I really am bad at this updating thing, aren't I? At least I can console myself with the knowledge that the reason for my distraction is baby preparation. In that vein, I'm pleased to announce that the nursery is at least one coat of paint closer to being complete. The green is on the walls, and I love it and am rather proud for having mixed it myself. I just need to put a little blue on the trim around the closets, and call it a day. Other than that, the footing is the only thing upstairs that still needs a coat of paint (didn't know the boys were coming to install it, or I would have painted it before it went down) and I can't physically crawl around on my hands and knees to do it right now. So until there's a little baby around to make things a little more difficult, the footing stays three different colors and I've decided to be alright with it. I've also taken apart all the hand-me-down baby stuff to wash it all, so the carrier and co-sleeper have both been cleaned up to my standards. Woot!
As far as the knitting is concerned, the little trousers I was so excited about last post? Frogged less than 24 hours into the project. After an hour or two of plucking slowly along with tiny yarn on tiny needles, I was already at the point where I was having to pep-talk myself over the perceived lack of progress---it just wasn't going anywhere fast, but I was willing to keep at it if only to try and make the super-cute mental image in my head an eventual reality.
That was up until the point where I realized with horror that I'd twisted the stitches. Fits of rage and frustration ensued (after at least two more rounds of "Maybe not! Maybe I just have the stitches squished funny!"), I ripped the whole thing back, and threw that tiny yarn back into the bin. At some point I'll fish it back out and probably try again, almost definitely holding the yarn double so it doesn't seem like such a fruitless endeavor (I like noticeable progress after hours of work, so sue me!) but for now I'm happy with other things...not including the substitute trouser-jumper things I've almost made out of horrible chunky acrylic. Worst. Yarn. Ever.
Between weaving in the ends of the baby moderne blanket (crochet edge worked out fine, and there's only two or three inches towards one corner where it's slightly less wide than the rest as I ran out of blue yarn) I whipped out a ridiculously cute little top-down hat, complete with a Techknitter TKIO boing at the top. Inspired, I also dove into my Ravelry favorites to go through the baby things I'd marked but done nothing with, and busted out a pair of Stay-Put Baby Booties. While the first one took a little bit longer than I'd like to admit, since it took me a while to figure out the best way to pick up from the sole (I was multitasking, damnit), once it was done I was able to fly through the second without even looking at the pattern. Amazing little moon-booties, and I'm not ashamed to say I'm more than tempted to make them in grown-up sizes. I can think of at least two people who might appreciate ridiculous moon shoe slippers, and I really did enjoy whipping those suckers out once the pattern clicked in my head.
Other things are afoot (hah) before that happens, however. The first of many yule stockings is nearing completion, Lauren's to be precise, and I had another one of those intensely gratifying "Aha!" moments when the theory of the Afterthought Heel snapped into focus. We're at the home stretch and I have to say, for my second fair isle project it's looking pretty darn snazzy. I can't wait until Harlan wakes up and I can ask him to figure out how to get the battery out of the camera so I can charge it and take pictures...and then ask him to figure out how to get them up on here.
What else is on the plate at this time...I have a big skein of camo-colored yarn to do a hat for Mom's school roommate that I think is really ugly, but hey. It's not going on my head, right? Elden also picked up some yarn for a pair of fingerless mitts, and I have a couple ideas for cabling to jazz up the charcoal. Boring color palette, but I'm hoping I'll be able to keep it interesting. He likes owls a lot, so I'm probably going to try and work the owl cable into it some how. Maybe do one with owls, the other like a tree-? Try and do the owl IN a tree? It needs more thinking, but there's hope that it won't be the most tedious, boring project ever.
