2ktog: September 2004 Archives

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September 30, 2004

Interweave Winter

Has everyone seen the project pictures for the IWK Winter 04 issue?
Here are my preliminary reviews:

Favorites:
-Shocking! jacket. Wow, are those poppies? Oh Veronik has done it again. I have never knitted one of her patterns, they always seem a little complex and I've sort of fallen out of love with Salt Peanuts for now. This would be a fun first big colorwork project.

-Fair Isle Sampler Hat. I'm not so sure I like the look of nordic patterns, but this would be a fun first go at fair isle, in insanely bright colors. And who doesn't like to say Mary Jane Mucklestone. She sounds like a character in a kids' book.

-Pulse warmers are kind of cute for a colorwork project, too.

Worth a closer look:
-Flower Hat and Lace Knee Highs - can't really see the lace pattern.
-Cascade Cardigan - interesting.
-Up-town Gaiters - weird shoes in the photo.
-Felted Daypack - oooh, yoohoo, Omar!
-Tilted Jacket - cute. might look similar to my finished Melon Blast.
-Diamond Seed Baby Jacket - my friends need to procreate!

Oh dear
-the plethora of knitted ties
-the fit of most of the sweaters for non-stick figure women

Posted by Betsy at 05:12 AM | Comments (2)

September 27, 2004

Bonus Round: Which Mitten Came First?

Mittens, close up
Originally uploaded by wbmook.

Actually, the closer I look at this, the more obvious it becomes. Trust me, though, the difference continues throughout the work. The second mitten is even a nicer fit. Actually, the fingers are a little on the snug side.

Posted by omar at 11:16 PM | Comments (1)

Mittens!

Mittens!
Originally uploaded by wbmook.

Why yes, I am lazy and taking pictures with my cell phone. Hey, hooking up the cradle, posting, all of that takes so much time!

Posted by omar at 11:12 PM | Comments (1)

Spooky Invader!

Image(35)
Originally uploaded by wbmook.

Can you see the emergin space invader? Hm... I'm not sure I can, either. Trust me, though, in person, you can really tell I'm doing something.

Posted by omar at 11:08 PM | Comments (2)

This is Benjamin

Image(31)
Originally uploaded by wbmook.

I ended up having some problems getting Benjamin to show up against the green ottoman, so I took him into the kitchen and posed him under the stove light.

Posted by omar at 11:05 PM | Comments (2)

The Sudden Genesis of Bobbi Bear

Actually, Benjamin Bear, because the Artful Yarns Dance that I picked out is a green not unlike the hue of a crisp bill. Regardless, though, Benjamin Bear has sprung from my needles in an almost record time. I hit one snag when I tried to do a decrease pattern while watching television, and completely fucked it up. Counting and television don't play nice in my head.

However, the ears are made, and all that he lacks for the time being is an arm and some facial features. As noted, I ended up paring down to tens in order to keep the stitches tight, and Benjamin has turned out more in the 12"-18" range than the two foot range you'd get working with bulky on 17s. Which, really, is fine by me, and much more the size I wanted him to be. A nice little side effect of this, though, is that it only too half the yarn I expected it would. Which is to say someone might be getting a complementary green bear in the mail sometime in the future.

As far as my other projects go, the Broadstreets are done except for the finishing work of sewing up some stitches here and there, and the shell yarn has been picked out to go with the Dale baby wool. However, I'm not so keen to get started on another round of ribbing, so I may hold off on those for a little while.

The space invader scarf turned out to be a little too stretched, so it turns out that my original plan for shadow knitting was actually a bit off. I tore out and have made progress through about half the first invader. However, it seems that udner this new scheme, every block should be in sets of two rows, and there are a few places on the scarf where I use three rows. So we'll see how this turns out. Still, I am not too amazingly happy with the way it looks, except as a prototype, so it, too, may end up in someone else's possession. Aren't I just the most selfish and awful knitter you ever did see?

The sheep is still stalled, waiting on the winding of some fisherman's wool, and work continues, slow and steady on the flappers hat. I've got six or seven rounds left before I make another tube and head into the decreases. Really, though, I shouldn't felt it until the sheep is ready to join it in the felting tub.

