Yikes.

I got a new camera for Christmas this year. Nothing fancy - in fact, less fancy even than the point and shoot my husband and I have been fighting over sharing, even. But it's wee, and easy, and lacking my least favorite feature of the other - the power button is no longer in the spot my finger thinks should be the shutter button. Three cheers for not accidentally turning off my camera anymore!

The new camera, combined with my usual New Year's urge to de-clutter, re-organize and just basically clean stuff up, meant I spent all day yesterday pulling out the stash, photographing it and jotting down its vital signs. Today was painfully slow at work, so I spent most of the day entering the newly photographed yarn into Ravelry, marking off the ones I'm willing or happy to part with.

The final tally is a sobering number, as I've calculated out the mileage. While not as bad as many, I'd say that nearly 20 miles of yarn in my wee little house may be a wee bit more than I need. Of that, about 13 miles is yarn I really want to keep, and the stuff I'm happy to see go to new homes makes up almost 7 miles. All the to-go yarns are sequestered in their own big Ziploc bag, and there's a Stash Bash to which they'll get carried at the end of the month if I've not moved my posterior about selling them before them.

That leaves me with a dresser full of yarn that I really do love.

I think this is the year that I focus on trying to knit from the stash full of yarns I adore instead of having my head turned by all the pretty shiny new yarns I come across. We'll see how well that works for me. It shouldn't be that hard to start, as right now, having it all laid out in front of me like fresh sparking new yarn, my main problem is that I can't decide where to start, but we'll see how well I can stick to it once the like-new freshness wears off again.

To close, on this chilly New Year's Eve, I'd like to wish you all the happiest of new years to come!

Phew!

I made it.

I survived the Christmas knitting. I might, just maybe, have finished the last present while parking in the driveway at my grandparents (husband drove too fast, darn him), but all the gifts I'd planned to give were put into their recipient's hands finished!

To recap, I finished:

Mountain Stream Scarf for my me-mere. Knit with one skein of Zephyr from a Touch of Twist





Boot socks for my Dad (garter rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks) in Dale Falk, grey and black



Two Chapeau Marnier, both in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport - one berry, one chocolate, for my mom and my sister.






Counterpoint for my music teacher brother. Knit with Cascade 220 Superwash.



Unoriginal Hat for my sister-in-law Kati. Knit in Plymouth Italia Fingerpaint that I had marinating in my stash.



Lastly, and sadly, picture-less, is the Ristra for my mom-in-law. In my hurry to get her stuff packaged up, I managed to forget to snap a picture of the darn thing. Trust me, it was cute!

My reward for all the holiday completion around here?

I finally got to knit up the yarn I spun for Ms. Widget when I was at yarn school. I've been dying to knit this up since I got back in September. It was everything I hoped it would be.

Hat:


Scarf:


She loves them and I'm just wishing I had enough of the yarn to make a set for myself!

Know that we're done with the insanity of the holiday knitting, and I've excavated my desk for more easy computer usage at home, I'm hoping I'll make it back to posting more frequently.

I'll leave you with a pic of my vote for funniest present of the holiday, for the shirt my one brother Nick, gave my other brother, James.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving here - we drove down to see my parents in CT. Miraculously, there was nearly no traffic either way (and if you're familiar with the Mass Pike to I-84 holiday route, you know that that really IS a miracle). Food was delicious, even if there were turnips on the table (Ick! Ptooooie!) and the company was delightful.

I had to work Wednesday and today, and even actually had stuff that I had to do, so there was little slacking in my week. There's less in next week, and then's it's the holiday season in earnest. Yikes!

One the thought of things to be thankful for, I want to make a shout-out to some good customer service from Simply Socks Yarn Company. I ordered some yarn from them - a couple of skeins for my Secret Pal, and then a couple of skeins for Christmas presents. Did a happy dance when my box came super quick, but then was completely puzzled when I opened the box to find that what I had was totally not at all what I'd ordered. hmmmmm.

I e-mailed them back Sunday night, and had a response back from them before noon on Monday - with an apology and a promise to have the right stuff in the mail that day - with a postage paid mailer to send the incorrect yarn back. I've already gotten my replacement yarn, and I am a happy customer. For me, the true test of customer service is how well a company reacts when there's a problem, and these folks definitely win on this one.

Woah!

I got my second and final box from my SP 11 Secret Pal over the weekend. (Thank goodness I had a friend coming over to feed the fish, and the box didn't have to live outside over the weekend.)

She's been ill, and had asked if I minded getting two boxes in one, instead of two smaller boxes. I did not care, so I got one big box full of all kinds of fantabulous goodies.

She wrapped things in green and in white to denote which "package" they were from, which I thought was a really cute touch. Now, I think I got things grouped in their right groups, but I have to admit, I opened ALL the packages before worrying about the picture taking, so I might have mixed them up.

First, we have the "green box"


Truffled Walnuts (amazingly, I've not torn into them yet), Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac and a copy of the Baby Surprise sweater pattern and three balls of KnitPicks Palette in white and two fabulous shades of green. I love the Baby Surprise, and had totally lost my copy of the pattern - this one is nicer by FAR, and it's already safely tucked in my pattern book, never to be lost. I've been dying to make one of the wee baby sweaters from the pattern in Almanac, and since there's at least 4 more babies coming into my life this spring, it's going to get put to very good use.

After that, we still had the "white box" to unwrap. (If I'd been smart, I'd have spaced them out for more presents over more days - wait, who am I KIDDING? There's no way I could have waited.)


We have two big skeins of lovely natural Brown Sheep - the type of yarn isn't labelled, but it's a single and it's soft and snuggly. It's lovely. A skein of Noro Cash Iroha in the most divine purple (there was no way I could get the color right in the pictures) and a printout of the Calorimetry pattern from Knitty, which WOULD be a great use of the Iroha, I agree.

The best treat of the whole box, though? Those needles. Handmade knitting needles. They are divine, and have such a great pointy tip on them. I can't wait to use them for some lace.

Overall, an excellent (two) packages, and a wonderful awesome pal.

Thanks, Frances!