Other than that...after throwing some baby stuff in a bag to take to the hospital, I'm filled yet again with an overwhelming urge to knit up a bunting. We have several of the little sack-shirt things, but they're all pretty light cotton. Good for general use, not so much for going outside in the cold. I might just have to set aside my aversion for man-made fibers and hit the stash for some of the gifted skeins of machine-washable acrylic, because I don't have the money to go find more superwash. It's looking like all other promised projects are going to get shuffled aside--again--while I frantically kick out another baby item. I figure acrylic for what's essentially going to be an outerwear kind of piece isn't too bad...not like a sweater or something where he's going to be in it all the time and be sweltered by it....See me trying to convince myself? It's going to happen regardless, but I still need to talk myself up to it. Another reason for Harlan to get up--my trunk-o-yarn is upstairs and there's no way for me to get at it quietly. Rats.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Pattern notes
I'm going to be starting a pattern from the French Chic Baby Knits book I picked up. As I'm completely broke and don't have a snowball's chance in hell at getting the called-for yarns, I sucked it up and swatched the blue fingering-weight cotton from one of the SalvAl frogged sweaters. Gauge on US3 needles is about 7 sts per inch (I say almost because the 7th stitch just barely ooched up on the one inch mark) which puts me about where I need to be, I think.
Pattern as written calls for the front and back to be worked seperately, but I think that's just leaving myself open for a lot of seaming heartache...so here I go, my first attempt at altering a pattern to do it in the round. I'm not sure what the rules are as far as putting the pattern up here in its entirety so I can keep track of the measurements, so I'm just going to put little bullets where they are in the book and notate the changes that way.
*CO126 (63); finish as written
*K 54 (27) and leave on a spare needle, cast off 18 (9), K to end. Cont. on 54 (27) sts now rem on needle for one leg, finish as written
...Not as much math as I was really worried about, so I think I'll be alright if I put markers where the original counts were so I can keep them all straight and can keep myself going on these tiny needles with tiny yarn.
Repeat with me now: I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...
Pattern as written calls for the front and back to be worked seperately, but I think that's just leaving myself open for a lot of seaming heartache...so here I go, my first attempt at altering a pattern to do it in the round. I'm not sure what the rules are as far as putting the pattern up here in its entirety so I can keep track of the measurements, so I'm just going to put little bullets where they are in the book and notate the changes that way.
*CO126 (63); finish as written
*K 54 (27) and leave on a spare needle, cast off 18 (9), K to end. Cont. on 54 (27) sts now rem on needle for one leg, finish as written
...Not as much math as I was really worried about, so I think I'll be alright if I put markers where the original counts were so I can keep them all straight and can keep myself going on these tiny needles with tiny yarn.
Repeat with me now: I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...
New Old Books
The Husbeast and I have been ransacking the house since we've been here trying to go through all the piles of STUFF so we can get things ready for the baby. There's been a lot of shuffling things around, including a bunch of old books that have been doing nothing but gathering dust for the past 20 years or so. So we started going through them, got the OK from Mum on the ones we wanted to get rid of (so we didn't unknowingly oust some hugely important sentimental tome), and went up to a used bookstore that takes books for store credit.
Can I just take a minute to say....WIN!
I got a copy of Knitted Gifts, which is by the same lady who did Zen and the Art of Knitting. I loved that one, and will hopefully someday have it again (I lent it to a friend in Pittsburgh after teaching her to knit) so I'm excited for this one. It's kind of nice that it's a bunch of little short pieces--very handy for waiting rooms, which I've been seeing a lot of lately.
There's also French Chic Baby Knits, which seemed to transcend hours of Ravelry-induced baby-stuff-overload. It was like, "Here, it's a perfect simple romper just like you've been looking for but never quite nailed down. And a jacket or two, and some different booties and hats as well." Fan-flippin-tastic. The only issues are that A-it is French, so it admits early on that a lot of the yarns used aren't easily accessed outside Europe and B-it's an older book, so even the yarns that are in Ravelry have been discontinued. Ugh. Lots of fingering-weight stuff from the look of it though, so I'm just going to have to suck it up and whip out some gauge swatches. Siiiigh....it'll be worth it though, right?
The last one is A Passion for Color. The first half is on dying techniques using natural dyes, which is really the coolest thing ever and had me all excited in the store. The second half is a total trip...The patterns are HORRIBLE. Like, cartoon jester horrible, complete with poofy sleeves, a gathered waist and cuff with ginormous ruffles....Halloween costume worthy ridiculous stuff with CRAZY amounts of patterns going all over the place. The saving grace for the pattern half of the book is that some of the fair isle charts are pretty neat, so long as you take them individually. Throwing 15 on one garment? Total train wreck...but there were a good lot of them that I think will be awesome by themselves on hats and things.
