Sunday, March 20, 2005
Spinning Lessons
This weekend I dragged my fiancee to the West Valley Alpacas farm for our first ever spinning lessons. The lesson was a long and grueling four hours...ended with a big hug from the guests of honor themselves! Pictures to come!
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Jealousy. Puuuuure unadulterated JEALOUSY.
Today I found the coolest off-shoot of the Lonely Planet website.
It's part of the blogosphere...and an opportunity for travelers to journal where they are...what they're up to....and share some pictures along the way.
It's the LP My Trip Journal and you gotta check it out. Its a good site to cruise when you feel like being jealous...or nose-y...or just doing some research on a place that you hope to visit some day.
It's part of the blogosphere...and an opportunity for travelers to journal where they are...what they're up to....and share some pictures along the way.
It's the LP My Trip Journal and you gotta check it out. Its a good site to cruise when you feel like being jealous...or nose-y...or just doing some research on a place that you hope to visit some day.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Tote for Crystl
This is the yarn that I'm going to use to make Crystl a little tote from the book Felted Knits. It's one of my favorites, Lamb's Pride Bulky. It's great for felting, touching and making the cutest booties from Stitch n' Bitch.
Knitting for TWO
I can't really show her face, because she doesn't know that her picture is being plastered all over the internet...but here is my artist interpretation of the Mommy2B.
And the yarn that I ordered from Knit Picks. 100% wool. Bred and spun in Peru. I'm in the process of choosing the stitch from the "Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns" that I checked out of the S.F. Library across the street from the FI's house.
And the yarn that I ordered from Knit Picks. 100% wool. Bred and spun in Peru. I'm in the process of choosing the stitch from the "Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns" that I checked out of the S.F. Library across the street from the FI's house.
Ruffles
I am also currently working on Ruffles using Classic Elite Premiere. It's basically the softest yarn that was ever made, crafted of 50% pima cotton and 50% tencel(whatever the hell that is).
Its basically the slowest knitted scarf pattern to ever reach the planet. 'Nuff with my bitchin' tho...because it's beautiful, and I can't wait for it to be done. Although, it may have to be pushed down the queue a bit and wait until we touch down in Indo. Which is fine.
Lady Eleanor
I am currently (obsessed with) working on Lady Eleanor from Scarf Style by Pam Ellen. The pattern calls for La Lana...but the salesman at the La Lana booth at Stiches West was OBNOXIOUS (making off color remarks about persons with developmental disabilities....not cool)...so, in protest, I opted for Noro Kureyon in the #134 colorway. I picked up 12 skeins of the stuff from the Webs booth and love the color changes of the yarn.
And now for my artist interpretation of Entrelac:
Unraveling the Sweater...Not the Memories.
For this project I used a sweater that I had bought to make my first ever credit-card purchase. As some of you may have experienced upon turning 18, I signed up for my first credit card on my college campus in exchange for some lame "prize" like a t-shirt or a pack of gum or a coupon for half a burrito. After realizing that someone out there was actually willing to "GIVE" me "free" money....I did what any 18 year old girl would do and hit the mall to rock that card!
My purchase was this green zip-up cardigan from J-Crew. J-Crew, the store that was previously inaccessible to me...because, according to my mother....."it's inappropriate to spend $125 on jeans"....but not if you have free money!! So with my credit-card in hand, loaded up with a whopping $100 credit limit....I hit the sale racks. I walked out of the store toting my sweater dreaming of all the outfits I could pair the fine frock with. That would have been fine and dandy....had I not lived in San Diego...where it seldom hits below 70 degrees...in the winter.
The sweater later followed me onto my...what I now lovingly refer to..."My Great American College Tour"...which included official transfers....to 5 different colleges in 6 years.
The sweater kept me warm in Santa Cruz....and then protected my skin from frost-bite in Michigan. It made me look cool when hanging out with friends....and made my friends look sexy when hanging out with boys.
Now I'm back in sunny California...older, wiser, and in a whole lot of credit-card debt...and the poor sweater has been sitting in my closest...neglected...and lonely. Much like the Valvatine Rabbit, it was tattered and loved....but also outgrown by it's owner. I couldn't bare to part with it, however, not with all the memories attached to it for my friends and I.
For these sentimental reasons, I choose this sweater to be the victim of my first Fiber Recycling project. Loaded with the information that I received from the ReKAL site, I began to unravel the vary fibers that kept me warm and hip for so many years. As I snipped, pulled and tugged at the stitches, I couldn't help but reminisce about all my crazy college days and became determined to recapture the moments by re-knitting the yarn into 2 scarves that my best-friend, Katy and I could share...in two different places. With the sweater re-fashioned into a two scarves, Katy and I could secretly smirk about all the memories we share....memories that are safer locked into the stitches of our scarves.
Step 1. The Infamous sweater....minus the groovy collar.
Step 2. Unraveled. Hanging as a hank...ready to be washed.
Step 3. Washed up and ready to dry...for a week!!