Weekend

The husband and I drove down to DC this past weekend for a wedding. We drove after work on Thursday (a traffic avoidance strategy that worked rather well) and had most of Friday to goof off in the city.

We decided to go down and wander the Mall and visit the various monuments and memorials.

I mostly decided to get in Wiley's way.

See?



We visited the WWII, Korean and Vietnam Memorials. They were all amazing. There was no goofing off.

We visited Mr. Lincoln, which was awesome. I simply love that building.

After that, we visited Mr Einstein. He's an awesome statue tucked away in a little corner near the Mall. My sock decided it wanted to sit on his lap.

See?



After that, we wandered down towards the White House and found some really good lunch at this restaurant called Teaism. I had something called Ochazuke.

See?



It was delicious and perfect after walking around a very wind-blown DC.

After that, we headed for wedding rehearsal stuff, and then had the wedding on Saturday, and it was truly lovely.

A long drive home on Sunday, but I got almost all the peppers for the ristra knitted up. Sadly, I didn't take a picture of them.

See?

Sock needles and gauge

Quickie post tonight, since I'm trying to get packed up for traveling tomorrow night.

I mentioned using size 0 needles for my monkey socks a couple posts ago, and Ariel sounded kind of aghast at the idea. That seems to be my "standard" for socks - and I usually get anywhere between 8.5 and 10 stitches to the inch. Makes it tough to knit sock patterns, since I never get their gauge and I have wide feet and pudgy ankles, making me double cursed.

But it gives me the kind of sock fabric that I like, so it's what I do. WHat's your "standard"?

And a moment of ranting about that sock pattern thing, if I may? What the HECK is up with the million sock patterns that simply have you change needle sizes to increase size? That drives me INSANE.

Christmas knitting

After many years of refusing to do Christmas knitting, this year, I'm feeling inspired.

Don't ask me why, and I realize that it probably means I'm insane. I do have two round trips to the DC area coming up this month - since we're driving, that's more than 30 hours of knitting time in 4 days, so provided I can stay awake, I'm going to have lots more knitting time than usual.

Here's the current plan, and list.

Me-mere - Mountain Stream Scarf that I've already posted about. It's a little less than 20% done now.

Brother 1 - CounterPoint scarf He's a music teacher, so I think this'll be perfect. Totally unstarted, but I have the yarn.

Brother 2 - Totally stumped, but we may be joint gifting him with a laptop so he can keep in touch while out on the road (he's a newly-minted truck driver), so it may not matter. If not, anyone have any suggestions for a 25 year old Metallica-loving truck driver?

Dad - grey and black boot socks, my own design. Totally unstarted, but I have the yarn.

Mom and Sister - Chapeau Marnier, one in chocolate brown, the other in raspberry. They're getting the same, because they look a lot alike, and I think it'll be really flattering on both of them. Yarn is inbound, since I've decided I don't like the yarn I settled for at Webs last weekend.

Sister-in-Law - if I still have time, Odessa in a lovely charcoal silk alpaca I have marinating in my stash.

Mother-in-Law - I found a nifty knitted chile pepper ristra that I think she would just love. Not started, I have the yarn.

That's a totally achievable list, right?

Hey. Stop laughing!

I wanna be a Monkey!

Every time I think about these socks, that song (if you can call it a song) pops into my head.

Monkey, monkey monkey, I wanna be a monkey!

Ahem. Darned earworms.

Anyway, like everyone else in the entire knitting universe, I am knitting myself a pair of Monkeys. They're the companion to the fancy lace scarf, for when I need easy knitting that takes no braining. And I love 'em. Can't wait to get to wear 'em.

Wanna see?



It's not the best picture, but it'll do, right? The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill, colorway Sugar Maple, knitting on size 0 needles.

The picture is from last week, so imagine that I'm about a half repeat away from starting the toe decreases.

And one advantage of being a product knitter? I almost never get second sock syndrome, because I want the damn socks too much to delay.

Weekend

What a lovely and relaxing weekend we had here.

Dropped Ms. Widget off at my Dad's on Friday night, stayed down in CT for the overnight, then drove up to Northampton for the day on Saturday. Breakfast at Sylvester's (good, but not worth the absurd wait), then shopping at Webs for a bit (all buying for holiday presents, I was good) where Wiley very much appreciated the comfy chairs where he could read his book instead of being terribly bored.

After Webs we went to an open studios exhibit in Florence, where I pre-ordered the new Rhymes with Orange book and go postcards of my most favorite cartoons of hers, ever. Didn't really find much else to buy. After that we went to East Heaven hot tubs and soaked, and then indulged in massages at the new adjacent spa. Highly recommended as a relaxing afternoon diversion.

We met up with some friends who live out that away for a little while, then drove back to Boston and had a giant late night sushi dinner.

This morning was brunch at Suzanne's, which Wiley decided to tag along to with me.

By the time I got home, Widget had arrived home with my Dad, and we spent the evening hanging out together.

I've gotten another repeat knit on the scarf, so I'm back to where I was, so just use that picture to imagine it, without the mistake this time. Wooo! And with all the car knitting, I'm most of the way through my first Monkey sock. Double woo!

This week, must wind lots of yarn so I have all the yarn I'll need for the round trip to DC in the car this coming weekend.

A trip to the Frog Pond.

Now that I've finished the Knit-a-Thon squares, I'm heading straight into Christmas knitting. I've avoided holiday knitting in the past, but this year, I am somewhat inspired. Most of my immediate family is going to get a small-medium sized knitted gift paired with a donation to an appropriate charity, as long as I can stay on task.

(I get to go to Webs this weekend to get all the rest of the yarn I need for this task. I have to get my list written up, so that I don't go insane once I get inside, since that is far, far too easy to do once one gets there, I find.)

The first project, since I have everything for it, is a Mountain Stream scarf for my Me-mere.

This is what it looked like on Wednesday morning.


Do you see what's wrong with it?


Knitterly denial was in full force, until I held it up for Wiley Wednesday night, and before I could say "How bad does this really look?", he asked "Wow, what happened to that?"