All in all, very exciting...
As far as actual projects, the Moderne baby blanket is done save weaving in ends, including the crochet border I did since I don't have the book to see how it was actually supposed to be done. I just wish I could find a flipping tapestry needle--it's SO FRUSTRATING being so close to being done (on two projects, mind) and not being able to just wrap it up and finish.
Other than that...the only thing still on the needles right now is the mohair scarf. I want to start something new, but I can't quite decide what it should be. I'm torn between wanting to do baby things (which is sort of limited by what I have in the stash that's washable) and feeling like I should put things together to try and sell. Maybe I should just take already finished things out in the sun for a photo shoot tomorrow, and then let people look at pictures to order things rather than trying to guess at what they'll want. Mum stole my February Lady to take to school a while back, and people keep telling her to bring a portfolio of what I can do so they can order Christmas gifts...hmm....
Can I just take a minute to say....WIN!
I got a copy of Knitted Gifts, which is by the same lady who did Zen and the Art of Knitting. I loved that one, and will hopefully someday have it again (I lent it to a friend in Pittsburgh after teaching her to knit) so I'm excited for this one. It's kind of nice that it's a bunch of little short pieces--very handy for waiting rooms, which I've been seeing a lot of lately.
There's also French Chic Baby Knits, which seemed to transcend hours of Ravelry-induced baby-stuff-overload. It was like, "Here, it's a perfect simple romper just like you've been looking for but never quite nailed down. And a jacket or two, and some different booties and hats as well." Fan-flippin-tastic. The only issues are that A-it is French, so it admits early on that a lot of the yarns used aren't easily accessed outside Europe and B-it's an older book, so even the yarns that are in Ravelry have been discontinued. Ugh. Lots of fingering-weight stuff from the look of it though, so I'm just going to have to suck it up and whip out some gauge swatches. Siiiigh....it'll be worth it though, right?
The last one is A Passion for Color. The first half is on dying techniques using natural dyes, which is really the coolest thing ever and had me all excited in the store. The second half is a total trip...The patterns are HORRIBLE. Like, cartoon jester horrible, complete with poofy sleeves, a gathered waist and cuff with ginormous ruffles....Halloween costume worthy ridiculous stuff with CRAZY amounts of patterns going all over the place. The saving grace for the pattern half of the book is that some of the fair isle charts are pretty neat, so long as you take them individually. Throwing 15 on one garment? Total train wreck...but there were a good lot of them that I think will be awesome by themselves on hats and things.
All in all, very exciting...
As far as actual projects, the Moderne baby blanket is done save weaving in ends, including the crochet border I did since I don't have the book to see how it was actually supposed to be done. I just wish I could find a flipping tapestry needle--it's SO FRUSTRATING being so close to being done (on two projects, mind) and not being able to just wrap it up and finish.
Other than that...the only thing still on the needles right now is the mohair scarf. I want to start something new, but I can't quite decide what it should be. I'm torn between wanting to do baby things (which is sort of limited by what I have in the stash that's washable) and feeling like I should put things together to try and sell. Maybe I should just take already finished things out in the sun for a photo shoot tomorrow, and then let people look at pictures to order things rather than trying to guess at what they'll want. Mum stole my February Lady to take to school a while back, and people keep telling her to bring a portfolio of what I can do so they can order Christmas gifts...hmm....
Monday, October 26, 2009
Catching Up
It's been ages since I've used this blog; I admit that I usually default to the old Myspace blog when the mood strikes. I have, however, come to the conclusion that 99% of the people I know and have on Myspace don't give a hoot about knitting or yarn or any of that other good stuff. So it's all going here so I can get it out of my system.