Also, on the front of sheep, I made some tweaks to the sheep progress bars, so that they would be easier to use. However, they are still basically unlabelled, unless you're clever, so I am contemplating whether some marquee text cout possibly be somewhere in the realm of tasteful. I wonder if there's a way to control how fast the marquee scrolls.

Ah well, no sheep progress bar instructions yet.

Posted by omar at 10:23 PM | Comments (0)

tricoter treat

This is a busy week for us, but there are some noteworthy items!
I've started another new project, Broadripple socks. I'm making them ankle-length because my mom likes ankle socks, but I will probably make another full length pair, maybe even knee socks at some point. It's a great pattern, and Indiana-born! They will be my first pair of completed socks. I'm using the recommended Cascade Fixation in blues. Does Fixation really shrink a lot in the wash?
My Koigu mittens are done, sort of. I'm going to be redoing the thumb on the second mitten, I think. I sort of regret using the pattern in Weekend Knitting, which has no gusset, just a slit for the thumb where you pick up stitches. Better luck next time.

I see a picture of a completed Bobbi Bear in your future. Along with the feather and fan stole and Broadripples, hopefully.

On the Kyoto front, I need to get my act together as knitalong leader. (And as knitter, but we'll just ignore that) For now, here are two completed Kyotos!
Katie's Kyoto
Allison's Kyoto

We need to update our flock!

Posted by Betsy at 05:04 PM | Comments (2)

September 22, 2004

mini update

We all know most of those sheep should be turned over.
Betsy's actually working on:
-Feather and fan stole from Seredipity in South America yarn
-KFI novelty yarn scarf (new traveling project since the mittens are...
-almost finished! just need to finish that thumb.

Omar's working on:
-Bobbi Bear, obsessively. I can't believe how fast it's going! He's using 10s instead of 17s.

Our 15 minutes of blogging fame are quite over. We are thankful to Chicknits for the traffic, and to anyone who has added us or kept us on their frequent reads lists or blogrolls. Don't worry, we didn't quit our day jobs.

I dreamed about ponchos, ponchos everywhere. Help!

I am endeavoring to organize our knit blog links like Kerstin did so cleverly...Posting my bloglines feeds and then making a list of those that don't have RSS feeds. I really wish everyone had a feed. Read more about RSS feeds here.

Oh wow, the Clipblog feature at Bloglines is also very cool. It would be great to create a compendium of projects to admire.

Posted by Betsy at 03:30 AM | Comments (3)

September 17, 2004

Move over Manos

All the wonderful rumors you have heard about the Serendipity in South America ebay seller are true.
And if you haven't heard them, you need to start listening to rumors.
Today I received three gorgeous skeins of merino in a colorway called Peachtree.

The picture is a bit dark. Really this is a pale olive and a bright, pale peach. It is basically hands down the softest wool I've ever felt.
It is destined for greatness, although I know not what. I have 650 yards. I am thinking some sort of wrap/shawl. I am dubious of ponchos, because of their high trendiness factor. I need to love this yarn forever.
Lately I've had a thing for olive green. There's this yarn, the Dance yarn, and also my new bookbag, which is olive stitched and lined with Barbie pink. I've also recently discovered one of my favorite color combinations, deep dark olive and deep raspberry. MMMmmm. I love olives.

You can see more of the wonderyarn at handpaintedyarn.com

Did I mention this stuff is actually rather affordable? Much moreso than Manos and other handpainted yarns.

Posted by Betsy at 02:22 AM | Comments (7)

September 16, 2004

Sheep Now IE Friendly! With New Options!

So, today, instead of doing work for a couple hours, I made some tweaks in the progress bar sheep, and added the “I need to buy something before I start this” sheep, the “this work is stalled” sheep, and sort of made a “I have all the stuff I need for this, but I haven't started it yet” sheep.

They still don't look exactly the same in Internet Explorer as they do in happier, friendlier browsers, but they are a vast improvement on their previous selves. And really, that's as good as you're going to get.

In other news, I have started the sock decreases at the end of my second mitten. It's actually just a little bit sad how much nicer the second mitten is than the first, but oh well. They're prototypes, remember?

Posted by omar at 01:20 PM | Comments (0)

September 14, 2004

"yARRRn!"

