Presents Knits... has moved!

New blog

2010-09-13T09:16:00.000-07:00

Name-switching was easier than anticipated (except for all the pattern reformatting...and I still have to figure out Magcloud. But otherwise.) so I'm movin' on over to the new blog :-) There is a brand new post about drum carding waitin' for ya.

Please find me at http://www.dull-roar.com/ (and be sure to update your feed readers!)

Sorry for the trouble, it won't happen again.

Evolution

2010-09-05T13:36:00.000-07:00

So.

I have decided to allow my sad little other business, Dull Roar, to absorb and devour Presents Knits. This is most likely a terrible decision, since you should really never change your business name once you have even the slightest degree of name recognition going. But here's the thing:

I hate this name.

I picked it on a whim based on a short-lived high school nickname- don't get me wrong, I still have warm and amused feelings towards the name, but nobody uses it anymore and it was rather silly to begin with. It's hard to say (say it out loud with me: "Presents knits." Lisp much?) People never know if it's presents (gifts), presents ("and now presenting...") or presence (ooh, omnipotent-y.) And since it has "knits" in the name, it's terribly restrictive. I tried to solve this last problem a while ago by starting Dull Roar, so I could sell non-knitting-related stuff on etsy if I wanted to. Since then Dull Roar's been pretty quiet, selling an odd hat now and again, but not much going on over there. But I like the name. It's snappy. It's vague. It's easy to remember. Plus, I have to file a new DBA when I move back to Michigan anyhow, and it's never going to get easier to change the name, only harder.

This all isn't quite ready just yet, but I wanted to give you a head's up- unfortunately you'll probably have to update your bookmarks and rss readers and whatnot, which I know is kind of a pain :-( It turns out that I COULD just change this blog's name/address, but A. I didn't figure that out until I'd already exported everything and started sprucing up the new place, and B. I want to leave this blog here so people who know the old name can find me with minimum hassle. The new address will be www.dull-roar.com (I know! A real domain!!) but it might not work for a few days.

I also changed the wedding blog's name to "wedding making" because the whole "presents" thing sounded uncomfortably grabby, even though it was a pun. Since there are all of like, 7 people following that one, I figure they'll be able to find it ;-)

Sorry for the trouble!

Nice People are Awesome, part 2

2010-09-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

So a few weeks back, I was bemoaning to Carrie/Big Alice that I couldn't find the perfect orange and turquoise roving. She's been playing around with dyeing roving (in addition to her super pretty yarn...which I assume will be available in her etsy shop eventually) and volunteered to give it a whirl if I'd test it out and see how it spun up.

Yeah, pretty awesome, right? That's like asking me to "test this batch of delicious homemade cookies."

So. Pretty. I squealed a little when I saw it.

aaand spun up:

Yum!! It's BFL, which I'm rapidly discovering is very enjoyable to spin. It came out super squooshy, which is awesome- I'm not quite good enough at spinning to make things come out squooshy unless they want to do it all by themselves. Hooray!! I'll take another picture once I knit it up into something...but I should probably show Carrie the end result first. Heh. Thank you thank you thank you Carrie!!!!

I learned a cool trick!

2010-08-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

It's dead easy, too. (Click here!)

Oh, hello.

2010-08-22T19:13:00.001-07:00

I didn't see you, there. How do you do? Me? Oh, I'm just hanging out in my new Hazel Knits shawl.

(Coming soon to a knitting blog near you!)

Nice People are Awesome, part 1

2010-08-22T12:21:00.000-07:00

Recently I was given the opportunity to try out some of BMFA's awesometastic rovings (Thanks Tina! You are the super most excellentest!) I was going to post about it earlier, but I thought I'd wait til it was spun up and do a before-and-after.

Here are the rovings:

And the somewhatpoorlyphotographed yarns (it always looks like they're in focus when I'm taking the picture. Sigh.):

These three are 50% Merino, 50% Yak, in Brick, Mossay, and Pond Scum. Um...yum. I've never really worked with yak before, and it is ridiculously luscious. I tried to spin these finer than usual so I could make a little shawlette, but somehow I still ended up at a heavy worsted. (As I said on Twitter... I will blame the wheel until someone buys me a new one to prove me wrong.) Making the shawlette anyway. It'll be for winter :-)

This one is 75% BFL and 25% Tussah Silk, in Drucilla. Can I just say how geeked-out excited I am about Buffy-themed colorways? (Bought myself one of these, too.)

If you squint real hard, you can see that this is a skein of 50% Mulberry Silk, 50% Superfine Merino in Valkyrie. So shiny and yummy. Much prettier in person. Must rephotograph, sometime. Sigh.

And here's a little baby skein of 70% Silver Alpaca, 30% silk in Copperline. Loooove this color. Fun to spin- I left it as singles for once, and should probably block it since I'm sort of shoddy at singles.

Pretty!! The roving was split with Vivian and Star, so I'm really excited to see what they ended up with. Pretty sure both of them are better spinners than I (or at least better at spinning fine, good-for-things-besides-hats yarns, haha. Good thing I like hats.)

2010-08-04T15:28:00.001-07:00

I am working on way too many things that are either secret, or possibly-secret (and therefore, for the moment, secret.) It makes for terribly boring blogging.

So I'm taking a break, and working on something less secret.

You'll see it as soon as I'm done frogging it and fixing it repeatedly. :-P

For now, here is a picture of a bird on my head:

(I'm not sure how I escaped without getting pooped on, but I'm glad I did. That's a handspun hat, dangit! And lorikeet poop is seriously ewwww. All they eat is nectar-juice out of zoo-goers's cups all day. Eugh.)

Beetlefriend!

2010-08-02T15:55:00.000-07:00

I identified my beetlefriend from the trip: he's a Golden Buprestid/Metallic Wood-borer/Jewel Beetle. Aptly named, since that's exactly what the guy who walked by as I was taking a picture AND Travis's mother said about him ("Oooh, it looks like a jewel!")

From Beetles of the Pacific Lowlands (funny since I saw him in one of the much higher lands):

"This beetle spends most of its life as a larva, burrowing in dead wood. The larva has the remarkable ability to go into a sort of suspended animation for apparently decades, then pupate and become an adult. There have been reports of beams which were installed for 30 years which then have beetles crawl out of them. The adult flies to the south side of trees looking for mates. They often will congregate in an area that just burned, apparently able to "smell" smoke for several miles."

This person had one crawl out of her handmade cutting board after 29 years. Surreal. Though as far as bugs who could pop out of your home furnishings at any moment, I'd say they would be one of the more welcome ones.

Timberline - Once More with Color

2010-08-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

(Look familiar? It's the hotel from The Shining. The outside, anyway.)

WhatisthisohgeeIdontknowitlookslikeMalabrigo....

This bug is the prettiest living creature I think I have ever seen, and it landed on my pants. It was a little over an inch long, and friggin SPARKLY.

This is a Douglas Squirrel, which I named Douglas. He was very angry with me, sitting in his space. Much loud, bird-like chittering. I left him a little bit of trailmix for his trouble.

Every time I have my camera by flowing water, I get really carried away with the slow shutter speed.

Check out those bike-seat marks on the jeans. One of these days the butt's just going to fall off completely.

Shootin' through my sunglasses!

(Travis's)

(and that)

(and that. He went up much higher than me, heh.)

My good side.

I can't believe I didn't take any decent picture of the inside of lodge... it was very cool. I guess my altitude-addled brain just didn't think of it. Arg.

Also, just because Travis is wearing my experimental fractal Cosy-fiber-club hat in every picture does not mean it's his, no matter what he thinks.

Timberline- B&W edition

2010-07-30T21:27:00.001-07:00

I've got more yarny-related sorts of things to photograph and post and otherwise ramble about, but I haven't yet, so here's some pictures from my recent trip up to Timberline with Travis and his parents (thanks guys!!)

Travis took these ones:

(Though I black & whited them.) My body doesn't handle altitude as well as it apparently used to, so I was pretty lazy while we were there (I've been higher places during roadtrips and been fine. Weird.) But it was very relaxing, and I got lots of knitting done and soaked up lots of lovely sunny-breeziness (and barely burnt my face at all, somehow.) Amazingly perfect weather. And I do so enjoy hanging out with the Schuster gang (which is probably a good thing, as I expect they'll be around awhile, what with me marrying into the bunch.) Travis hiked his face off and somehow magically avoided falling off of things and horrible sunburn. He's tricksy like that.

I'd say I have a tassel problem...

2010-07-16T12:08:00.001-07:00

...but is it really a problem when it's so awesome? I mean, it's like being addicted to huffing sheer radness. Amirite?

(My tassel enthusiasm may be reaching eccentric levels.) I don't do a ton of test knitting, busy little bee that I am, but when miss Sarah Burghardt asked me to test a hat knit out of Malabrigo....well hot damn, that's pretty much my thing.

It was a super speedy little project, and much easier than it looks. Very satisfying. You can wear it with the brim up or down, and there are buttons on both sides (well, there would be, if I had found enough buttons that I liked. Right now the inside is still buttonless, but I know in my heart of hearts that I'm going to wear it brim-down all the time anyway, 'cause I kinda love it that way. And in Polar Morn! It matches everything! This one's gonna come in handy.

The hat did not, originally, have a tassel. But c'mon. I'm gonna add a tassel. C'mon. Though I did seriously consider a pom pom.

The pattern isn't out yet, but I'll let you guys know when it is!

Fun fact: Sarah is dating my ex, and both of Travis's major exes have been knitters also. Do we have a "type"? Or maybe we ARE a type! You know, "I like my girls to enjoy quiet nights of television during which they will ask 'what just happened?' a lot because they aren't looking at the screen.... and also, I'm cold a lot, so if they could maybe do something about that... and if they could hit me in the face with their flailing elbows occasionally, that'd be great."

Or maybe there are just a lot of us. I don't know, man. It's crazy.

Speaking of Travis:

Yeah, I know.

Physical Copies of Go Go Malabrigo Now Available!

2010-07-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

I recently discovered Magcloud, which is this excellent little printing website where you can have such things as, oh, say, knitting patterns or booklets of patterns printed on demand! I just got my proof in the mail today and I'm happy to say that it looks pretty darn good. So I'm pleased to announce that the complete Go Go Malabrigo pattern set is now available as a real, hold-it-in-your-hands type booklet!

Go Go Malabrigo on Magcloud!

The price is an eeensy bit higher to help offset the printing fees a little bit. But it looks lovely and sturdy and you can carry it places! Hooray!

I hope to get my other patterns up there soon. I'm in the midst of reformatting all the old ones so they're all pretty and fancy like the newer ones. The only trick with Magcloud is that things have to be a multiple of four, and it takes a little finagling. But I think I can make it work ;-)

Meet Vahl!

2010-07-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

Yay new pattern! It's been a while.

Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh DK in Antler, Tilli Tomas Disco Lights in Jade, one skein of each.
Needles: US Size 7 (4.5mm) 16" circular, plus a spare needle for a 3-needle bind off.

Vahl is an easy little hat using two deeelicous yarns that have been languishing in my stash for awhile. The Tilli Tomas was supposed to be my reward for using up the rest of my stash (ha!) but I dragged it out when I was putting together magazine submissions, and these two became friends and, well, just had to be stuck together. The "Antler" colorway is a very strange white, with a pale, only-slightly-visible green cast. I sort of love it, and it worked well with the Tilli. Any light worsted or DK weight yarn should work, though, and you should only need one ~100g skein of each color. The top has neato little ties which you can crochet, icord, braid, whatever and then embellish with tassles, pom poms, feathers, beads or whatever else you can think of. I'm in a feather phase, personally.

(I am so thoughtful and pensive. Clearly.)

More info on Ravelry
Or...

(It's also in the etsy shop, as always.)

In other news, it might be awhile before you see those other two patterns...but I ain't sayin' anything yet.

Contrast Hydrotherapy and You!

2010-06-28T23:21:00.000-07:00

Since I know I'm not the only knitter out there who's poor little wristies get all pooped out, I wanted to share a technique I've had a little bit of success with. I'm certainly not back up to my prior knitting capacity, but I'm doing a far sight better with hydrotherapy than with all the braces and stretching and resting alone. (Jury's still out on the arnica cream... I don't use it regularly enough or in controlled enough conditions to know if it's helping at all.)

Recently I got a professional massage, a sort of make-up massage for the one I was too land-sick and sunburned to get when I was in Hawaii last year. I made sure to find a guy who claimed to know a thing or two about carpal tunnel. While the massage was pleasant, the effects weren't terribly long lasting... you'd need long, daily hours with a jackhammer to make any real impression on my back. But he recommended this technique:

Get two buckets, deep enough to accommodate your arms up past your elbows. I couldn't find buckets at Fred Meyer, so I ended up with trash cans. Just as good.

Fill one with ice and cold water. The masseur said "a full bag of ice" from the grocery store, but no way am I paying for ice, so I've been keeping a plastic bowl full of water in the freezer. It does an ok job.

Fill the other with very hot water, just barely tolerable (make sure to test for tolerabilty before you start dunking your hands.)

Starting with hot water, submerge your arms up past the elbow, and wait somewhere between 1-3 minutes (time recommendations seem to vary wildly.) Then plunge them into the cold bucket for 30sec-1min-ish. I usually do a cheater's 3 minutes (I count to 180, but too fast) and an honest 30 or 40 seconds. Repeat 3 times. Or so. Like I said, every source of information about this technique says different things, so I'm sort of making up the times as I go. Same with frequency...aiming for every other day, but it's sort of messy and I'm lazy. My arms tend to feel sore afterwards, but better overall.

You have to be careful- there are some conditions/medications/etc that mean you shouldn't do this (my blood pressure's a little low so it does make me a tad woozy to have all my precious blood in my arms, but as long as I stand up slowly and go rest until my arms stop being all red and tingly, it's fine.) Do some research before you start, I don't want to be responsible for anyone keeling over. But overall, it's a very cheap and safe and seemingly effective therapy and definitely worth trying if you're in my boat and trying to avoid (or avoid paying for) things like cortisone and surgery.

Recently Discovered Tip 2: Heartburn that Tums doesn't fix? Vinegar. Seriously. I have no idea why, but it works sometimes. Most sources say a spoonful of apple cider vinegar, but that's gross. Just put some balsamic on bread.

RDT 3: Turn your head sideways while typing... it makes the sudden appearance of letters way cooler than usual. Ok, that one's probably just me. But the other two tips are probably legit.

Peekies!

2010-06-14T17:59:00.000-07:00

Though I can barely knit more than a few rows a day, I've managed to eek out a couple things that should be showing up shortly, once they're tested...

The first two will be for the next Malabrigo ebook. I think I'm going to release most of them individually before the ebook itself is out. I've got enough Mal to keep doing this for a while, so...we'll see what happens, haha.

Rocky...

2010-05-31T22:07:00.000-07:00

... is a dog model.

Enregalia

2010-05-23T19:31:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update...

The "non-knitted-vaguely-bridalish" shop is up and running now. It's pretty small and I haven't put any veils up since I still need to steam them, but hey.

