YARRRRRN!

So I'm pretty shitty at updating these days. This is mostly bcause I've been working on relatively big projects, and don't have that much to share.

Ah, Facebook. I was chatting to Meg one evening after she mentioned in her status that she had purchased Jacquard acid dyes, and we agreed that we needed to have a yarn-dyeing party at her abode! (Her chronicle of the yarn-dyeing expedition is here.) We started with Kool-aid on some old yarn, and came up with this:





The colors here are washed out because of the crazy-bright sunlight. But I promise you, these two colors were dubbed "nuclear waste" because of their AWESOME brightness. Certainly makes you not want to drink kool-aid anymore.

There will be finished projects soon eough. My halloween costume will be partially knitted, and I am waiting on the model for one thing that's been finished... So in the meantime, here is Orangecat by the fire and one of my blueberry muffins.

Noroholic

Hello, my name is Amy, and I'm a noroholic.



The socks I showed you in the previous post were out of kureyon sock. But, I'm a noroholic and could not hold off on casting on for a noro sock swallowtail shawl. Yes, perhaps I have a problem. But I feel like the insane stripey colors are giving me back my knitting mojo which had been lost...

Noro stripe sock

I'm doing a basic toe-up sock in noro sock yarn, and I'm striping by pulling from both ends of the yarn...

And, well, all the pukey colors converged at the bottom of the sock. I'm not sure I'm loving it.

One down...

I got some yarn from Luxe in a swap a while back, and I wasn't really sure what to do with it until I saw Spirogyra in the new knitty.

One down:



...and one to go. It shouldn't be long. This thing went surprisingly fast.

It's cold outside

It's been so cold, that 26 degrees Fahrenheit seems balmy today. The worst temperature I witnessed was -1 Fahrenheit.

Naturally, I've been hard at work on blankets I likely won't finish before spring. First up is a very old WIP, and more garter stitch than I ever thought I could do while remaining calm:



This is out of lion brand Homespun. Love it or hate it, you have to admit that it's amazingly soft. The photo shows four of seven strips sewn up. Strip number five is on the needles. I ran into some problems with the dye lots of the black/white yarn; naturally the same dye lot varied dramatically, but luckily it wasn't anything a trip to Joann for some exchanging action couldn't fix. It was a close call, however.

Next up is my first major crochet undertaking:



A Babette Blanket! Rather than 13 colors of sock yarn, I opted for six worsted colors of Knitpicks Swish Superwash (Black, coast grey, fired brick, bordeaux, dark navy, and jade) which is an awesome yarn! Washable soft wool for cheap... I must say I was pleasantly surprised; I thought it was going to be a little rougher like Wool of the Andes, but it's just not the case. It's a million times softer!

Socks, ornaments

I finished some socks...



They're simple, easy, happy little things. I really just wanted to play with the yarn, Skinny Duets from A Swell Yarn Shop. I can't believe how perfectly the colors worked out. Usually with hand-dyed yarns one can expect some crazy pooling, but that just wasn't the case! Color me happy.



And for some belated Christmas cheer... ornament covers. The furry one went to Jason, and the other two to my mother... Considering I don't have much in the way of a tree to hang them on.

Not much is going on. Still waiting on grades. Still knitting. (I should have some more things to show off soon.) Still playing a lot of Rock Band, which Santa brought me. I RULE at drumming.

Oh, and speaking of video games, you all should check out Sprite Stitch. It proves that 8-bit characters work well in charted form... for knitting, cross-stitch, or otherwise. There are some AWESOME works on there!

The time of pink, part 3

So, the Socks that Rock is still a mess for now... But, as consolation, look what came in the mail today:




Noro. Kureyon. SOCK YARN. OMG. Amazing. That's about all I can say other than yes, it's a single ply of wool and nylon. I have no idea how it'll wear, but gosh is it pretty.

In other news, I finished some pink things...



I know this looks more like an amorphous blob than anything else, but it's an expandable market bag out of Plymouth Fantasy Naturale. It's incredibly expandable, and a couple more of these should be able to support a bunch of groceries at once. I can finally start to cut down on the amount of plastic bags we bring back from Meijer...



Oh, and everyone needs to cover their ornaments with pink fuzzies, right?

