The Knitters' Farm Aid

Check out Knittymama's blog! She's running a contest and a drive to get donations for Sow the Seeds. The money will go to help the farmers in the midwest who have been devastaded by recent
floods.

If you donate and let her know before Saturday, you'll be entered into the drawing for some really great yarn!

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OFFF report to come soon, plus more FO's!

My swift

I've had a request (hi Deb!) to post the info on my DIY swift.

The original link is no longer working, but a quick Google found the new and improved directions at Crafty Diversions. Great directions, and an affordable way to avoid asking friends and family if they'd mind standing there for an indeterminate period with yarn wrapped around their arms.

I use this swift with a Royal Winder I got with a 40% off coupon from JoAnns.com. I've used them pretty frequently for at least a year, and the winder shows no signs of wear.

When my husband and I first made mine, we skipped the extra holes, just drilling one in each arm to make a 2-yard skein. I do NOT recommend this. After washing or dyeing, especially from cones, the yarn will fluff up, gaining circumference and losing length.

You won't be able to get the skein over the holes you started with. So make sure yours is adjustable.

I'm planning on building a second one in the very near future, so I can re-skein dyed yarns with a lot less mumbling and cursing.

I have some great FO and random pics, but I'm rather annoyed with my camera/software situation and don't have the energy to deal with it all tonight. I know, I keep saying that, but really, I mean it this time.

Until then, a little yarn pr0n to get you by:

No time

for a real post.

Just wanted to thank Maia for my wonderful prize. She made me two luscious spinning batts, Earthy Colors with merino, corriedale, BFL, alpaca and tussah, and Naturals, with merino, BFlL, alpaca, and tussah. I'll try to get photos tomorrow. I'm rushing to finish the SW Merino on my spindle so I can play with these.

I made it to Farmhouse just as the Ravelry gang was getting there. It was nice to put some faces to bloggers. Farmhouse was pretty well picked clean in the sock yarn department, but I picked up a skein of STR lightweight in Turqouise.

I have tons of photos, and links to share, but we're off to the state fair.

Wheeeee!

I won!

Yay! And . . . I get to pick up my prize in person! Maia's going to be in Portland, on the Ravelry* group's Sock Yarn Hop. I am working that day (oops, forgot to mention that exciting little development here, more about it later!) but I get off at 3 so I can meet up with them at their last stop, Farmhouse Knits!




*Getting closer:

Nerd?

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Social Nerd   You're interested in things such as politics, psychology, child care, and peace. I wouldn't go so far as to call you a hippie, but some of you may be tree-huggers. You're the type of people who are interested in bettering the world. You're possible the least nerdy of them all; unless you participate in other activies that paled your nerdiness compared to your involvement in social activities. Whatever the case, we could still use more of you around. ^_^
Drama Nerd
Literature Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Musician
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Anime Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

Bwahaha!

LOLVogue!

(snagged from ESC's blog)

Thrift store score

Check out the great (not so) little bundle I picked up for $7.99!


Unwrapping it was a bit like opening Mary Poppins' Bag!

There were even more things packed in than I thought when I bought it.

Very image heavy post, if you haven't already noticed ;)


15 pairs straights:

14" Sz 1,2,3,4(x2),6,7,10,10.5,11(x2), 19, plus a lone sz 15.

10" sz 3, 6, 9

These are all Boye or Bates.







5 pairs metal double-points, all with their original packaging (and a plastic ruler). These are marked from 29 cents to $1.00.

7" Boye sz 1, Phildar sz 2 (2.75mm), Zephyr 3 and 5
10" Boye sz 8.






Knitting Knobby, by Zephyr
Label says:
"Modern Version of the Old Horse Rein Spool Knitter

"FUN FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY. MAKING HATS, BELTS, BAGS, CHAIRMATS, PLACEMATS, ETC. COMPLETE WITH BASIC INSTRUCTIONS AND PROJECTS

C.J. BATES & SON"






Knitting looms? And an afghan pattern that uses them, from a 1982 issue of Family Circle.


























Some ribbon remnants and loaded bobbins.


























Some rather, um, interesting fashions in these little pamphlets. The one on the right has several sock patterns, and index card notes for argyle socks. The bobbins may be from those, too.