In other news, I started knitting a bit and promptly re-*#$6ed my wrist. It's really more my forearm... I'm suspecting tendinitis. Either way, I need to lay low for a while longer yet. Bugger.

Well, it's not as good as knitting...

2010-05-13T17:20:00.000-07:00

...but it keeps me busy.

Ugh, the clammy hand season has started. This apartment sorely needs AC, since it gets a lot of direct sunlight and is on the top floor...but we can't really afford it, especially since we have sliding casement windows and have to buy the special fancy vertical AC unit. Lametown.

I've been swatching a little, trying to take baby steps back into knitting (not that it will matter in the heat... I'll have to find out which neighborhood coffee shop will let me hang out the longest with the least purchasing. Or maybe the library?) My wrists still aren't in great shape but if I take a lot of breaks....

Houston, we have Chickens

2010-05-07T08:26:00.000-07:00

And by "we" I mean Travis and his farming partner, Evan. I really have nothing to do with them, besides liking them and naming them and maybe getting to decorate the egg cartons.

(Don't worry, she's supposed to look like that, she's a Turken. Name's David Lynch.)

There are more pictures with chicken names here if you're super interested for some reason. And if you're in Portland and need good eggs (or veggies, soon) please contact these guys: Sasquatch Acre. I drew their logo, so you know they're good.

Comment Modding On

2010-05-07T08:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry guys, I hate to do it but I had to turn comment moderation on. I was getting way too many spam comments (seemingly all in some sort of Asian language) and I don't want any of you good people accidentally clicking something and installing a virus or buying penis enlargement pills or any such things. So when your comment doesn't show up immediately, that's why.

I know I don't need to tell you guys this...

2010-04-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

...but not knitting is hard. (Oh, yeah. I'm not knitting for a few weeks to let my poor wrists heal. They're all carpal-tunnelly and I don't want to make it worse. Those of you who have the misfortune to follow me on Twitter know this, probably.)

Sure, I've got other distractions...

(yes, that's a giant mountain of scraggly pompoms, and no, I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with them. Wanna make something of it?)

But when something like this:

shows up at your door, all begging you to start the second Malabrigo book and test out a bunch of fancy new yarns that you've never seen or touched before (including several "bonus skeins" that you didn't know were coming, one of mysterious content named simply "Mmm", and another which might not actually get released ever, but which is awesome, because how couldn't it be?)

... it gets hard, man.

(If you want to see 'em all, they're in my Ravelry stash, or Flickr, here.)

Fun with Fractals!

2010-04-22T20:16:00.000-07:00

So! Yes! My roving from Cosy's Falkland fiber club! Nice stuff, let me tell you. I thought I'd take this opportunity to try fractal spinning, and compare it to my usual method (rip into random strips, spin at will, ply from center-pull ball. I'm frugal like that.)

If you're not familiar with fractal spinning, the basic premise is this:

You split your roving in half. One half, you spin up as it is, from one end to the other. Second half, you tear into a bunch of strips, and spin up one after the other. In theory this gives you one single with long color areas, and one with short, and they line up nicely and are pretty or maybe stripe in a nice way, or something like that. I've read a lot about it, but people can't seem to give me a definitive "why you should do this" or a good comparison of methods. So I will find out myself.

(Also, fractals have something to do with upper level math. Can't help you there.)

Since I wanted to compare my two methods, I started by splitting the whole thing in half and braiding one half. This is my "normal, center-pull willy nilly" roving.

I set that braid aside, and split the second chunk of roving again. Braided half of that. (You don't actually have to do all this braiding, it just keeps things neat.)

I set this second, smaller braid aside too. Then I split the remaining roving into as many strips as I could without making it too thin to draft, and rolled them loosely into a ball (I tried to start from the same end each time so they'd be spun up in the same order.)

So you've got Big Braid, Small Braid, and Haggard Ball.

I spun up the big braid as I usually would, tearing it into a few strips, starting from whichever end I felt like, and then putting it on the ball winder and plying from the center pull ball. Then I spun one bobbin of the small braid, drafting straight from the braid and not tearing into strips (which is sorta hard for me, I should work on that.) Then, another bobbin working from the haggard ball of strips. I wish I could say I did the small braid and the ball from the same end, colorwise, but I'm not sure if I did. I plied those two together.

Willynillycenterpull's on the left, fractal is on the right. So far, they look the same. The feather was there to remind me which was which, but also it sorta looks nice with it, so I left it :-)

Then, I futzed around with my macro filters for a while.

(yarn is pretty.)

Eventually I knocked it off and whipped up a quick hat. For best comparison-ing, I tried to stick with a steady stitch count (70, on 7mm, if anyone's wondering) as long as I could and did fast-ish decreases (10 of 'em around.)

Hmm. Fractal seemed to stripe a little less, maybe? It's not a super noticeable difference. In the picture it looks like the center pull was much darker but I think that's just the pooling and the side of the hat I took the picture of (go figure.)

Conclusion: It doesn't really matter!! At least not in this case. Maybe I'll try it thinner sometime. Or combine the two, and do a center-pull ply, but split the roving in a fractal-ish fashion. I do like the whole not-wasting-yarn thing.

But hey, I'm diggin' this hat.

Also, pompoms. Very into pompoms right now.

Goodies!!

2010-04-19T11:55:00.000-07:00

In the mail today:
- More rad macro filters (birthday present from my parents) which I used to take pictures of...

- My first CosySpins Falkland Fiber Club installment!!! (a birthday present from Travis's parents! Thanks guys!) Super pretty. Cosy tossed in an old Tiffany's box because I was babbling on twitter about how pretty that shade of blue is, haha. Don't know what I'll do with it yet, but it sure is a pretty shade of blue.

I haven't done any spinning in a while, I'm excited. I think I'm going to try a bit of a fractal spinning experiment. Will report back.

And I will leave you with this moment of zen:

That's a dacquoise that Travis got from a Japanese bakery in New York. Or, as they say it in Japan, a "Duckwards." Hehehehe, duckwards.

(Oh, also, in case you wanted to know how awesome my betrothed is: this awesome. As in, that's my birthday present he's got there. Yeah. It's pretty sweet. And timely, too, since my laptop is about to buy the farm...again.)

In case you were wondering...

2010-04-18T22:51:00.000-07:00

...what yarn looks like very close up.

Why yes, I did get some new camera goodies for my birthday (which hasn't quite happened yet), why do you ask?

Also, buttons:

Maybe I ought to buy a lotto ticket

2010-04-12T10:52:00.001-07:00

I can't freakin' BELIEVE it!

First, I found out yesterday that I had won the Malabrigo Junkies Malabrigo March design contest on Ravelry. Which is insane and a huge honor, because there were SO many amazing projects and Wabbit Season seems so simple by comparison.

Any of you who are in that group and voted for me- thank you! I think I get a free skein of Mal, and a super cute Kirsten Kapur pattern. Mmmboy. (That gal can do no wrong, I tell you.)

Anyway, then, this morning, I found out that I WON THE WEDDING DIY CONTEST AT RUFFLED! I literally yelled "WOOOOO!" and started jumping on the couch when I saw that post in Google Reader. I am absolutely flabbergasted. I owe so much to you guys, my lovely knitting comrades!

I know there were a lot of knitter votes- so many comments mentioned a love of yarn ;-) As someone who has perpetually floated around the not-quite-popular-but-I-guess-I-know-a-few-people zone for most of my life, this outpouring of support has absolutely taken my breath away. It is amazing. You are all amazing. Group hug, right now. C'mon, get in close, we're all pals here. Ooh, your hair smells nice. What type of shampoo do you use? Really? Interesting.

My god. 500 smackeroos. What should I do with it?? Gee whiz. "Seattle yarn crawl" sounds fun. Or maybe I should take it to Vegas, it's been a lucky week, after all...

Oh, and since I'm talking weddings again anyway... my engagement photos are up here! Some of 'em anyway. I can't wait to see the rest. Nicole is a fabulous photographer and it was a lot of fun hanging out with her (she's a good friend of one of my good friends/exes/officiant so we'd met before) and we are so excited to have her covering the wedding! Do you like our Schlitz ad? (I managed to buy the original on ebay the other day- I'm going to frame them together. Heheh.)

Yarn + Wedding + DIY contest

2010-04-05T11:05:00.001-07:00

So...I'm a finalist in a wedding craft contest right here:

http://ruffledblog.com/2010/04/diy-contest-time-to-vote/

And as the prizes are really quite fabulous and would keep me rolling in raw crafty materials for the next year... I am going to be a vote monger and gently suggest that you guys go have a look-see at the entries and consider voting for #11. There's yarn involved!! (If you like another one better, though, there ain't no shame in voting for them instead :-) There are a lot of super great entries.)

Thank you wonderful friends! This was my first experience making a tutorial and it was kinda fun, I think I might do more. Anything you'd like to see?

Free Pattern! Garterrific!

2010-03-29T11:46:00.000-07:00

This was a project I thought about including in my Malabrigo ebook but I wanted to make it in this yarn instead, plus it's super insanely simple, so I thought I'd toss it out as a free pattern.

Yarn: Punta Yarns Merisoft Handpainted, color HP71 (a worsted weight), 1 skein
Needle: Size 9, you want a circular even though you're knitting flat but length isn't too important. Longish might be easier.
Gauge: about 5 st/6 rows to the inch. Not very important.

k- knit
m1- make one (lots of ways to do this- google and pick your fave :-) )
yo- yarn over
pm- place marker (as in stitch marker)
sm- slip marker (so just move it over so you can keep knitting)

CO 3 stitches and work 6 rows in garter stitch (knit every row.) Pull your needle through the work so that the stitches are resting on the cord part of the circular needle. Using the needley part of the circular and the working yarn, pick up three stitches along the edge of the 6 rows you just knit (so now you have a little rectangle with stitches along two of it's sides.) Then pull the hard part of the needle out again, and pick up three stitches along the cast on edge. It will be messy and hard to see, but basically you now have a little rectangle with live stitches along three sides of it. You can scrunch all the stitches up now so that you can work them on the next row. You should have 9 stitches total.

1. k1, m1, k3, yo, pm, k1, yo, k3, m1, k1
2. k1, m1, k until the last stitch, m1, k1
3. k1, m1, k until marker, yo, sm, k1, yo, k until the last stitch, m1, k1

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until you have 201 stitches (you'll stop after a "2" row) or until you're almost out of yarn (leave plenty for binding off and tassels if you want them.) Bind off loosely. Block gently. Make tassels and tie them on if desired, weave in all ends.

If you want to make the most of whatever yarn you're using but you really want tassels, I'd recommend making them before you start knitting.

Go Go Malabrigo, in agonizing detail

2010-03-20T21:22:00.000-07:00

Ok! Everything's working now, whew!

A quick tour of what awaits you in the magical land of "Go Go Malabrigo!" All of the "Buy Now" links will check you out through Ravelry (which you can do even if you're not a member, but why aren't you? It's fun.) Everything will be up in the etsy shop as well.

Verse

As in "versatile" and also as in poetry, but you'll have to ask Vivian about that one.
Requires two skeins of Malabrigo Silky Merino and about 4 yards of ribbon. Kind of super adorable and girly. $5

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Wabbit Season

As in duck season. Double-thick earflaps serve as odd little pockets; pompoms serve as super fun things to fling around. Uses 2 skeins of Malabrigo Twist, mmmboy. $5

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Muffle

As in, "I can't hear you, I've got all this wool over my ears. But they sure are warm." Doubles as a neckwarmer, in case your ears are already sufficiently toasty. Uses 1 skein of Malabrigo Aquarella. $5

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Doublish

As in, each stockinette panel is approximately double the size of the last one. Double-ish. Yumcozy. One skein of Malabrigo Sock. $5

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Catacomb

As in... I don't know, the name just seemed to fit. This is one of those patterns with the pleasant tendency to look much more complicated than it is. Also suitably boyish, for those hard-to-knit-for men in your life. One skein Malabrigo Worsted. $5

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The Whole Kit'n'Caboodle

As in, "I want it all!" Get all five patterns for $15, which those of you doing the math will realize is a darn good deal if you want at least three or four of 'em.

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Whew! And with that, I dine! Thank you for all the lovely nice comments, they really make a girl blush. And thanks again to all my testers, name-suggesters, photographers, and otherwise helpers!

Go Go Malabrigo!

2010-03-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

The ebook is up! On Ravelry, at least.

Go Go Malabrigo!

For the time being, the patterns can only be bought individually... I'm having a bit of trouble uploading the whole ebook. But it'll be there soon.

And as you may have gathered, the winner of the naming contest is Annie! Who will get a copy of the ebook just as soon as it's up and running and I can send it. (Annie, if you're on Ravelry, send me your user name so I can send it that way. It's too big for emailing, heh. presentsknits at gmail dot com.)

Honorable mentions to "Supermalafragilisticexpimalidocious," and my fiance's suggestion, "Bros, Hos, and Malabrigos" (yep, that's the dude I'm marrying.) And thank you one and all for your suggestions!

I will do a more detailed post later today when everything is totally up and running (at the moment, I need to get ready for work, eep!)

Prototypes

2010-03-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

I'm not the type of designer who makes everything ten times before finalizing it (I just rip back, eh) but occasionally I'll knock out a prototype. These poor things never get any attention- sometimes I completely forget to even put them on my Ravelry page, despite wearing them all the time. So I thought I'd snap a few shots yesterday before I completely wear out these two hats.

First up, the hat that eventually was remade as Meriwether:

Basically just a chunkier version, in Alpaca with a Twist Highlander. It also has a weird horizontal linen stitch brim dealio going on. I wear it all the time, because it's black and actually matches everything (you'd think I'd learn to knit in colors I wear, but I don't.)

The second hat is the precursor to the blue earflap hat in the ebook (which should be out, oh, say, REALLY SOON). It's made with some super gorgeous handspun of Vivian's, and even though it's got some mad laddering going on (I'm usually more adept with the dpns, I don't know what happened) and the earflaps aren't quite in the ideal location, I love it.

(my poor camera seems to be having a white balance identity crisis, but I kind of like the weird results. Not good for consistency, though.)

(hint- don't knit a hat with only 4 dpns. I think that's why crazy laddering ensued. Though it's really just the one.)

So yes. There you go, little under-appreciated prototype hats. You are officially documented.

Mood Board: Porch Light

2010-03-10T09:29:00.000-08:00

So I've been playing around with mood boards because, well, if you read enough wedding blogs, you start wanting to collage stuff. And the plan was to post them elsewhere since they're arguably kind of a wedding-y thing, but then I thought, "Hey, y'know, inspiration is inspiration, why not toss 'em out to the knitting/crafting folks too, in case they could do something with them" so... that's what I'm going to do.

I am still getting the hang of these things so forgive me if the first few are a bit sad (I am hoping that all the crediting is correct enough to pass muster, though I think I'll try to record things more carefully next time.) This one was semi-inspired by a super cute little store in Portland called "Porch Light", and the various keywords I came up with for the place are listed below in a grammatically questionable fashion.