We got some great discounted Artful Yarns Dance in two different shades of green from our fav. place, Fabric Place in Woburn, MA. We also got dirty looks from the manager because I sent Omar out ot the car to get my $5 off coupon as they were closing. I love that you can use the coupon on sale yarn. Woo!
Omar will be using his, 4 skeins of the more teal green, to make the long-coveted Bobbi Bear. A toast from Sgt. Joseph Wiggles!(and the ghost dog who haunts the Isle of Gladom).

Here is my olive yarn. I got five skeins, and I have no idea what to do with it. It's a lovely cotton acrylic blend, very bulky. I'm thinking a bag with a cable, but I haven't yet decided on a bag design because I'd like something with a good solid, well-attached strap.

Returned from her bloody adventure under the futon, Blanca and Colonel Pepper toast our good fortune and our good bargains!
Tomorrow is National Felt Hat Day! Expect a post from my beloved in honor of it.

p.s. un-pirate related: Thanks so much to Lisa for my first RAOK! Mmm, tea!

Posted by Betsy at 11:41 PM | Comments (4)

September 13, 2004

Of sheep and browsers

Addendum for the moment: For a variety of reasons, the funky-funky get-down-on-the-get-down graffiti sheep progress bars use a bit of style technology that doesn't quite work right in Internet Explorer. On the one hand, that's yet another good reason to switch to Mozilla Firefox, but on the other hand, that means there needs to be a bit of work done on them before instructions can be made. But trust me, if you look at it in just about any other browser you can think of, it's funky-funky.

Posted by omar at 10:51 PM | Comments (2)

Brimming With Joy!

I really had intended to go into the other room and take some pictures of the (finally!) successfully completed brim of my Flappers hat, because it's pretty stinking spiffy, but the fire alarm in our building got set off and we made haste for the coffee shop. There's the slightest possibility that our apartment is burning down right now, but I think I heard the lady on the third floor come out and say that it was her oven that set it off. Actually, now that I think about it, I only think she's on three.

Anyway, it's 31 rounds of straight knitting around ninety or so stitches for me, if I'm going to make it to the next tube, so that little item got put aside once more. At least until I'm sitting down with a movie or something and can really just zone out and pay attention to something else.

So to make up for it, I tried doing a few more rounds of the Broad Street shell. Still only about seven in. It's boring knitting, but at least there's less of it to be done before I have a finished object.

Coming soon: Instructions on how to make your very own sheepy progress bars!

Posted by omar at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)

Wanted: dead or alive

I have an idea for a bigger intarsia project for a friend of ours. The problem is that I need some lemon yellow acrylic. Neony would be okay, but not golden or pastel. Probably no more than 50 yards. It is against my principles to spend money on cheap (ANY, really) acrylic when I know so much languishes in stashes around the world. If anyone could oblige, I would be so grateful!
If you can help, leave a comment with your email and I'll send you my address.

Posted by Betsy at 04:15 PM | Comments (2)

check it out

Look at the adorable sheep progress bars that Omar made! I love them, he is going to help me switch mine over tonight. If you roll your mouse over the sheep it tells you what the project is and each sheep is a link.
Unfortunately we didn't make it to the Knit Out because my allergies were/are awful. I am also going to have to skip yoga registration tonight because there's nothing worse than trying to mindfully breathe while you're wheeezing. Maybe I can take it next semester while I'm student teaching, I'm sure I'll need it!
On the knitting front, I've been monogamously devoted to my Kersti mittens. I'm about two inches past the thumb hole. I really want to finish these so I can start Broadripple socks from Knitty for my mom.
(Need the 2 circs). My hand has been hurting a little, particularly the middle finger on my left hand, which always gets sore first.
I have more stash-enhancing yarn pirate photos to post later. :)
I'm happy that my secret palee got her package and likes everything!

Posted by Betsy at 02:42 PM | Comments (0)

September 11, 2004

Secret Guilt!

Woohoo! Goodies from my secret pal arrived yesterday, reminding me that I have been an incredible slouch as far as getting some gifting going on myself! See the goods here, lovingly photographed by my knitting secretary: felted fishies and felted turtles (perfect for scraps), a how to do stuff book, a thingy for guessing how much yarn a project might need, and some limeade lambs pride! (Which almost had me rethinking the yarn for the space invader scarf, until I realized I would need three skeins to complete it, rather than one. So into the stash it goes, destined for greatness.) Thank you secret pal, where ever you are!