The notes look much like the ones I make while knitting. With lines of hash marks, and numbers jotted in random places, they are obviously meant only for the original knitter to understand.






A knit-check in very good condition, with the original cardboard wrapper.






















A handful of point protectors.












An amazing collection of vintage metal circulars (and one 29" sz 8 Boye with nylon cord):

11" sz 1, 2, 4, 5
24" sz 3
29" sz 2(x2), 3 (x3), 4 (x2), 5.

The cords are a twisted wire cable, similar to some silver jewelry chain. The joins look incredibly smooth. I can't wait to try these out.





Promotional matchbook for a mortician?

Note the old-style phone number and postal code!












Well, how nice, they offered financing.












Hmm, not a matchbook after all. Instead of matches, they're some sort of glue for stopping stocking runs, along with a few colors of very fine thread and a needle.



















Quite a good use of $8, I think.

(sorry about the wonky formatting. I can't seem to get the layout right.)

Books!

Thank to Aija, I went back to the Hurt Book Sale, and picked up Knitting on the Road, as well as Hands on Spinning, for under $10 each. Check out the Amazon page for KotR!!

Not much progress on the knitting or shop updating front, as I'm just getting over a nasty cold, and now we're going through the spare room (which has been Room of Boxes since the move) to get it ready for my MILs visit (Three (3!!!) weeks earlier than she told us in May).

Maybe tonight I'll get some pix edited so I can do a real post.

Time to move the stash. Wish me luck! Back later, unless I get knocked out by falling boxes of yarn.

Pretty yarn to tide you over!

Aha!

Success! No, nothing fiberly. Most of my usual knitting/computer time since the 4th of July has been spent convincing the little yowler under my house that I am generally not going to bite. Just enough food and water to tempt the little bugger. Yesterday, I got within 4 feet and was pretty proud of myself. Tonight I had the stroke of genius to add some playthings to the mix. A little dangling of a bell on a length of yarn convinced it to taste the food straight from the scoop by my leg and - Gotcha!

After a few minutes of unbelievably loud crying, I gave a good ear/head rub, and was rewarded with an equally loud purr.

I think it came from the house behind us, but they really don't seem concerned about it. In fact, they went away for a 3-day weekend. We have 2 cats already, so keeping it would mean 1) convincing He-Who-Tolerates-Cats; 2) making sure it's not going to pass anything icky to the bigguns; 3) making sure said bigguns don't eat it as a tasty after-dinner snack.


I should be able to get back to the knitting now that the subterranean mewling and the insane heat are done. I have some fun news, an FO or two, and some WIPs to share.

For now, I'm off to give one more backrub to the fuzzball and then bed.

Tell CNN we're out here!

Cnn.com's leisure survey includes knitting in the choices, but it's not showing up in the top ten . . .yet!

Vote Here!

Urk - Wish me well!

Had posts planned but no time. Going camping - not prepared, plus I really do not like camping. Ugh, the things we do for the ones we love.

Waaaa!

I missed M's Fifth Grade Recognition ceremony! On Friday, I asked him when it was (the schedule is messed up because they had to add 2.5 days to the end of the year due to the snow days) and he said Tuesday. I had the camera charged, a nice shirt washed for him, and a bag of toys to entertain E during the event. I couldn't find the latest newsletter, so I didn't get to double check. When I went to pick him up yesterday after school, the sign out front said 6/18 1 PM.

Argh! He was all morose walking to the car. I told him I had no idea, and he was shocked. Apparently the school called "all" the parents to remind them, and my name wasn't on the list of people they couldn't reach. I have no idea what happened, as my cell phone shows no missed calls and I have no voice mail.

Poor kid spent all afternoon thinking I just didn't bother to show up. I'm still sad/angry about this. The kids all sang a song, and then they got certificates, a pin, and a carnation. Then they had a classroom auction with the "money" they earned during the year. M bought a book. He had a bidding war with a friend over it. He said it was pretty fun, but he was still sad about me not coming.