Many things have been accomplished since we moved back to Virginia. Aside from weaving in the ends of my February Lady (still have no buttons, but it hasn't stopped me from wearing it), I whipped out a top-down raglan from some of the Lamb's Pride bulky we picked up at Autumn Moon Fest. $10 for 8 skeins...it still makes me all tingley to think about it. Yum. Granted, I'm not really thrilled with the look of the sweater, but part of that could be because I'm big and pregnant, so it stretches kind of weird over the belly. I'm not sure if blocking would really do anything, but then I've never properly blocked anything so it might be a good place to start.
I also did my first fair isle while on bedrest for a weekend, using the Endless Rose pattern. It's pretty much fabulous, despite a few little blips in the decreases where the yellow peeked out and shouldn't have. I didn't notice till I was about done, and at that point was still so damn pleased with myself I didn't care. I've definitely been enjoying having wearable knits, though I'm also desperately trying to figure out what I'm going to do for holiday knitting...Sue would definitely appreciate the hat. But I love the hat. But she would too, and I love Sue...Decisions, decisions.
Some of my recycled yarn got turned into another hat, pretty basic ribbed cap but using the decreases from Endless Rose (I really like how it looks). It's a boring cream hat right now. If I could only find my tapestry needle, I'd do a little viney embroidery over it to jazz it up. It's the first thing I made to put up for sale, but I can't really do anything with it till the stupid needle turns up (loose ends all over the place to weave in).
As far as current WIPs, the log cabin blanket I've been working on for the baby is still ongoing. I was considering frogging the project and using the yarn (Merino 5 superwash--it's squishy and delicious and I LOVE it; the fact that I got it on sale for less than five bucks a skein just adds to my affection) for a bunting. Harlan the Husbeast was against it though, apparently he's pretty fond of the blanket as it stands. So I'm leaving it alone...for whatever reason, it's been hard for me to pick up. I should probably get the heck over it though, since there's a chance baby Garrett is going to be here sooner than December and will need that wooly goodness.
The project that's had my attention for the past few days is the mohair lace scarf I'm working on for Becca. I started off with Branching Out, but the Kid Seta is an amazing varigated goldy yellow-orange-russet fuzzball of sunshiney loveliness and the pattern stitches got lost in the color variances. I wrestled through a pattern repeat or three (it helped me realize that patterns with 10 rows to keep track of aren't great for me--I get up and down too much, it's hard to keep track of where I am) before deciding it would be best to gently frog it and find a new pattern. Several chocolate chip cookies and an hour or so on Ravelry later, I decided on the Easy Lace Stole skinnied up to make the scarf. I was a little worried that it'd end up looking too simple and boring, but it does exactly what I wanted it to--show off the yarn. It's pretty much gorgeous, the mohair's got such a nice little halo thing going and the stitch pattern is basic enough not to get lost in the color changes. To say I'm pleased with it would be a bit of an understatement...I really am going to have to get myself some blocking materials before it's finished.
That's about it for wip's, except for poor Harlan's socks which still aren't done. There's approximately one and a half socks at this point, like a year after I started on them. At least I got the half-sock back on the needles and figured out where I left off on the pattern...right? That's a good thing, isn't it? ...I guess I should bump that up my list of priorities after the blanket.
Many things have been accomplished since we moved back to Virginia. Aside from weaving in the ends of my February Lady (still have no buttons, but it hasn't stopped me from wearing it), I whipped out a top-down raglan from some of the Lamb's Pride bulky we picked up at Autumn Moon Fest. $10 for 8 skeins...it still makes me all tingley to think about it. Yum. Granted, I'm not really thrilled with the look of the sweater, but part of that could be because I'm big and pregnant, so it stretches kind of weird over the belly. I'm not sure if blocking would really do anything, but then I've never properly blocked anything so it might be a good place to start.
I also did my first fair isle while on bedrest for a weekend, using the Endless Rose pattern. It's pretty much fabulous, despite a few little blips in the decreases where the yellow peeked out and shouldn't have. I didn't notice till I was about done, and at that point was still so damn pleased with myself I didn't care. I've definitely been enjoying having wearable knits, though I'm also desperately trying to figure out what I'm going to do for holiday knitting...Sue would definitely appreciate the hat. But I love the hat. But she would too, and I love Sue...Decisions, decisions.
