Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Dobeedobeedoo
I'm taking a break from laundry to bring you a blog entry! In actuality, the previous dry load is all folded and put away, the wet load is in the dryer, and the new load is in the washer, so there's nothing laundry-wise to do for at least half an hour, but as very few people read this, actuality is of very little consequence.
Silas is napping - I'm trying to get him to take his morning nap earlier and earlier so that he won't sleep through lunch time at daycare. At daycare they eat lunch at 11:30. At home we eat lunch at 1:00. This is causing some conflict. Theoretically this should mean that I get Silas up earlier in the morning, but if I'm working a 2-11 shift, I can't wake up before 8 or I sleep through the drive home - and I'm the driver. It's very distressing.
I'm hard at work at swap stuff (not really, I'm blogging). Can't find my E-6000 glue . . .
Can someone explain to me how a darning needle can just up and walk away? Maybe it's having lunch with my glue (at the daycare, where they keep the meal schedules of the elderly . . . )
Anyway, I meant to tell a bit more about my knitting field trip to Rose Tree. Where to begin? "It's a clear night in Ancient Greece . . ."
This winter I joined the library's winter reading program, and at one of the activities I was suddenly inspired to see if I could rustle up any knitters in the bunch. So, while I was discoursing on a novel I had read, I managed to drop the term "yarn swap." Sure enough, someone took the bait. As we were leaving, a woman, Mikki, approached me and asked if I were a knitter. Hallelujah! I gave her my phone number and my Ravelry ID, and we exchanged a couple of messages on Rav, but for a while just went on our merry way.
A couple of months ago, I was out walking the baby (as you do), and as I was leaving the local crafters' boutique, I was utterly surprised by a building.
Now, buildings don't suddenly appear out of nowhere. Especially buildings that are sandwiched neatly between the Daily Herald and the H&R Block. I stood there staring at it for a long time, utterly unable to remember what had been there before, and wondering if perhaps it had always been a coffeehouse, and I was like unto the muggles, whose eyes always slide from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other, and never seem to notice the Leaky Cauldron. My next thought was magical traveling music shop. Of course it's always been there, but was it always there yesterday? I swallowed my social anxiety, went inside, ordered an iced chai, and asked. It turns out that Greene Bean Coffee, while a pillar of the community as a local business at the Farmer's Market and online, only set up shop two weeks prior to my stumbling across it. So I'm not crazy, a muggle, or Corporal Nobbs, I'm just not getting out of the house enough.
The first thing I did when I got home was to . . . well, eat my Chinese takeaway meal. THEN I did a brave thing (as far as my shyness rates it), and sent a message to Mikki, because in my mind, coffee shop = knitting group meeting place! We met, we knitted, we chatted, we learned that certain patterns don't work well for knitting and talking at the same time, and it was all just delicious (coffee included).
Long story short (too late!), she knew other knitters, we met other times, and when I saw on FB that the RTFS was having a Click-Along, I sent out word of a potential field trip, we went, fun times were had by all, hats were knitted for a good cause, and Mikki generously gave forth from her stash some yarn that she was no longer using, and thus now I have Noro and beads and my eye on the Shipwreck Shawl, as soon as this swapping business is done.
Back to the laundry!
Silas is napping - I'm trying to get him to take his morning nap earlier and earlier so that he won't sleep through lunch time at daycare. At daycare they eat lunch at 11:30. At home we eat lunch at 1:00. This is causing some conflict. Theoretically this should mean that I get Silas up earlier in the morning, but if I'm working a 2-11 shift, I can't wake up before 8 or I sleep through the drive home - and I'm the driver. It's very distressing.
I'm hard at work at swap stuff (not really, I'm blogging). Can't find my E-6000 glue . . .
Can someone explain to me how a darning needle can just up and walk away? Maybe it's having lunch with my glue (at the daycare, where they keep the meal schedules of the elderly . . . )
Anyway, I meant to tell a bit more about my knitting field trip to Rose Tree. Where to begin? "It's a clear night in Ancient Greece . . ."