Alrighty then. There it is.

Somehow I had double yarn-overed on the border, and I'd knitted about ten more rows before I realized it. I tried just knitting the extra stitch together with it's neighbor, but the extra stitch and the sudden decrease seemed to be making the border shaping weird. I'm not exactly sure why I thought that I could drop the stitch and have it work out better, but I did. I fiddled around for a bit, trying to get the surrounding stitches to absorb the extra yarn, but there was no saving it.

Of course, I'm all cocky about lace these days, and hadn't bothered with a lifeline or three (this is EASY lace! I won't mess it up! Yeah, right!), so I had to rip it with no lifeline.

Somehow, I managed it, got all the stitches picked back up properly. I'd had to rip out about a repeat and a half of the pattern, so I worked back up to the end of the repeat (my goal for this baby is one repeat a night until it's finished. If I can stay on pace, it'll be done around Thanksgiving.)

Last night got taken up by knitting a last minute gift for one of Widget's teachers who is departing, so I'm sadly still at negative progress on the scarf.

A lovely gift

First off, THANK YOU for the wonderful comments about my new hat. I can't even TELL you how happy and excited I am with it. I feel a little like a whole new world of knitting has opened up for me now - silly, in a way, but it is what it is.

I'm not going to talk about my own knitting today, but instead about a lovely gift I received for my birthday this past spring.

Suzanne made this for me. Isn't it gorgeous?


You can't really see from the picture, but it is also huuuuuge! Longer than I am tall, and incredibly cuddly warm. Now that the temperature is finally dropping, I actually got to wear it today, and it is perfect to keep me snug warm with a light jacket, and I bet it'll be even more delicious when it's cold enough to really need bundling.

The best part about it though, is that when I put it on, it feels like I'm wearing a big hug from Suzanne.

Awesome.

Conquering a fear

Generally, I like to think of myself as a fearless knitter. I knit, I try stuff, I rip it if it doesn't work. I don't generally decide to do stuff that's out there on the edges of wild, and I'm not really a designer like many of my knitting friends are, but I'm not afraid to just wing it and hope for the best.

The exception? Colorwork. Intarsia, fair isle, all of it, completely irrationally you-can't-make-me, horrified at the thought of it.

But the end results are so beautiful. And that makes me want want want. Yet, somehow, I've never gotten over myself to dive into it. Until now.

I present to you Knitwhits Siena hat in the Fiesta colorway.

Here's the whole hat.


This is my favorite part - the braided edge


And me, modeling my creation


I'm so freaking pleased with myself. Maybe now I can work up the nerve to tackle the Ladybug sweater.

Knit-a-thon

I'm very pleased to report that the Knit-a-Thon was a success.

On a personal level - I finished nearly all my squares. I did have 50, but largely only because Suzanne and Allison chipped in and knit a few squares for me. I might have finished all fifty, but the breathing room I gained from the squares they knit gave me the time to fully finish all of the, ends woven in and everything.

Here's a picture of the second batch of squares, all pinned out and blocking


This is all the squares, packed up and ready to travel to the seaming party


I also raised about half of my goal - $250 dollars, so far (note, though, that my giving page stays active until December 31st, so if you should have a stray few dollars, I'm happy to accept anything you're willing to give). It isn't as much as I wanted, but I'm still pleased.

On an event level, it was definitely a success.

I spent nearly the entire day at the seaming party - we finished 16 blankets on Sunday, and many of us brought home a blanket's worth of squares to finish over the next month or so. About 100 knitters contributed squares to the event, and 63 people came to help finish blankets.

There's a few pictures of the event on my flickr page if you want to take a peek.

The event raised nearly $16,000 for the Pine St. Inn, which is a pretty big sum for a first time event.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed and helped me with this project.

My insane cats

There is a plastic bag of roving on the floor near my spinning wheel.

Between one cat's obsession with wool (I'm looking at you, Pye) and the other's commitment to chewing holes in every plastic bag in my house (that would be Cosmo, of course), I've had to chase cats away from the damn bag every 10 minutes since I got up 2 hours ago.

I should just go spin the rest of it, and solve the problem.

A little less panicked

I'm feeling a little less panicked about the Knitathon this morning. Of course, Suzanne, that does NOT mean that you aren't right - I clearly was smoking the good crack the day I committed to this.

I re-counted, and I've got 21 squares so far.

A big part of my panic was my concern that my swatch had lied, and in fact, many of the squares I'd already knit would not wash and block out to the correct 9X9 size. So, this morning, I decided to wash and block the ones I have done, so I could hopefully relax a little bit.

In fact, my swatches had not lied, not even a little, and the squares that were a scant 8X8 unwashed bloomed up and were so large, that in fact, I was smooshing a few of them into a smaller size to be the 9X9 I needed.


Here they all are, laying out to dry.

I've figured out a way to get about another 6 blocks without too much knitting time (this requires cannibalizing a WIP that I was never ever actually going to finish. That'll leave me about 20 to do from scratch.

I think I've made peace with the thought that I might not manage 50 squares at this point. Allison, if you really don't mind adding 1 or 2 squares to the pile, I'll certainly be grateful!

Now I should go get to actual knitting, instead of talking about it, eh?

What in the heck was I thinking?

50 squares.

50 squares?!?!?!?!

I am insane. I've got 18 done. There's like, 15 days until the event. This is never ever going to happen, and I am insane for even thinking it would.

50 squares. Yeah, right.

Finally!

After having the temperature be in the 80s this weekend, we woke up this morning to cold damp downpours.

The best thing about that?

Getting to wear happy handknit socks for the first time all season!

Happy fall, everybody!

Knit-a-thon, and a contest to go with it

I have signed up to participate in a knit-a-thon to benefit the Pine Street Inn in Boston, which is one of Boston's largest agencies providing services and shelter to the homeless population of the city. You can find out more about the event and the organization here.

I have committed to knitting 50 9x9 squares for blankets by the date of the final event, when all the knitters will come together to piece the blankets together. The blankets will then be giving to the residents of the shelters and housing units run by the Inn.

