After a day of dyeing

This is what I have to show for it:





These are just my practice skeins but I like what came out. I can't wait to get started on the other skeins I have so I can get the shop up an running.

Unfortunately I drank a little much last night and I'm feeling the effects of it today. I ordered in a bagel and coffee (god I love New York City) and I'm just going to lie on the couch till I feel human again. Or at least till 2 when I have to run downtown and look at the swatches for my dress.

Long Day

I spent the day at my mom's dyeing yarn, going to the sale at Knitting Nation and picking up my computer. I made if home in time to meet my friends before they headed out to Queens to my friend Amy's going away party at this beer garden. Then we headed back into the city to go to another going away party and then I went home. I passed out on the couch dreaming of new yarn colors. I just woke up and decided to go to the actual bed. Its time for me to sleep.

Before I go though, I found that battery charger for my camera so there will be all sorts of pictures soon and the new computer is awesome. This is going to make blogging much easier.

ok nite nite

Its too darn hot.

I spent the weekend trying to stay indoors. Friday we just bummed around the house after work having cocktails and watching TV. I got the urge to start spinning again and spent sometime with my spindle. I also spent a lot of time working on the Trellis and Pear Cylinder. I'm maybe half way done and I'm really loving it. The 100% Alpaca wool is beautiful and really warm. My hands starting sweating on Saturday while I was knitting. The rest of the weekend was filled with more knitting and more spinning. Saturday night we ventured out to have dinner with our friends. I think we all had a little too much to drink but it was a good time as usually.

Sunday was possibly the hottest day all weekend and that was the day I decided to go shopping with my friend Jess. I needed a dress for this pretty swanky party I'm going to in August (more details to come, its pretty exciting) and she had found a few indie designers that might work so we made a date to go shopping. The subway is about a 15 minute walk from my apartment and yesterday was not the day to do this walk. I was in a heat induced coma by the time I got to the station and I was actually sweating (which is something I don't really do). The place we went to was great. There were lots of little stalls with different designers some did clothing, some jewelry some accessories. It was fun. After escaping from this super pushy women who keep trying to sell my things I didn't want and were super short I found a lady who was making more classic and beautiful things and at the back of her rack I found the perfect dress. She's cutting me a new dress that's smaller on top and a bit bigger on the bottom so it fits me perfectly! Finally something that will fit my tiny ass torso and my big ass at the same time! She's even dyeing the dress to match the shoes I wanted to wear with it. I can't wait to show you all how it turns out.

Speaking of dyeing, my dye finally arrived and now I'm just itching to start dyeing. I have about a pound of yarn from knitpicks to just play around with and then I have 5lbs of nice yarn from wool2dye4.com that I can't wait to use. I have to go to mom's this weekend anyway to pick up our new computer so I think I'll spend sometime there dyeing and playing around in the backyard. I'll probably get yelled at for being messy. She was always getting on me about the messes that always seemed to be made while I was "being creative". I'm also sure she'll find someway to "correct" my dyeing technique even though she's never done this herself but now we're getting into my mother issues and this is a knitting blog not a therapy session. Bottom line, she's crazy but I love her.

Anyway, I'd love to post some pictures of my spinning and knitting and pounds of yarn but I can't find the camera charger anywhere. Hopefully I didn't leave it in San Francisco.

Speaking of spinning, I almost forgot, I really want to get a charkha wheel because it will actually fit in my apartment and I usually use finer weight yarns so it would be nice to spin on something that is more tailored to that kind of yarn. Has anyone used one of these or does anyone have one of these? I really want the The Authentic Gandhi Charkha Wheel but I'm not sure what I should get. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

So many things have been shipped

I have gotten a lot of emails this week telling me my purchases have shipped. I have on the way dyes and some yarn from knit picks, 5lbs of yarn from wool2dye4.com, severly dozen squirt bottles and some secret gifts for my secret pal. I can't wait for everything to get her so I can start dyeing. I've already started working out colorways in my head. I ordered a couple different kinds of sock yarn and will see which I like the most to work with and the next shippment will not be as diverse. I hope people like what I do, otherwise I will have TONS of yarn, which isn't really a bad thing.

A FO, a new project and a little whining

Last night we went to a corporate event at the MoMA to see their new exhibit Home Delivery. We got there and I think there were more people at the event then there normally are when you just go to the museum. The upside was that they were serving lots of booze. We grabbed a drink and hung out by the little pool they have out in the sculpture garden and people watched for a while. The exhibit it all about modern design and in particular prefab houses. They are building a couple prefabs on the MoMA lots which I’m assuming you can tour but since this event was a few days before the actually exhibit opens we didn’t get to look at the actual houses. There is another exhibit on the 6^th floor relating to this whole prefab thing so we checked that out after we got tired of commenting on some of the lovely outfits we saw. There were so many people in the exhibit though that I started to get a little overwhelmed so we decided to leave and come back after the exhibit opens. It was all very interesting but I just couldn’t take all the people.