Some of my recycled yarn got turned into another hat, pretty basic ribbed cap but using the decreases from Endless Rose (I really like how it looks). It's a boring cream hat right now. If I could only find my tapestry needle, I'd do a little viney embroidery over it to jazz it up. It's the first thing I made to put up for sale, but I can't really do anything with it till the stupid needle turns up (loose ends all over the place to weave in).
As far as current WIPs, the log cabin blanket I've been working on for the baby is still ongoing. I was considering frogging the project and using the yarn (Merino 5 superwash--it's squishy and delicious and I LOVE it; the fact that I got it on sale for less than five bucks a skein just adds to my affection) for a bunting. Harlan the Husbeast was against it though, apparently he's pretty fond of the blanket as it stands. So I'm leaving it alone...for whatever reason, it's been hard for me to pick up. I should probably get the heck over it though, since there's a chance baby Garrett is going to be here sooner than December and will need that wooly goodness.
The project that's had my attention for the past few days is the mohair lace scarf I'm working on for Becca. I started off with Branching Out, but the Kid Seta is an amazing varigated goldy yellow-orange-russet fuzzball of sunshiney loveliness and the pattern stitches got lost in the color variances. I wrestled through a pattern repeat or three (it helped me realize that patterns with 10 rows to keep track of aren't great for me--I get up and down too much, it's hard to keep track of where I am) before deciding it would be best to gently frog it and find a new pattern. Several chocolate chip cookies and an hour or so on Ravelry later, I decided on the Easy Lace Stole skinnied up to make the scarf. I was a little worried that it'd end up looking too simple and boring, but it does exactly what I wanted it to--show off the yarn. It's pretty much gorgeous, the mohair's got such a nice little halo thing going and the stitch pattern is basic enough not to get lost in the color changes. To say I'm pleased with it would be a bit of an understatement...I really am going to have to get myself some blocking materials before it's finished.
That's about it for wip's, except for poor Harlan's socks which still aren't done. There's approximately one and a half socks at this point, like a year after I started on them. At least I got the half-sock back on the needles and figured out where I left off on the pattern...right? That's a good thing, isn't it? ...I guess I should bump that up my list of priorities after the blanket.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Decisions, decisions...
I'm a big fan of knitting at the computer. Husbeast set up a little round table with one computer on either side, so we can peek around and look at each other to make silly comments when necessary. This also leaves a lot of room for balls of yarn, scraps of yarn, and needles in various sizes. It's perfect; I can read my web comics, enjoy my super-geek online RPG, scan Ravelry, anything I want, and still get a few rows in here and there.
The problem is that The Puppeh thinks that any time either of us are sitting down, she belongs in a lap. Normally, this is a fantastic thing, because she really is a phenomenal little lap warmer. We don't have a cat, but she's smaller than most cats I've had anyway, so I figure she counts as a decent substitute.
Thing is? She hates the knitting.
Seriously.
She won't come into my lap if I've got the yarn in my hands. Tonight, I was working on Harlan's socks (the Harlot's Earl Grey pattern, if you must know, and yes I'm doing them two at once on one giant circ) and she just kept going from one side of the chair to the other, whining and whuffing and making all sorts of piteous little Puppy-people noises. It doesn't matter how I held the yarn up and away (because she has managed to get horrifically tangled in it), how I sit to make the lap nice and inviting, how many times I coo, "C'mon up, it's alright! Come ON!"...she simply will not.
She fusses and cries and paces around, but she won't come up until the knitting is down on the table.
I'm having a serious guilt issue here. I love the Puppeh. She's like my baby, complete with all the nasty vomit and potty issues (don't even get me started on the time she threw up inside my sweater...while I was wearing it).
But it's YARN. Really nice pretty yarn that, while splitty, is still making what look to be really pretty first-time-ever grownup socks. The stupid ribbing is taking me forever, because I'm just slow with that yet, but it's SO CLOSE to being done and getting to the good part! Work has been so hectic for the past week and a half I haven't had nearly as much time as usual to knit, and I feel like I just can't give up valuable time with the needles just because Bailey doesn't like sharing me with something else that's soft and fuzzy and nice.