Breaktime fun

I really do love my cats, but sometimes I wonder why. Last night I fell asleep on the couch and then groggily went upstairs. I left out my sock knitting in my absent-mindedness. When I woke up this morning, the cats had destroyed another DPN and made a HUGE mess of my ball of Socks that Rock, as you can see. I've already had to cut two sections off, and the mess isn't much better than pictured at the moment. Ugh!



So, I'm planning to make Gloria from Noro Knits soon. I just have to free up the needles that are currently being used to make an expandable shopping bag... soon, soon. I got the yarn at Lavender & Peonies in a town just a bit north of here. I was pretty well blown away by the friendliness of the ladies, as well as the nice sale that was going on!

On top of the new acquisitions, I don't really have to feel one iota of guilt for spending money for two reasons:

1. I sold two of my books back on amazon already, fetching me more than $100


2. Steve got a steady job!

Here's hoping the new job doesn't suck. It's only eight minutes away. I'm a little too proud of him, I think; but it's been so long since he's had a job with a decent company or that wasn't temporary and home-based... Too bad for him, he has to wake up early now!

Ravelry Secret Santa strikes!

How totally awesome. I signed up for a Secret Santa swap on Ravlery, and my package came trough today, full of awesome goodies!



Wrapped up all nice, complete with festive furry yarn acting as a ribbon...



And the goods! Three skeins of Fantasy Naturale cotton in awesome colors, which I think I have plans for already. Plus, a recipe for making those knitted ornament covers! I'd seriously been contemplating how people do that, and now I know, along with having some great fluff to try it out with! (These will be SO perfect on the pink Christmas tree. Seriously.)

Still-secret Santa - you rock my world, and I think you read my mind. :)

Post 100!

Keeping in the "knitting machine" theme...




I think I'm done with hats for now. Until I crank out a few as holiday gifts, that is. I was going to hold off doing this one, but the yarn showed up in the mail on Monday, and I just could not resist casting on. It's Leticia from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in one of the uber-gothic "raven" colorways. It's so sexy. I opened up the package and just swooned at the super-soft thick-and-thin merino in the charcoal, fuchsia, and back. The pattern in the Harlot's Unoriginal Hat.

Bring on the snow. I have a slew of new wool hats just begging to be showed off.

FiberExpo spoils & WIP

My mother sent me these little fishies out of Kureyon to give to the kitten-devils. They're shreds now, but they've definitely been loved the evil kitties! (Thanks, mom - your grandkittens love them.)

More excitingly, I went with Amanda to the Fiber Expo in Ann Arbor. My mom also came to meet up with us! Football Saturdays be damned, we were there bright and early before we were totally awake. There were cute bunnies and lots of yummy wooly yarns and other stuff. There was yarn spun from possum! POSSUM YARN? I didn't get any, but I learned that there are more fiber animals in existence than I realized.



The fiery-colored sock yarn is from Yarn Hollow. The colors are a bit more vivid in real life; their stuff is gorgeous, and definitely worth checking out! The Fortissima Socka is from Parrott's Perch.



I also got delicious stitch markers. I can't remember the seller though.

There were maybe (?) Ravelry meetups during the event, but we didn't attend; we did, however, run into Anna and her daughter. I was recognized by my icon on Ravelry!



This is the progress on Claire's beaded gloves. I made a second Branching Out with Garnstudio alpaca, and with the leftover skein, I decided she needed beaded gloves to match. The pattern is here, but I did alter the cuff to be less annoying... I love how gloves look when they're partially finished, with stitch holders and needles sticking out everywhere. However, I'm just not a huge fan of knitting the fingers. It's so tedious!

September

So...
When did it become September? Oh, nine days ago? Sheesh. Law school has definitely kept me busy, but I've made it a point to allow myself plenty of knitting and video game time every day. It's for the sake of my sanity, you know! Not having to worry about a job actually frees up more time than I used to have, so truly I've been enjoying it. For once in my life, the reading for school doesn't mostly bore me! Cases are kind of exciting, even when the decisions piss me off.

That said, I hit a wall with Mariah. It's a small wall, but annoying nonetheless. Here she is:



Inside-out, basted shut, and sadly waiting a zipper. You see, I seem to be completely unable to measure properly for a zipper. Initially, I figured I'd get one ahead of time, and I measured her front at 16". Did it occur to me that it seemed short? Hell no! I realized how short it would be when I tried on the sweater, and saw that it was far longer than that... I measured while it was on my body at 24" in the second time around. I ran out to Joann right before it closed for a new zipper.