I finally took some pictures of the Somewhat Cowl but only one is really worth showing you and frankly its not even that nice. Maybe when I find the charger and Carl’s home I can have him take a few good pictures. I like the way it turned out but the gauge was a little big from the get-go so it doesn’t fit perfectly. I tried to compensate for the gauge by knitting a smaller size and I am happy with the way it turned out. Next time I make thing (and I think there may be a next time) I will actually use DK weight and not worsted like I did for this one. It needs to be washed and blocked a little bit but I’ll do that this weekend sometime. Its not like I’m going to be able to wear it anytime soon what with it being a cashmere blend and hot as freaking hell.

I started the trellis and pear cylinder by Sarah Hood on Monday and I’m liking the way it’s knitting up. I’m using the alpaca lace weight I bought in San Francisco. It’s a little hairy so the stitch definition isn’t as nice as I would like but I know it will be super warm come winter so I’m not going to complain. I do need to purchase some pointer needles because the ones I picked up at Stitches East are crap when I have to knit 2 together. But I’ve managed to do 4 or 5 repeats and though it is fiddly its working.

I’m most excited to tell you about the knitting retreat I signed up for. November 1^st and 2^nd I will be in Alexandria, VA doing this. I really can’t wait. I’ve never done a knitting retreat before and I’ve had this book on my wishlist at amazon for a while now just waiting for it to come out. I hope to learn a lot and maybe meet a few new knitter friends!

Our laptop is dying a slow and painful death and its really starting to annoy me. We tried to get a new one this weekend but Best Buy was out of the one we want and they said it would be on the truck for delivery on Tuesday. My mom was going to pick it up for us yesterday but they didn’t come on that truck. The next shipment will be tomorrow so I hope she can pick one up for us and get everything installed so I can pick it up this weekend. A new computer will make blogging so much easier. I really can’t wait.

I’ve been so tired this week all I want to do is sleep. People are honking like crazy outside right now and its really pissing me off. I’m too tired and worn out to listen to the lovely sounds of Manhattan right now. I wish I could sit on a porch somewhere quiet and have a nice cold cocktail. Oh well I guess I’ll have to deal with having my cocktail on our couch listening to the sounds a jackasses honking. Ok I’m off to knit. If there are any typos here I’m sorry I’m really too tired to proof read this. Have a good night!

Woo Done!

I finished knitting the somewhat cowl yesterday on the train ride back from my mom's house. I still have to sew in all the ends and hem the neckline so I won't have any pictures for you till then BUT the knitting is done! I don't know when I'll be able to do any of the finishing since I will be spending the day decorating my friends apartment because he's useless when it comes to those things.

We went home yesterday to clean out all the tents from the camping trip. Mom didn't appreciate us turning her back town into a shanty town drying station but she understood at least. We also got a chance to run some suburbia like errands while we were there. We went to the mall and got Carl new sunglasses and I went to Home Depot to get stain and sealer for my niddy noddy. We also went to BestBuy to try and buy a new computer but the one we want is out of stock in almost every BesyBuy in Rockland County and Bergen County. The store in Paramus, NJ is getting 5 in this week and my mom said she'd run down and pick one up for us this week and install all the software for us. It's great having a techie for a mom! It was a great day, we even squeezed in a yarn store visit. I didn't get yarn I just picked up a pattern had been waiting for and I'm going to cast on (and show you all what it is) as soon as I get new #3 and #4 needles. I can't seem to find the ones I own.

Anyway I must get some coffee in me stat! Have a great Sunday!

Posh Nosh

I love it check it out.

Taking that next step

The somewhat cowl is winding down. I have another 2.5 inches of ribbing to knit and then I can bindoff and start the finishing. When my big, non-sock projects, are nearing completion I usually start to think about the next one and this time is no different. I purchased my second Elizabeth Zimmerman book Knitting without Tears a few weeks back and since then I have been wanting to design my own seamless EZ sweater with some fair isle type yoke. I purchased two Shelia McGregor books (Traditional Fair Isle Knitting and Traditinal Scandinavian Knitting) the other day on amazon and they arrived today. I'm eager to sit down and read through these and start designing. It will take awhile before I will have a tolerable plan for this sweater and maybe this is a huge undertaking for my first design project but I'm really looking forward to the challenge. I'm sure there will be many nights spent cursing my yarn and needles but I can't wait. The finish product could be rather lovely and I know it could also be hideous but I'm just going to have to sit back and see what happens.



Happy Friday people! And happy knitting!

Plurk me!

Thanks to Lime n' Violet I have started to plurk and boy is it time consuming.

I have spent today really thinking about setting up a little shop over at etsy to sell some hand dyed yarn and when I got home I started purchasing the essentials. We're heading up to Cape Cod in August to see my Gram and I hope to have a whole bunch of yarn and junk ready to head up there with me so I can dye dye dye. I wonder if the family would like to help? It could be interesting, especially when cocktail hour starts at about 5/6 pm when we're there. I hope to have enough "stock" by the end of August to be able to open up a little etsy store so keep an eye for updates. I can't wait, this will be so much fun!

Why is it that I'm always playing catch up?

Once again I’m behind on my weekly questions for Secret Pal 12 so let’s catch up shall we…

1) What yarn (that you don't have/haven't used) would make your stash "complete"?