Hm. Actually I know where (s)he is because of the return address, but it sounded good.

Posted by omar at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)

spinning fool

I don't have any exciting (or even obligatory) knitting progress pics to post, but I took some photos of some of the spinning I've been doing. Our blog desperately needed some photos.
Here's some baby llama top that I got from ebay when I first started spinning. This is my first skein, which I just unwound because I needed the bobbin, but I am spinning more. I thought originally I would overdye it, but I actually kind of like the color. I might use it to make a lace scarf for my mom.

This is the skein of Brown Sheep superwash I spun at Adrian's a few weeks ago. She graciously lent me the fiber to practice on. It's not the prettiest thing, but it was good practice and I will overdye it berry or purple.

And of course, I had to make some orange yarn. The bottom skein is Cooper Moose Blue Faced Leicester that I ordered already dyed, plied with some unknown wool that came with my spinning wheel which I dyed with Kool Aid. The effect is rather nice, I think. The top skein is a total cheat. I had orange singles left so I plied it with some orange Patons Divine.

Speaking of spinning, I cannot freaking believe how much Classic Elite charges for thick and thin 2-ply. I don't even find the colors that dazzling, like I do for Point 5. $32.00 for not even 200 yards. Usually I don't think that spinning will save me money at all, but sheesh.

That's all from me for now. Well, other than to say that I bought page protectors today and I'm putting all our patterns into a binder (one that I brought back from my parents' that I've had since high school. I just had to work hard to get the Key Club sticker off it).

Posted by Betsy at 02:24 AM | Comments (3)

September 08, 2004

Spiked Again in the Hat Department

I was joyously joining the tube part of my hat this evening when, at the casual suggestion of Betsy, I discovered that it was twisted. I knew it, you see, because I had twisted it to get the right part of the flap in front, but it didn't occur to me that I couldn't untwist it without seriously fucking the whole thing up. So it's back to try number four on the hat tube, and, eloi willing,I might actually get through to the actual hat part of the hat.

To console myself, though, I have done another finger on the Broad Streets, and I've finished an intarsia-style pattern for the space invaders, which I think I will just use as the shadow knitting pattern, or at least as a checklist of what to do every other row. It would be silly to transcribe the information into a less dense format when I can already read the existing one.

I was going to start the scarf tonight, to console myself, but as it turns out, there is only one spare seven anywhere to be found in this apartment. As such, I am left to the computer to document my woes.

And yet, to still not take pictures.

Posted by omar at 10:45 PM | Comments (1)

September 07, 2004

Shadow Knitting Notes

This might not be of use to anyone but me, but for my own personal reference for designing a shadow knit pattern. I'll let you know if they work:

areas of the illusion are defined by knitting reversed stitching. I think this means they're in garter stitch, but without actually doing it, I only know that they're the marked stitches in the alien scarf. The copy of Stitch 'n' Bitch that we have has the rows marked wrong, so it turns out that it's actually intuitive. green rows show up green, black rows show up black. that's good.
the raised rows (marked stitches) are always in the second row of a combination
two rows above a row meant to show up in the illusion, the raised (marked) stitches are every stitch that isn't marked in the row two rows beneath it
the pattern directions will look like they're stretched vertically
As far as I can tell, all this means that you can adapt a two-color intarsia pattern into shadow knitting like this:
give yourself some space where there are rows entirely of marked stitches. the alien pattern has two, and they're in the CC only. the real pattern starts in rows 9-10.
one row with no marked stitches (in the alien scarf, this is row 9)
the next row, each stitch in the CC on your intarsia pattern gets marked as a raised stitch.
one row with no marked stitches
the fourth row (as I said above) mark all the stitches that weren't marked in the second
thus, every row of intarsia translates to four rows of shadow knitting, which accounts for the vertical stretch, as noted above

I think what this means is that I ought to write up an intarsia pattern for each of the three (four) invaders, and then proceed to transcribe them as shadow knitting. I might be able to do it from the get-go in shadow knitting, but that seems like a great excuse for me to fuck up. Alright, I hope maybe those helped. I'll try to revise and clarify them once they are more than theory. On the other hand, it's likely that someone else already has. Still, this will help me get my head around it and get those invaders underway.