Did you figure out what I did wrong? Yeah, I measured it on my body, a bit stretched out. The true length I need is actually 20", smack in the middle of my two follies. I even went to Meijer late last night to see if they had zippers in their meager sewing section. (They did not.) I was so hellbent on getting Mariah DONE!

Oh well. Today. I'm not sure I can show my face at Joann AGAIN for ANOTHER zipper. I consoled myself by casting on for my next sweater:



It's the Tweed Cardigan from the Winter 04/05 Vogue Knitting. There's not one on Ravelry, nor can I seem to find one on the internet. I mentioned buying the yarn for it a while ago, but here's what it looks like for a refresher:



The colorwork is basically a slip stitch pattern in garter stitch. I could have started this ages ago, had I realized how simple it actually was! Although, I might not have substituted yarn well, as the original is made from a discontinued Lion Brand yarn. Instead, I'm using Lamb's Pride Superwash Bulky (From Alpaca Fleece, who are WONDERFUL!) which pretty much feels like butter.

So, how have you all been?

Michigan Fiber Fest!

For the second year in a row, I've made the trek to Allegan for the Michigan Fiber Festival. This year, with quitting the job and starting law school, I was on a bit of a budget so the haul wasn't as exciting as it potentially could have been. However, this is all either gifts or for a specific project! Good news!



The outside is six skeins of Lamb's Pride Superwash Bulky in Baron Red, meant for a buttony. There are some really gorgeous ones on Ravelry that inspired me, otherwise I'd probably never have looked twice at the pattern. This wouldn't be such a new, exciting thing, EXCEPT that the skeins were only $3.90 apiece rather than $8.00! Twenty-five dollar sweater, hello!

The two skeins of sock yarn are from the same vendor, Ellen's 1/2 Pint Farm. The red/black is for my mother, and is superwash merino. The black/green is for myself, and is an 85/15 merino/nylon mix. Delicious stuff. It may actually become my second pair of Monkeys, unless something cooler comes up.

Not pictured: A set of 5" brittany size 1 DPNs, already hidden from the cats who chewed up my clovers of the same size. They don't seem to like yarn as much as needles. I'm not sure if this is a blessing or a curse.

Ever wonder what $500 of law books looks like?



Wonder no more!

An update!

I have to admit, I'm liking Lansing. This could be because I'm working 15 hours a week and sitting on my butt waiting for classes to start... It's like a vacation. It'll be over soon enough, though. The main stress is Steve's job hunting and money situation. Unstable would best describe it. As I type, he's working on perfecting his portfolio site. This could be pointless if none of the tech jobs in the area want him and he ends up waiting tables at Applebee's or something. Some freelance work would be really nice right now just so he has more to show off... As he's a web designer (and quite talented, not that I'm biased or anything), would any of you lovely knitters like a spruced up blog?

Anyway.

Continuing the Lansing-area yarn crawl, I went to Rae's Yarn Boutique last week because Meg had mentioned it in her blog. Imagine my dismay in finding out that there was a yarn shop like, literally a block south of a shopping center I've started frequenting! And oh, what a cute shop! Steve and I made it there on an evening that they were open later; I assume it was for the knitting group talking Harry Potter on the front couches.

Well, they were sort of talking Harry Potter. When one of the ladies there would start to go into ANY detail about the plot of the last book, another would screech, "Don't ruin it!" It was really amusing. I really wanted to walk up to them and proclaim that ---- kills ---- on page ---. Really, I haven't read any of these books, but my experience with literature has overwhelmingly been that it doesn't matter if you know major plot points in advance. Does Pride and Prejudice lose any of its charm if you pick it up knowing that Elizabeth and Darcy get married? For me, it certainly does not.

Anyway, back to Rae's. Back when I worked at the shop in Ann Arbor, I was always disappointed that the ladies didn't keep a very good selection of sock yarn. (They don't like knitting socks, so their customers shouldn't either!) Not only was Rae's full of luscious sock yarn, but imagine my delight at seeing an entire box of Socks that Rock waiting for homes. There were probably at least a hundred skeins in this one box! I'm lucky I only came home with one skein:



The colorway is Lemongrass. It's springy and happy, perfect for the Sockbug Lava Flow socks it is becoming. The pattern is absolutely mindless, and highlights the little stripes that are forming.

