Tuesday, October 30, 2007

fun and done

Its Halloween time! I have never quite outgrown wanting to carve pumpkins but my themes have changed since I was a little girl carving happy faces on my jack-o-lanterns. My friend Rachel came over the other day to carve the pumpkins that we had dumpstered from Trader Joe's and we decided we would both carve our lip tattoos onto our pumpkins;

Here's Rachel carving 'salty':

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And here I am carving 'FTW':

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The finished products:

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I also carved a pumpkin that has my train tag on it, which is 'dot'. Aside from enthusiastically creating jack-o-lanterns, I've also been enthusiastically knitting. I finished the lace Montana socks and I am so stoked on the way they turned out.

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Pattern: Fiber Trends Raindrop Lace Socks
Yarn: The Black Stitch sock yarn, 100% wool
Alterations to Pattern: made socks 10" rather than 8", eye of partridge heel flap

Hooray! And Happy Halloween!

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Friday, October 26, 2007

quest for the pattern

I always prefer to buy locally if I can, so I've been seeking the Creatures of the Reef shawl pattern at all the shops around here. Since moving to this area, I had yet to go to the fairly new shop that is just a couple blocks down the street from me. I'm a creature of habit and when I get comfortable with a shop, I tend to stick with it. Its now quite a haul to get to my old shop, so I thought I'd give the new shop, Close Knit, a try. Now, normally I would abstain from talking shit on any person or business within the knitting community, but I've had two bad experiences in that shop now. The first time I went in just to check out what she carried for needles and patterns. I picked out an intermediate sock pattern and took it up to the counter. The woman acted as if I were an absolute beginning knitter and a fucking moron to boot. "Oh", she said, "I think you probably don't want this pattern. Have you ever even knit socks before?"

Listen bitch, whether I have or haven't knit socks before, whether I'm a beginner knitter still shopping the bulky aisle or a seasoned pro working delicate lace, don't talk to me in that tone of voice and don't question my choice of purchases without any prior knowledge of who I am or my knitting ability. Even after I'd explained that I'm quite comfortable with socks and all the skills needed to knit this particular pair, she proceeded to explain sock knitting to me in a tone usually reserved for 5 year olds. I bought the pattern and left swearing that I would never go back.

Silly me, while looking for the shawl pattern I decided to give it another go. As I walked in the front door she practically lept from her stool and blocked my entrance into the store. "I don't allow dogs." she snooted while looking down her nose at Jack, standing quietly beside me. "Oh" I replied, trying to smile and be friendly against her snobbish demeanor, "He's a service dog." (you'd think she might have figured this on her own, dressed as he was in a 'service dog' vest) She looked again at Jack and asked if there was somthing she could help me with. This was not her being friendly, but more of a 'I'm not moving from my position to let you in the shop and I'd prefer to just get this over with right now before you bring that thing into my store' type of question. I asked her about the particular pattern I was looking for and she told me that she didn't carry it. I asked her if she knew of any shops that might and she told me she didn't. "Try the Naked Sheep.", she said while turning on her heel and walking away dismissively. Fine, I thought, I will. I will go to the Naked Sheep, where they have always been friendly and kind, and I will never return to your store.

As it turns out, I didn't go to the Naked Sheep, instead I took the drive out to Carlton, OR and Woodland Wool Works. I rarely make a trek out there, but I'm always gratified when I do. WWW has been around for a long time and is a well established place that supplies for knitters, spinners and weavers. They have a mail order catalog that I recommend you get a copy of. Anyways, out to WWW, where they not only have the shawl pattern, but 14 copies of the pattern. I resisted the temptation to buy some Addi-Turbo lace needles until I had gone all the way through my circulars to make sure I didn't already what I needed. I left with just the pattern and a copy of the new catalog. Luckily for me it was a fine fall day, with plenty of sunshine, the smell of crisp air and brightly colored leaves stirring along the country road there so the drive was just a part of the adventure. Sometimes its nice to get out of the city.

This morning I've been cursing a bit. I went through my needles and I don't have either of the circulars that I need. Shoulda bought those Addi-Turbo Laces.... Maybe I'll venture over to The Naked Sheep. I will not, however, be going back to Close Knit.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Aquisitions and Observations

Am I the only person who doesn't take a laptop to the cafe? I went for a cup of coffee this evening and out of 7 people in the cafe, I was the only person not staring at a computer screen. I took a dog and some knitting.

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I'll take that and a cup of coffee over a computer any day of the week.

Aquisition wise....well, this is a long story but it starts with cleaning out my mom's garage, the guru coming through with a really cool gift ages ago and ends with a reavowal to organize my knitting. Awhile ago my aunt and I saw this awesome vintage knitting organizer in a magazine and I lusted for one similar to it. Lo, when Christmas came around there was one sent to me from the guru. I've had it in the garage with my yarn (gasp! yarn in a garage?!) for awhile and finally dug it out and organized it. I also put my stash into nice, clean plastic boxes, compiled all my knitting books and patterns and collected all projects, which is all for another blog. The point here is, and I say this with enthusiasm, this thing is rad. Fucking rad.

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All your needles can be slipped into little pockets around the exterior, and inside is plenty of room for current projects and works-in-progress. There's even a little zippered pocket inside for small stuff.