Of course, this is both a chance to knit for others who could use the warnth of a blanket, and a fund raiser for the Pine Street Inn, and that's where you come in. I need sponsors for the Knit-a-thon. We're supposed to ask for per-square donations, but I don't think it really matters. If you'd like to donate, you can do it at my online donation page. If you'd rather send Paypal or a check or something like that instead, e-mail me at siercia AT gmail DOT com, and we'll cook up a way to do that.

And please remember, every little tiny bit helps. Even if you can only swing a few dollars, it'll be a HUGE help to the residents and clients served by Pine St. Many people, each doing a small piece can move mountains.

Now, for the contest part.

I have been wildly bless in the past few years (ever since I started knitting, actually) to have won many, many, contests and raffles and the like. Now, I have a chance to turn that around too, and I am excited! So, anyone who donates any amount of money to this attempt (seriously, even a dollar helps) gets entered into a raffle.

I've got three prizes so far, and may well add more as the month goes on, and inspirations strikes.

Prize the first:

A beautiful skein of Sunshine Yarns Sock yarn, colorway Indie


Prize the second:
Two skeins of gorgeous laceweight yarn from "A Touch of Twist" in colorway Admiral


Prize the third:
Winner's choice of a set of stitchmarkers from one of my favorite etsy shops. Her shop is closed at the moment, but if you check out her sold items page, you can see how astoundingly cute her work is.

And the Grand prize? (This is where you can see that I don't really think I'm going to make my goal.) If I make my fund raising goal of $500, one lucky person is going to win a pair of handknit socks, knit by me. Color of the winner's choosing, and delivery after the fund raiser and the holiday knitting is over (so, think mid-to-late-January).

To enter the contest, email me at siercia AT gmil DOT com and let me know that you've donated. When it's all over, I'll draw names randomly to determine the winners.

So, please, if you can spare a little (or a lot), help me meet my goal and help the Pine Street Inn keep people warm this winter. And please, post about this where ever you'd like to help get the word out!

Secret Pal package!

Hooray!

Yesterday was a terribly disappointing mail day - I pulled into the driveway to see three different packages on the porch, but when I went to get the mail, I discovered that two of them had been delivered to the entirely wrong address and were not mine. Boo! Hiss!

Today, on the other hand, was a wonderful mail day! Amazon delivered my copy of the Crazy Aunt Purl book, and MUCH more importantly, I got a delightful, lovely package from my Secret Pal.



Here's a picture of the lovely wrapping, albeit from AFTER we ripped everything open.
Beautiful colors, a treat to unwrap each little gift inside.




And here, a picture of what was inside - two skeins of yummy sock yarn, a beautiful mug with coffee, three handmade soaps and hand cream that feels divine on my hands (and I love the label - not tested on animals, only friends and family), a wee Italy travel guide, tex-mex trail mix that by some miracle isn't too spicy, and a card that is still making me laugh - the inside says "Swatches? We don't need no stinking swatches!" Not pictured are the two Halloween washcloths sent with the soap - when Widget saw those, she declared they had to go up to the bath RIGHT AWAY, and took them straight upstairs. I think I'll not tell her they were supposed to be for me!

Thank you, Secret Pal, for a lovely package full of wonderful presents!

sigh

I realized tonight just how much I miss my Saturday Night knitting circle. It's on hiatus as the shop owner regroups and pulls the shop together in a new space - but we've not met for quite a while at this point.

I was hoping that the Ravelry Saturday group was getting together, since Widget has an engagement that she's going to with her Dad, and my Saturday morning is totally free. But this is an off week, and there's nothing planned.

I think I've been spoiled by having such a great community of knitters in Boston, so I'm feeling all adrift with no knitting peeps to spend time with.

Home (yet again)

In Minneapolis earlier this week, at a customer site, helping to prepare them to go live on new software from my company. Was a good trip - the people at the paper were great, I got to see a couple of old friends I rarely see, and Minneapolis itself is a really lovely city.

Since I was travelling, I got a good amount of knitting done, despite having a really compelling book along for the ride as well. I started on a pair of Monkey socks, for me, in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock. I am totally and completely and utterly in love with these socks. I cannot wait to own them.

Have any of you Boston types seen this? I'm thinking I might sign up.

Back, beat, and with a lot to catch up on!

Back from wedding and vacation!

Wedding was absolutely lovely - perfect in nearly every way. Vacation was spectacularly relaxing, with the best NH weather we have EVER had.

I did finish the shawl in time to wear it - pinned out on the floor of the hotel room before the rehearsal dinner, finished steaming it while slightly tipsy afterwards at 11:45 PM. NOT an experience I'd want to repeat. Looked awesome with the dress though, so was totally worth it.

My Google reader reports 250+ posts to read. Somehow, I think those might not all get read.

Things I am excited about!

There are so many knitterly things going on right now that I am all a-flutter about.

1. YARN SCHOOL! I can't believe it's only a month away. When I started planning to go, it seemed impossibly far in the future. I'm looking forward to a weekend away, a chance to meet other fiber peoples and learning how to improve my spinning and getting into dying a little more.

2. Secret Pal 11! I had such a good time on the LJ Secret Pal swap that I jumped at the chance to join SP11. I'm already plotting for how I'm going to spoil my pal - I've got a mini-kick-off package nearly all ready to go out this week. I've exchanged e-mail with my spoiler, I hope I've given her enough to work with, and that she'll ask any questions if she needs to. (I'm not always very good at small talk with strangers, so hopefully I'm not coming off as too aloof or not interested.)

3. Spirit Trail Fiberworks Yarn Club! My lovely husband signed me up for this as a birthday present back in May. Waiting for that first shipment (not until the end of July!) was like torture! I've gotten two of the three shipments now, and I am SO pleased with the club. Last month, I got a skein of sock yarn, a cute sock pattern, a pound of really yummy coffee and a bumper sticker. This month, a skein of some truly divine bombyx silk (and I don't usually love 100% silk yarns, but this is totally not snaggy, at least so far), a gorgeous and unusual scarf pattern for the yarn, a pack of Knitter's Review notecards, and another cute car sticker. I'm SO glad that he listened to my hints for presents this year, and that he picked the more general yarn club instead of the sock club I'd been pointing toward - this is turning out far more fun than three months of socks!