Step 4. Balled up and ready to knit.
Step 5. Ready to knit up into Backyard Leaves from Scarf Style for Katy.
My purchase was this green zip-up cardigan from J-Crew. J-Crew, the store that was previously inaccessible to me...because, according to my mother....."it's inappropriate to spend $125 on jeans"....but not if you have free money!! So with my credit-card in hand, loaded up with a whopping $100 credit limit....I hit the sale racks. I walked out of the store toting my sweater dreaming of all the outfits I could pair the fine frock with. That would have been fine and dandy....had I not lived in San Diego...where it seldom hits below 70 degrees...in the winter.
The sweater later followed me onto my...what I now lovingly refer to..."My Great American College Tour"...which included official transfers....to 5 different colleges in 6 years.
The sweater kept me warm in Santa Cruz....and then protected my skin from frost-bite in Michigan. It made me look cool when hanging out with friends....and made my friends look sexy when hanging out with boys.
Now I'm back in sunny California...older, wiser, and in a whole lot of credit-card debt...and the poor sweater has been sitting in my closest...neglected...and lonely. Much like the Valvatine Rabbit, it was tattered and loved....but also outgrown by it's owner. I couldn't bare to part with it, however, not with all the memories attached to it for my friends and I.
For these sentimental reasons, I choose this sweater to be the victim of my first Fiber Recycling project. Loaded with the information that I received from the ReKAL site, I began to unravel the vary fibers that kept me warm and hip for so many years. As I snipped, pulled and tugged at the stitches, I couldn't help but reminisce about all my crazy college days and became determined to recapture the moments by re-knitting the yarn into 2 scarves that my best-friend, Katy and I could share...in two different places. With the sweater re-fashioned into a two scarves, Katy and I could secretly smirk about all the memories we share....memories that are safer locked into the stitches of our scarves.
Step 1. The Infamous sweater....minus the groovy collar.
Step 2. Unraveled. Hanging as a hank...ready to be washed.
Step 3. Washed up and ready to dry...for a week!!
Step 4. Balled up and ready to knit.
Step 5. Ready to knit up into Backyard Leaves from Scarf Style for Katy.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
WIP''s and Wannabe WIP's
WIPs:
Rockstar purse from Stitch N' Bitch: Totally cool, but got board with it. It requires a lot of attention that I am not willing to split with my weekly line-up of reality TV. My FI, however, really wants me to finish it, which I am intrepreting as "Honey please please spend our entire honey-moon knitting". I can make that sacrifice for him.
Ruffles from Scarf Style: The slowest scarf that I have ever knit in my entire life in this century or anyother. Its gorgeous tho' and sum' day i'm a gunna finish that sucka'.
Lady Eleanor Stole from Scarf Style: Love it...knitting this baby up in Noro Kureyon and it looks good enough to eat. Eating fiber, thats gross. It a lot of work though, because it's so long, so I'm going to take break and start other projects to add to my list of WIP's.
Wannabe WIPs:
"Backyard Leaves" from Scarf Style for Katy
Felted tote from Felted Knits for Crystl
"Elegantly Simple Baby Blanket" designed by Jackie E-S for Seema and Louie's bun-in-the-ovenSweater for FI from Weekend Knits
Baby blanket....
This is such a cool variation on the Baby Blanket. I got the wonderful yarn from Knit Picks that would be perfect for this blanket. Picture....super-soft aplaca in a variety of gorgeouc colors going round and round wrapping the baby tight and warm. This baby I speak of will be born into the cold-snugglieness of Montreal life and needs something to keep him/her warm.
http://www.knitlist.com/00gift/round-baby-blanket.htm
Here is another one that I'm thinking about....I really like the intricate design, and honestly, the pattern doesn't look too hard:
http://www.heartstringsfiberarts.com/babyblanket.shtm
http://www.knitlist.com/00gift/round-baby-blanket.htm
Here is another one that I'm thinking about....I really like the intricate design, and honestly, the pattern doesn't look too hard:
http://www.heartstringsfiberarts.com/babyblanket.shtm
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Random thoughts....
The supreme court ruled it unconstitutional to execute anyone under the age of 18. We've saved the children....so now what are going to do about overwhelming high percentage of minorities put to death each year??? Call me crazy, but does'nt putting someone to death go under the ol' cruel and unusual punishment category?
'Bin dreaming about the honeymoon lately....the FI showed me this possible place to stay in Bali....pretty romantical....
http://mu-bali.com/index.html
The new Knit.1 Magazine came out....i love the sweater on the cover....if only i wasn't deathly afraid of sleeves....they even have some latin flavor in this issue....gotta love that.
thats really all for now....
'Bin dreaming about the honeymoon lately....the FI showed me this possible place to stay in Bali....pretty romantical....
http://mu-bali.com/index.html
The new Knit.1 Magazine came out....i love the sweater on the cover....if only i wasn't deathly afraid of sleeves....they even have some latin flavor in this issue....gotta love that.
thats really all for now....