Posted by omar at 04:09 PM | Comments (0)

Michaels! Sally Melville: The Purl Stitch

I neglected to mention what I got yesterday at Michaels with my 50% off coupon. Sally Melville's The Purl Stitch! I love Sally Melville, she gives me the warm fuzzies, even if I don't always love her patterns. But I think she is inspirational, even if her "Why Don't More Guys Get This?" meditation was a bit sexist!
I can't believe they had this at Michaels. They also had Weekend Knitting. As he mentioned, I bought the boy some Wool-Ease for his space invaders shadow knit scarf.)
Back to the The Purl Stitch-I love the Vision Coat, if I ever finish my Einstien coat. Wouldn't it be lovely in Patons Divine? (IN ORANGE? hehe).
But my new obsession is the gauntlets. Just two skeins of Koigu KPPPM, and voila! I have never seen shaped arm warmers before, I'm so impressed. Now I just have to finish my Kersti mittens so I can have the double circs free.
I still think a whole sweater in Touch Me! is just a bit much for those of us who aren't independently wealthy. But what a great series this is, I can't wait for the next book. I can't find info on what it's going to be about or when it's coming out, anyone?
And my Secret Pal finally made it. Welcome!

Posted by Betsy at 01:17 PM | Comments (4)

Fiber RAOK only 11 spots left!

Last week I joined Fiber Random Acts of Kindness. This ia sort of nonsecret, random pal program run by the same woman who is doing SPIII. There is a webring and a yahoo group. Many are using it for destashing, sometimes emails come to the group and give away yarn to the first responder, other times people are just randomly gifted. I plan to send out a RAOK today, as well as something for my SPIII "giftee." But anyway, the group is going to be limited to 100 people, so if you're interested, sign up now.

Posted by Betsy at 08:57 AM | Comments (0)

September 06, 2004

Secret Addendum

Oooh. My secret pal has returned from her long weekend and-- surprise! She took the shock well, all things considered. The side effect of this is the retasking of several Hello Kitty items. All things considered, I've always found Keroppi and Sweet... uh... you know, the bee... they're pretty damned cute, but it's true that HK has never found her place in my heart. Except when a friend of mine told me that she was becoming a popular symbol for the Triads or Yakuza or something because she had no mouth, and that symbolized secrecy and solidarity. However, said friend is prone to passing wild conjectures off as truth, so the glow on that factoid faded quickly.

Anyway, uh, yeah. Hello secret pal!

Posted by omar at 09:22 PM | Comments (0)

Mittens Up, Hats Down

As promised, once I got past that blasted ribbing, I was able to fly into gear on the second Broad Street, and I'm now on a pause right before I start in on the ring finger. The flapper hat has actually not been doing too badly, but has still suffered some setbacks. On the plus side, I did end up making the tube along the top, and-- wow. That was a neat little trick. On the down side, I started the tube across the bottom without paying enough attention to the directions, and now I'm going to have to frog it and begin anew. This does mean, though that I pulled out my PCO around the bottom (which was a knit PCO instead of a crochet one, as the battern called for-- because, well, I don't know how to crochet). It took a snip of the scissors to get it started, but it progressed fairly easily and without incident. I did end up cutting the strands a few times as I pulled them out, just to keep them at a manageable length. In other news, Betsy bought me cheap-o wool-ease for my shadow knitting space invader scarf. Isn't she just the ginchiest? Depressingly, though, I still don't feel like taking snaps of anything, so my entries will have to be consigned to an overall less exciting status.

Posted by omar at 09:11 PM | Comments (1)

Secret Pal III has begun!