I would have made more progress on those socks if it weren't for this little guy:



He's based on The Anti Craft's Purasuchikku no Tetsujin. I really shouldn't call him a little guy, considering he is no less than two feet tall. He's completely finished, save for some arms and maybe an antenna on top of his head. I wasn't a huge fan of how the original has wrenches for arms. While wrenches are clever, I want to do something different. I haven't come up with anything yet, and am open to suggestions. The antenna may not happen, because I'm thinking of putting a slot in the top of his head for kleenex or maybe an air freshener.



Thank god I have a robot for a tampon holder now, even if he has no arms or antenna sense of direction. While working on the tampon robot, I was thinking about the merits of plastic canvas and the other things I could make with it... Until I finished seaming up the tampon robot and had sore fingers from all the tight spots and tough seams! Ugh. Honestly, I can see why plastic canvas went out in the seventies.

Something happy

Some days, you just need a pick-me-up. I decided to go shopping today, and the photo below shows all of my lovely acquisitions.



I went to Michael's in search of one of those giant balls of Sugar 'n' Cream, but the only color they had left was my grandmother's favorite, tan with pink and blue specks. Yuck. Luckily the normal-sized balls were 4 for $5, so I picked up some nice ones: hot pink, hot green, tan tweed and chocolate brown to go with it. I was crazy-inspired by Dave's dishcloth deluge, and want to get back into the delicious practical knitting.

I didn't stop there, though. I went into Joann with a gift card looking for fall fabric, and was disappointed that summer is still in full swing. Instead I found 5" clover DPNs in sizes 1 and 2... hopefully this will make my sock knitting a little less bulky! I've been looking for these guys everywhere.

Lastly, it was off to GameStop. I was really, really curious about the newest Pokemon installment, and it's been ages since I've bought a DS game. I came home with Pokemon Pearl. Two hours in, and it's really quite amusing. I haven't lost a battle yet!

But, honestly, I HAVE been knitting lately.



I finished one sleeve to Mariah, and have started the second. I actually have to give props to the designer, Jodi, who sent me a nice two-page errata document when I asked about the existence of an errata page. It's supposed to give a better fit through the yoke and shoulders, and make the hood better. I'll hopefully report back to you all when I see how well it actually turns out. So far, on the sleeves, there have only been a few "WTF?" moments where I had to study the instructions. I just attribute it to the pattern having so much going on at once. As far as the yarn goes, I'm just using good old WoolEase. I mean, let's face it, I wear my sweater cardigans a ton, and I'm not about to use yarn that Steve might ruin by accidentally throwing in the washing machine.

A pair of socks has suffered this way. Steve said he would knit me new ones. He doesn't really know how to knit. I told him I would accept a gift of sock yarn instead. I'm thinking I'd really enjoy some Wollmeise, but alas, no ordering anything until we've settled in to our new address!




I really do apologize for the negativity yesterday. It's a stressful time. I'd rather play video games than pack, and I'm 295th on the Ravelry list. I'm not finishing much of anything.

Back to our regularly scheduled fiber content...

...and no, I'm not talking about that kind of regularity.

I was supposed to be participating in Knit From your Stash 2007, but that has largely gone by the wayside. My stash is, if anything, larger than it was at the beginning of the year. Oops. Allow me to show off some of my recent acquisitions.



Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride bulky superwash (that's not a mouthful!) in onyx, white frost, and stonewashed denim. I got it from Alpaca Fleece, who seriously are the sweetest people and have the best prices on all things Brown Sheep.



Apologies for the craptastic picture, but you try and photograph a glossy magazine with a crappy camera. It wouldn't cooperate with or without the flash. The brown sheep is for the sweater pictured above, from the holiday 2005 issue of Vogue Knitting. Hopefully I can get gauge and have enough.



In the future, these will be socks. The speckled Koigu was in my LYS's orphan bin when I was shopping for my SP10 spoilee. The Regia Nation was ordered to make awesome socks for a close friend of mine who just got back from studying in Germany. I'll probably start them soon so that they are definitely done by her birthday. We shall see...

Even though this isn't yarn, I still felt the need to show it off. I purchased that shirt last night. I love threadless.

And finally in non-yarn acquisitions...



1.75 liters of Stoli. It was so much cheaper than buying several smaller bottles. I just felt like sharing because it seems like such an enormous amount of liquor and I felt really foolish carrying it through the grocery store. Consider that the other purchases of the evening were brownie mix and toothpaste. I must have been a funny sight. Party on Friday, anyone?

