Stitches West

On Saturday I went to the most tempting (fiber) place on earth... the Santa Clara Convention Center aka Stitches West. And I bought a few things.... Mostly fiber as I have discovered the fun of spinning my own yarn now as well:

The fiber load:


merino, tencel, wensleydale, blue faced leicester etc... Some came from Lisa Souza who hand dyes yarns and fibers... loved her booth.

this is the wensleydale from above in "wild things"


And here is my first completed 2 ply yarn in merino:


Also went to Tess yarn booth and got some merino/silk (on left) and some angora/wool (on right):


Habu textiles was so cool... they have really different yarns made from things like paper, silk, or bamboo. I picked up some bamboo in 2 colors. Figure I have enough of each for a lacy scarf:


And how could I pass up Webs? Got some of their stockbridge in kiwi and denim for some wrist warmers and longmeadow for a sweater (both yarns feel like heaven):


And I even finished off a couple projects:

My sesame sweater is finally done... buttons on and sleaves sewn in:


and Letter Have It from Stitch n Bitch Nation for my friend finally has a zipper and has been given away. (she loved it)

word cloud

This site takes a scan of your blog and makes a word cloud from it's contents:



kinda fun and I'm still at work waiting on stuff.. so why not? :)

real live photos

My "Letter Have It" felted bag from Stitch n Bitch Nation (sans letter and zipper) I used cascade 220:

before finishing and felting:


and after:


A little felted pouch made from some unknown wool from my leftover stash area:


I ordered zippers for both of these felted items and they sent the wrong length zippers :(


And a photo of the back of my ballet wrap cardi (I'm actually just about done with the back this photo is acouple days old) It's handpaintedyarn.com 6 ply merino and I LOVE this yarn:


it's pooling quite a bit even though I am using 2 balls of yarn at a time... but I don't really mind. The photos show it much more than in life.

And here is my first spinning attempt and some roving:

I've actually already spun a hank of blue and a hank of brown... it's fun :)

Resistance is futile

I have most of the back of this cardi done... just couldn't resist the beautiful 6 ply merino that showed up in the mail last week. So now I have one more project started. I'm going to try and finish this cardi by the time I leave for NY at the end of March. I think that's an attainable goal.


Also have a pair of mittens that I want done before I go....

I think I'm just going to embrace my desire to start projects. They all get done eventually :)

I resisted

Ok I didn't go home last night and cast on for the Ballet Wrap Cardi. Decided to finish my clapotis (almost done!), a pink knit bunny (for a friend's baby... body, ears, and head done), and the Flap-Top mittens from Handknit Holidays first. Then I will cast on for the sweater.

Bu tI had to share this site... the strangest knitted "art".

oops I did it agian

Well a box showed up at work for me... it's Mal Abrigo 6ply Merino in velvet grapes to make the Ballet Wrap Cardigan in the current issue of IK. The guage is about right and I've really wanted a nice wrap/tie cardi for awhile now. In fact I might even cast on tonight! Even though I have a ton of projects on the needles.... I'm just crazy like that. ;)

And in other fiber news... I have an intro to spinning (on a hand spindle) class this sunday. It's at a place called Deep Color right around the corner from my house. I walk by there all the time when I take out dog out. So finally I just signed up (a $15 class so it's not going to break the bank). But it occurs to me that I have enough yarn to last me years, so why would I start making yarn?!?!?!? No idea... except it look fun :)

too funny

This is my yahoo horoscope for today (can you tell that I had to work and am in front of my computer for the day?):

It's not quite time to start any new projects, so hold off until your plate is bare.

haha

Oh no

Interweave Knits Spring 06 Preview



Ummm....... I want to start so many projects from the issue of IK that is going to show up in a few weeks (or so). How does one finish 18 WIPS in a month?!?!?!

And my Vogue Knitting showed up yesterday. There are several projects that I'm just itchin to start from there as well.

Help me!!!!!! I need to not cast on.

Some progress is made

Well i'm not tired so I might as well post some photos.....

Over the weekend I started and finished 2 projects. We've been walking the dog and it's cold outside.... so we needed hats. These are made using the pattern in Last Minute Knitted Gifts and are quite cozy.
Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed Aran for Dan:

And Manos for me:

His is softer but mine is prettier :)

And some progress on clapotis. I've done 8 of the 12 repeats for the straight section.