Oh what a hard question…I’d love to try some Wollmeise and I’ve never had any Socks that Rock ooo maybe some Malabrigo. I have a pattern to make these awesome loafers and boots that are made from Malabrigo worsted. OOO and I’d love to knit something for 100% cashmere.

2) What yarn do you never want to be without?

Any sock yarn that’s yummy, I know yummy is a pretty general term but the sockwhores know what I’m talking about. That’s right I just called myself a sockwhore, I’m ok with this. As long as I have sock yarn I can knit something. Even if I don’t have a pattern I can knit up a quick pair of very basic socks. And I have to have some Debbie Bliss Pure Silk just for petting purposes.

3) Where is your favorite place to go for vacation/holiday?

I think my favorite place for vacation is Cape Cod. My grandparents moved up there when I was really young and built a house. Even before that we used to go up to Nickerson State Park in the summers and camp with them. So I’ve pretty much spent every summer (till this whole adult working thing) on the Cape. It was so much fun when we used to camp up there before they built the house. They used to setup a little cleaning station and I would make the water all bubbly and do the dishes all day long. This story shocks Carl because now I will not touch the dishes and he has to clean them all. I never liked washing dishes I just liked the bubbles. I also remember sleeping in the camper with my dad because I was too young to sleep in the tent with my brother and my cousin Jeff. I would lie there next to my dad (6’3” probably close to 200 lbs) and think “if he rolls over I’m dead!”. He’s since told me that he used to lie there thinking “If I roll over she’s dead!” its nice to know we were both aware of the potential dangers of our sleeping arrangements. We had so much fun on those camping trips, maybe that's why I love camping even now. We kids would go to the store and buy as much Big League Chew as we could afford and see how much we could chew at one time, we’d swim in the ponds and be a general menace to society. Oh and we'd go to the drive-in...I love the drive-in Once they built the house the only thing that changed was that we got to shower more frequently. I still love going up there to see my Gram. In fact, all my knitting has inspired her to get back to her knitting and she’s started making hats for her church to give out to those in need. But what she really wants to do is make socks just like her granddaughter...I'm going to turn my Gram into a sockwhore soon! My Gram is awesome!

4) Where is one place you'd like to go?

One place? Just one?? Oh there are so many but I think the one place I really want to see if Vietnam, or maybe Tibet, or India…or Morocco…I’d love to see the Temples of the Black Pharaohs in the Sudan but that doesn’t look like it will happen anytime soon…oh there are just too many fun and interesting places in the world…can say everywhere?

Oh yah there’s a contest you should check out over at Monniblog she’s celebrating her 1,000^th post…crazy huh?

Home with nothing to do

I took a sick day today because I woke without much of a voice and I don’t think it’s really appropriate to be talking to clients sounding like a drag queen. So I’m spending the day knitting my somewhat cowl. I have finished one sleeve and have moved on to the second one then I just need to do the ribbing at the neckline and its done!

Camping was fun and relaxing but the rain that came through Delaware on Friday was a bit of a pain. Since we were there with a lot of non-campers we had to do a lot of hand holding that night. I’m still shocked that no one ran out in the night and got a hotel room. It was very bad rain and the town lost power for 6 hours so I wouldn’t have blamed them. Saturday started off pretty crappy so we went to waffle house in the morning and then bowled all day. It cleared up eventually and we spent our last night around a roaring campfire. There was some insane drama that took place which I will not discuss because I’m trying not to think about it too much but let’s just say one of the friends is no longer part of the cirlce because he kind of crossed the line and attacked me with his words and his beer. All in all it was a fine weekend, when you take that little drama filled bit out.

I promised pics of my vacation yarns. Since I have nothing else to do today I finally got around to taking pictures.

I got some Rio de la Plata sock yarn

Some sari yarn from art fibers which is just yummy:

Some Prima Alpaca which is super soft:

And some Aurora Yarns Whisper 100% Merino lace weight:

Now it’s back to the couch to watch The Vicar of Dibley.

Silver Lining

Do you ever have one of those weeks where nothing seems to go smoothly? You feel like a constant failure and you want to sit in bed and hide because if you know that if you actually leave and try to do something you'll fuck it up and want to cry but you can't cry at work because it's not professional so you'd just have to mutter to yourself and feel awful the rest of the day...that's been my week so far. BUT things are looking up. I got to see my knitting group last night for the first time in a long time. My friend and fellow knitter Sarah was back in town and not only did I get to knit with her, she came and crashed on my couch so I got to spend even more time with her which was awesome. Today wasn't as bad AND I'm off the rest of the weekend.

We're going camping with some of Carl's friends down in Delaware for the holiday weekend. I'm so happy to have time to relax, read, knit, eat many meat products, drink, hike, swim...it will be like summer camp for adults. I really can't wait.

I know I promised you pictures of my new yarns but I just can't right now. So I'm going to finish my cocktail, work on my somewhat cowl and watch some Ghost Hunters. I hope you all have an awesome weekend and I promise to be a better blogger and in a better mood when I get back.