Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Ok, so then


I was on Ravelry yesterday (no big surprise there) and popped into the Big Issues Debate board where there was a discussion about whether Jon of Jon and Kate Plus Eight (some really lame reality show where you get to watch the carrying ons of a married couple and their eight children only to find out that they are putting on fake "happy personae" for the cameras) is bitching about how he has no personal life now that he is on TV and he can't just be Jon anymore. He has to be Jon the Dad from K&K+8. Whatever. Who cares that his televisionship has afforded his large family the ability to go on vacations, have nicer cars, and be a household name. My response to that was:

I wonder if anyone would be interested in Michelle and her Stash: The story of one woman, her stash and what she knits. Hours and hours of watching a sassy red head knitting row after row of stockinette stitch while trying to finish a sweater she started two years ago. Each episode will feature her progress on her next project and highlight her lovely socks. Think I could get some TV producer to pay my way to Knit Cruise, Stitches South, and Sock Summit?


To which another Raveller, who shall remain nameless since I haven't asked her if I can use her name on my blog, says:

No, but you might get enough subscribers right here on Ravelry to pay your own way. Vicarious knitting!

Think of the possibilities.

We could vote on which project you should do next, what yarn you should use, whether you do or do not have to go back and rip out that row.

We could threaten to pull our subscriptions and force you to do the project from hell. Someone would start a group dedicated to poking fun at how inept you are. People would join in droves. Others would troll by and insert knitncook love threads.

There’d be blow ups and battles between those of us who post amuse bouches about you and your endlessly boring knitting and those who think it’s not so much amusing as bitchy and judgmental. We’d have little acronyms on our avatars to signal where we align…KnCBs!

The more I think about it, the more I think Hell yeah! It would work!


OK, so I'm not trying to get you all to pay my way to Sock Summit, but I love the idea. Seriously, turning over my stash to a bunch of people. Having them tell me what to write. I love the idea that people might actually write about my ineptness (like when I can't figure out how to Pfb, even though I've Pfb before - trust me it was well worth a You Tube video the other day when I couldn't get the needles to work and had to have my 16 year old take them away from me and show me and then I did the old palm face of shame and sent her to her room. I mean isn't that what Jon and Kate would do if their child humiliated them? Not that I've ever seen the show.)

So I'm opening this up to all of you, my dear four readers (Hey, I've doubled in the past six months) to go look at my stash and each month I will make something that you, the readers, pick out. You can comment here or you can send me a PM on Ravelry or, heck, you can start a fan group on Ravelry and have threads telling everyone what you think I should knit. I will, of course, be increasing my stash as I go and I'm going to clear my queue and only put in there what you think I should make with the yarn I have. (Note: The Crystal Palace Panda Wool and the Pagewood Farm Yukon are already dedicated.)

Friday, March 13, 2009

Shopping and Knitty: Totally unrelated

First the shopping update. It went well. I found a bunch of shirts just like I wanted at Beall's on their 70% off rack. It was SWEET! I'm still lacking the perfect fuchsia and orange shirts. I found several orange shirts, but they were all not a pure orange. They were pumpkin or melon or harvest or burnt, but not the terrific Crayola crayon orange.

Now for the Knitty Review!

Shipwreck is a gorgeous circle shawl. Although it would probably end up being a shipwreck in my hands. Five needle sizes, 5000 beads, done on fingering weight yarn with 5 different charts? OK, so why do I want to make it so badly? Oh yeah, 'cause it's purty!

Reverie is a really cute lightweight springy beret. It's really cute and only uses one skein of fingering weight yarn. I'm thinking of that gorgeous single skein of Lorna's Laces at my LYS, Yarnside Gathering in the Oddball Bin. $10. Hmmm. It's calling to me and I can always use another hat!

I knew that Aeolian was going to be a hit when there was a KAL on Ravelry less than 24 hours after it was posted. This gorgeous shawl just sings its beauty. I'm not sure if it will get queued as I'm really looking for a shawl that is knit from the top down (in other words cast on a bazillion stitches and cast off 5 rather than the other way around.) But it is lovely!

I wasn't all that thrilled with Santeney for myself. It's pretty and on the right body shape it would be cute, but not on anything that gets into the XL factor. There is an editor's note that sizes for 2X and 3X will be added shortly. Sorry, I'd look like a saucy bar wench with that much trying to support my bazoombas. Let's just leave this one for the smaller ladies, shall we?

Pioneer is a really cute sweater top. I like it paired with the simple t-shirt underneath, but would be really adorable and maybe a tad dressier with a lace cami under it. It is worked with about 2" of negative ease and comes for sizes up to 50". Not bad and quite affordable made with just six skeins of Lorna's Laces sport.

Hanne is a, well, um scarf-type thingy. Yeah. You just have to see it. But I love the mitered stripes on it and from the description by the designer, it seems as though she didn't know what she was making either. It's eye-appealing and fully of stripey wonderfulness.