{french country, ticking fabric, cottony ribbons, light colored old fancy furniture, peeling paint, bunting flags, home-crafted-ness}

Sources:

Rosey Little Things,Country Living,Home to Roost
Renovation Therapy, Ffffound, Epicute
Cake Toppers World, Camille Styles, Tiny Bird Arts
Blush Publishing, Terra Dawn Blog, Fotosa

So what do you think? Do you want to see more of these or are they better off staying in the wedding blogs?

Peeky peek. And a little contest. Sort of.

2010-03-07T20:45:00.000-08:00

Today my rather talented pal Vivian came over and shot the rest of the projects for the Malabrigo ebook for me (before we hopped on the Portland Yarn Crawl bandwagon for a few hours. I managed to only buy one skein! Go me.)

Which means I can finally start recruiting test knitters and putting this thing together. Hooray!

However, the name is proving to be a bit of a sticking point. Being as "mal" is the latin(?) root for "bad", it's hard to play off it without coming out with something evil sounding.

Malabrigo + Delicious = Malicious!
Malabrigo + Lady = Malady!
Malabrigo + Magnificent = Malificent! (the evil lady in Sleeping Beauty, I think.)

So! Free ebook to anyone who suggests something I like! (It doesn't have to be a pun on the name of the yarn, but you know how I'm partial to puns.)

Ooooh

2010-03-05T13:13:00.000-08:00

The ebook projects are done! Well, except for the blocking and photographing and typing and formatting. And test knitting. It's not going to be a big one, really. I 'd add more projects but I'm really hoping to get it out by the end of March...or more specifically, the end of "Malabrigo March," as the Mal Junkies group on Ravelry calls it. Because, as it turns out, all the patterns in this ebook are for Malabrigo yarns. In fact, that's kind of the theme, now. It was a bit accidental- I got three projects in and realized, "Oh, hey, these are all Malabrigo... I should probably diversify. OR...."

So, yes. Guess it's a Mal book now. Though I should probably specify that I'm in no way affiliated with the company, besides the part where I give them lots of money and they give me yarn, indirectly.

I also need a name. The name is the hard part, man.

Meriwether!

2010-03-05T09:37:00.000-08:00

My first pattern for the Knit Picks Independent Designer Program (which, to you, translates into "the pattern is less than two bucks and the yarn is super cheap too!")

This hat is a sort of remake of a hat I wear all the time (but, I just realized, haven't photographed at all... I'll get on that) that people are always asking about. It uses Knit Picks Gloss Heavyweight, which if you're familiar with their original, fingering-weight Gloss, you can probably imagine is rather delightful (merino and silk, can you ever go wrong?)

You can find it on Rav, here and Knitpicks here - both places it's available for $1.99. I probably won't put it on etsy since, honestly, for $1.99 it ain't worth the listing fees :-P

I also wanted to show you guys my new pdf layout, which I'm pretty squee-ish about.

If you've ever downloaded patterns from me before you probably know how dismally boring they looked- this is a marked improvement. It'll take a while to retro-fit all the old ones into the new template, though.

As for that earflap hat, I'll fill you in on that little ditty later- I haven't quite decided if I'm going to release it before the ebook or not. Perhaps :-) For now, a bridge:

No Skein Left Behind

2010-02-22T14:24:00.000-08:00

This is the thing about me:

I am an extremely organized, anal-retentive person trapped in the body of a complete slob.

Mess and clutter stress me out, but I'm also too lazy to prevent them from happening. Like, really lazy. So my apartment/laundry/stash/crafting projects get completely trashed and neglected until they finally reach a point where I absolutely can't handle them any longer and do a complete overhaul.

Inspired partially by the Yarn Harlot's self-made sock club and partially by a feeling of suffocating disorganization (in this case regarding my stash, though I cleaned the apartment and did all the laundry first), I have done this:

Each one of those bags contains a skein (or several) of yarn and a slip of paper or sketch dictating what the yarn will someday become. Most of them are design ideas, but a small handful are other people's patterns. Many of them may not work out, but it makes me feel better in the meantime. I took this picture before I was completely done...but in the end, I assigned fates to about 90% of my yarn. I still have two smallish plastic tubs filled with orphans (and handspun). I can handle that much purposeless yarn, I suppose. One of these days I need to go through all my yarn scraps and match them up for striped projects and little things, but that will have to come later.

I am in the middle of a bazillion things and as such have finished pretty much nothing. I keep toying with various ebook ideas and changing my mind part way through... but I think I know where I'm headed now. Heh.

Sneak peek? Don't mind if I do.

Damn I'm glamorous. Can't imagine why that modeling career didn't take off.

Where we live now

2010-02-10T08:30:00.001-08:00

(No pictures of the apartment yet, I need to...er...clean it...again...already.)

This is the bridge that lives out our window:

And here are pictures from our walk halfway across it (there's not much on the other side but traffic, and plus it shakes and makes you all dizzy, so I didn't really feel the need to push through :-P ) Obviously taken on a gray-er day than the above. Portland, go figure. At least it's not blizzarding.

(yeah I got a little creative with the color on that one. Eh. I get tired of gray.)

Vivian and I did some dyeing (well, overdyeing) the other day, and the plan was to skein it up and photograph it and post it, but the skeining starting turning my hands red soo...new plan. Soak all the red stuff in vinegar and rinse it again and let it dry for a week again. Awesome. But I have been doing some spinning (much of it on my new fancy schmancy Jumbo Flyer: big yarn, big fun.)

Still coming out a little uneven since I'm not used to it (she says as if her yarn was even otherwise.)

I'm selling a lot of it through Twisted now, so that's exciting! Stop by if you're in Portland and peruse- Vivian's got a lot of her handspun there too. I made a super excellent hat out of some stuff I bought from her, which I will post as soon as I steal the pictures she took of it. Earflaps for the win. And pompoms. Gotta love the pompoms.

Bookin' it

2010-01-28T18:15:00.000-08:00

So I have another publication-y type thing coming out soon (and my hat looks good in this one! So I'm excited!) They just sent me the pictures today:

(60 Quick Knits: 20 Hats, 20 Scarves, 20 Mittens in Cascade 220, Photos by Jack Deutsch)

It's a book entirely consisting of accessories in Cascade 220 (or your favorite basic worsted weight) from a whole buttloada designers! Should be pretty durn neat. I'll tell you more when I actually get to see it in person :-)

You can preorder it here. (From the looks of the little preview thing, which seems to have an alternate cover design or something, I was almost on the cover. Aw shucks :-)

Patterns for Haiti

2010-01-17T20:30:00.000-08:00

Ravelry is making it super easy for designers to donate portions of their pattern sales to aid organizations working in Haiti. You can browse the patterns tagged "Help for Haiti" here. I donated a little bit and bought the "Game Knitting" ebook from Leethal while she was doing her charity shebang this weekend (it's pretty cool, I recommend it... I'd been waffling for a while and it seemed like a good time to give in) but I thought I thought I'd toss a few patterns into the pot so that I can do a little more.

So from now until the end of January, 50% of all Ravelry sales of Dandy, Bad Oyster, and Snowdrift will go to Doctors Without Borders (honestly, the etsy sales probably will too, but just in case I miss one of those...)

Oh for the love of...

2010-01-13T14:42:00.001-08:00

Well, the good news is that my first print magazine pattern has come out (I think it hits newsstands today or in the next few days...they just sent me a "press kit" type thing to promote it with.)

The bad news is... well, I'll get there.

This is the hat I submitted. I wear it all the time, it gets lots of compliments, a lot of "Oh do you have a pattern for that?" (Now I feel kind of bad for telling them to keep an eye out for it, 'cause they won't find it.)

They asked me to make it again and sent me some yarn. Some...magenta and teal yarn. But ok.

Aaaannnndd...the final product:

(Knit Simple Winter 09/10, photo by Rose Callahan. I wasn't going to name the magazine but I have to include that photo credit, so oh well.)

????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ignore the colors- they ARE bright, but my computer wonked up that picture to make it even brighter (doesn't like .tiffs, I guess.) But the hat is...well, a totally different hat when you wear it that way. Sort of a strange looking one. Oh well. I'd already decided that self-publishing was the way to go in the future. I'm curious to see how they've changed the directions, since the directions clearly state "In the BACK of the hat, work a running stitch...."

Anyway, I just wanted to pipe up in case anyone actually want to make a slouchy hat with a ruched back and not a...um... well it's kind of like one of these. You can, in fact, use the same pattern.

In the parlance of our times: Lolz.

Wedding Presents

2010-01-06T09:08:00.001-08:00

Since I'm a sucker for all things wedding-planner-y, and since this is a knitting blog which presumably does NOT want to see every jazzy moodboard that catches my eye, I've made a separate blog for weddingy drivel: the aptly named Wedding Presents. Anyone terribly fascinated by that aspect of my life beyond the occasional casual mention may well enjoy following it. Everyone else will be spared the gory details :-)

As if the whole "oh my god I need a venue asap" thing weren't enough, we are also in the process of moving. We are at the part in the process where our new lease has started but we haven't gotten the key yet and we have only one box. So... the next few weeks might be a bit sparse on the content front. I've got a ton of pictures to upload from my trip home, but the computer that handles those is in an unheated room surrounded by literally piles of yarn and other craft detritus. But it's not worth straightening up, because we're MOVING. So...it might be awhile. But it will be worth it when we live in an apartment where I don't have to watch the wind coming in through the windows, straining at the plastic we put over them that's supposed to be insulating...and where our electric bill isn't damn near 200 bucks even though we only heat one room at a time. Bleckk.

Christmas knittings!

2009-12-25T14:27:00.000-08:00

Now that I've delivered my Christmas presents (well, all but one, I'll put that one up later) I can finally show you what I've been doing for the last forever-time.

My mom wanted a Dandy scarf, in chocolate brown. Same yarn, the Debbie Bliss Pure Silk. My hair looks pretty awesome here.

A pretty plain-jane hat for my dad, though something made out of Annapurna (Verb for Keeping Warm) is never "plain-jane". Held double so as to not go insane.

My younger sister wanted a hat just like the previous Stella hat I made, which was red, sooo.... it's a red stella hat! Different yarn, but Malabrigo is better anyway (in Vermillion.)

I also promised Katy a pair of alligator mittens for her birthday several years ago. I was finally on track to finishing them, but when they got to this stage I yelled "AHH THEY'RE AUDREY II MITTENS" (from Little Shop of Horrors) and convinced her to let me leave them that way.

Those teeth were a bitch. Picked up stitches around the mouth and then picot-bound them off.

Felted French Press slippers for my other sister. These were finished super last minute (especially since our apartment's washer broke and I had to experiment with lots of hand-felting techniques...plungers work the best.) That is why this picture is godawful. They're cute though.

A hat for Travis's dad, in AVFKW Metamorphosis. I liked the pattern; I'll probably release a version of it at some point.

Annnnndd... some kinda-useless artsy pictures of a Damson that I made for Travis's mom! Hooray! It's some sort of Curious Creek laceweight silk/merino blend.

Merry Squeemas

2009-12-24T21:39:00.000-08:00

Ahhhhhhhhhh I just got engaged!

Well, yesterday, anyway. It feels a bit odd.

Because I am not classy enough to wait around until I have a quality camera and take a good picture of the ring, here is a terrible one:

I assure you, it's crisper in real life. And silver. The tree lights make it look kinda gold. It also twinkles a whole lot.

So that's fun. Also, I'm at home again with my family and friends and it's pretty outside and it's CHRISTMASTIME which I love and all around, the world's a pretty cheery place. If only Rocky were here.... I hope he's having fun at his dog-place. Speaking of dogs, I'll get you a picture of my family's rocking new puppy when I get the chance. She tries to eat everything (including your flesh), but she's pretty darn cute.

Alright, Santa ain't coming if I don't stop catching up on tweets and go to bed already. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Bits and bobs

2009-12-17T22:55:00.000-08:00

So I spent a bunch of time packing up all my gifts to bring home before realizing (doh!) that I still needed to take pictures of all of the knits. So that will be tomorrow's goal: unpacking, picturing, repacking. And forcing my sister's #^@*! slippers to felt (our washing machine- or rather, our landlord's washing machine- is not working, at the worst possible time, so I'm trying to boil them on the stove but I might just have to run out and buy her something else to hold her over.)

'Course, I still can't post the pictures til after the holidays. So here are some not-knitting-related things!

I don't know if you know this, but it is rather moist in the pacific northwest. Fungi get pretty excited about it.

Pix's macaron party!!

So yum.

Travis knitting in bed. Awwwwww.

The dog stashes all his toys back there. I think he thinks we can't go there, because we don't very often.

Yaaay several months worth of miscellaneous pictures! This blog has gotten increasingly pointless. I'll work on it.

Handspunny yumness!

2009-12-15T11:36:00.000-08:00

You may recognize some of these from my OFFF haul ;-)

From the left: Some bits and bobs from October's Phat Fiber box, Dragonfire "Autumnal", merino/cashmere/nylon blend (there are two skeins, one small), Plum Crazy Ranch silk/angora (no idea what I'm going to do with this tiny plop of yarn, but it's nice), one of the Maiden Skeins mixed wools, Crown Mountain Farms "Black Magic Woman"...which I am loving. There's a lot more to spin up but I tend to get bored after one bobbin full of twoply.

Targhee from Sweet Grass Wools (no name), Navajo plied.

Bunches of overdue pictures

2009-12-13T09:15:00.000-08:00

Half of the things I'm working on right now are for Christmas, and the other half are maybe possibly for an ebook... which leaves me with fully nothing to show you guys, at least until after the holidays (speaking of holidays, I need to start blocking things hardcore...and, you know, finishing things. Eeeep.)

But I finally uploaded a butt-ton of pictures of things I should've posted about months ago. So yay!

First, my trip with Vivian and her little one to the pumpkin patch on Sauvie Island. I didn't actually take the camera down to the pumpkin part of things, since it was very muddy and there was much carrying of muddy things. I do sort of wish I had a video of Anatole taking off at high speed, tripping over a pumpkin vine, picking himself up and looking around a little, then taking off and tripping again. And again. I've never seen a kid so impervious to falls.

He is also terribly photogenic. Perhaps that's why all of Vivian's pictures are so much nicer than mine. Yeeahh... THAT's why...probably...

Vivian's pretty photogenic too...then, there's me:

Nice.

Honey sticks: a formidable opponent.

After the pumpkin patch we drove down to Travis's new farm plot to get a few pictures for him. It is pretty empty right now, but nice. There were tons of chattering black birds that I was pretty sure were going to eat me.

I am excited to see (eat) what tastiness becomes of this little hunk of land. Nom.

More pictures (of other things) later :-)

Mutts and whatnot

2009-11-30T19:11:00.001-08:00

I know, I know, where the hell have I been? The short answer is "my health insurance ends in January." The long answer is much longer and more boring. I'm hoping to get my studio straightened up over the next few days, which will beget picture-taking and interesting-blog-making, we hope. Wouldn't kill me to update my etsy shop, either.