And here is the Steam Scarf in cascade quattro 220 for my friend Amy... super easy pattern.


And that does it for now

Happy Birthday to me... I just got yarn in the mail

I'm going to preface by saying that I have been very good... I've gone months without buying yarn. But I got some birthday money and elann had a couple yarns that I really wanted... and I was so close to my $50 credit with them. So.....
I got some Peruvian Collection Uros Aran in palm (on left) for a sweater and a ball of peridot (on right) to put a stripe or edging on the sweater.


I also got some Peruvian Collection Highland Silk in Oxblood to make another sweater.


Not that I will be starting any new projects for a bit... 18 projects on needles is plenty. But I've got clapotis over half done... so hopefully I'll be down to 17 projects very soon :) Before I actually counted all my WIPS I would have guessed that I had about 8 projects going. So I was a bit surprised by my final count.

Anyhow just wanted to share my yarn :)

Birthday thingie

Your Birthdate: January 10

Independent and dominant, you tend to be the alpha dog in most situations. You're very confident, and hardly anything ever shakes you. Mundane tasks tend to drain you - you prefer to be making great plans. You are quite original. When people don't "get" you, it bothers you a lot. Your strength: Your ability to gain respect Your weakness: Caring too much what others think Your power color: Orange-red Your power symbol: Letter X Your power month: October

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

I always find it odd when these things sound about right.

On the needles

So this is for me to take stock in what I have on needles (or not quite finished) at the moment. And to figure out if I want to finish the project or frog it. I'd like to get back to 2 or 3 projects at a time so my plan is to clear most of this stuff off by mid year. Here goes.

Still knitting:

1. Misty Garden from Scarf Style(Jo Sharp Rare Comfort Mohair)


2. A lace scarf (craftster pattern) for my mom (Elann Baby Silk)
Cast on 33
row 1: purl across
row 2: k1 *k3, pull first st over other 2 (and drop it), yo* repeat to last 2 st, k2
row 3: purl
row 4: k2 *yo, k3, pull first st over other 2 (and drop it)* repeat to last st, k1


3. Hour Glass Sweater from Last Minute Gifts (Crystal Palace Flamme cotton)


4. Branching Out Scarf from Knitty.com (cascade indulgence)


5. Bias knit scarf (Tess hand dyed angora/lambswool)


6. Clapotis from Knitty.com (100% pure merino)


7. Top Down V-neck pullover from Knitting Pure and Simple (Tess hand dyed superwash merino)


8. Steam Cables Scarf (cascade 220 Quatro)


9. Opera Scarf from Blue Sky Alpaca pattern (ksh, elann alpaca, handpainted wool, handpainted wool/mohair held together)


10. Letter Have it Felted bag from stitch n bitch nation (cascade 220)


11. Irregular ribs from Loop d Loop but made as a standard reglan cardigan (rowan polar)


12. My So Called Scarf (100% pure merino)


13. Knock Around Sweater from Weekend Knitting (Malabrigo 6ply merino)


14. Lace Rib Scarf (Valeria di Roma angora)


15. Back Yard Leaves from scarf style (malabrigo merino)


16. Polka Dot Scarf (knit picks elegance)


17. Cable/rib cardigan from VK holiday 04 (cascade lana d'oro)


And these are off needles but not quite done:

1. Ribby Cardigan that needs a zipper


2. Sesame Cardigan needs one sleeve sewn in and buttons added


Ok that is a really great yet scary list of projects. I just get bored and start new projects. Or get new yarn and start a new project. Or get PMS and start a new project. Luckily many of these are nearing completion. So hopefully I can get 15 or so finished off by mid year.

A new tattoo...

So wednesday I got my second tattoo (the first one I got 10 years ago when I was 18). I always thought I'd have several tattoos by now, but somehow didn't get around to getting anymore. So no time like the present...

Here's a closeup of what it looks like:


And here is a photo to show where it is:


It's healing up nicely and should look better in a week or two. I love the decorative quality of tattoos. I was originally planning on getting one on my left forearm but figured with the wedding this year that I might regret having it show up in the photos. So I'll get that one next year.

And here is some knitting to show as well. I printed out the clapotis pattern in september of 04 (the date was on the printout) and finally decided to make it (just like everyone else ;). The pattern is really easy to follow and is turning out quite nicely. I'm using some more of the merino that I got in november. It's yummy!



Happy new year!