Imagine there's no heaven. It isn't hard to do. No hell below us (are you singing it yet?) This would be a great first sweater for someone. Simple stockinette stitching with a purled design and no finishing on the edges. The Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton is recommended so I'm already imagining this being very soft. And I love the sewn bind off (very stretchy, use it for all my toe up socks). Although I'm afraid that I would get bored with all the stockinette, but that's just me. Maybe it would be a good TV project.

I may have just found my summery sweater in Decimal. It's soft and lacy and could even be affordable using the KP Shine Sport. I definitely don't have enough of the Berocco for this sweater. I think I am going to wait a bit to really commit to it. It may just be a "how I like it sized" thing because I love the nice slim fitting on the green (smaller) sweater, but somehow it loses all the definition of "slim fitting" when it is sized up. It's one of the things that annoys me about clothes. Because something is bigger in one area, it is seen as needing to be bigger in all areas (arms, length, etc.) Although, with a 10 stitch repeat I may be able to finagle this sweater to not be so huge-looking when it is made for my hugeness.

Andy is a nice simple guy friendly sweater that isn't going to drive a woman made. I like how the sweater stops right above the pockets of the pants, giving this a nice tailored look without being too tailored and not too baggy "over-sized" as well. It has enough interest in the stitches to keep someone like me (who is easily distracted by the next stitch idea) interested.

I'm sort of disappointed that my friend Stephanie isn't having a girl. I wonder if her husband would be too offended by his new son running around in a dress? I guess I shouldn't make it. But Topaz is really cute and a very simple knit. Although he might not be offended by his son running around in Steggie. It reminds me of the "Little Baby Dragon" costume that each of my kids were for their first Halloweens.

SOCKS!! There are several really nice socks in this issue. I'm loving the Absinthe socks. I'm not crazy over the plain backs, but love love love the fronts. I have got to talk my LYS owner into carrying more solid and semi-solid sock yarns. These are GORGEOUS! And of course they have to be green, otherwise why would they be called Absinthe?

While I really like Cirque I'm not sure I will do them as they are quite similar in construction to the Mystery Lace KAL I'm currently working on. I like the attention to the detailing on the foot, though and the continuation of the pattern down the heel. Although why the designer didn't use a strong heel rather than the traditional heel flap construction is beyond me. Seems as though it would have been much easier.

Cachoeira is just a really sweet sock. i love the running travelling undulating stitches down the sides of the foot. It doesn't surprise me she is friends with Cookie A. When I first saw these socks I immediately thought it was another Cookie A pattern.

I love the patterning on the Flit + Float scarf and being lavender doesn't hurt either. It would also be a very affordable scarf using just one skein of Misty Alpaca. There are six charts to keep up with, but it doesn't seem unmanageable.

Ripple just absolutely intrigued me! I put this scarf in the category of "mathematical knitting." It's fun and not at all "straightforward." I like projects that make me knit. Although, truthfully, I much prefer the shorter one made from handspun/hand dyed yarn better than the longer one made from commercial yarn.

When I first saw Sourwood Mountain all I could think of was what a wonderful sock this would make. Of course I don't think there are nearly enough sock patterns in the world, but I love the cuffs, buttons and leaves on this glove. Who knows I may even make them as gloves (and then adapt them to be made into socks.) If you want some interesting viewing, go check out the designer's website Fiddle Knit Designs She has lovely stitch markers as well as patterns for sale on her etsy shop.

I really love the birds on Flock. I'm not sure I would make an entire flock, but a bird or two flying around my room would be quite fun. And a great stash buster project as well.

I had to save Franklin Habit's contribution for last. He has a semi-regular feature called Stitches in Time and this time it was about a baby's hood. It's a lovely hood and while he is using a super fine alpaca, it still looks itchy and the baby he used for the modelling is just absolutely perfectly miserable-looking. It looks like this baby is itchy or at least very put out at having to wear this eccentric hood. It's wrinkled brown and pouty lips are just all too perfect. No Gerber baby for Franklin. Now all he needs is a pram.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

That Dreaded Time of the Year


Now for some of you this dreaded time of the year (from now on referred to as DTOTY) hasn't arrived quite yet and probably won't for a few more days (weeks or even months). It's called Spring Clothes Shopping. Yep. Spring has sprung where I live and I have the azaleas to prove it. My yard is this wonderful array of pink, coral, white, rose, and fuchsia poking it's head out from bright green. The horrible stick-figure of a "bush" called a Mountain or Oak Hydrangea is budding with fresh soft leaves and in another week or so it will be in its magnificent glory and make up for the pitifulness of it's winter nakedness. Birds are chirping merrily as they build their nests and my yard is slowly starting to turn from its neglected winter brown to an almost springy green.