But for now, more neat links!

A DNA test that tells you what your mutt is made of. I'd love to run Rocky through one of these things, but it's expensive.

World's Smallest Letters!

Fun with water!

Real content, soon, I hope.

2009-11-11T12:00:00.001-08:00

This just blew my mind all over my brain.

Chocolate chip cookies in a waffle maker

(thanks Sarah!)

2009-11-08T17:01:00.001-08:00

Long time no see. Flu, you know. But for now, I bring you only this:

Things that are Interesting: Wordtwist and Awesome Places

2009-10-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

The boy woke up sick today and we don't know if it's swine flu (or regular flu) so I'm preparing for the worst and getting ready to hunker down in the apartment for the week, if necessary. I have, in addition to an array of bland, easily-digested foods and several sorts of medications, the following beverages: orange juice, two types of Naked juice, a 10-pack of Gatorade, a 2 liter of ginger ale, ginger tea bags, peppermint tea bags, Emergen-C (lemon lime!), Theraflu (apple cinnamon? ew), and some sort of weird Kombucha cranberry drink that I had to get to reach the $5 minimum at the vegetable place (Travis wanted chard. Well, kale, technically, but they were out of that. He subscribes to the vegetable route to recovery; I am a fan of the fruit.) Picked up some multivitamins and echinacea too. If this bug is going to take me down, it's going to have to fight for it. I hope my wrists stop aching so I can get some knitting done if I'm stuck here.

But anyway, some more fun things! We are currently in the "other" section of my bookmarks, so shit could get crazy.

First: Wordtwist! ie, online Boggle. I totally forgot about this game and am going to go play it the second I hit "publish" on this post.

And this place is pretty darn neat too, especially for photography and travel geeks: Awesome Places Livejournal Community. A rich mine of inspiring stuff, right there. I haven't looked at it in a while, probably since I bookmarked it, so I'll have to go back and poke around a bit more. It's just going to make me want to go fancy places, though.

And with that, I am out. Remember, kids, it's not enough to wash your hands on a borderline OCD basis and stay 5 meters away from other people at all times: you have to make sure your significant other does, too. Because the pigs will use them as a vehicle to attack you. They are wily like that, and they are mad about all that bacon you've eaten.

Things that are Interesting: Barry the Sea Worm and PVC Niddy Noddys

2009-10-28T10:10:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of real content... I'm waist deep in Christmas knitting and I can't show you any of it since the intended recipients read this. It's hard, I know.

Two links today, because the first one is both irrelevant to crafting and sort of scary. If you don't like bugs, do not click through to check out Barry the Giant Sea Worm. Barry is seriously one of the most badass animals I've ever seen. He's 4 foot long, has giant stingers that can cause permanent numbness, he can bite through 20lb fishing line, and he somehow snuck into an aquarium and started tearing up their shit. They tried to trap him with hooked bait, but Barry just laughed at them and DIGESTED THE HOOKS. Also, he's straight out of your nightmares. I don't want to post a picture of him in case there are children or weak stomachs in the vicinity, so here is the lovely reef he was destroying:

Bonus: The comments on the article are hilarious:

dose it kill human. omg it really long. it looks like the anacoda "
- Aaliyah, tucson, 01/4/2009 22:19

It's gross, they should get rid of it permanently. What possible use is its existence? none, I suspect.
- Sarah, Bournemouth, 01/4/2009 20:42

We are all God's creatures, the wonder of nature.
- R M, Wirral, 01/4/2009 18:38

Barry looks like something out of "Dune"...
- Swift Malone, Lisbon, PT, 01/4/2009 17:28

Looks edible..I guess...
Just give me a chance.
- ethnos44, corea, 01/4/2009 16:50

(Haha, news comments. Always classic.)

Link number two is a super practical PVC pipe niddy-noddy project. I'd been meaning to make one of these, but then I bought a skein winder, so oh well. But it's super great for those of you who don't want to shell out $40+ just to wind your handspun into nice hanks. It says you need a hacksaw or something to cut the pvc, but I think that they'll do it for you at most big hardware type stores, if you ask nicely.
As the Yarn Turns- Constructing a PVC Niddy Noddy

Things that are Interesting: Someecards

2009-10-27T10:32:00.001-07:00

Ok, so they're not all going to be craft related.

http://www.someecards.com/

This has to be one of my favorite sites. Appropriate for all occasions... "when you care enough to hit send." The hardest part is thinking up people to send the cards to without getting annoying. I can't get it to post a picture and I don't feel like trying anymore, so you'll just have to click the link...sorry.

And speaking of cards, my new DOUBLE-SIDED OMG moo cards came in! I'm so excited that I couldn't even wait to take decent pictures with a real camera!

They come in a cardboard box now instead of plastic, which is kind of a bummer (it's already all dented from shipping) but it looks nice. And it has neat little dividers that say "mine" and "theirs" so you can store other people's cards. Awww.

The front, which is the same as before...

The back! Omg! It has a picture! Yaaaaay! (and my shop address...which you can't read because it's a blurry iphone picture. What a terrible blogger I am, haha.)

Things that are Interesting: Danger Crafts!

2009-10-26T17:58:00.000-07:00

So I had a funny idea, today. I said to myself, "Self, you have been collecting hoards of crafty links and nonsense for at least a year or two now (since the last major computer meltdown, anyway), why don't you share all those little bubbles of neat-ness and inspiration with everyone else?"

And I replied, "You know, self, that's not a bad idea."

So here I go! Starting at the very top of my bookmarks list, which is organized in categories that make no sense even to me.

Today: Danger Crafts! Super adorable, mostly monsterous creatures (and knitting patterns for making them) by Rebecca Danger. The patterns seem like they would be fairly simple to pull off, yet the final product is so irresistibly rad.

I think this guy, Maddox, is my favorite:

(picture from the Danger Crafts shop, obviously.)

I just want to snorgle him. Which is like snuggling, but you make noises that sound like "snorgle snorgle snorgle" as you rub your face around. Or... something. Ahem. Er. Yes. So. Danger Crafts! Go have a look around. She's apparently putting out a book soon, too, which I'm sure will be terribly exciting.

Knitter's Math.... if a 6th grader can do it, so can you.

2009-10-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

Today, we are going to learn to use our brains. Too many knitters, it seems, are happy to follow designers' words as law and then become frustrated when their projects aren't quite right. This is bad. I know that actually thinking through things takes a little more time and a little more electrical stimulation of nerves, but it's worth it. I promise.

When you read most patterns, what the designer is really saying is "I used THIS yarn and THESE needles and got THIS gauge and made a thing that fits THIS person" (usually the designer). Sometimes they've done some math in order to offer up some different sizes, sometimes they haven't (and even if they have it doesn't hurt to double check.) In theory, if you used the exact same yarn and needles and got the exact same gauge, you would get a product that is the same size as the designer's. But not very many people DO that. People substitute yarns. They use different fibers, with different stretch and drape. They use different brands of needle. And perhaps most importantly, they have different gauges. So I'm going to walk you through some common issues and tell you how to fix 'em. There is math involved. But it's math that you did in like, 7th grade, and I have faith that you can do it now. I bet your cell phone even has a calculator in it somewhere.

Waaaaah! I'm using the same needles and the same yarn, but I'm getting a different gauge!

Thank you for actually stopping to check your gauge. You're miles ahead of the "gauge is for wussies" people.

You've got a few options here. The easiest is to change your yarn or needle size until you get the right gauge. Since you probably already dropped a bunch of money on the yarn, you'll probably want to tinker with needle sizes. If you're getting too many stitches to the inch (so, say, 9 instead of the 7 you're supposed to get) you're going to want to use bigger needles. If you're not getting enough stitches to the inch, you'll want to use smaller ones. If you don't have an extensive collection of needles at home and don't feel like running out to buy a bunch of them (needles usually aren't returnable), see if your yarn shop will let you swatch in the store before you buy. Otherwise maybe you can borrow a few pairs. Eventually, inevitibly, you'll collect so many needles that this won't be a problem.

If, once you reach gauge, you're getting a fabric that is either too loose or too stiff to be enjoyable, that means you probably aren't using an ideal yarn for the job. You can either abandon ship and get another yarn, or you can rework the numbers. To do that, first tinker around with needle sizes until you get a swatch that you like the feel of, and then take it's gauge. Now, cross multiplication happens.

To review what you learned in middle school, when you cross multiply, you have numbers that look like this:


A                        ?
--            x          --
C                        D

The question mark can fall anywhere. In this case, you take A, multiply it by D, and then divide by C.


?                         B
--          x             --
C                         D

In this case, you multiply C by B, then divide by D. You're always dividing by the one diagonal to the ?

So let's say you want to get a new cast on number to use with your new gauge that you've decided you like better than whatever the designer said. Your cross multiplier thingy will look like this:


Designer's Gauge                    Your Gauge
-----------------        x         --------------
Designer's CO #                      Your CO #

Let's say that the designer wants you to cast on 1oo stitches, and wants you to get a gauge of 5 stitches per inch. You, in your infinite improvisational wisdom, want to use a bulkier yarn and are only getting 3 stitches to the inch (note that you should probably think long and hard about how your project is going to look when knitted up in a totally different yarn. Making something chunkier or finer gives it a whole new look.)

Your equation looks like this, now:


5               3
--      x      ---
100             ?

So you multiply 100 x 3 (hint: it's 300) and divide by 5 to get 60. Casting on 60 stitches will get you a hunk of fabric that's about the same width as the designer's 100 stitches. The fabric will be a bit thicker, so if you're trying to get it around a head or arm, you might want to work a few rows and try it on before continuing. You might have to add a stitch or two to loosen it up. You can do the same thing for row gauge, though god help you if you decide to significantly change the gauge in a project where row gauge actually MATTERS. In most cases, you can just knit to X inches and call it a day.
(Speaking of which, if you need to know how many inches to knit to and the designer just tells you how many rows, that's easy to figure out too. Take the number of rows (say, 20) and divide by the designers row gauge (say, 4 rows per inch) and you'll get the number of inches (5). )

Noooo! I got the right gauge, but my project is too big/small for me!

If you're making something like a sweater, there's a good chance you'll be given a lot of sizes, but in the case of one-size-fits-all type things like hats or mittens or socks, which only sometimes have multiple sizes, it's a good idea to check your own measurements against the measurements of the designer. Sometimes the designer will say something like "fits a 8 inch wrist", in which case you can straight up compare to your own wrist size. Sometimes it'll say something more like "this hat measures 20 inches around" which is a little more confusing, because it's nice to have a little bit of negative ease on a hat, which means that 20 inch hat probably fits a slightly bigger-than-20-inch head. Sometimes, a designer will not mention either of these things, in which case you can probably email and ask 'em. I'm guilty of this, I know. For the record, my head is 22 inches around. Pretty average for a woman. Also, hats stretch, so that gives you quite a bit of leeway.

But let's say, just for the heck of it, that you want to make a floopy hat for a guy with a big head, say 26 inches. You're getting the right gauge with your yarn and needles, but you know you need the hat to be bigger.


Designer's CO #                  Your CO #
---------------        x        -----------
Designer's Head          Your (dudefriend's) head

So that's:


70     x      ?
---          ----
22            26

70 x 26 = 1820
1820/ 22 = 82.727

Since you will be doing 1x1 rib, you want an even number, so maybe just do 82.

Now, knowing the cast on number you want isn't going to help when you get to the decreasing (or any other shaping), but that's a blog post for another day.

If you only have the measurement of the object, and no mention of ease, you'll have to be a little bit imaginative. Let's imagine (see, imaginative!) that there is a pattern for wrist warmers that measures 7 inches around when not worn. You want wrist warmers to be a bit tight, so it's probably safe to say that this size will fit an 8 inch wrist. However, you want to make these for your little niece, who's wee wristies are only about 5 inches around. You're probably going to want the wrist warmers to measure about 4 inches, then. Assuming the cast on number for the original warmers is, oh, say, 40 stitches, you get this:


Original warmer size (7 in)            Your warmer size (4 in)
---------------------------     x    ----------------------------
Original CO # (40)                             Your CO # (?)

(40x4)/7 = 22.8! So round up to 23, unless you need an even number for ribbing or something, in which case do 22.

Alright, I'll pick this up another time, 'cause this is getting kind of long. It's pretty much the same principle of cross-multiplication over and over, but I'll try to spell it out and give you model equations for as many situations as I can dream up. Huzzah!

Swell new backdrop + Things coming up on Dull Roar

2009-10-18T09:04:00.001-07:00

The bad news: Didn't sell a whole lot of stuff at the craft fair. (It didn't look like very many people did. Stupid economy.)
The good news: Now it goes up on Dull Roar! And also, I finally found a backdrop I like. It's actually kind of a pain since it's metallic and I have to be super careful about the lighting that hits it, which means all the photos come out dark and have to be lightened, but I have to say I kind of like the end effect (and the colors of the knits are pretty accurate since I prioritize that over, say, the color of my face being accurate.) Many of these you've seen before, but these are the "official" pictures. Without further ado:

Handspun wool/silk blend with embroidery, "Seattle" from...uh......hmm.

Handspun merino, "Chocolate Cherries" from Lavender Sheep

Handspun/dyed angora from Malabrigo... "party pink" or something like that.

Malabrigo Worsted in Snowbird and Sunset

Recycled sweaters! Hehe.

My own handdyed/recycled wool

The yarn's called "Savoy"... I don't remember the color or brand, though.

Malabrigo Aquarella in...that purple color, and some sort of Elsbeth Lavold Alpaca, I think (I'm good at notes, eh?)

Artfibers Alphabeto and various handdyed wools for the felting.

Cascade 220, held about 4 strands thick.

Handspun from Abstract Fibers roving, vintage lace

Berroco Ultra Alpaca, vintage lace.

Twinkle Soft Chunky

My handdyed, recycled cashmere/silk blend (feels soooo good)

Silk/bamboo

Silk/bamboo plus old keys

The Fibre Company's Road to China in Lapis. It's got like...every animal. It's amazing. And gorgeous.

Artfibers Big Bun(s?) in....green.

Old necklace parts plus old keyhole parts = yay.

(I've really got the zombie-eye look down, eh?) There are more pictures of each thing over on flickr, and like I said, they'll all be turning up on Dull Roar within the next few days and weeks, though if you should fall passionately in love with anything before it goes up, or just want more info, just let me know ;-) (email is best: presentsknits@gmail or keepittoadullroar@gmail. It's hard to talk shop in the comments, haha.)

Now I'm in serious Christmas knitting mode, which makes for very boring blog posts since my recipients read it and I can't give anything away. I'll try and take some pretty fall pictures or something instead, haha.

Stu-stu-stuudio

2009-10-16T20:31:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to post pictures of my studio since we moved in and I have failed so far...but I just cleaned it today so it seemed like a good time. Not that it's anything particularly special- certainly no great feat of organization, and not even particularly aesthetically pleasing, but I (being the nosy git that I am) enjoy looking at other people's workspaces and figured other people might as well.