I've heard from my secret pal twice, but s/he can't get to this blog :( Hopefully it's just a temporary glitch. I got an adorable sheep ecard!
Omar's secret pal is still absent, but that's not worrysome considering the holiday.
We've both contacted our "giftees" or whatever you want to call them. Omar tells me to stop calling them "marks." :)
Our hits have gone up from the SPIII webblog. People are a snoopin'!
I didn't get as much done today at SnB as I would have liked. Just a little on the Noro scarf and a little on the Zaftig cup #2. I screwed up the short rows on the first sequence (sigh) so I feel like I'm back at square one. Hopefully it won't take me six tries this time. I listed our projects and our meeting times in a little notebook journal that stays at the coffee shop as a "non virtual community blog." I also tied yarn on the spiral binding. M.'s 2-year old daughter Z. also got to put a picture in there (I drew the eyes). It was adorable, she put my Kersti mitten on and it went all the way up her arm. We also chased some old men away from our spot by talking about periods. Oh, good times!
I cast on the for the body of melon blast earlier in the week, but my heart is just not in big projects right now (blame Kyoto, I do).
I know, I know. pictures soon. Wait til you see O's broadstreets!

Posted by Betsy at 06:17 AM | Comments (1)

September 05, 2004

SP3 additional questions

22. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
I like rabbits, of course, but not the country-bunny style. I like either Sanrio-like rabbits like My Melody or ones that are more realistic or stylized. Other favorite Sanrio characters are Cinnamoroll and Sweet Caron. I think that patchwork looking Sanrio rabbit is a freak, though. This turned into a Sanrio diatribe.
23. What is your favorite holiday? Well, I was born on Valentine's Day. Yeah, I know. When I was young I was very bitter about it. I'm still pretty bitter, because when Omar and I try to go out on my birthday it is a madhouse. Anyway, I'm kind of opposed to holidays. :)
24. Is there anything that you collect? Not really. I just accumulate a lot of yarn, fiber, books, and misc. toys and knicknacks. I do really like finger puppets. We have an awesome Playmobil pirate island and ship set in our living room. And I like the Playmobil bunnies! This isn't really too helpful, I just like answering questions.

Posted by Betsy at 05:55 AM | Comments (0)

September 04, 2004

I have a knitting secretary!

All artsy BDSM movie connotations aside, Betsy just typed up my answers for the secret pal 3 thing whilst I worked on my Broad Streets. I'm about 3/4 done with the thumb gusset increase on the right hand, and the whole thing is looking a fair amount cleaner than the first one. So that is good. Things should be well in order by the time I get to making the final Dale of Norway and Koigu, ridiculously posh mittens. And those cabled gloves. Sheesh. Mostly everything else is on hold right now, waiting for a chance to wind some more balls of yarn. The sheep is going to get a bit of fisherman's wool, and the Flapper hat needs the CC. In knitting dreams, the pattern for Bobbi Bear arrived this week (along with the felted koala pattern), but I haven't collected enough money to get the necessary yarn. The dilemma with the koala is that its final state is going to be Experiment 625 (you know, the one before Stitch who has all the same abilities, but is an incredible coward and only cares about making sandwiches-- no really, it's canon!). So I'm going to have to either make the pattern once as just a koala and then learn how to add an extra pair of limbs, or just sort of improvise from the getgo. I don't really see any advantages to be gained from doing a draft copy as just a koala, though, so I'll probably just wing it. After some examination of the shadow knitting scarf in stitch n bitch, I've settled on the idea of a shadow knit space invaders scarf. It should be cool and have that grainy two tone shades of green we all came to know and love in our Apple IIs. Not that Space Invaders was really an Apple II game, but I don't remember the color scheme and green and black is the nostalgic color of old computing for me. Finally, I have decided that I want to be the old man in the nifty hat (of the hat/scarf/neckwarmer set) in Weekend Knitting, or at least have the hat. It does look really nice in that blue and green, though I'll have to speculate and see if any other colors occur to me. Anyway, whatever technique they use to do that color offset is pretty funkin groovin, so I'd like to learn how to do it. The finger puppet idea continues to incubate, lying in wait for the acquisition of many new colors of very thin yarn. The more I write this, the more it really does seem like I'll need a second job to cover all this frivolousness. Perhaps a night watchman, or something else where I can knit. Heh.

Posted by omar at 09:20 AM | Comments (1)

Secret Pal III questions 2

Congratulations, Omar's secret pal! It's a boy!