He understands now, but that's not something we can get back. The only explanation I can think of is that his contact sheet was taken out when we changed our address, and never put back. Doesn't explain why they didn't cross-check with class lists, but since I've had calls from both his teacher and the office this year, I know they had the right number at one time, and it hasn't changed. I told him to make sure to tell the school that I wasn't called. Maybe they can come up with a better procedure for next year. And it's a reminder to me to double-check what he says. Ten-going-on-eleven may seem big, but he's still a kid prone to distraction.

I'll have to make do with taking lots of pictures of the last day of elementary school (today) instead.

Unpacking my life, upturning my yard

I felt like I was making progress on the unpacking and organizing, until my mom finished moving. I am now in possession of everything she was keeping for me. A lot of it I had totally forgotten about.

There were some great blasts from the past, including a box of favorite childhood books, and some beloved dolls. Unfortunately for them, they were banished to the carport post-haste after I found some fossilized moth cocoons in there. Amazing how many 1970s dolls and stuffed animals had wool stuffing, clothes, felt faces or accessories. I'm sure the moth damage happened long ago, and there are probably no living creatures anywhere in there. However, the Room of Boxes is the future CraftRoom, and contains my stash. Not worth the risk! Sorry lovies, out with you.

My freezer is already packed full with flour, mixes, and other dry goods, as I apparently didn't succeed at abolishing the previous tenants' pantry moth issue. So far, I haven't found any contaminated food, but there are 6-8 in my sticky traps. I'm hoping that the traps are working so well that all of the males are stuck in glue and there can be no breeding in my kitchen.

Also hope they aren't working too well, and attracting all the moths from outside into my kitchen.

So until we find a good deal on a chest freezer, or I find some other way to make sure any moths in the dolls are dead, my husband's going to have to work around that box.

I'm not getting much done lately. We're (well, my role is pretty much limited to moral support and bring of cold beer) putting a foundation under the house this summer. All of the ground around the house will be dug out, the house jacked up, and the foundation poured in stages underneath. It really hit me what we were getting into when J told me he found the perfect length of plywood to use as a bridge to get in the door.

This means any interior, cosmetic, and yard projects have to wait. No point in painting or window treatments before we know what will or won't crack and be replaced. Can't landscape where the Bobcat will be driving.

My response to this has been a serious case of sluggishness. I have barely touched the boxes in the last couple weeks. I'm not feeling particularly motivated by my personal knitting projects, and a new design for the store is giving my serious grief.

I am also facing a bittersweet milestone: my firstborn, my baby big guy, is done with 5th grade on Tuesday. Just 3 days left in elementary school! Wow, time sure flies. Went to the first parent night at the Middle School. What a weird feeling that was! I remember those years so well, and I sure as hell am not ready for my kiddo to go through that huge transition from 6th grade to 8th, from big little kid, to teetering on the edge of adulthood.

Mmmm, lace!

Yarn dieters, look away!

Woodland Woolworks is having another "unfair internet advantage" sale. All lace yarns are 20%, only through Friday, 6/15. They have alpaca, cashmere, Zephyr, cotton, soy silk (including some beautiful hand-dyed colorways), merino, silk, and more.

Harlot sighting!

I was late leaving home, and got to my mom's too late to risk taking a bus. I figured I'd be circling the blocks looking for parking, but right as I turned at Powell's, a car pulled out of the 2nd spot!

It was around 6:30, and the place was getting full. (According to an employee, people started arriving at 4:00!) A very helpful person pointed out empty chairs to those of us that were milling around, so I actually got to sit, unlike the 100 or so that came later and stood behind the chairs, between the stacks, and crammed up against the elevator doors. While Powell's learned their lesson after the last visit, they still seemed unprepared for the barrage of yarn- and needle-wielding fans.


Running out of chairs

The hour flew by, full of chatting, knitting, and admiring all of the hand-knits. There were men, women, teens, and older folks.


Filling up the aisles

In the "small world" department, I was sitting next to Shelly, who lives in another small town near me. And in the autograph line, the woman behind me (OMG, I can't remember her name) who had driven down from Tacoma with her friends, grew up about 10 miles from here.


Astonished Powell's employee introducing . . .


A very blurry Yarn Harlot

Stephanie was hilarious. It was definitely worth the drive and the wait to hear her speak. She talked about the Blue Moon bank fiasco, how to respond when someone says "wow, you have a lot of yarn," and ways to get recognition for knitters.