So, nosy nancys, here you go:

My studio is a weird backwards L shape, only with the bottom line of the L being all slanty-ceilinged, and the corner of the L chopped off to become a closet. I was going to draw a map, but that seemed overkill.

This is what you see from the door:

This is the tall part of the L, and the wall on the right bends around to take you to the horizontal part.

To the left by the chair is the sewing desk:

And next to it, this ridiculous mountain of fabric:

If you follow this blog with any regularity, you probably realize how little I actually get any sewing done. This is a problem. I tend to cover the desk with knitting stuff, making sewing impossible... But I'm trying to get better, I promise. I need to use up that fabric.

Past that is a little shorty worktable. Usually my winder is there too but I've got it in the living room with my wheel.

Underneath said table:

It's really too short and too crowded to work on. But it holds stuff nicely.

Over by the closet we've got this attractive box of yarn. This is the stuff that has a definite fate. That piece of notepaper jutting out tells the fortune of every ball in the box. Those linen bags hold the fate-less yarn, and the plastic tub is for Christmas presents and presents-to-be.

The WIP-and-wool table (had to use that craft fair table for something after it was over, now didn't I?)

Uh, yeah, holy crap. The little fancy box on the end is the frog pond (and now has a bunch of stuff sitting on top of it since I found more doomed knitwear to destroy.) All those paper bags are full of WIPs in various states of completion. Many of the things out front just need blocking, buttons, or ends-weaving. It probably seems like I should be working on these things, but I'm not. I'm working on Christmas presents. So...there. The suitcase and bags inside it are all spinning wool.

In the back we've got my weird book...trough, some more wool, and the scratchy felted sweaters my dog uses as a bed when he's hanging out in here with me.

Rotating around to the right, we've got Dolores! And a loom!

Rotate a bit more and there's my desk. The pillow used to be the dog's bed but he refused to sleep on it, so it became my chair. Now, of course, he sleeps on it whenever he gets the chance (ie, when I get up to go to the bathroom.)

Bit more, so you're facing the doorway again sort of...and you've got my new and improved skeinwinder! Adam (the builder of the legowinder) spruced it up in return for my making a video of the legowinder (did I post that here? Hmm...) I wanted it less rickety, taller, and less reliant-on-wood-friction-that-wears-away-with-time. It is those things, though I haven't had a chance to try it out formally yet (need to do some spinning, man.)

In the closet- my poor unloved Yudu (no time! no space! Someday!) and a rubber tub fulla yummy knits for Dull Roar (new pictures soon!)

The frightening closet floor. Mostly dyeing supplies that I never use now. Stupid small kitchen sink.

Weird closet shelves on weird slanty ceiling. Yarn waiting for new homes, and Ron the Stash Moth!

Whew! Yay for unnecessary and poorly exposed pictures! (The combination of natural and artificial light really messes with stuff, man.)

Oooh I wonder wonder wonder....

2009-10-11T07:47:00.000-07:00

Just poppin' in to say "hey" and remind everyone that I'll be at Crafty Wonderland today from 11-4 at the Doug Fir (at the Jupiter Hotel)... and I hope you'll be too :-)

(If you're in Portland, at any rate. Everyone else is off the hook.)

Crafty Wonderland Preview

2009-09-28T15:11:00.000-07:00

Oh, just some stuff's I've been whipping up. The pictures aren't great... I just wanted to take some quick shots before I send them off to new homes (hopefully.)

(I am very good at self-shot portraits, obviously. But the top of the hat looks as you would imagine it should.)

The long-awaited sequel to my needle-felted squid hat. Octopus!

One time, I made a recycled sweater owl hat. The results were hilarious.

I actually really love this hat and will probably make more.

I'll honestly be surprised if this sells because it's so confusing when it's not on. But it's cute! I'm selling it with a plastic darning needle so people can relace the lace however they please.

Flattering :-P

I dyed this! It's cashmere and silk. Nomnomnomnom.

Sooo... one more time, that's the Doug Fir, on E Burnside, in the basement, Oct 11th, 11-4. It will be awesome. You don't even have to look at my booth, just come buy pretty goodies and make stuff at the DIY table. But if you DO look at my booth, feel free to bring cookies :-)

(A sidenote: The best booth-draw-er-inner ever award goes to Fly Designs at OFFF, for having FRESH BAKED WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES in their booth. They brought a little toaster oven and were baking 'em fresh all day. Nothing has ever smelled more delicious (at least, not in a barn.))

OFFFOFFFOFFF!

2009-09-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

I went to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival today, in case the title didn't give that away. It was, all in all, a lovely day with fine weather, delightful company, yummy festival food, and pretty, pretty wools.

Also sheep, which are hilarious every time. BLAAAAAAAAAGGHHH!

(I also saw a dog herd some ducks but as usual my good camera is too clunky to take to these things, so the picture is pretty dull.)

I was sorely tempted by the angora bunnies, but managed (no thanks to Miss "I'll take it on weekends!" Vivian,) to leave bunny-free, if not quite empty handed.

And now, the parade of woolies!

The breakdown, for those interested (and let's face it, my own records... Rav's no good for rovings, yet) is as follows:

3.4oz Targhee from Sweet Grass Wools, no color name (it's a one-off, I think.)

Top: Crown Mountain Farms Superwash, 8oz, "Black Magic Woman"
Bottom: Dyelots! 6oz Merino, no color name

Top: Dragonfibers Autumnal, 4oz, Superwash merino, cashmere, nylon, 80/10/10
Bottom three: Maiden Skeins mixed wool, about 2oz of each (split with Vivian)

Top: Plum Crazy Ranch, left is silk/angora, right is silk/cashmere, 10g each.
Bottom: Mink (yes, mink) and cashmere. Only $10! Only 50 yards, but hey. It's friggin MINK.

Mmmmm. Fibery.

Camels and Worms: Made for each other.

2009-09-25T20:15:00.000-07:00

Lookie, I made an Ishbel!

(Oh, how I wish I was Ysolda. Damson's been out for, what, a month? And 500 people've already made it! And yes, I will probably make one (or two) as well. Such is the magic. Perhaps I need a cooler name.)

The yarn is Handmaiden Camelspin in a particularly pretty skein of Mineral (I don't like most of them, but I very much like this one.) A gift from Travis last Christmas which has finally been released from the jar of special yarns and let loose into the wild. The wild of my neck.

In other news, for you local folk, I will be at Crafty Wonderland on Sunday, Oct 11th, 11am-4pm. It's in the basement of the Doug Fir (where the music happens.)

I am bringing a bunch of yarn and other fun stuff (I'll put up some pictures later, but the yarn is mostly stuff from the etsy shop, plus a few skeins I never got around to listing.) If you're in Portland you should definitely come, say hi, and check out the wilderness of super-neat crafters. Never too early to Christmas shop, you know. And I think they have a little free crafting table thing that goes on too. So that's fun.

In other, other news... I've decided to scrap my Baby Cables and Big Ones Too and make a Silken Scabbard, a decision that only had a little bit to do with the fact that I wanted the needles for something else. Sorry, Vivian. I'll probably make BCaBOT someday since I paid for the pattern. :-P

P.S. Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival is this weekend! Don't forget! But don't buy up everything good on Saturday 'cause I can't come til Sunday.

Tender Buttons!

2009-09-18T17:14:00.001-07:00

(not the literary kind. The soft and adorable kind.)

I've suddenly gone nuts for dorset buttons.

Just in time for craft fair season, too. They are kind of a super amazing use for leftover sock yarn (the smooth stuff works best.)

Here they are on the cards, looking all cute and packaged:

Squeee! It's so much easier to make something like this look nice than it is a hat. Hats are awkwardly shaped at best, when they don't have a head inside them.

Some other things I've been tinkering around with:

(I got one of those little fabric button making kits- SO FUN. SO EASY. I have a bunch I want to put on hair clips, but the backs are recessed and I haven't figured out the best way to attach them yet... the super glue wouldn't take. Perhaps hot glue.)

Recycled film and chain bits.

Vintage loops + leftover Camelspin from my Ishbel (which is blocking in the bedroom as I type) + recycled findings pried off old jewelry = oo, neat.

In other news, I am wearing the most awesomely ridiculous shirt ever:

Hooray for Threadless $9 sales! I should've gotten a size smaller, though... it's not quite as clingy as I like 'em. And sadly it seems that the t-shirt gods have taken my very favorite shirt (Loyal Army, featuring happy planets and a vampire UFO) off into the ether as retribution. I hope it comes back :-(

Wip it?

2009-09-11T21:23:00.000-07:00

Currently on my needles (counting only the things I'm actively working on, anyway,) we have:

1. Another Stella hat that looks just like one I made for a swap last year, because that's what my sister wants for Christmas. Nevermind that I could probably design for her any number of delightful hats, she wants THAT one. (No picture, though...we can at least play at secrecy.)

2. An Ishbel, for me, in super amazing beautiful Handmaiden Camelspin that Travis bought me for Christmas last year

3. A "Baby Cables and Big Ones Too" sweater, the current knit-a-long at Twisted. I wasn't going to make it, but I finally succumbed to the peer pressure (and realized that I didn't actually have to buy all the yarn at once, which I can't afford, but can instead set it aside and buy it skein by skein.) It's probably not something I would've picked for myself, but it's pretty. I think i bungled up the cable on the second row, though, and there ain't no going back now. Whatever. I've also started doing the increases on the knit rows instead of the purl/cabling rows because I can't seem to hold that many tasks in my brain. Still, I should probably be making craft fair things and Christmas presents instead. Hm.

This is weird, because I'm cabling, doing lace, and working from other people's patterns- three things I almost never do.

Ishbel is sort of driving me bonkers. It's a fairly simple lace pattern, and yet for some reason, I've spent more time tinking it than knitting it (luckily knitting is faster, so I'm still making some progress.) Last night, I started on chart C where I should have been starting chart A again, did not discover it until I reached the middle (about 100 stitches in, I'd estimate), patiently tinked back to the beginning of the row... only to discover that the first line of C and that of A are IDENTICAL up until about 8 stitches before the center point.

If you'll pardon my netspeak...FML.

Dandy Scarf- Pattern, yay!

2009-09-06T13:55:00.000-07:00

(oh dear, belly shirt! How unladylike.)

This scarf is kind of silly, and I like it.

The stats:
- 2 skeins Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, Taupe
- US 6 needle

Some notes:
- Pure silk is tricky to work with. It's fuzzy and slippery all at once, and if your hands get clammy it sticks to them. But it's kind of totally worth it. It feels sooo good.

- If you don't want to use silk (and I don't really blame you) pick something with good drape, like a silk or bamboo blend, or maybe alpaca. You may want to go up a needle size to maximize drapey-ness in a less drapey fiber. Pure Silk is DK weight, and I'd be hesitant to go up much bigger than that, but hey, it's your scarf.

- You don't have to do tassels. You could do "easy tassels" and just hook on some fringe with a crochet hook like you might for a normal scarf. You could do pompoms, which would look awesome, but are probably not suited to the recommended yarn. Or hang beads on it. Knit bobbles. Do nothing. Whatever you please. (The tassels do add a nice weight to it, though.)

- This is easy to make wider or narrower- just stop knitting wherever YOU want the middle point to be. But if you make it wider, you will need another skein of the DB, since I used up all of mine by the time I'd made the tassels. (Here is a tip: If you have two skeins, and the first one runs out, you are at the middle. Start decreasing now.)

- I am someone who sometimes ignores perfectly good advice like "only attach yarn at the end of the row." DO NOT IGNORE SUCH GOOD ADVICE. My poor scarf looks like it has a scar, if you hold it up to the light. Do as I say, not as I do.

-It will curl like an 80's perm until you block it, after which it will just curl more like a body wave. But don't panic if it looks like a big silk snake while you're knitting it. (That said, I can't speak for other fibers. And if your fabric is fairly tight, you run the risk of increased curl-age, so you might want to go up a needle size. Drape is the name of the game.)

Want it? Here ya go!

(Or you can buy it through etsy, as usual)

(the fine print: Your purchase of this pattern constitutes your agreement to use this pattern only for personal, non-profit use without specific written permission from the designer (just email me!) Items made from this pattern may not be sold without permission, nor may the pattern itself be copied, sold, or distributed in any way. You may print one copy for personal use but may not print multiples to distribute, nor may you share the digital file with others. Thanks guys!)

If you need to contact me with questions, my email address is presentsknits@gmail.com - please email instead of commenting since it's much easier for me to reply that way! Thanks!

I went to the beach again! And there were hats!

2009-09-04T17:55:00.000-07:00

Travis hadn't been to the beach all summer, having been at work when I went with Max, so we decided to take a little field trip, on the condition that he'd help me photograph some stuff for Dull Roar (there is still a ton of stuff I need to finish up and photograph...and I need to make more for the craft fairs I'm hoping to do. Eep!!)

So, knits first:

This is an old one, reshot:

Handspun, navajo plied. I can't remember the details of the fiber anymore, but I think it was a bamboo/wool blend.

Road to China in Lapis... I posted a little teaser pic of this cowl a long time ago and promised a pattern. Um. Sorry. I forgot what stitch pattern I used. Errr....

Beautiful yarn, though.

I like this one. It's just some old handspun purple merino, with one of my first attempts at embroidering-on-knitting...some sort of alien dandilion, I think.

An old project finally getting photographed properly- sort of. It's Malabrigo's handspun angora in something like "party pink". I really wanted the earmuffs to stay on properly without a chin tie, but it just wasn't in the cards. They're quite cozy though- there's wool felt inside the layers.

Handspun hat- Lavender Sheep merino in, I think, "chocolate cherry" or "chocolate and cherries" or something like that.

Malabrigo worsted in Sunset and Snowbird, held together. Quite slouchy.

Handspun Chameleon Colorworks in Taos. I, er, accidentally decided to keep this one, I guess...because it was cold on the beach and I needed a hat. I like it, though. Very much into this color combo.

Yay! Now gratuitous other beach pictures!!

I am being Sacagawea like in this sign:

I touched a jellyfish with my toe (not the tentacles, I'm not stupid.) It was squooshy.

This is what it's like to hang out with me most of the time.

(Sorry if I just blew your computer's mind. I sort of assumed that people with dial-up would have given up on me already.)

And one more picture, a little morsel of pattern fun to come (I promise, this time):

Spinny!

2009-09-04T17:52:00.000-07:00

This:

is what became of that stuff on the bobbin. It'll probably end up in the shop, but I haven't measured the yardage yet. It's sort of a light worsted/dk weight... strange for me (and tedious! I am no good at fine yarns.)

This pile of goodness:

will be its sister yarn, this time in more autumnal colors rather than springy ones.

And here, just for fun, are the little braids I made of the bits I kept for needle felting (one skinny strip from each mini-braid)

Hehe. Cute.

And I said "Heeeeey, heey, hey, hey heeeyy..."

2009-08-30T14:09:00.001-07:00

Whuz goin' on??