4. Christmas knitting! Those of you who know me IRL may remember that in years past I have cheerily proclaimed that I "don't do Christmas knitting". This year, I am inspired. I have projects in mind for my sister, my brother, my me-mere, my Dad, my Mom and hopefully I can think of something for my other brother. If I have time, something for my SiL and my not-yet-SiL as well. It's early, so I'm still in that happy place where I can pretend that I can get it all done without stressing myself out. The Ravelry queue feature is SO handy for keeping track of everything I'm wanting to knit for everyone.

5. Vacation knitting (see Christmas knitting)! Going on vacation next week; hoping for a fair amount of knitting time. A start on the Christmas knitting, and just maybe, I can start the Knitwits hat kit I bought an age ago to practice fair isle.

I love the return of fall, and good knitting weather. I'm so happy that my crazy busy summer is drawing to a close and that we'll be back in our normal school year routine soon.

Slogging at the speed of sound

I'm going all out trying to finish the Mystery Stole. I've got about 40 more rows to go, but they are some crazy log rows at this point. As long as I finish the knitting by Thursday afternoon, I can always block in on the hotel bed on Friday to wear on Saturday. (I swear, it's like my brain thinks being in the "blocked in the hotel room the night before" club makes me a cool kid or something. How else to explain wasting TONS of time not-knitting last week. Sometimes I hate my brain. But, I think I might actually make it - I have Thursday off to get ready, and while I DO have to pack up for 1 1/2 weeks away from everyone, that shouldn't take the entire day.

I've nearly finished a little tank top for Widget, just in time for it to get cool, of course. I'm hoping that it'll either look cute layered over t-shirts or just maybe, still fit her in the spring. I used the left-over kertzer cotton from my friend's baby blanket, and it is an adorable little top. She loves it.

I don't think that I ever posted pictures of the finished blanket up here - I only just got to deliver it to the new wee one the weekend. What a beautiful little baby girl she is. I couldn't be more excited!

Here's the delightful blanket I worked up for her.







Pinwheel Baby Blanket with a seed stitch border and a picot edge bind off
Kertzer Butterfly Super10 yarn
Finished 7/19/07

So, we're off to the wedding on Thursday night and busy with that until Sunday morning. As long as there's no hiccups in the event, this is going to be a blast. We're all going out mini-golfing in full bridal party regalia (including the bride in her dress) after the reception, then they've chartered a shuttle bus to go bar hopping. This is why I planned a week at the lake immediately following - I'm going to need a vacation to recover from the wedding! And, of course, I need to figure out what I'm taking for knitting!

Then we get back and Ms. Widget heads off for her first day of elementary. She is excited and nervous, and worried about being the only one who's nervous. Full steam ahead into the fall schedule of school and dance classes and trying to find her a brownie troop, and then we'll be into the holidays. Which answers what I should bring on the trip... the holiday knitting!

Eeeek!

Sky

I'm a slacker when it come to my own sky pictures. I admit this, and I'm mostly okay with it.

I'm making up for it this morning, by pointing y'all
over here.

Her blog is always entertaining, but today's sunrise pictures are stunning. Enjoy!

Someone tell me

why, when I have crazy insane deadline for a knitting project, I decide I really simply *must* spend all evening cleaning out the pantry closet that's not been cleaned in months?

Am I insane, or just stupid?

Secret Pal Survey thingie

I feel like a total slacker for not getting this up until today. Hopefully my Pal hasn't been waiting for it or anything! Oh! and also, I keep two blogs - this one is mostly my kniting and a little life rambling. My other is my livejournal. It's more personal stuff, but is mostly unlocked, so feel free to poke around over there as well, if you want.

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

I love most wools, alpaca, cotton, bamboo, and am always up for trying something new. I love hand dyed and handspuns, and love yarns that are closer to the natural source of the fiber than those that are over-processed and commercial. I am not allergic to anything. I love mercerized cotton for summer knitting.

I absolutely hate acrylic - I can't wear it, so I won't generally knit with it. I'm not a fan of mohair either - awful to work with and itchy to boot. And not so much a fan of fun fur or "novelty" yarns either.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

I've got a set of needle cases for all my needles. My other tools ride around in a little zippered pouch that moves from bag to bag to bag as I shift my projects around.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I've been knitting for about 4 years now - I'm about 90% self taught. I'd claim my skill level as advanced, mostly in that I've not yet met anything I *can't* do, although there's planty out there that I choose not to.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

I have one for Amazon here.

I've got a few sellers favorited on etsy here as well.

5. What's your favorite scent?

I love citrus-y and other fruit scents as long as they're true and not overly sweet. Also vanilla (and other baked goods) scents for bath products and candles. Flowery scents, especially lavender gives me headaches, so I'd would prefer not to get anything flowery.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

I'm more of a salty-crunchy kind of girl than a sweet tooth kind, although I'll never turn down good chocolate or Jelly Belly jelly beans, either. I also love all things coffee and cheese. Can't think of anything I'd be sad to get - odds are if I don't like it, the husband or kidlet will love it.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

I am a very beginning spinner. I also do cross stitch and needlepoint, and very basic sewing.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I've got pretty eclectic musical tastes, but particularly like folk and "roots" music, much classical, but am open to nearly everything. My computer can play MP3s.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?

I love rich colors - jewel tones and warm rich earthy tones. I don't like screamy neons and am not a fan of pastels.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

I'm married, with a 6 year old daughter. I have three cats (one who's a yarn thief), a snake, and a fish tank.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

Yes to all of those except ponchos. I particularly love funky hats.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

Pretty much anything and everything. I particularly love lace and socks and small things where I can experiment with wacky yarn or bright colors.

13. What are you knitting right now?

Mystery Stole (currently kicking my TAIL), tank top for my daughter (my own pattern, with lovely purple Kertzer cotton), scarf for Christmas gift (lacy etherial loveliness in my grandmother's favorite blue), socks (This is a lie. There's actually NO socks going, just about 4 different balls of sock yarn and needles riding around in my take everywhere bag).