Posted by omar at 07:53 AM | Comments (1)

September 02, 2004

Secret Pal III questions

(note to our secret pals: This is probably obvious, but there are two knitters that post in this blog, a boy and a girl :) We made the little thought bubble icons so you could tell who is posting!)
1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer high-end/natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you? A place for everything and everything in its place. Yes, I love high end natural fibers, wool, alpaca, mohair, llama (!) I don't like squeaky acryllic but I have been known to make afghans and dishcloths out of craft-store yarn.
2. Do you spin? Crochet? I do spin, I have a Babe wheel. I am a beginning spinner and a super incompetent crocheter, although I want to learn more.
3. Do you have any allergies? I'm asthmatic so I'm very senstive to smoke and perfume. I prefer to pick my own bath products and perfumes because I can tell if they'll bother me.
4. How long have you been knitting? Two years this January.
5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Yes, I do. It's mostly not updated, except for knitting books :) My Wishlist
6. What's your favorite scent? I like citrus, especially lemon or lime. and sandalwood and laundry scents (!)
7. Do you have a sweet tooth? a mouthful of 'em.
8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Just whatever strikes my fancy, sometimes crafts with paper, clay, paint, etc. I have mostly been focusing on fiber lately.
9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if you want to make her a CD) I like singer-songwriters, mostly (Tori Amos, Erin McKeown, Ani DiFranco), plus Motown. Yes, I can play mp3s and have an ipod.
10. What's your favorite color? Orange is my absolute favorite, but I also like hot pink, red, greens, purples. I love bright, vivid colors and interesting color combinations. Right now I'm bidding on some yarn on ebay that is space-dyed peach and olive! So unusual and beautiful.
11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I live with my boyfriend of three years (this November!) We have two mini rex rabbits.
12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know) Right now I'm in grad school to become a high school English teacher. I ultimately want to get my Ph.D in English literature. I also want to have a child, and travel internationally. I don't know how this is going to help you :)
13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? This is more like it! I looooove handpainted wools like Koigu and Noro, who doesn't? I like variety, but am fond of good basic wool and cotton and luxury blends including mohair, silk, alpaca, etc. And I can do with a bit of novelty yarn now and again.
14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? acryllic in most cases, scratchy wool like Lopi is only good for felting. I am not a big fan of natural-colored fibers.
15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? I really want to start a big lace project, like Charlotte's Web or the Lotus Blossom Shawl from Fiddlesticks. I am loving working with yarns with a lot of color variation, Noro, Koigu, etc. I just learned intarsia and am also excited to try a bigger project with it. I would like to finish one of the three sweaters I have going. And I really want to knit socks as soon as my two circs are free from my mittens!
16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? I can't answer this. I like to have tons of projects going at once, one for every mood. I always want something challenging, something portable, some mindless knitting, at least one of each.
17. What are you knitting right now? Please see UFO sidebar in this blog!
18. What do you think about ponchos? (this is really a curiousity question for us) I really don't know why this question is here...hehe. But I am sort of vaguely interested in ponchos. I would like to make one that's very airy and open. I cannot believe how crazy everyone is for them, though!
19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Circulars at all times. :) We love our Denises! Now that Omar knits we are going to invest in another set. I prefer addis over bamboo, as well.
20. How did you learn to knit? I am self-taught (internet/books), but I was having a hell of a time until someone showed me that I need to pull the stitches off the left needle :)
21. How old is your oldest UFO? Probably about two years in January. It's an eyelash scarf that I have been contemplating ripping out and making into a hat. Big project-wise, my Einstein coat is probably about a year old and is still just a big square of garter.

Other stuff I like: the 19th century, 1970s style, pirates, rabbits, animals in general (except fish), Star Trek: TNG, Six Feet Under, Freaks and Geeks, coffee, tea, spicy food, feminism/women's issues.

As a reward for anyone who got through all of that, here's a link to a lovely lace poncho that someone posted on the AK list.
I think it could be about a foot longer.

Posted by Betsy at 01:15 AM | Comments (1)

September 01, 2004

go me!

We all having knitting mind blocks. Mine was intarsia. Last night I sat down with SNB and some cotton and thought "I WILL do this." Yay! So fun. I did two mini projects I will share shortly. I feel all ready to do the almost famous luggy bonnet from Weekend Knitting for my friend's daughter. Amoung other things!
If you carry the yarn in back of the work, is it technically fair isle?

Posted by Betsy at 09:39 AM | Comments (2)