I am a bad blogger and have neglected to make any of a series of semi-unimportant updates, which I will remedy now:

1. A while ago, my friend Max visited. We went to the beach. I failed to take more than four decent pictures during the course of his visit. Fail fail.

If there's one thing I know, it's that people loving having pictures taken of them while they're eating.

2. I got a super awesome merino sampler pack from Greenwood Fiberworks

which I am spinning up with some solids in my stash (to make it go farther.) More on that when it's done.

3. I am having a bit of a jewelry phase, after checking out a book on junk jewelry from the library on a bit of an impulse. For my purposes, I am counting stitch markers as jewelry (they're jewelry for your knitting!)

With the holiday craft fair season on the horizon, I'm starting to grope around for fast, satisfying projects. I don't know yet which, if any, shows I'll be in, but hopefully I'll do at least one good sized one.

4. Jones Halloween soda!!

I'm not a big pop drinker (I only called it "soda" up there because "Jones Soda" is the brand name. It's pop, dammit) but these are kinda tasty and they look like monsters. Rar! I was at World Market to find some beignet mix (which they HAD and I'M SO EXCITED I'VE BEEN LOOKING EVERYWHERE) and they were putting the halloween stuff out already. Crazzzyy. Speaking of halloween, rumor has it that there will be a pretty cool event happening at Twisted...but it's just a rumor, so shhh. You hear nothing.

(Either way, I will finally be wearing my skeleton tights. So you have that to look forward to.)

And 5, because I'm a stereotypical annoying pet owner, this is what it's like to be my dog, as told via a blurry, tungsteny photo essay:

Oh Rocky.

6. I'm sick :-( I knew it was coming, the extra boogers and headaches were a dead giveaway, but still. Ick ick ick. Everybody wash your hands before you eat!!! Don't touch your face! Don't bite your nails!

Free Pattern! Mossy Pebbles Scarf

2009-08-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Luscious Single Silk in Mossay, 1 skein. You will be holding the yarn double, so you’ll probably want it wound into a center pull ball so you can work from both ends. If substituting, note that these skeins are BIG. You’ll want at least 500 yards of a worsted weight to hold doubled, or 250 of a chunky weight.
Gauge: It’s a scarf. You’ll be ok.
Needles: 7.0mm straight needles (or circs, but you’ll be working back and forth.) If you can’t find a 7.0mm, I’m sure a US 11 would be just fine.

Directions:

Holding the yarn doubled, CO 18 stitches.

1. K1, *yo, k2tog *, repeat between stars until there is one stitch left, k1.

That’s all. Do that every row. Then add fringe, if you want it (mine was a little bit of leftover Malabrigo Chunky...no idea what color.) Weave in the ends. Wahoo!

This pattern is super easy to modify for just about any yarn – just cast on an even number of stitches and work on appropriately sized needles. But if you make it bulky, it absolutely flies by. Keep this in mind when you still need three presents on December 15th.

(the fine print: Your use of this pattern constitutes your agreement to use this pattern only for personal, non-profit use without specific written permission from the designer (just email me!) Items made from this pattern may not be sold without permission, nor may the pattern itself be copied, sold, or distributed in any way. You may print one copy for personal use. Please do not reproduce the text of this document on other sites- just post a link :-) Thanks guys!) Copyright 2009 Alexandra Tinsley, Presents Knits.

If you need to contact me with questions, my email address is presentsknits@gmail.com - please email instead of commenting since it's much easier for me to reply that way! Thanks!

Rules to live by

2009-08-14T20:20:00.000-07:00

Fringe: Go big or go home.

(I could have gone bigger, really...but it was scrap yarn and very finite.)

I have a new pattern coming for you! Very soon! And you will really like it I hope because it is easy and it means that you can knit a big squooshy scarf in like, 4 episodes of the X-files (or your hour-long drama of choice). Seriously, this thing flew off the needles, it took about two days (plus fringe time today.)

Did I mention it was squooshy?? And very easy?? And not ribbed?? Yes. It is those things.

Bad Oyster - Pattern now up!

2009-08-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

Why "Bad Oyster"? 'Cause it doesn't have any purls! (Badumching!! I'll be here all week, folks.)

This scarf/shawl/triangle/whatever you want to call it is knit entirely in the round, and then steeked open, a process which also creates the fringe pretty painlessly (you get to tie them together to avoid future unravelling, but there's no cutting-a-million-little-pieces-and-crochet-hooking-them-on.) It is a super low-stress introduction to steeks, since even if you mess up terribly and cut it open like a ham-fisted baby gorilla, you'll just have a few pieces of fringe that aren't quite right.

It's also wide open to personalization- the stockinette background would be perfect for an interesting stitch pattern or cables, even colorwork, since it's in the round. Would work up easily in another gauge, and you can make it as long or short as you like. You can even change the length of the fringe by putting more or fewer stitches in the "to be dropped" section. As written, it should work with just about any sock yarn and takes less than a 100g skein (which is what they usually are.) Good news for those of us who may have gone nuts at Sock Summit (ahem.)

I'll try to get a better picture of it flat so that you can see the shape a bit better...basically it's a shallow triangle with long arms. I haven't really tried wearing it as a shawl, as I'm not really the type, but it stays on great as a scarf (and you can tie it around your waist if you want to rock the belly-dancer look.)

Find it on Ravelry
or Buy Now

and as usual, it will be available through my etsy shop as well.

(the fine print: Your purchase of this pattern constitutes your agreement to use this pattern only for personal, non-profit use without specific written permission from the designer (just email me!) Items made from this pattern may not be sold without permission, nor may the pattern itself be copied, sold, or distributed in any way. You may print one copy for personal use but may not print multiples to distribute, nor may you share the digital file with others. Thanks guys!)

If you need to contact me with questions, my email address is presentsknits@gmail.com - please email instead of commenting since it's much easier for me to reply that way! Thanks!

Spirally, Stripey!

2009-08-10T17:04:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to knit this hat for ages, and I finally had some yarn that seemed destined for just such a project. I was a bit pleased when the construction turned out to be just what I thought it would be... it seemed to work in theory but I'd never actually tried it before. Hooray! I feel smart.

Pattern: Leethal's Spiraling Stripes Hat, the very first version in the pattern.
Yarn: One of my handspuns from my brief participation in the Tour de Fleece. It's very lumpy.... too lumpy for my tastes, in some places, but I like it anyway.
Mods: Bigger yarn, size 10 needles. I'm not entirely sure how many wedges I did... I just went til it fit around my head. I used the same cast on number, though, so it's a tad slouchy. Even so it actually fits tightly and is a nice thick fabric, and so should be much warmer than the majority of my hats. Yay! I also grafted it shut instead of doing a three needle bind-off, which would've been a good idea with any other yarn, but was sort of a nightmare with this stuff.

I also made these goofy little wristwarmers with the leftovers....I will probably never wear them. Oh well.

I have another Leethal hat pattern or two sitting around that I've been meaning to get to as well...I'm getting a bit sick of knitting with sock yarn so perhaps I'll take another break soon.

And a sneak peak of the pattern that I'll be putting up this week, probably tomorrow:

I'm calling it the Bad Oyster Scarf. I'll send a free copy to anyone who guesses why before I post it ;-)

Just a quick PSA...

2009-08-09T19:25:00.001-07:00

This isn't directed at anyone in particular, but it's been happening quite a bit lately...if you guys have questions about my patterns, please please please email me at presentsknits@gmail.com rather than asking in the comments. The problem with blogger comments is that when I reply, it emails that reply to everyone who has ever commented on the post if they have "email follow-ups" on, and if you DON'T have email follow-ups on, it won't notify you. It's just much easier to have an exchange via email (and then if necessary I can update the pattern with any info that's missing.)

I'll update my pattern posts to say the same thing in the next day or two.

Neat!!

To the Summit!

2009-08-07T19:03:00.001-07:00

Whew! Sock Summit! There are no words.

...well maybe a few. Like "big" and "crazy" and "omgyarn." I don't know if it was the wool fumes or the florescent lighting or just the sheer amount of prettiness, but my brain is solidly fuzzy, in that warm, happy, "there is sock yarn all around me as I type this" kind of way.

Pictures! These first ones were taken with my iphone so they're not great, but you get the idea.

I was working the Twisted booth this morning and got to have a shiny badge all my very own! Hooray!

Twisted's booth. When I stopped by in the afternoon they'd added even MORE yarn, if you can imagine. If you haven't rocked the summit yet, be sure to check them out, s'good stuff. Booth 812.

The marketplace! Well, more like approximately 1/4 of the marketplace. This place is BIG. I am still not sure I saw it all and I was walking around for over 3 hours.

And now, the goods...

Yay! A breakdown for those interested follows.

Spirit Trail Fiberworks "Brigit" in what appears to be an unnamed colorway. They had another, very similar, very pretty yarn called "Alexandra" but I refused to shell out another $8 just to get a yarn with my name. I think they should have just given it to me.

Wool Candy Meringue Merino, "Moss Rock"

This one's not sock yarn, but whatever. Madelinetosh Tosh Worsted, in Kale. Madelinetosh is rapidly becoming one of my favorite yarns, even if it is a bit pricey.

Mama Llama "Hurricane Mistake"... got a good deal on this one because it has a bit too much pink, or something. Whatever, I like it the way it is :-)

And this is the part where I went overbudget by wandering into the Sanguine Gryphon's stall. Apparently there was a madrush on some particular yarn this morning that I know nothing about. It must've been pretty amazing, because the stuff that was left by 4pm was still friggin gorgeous:

Little Traveller in "Montreal"

Eidos in Dialegsthe (I have no idea how to pronounce that.)

I also nicked these ones out of Twisted's Sock Summit yarn boxes, before the summit even started... I count them anyway, though:

Black Trillium Merilon in Earth and Butterbeer

Black Trilium BFL in Primary (not my normal colors but I was inexplicably drawn to it...possibly because it looks like funfetti, and I love me some cake.)

And...oh! What's that? Could it be another skein of Archangel? I think it might be...

You know, I've almost never bought the same exact yarn twice, but the times when it's happened, it's always been Malabrigo...

I'm meltiiinnggg, meltiiingg...

2009-07-31T20:06:00.000-07:00

It's been all kinds of ridiculous hot in Portland this week...up to about 110 the day before yesterday. I think it's slowing starting to ease off (it's been getting cool at night again, finally, after several nights of sleeping covered in wet towels.) As such, I haven't been getting much work done - the thought of putting wool or fabric anywhere near me is a bit unbearable, and my hands are too constantly clammy to achieve much of anything useful. I managed to re-read the sixth Harry Potter book while sitting in my undies eating popsicles. I did not manage to do my laundry or clean any part of my increasingly messy apartment.

I will, however, have a pattern for you soon...something I finished the majority of before the heat wave. Just as soon as it's cool enough to model it.

In the meantime, I will leave you with this-

Before heat wave emergency haircut:

After heat wave emergency haircut:

(I laughed for a pretty solid 20 minutes upon picking him up from the groomer, and it starts up again every time he enters the room. This picture does not quite do justice to just how ridiculous he looks. But at least he's cooler.)

Visiting! Yay!

2009-07-16T11:12:00.000-07:00

Whew - it's been a busy week (and it's not about to stop just yet, since my friend Max gets into town tonight.) My boyfriend's parents were here for the past few days, so I spent the week (whenever I wasn't at work, anyway) traipsing around town and doing all the fun stuff you rarely get around to when you actually live there.

International Rose Test garden... never been here before. Didn't realize it was free. Neat!

Travis and his dear mum at the Japanese Gardens.

Ladybugs!

We did, in fact, do things that were not "Go to some kind of gardens", but I am a terrible documenter, as we all should know by now.

Travis's mother, because she is such a wonderful and generous person, bought me some of the prettiest yarn I think I've ever seen. Photos don't quite do it justice, but I'll try:

It's Punta Yarns Merisoft Handpainted, color HP71. As I was commenting to Travis yesterday, I find it kind of funny that when my parents come, they buy him booze, and when his come, they buy me yarn (our respective money-sucking impulse purchases.) No complaints here ;-)

On a beer-and-yarn related note, check out this old Schlitz advertisement they have at one of our regular bars:

Sorry about the photo quality... it's a dark room and an iphone. If you can't read it, it says:

"Yarn with a Happy Ending
Everything's bound to turn out all right for a fellow who's tied
to a girl who keeps Schlitz in the picture.
We think you'll like Schlitz best, too, because more people
like the taste of Schlitz than any other beer. That's why
Schlitz is...
The Largest-Selling Beer in America"

Aw, the good old days.

In other news, I fail at Tour de Fleece.

Shop Update

2009-07-12T14:28:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind, some of these have been up for a while...Oh well. As always, if anything catches your eye, these are up for grabs here.

I let Travis name one again- "Charmander vs. Squirtle" :-P

Handspun wool/silk blend

Silk lace weight

Merino handspun

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah- I've wanted to name something this since I started dyeing yarn but nothing had come out looking like a Werewolf Bar Mitzvah yet... I might be stretching it with this one, but it's time.

Crazy blend

Tour de Fleece!

2009-07-10T13:05:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit behind the times posting about this, but what's a post about spinning without a few days work to show?

If you're not familiar with it, the Tour de Fleece is a bit of a spinning-community phenomenon orchestrated by my fellow Twisted yarn-slinger, Star. The point is to spin every day during the Tour de France. The Ravelry group is pretty huge, and it's been kind of excellent seeing the fruits of that many concurrent spinners. I wouldn't even know the Tour de France was happening now otherwise, so I'm not sure I'm spinning along with it, really, but it seemed like a good excuse to use up a bunch of my stash.

I've already burned through the exciting handpainted rovings that I picked up at Black Sheep:

And now I've moved on to spinning up a bunch of scraps:

Eventually I'll have to start carding the odds and ends together...ooohfun. I've had to slow down, though, or I'm going to run out of stash before this is over, and it's not quiiitte in the budget to buy a bunch more roving.

And this, my friends, is why I need a small flock of sheep. Don't you agree?

Emrigail Scarf/Shawl Pattern

2009-07-06T19:57:00.000-07:00

CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE, SORRY- it needs reworking, as there were gauge issues.

Been awhile, huh?

This little ditty has got a unique, diagonal-ish construction and is super versatile- you can wear it several ways, you can change the cast on number to get an all out shawl or a little bandana, you can change up the gauge and make it lacy instead, you can toy with the number of yarn overs... have fun, man!

Otherwise, it's a super cozy, pretty easy (I'd say "beginner with a twist") triangle scarf/shawlette made with three skeins of everyone's favorite yarn. (Malabrigo, I mean. It IS everyone's favorite, right? It's not just me that's crazy?)

And yes, I did have fun playing with fruit while I was taking pictures. Why do you ask?

(the fine print: Your purchase of this pattern constitutes your agreement to use this pattern only for personal, non-profit use without specific written permission from the designer (just email me!) Items made from this pattern may not be sold without permission, nor may the pattern itself be copied, sold, or distributed in any way. You may print one copy for personal use but may not print multiples to distribute, nor may you share the digital file with others. Thanks guys!)

