You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January 2008.
I saw this quiz on Pam’s blog and just had to try it out myself. I’m a little spooked. How did it know that I watched the entire first season of Prison Break just because they kept showing Michael Scofield with his shirt off and showing all those tats? Drool…
It is official, I have finally moved into my own place.
Many thanks to all the wonderful friends who showed up to help me move in exchange for some free soda and pizza. I would be curled up in a ball in the corner if it wasn’t for you.
Sadly I don’t have new house pictures just yet since I haven’t quite gotten around to unpacking everything and tossing the empty boxes. Plus there is that small matter of all the things I just discovered I need…like a coffee table, curtains, lamps etc. All I can say is
Thank god for Ikea!
The move was a little rough on the furry critters, keep in mind that Sammy has never known another home (well besides the shelter) and Nicki has spent over half his life in the townhouse so they were a little spooked. Nicki camped out in a bedroom closet for about a day and Sammy spent about 4 hours that first night hiding in the litterbox (it was clean!). I think maybe the smell of fresh Tidy Cats made it easier to pretend that he wasn’t in a strange house.
A little catnip on Monday night did wonders for breaking the ice and by Wednesday afternoon I watched as Nicki finally noticed the perfect windowsill perch. He entertained himself by watching the traffic drive by before realizing that traffic watching wasn’t nearly as much fun as napping in my knitting chair.
As for me, well it is taking some getting used to, keep in mind I’ve also lived in the same house for 7 years so moving into somewhere new is an adjustment for me too. I made the point of setting up the dyeing room early and spent a little time dyeing some bfl yesterday. That is when I noticed that the table I’m using is a little lower than my old work surface. I’ll need to swing by the big box hardware store for some wood to raise it up.
Call me a wuss if you must but I’d rather not dye at a table that is the perfect height for triggering that nasty sharp twinge at the base of your spine.
I got to stay home yesterday bundling up a scary amount of roving so I can dye for Madrona while I waited for the cable guy to stop by to hook up my tv and internet. Then I had to wait some more for the second set of cable guys to come out and setup my digital cable properly since it didn’t work the first time. I think they were a little afraid of what I was doing since it looked like my entire living room floor had been taken over by fluffy white Tribbles.
As for me, well I’m just happy that the smell of wet wool drying is winning the battle against the freakishly strong chemical cleanser smell that was lingering in the bathroom. I’ll take the smell of drying BFL over a nasty cleanser smell any day.
For those of you who know me in real life you may have been exposed to my lack of interest regarding dishcloth knitting. It has never been a slam on those who do knit dishcloths, heck who am I to judge what is worth knitting and what isn’t? I’m not the knitting police.
My lack of dishcloth interest stemmed from both my lack of understanding of what you would use one for and my inability to spell the damn word. While writing this post I have to make a conscious effort to not write dishclothes. If you start knitting pantsuits for your dishes I firmly believe you deserve to be mocked.
Dishcloth knitting has just never appealed to me…till now
ok ok I admit they aren’t really KNITTED dishcloths but actually crocheted ones. I was told by Ginger not to knit dishcloths for my new apt so I didn’t. I did however spend an hour or so one evening crocheting something that ended up being dishcloth-like.
I started one as an experiment since I’ve never quite mastered this whole crochet in a circle thing. Then I started a second because I had another half ball of kitchen cotton lying around. I honestly don’t know if I will ever make more. They were quick and easy but honestly kind of boring.
As for knitted dishcloths, well I have no need to go there because Ginger made sure I was well stocked in that department. Thank you Ginger!!!
Isn’t it ironic that I’m worried that my new knitted dishcloths are too pretty to get dirty?
Boy oh boy was St Distaff’s fun. It was my first time going since at this point last year I still didn’t know how to spin. Going for the first time and being a vendor to boot was an interesting experience.
Lesson 1: Don’t assume you know which exit Googlemaps tells you to use. Taking the wrong exit results in panicked driving around because you can’t find the place and you don’t know the phone number of anyone who knows how to get there.