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

Absolutely!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

My needle preference changes depending on the project and the yarn. I use circulars more often than straights, and have a love for bamboo, wood and Addis.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

Yes to both

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

Hee. about 3 1/2 years old. Soon it will all be ripped out.

18. What is your favorite holiday?

Thanksgiving and Christmas. Arbor Day.

19. Is there anything that you collect?

Those silly squished pennies you can make at tourist traps. And, you know, yarn. Other than that, not really - I never gotten into the whole collecting mode.


20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

I really want the Interweave Favorite socks book. I don't have any subscriptions to magazine, but usually end up picking up Interweave at my yarn shop.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?

I'm currently trying to psych myself up to learn fair isle, as stranded colorwork is one of the few techniques I want to use but haven't done much with. I have the pattern and yarn for the insane Dale of Norway ladybug sweater at home and just can't bring myself to cast on for it.


22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

I am a sock knitter. Love them! I don't know my exact measurements, but I wear a size 9 shoe and have wide feet.

23. When is your birthday?

5/16

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?

Yes - I'm siercia there too.

Weddings, a mystery and tassels

The world's busiest summer continues apace.

My brother got married last weekend! I'm very very happy for him. His bride is a wonderful woman, and they make a wonderful couple.


I know this is not technically a great picture, but I love the joy in it.

Then, after the wedding, my parents took Widget for a week of vacation... for both them AND us. Since it's restaurant week in Boston, Wiley and I took full advantage of our temporary childless-ness and went out to dinner a LOT. She's home now, but it was a great trip for her, and break for us.

I'm knitting, and trying to spend less home time on the computer. Since work's been busy, I can't slack and play while I'm there.

The Mystery Stole is kicking my butt, and I very much doubt I'll have it finished in time for Pru's wedding in September.


Not blocked or pinned out, just stretched a wee bit. Length wise, this is supposed to be about a third of the stole.

I'm only at the end of Clue 3, while everyone else is on Clue 6, and Clue 4 is a double length clue. Yes, I think I'm doomed. I think it's beautiful, so even if I'm lagging, I'm loving working on it.

Since that takes a great deal of concentration, I've been looking for brainless knitting projects to while away my time when I can't focus on the Stole.

So far I've nearly finished a tank top for Widget, and today I finished what might be the cutest project of my summer.

Widget's Tassel Hat. She saw a version of this knitted up at NH S&W and has been bugging me to do hers since then. It was cool enough to work on it this week, and I knocked it out in just a couple of days.

She loves it!

Saturday Sky and a self portrait

This evening, after spending the afternoon at the baby shower for E (sadly, the blanket's not finished. When I measured it on the needles, it was a good healthy 28 inches diameter. When I started binding off, it measured only 26, which is just a little too small for my taste. I don't want the seed stitch border any wider, I don't think, so I've got to rip out the border, add another 6-8 rounds, then re-do the border) we decided to head for Wollaston Beach to get clams, which is a favorite summertime activity. Since we had the camera from the shower, I spent some time snapping some pictures.

The evening sky, Squantum Neck from Wollaston Beach



Beginnings of sunset


After clams, we drove out to end of Hough's Neck to pick up our farmshare from the friends who had done the pickup this week. As we were driving back, I saw the sun shining pink through the clouds. Wiley pulled over and I snapped another quick picture.

Sunset over Quincy Bay


The light was amazing out at the beach - the soft warm pinks of early sunset. I almost ever like pictures of myself, but we managed to snap a couple of decent self portraits, thanks to Wiley's long arms.

Self portrait

The conversation at our house tonight...

Me: "You know, if I thought I could carry one without zapping myself, I would *love* to carry a taser." (I'm the girl who managed to mace herself carrying the mace my boyfriend *insisted* I carry in "dangerous" downtown Worcester.)

Him: "You couldn't taser yourself - the way the newer ones work, it's almost impossible."

Me: "Yeah, but if anyone could do it, it would be me."

Him: *laughing* "I can see it now - you come home with burn marks all over your hip. God, it touched my pager and the battery in that arced to my cell phone, and then my knitting caught fire. My whole SCARF is GONE!"

Me: "That would be the part that would piss me off the most. Talk about insult to injury!"

Using my time

So, this weekend? When I have two (more, really) deadline knitting projects breathing down my neck, and a giant whack of free time to spend on working on them?

Do I spend my free time working on EITHER project?

Heh. As if.

No, I spend hours and hours futzing around trying to make friends with my spinning wheel instead, only really working on the blanket at knitting circle on Saturday night.

It worked - we're much more friendly now than we were before I worked on it on Saturday and Sunday. If I were organized, I'd have pictures to show you of the lovely bobbin and a half of red Corriedale I managed to produce (but I'm not, so you'll have to just imagine it). It's not *good* handspun, but I think it'll hold together, which is progress, for sure.

I did manage progress on both blanket and shawl as well, too. The blanket is up to about 24 inches in diameter (mostly because work was dead on Friday and so I got to knit a bunch), and I finished the first clue for the Mystery Stole on Sunday night.

So, progress. Just slow.

Pretties!

I did not finish Clue 1 last night, so now I guess I'm officially behind. Oh well.

To distract myself, and y'all, a pretty!


From one of the *four* bouquets that Widget got after her dance recital.

Weekend all entirely to myself this weekend. What shall I do with myself?!?!

Not much going on here

Our Fourth of July holiday was lovely - a low key morning catching up on errands and to-dos, followed by a party at the house of some friends. We didn't attempt the fireworks this year, and just as well, since the weather was terribly uncooperative.

We're slowly eating our way through all the veggies we've gotten in our CSA. So many greens! Tonight was all about the greens, and then I roasted all the beets we've gotten to use in salads and stuff over the weekend. May have been a mistake, since they would have kept for a while uncooked, but I love them so much I could eat them all in a couple of sittings.

I'm being consumed by my two current projects. More knitting, less blogging, as I'm sure you all know. Work has been busy too, so there's little time during the day for goofing off.