If you need to contact me with questions, my email address is presentsknits@gmail.com - please email instead of commenting since it's much easier for me to reply that way! Thanks!

Weaving Project 2 (you will never see number 1)

2009-07-05T18:08:00.000-07:00

I don't really like the process of weaving as much as knitting, but I do really like the result.

And it's fast. So freakin' fast.

(This is the Malabrigo Sock Archangel from Hood River, by the way)

Seems worth mentioning...

2009-07-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

I've finally got my "stuff that has already been knitted or sewn or otherwise made" etsy shop up. I'm still not sure I like the photography... I had a specific goal in mind, sort of, but it's hard to be artsy and still show off the product, so "showing off the product" won.

But here it is: Dull Roar

And here's the blog that will accompany it, though I'm not sure yet what I'm going to put there to keep it interesting: dull-roar.blogspot.com

And here is a preview, both of the shop, and of an upcoming pattern ;-) (Does it still count as a preview if I just show you the whole thing? I don't know.)

So yes. That's a thing.

Of Hoods and Rivers

2009-07-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

Whew! Been a while, eh? Moving is (pardon my french) a bitch. The internet is finally back, and I'll have to give you a tour of the new place one of these days, but for now... Hood River pictures!

I've been meaning to get over to Hood River for a while, since a yarn store there (Knot Another Hat) carries a bunch of undyed base yarns that I wanted to check out in person before ordering. Travis was more intrigued by the breweries, but in any case, we finally have the same day of the week off, so we traipsed down there yesterday for some yarnin' and beerin'.

First, a tour of the Full Sail brewery. Didn't take a lot of pictures, but it was interesting. Did you know they send all their leftover hops, malt, yeast, etc. to Tillamook to feed the dairy cows that make Tillamook cheese? True story. Those cows are drunks.

And here's a freaky looking dog that was outside:

They give you free pint glasses after the (also free) tour instead of beer. Good deal.

Then we proceeded downtown to check out Knot Another Hat, which didn't have a whole lot in the base yarn department, but did have some freaking amazing colors of malabrigo:

(The Selection Privada is Travis's...he bought himself yarn without any prompting from me! I'm so proud. He bought mine too, because he is super nice. It's Malabrigo Sock in Archangel, a color I've never seen before that is blowing my mind.)

I didn't take any pictures of the shop because I was too busy losing my wits. It's been a while since I've been in a new yarn store (or any yarn store besides the one I work in, really.) We walked around for a little while but it was probably the hottest day so far this year, so hanging around pavement was a little rough.

(Travis looking ticked because I'm taking pictures instead of taking my gelato out of his hand)

A whole store of alpaca stuff!!! I didn't actually go in, since our meter was running low, but it looked intense (and really, really warm. Ack.)

Brewery number 2, Double Mountain. Good pizza!

A seriously delicious beer, and this coming from someone who kind of hates beer. It's some sort of cherry lager.

And of course, a stop at the gorge on the way home (and Travis's turn with the camera)

This could have been a quite lovely picture, if someone hadn't screwed it up by making an intensely stupid face.

aaannd....home (that's the new place behind tardasaurus, there. We live upstairs.)

Black Sheep Gathering!

2009-06-21T14:15:00.001-07:00

This weekend = Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, OR! Fiber festivals for the win!

However this is going to be a rather sad little post....Sigh, I need to get a little, decent camera to take with me to things like this. I don't want to lug the SLR, but my iphone camera is woefully dissatisfying, as you can see. Check out Lee's post on the event for some better pictures, and a video with sheep noises (they are really, really funny. I always forget that.)

But anyway, here is a my single in focus sheep shot:

Hooray. We walked around a bit, though given the four hours of driving, I wanted to keep actual Eugene time at a minimum so the dog wouldn't do anything unsavory before we got back. I made my purchases:

Odds & ends of a merino/targhee/maybe something else blend. Very soft, very economical, very drum-card-able!

Lavender Sheep roving. She does fantastic yarns, too, but my fiber festival rule is "fiber only except in cases of unmeasurable awesomeness and rarity."

aaannd Chameleon Colorworks. I'm a sucker for these colors. I remember their rovings being bigger, though... maybe they're just braiding them more densely.

We stopped by a brewery so Travis could get some freebies, then ate lunch at a highly rated Thai restaurant that was...ok. It looked like somewhere that would have "Country Kitchen" in the name.

Heh. I was disappointed to learn that Eugene does not have an answer for Saint Cupcakes, as I've been on a bit of a miniature cupcake bent lately. But hey, we got back to a poo-free house, and that's all I can really ask for.

We're about to move and the place is a disaster, so I'll probably manage to save the rovings until Tour de Fleece.....maaaaybe.

It's that time again

2009-06-14T19:08:00.001-07:00

You know, the one where I post a bazillion pictures of dyed yarn that's going up in my shop pretty soon, and don't give you any real content. As our ever-observant Vivian noted, this blog has pretty much turned into "Presents Dyes". I promise I have some knit stuff to photograph sometime soon. And a pattern to go with it, even! But we're moving soon and the apartment is a mess and making myself look all chic is hard, so for now...things that will fit in a lightbox! Onward!

True Blue

Tang

Noreaster

Manticore

Charybdis

Cherry Lips

Artificial Strawberry

Peacock. This one probably won't go in the shop, it's just a tiny batt...I'm still experimenting with dyeing fiber in different forms. It's a bit tangely.

heehee

2009-06-10T16:03:00.001-07:00

Hawt.

2009-06-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

(You know what that means, right? It means it was a dye day.)

Ah well, a bad case of respirator-face is better than a mild case of rainbow-lung, I'd imagine. Or pickled-by-hot-vinegar lung.

This is not stuff I dyed today, since it is still quite moist, as you might imagine. But it was finally sunny enough today to shoot the things I dyed last week (yes, my business depends on it being sunny in Portland. I'm screwed, I know.)

Chimera, Gorgon...two of these. The pictures are labeled things like "gorgon5" which makes me think of weird galaxy names or something.

More Chimera- Sphinx, Harpy, and Pan. All from the same dye pot, oddly enough. I think they'd be pretty awesome striped.

Chimera, Nymph

Reinyarnation, Cashmere/Silk... "Fate of Atlantis". Yes, sometimes yarn reminds me of beloved childhood Indiana Jones computer games. So what?

Reinyarnation, Posy, big & small. The big one is a bit darker. Wool, possibly merino.

Reinyarnation, Hella Grassy, cashmere

Hurrah! I feel like that was a weirdly small batch. Hmm.

Serious Business

2009-06-06T21:59:00.000-07:00

Yarn is fun and all, but tonight I'd like to talk to you about something a little bit more serious. It is a dire and unpleasant affliction, which affects close to 99% of all women.

I am talking, of course, about body hair.*

Now, I am a LADY and do not like to speak about such things as pores (which I don't have) or pooting (which I don't do) but I will break my dainty vow of propriety to share with you a very important discovery.

These things:

are AWESOME.

Why are they awesome?

Well, for one, they do the same job as waxing, but only cost about as much as a single salon wax (it is still what we call down on the homestead a "stupid impulse buy," being as I am but a simple small-time purveyor of fine yarns, and not a wealthy lady, but it is worth it.) Also you don't have to go to a salon and get all paranoid about the gaggle of adorable southeast Asian ladies talking smack about you in their native tongue. You can do it in the privacy of your own home, but unlike home wax kits, you will not be glued to EVERY FUCKING THING IN SIGHT for the next three days. ("Just dab a little cold cream or baby oil on the leftover wax", they say. Well, I didn't know I was going to need to buy cold cream, and the "leftover wax" is covering my entire leg, which is still hairy.) Plus you never have to buy refills, so it still works out cheaper.

Reason two.... you don't need a reason two. But it IS sparkly.

And yeah, it feels like you're being tattooed by killer bees, especially the first time (and god help you if you try it anywhere but your legs- it made my armpits cry, I am pretty sure.) But pain builds character, and you get used to it. It does leave a few too-short or too-wispy hairs, but nothing a razor can't fix, and it'll make your shave look and feel way better for way longer. And honestly, it's kind of fun.

*Unless, of course, you're one of those ladies who likes to keep things natural, in which case more power to you. Please feel free to ignore this post completely, or pass it along to a friend who was more successfully brainwashed by the patriarchy.

**Disclaimer: the one above, the Braun Silk Epil Xelle-something, is the one I have, but I'm sure other brands are just as good. And no, this post was not paid for by Braun, though if they wanted to beer me a little yarn money for my efforts I wouldn't stop them. But it really is a good product. Click the picture to go to drugstore.com and read all the five star reviews.

Oh, technology.

2009-06-05T13:41:00.000-07:00

So, uh, you guys can be facebook friends with my etsy shop, now, should you so desire:

Oh Geez!

I guess technically they're called "fans" but whatev. We know we're friends, right? BFF4EVAOMGZ.

Catching up with Bloggity-ness

2009-06-02T09:42:00.000-07:00

Now, back to yarn. First, some stuff I didn't dye, but OH HOLY GOD IT'S SO PRETTY. If you live in Portland you need to get your tush to Twisted before we run out of DiC Starry again. We only got three of each color, and they are all SUPER BEAUTIFUL. If you're familiar with Dream in Color you know that the colorways vary a lot from dyelot to dyelot, so...don't blame me if you miss it.

It's hard to capture it's sparkly glory in pictures, but trust me.

Aaaannnd... some more stuff that'll be in the shop over the next few days, if it's not already-

Some rovings, oo la la:

"That Minty Fresh Feeling"

"Flora"

"Palm"

More reinyarnations:

"Parrotfish", wool, fairly chunky, probably merino.

"Lionfish" (yeah, I know it looks nothing like a lionfish, but whatever.) Silk/Cashmere blend. SO nice. I wish I had more of it...sadly it was a pretty small sweater.

"Leprechaun", silk/cashmere

"Maui Wowee" silk/cashmere...these might be staying here with me. Ahem.

"Ralph". My dad named it. It's cashmere.

And one more Chimera (actually there's another but I need to reshoot it..my camera has trouble with reds sometimes.)

"Scylla"

And finally I got around to putting some batts together- this set I'm calling "Koi Pond"

It's a blend of pretty much every fiber in existence. Wool, alpaca, mohair, several kinds of silk, camel, hemp, linen, sparkly stuff, bamboo, probably a little cotton...

Maui: Wowee!

2009-06-01T16:46:00.000-07:00

I've been back for almost a week, but I wanted to post Maui pictures before rambling on about anything else, so...heh. Yeah! Those. (I also probably should have mentioned that I graduated at some point. So, that's neat. Not being in school is pretty friggin rad.)

Brace yourself, this is gonna be a big one. No talky, just looky.

It was a good trip. I learned a lot about my various physical weaknesses (a short list: I am bad with cold water/wind (ear-wise), high altitude, the sun, and the period of several days after a boat ride. Also, physical exertion of any kind. I never used to be such a bad traveller :-/ ) But I saw lots of pretty things, and dolphins and sea turtles and a super-rare monk seal (!!) which I don't have pictures of because my camera is not snorkel-boat suitable.

Been dyeing a bit since I got back, pictures of that to follow. I think I'm going to have to cut my dyeing down to one day a week, since it makes me a little woozy, even with the respirator (which I think needs new filter cartridges) and really stinks up the place. At least until we move and I have the space to do cold-pour. Ah well, it's not like I've got one toe in about 10 other crafts.

2009-05-19T15:03:00.000-07:00

Oh dear, I haven't put the latest batch of goodies up yet. They're not all in the shop quite yet, and I'm about to leave for a week (Hawaii! Woo!) so they won't be until I get back. But pictures are fun anyway. Sorry this has turned into a yarn gallery... I'll get some more content- rich stuff up soon.

"Ochreville", recycled merino

"Fuzzy Aura", superwash wool (sock)

"Little Neptune", wool

"Vin Diesel, Jr." (I let Travis name this one. Go figure.) Recycled silk.

My first hack at dyeing roving (at least, in the last year.) I'm going to spin this one up myself to make sure my method doesn't leave it too felty or anything like that. It feels ok so far.

The next three are a new (but limited quantity) base yarn that I'm calling "Chimera"- 80% baby merino, 20% cashmere. It's pretty scrumptious.

"Zombie Apocalypse"

"What up, Echidna?"

"Oh Hai, Hydra."

Mmmk, off to sunnier climes for me... I will bring you pictures and perhaps exciting Haiwaiian yarns! (Well, pictures of exciting Hawaiian yarns.)

New Handspun!

2009-05-09T10:37:00.001-07:00

Well, actually some of it's the same as the post a few days ago. But with a new fancy (ha!) lightbox! And accurate colors!

10:45, from that silk hankie I had so much fun with ;-)

Emerald, silk- it's been sitting around for over a year for some reason.

Rustic, silk and wool

Wheatfield and Drought, from (I think) a rambouillet roving.

Rosy-fingered, another rambouillet.

Tilt and Axis, from Cosy's falkland roving (called Tilting Axis :-P )

Floozy & Doozy, merino

And Peppermint, again. I like the whole spinning-recycled-yarn thing. I might do it more often. We'll see.

As usual, you can find these fluffies in the etsy shop.

On Productivity

2009-05-08T17:44:00.000-07:00

Does anything feel better than getting shit done? It is the only thing that actually reduces stress for me. I guess that makes sense, though it's not always convenient.

What I did today:

- Got gas

- Stopped by the sale at Abundant. I'm finally at a point where I feel like I have enough yarn. Really. That point exists. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't be stupid of me to NOT pick up $70 worth of primo fuzz for $28. Do I look stupid to you?

(I may be going through a color phase. I was also wearing my favorite socks today. Oddly enough I don't own any clothes in these colors.)

-Mailed off little Floozy to her new home. I got the handspuns re-shot yesterday (and made a lightbox! More on that later) and some of them listed. I'll do a shop update post when they're all up, possibly later tonight.

- Returned school library book

- Turned thesis in for printing and binding

- Went to health center to get prescription (the nurse who saw me turned out to also be a knitter- I managed to pawn a business card off on her and point her towards Twisted for possible lessons :-P )

- Returned regular library books. Picked up a book on weaving.

- Bought mother's day card, advisor gift, loaf of bread

- Bought foam head to block hats on (I've tried coming up with alternatives because foam heads are creepy, but nothing works as well. And they're only $3.)

- Picked up printer/birthday present, finally. My dad is going to be unhappy when he learns it's not an HP...the one I wanted wasn't on sale anymore, which put the wireless, double-sided-printing HPs out of my price range. And dammit if I didn't want wireless-ness and double-sided printing. I don't think I need to print enough that the slight savings on ink will be that big of a deal. Plus the one I got was $100 off. Sweet.

- Wrestled printer into submission and made it print things. Hooray!