This winter I joined the library's winter reading program, and at one of the activities I was suddenly inspired to see if I could rustle up any knitters in the bunch. So, while I was discoursing on a novel I had read, I managed to drop the term "yarn swap." Sure enough, someone took the bait. As we were leaving, a woman, Mikki, approached me and asked if I were a knitter. Hallelujah! I gave her my phone number and my Ravelry ID, and we exchanged a couple of messages on Rav, but for a while just went on our merry way.
A couple of months ago, I was out walking the baby (as you do), and as I was leaving the local crafters' boutique, I was utterly surprised by a building.
Now, buildings don't suddenly appear out of nowhere. Especially buildings that are sandwiched neatly between the Daily Herald and the H&R Block. I stood there staring at it for a long time, utterly unable to remember what had been there before, and wondering if perhaps it had always been a coffeehouse, and I was like unto the muggles, whose eyes always slide from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other, and never seem to notice the Leaky Cauldron. My next thought was magical traveling music shop. Of course it's always been there, but was it always there yesterday? I swallowed my social anxiety, went inside, ordered an iced chai, and asked. It turns out that Greene Bean Coffee, while a pillar of the community as a local business at the Farmer's Market and online, only set up shop two weeks prior to my stumbling across it. So I'm not crazy, a muggle, or Corporal Nobbs, I'm just not getting out of the house enough.
The first thing I did when I got home was to . . . well, eat my Chinese takeaway meal. THEN I did a brave thing (as far as my shyness rates it), and sent a message to Mikki, because in my mind, coffee shop = knitting group meeting place! We met, we knitted, we chatted, we learned that certain patterns don't work well for knitting and talking at the same time, and it was all just delicious (coffee included).
Long story short (too late!), she knew other knitters, we met other times, and when I saw on FB that the RTFS was having a Click-Along, I sent out word of a potential field trip, we went, fun times were had by all, hats were knitted for a good cause, and Mikki generously gave forth from her stash some yarn that she was no longer using, and thus now I have Noro and beads and my eye on the Shipwreck Shawl, as soon as this swapping business is done.
Back to the laundry!
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Oh dear
Poor neglected little blog. Have you missed me? I've missed you, though I haven't much to say.
I've been busy throwing my time away with swaps. Stalking and crafting and brainstorming are just sucking my brain dry, and all the energy I have left is for work. At work I create myriads of lists of swap-possibilities. I just want to get some mail - is that so bad?
Before swaps, there were purple baby hats.
Those are the ten purple baby hats that I knitted and crocheted for the Period of Purple Crying Click-Along at the Rose Tree Fiber Shop in Ames. I was a purple-hat-making machine! Unfortunately, not a picture-taking machine, but there's only so much you can do with limited skills and bad lighting.
Hat the first:
The Little Knight Hat, right off the Click-Along website. Twisted rib, somewhat absurdly tight gauge (fault mine), tiny hat. Red Heart Super Saver, "Lavender" colorway. Garnered lots of "Awwwww!"s.
Hat the second:
The plum or eggplant hat, better known as the Berry Baby Hat. This one came out somewhat more on the oversized size. I used RHSS, "Amethyst" and "Spring Green"
Hat the third:
Luuk hat the first. Verrrry tiny. Very mindless knitting. RHSS "Lavender"
Hat the fourth:
. . . had a model! Gabriella Rose, daughter of good friends Carlin and Angel. About six weeks old. Ridiculous amount of hair. Looked a bit like Miss Cleo in this wee little crocheted butterfly beanie - Olivia's Butterfly. It's meant to be worn with the butterfly over one eyebrow for a jaunty, cloche-like look, but with the butterfly centered over the forehead, it looks like a wee turban, especially on a dark-haired little gypsy babe. Red Heart Sport, "Purple." I left off a few increases and rows to make it infant-sized, came out very tiny indeed.
Hat the fifth:
Rosa Villosa. I went out on a limb for this one after all that easy crochet and used sock yarn for this one. Lion Brand Sock-Ease, "Grape Soda" colorway, to be precise. The stem is in Zitron Trekking XXL, "Wicked Green." This hat was too adorable for words, and worked up much more quickly than I expected given the much finer yarn and tiny little needles.