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Jealous? You should be. Which provides a natural introduction to my current new cool yarn.

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What you are seeing here, is a cone of 1,260 yards of Zephyr Merino/Silk laceweight yarn in Sage. My mom, who is undermentioned on this blog, partly out of spite for the fact that she never reads it, bought this for me while she was in Lawrence, Kansas. The Guru told her about Yarn Barn and she popped in to see if they had the yarn I needed to knit the Creatures of the Reef shawl. Right now I'm just keeping it in my room and occasionally rubbing it against my cheek. I can't find a local store that carries Fiddlesticks Knitting patterns, so I think I'll just adore it lovingly until the pattern comes in the mail. Anybody know if I need to do anything special to it since its on a cone and not already balled?

Intimate Portrait Of A Knitter...

...or, How A Sock Got Finished In A Week And A Second Sock Was Begun.

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Winter in the pacific northwest means lots of cold, grey, rainy, drizzly days. If you're a poor early twenty something such as myself, that means months of snuggling in bed, under blankets, or in sleeping bags. Since none of us have any money to pay for the heat to be on, and we live in old drafty houses, our houses are freezing all winter long. Our house was built in the early years of the 20th century and I would venture to say that the heating system hasn't been updated since around then. We could run that thing into the ground and it probably wouldn't make a lick of temperature difference in any of the rooms. Most of my knitting, therefore, is done these days as the early morning light pours into my bedroom window and straight onto my bed. If I get up early enough, I can squeeze a couple hours of effective knitting into a day while saving on heat and electricity.

I have reached a certain zen while working on these socks, which I think is a symptom of lace. Reciting a lace pattern over and over is akin to chanting 'ohm'. When I first start, I have to look repeatedly at the pattern, just to check up and make sure I don't do anything stupid. A couple of repeats in, however, and I've got it down and I'm in my happy place of knitting where I can achieve might feats, like finishing 5 perfect inches while watching an episode of World's Deadliest Catch with my roommate. (I live with all boys. Sometimes they get control over the remote.)

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Thursday, October 04, 2007

straight to the hard stuff...

Alright, here's how I've been getting my fix as of late. Remember back in September of 2005? Don't worry, I can't either. I had to read back through my blog to remember when I first blogged about the pink stripe socks, the ones with the glitch in the dye job. Thats right, almost exactly two years ago I started what I thought would be a quick and fun sock project. Yesterday, I finally finished the fucking things. Excuse my language, I really should hold them dearer to my heart considering all the changes the socks and I have endured together. This is our 3rd house together, our 4th job together. Two years, I suppose, earns them a little more loyalty. The Guru was in town for about 10 hours. Never one to miss such an opportunity, I had her help me fix the ridiculous error that I had made (I started knitting in the wrong direction. I do this too often for comfort. I'm embarrassed to admit that I even do it in the first place.) and got me back on track. Within the night I sat down to watch The Painted Veil, which I highly recommend and finished the gusset, foot and toe of the second sock. Due to screwed up dye job, the stripes don't match, but I think they look pretty good regardless.

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So, with one pair finished it was time for the latest fix. While on a recent trip to Whitefish, Montana, I stopped at the local yarn shop for some more souvenir yarn. Kn it 'N Needle Yarn Shoppe is on the bottom floor of an old house close to the old downtown of Whitefish. I was looking for a local yarn, something to remember Montana by, and I found exactly what I was looking for. The Black Stitch is a local Montana yarn company that makes a wool sock yarn. Alas, they are going (or maybe have gone) out of business. The stuff is great though. I decided to veer away from my traditional and over-knit basic sock pattern and try something with a little more zing. Thats right, I've gotten bored with the original stuff. It no longer gives me the same high that it did the first time I used it. I need something a little harder to try and get that feeling back again. Problem...it's not a problem. It's just a little habit.

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Behold, the Fiber Trends Raindrop Lace sock. The yarn I'm using is variegated in shades of brown, which I hope don't detract from the beautiful lace pattern. The picture on the pattern has it in a solid blue, which really shows off the design. I'm about 2 inches in and from what I can see, it looks like a bunch of knots and holes. If I weren't familiar with lace, I'd be concerned. I don't normally block socks, but I think for this pair I will.

Relapse

I'll gloss over the fact that I haven't written in a dog's age and go straight to the bloggery. I appreciate your complicity in this, especially in light of what is proving to be a serious relapse into knitting. The weather in the northwest has turned cold and rainy, which means that I've gone straight back to mainlining socks. More on that next post. While I'm still feeling the buzz of having finished a pair of socks, I'm having lucid dreams about lace shawls. If you've read a couple posts back you'll know that I've been lusting after the Creatures of the Reef Shawl from Fiddlesticks Knitting for some time now. I'm still lusting but have decided that next paycheck, that beauty will be mine. I think I'm going to take the plunge (no pun intended) and buy the kit in Sage. I couldn't help but notice the similiarty that the Fiddlesticks pattern:

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has an uncanny similarity to the Fiber Trends Seascape Shawl:

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Coincidentally, I like the Fiddlesticks pattern better. While I'm still in my fiber haze, I also want to knit the Fiber Trends Pacific Northwest Shawl, which is uncannily similar to the other two, but the Oregonian in me feels that it is my duty to knit it. You can't argue with duty.

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