Battle-weary

Whe-yal. Wollmeise stalking at The Loopy Ewe was a total bust. All that perfectly good computer time wasted on hitting refresh every five minutes or so. Last time, I was bugged because the servers were too slow. This time, I'm bugged because the new dedicated server worked so well that even though I checked for the Sneak Up at 7:30 am to find nothing, I had totally missed out by 7:40 am. Arg. Maybe I should try stalking Blue Moon instead.

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Morrigan, my obsession. (Do N.O.T. google "Morrigan", you will not find a knitting pattern.) You're driving me bats. I want very badly to knit you up, but your requested yarn it just not my cuppa. Rowan Calmer? My skin may not enjoy a direct association with wool, but my pocketbook has a much more powerful aversion to bankruptcy. (Go do the math - the smallest size of this pattern calls for 2000 yds of Calmer. That small a sweater wouldn't fit my right thigh.) Even in Cotton Fleece, you're still a tad painful.

But wait, there might be an answer.

Morrigan, will you let me try a smaller yarn? A lighter, though less skin-friendly, (and much cheaper) yarn? Delphinium, perhaps. Or Lazurite. The bounce and bloom of a tightly wound sport weight wool might just do the trick.

Hey, is that a leftover ball of Telemark in Delphinium loitering in my stash waiting to be swatched?

petme, smellme, loveme

My lazy arse can't think of a good reason to post, and now that Ravelry keeps track of my stash and projects, my blog has lost it's form and function. However, as this week there is a new Sneak Up of Wollmeise happening, maybe it's time to get my little problem out in the open. You see, I have joined the bandwagon.

If you dumped my whole stash in the middle of the living room floor for a good look, you would notice several things:

1. That is a LOT of sock yarn.
2. Do you like bright colors, or what?
3. Hey, what's this...

"This" would be 4 skeins of Wollmeise's hand-dyed loveliness. I don't have more than two skeins of any other dyer (that's a lie, she has 4+ full skeins of DIC Smooshy). More than quantity, though (which isn't totally out of control. Y.e.t.) the glorious colors of this highly popular yarn peek right out of the mess in the middle of the room to say "hiya, petme, smellme, loveme". Srsly, I've heard them do it.

Sheri, the most benevolent enabler ever, has done us all a favor and fed the obsession with a little light perspective (Ego, knockitoff) in her latest Loopy Limelight, seen here.

I, for one, will be doing a lot of laptop time this week scouting for that new shipment of Wollmeise. It will go very, very fast. Not that I need more. But hey, what's an addiction without a little irrationality?

Grape Gonzo

Whah! Done. Finito. Yay!

I finally finished the Pi Are Square shawl I started last year in February. Now I know the true meaning of boredom AND biting off more than I can chew.

For my next feat I will post with actual knitting, and actual pictures. There might even be an Amy Butler Sweet Life bag lurking in the background.

*Big Fat Grin*

Oh, yeah, almost forgot. I've only got two hibernating single socks in my WIP bin. I'm feeling very proud of my own self-control.

I Can Haz A Very Good Laugh

Nuff said.

Still With The Not Knitting

Last year, BF and I set ourselves up on Etsy and promptly did nada with our storefront. Okay, so she was busy having a new baby and I was at work all the bloody time. We posted 3 items, and didn't really check back. Until now.

I had forgotten how hard it is to design jewelry! Satisfying work, but much more about the aesthetic than knitting socks usually is. As my primary material of choice are Delica Seed beads, and I have no real training, I probably have more trouble because of my lack of experience than because of anything else.

The above photo was taken toward the end of attempting to get flattering photos that showcased the color and also the sparkle of the beads. Arg. I think I took in the neighborhood of 50 photos with a wide variety of arrangements and came up with five or six usable shots. I think I've heard that this is par for the course. Drat.

So, I may or may not be putting up new items in our humble little shop. I am trying, and I have some apparrel ready to be photographed and posted, but I think the jewelry end will be slow going. I love making shiny things, but I just don't think I'm very adept as of yet.

Oh yeah, and the DIC Shrug is blocking and waiting for seaming and edging. Woot! Photos to come. Of me. Wearing something I made. That isn't a sock. Woot?

So - Where's the Knitting?

As you might notice, that isn't knitting. I'm busy learning something the hard way yet again. I'm teaching myself to use the sewing machine my BF's mom let me borrow, and that needle case is my third project.



As usual, there is shocking lack of patterns, which means my corners stink. But I'm gaining experience quite quickly. I think my next endeavor might be a skirt from a book I saw at Powell's: Sew What!.



Aside from the sewing machine marathon of last night (I finished putting together a log cabin quilt top, hemmed some fabric for napkins, and you've seen the needle holder) there has been actual knitting as well. Cast-on-itis, probably. I was feeling pretty good about having a good clear-out - giving my single socks mates, getting somewhere on those blankets, the shawl and the sweater. And then some well-intentioned stashing got all out of hand. View the carnage:



The DIC Shrug.



Endpaper Mitts in Noro Kureyon Sock.

And various and sundry other bits. Oi.

So - what's up with you?

Log Cabin Blues, Indeed

It seems that my choice of names for my latest (and belated) Log Cabin project was more apt that previously expected. In setting up Excel to help me chart my colors and arrange a final pattern for the various squares, I inadvertently figured out a way to calculate precisely how much progress I'd made on the blanket. Being all for precision and perfection, I went ahead and did the math.

Conclusion? I have just now crossed the halfway mark. Gah.

Happy discoveries of the day: a Loopy Ewe group on Ravelry, and a DIC Shrug that only requires 2 skeins of Classy. I'm thinking "Into the Mystic" is my color of choice for that last one.