I don't want to wait 9 months for it! It truly is a spinster's gift!
I've been knitting a lot the past few weeks. The damn shawl is on hiatus as I really needed a break from it, but it's getting big!
Right now, I'm working on a scarf and hat set from the Raumagarn book Selbustrikk. I'm nearing the half way point on the scarf now. It's knit in the round with the color scheme inversed. The yarn is Knitpicks Palette in Ivy and White.
A week and a half ago, I went to the 2nd annual Grinny Possum Retreat where we ate, drank, spun, knit, and laughed. Especially laughed. I took some pictures, but I'm lazy, so look at Sonya's blog. I notice she did leave out the 'blackmail picture.' If you don't know the story, it's probably better that way. Suffice to say, the incident was so funny, Sonya nearly peed herself. Literally.
I finally finished the sock yarn that had been on my bobbin. I'm so in love with this hank!
Ive also been dying again. This is my latest roving(a 50% wool/25% mohair/25% silk blend). It also wants to be a sock yarn.
So what else is on my plate?
Once I have the scarf and hat done, I'm going to be working a baby sweater (again for the State Fair). It's cute and requires steeks. I'm really excited by it, ever though cutting your knitting seems so masochistic! Once all my fair knitting is done, I intend to knit the infamous Rogue hoodie with this yarn:
I also want to start the Knitting Guild of America's Master Knitter program. Like I said, I'm a masochist. Oh, and start the Princess shawl. At this point, I can never die... there's too much stuff left to knit.
Posted by Holly at 08:48 PM | Comments (5)
December 10, 2007
Back from the dead...
...or so it seems. As Sonya said, I suck. I know it. Granted the wisdom teeth took a lot out of me. Here we are a month and a half later, and I still have some numbness on my right side. In other events, I turned 29 on Saturday. At this point, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around turning 30 in a year. I know, I know, a lot of my friends are over 30 and not dead, but it's kind of a milestone, and I'm not sure I'll have a lot to show for it next year.
Enough of that, and on to knitting. What have I been working on? That damn shawl. It's getting mind numbly boring and I desperately need a break from it. It's pretty though. Too bad it just looks like a blob right now.
I received a great gift from my Secret Swap Pal: wool and silk rolags, stitch markers, a shawl pattern and more!
One of my aunts gave me a Grinny Possum gift certificate, so I've ordered the yarn for my Rogue hoodie. I've had my eye on this pattern for a long time, and I'm going to make it soon! I ordered Cascade 220 in a teal heather. The color number is 2433, but I don't think Cascade's color card on the web does it justice. It's really gorgeous.
So that's all I've been up to. I promise another update soon, but I'm going to bed soon. Work's been very long lately.
Posted by Holly at 09:11 PM | Comments (7)