Lesson 2: Always attend these things with friends. They will calm you down when you need it most and basically be the only reason you don’t have a complete meltdown.
Lesson 3: A cup of tea is NOT a breakfast but ziploc baggie of homemade shortbread and 2 cans of diet coke IS a lunch 🙂
I believe the final attendance was just over 170 spinners. How cool is that? I did much better than I had hoped, I left with just under half of what I had taken there that day.
I was able to push my booth table out a bit and spin on Daniel for a few hours. I grabbed the BFL Potluck #20 that I refused to sell and started spinning. For the first time I didn’t split the roving before spinning but just spun end to end. The color changes that I loved in the roving were just wonderful in the finished yarn which I plied with a rayon copper thread.Â
Plying with the thread gave me a finished yarn that was almost a boucle and I have approximately 430yards of it. I think I spent about an hour debating the colors of thread at the fabric store. I was worried that a shiny thread would look gaudy so I almost went with a muted thread but I’m glad I finally chose the copper. It looks like I plied it with a fine gauge wire and the copper makes the blue sections pop. I’m really curious to see how this knits up and it will hopefully be a simple lacy triangular shawl.
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Spinning the BFL made me realize how little of my own roving I do spin up. I’m not sure what it is that makes me reach for other brands before my own, I know it isn’t because of quality concerns 🙂 The latest yarn is only the 4th roving of mine that I have spun and I’ve managed to lose 1 of the previous 3 finished yarns somewhere in my house. Maybe the impending house move is a doubly good thing because it should help me find all those “misplaced” items.
For now the blog may become a bit more silent than usual as I busy myself with packing up the last 7 years of my life and moving on to my own place.
I thought a good way to tackle the end of year wrap-up was to look at my goals for 2007.(copy and pasted from 1/2/07 blog post)
As for my 2007 goals….
Icarus shawl (already started) Finished and well loved.
1 pair of socks a month Um….well 11 out of 12 isn’t too bad and #12 is on the needles going into 2008. (see below)
Take part in the socknitters design challenge I don’t think the challenge ever happened. Oops.
Socktopia I failed miserably at this. I think I did 1 month and even that was a stretch.
Brooklyn Tweed’s Red Light Special hat Done. Hat was felted slightly in December so it actually fits now.
Knit a sweater or cardigan for me Done and a second sweater is currently on the needles.
Another lace shawl Check. The swallowtail shawl for a friend counts right?
Finish the Hoover blanket I just need to face facts, this will never be finished because I hate knitting it.
Felted scrap blanket Yet another brillant idea that I never found time for.
Learn to spin. Hmm. Bought a wheel, learned to spin, starting dyeing my own fiber, launched Dragonfibers, bought a second wheel, and a drum carder…. Do you think I accomplished this goal? 🙂
Wow, while when I look back at my total number of projects for 2007 it never really seems like that much but tallying it all up was interesting. I didn’t realize I had finished 11 pairs of socks, it really felt like I had knit maybe 5. I’m surprised to realize that 7 out of the 11 pairs were for myself while the others were all gifts. Now if only I knew where all those socks were…
Now for the fun part where I get to plan out my goals for 2008.
In 2008 I want to….
Always have a pair of socks going on the needles. I joined the SAM5 KAL just for this purpose.
Finish the Stacy sweater.
Complete Tomato in time for Seasocks.
Knit another sweater.
Knit a lace wrap.
Process my own fleece.
Spin a sweater’s worth of yarn (note this does not include knitting the sweater in 2008).
Spin a true 3ply fingering weight sock yarn.
Do not end 2008 with more sock yarn than what I started with (31)
Think I can do it?
As for that sock goal, well as of about 6pm on Dec 31st 2007 this is where I was.
I was at the short row heel when I decided to head out for a night of debauchery instead of knitting. Instead I got an evening of neither.
Oh well…better luck next year!Â
KnittingKitty rambles on and on 