After the talk, my book-signing luck deserted me. My seat was on the opposite side of the room from the line, and I had to walk upstream through those that were leaving. I think I stood in line for an hour. On the upside, I witnessed the hilarity of the Polaroid incident, and saw Monica PDX of Comments fame (go read her account of the event. Fabulous reportage, there!).

I made cherry-shaped cedar sachets to give Stephanie, and totally flubbed it. I was holding my bag, my socks-in-progress, and my camera in my left hand, and the book and cherries in my right. I handed them to her still in the ziplock, so she couldn't tell what they were. Then I took the bag out of her hand (I hope "snatched" isn't a more accurate word) and held them up. She did say they were very good, and tucked them into The Sock. She signed my book, and I walked away! Yeah, despite that fact that everyone in sight was getting photographs taken, I had a socially inept panic attack and chickened out on asking the women behind me to take a picture. No matter that we had been chatting about a wide variety of subjects for the past 45 minutes, no matter that Stephanie was happily standing and posing with everyone else.

Sigh. Some days I'm 12, I tell ya. Nope, didn't take a picture of the cherries either.

New blog, same as the old blog . . .

As you can see, I haven't quite moved my archives over here, but I'm planning on putting all new blog posts here.

Apologies to Bloglines if you get an update every time I move an old post here.

Fastest Mail in the West!

Not 20 minutes after reading an email from Knittymama telling me that she mailed my package yesterday, the doorbell rang.  I was completely blown away to find that it was my mail carrier with . . .

        This baby traveled 1770 miles, in one day!

                    Mmm, it smells so good.

I feel so pampered now:


                                All the goodies.

                                    Mmmm, coffee.

                        (Check out the name of the blend!)

                        Yum! Chocolates.
The Lake Champlain and the Mini-Snappers are both new to me.

                This stuff is realllly good.


                    Isn't this lovely.
It's a marble (?) trivet/coaster.  It's just the right size for my espresso maker, too.


                    I love these colors.
Lucy Neatby Celestial Blue Faced DK.  Mine, all mine.  Aaaah.
I've been eyeing this yarn for a while. 

I love it all.  Thanks so much, Knittymama!

I can hardly wait to try the coffee in the morning.

Coffee Shops and Mugs

Squeeeeze! That's the sound of this entry just sliding in under the wire for the KCS contest deadline.
I was going to post a pic of a local shop, too, but yesterday's didn't turn out well at all.  So, here goes:

This is Coffee in Motion.  It's key to keeping my sanity on my bi-weekly two-hour* drive taking Boy Wonder to his dad's.



Sorry about the blur on this one.  I haven't quite figured out the low light settings on my camera (it wasn't nearly as dark as it looks, either).



Yep.  It's a drive-up shop, in a double-decker bus.  Actually, I think they have tables and seating upstairs, but I always drive through.  Gotta get my caffeine before I hit the freeway.

A couple of my mugs.

                                    Most often used.
My trusty Nissan Stainless travel mug.  Note the all important rubber grip.  Yeah, I've been known to need that sort of thing.  On the right, a mug from our wedding dishes.  I love these.  They were a big factor in picking the set.  They're just the right thickness at the brim.  A funny note about these: I've seen them on two different TV shows (Judging Amy, final season.  Can't remember the other show, but they were the brown version.).


        Yes, I love them enough to post two pictures.


                                      Espresso cups
I have a set of 4 of these.  My mom and I found these in a coffee shop, about 8 years ago.  I think it was a Coffee People, maybe Seattle's Best (before Starbucks bought them and whored 'em out to McD's, they were a pretty nice chain).  They are great when I'm in the mood for black espresso, or for splitting a little pot.  I used them everyday, until getting the blue ones.  Now I mostly use these on holidays, when my mom's here, or for serving my hot Holiday Nog.

*It's two hours, each way, IF hell freezes over, pigs fly, and I can keep the baby happy for all that time.  He's old enough now to not instantly fall asleep, and too young for most travel entertainment.  Lately it's been taking between 5 and 6 hours, from leaving home, to getting back home.