- Filled out mother's day card, advisor gift card

- Blocked hat

- Picked up thesis

And now, I am friggin' hungry. The rest of the week includes more fun errands, such as "return keys", "clean thesis office", "take sister to school visit", "write goddamn art history paper so I can graduate" and maybe even "get new brake pads so I don't careen into the Willamette." Oh, and washing the dog, which I was supposed to do today, but I didn't quite make it (business hours be damned!) Fun.

PS: This is important. I'm pretty sure everybody should see this video: Two words: Ballerina ninjas.

Aye aye aye

2009-05-04T11:06:00.001-07:00

I finished my thesis. Finally. Finally finally finally. I have orals in about four hours, though. Eeeeep.

So we shall talk about happy things, instead. Like handspun.

There's a lot more, as you can tell from the last picture, but the colors were coming out really, really off, so I need to reshoot it. The sad part is that the colors were coming out way cooler than they are on the real yarn :-P It'll be going up in the shop once that happens.

The red one (which now that I look at it is a little washed out) is interesting. It's recycled merino, the same as Anchovy and Jazz Hands, but I then ran it through the spinning wheel to give it twist and navajo plied it. It's good and squooshy.

Reading Michael Pollan is bad for you. Or good.

2009-04-24T20:33:00.001-07:00

I'll be the first to admit that the happy-happy love chibi tone of the whole online knitting world sort of gets to me after awhile. As people who know me in real life will tell you, I'm a bit cantankerous, and I like my spirited rants. Don't take this to indicate that I'm actually unhappy or even particularly grumpy- I just enjoy a good grouse. And goddammit, this is my blog, so I'll grouse all I want.

And today, we are grousing about vegetarianism. I will tie it back into yarn at the end to make you happy.

But first, here's a sock:

Abstract Fibers sock yarn, Sweet Pea. Knit a bit loose, really, but I like them. They feel nice and textury.

Now that I have placated you with sock, we will continue.

First of all let me say that if you simply don't want to eat meat, that's totally fine. I'm not going to argue with preference. If you're creeped out by the idea of dead animal going in your mouth, regardless of how in concordance with natural order such a phenomenon is, then don't do it. I don't eat duck because I think they're too darn cute. I refuse to try lamb or veal because they're babies. I don't eat seafood 'cause it's icky (yes, I've tried it, many incarnations of it. It's icky.) But let's talk about some of the reasons people go veg:

1. I don't want to hurt/kill animals. Well, that's super. Noble, for sure. Unfortunately the majority of grain/fruit/veggie farming, especially on an industrial scale, destroys habitats, chops up little creatures in farming equipment, and poisons any animals who dare come near it. So you're still killing animals, and in fact it's entirely possible that more creatures died to make your Boca burger than would've if you'd had a real burger. And we're not even necessarily talking about the bugs who are killed on purpose - birds can eat those bugs and get poisoned, pesticide run-off is a HUGE problem (remember those fragile eagle shells?), small animals can eat pesticide-covered grain and produce. If you buy organic you're given a pass on most-to-all of the pesticide-related issues, but you're still destroying more habitat and potentially chopping up more field mice than your carnivorous friends. If we really wanted to get the most food with the least habitat destruction, we'd rely on pasture-fed meat animals, who will pretty much run around happily co-existing with our rodent, bunny, and bird friends. If you're going to insist on being a vegetarian for this reason, it is your responsibility to source all of your food very, VERY carefully. That means no prepackaged "big organic" veggie pizzas, no Rice Krispes, none of that nonsense. You'll be dealing exclusively with small local farmers who use humane methods of pest control, or growing your own food. Which is totally great if you can manage it, but most people can't, and if you can't, you might as well have a nice grassfed steak.

2. It's healthier. Hahahahahaha. Depends a whole hell of a lot on what you're eating, friend. A lean cut of responsibly raised meat is probably quite a bit better for you than some overprocessed pretend-meat bullshit.

3. If we stopped eating cattle, we'd have enough corn to feed everyone and nobody would go hungry. Sorry, Jessie, who I doubt reads this, but still. First of all, we already have plenty of corn. Rather than give it away or do anything useful with it, we find ways to pack it into processed foods, sweeteners, soft drinks, gas, even yarn... anything we can possibly think of, including all those nice novelty vegetarian/vegan products. (This is rapidly making us all fat, but that's a rant for another day.) Secondly, the cows don't want our stupid corn anyway. It makes them sick, it makes them yield unhealthier meat, and the facilities that they're forcefed all this corn muck in are pretty much horrible. What needs to happen is a rise in demand for grassfed animals (which happens when you EAT grassfed meat, not when you stop eating meat altogether), which will force at least some of the cornfields to stop making so much crappy corn and maybe grow some real food. Or, hey, maybe we'll get nice and start feeding other countries. But the reason we're not doing it now has very little to do with a shortage of food.

4.You are against animal "slavery". First of all, you're an asshole, and I just thought you should know that. Second of all, please familiarize yourself with the ways of evolution. We did not "enslave" domesticated animals- we co-evolved. As a species, any given animal wants to be safe and healthy long enough to reproduce and continue the species. We provide that protection. They no longer have to do anything but eat and copulate and lounge around in the sunshine. And yes, at some point, we eat them- but we afford them a faster, more humane death than natural predators would, that much is for sure (Have you SEEN what wolves do to a sheep?) We tend not to start eating their internal organs while they're still alive. Really, they got a pretty good deal. A nice give and take. Hell, sometimes they totally got the better deal- my dog is asleep on the couch right now. He gets fed three times a day, and sometimes he gets treats and yogurt (and if he's sick, boiled chicken and rice) and he doesn't do squat to help around the house. He just steps on your lap and smells bad and gets hair on things. He's never had to hunt for his food, because his ancestors realized that, hey, if they hung around humans and were nice and affectionate, the humans would feed them. Sweet deal! Dogs are doing pretty damn well compared to their wild ancestors, and even though we eat them eventually, it's pretty safe to say the same of cows. Hell, I don't even know what a wild chicken looks like- guess they didn't make it.

If I'm missing a reason, let me know (besides religious reasons- those aren't based in logic so I can't really logic my way out of them. Carry on as your god prescribes.)

And now to the issue of vegan knitters:

I'll give you silk. The silk moths are killed. Even for Tussah. If this bothers you, don't use silk.

However, this whole "omg wool is bad" bullshit is kinda silly.

Let's look at the alternatives to animal fibers:

Cotton: Big pesticides, big problems. (Look into organic cottons if you're going to use the stuff.)

Rayon/Bamboo/Corn/Soy Silk/anything that did not start off a fiber-like substance: SERIOUS chemical processing is required to make these things turn into yarn. Nasty, nasty chemicals.

Acrylic: it's made from oil transported by vehicles run by oil and processed by machines that are on some level probably run by oil. They also pretty much never biodegrade, and WILL MELT ONTO BABIES, who last I checked, were also animals undeserving of your cruelty.

Linen and hemp: Actually, these might be fine, I don't know much about their growing practices. I could imagine similar issues to cotton.

Do you know what hurts animals? Pollution. Pesticides. Chemical runoff. Smog. Pretty much anything that hurts the environment, really.

Do you know what doesn't hurt animals? Haircuts. Slight indignity, maybe, but they'll get over it. And yes, maybe once in a while a sloppy shearer will nick an animal. But that's rare, and still better than being poisoned to death by your drinking water.

And yes, mulesing hurts. But flystrike hurts worse. (Google it. Google image it.) And they're breeding out the need for mulesing as fast as they can.

If you're concerned about the whole animal slavery aspect, allow me to remind you that you're a douche, and go read the paragraph above. Sheep have a pretty sweet deal. Nature is less kind to sheep than we are, and there would be a lot fewer of them if we hadn't formed this little bond. They're classic prey animals, and a hell of a lot fewer would make it to reproduction if they didn't have us and our dogs (ironic descendants of their predators) protecting them. From a species perspective, this is a smart move. Hell, even from an individual perspective: live longer, die gentler. (With the possible exception of lamb, which I've already mentioned I'm not crazy about. Those are perfectly good wool animals you're wasting.)

All that said, I've heard nasty things about the superwash process, but I'm not sure I care enough to handwash my socks. I also don't hope to imply that I live by any of these guidelines, but then, I also don't present myself as a morally superior being because of what I do and do not eat/knit with (I am very comfortable with the food chain.) But if you're going to go veg, do it right. A vegan knitting with acrylic and eating super processed corn "food" because it's somehow better for the animal kingdom is just an idiot.

Me, home alone.

2009-04-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

C'mon. Guys. Seriously.

2009-04-16T21:02:00.001-07:00

Don't shit yourselves. Sock yarn is stash.

I mean, it's taking up space/eating up your budget/making you happy, isn't it?

It's stash.

I declare the new name in knitting bags to be...

2009-04-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

Mario Batali!

That's right, this guy:

He thinks he's making a line of insulated lunch boxes for adults. But he's not. He's making knitting bags.

(this is the one I bought)

The features, as I see them:

- 2 smaller back pockets and one large front pocket

- another little pocket inside

- no velcro, zippers, or other yarn-destroying nonsense. Closes with a drawstring and magnets.

- insulation, in addition to keeping your yarn cold if necessary, makes the bag practically stand up on it's own (it's got a nice, boxy shape) and thereby won't crush the goods. It also keeps your needles from stabbing through the fabric, and keeps moisture and yuckiness from getting in. Plus the inside is shiny and silver!

- they vary a bit in size. Mine is big enough to hold a sock project plus all of the other crap I insist on taking everywhere (glasses case, wallet, phone, three chapsticks and four pens, a pile of receipts, a clif bar, a huge bottle of water...). Take my stuff out and you could probably cram a sweater in there. Not an XXL bulky weight sweater, but a little one.

- this is perhaps most important: they are largely NOT ugly, some of them have a shoulder strap, and they do not cost $70-$200 (they're about $20-$40). Very few specifically designated knitting bags live up to these guidelines, in my mind.

- They come in a lot of styles, in case you're not into the stripey messenger bag look. Check out the men's section for some nice understated stuff (though I don't understand why men need a differently shaped messenger bag in the summer.)

- some of the money goes to some food charity. I didn't really read about it because I was going to buy the thing anyway, but food charities are good.

- it looks like the Mario Batali label will be easy to rip off when I get around to it.

Also, those of you on Ravelry-
check out my new yarnie page!
I'm official! Hooray!

New Yarns!!

2009-04-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

Putting up new yarns in the shop as we speak.

Some highlights (ok, a picture of all of them because I'm excited):

Jazz Hands (Why yes, I do name them the first thing that pops into my head, why do you ask?)

Phosphorus

Gnomey (a personal favorite... almost a disaster but I dragged it back from the brink.)

Good ole Electric Tide again.

Blue Raspberry Mishap

Anchovy

Aurora. I think I dyed this yarn about 5 times, and I'm psyched that I finally got it to come out attractively (by my standards...everyone else said it was fine. Pft.)

Berry Party (bulky cashmere? Yes please!)

I've been calling these two "the brothers"... they were in the same dyepot but came out rather differently. I'll probably use these myself as a sample, since they need to be striped to make a uniform piece of knitting. They certainly are photogenic, though.

Eeeep! Yarn, guys!!!!

And, lo, behold!

2009-04-09T14:03:00.000-07:00

It is sock yarn! Dyed by me very own hands, it is. With big-girl dyes, no more of that food color wussy stuff.

It came out very, very bright. I guess I'm used to over-dyeing recycled yarns, not starting with bright white bases, but I've been collecting a few different ones to sample for the day when I have wholesale capabilities and $500 to sink into orders. This one is Treadsoft.

So bright, in fact, that it seems to make my camera a little queasy, and the colors/focus keeps coming out wonky. But it's pretty!

Reskeined for your enjoyment.

I learned several important things while dyeing this yarn.

1. Crock pots can NOT go on the stove. You think I would've looked this up ahead of time.

2. Mrs Meyer's Clean Day, while I really don't like the smell, is pretty good for getting blue dye off of countertops, cabinetry, etc.

3. Respirators are necessary. I had dust masks for mixing, but I tend to be a little sensitive to chemicals and the vinegar/dye steam was making me a little dizzy, so I got a real, hardcore "toxic dust" respirator. This thing blocks asbestos and hantavirus, and makes me feel like a storm trooper. Hell yes.

I tried it out today (which means more pictures once that stuff dries) and you can't smell a thing. It's excellent.

You may be saying, "But Alex, why weren't you working on editing your methods section for your thesis today?" to which I reply "You shut the hell up, that's why."

A Brief PSA

2009-04-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

Guys, I don't like to get preachy and all, but this needs to be said.

DO NOT COZY TREES.

DO NOT WRAP YOUR TREES IN KNITTING.

DO NOT PUT "KNITFITTI" AROUND LIVING THINGS, including but not limited to trees! (People are ok. And some dogs.)

If you absolutely MUST do this sort of thing as an "art project" of some sort, take it down after a day or two.

Disclaimer: I don't know anything about this particular project, I just swiped it off google image to illustrate what I meant by tree-cozying. For all I know, this one was taken down in a responsible amount of time.

If the cozy is tight, it can stunt the tree's growth and cause limbs to fall off. Moisture can build up behind the cozy and cause the bark to rot (and a number of other fun, nasty things to happen, like fungal infections.) Insects can take up residence underneath them and eat the tree to death. Trees have DIED from being "lovingly cozied". Acrylic is especially guilty, since it will practically never rot off, or breathe, for that matter. Don't do it.

Plus, there are a million and ten ugly things you could cozy- poles, railings, door handles, statues (ok, not ALL statues are ugly, but they could use scarves, don't you think?) You don't need to take on something already attractive. Leave the damn trees alone.

Thanks.

Photo time!!

2009-04-04T19:52:00.000-07:00

We got sun today! SUN!!

Oh, you'll see, after I block it.

Dino scarf!

(Handmaiden's Casbah in Bronze)

These are my scraps. They are out, arranged in colorwheel order, for a reason.

A bit late for "Flash your Stash", and this is only my scrap stash, but hey. It looks a bit ridiculous but keep in mind that they're all pretty small balls, and I've been saving them carefully for a long time now. Ahem.

I wish I had pictures from the Japanese Gardens, which I finally made it to today (the weather was so nice! Travis had time off! Oh geez!) but we didn't decide to go until we'd left the house, so I only had my iphone. Maybe if those end up being really good once I upload them...but I'm not counting on it. I assure you, they were lovely.

I told you I was going to make a sweater

2009-04-02T21:34:00.000-07:00

"Owls", a free pattern found here: Clicky
More details on Ravelry here... I'm too beat to write much here. The gist: It's not quite perfect but I'm pretty darn happy with it. And undecided about eyes.

Also, there's some sort of cave man trying to devour my dog.

Edit: Haha, Knit/Purl has this sweater in it's newsletter as a thing to make for "$125 or less", using the yarn the pattern actually calls for. Mine cost half that, and I probably have about half the yarn I bought left (I used parts of both skeins so it's hard to tell), which means those two skeins of BMFA LSS would've probably made a larger size with relative ease. Plus I like this yarn waaay better.

So Blue Moon for the win, guys.