What am I working on, you might ask?

The first is the Mystery Stole Knit Along. I'm about 3/4 of the way through the first clue, the second clue goes up tomorrow. Soon as I'm finished this, I'm off to keep on knitting away at the darn thing. I have visions of being able to wear this as a wrap for my friend S's wedding on September 1st, since New Hampshire's weather can be... unpredictable, and my MoH dress is sleeveless. If I can keep to the knitalong schedule, I should be able to do it, since the last clue is due on August 17th.

Here's my progress so far:


The second is the last baby gift - I'm knitting a Pinwheel Baby Blanket for my friend E's baby. Baby's coming in August, but we just got a shower invite for next weekend - I doubt I'll have it done by then, but I've got the whole weekend to myself, so I keep telling myself that it might happen. Ever the knitting optimist, I am!

It's about 12 inches across right now, but the rows only get longer from here!

Weekend

There was remarkably little knitting this weekend. I was a busy busy Siercia, instead (this is going to be a theme this summer, I fear.) Deadlines be damned, there were more pressing matters to attend to:

a dance recital


a new roof (okay, this one required no effort on my part, other than writing a large check)


strawberry picking


Also included, but not pictured, clams at Tony's, knitting circle, dim sum, strawberry shortcake.

I got my yarn for the Mystery Stole along today. But now it's so hot that the thought of touching wool yarn is making me want to die, just a little bit. I should swatch though, if I really want to do this. First clue comes out this week!

Chugging chugging chugging

So, one more sweater finished, and only one sleeve, that has been fighting with me a LOT, left on the BSJ. It's a little crooked still, but I think it's cute. I'm saving up the picture taking until I can snap them all together - probably a mistake since it's taking WAY longer than I expect, but I'm lazy. After I finish the seaming, there's one more sweater (already about half done) and then I have to decide about blanket vs. the more challenging car seat bunting. I'm still on the fence.

And I'm waiting for my yarn for the Mystery Stole project. If it doesn't get here soon, I'm going o end up totally behind before it even starts. Eeeek!

In more exciting news, I reserved a spot at Yarn School for myself yesterday. Flights are running between $225 and $250 right now, so it's a nice getaway for not too much money for the fall. I'm crazy excited! Now I need to decide if I want a group room (cheaper) or a double with someone I don't know (provides space for private chill time) that'll be a little more expensive.

Tomorrow is Widget's dance recital. I volunteered to be class mom, so instead of sitting in the audience all afternoon, I get to wrangle little girls. They're a pretty good bunch of kids, so I'm hoping it'll be pretty relaxed. Watched the dress rehearsal last night - the little kids are so funny, and some of the older classes are really quite talented.

Evolution of a meme

This morning, when I saw this meme over at maryse's I thought to myself - hey, I did this on LJ a while ago. I'll post it over here today. Easy content.

I went and cut and pasted my original answers and realized that some of the questions are actually different, which is interesting and kind of neat. For my own curiousity, I'm going to post all the questions and answers up - ones in common are normal text, ones only in my original meme are bold, and ones only in the new are italics
Your Name: Jennifer

1. Famous Singer/Band: Jethro Tull

2. 4 letter word: Jump
3 letter word: Jib

3. Street: Jensen St.
4. Color: Jade
5. Gifts/Presents: Jewelry
6. Vehicle: Jet

7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Junk

Show: Judging Amy
Country: Japan

8. Boy Name: James
9. Girl Name: Julie

10. Movie Title: Just Like Heaven

11. Drink: Harp
Alcoholic drink: Jagermeister

12. Occupation: Judge

Flower: Jasmine

13. Celebrity: Joan Cusack

Something found in a kitchen: Juicer

14. Magazine: Just Cross Stitch
15. U.S. City: Joliet, IL
16. Pro Sports Teams: Jets

18. Reason for Being Late for Work: Jetlag

Something Scary: Jehovah's Witnesses
A Feeling: Jealous
Animal: Jellyfish

19. Something You Throw Away: juice boxes

20. Things You Shout: Jesus!

21. Cartoon Character: Josie (and the pussycats)

So, one down, two nearly finished, third cast on...

One baby sweater is finished.

Two are in seaming stages. The stockinette BSJ is, well, not perfect, but close enough. I think with blocking, it'll be alright. The other needs some blocking, since I think I got the sleeves in not quite the right spot, and the back is a wee bit longer than the front.

So far, all of these knits have been plagued, which is leading me to think that perhaps for E's baby, a blanket out of the beautiful lavender Kertzer cotton I bought on Saturday may be a better plan than trying to design my own car seat bunting. As awesome a gift as that would be, it'll only be awesome if I can finish it, and I'm feeling a little cowed and under the gun here. I can always use the purple wool to make a lovely sweater for Ms. Widget this winter.

In other news, I got my Ravelry invite about a week ago, and I'm having a blast playing over there. ETA: I'm foolish, and forgot to add that my username over there is siercia.

In other other news, I signed up for the Mystery Stole Along on yahoo. As neat as this seems, I'm starting to think that taking on another project while I'm still on deadline for baby knitting might be a mistake. The volume of messages on the group is seriously overwhelming as well. I suppose it doesn't hurt to stay signed up nd decide closer to the start date, right?

Hooray for Friday!

Even if it's a jam packed weekend coming up, with almost no knitting time scheduled in.

It's supposed to be a nice weekend, and I'm going to enjoy it!

I can't believe that my Widget graduated from Kindergarten today. How did she get so old?

Yarn store dreams

But not in the good sense...

Many knitters daydream about opening a yarn store. It's natural - most of us think we'd love being surrounded by yarn and knitters all day, every day. Of course the reality of running a shop is totally different, but that doesn't deter us from dreaming about it.

Last night, though, I actually dreamed about a yarn store. Of course now I can't remember the details. I'm not sure if I owned the shop, or if I was shopping there, but it was weird. The way it worked, it was like an online store you couldn't actually see what you were buying before it came out to the shop area from the back, and there was this vibe that if you didn't like what came out, you still had to buy it anyway. The interface for "ordering" was very not-intuitive, so you couldn't even tell for sure if you'd ordered what you wanted.