:'(

R.I.P. Dumars, December 30, 1989 - December 7, 2006

As much as it kills me inside, my baby kitty is no more. She was just so arthritic and stopped bothering with the litterbox and... well... I feel like I've lost more than just a cat because, let's be honest, I wasn't even five when I got her. I begged mom and dad endlessly for a kitty, and my aunt's cat had kittens. I mean, the day I got her mom told me that dad was going off to get me a "surprise" and I remember clearly, standing by the front door, thinking that the "surprise" was a Sesame Street video or something.

Yeah, much better. Dad walked in with a kitten under his shirt. He probably got scratched by the terrified little kitten, but it didn't matter. It was so cool. We debated and debated what to name her. I said "Blackie" being an awesomely original four year-old. I think it was my mom who suggested Dumars, after Joe Dumars, a Pistons player that both my brother and I loved.

She was really perky and social up until the very end. It's just that she decided that grooming and litterbox use were unnecessary, as she was quite arthritic. If she was in a lot of pain, she didn't show it. She just wanted lots of love.

I really hope I can collect myself before I have to leave for work. I knew it was time, but that still doesn't help.



Happy news, Amy, happy news.

Savyminx has to have the coolest taste in color out there. Phosphor or Ultraviolet? Wait, ****, I'm on a yarn diet. The only person I've found who competes is Perchance to Knit who also puts stuff on her blog, always a good read. All the delicious fiber seems to get snatched up quickly, thank goodness, because in that case I'd be buying it all up!

Er, um, yeah. Yarn diet.

And holiday gifts. How am I doing? Uh, badly.

Best secret pal ever!

While I was out shopping for an interview outfit, shoes, and makeup (and therefore singlehandedly holding up the American economy), a package arrived.

Somewhere in Maine, someone loves me. I know, I know, everyone goes on about how they have the best Secret Pal ever. But, seriously, to have a Secret Pal who seems to know me and my favorite types of yarn intimately is just... wow.



A bright pink with bits of subtle purple wool/silk from the Purled Llama. The yarn is called Melena. It has a really nice sheen to it like nobody's business. I'm almost thinking it'd make a good one skein wonder. We'll see. If not, Sexy Scarf #3,000,000. There's not much better than sexy scarves, really.

Also, a skein of Perchance to Knit's Foxtrot! Buaaahhh! If any of you are wondering, this stuff is more gorgeous in person. What sock pattern would do it justice?

And last and totally not least, two skeins of Bernat blacklight. If I don't do a shrug with the Melena, this is totally becoming one. Actually, it should be about right for the Anthropologie Inspired Capelet from Peony Knits. Bulky weight, soft, and washable. As much as natural fibers are nice, I still enjoy being able to wash things with a machine as opposed to by hand. My handwashing piles up and stays in a pile for a while.

Besides, I tested it because of the name. It IS blacklight reactive. Secret Pal, you just rule.

I really need to do homework instead of knit, and if I were to knit, it would have to be on those holiday gifts... I'm finding comfort in knowing that I am graduating from college in exactly a month, and that after that I can knit, sew, and do whatever to my heart's content.

Said job interview is Monday. It's with a large computer company that you all use every day. In fact, they own blogger's servers. I'll give you a hint: It starts with a G, and ends with an "oogle." I really want this job. Hope my interview outfit is as hot as I think it is.

Fiber fest & Finished object

So I had a pretty neat weekend; I went to the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan. New experience, as I've never been to one before.



What have we here?

A massive ball of hot pink and black roving, and a drop spindle. I'm trying to learn, but I seem to be pretty klutzy with the thing. Any tips? I'm new to this spinning thing.

Just in case I hate it, I have backup: two balls of wool from a vendor called Lamb Lane, in hot pink and green (green for my mom). They're 400 yards each, sport-ish weight, and were only $6 each!

Also we have 200 yards of a 50/50 wool/silk blend that feels like butter! I'm picturing a nice lacy scarf ALL FOR ME.

Yeah, I'd say I was actually pretty good and didn't buy all that much.





This is my clapotis, out of my birthday gift yarn, seven balls of Noro Silk Garden #205. I know everyone and their mother has made one, and I felt sort of like a sellout doing one, but I really like how it turned out.