Right now, we're compromising. She's sitting between my back and the back of the chair, keeping my kidneys warm and my hands free. I wrapped her up in the back of the sweater I started frogging a month or two ago and never finished. She seems to like that...like, if she can't successfully keep me from knitting, she can at least benefit from my obsessiveness by snuggling up in the materials.
...I really need to find the camera so I can post pictures. She really is about the cutest thing on the whole damn planet.
The problem is that The Puppeh thinks that any time either of us are sitting down, she belongs in a lap. Normally, this is a fantastic thing, because she really is a phenomenal little lap warmer. We don't have a cat, but she's smaller than most cats I've had anyway, so I figure she counts as a decent substitute.
Thing is? She hates the knitting.
Seriously.
She won't come into my lap if I've got the yarn in my hands. Tonight, I was working on Harlan's socks (the Harlot's Earl Grey pattern, if you must know, and yes I'm doing them two at once on one giant circ) and she just kept going from one side of the chair to the other, whining and whuffing and making all sorts of piteous little Puppy-people noises. It doesn't matter how I held the yarn up and away (because she has managed to get horrifically tangled in it), how I sit to make the lap nice and inviting, how many times I coo, "C'mon up, it's alright! Come ON!"...she simply will not.
She fusses and cries and paces around, but she won't come up until the knitting is down on the table.
I'm having a serious guilt issue here. I love the Puppeh. She's like my baby, complete with all the nasty vomit and potty issues (don't even get me started on the time she threw up inside my sweater...while I was wearing it).
But it's YARN. Really nice pretty yarn that, while splitty, is still making what look to be really pretty first-time-ever grownup socks. The stupid ribbing is taking me forever, because I'm just slow with that yet, but it's SO CLOSE to being done and getting to the good part! Work has been so hectic for the past week and a half I haven't had nearly as much time as usual to knit, and I feel like I just can't give up valuable time with the needles just because Bailey doesn't like sharing me with something else that's soft and fuzzy and nice.
Right now, we're compromising. She's sitting between my back and the back of the chair, keeping my kidneys warm and my hands free. I wrapped her up in the back of the sweater I started frogging a month or two ago and never finished. She seems to like that...like, if she can't successfully keep me from knitting, she can at least benefit from my obsessiveness by snuggling up in the materials.
...I really need to find the camera so I can post pictures. She really is about the cutest thing on the whole damn planet.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Entry, the First
I've been toying with the idea of a strictly knitting blog for a while now, and I say strictly knitting because it's fairly obvious that every twenty-something out there already has a blog set up for ranting about daily grievances. I'm a procrastinator though, and generally full of self-doubt ("Who the heck would read my knitting blog when there's a Yarn Harlot out there?!").
I have to admit it though. Ravelry pushed me over the edge. I'd put it off for such a long time, I think because initially I was put off by having to apply for an invitation and wait (in addition to procrastinating, I'm also fairly impatient)...but I must say. Wow. I was completely blown away by everything on that site--the first day I think I just stared and clicked stupidly for hours, scrolling through things without actually doing anything with it. Amazing.
The best thing to come of it so far (aside from linking up my little sister in Virginia and having her bookmark patterns she likes in my account) has been a trade. Oh yes, all you unenlightened knitty folk out there. I said it. Stash Trade.
To start from the beginning...
I found the Notwoven Fingerless Mitts and began knitting them up for Harlan (teh Husbeast, for future reference) in Wool of the Andes firecracker heather. I'd invented a hat for him in the same, with a strand of AlpacaWare held throughout because he wanted the thing "really, really warm". I also liked how the dark brown quieted the red, because really, he's not a big red person. The hat, complete with ear flaps, turned out well enough for all intents and purposes. I'd like to grab it and frog it just so I could try and get the sizing a little better (not having done a gauge swatch, I have no room to gripe about it being a bit large), but despite the fact that he only wears it when prompted he refuses to let me have at the thing.
But I digress. I began the Notwoven mitts with the same two yarns, plucking happily along and without much concern as far as the status of the stash. I have an inordinate amount of WoTA hanging around, because let's face it, for $3 a skein I'm allowed to hoard and love it. I also wasn't concerned with the alpaca, since there's about a bajillion yards in each of those little skeins--I know, I wind all my balls by hand.