Hat the sixth:
Luuk hat the second. After a failed first attempt, finally managed to read the directions correctly and make the 0-3 month size instead of the newborn size (which on my needles turns out more of a preemie size). RHSS, "Amethyst"
Hat the seventh:
Ashen hat. Love the moss-stitch brim. Another one in RHSS "Lavender."
Hat the eighth:
Otis Baby Hat. RHSS "Lavender" again. I had a lot of false starts with this one - I think ribbing would have worked better for the brim than the garter stitch did - even using smaller needles for the brim didn't solve the warping issue that you can kind of see here. I love the big fat cables, though.
Hat the ninth:
One more quick crocheted hat, Flower Hat/Photo Prop, in Red Heart Sport, "Purple," and Caron Simply Soft Brites, "Limelight." Very cute, came out enormous.
Hat the tenth:
Baby Tart. This one took the longest - I started it shortly after I began the first hat, and finished it at the Click-Along. The bobbles were murder - all that purling! It went much more smoothly once I slowed down and concentrated on knitting loosely. Unspeakably adorable result, sadly difficult to get a good picture of. Caron Simply soft in "Plum Perfect" and "Bone."
I've been busy throwing my time away with swaps. Stalking and crafting and brainstorming are just sucking my brain dry, and all the energy I have left is for work. At work I create myriads of lists of swap-possibilities. I just want to get some mail - is that so bad?
Before swaps, there were purple baby hats.
Those are the ten purple baby hats that I knitted and crocheted for the Period of Purple Crying Click-Along at the Rose Tree Fiber Shop in Ames. I was a purple-hat-making machine! Unfortunately, not a picture-taking machine, but there's only so much you can do with limited skills and bad lighting.
Hat the first:
The Little Knight Hat, right off the Click-Along website. Twisted rib, somewhat absurdly tight gauge (fault mine), tiny hat. Red Heart Super Saver, "Lavender" colorway. Garnered lots of "Awwwww!"s.
Hat the second:
The plum or eggplant hat, better known as the Berry Baby Hat. This one came out somewhat more on the oversized size. I used RHSS, "Amethyst" and "Spring Green"
Hat the third:
Luuk hat the first. Verrrry tiny. Very mindless knitting. RHSS "Lavender"
Hat the fourth:
. . . had a model! Gabriella Rose, daughter of good friends Carlin and Angel. About six weeks old. Ridiculous amount of hair. Looked a bit like Miss Cleo in this wee little crocheted butterfly beanie - Olivia's Butterfly. It's meant to be worn with the butterfly over one eyebrow for a jaunty, cloche-like look, but with the butterfly centered over the forehead, it looks like a wee turban, especially on a dark-haired little gypsy babe. Red Heart Sport, "Purple." I left off a few increases and rows to make it infant-sized, came out very tiny indeed.
Hat the fifth:
Rosa Villosa. I went out on a limb for this one after all that easy crochet and used sock yarn for this one. Lion Brand Sock-Ease, "Grape Soda" colorway, to be precise. The stem is in Zitron Trekking XXL, "Wicked Green." This hat was too adorable for words, and worked up much more quickly than I expected given the much finer yarn and tiny little needles.
Hat the sixth:
Luuk hat the second. After a failed first attempt, finally managed to read the directions correctly and make the 0-3 month size instead of the newborn size (which on my needles turns out more of a preemie size). RHSS, "Amethyst"
Hat the seventh:
Ashen hat. Love the moss-stitch brim. Another one in RHSS "Lavender."
Hat the eighth:
Otis Baby Hat. RHSS "Lavender" again. I had a lot of false starts with this one - I think ribbing would have worked better for the brim than the garter stitch did - even using smaller needles for the brim didn't solve the warping issue that you can kind of see here. I love the big fat cables, though.
Hat the ninth:
One more quick crocheted hat, Flower Hat/Photo Prop, in Red Heart Sport, "Purple," and Caron Simply Soft Brites, "Limelight." Very cute, came out enormous.
Hat the tenth:
Baby Tart. This one took the longest - I started it shortly after I began the first hat, and finished it at the Click-Along. The bobbles were murder - all that purling! It went much more smoothly once I slowed down and concentrated on knitting loosely. Unspeakably adorable result, sadly difficult to get a good picture of. Caron Simply soft in "Plum Perfect" and "Bone."
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