Superwash Dyeing Adventures

I dyed the superwash merino from Woodland Woolworks last week.
This was quite the adventure. I've dyed superwash wool once before, and learned that the dye strikes faster, and that much more dye is needed, but I had no idea how much more for this roving. I used Kool-Aid, in various reds, using the cold pour method. I unwrapped and recoiled the roving into two twists, about 4 oz each.

Unwrapped and Coiled Soaked and Ready
I covered my kitchen table in newspaper and plastic wrap. I mixed up Black Cherry, Berry Cherry, Orange/Cherry, Berry Blue/Cherry/Neon McCormicks Purple, Strawberry. The food dye cup got a little extra vinegar.
I was going for a progression of reds, from the orange end to the purple. I laid the wet roving out in long zigzags, poured the colors, flipped the whole thing over, and poured more. I was stunned at how fast the color took. Almost immediately, the extra liquid running off was clear, and there were a lot of white spots on the underside when I flipped it. After I was done, I wrapped the roving in two packages, and microwaved it. Two minutes, rest two minutes, repeat twice, until the packages were puffed up a little. I set the packages to cool overnight, and cleaned up (big mistake, I poured out the extra Kool-Aid).


Supplies and cooling roving.
Note the bottle of Baileys. I'm adding this to my list of needed supplies for late night dyeing.

The next morning, I unwrapped and inspected my job. Ack! What I thought were round lengths of roving were actually flat strips with the edges rolled in. Lots of white appeared.


This red, white and blue crap? Not the look I was going for.

Time to overdye. Since I had poured out the dye from the first round, I mixed more. I was running seriously low, and couln't get to the store to get more. So I decided to treat each half a little differently. The first batch I laid out and repeated the cold pour method. The rest of it I dyed in a hybrid immersion/hot pour technique. I mixed some Berry Cherry in a pot of cold water with a little extra red food dye and vinegar, added the roving, and brought it to a simmer. After the dye exhausted, I poured different mixes of Orange, Cherry, and Neon McCormicks, letting each exhaust before pouring the next. Once the water was clear, I turned it off, and let it cool.


In the pot
(ignore the yellow center, that's the lightbulb reflecting)

Dry.

Amazingly, the two batches look remarkably similar. I was getting really stressed out over finding a few more white/pink splotches after all this. Margene's post on Zen-like spinning really came to my rescue. I have decided that I am going to do this for the process, and enjoy learning and developing my skills. Probably a good idea for someone who's spun a grand total of about 200 yards ever.

So much to blog, so little time.

Well, no time that I'm willing to tear away from the actual crafting, that is. Add on the fact that Kid One is sick again, and that I've been tearing my hair out trying to make heads or tails out of web design/publishing, and the blog has suffered.

Presenting (in the face of Kid One's taunting skepticism) . . . The Blue Sweater !

On MeMaw's bed. Artsy Closeup.

I've been spending a lot of time dyeing, too. A couple of experiments with natural dyeing, using alum, cream of tartar, and iron (otherwise known as rusty nails soaked in vinegar) as mordants. I was intrigued by a rosemary dye article , but I didn't get that great, bright, green. Maybe my rosemary was older, different season, different water, who knows? The snip I dyed would be right at home in That Seventies Show. My other experiment went much better, but since it's for a swap, it'll have to wait until the package is received.

On more familiar territory, I dyed up LB Fishermans in several Kool-Aid colors for making fruits and veggies toys.


Lemon-Lime/Arctic Green Apple, Lemonade/Yellow Food Dye, Lime/Grape, Orange, Grape/Neon Purple Food Dye.

On the home front, SNOW! Poor kid was too sick to enjoy it, and Delayed Start school day is no fun when you are too sick to go anyway, but the babe had a great time exploring this new stuff. Last night, he watched out the window, saying "Wow!" in an amazing range of inflections and tones. This morning we bundled up and trudged around the yard, until I had to drag him in kicking and screaming, lest his fingers or nose suffer permanent damage.







I dyed my roving for Twisted Knitters but that gets its own post. Hopefully tomorrow. I'll try to get my mug and coffee shop pics up for Knitters' Coffee Swap, too.