So there I was one day, knitting along while reading something or other, and I hit the end of the red. No problem, I think, and head upstairs to dive into the trunk (cedar-lined baby! Take that, moths!) to dig some more out.
Nada. Stricken, I started flinging old WIPs around, including the horribly failed sweater attempt that's being frogged for the umpteenth time (why don't I just find a damn pattern?).
Nothing.
I was out of the stupid yarn. After berating myself soundly for the better part of an hour while stomping around the house looking around and under every unlikely object I could find (hey, maybe Bailey thought it'd be fun to hide some of Mommy's yarn. Not that she ever has before, but I was desperate), I gave up, and sat down at the computer to brood.
Then the beauty of Ravelry struck. LauraMate, 6 skeins of WoTA in firecracker heather, will trade or sell. Due to lots of hiccups and stumbling blocks on my end, a few of those skeins went to other homes, but for 4 bucks and the cost of an apologetic "You. Are. Awesome!" greeting card to send with the money, I now have two lovely new skeins just waiting to be knit up.
Anyone on Ravelry who's looking to trade, know that Laura is amazingly awesome and totally worth doing bidniz with. I even got a spiffy little yarn card with a scarf pattern on it. ^.^
Joy.
I have to admit it though. Ravelry pushed me over the edge. I'd put it off for such a long time, I think because initially I was put off by having to apply for an invitation and wait (in addition to procrastinating, I'm also fairly impatient)...but I must say. Wow. I was completely blown away by everything on that site--the first day I think I just stared and clicked stupidly for hours, scrolling through things without actually doing anything with it. Amazing.
The best thing to come of it so far (aside from linking up my little sister in Virginia and having her bookmark patterns she likes in my account) has been a trade. Oh yes, all you unenlightened knitty folk out there. I said it. Stash Trade.
To start from the beginning...
I found the Notwoven Fingerless Mitts and began knitting them up for Harlan (teh Husbeast, for future reference) in Wool of the Andes firecracker heather. I'd invented a hat for him in the same, with a strand of AlpacaWare held throughout because he wanted the thing "really, really warm". I also liked how the dark brown quieted the red, because really, he's not a big red person. The hat, complete with ear flaps, turned out well enough for all intents and purposes. I'd like to grab it and frog it just so I could try and get the sizing a little better (not having done a gauge swatch, I have no room to gripe about it being a bit large), but despite the fact that he only wears it when prompted he refuses to let me have at the thing.
But I digress. I began the Notwoven mitts with the same two yarns, plucking happily along and without much concern as far as the status of the stash. I have an inordinate amount of WoTA hanging around, because let's face it, for $3 a skein I'm allowed to hoard and love it. I also wasn't concerned with the alpaca, since there's about a bajillion yards in each of those little skeins--I know, I wind all my balls by hand.
So there I was one day, knitting along while reading something or other, and I hit the end of the red. No problem, I think, and head upstairs to dive into the trunk (cedar-lined baby! Take that, moths!) to dig some more out.
Nada. Stricken, I started flinging old WIPs around, including the horribly failed sweater attempt that's being frogged for the umpteenth time (why don't I just find a damn pattern?).
Nothing.
I was out of the stupid yarn. After berating myself soundly for the better part of an hour while stomping around the house looking around and under every unlikely object I could find (hey, maybe Bailey thought it'd be fun to hide some of Mommy's yarn. Not that she ever has before, but I was desperate), I gave up, and sat down at the computer to brood.
Then the beauty of Ravelry struck. LauraMate, 6 skeins of WoTA in firecracker heather, will trade or sell. Due to lots of hiccups and stumbling blocks on my end, a few of those skeins went to other homes, but for 4 bucks and the cost of an apologetic "You. Are. Awesome!" greeting card to send with the money, I now have two lovely new skeins just waiting to be knit up.
Anyone on Ravelry who's looking to trade, know that Laura is amazingly awesome and totally worth doing bidniz with. I even got a spiffy little yarn card with a scarf pattern on it. ^.^
Joy.
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