All this color makes me want to put on soft lightweight clothes and don a hat while having a meandering romp on the beach, letting the still cold gulf waters tickle my bare toes. Therein lies the problem. I hate my wardrobe. I went through it yesterday and realized that aside from about three shirts and the same number of pants (none of which goes together) there is nothing in my closet that I truly want to wear. I want to be like Darcie Clover. Now before you go google Darcie Clover, you should know that she doesn't exist, well yet. Darcie is a character in one of my books and she wears soft linen pants, light woven shirts and large floppy straw hats. She's comfortable in her own skin and wears what is appealing to her. I wear what I have available. So I decided it was time for that DTOTY. I am going out and I am going to buy clothes. And not just what I find on the sales rack either. I'm going to buy what I want. Soft linen pants, light woven shirts, some shoes other than Crocs. And I'm going to buy the colors I want, not just those that are available at the stores, even if that means I have to go to the fabric store and actually make some of what I want. I have this wonderful image of lavender, orange, periwinkle, fuchsia and pink (yeah, don't ask how orange fits in there, even I don't know, but I do love orange so it gets thrown in there and I'll figure out how to make it all work).

So I'm off to conquer that DTOTY. There may be screaming. There may be cussing. There will most surely be the gnashing of teeth. I'm making sure I have a hanky in my pocket as I am counting on tears. And then I will come home and decide that I love everything I bought, but I need some spunky cute spring sweaters to go with them. Pray for me. Pray for the sales people I will run into today. And I will try to remember that it isn't the sales person's fault that what I want is not available. And since I'm probably not the first person this season who has tried to conquer that DTOTY, I will try to remain calm. But there better be ice cream when I return.

Oh and I promise a review of the new Spring Knitty when I get back.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Project Bags

So I decided that knitting on one pair of socks at a time wasn't good enough so now I have multiple pair of socks going at the same time. Problem 1. I have run out of knitting bags to hold individual projects. The problem is not that I have too many WIP's but that I have too few bags. (Actually, I will confess here that I really only have six "knitting bags" two of which are really purses that happen to hold knitting and one is the "community charity project bag" that gets taken to our local SnB. The rest of my bags are in various cars being used as reusable cloth shopping bags.) I have one bag that I carry most often, but when I do switch bags (in order to switch projects) I find that I am constantly having to also switch all my "stuff" with it. OK, "stuff" isn't a nice thing to call all those marvelous tools that you collect like small scissors, needle/gauge tools, stitch markers, measuring tapes, bobbins, etc. etc. etc. Now one could ponder the idea that maybe I need multiple notions bags for each purse, but that would totally defeat the purpose of screaming, "Where is my $*)# measuring tape!" really loudly in the bookstore. Now on to Problem 2. You open your knitting bag and it looks something like this:



(I kindly took the projects out of the bag for ease of seeing the mess.) Then Mion said to me, "Why don't you make smaller project bags?" DUH! Now why didn't I think of that? Oh yeah, because I'm 43 not 16 and have used up the majority of my gray matter for such useless things like remembering chocolate chip cookie recipes and how much olives are at three different stores. So Voila! I whip up some quick and easy project bags which look like this:



And like this when projects are in them:



And all organized with two balls of yarn on one long dpn complete with pattern:



Then Mion says, "These are really cool. You should put an applick on them and sell them on Etsy." An applick? What the heck was an applick? Seems as though someone forgot to notice the accent mark over the e in the word appliqué. So I thought about her Etsy idea and maybe putting an applick on them. I mean maybe everyone will want one of my little project bags and I could actually afford to go to Sock Summit.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Sock Summit

Sock Summit 2009


I really really really really really really really really really (is that enough really's? Nope) really really really want to go. Really. I mean it. The teacher list is amazing. Anna (OMG I thought she was dead) Zilboorg, Barbara (the queen) Walker, Cookie A, Star Athena, Melissa (2 at a time) Morgan-Oakes, Stephanie Pearl-McPHee, Charlene Schurch, Cat (oh wise one) Bordhi, and the list just goes on and on. A marketplace in the Oregon Convention Center and a sock hop in the Sunken Ballroom at the Portland Art Museum. What could be better? Oh, yeah, that it is being held in Portland (one of my favorite cities), Oregon where my friend Elaine lives and home to Powell's and a billion micro-breweries and sitting right on top of one of the most fertile wine regions in the country.

Right now flights are looking like they are going to run around $351 (and 11 cents to be exact with taxes and fees) which isn't so bad. Then there is the convention costs which haven't been announced yet, but I'm hazarding around $300. Still not too bad. I probably can stay with Elaine, so no housing costs other than taking them out for dinner a few times. I eat fairly cheaply, so no problem there either. (Here comes the problem) The Marketplace. Yep. I am going to be surrounded by smooshy fibers, yarns, spinning implements, needles, work holding thingies, stitch markers, books, and things I probably don't even know I will need until I actually get there and see them in person. And then I have to get these things home! I better go look to see what an extra suitcase is going to cost me.