I had this feeling like I'd somehow created the whole system, and it was supposed to revolutionize how people thought about buying yarn, but then even I couldn't quite figure out how to use it, and it turned out to be just awful.

The whole thing was incredibly stressful and awful, and I actually woke up all twitchy and never wanted to buy yarn again.

I'll get over that, of course, but what a weird dream.

Frogging sighs and a KIPping experience

This:



seems to sum up my knitting experience lately. The stockinette BSJ, it did not work. I think I know why, and how to fix it, but for now? Rip rip rip. The baby kimono up there? Decided after knitting that I wanted buttons instead of ties. rip rip rip.

Frustrating, especially on a due date deadline!

But enough whining.

This weekend, I was out and about with Ms. Widget. Both Saturday and Sunday we were riding the T - Saturday to go to Pride and Windsor Button, Sunday to go get haircuts with the fabulous Leon. Both days, I knit on the train, since Widget was reading, and the haul from Quincy is long. Most of the time, knitting on the train gets curious glances or stares, sometimes, a rare conversation. For me, at least, it's generally a pretty low key reaction.

On Sunday, the train was nearly empty. There was a couple accross the car from us. When I pulled out the sweater, the woman stared at me for a few seconds, and then loudly launched into ranty story about when her friend made her learn how to knit, and how awful it was, and how the ugly sweater she made cost her so much money. Shooting dagger looks at me, she concluded with "It was absolutely awful! I have a life! I wasn't going to just sit around doing nothing but knitting!"

I just kept glancing at her, not even sure what, if anything, to say... she wasn't actually talking to me, and even if she had been, I wasn't sure there was really a response I could make to her.

What's the strangest reaction you've ever gotten to knitting in public?

Flashing my Stash

The knitting secret pal swap I'm participating in for the next few months asked us to post pictures of our yarn stashes this past week. Since I'd already gone through the work of pulling it all together for ElJay, I thought I'd post it over here. Compared to a lot of the knitters in the swap, I have a lot of yarn. Im guessing compared to some of you, maybe not so much.

I realized as I was doing this, that I have a LOT of yarn. A LOT. And having my husband watching while I was doing this, now HE knows just how much I have, too. I think I'll need to lay off the yarn buying for a while. Heh. I'm okay with that - it's gotten to the point where I almost feel overwhelmed by the stash - there's just too much of it that I love and want to work with to keep buying yarn. It meant I went to NH Sheep and Wool last weekend and bought a grand total of 3 skeins of yarn - two to make hats for the husband and daughter, one to send off to my secret pal.



I'll start with some of my tools, though, since I've got a lot of those too.

First off, my needle cases. I got these from Crippenworks Needlecases, and I love them


Here's all four of them - Circulars on the left, crochet hooks and DPNs in the middle, and straights on the right.


The insides of a couple of the cases.



My swift



My ball winder. The dresser that it is attached to is where most of my yarn lives.



Most, but not all of my books.


And now, the yarn. On all the yarn pics, if you click through to Flickr, I've added notes and stuff to the pictures too.


This is my collection of ends and bits and bobs. I do actually go back to these for some projects, which is why I keep them around. There's all kinds of stuff here - cotton, wool, alpaca, silk. If it's natural, I'll knit with it, pretty much.



These are my one-offs, those single balls that you acquire either as gifties or at swaps, or because they were so divine you have to have them. I'm sure you all know what I mean. My favorites in the batch are the purple boucle and the silk my friend D brought for me from Japan.



Here's all the sock yarn - Clockwise, from the top left, Schaefer Anne, Fleece Artist merino, Running Wild cormo wool, Great Adirondack silk/wool, three colors from Sunshine Yarns on etsy, Cherry Tree Hill supersock, Koigu, Fleece Artist merino, and the few balls of Regia and Kroy. Lots of sock yarn. The koigu is officially no longer stash yarn, since I ended yesterday's session by winding it up and starting a new sock with it. Since I took this, I've added two new skeins of Sunshine Yarns - one in the Ravenclaw colorway for a friend, and another all for me!



This is my current collection of project yarn - I'm still stuck in baby knitting hell, and all of this is for that. Jaeger Matchmaker (car seat bunting), Kareoke (baby sweater), Cascade superwash (Widget sweater), Jaeger baby Merino (baby sweaters), Kertzer Butterfly Super 10 (Baby Surprise Jacket, if my figuring for stockinette stitch works).



Most of the rest of my project quantity yarn collection - Dale for ladybug sweater, Fleece Artist Thrummed mitten kit, with extra skein for hat, Alpaca from New Mexico, Mostly Merino yarn, Cotton Comfort mill ends, Touch of Twist silk-merino laceweight, Frog Tree Alpaca. My favorite out of this batch is the NM alpaca - because we got to meet the alpacas from whom the yarn came, and toured the spinning mill where it is made up in Ruidoso when we were out visiting my MiL last winter. It was a really neat side trip. I'm most excited about the Fleece Artist thrummed mittens kit that I just got.



This is my Sea colors yarn. Solar dyed in sea water, no photograph can convey the depth and pure gorgeousness of this yarn. The blue is destined to be a sweater for myself. The pink and green I bought just to have.



This last one isn't technically stash yarn, since, as you can see, I've started the project. But I love this yarn sooooo much, I had to include it - it's a lambswool cashmere blend, in a fantastic shade of true red with all different colors speckled into it - blue, yellow, purple, white. It may be my favorite yarn I've ever seen or worked with. The kicker is that I can not remember who makes it.

Well, that's my stash. There's actually more, but it's pretty boring collection of wools in natural colors, and I couldn't bring myself to haul those last bits of it out of storage yesterday afternoon.

The other thing I realized when I was pulling this all together is that I like to buy yarn when I travel, which means that a lot of the yarns in my stash have stories to them, even if it's just "Oh yeah, I found that yarn in this little store in Cleveland when I went out there for that server upgrade..." It's like a mini personal history.