Lots'a Yarn

Last weekend Mom and I stopped at Yarn Diva in Hillsdale while out. She wound up buying me a Knit Kit. I think Pat said someone had asked her if it was a birth control kit.:)

Pat got her one and she was looking to spread the addiction. As she said on her blog, Mom added a needle to the kit. I'll be doing that too. Above the Knit is pictures from the front with some really vibrant Jitterbug yarn that I picked up at Yarn Diva. Below I'm posting a shot of the back of the Knit with some Aussi sock. That is the same yarn (different colorway) as the yarn I used for the Mary Thank You Socks.

I still have the Lapis Hederas on the needles here next to me. I'm thinking I may give those to Mary as well.

I've made a lot of progress on the BSJ for Mrs. B's new grandbaby.

I think I'm going to make something for the big brother of the new baby, Alex, but I'd want it to be crochet. I've been missing crochet so much. I also sleep with a crochet blanket every night and it's just as snuggly as any knitting! So I'm considering making this Spiderman blanket (Ravelry Link). I'd make one for Griff too, and I'd hope to make one for my other co-worker's son. We will see...that is a buttload of blanket!

Still working on my Clapotis.

It's taking much longer than I'd thought, but then again it is sockish yarn. And it does feel really nice. It's for me, so I'm in no rush.

I've done NOTHING to get ready for school. A little web design on my class site, but it sux so I'll need to re do it. The company that we teachers have our sites through makes good design difficult. Tomorrow (gulp) I'm planning to go in.

Mom, Pepper, and I were supposed to see Julie and Julia today but Pep got sick. Mom and I hadn't been to Stix-n-Stitches in a gillion years so we drove up to Montclair. I miss going there b/c the staff is great. They are so helpful and make everyone feel at home. They truly are a bunch of wonderful broads.

So I'd seen online that another store that had once been in Montclair had relocated. Mom and I decided to drive by and found that they'd moved down the block from Stix. I found this very puzzling. I wish them the best with their venture, and I know Stix will support a fellow yarn store in any appropriate way, but why would you open up a store down the block from another that sells the exact same merch? I also doesn't feel the same as Stix. If I need Rowan and don't want to drive into Hoboken to Patricia's I guess I'd go there, but otherwise I don't think I will. And I think I'd feel totally uncomfortable asking for help there.

While at Stix I finally got to spend the rest of my gift cert from Mom and Dad from December...yes, December! I was really looking for Flat Feet but I couldn't find any. Here's the loot I did get...

Although I love blues I'd never purchased an all blue sock yarn so there it is and it feels great.

I saw that they had all this Araucania Patagonia on sale so I went nuts with that.

I really love this yarn. A few years back I made one of my first sweaters out of it. I don't think I ever posted the final result...I know it's not on my Ravelry, so here's that...

I made it with a huge hood modeled after my favorite sweater ever, some cheep, fuzzy, black cardigan I got for $5 or so at some discount store when I was in college. Both the Patagonia one and the original are very warm, only good for late fall or winter. I knitted on a smaller needle with the cotton to make it heavy and very insulating. I wear it and the original one every day under my coat in the winter.

While at Stix I picked up some yarn to make a fair isle hat with Mom from Brooklyn Tweed's new book (Mom's a Jared Flood fan). Here's the Ravelry link.

The yarn is Fresco from Classic Elite. I eliminated the white from the pattern and changed it to black (I do white as little as humanly possible; my day glow 'how is she a Latin lady' skin it pale enough for any outfit I may wear). There's a pic from Ravelry of the finished fair isle along with a pic of the crochet hat I'm working on now, Raspberry Beret, from the most recent Crochet Today magazine.

Here's what my Raspberry Beret (love that name:) looks like so far...

A bit blurry, but you can see mine it far more grapie. I was originally working on it in Berroco Ultra Alpaca and just b/c I tend to crochet and knit like I'm strangling someone I didn't like the way it was coming out. This is Cascade 220, and the feel is much softer and is better for the pattern.

I did get one more thing at Stix. I saw this woman lugging tons of bags into the store. I didn't know why she was there, but I felt bad she had to do all that on her own. I wish my knee wasn't so screwed up 'cause I would have preferred to help her bring the bags down the steps into Stix, but the least I could do and did was to hold the door so she could just breeze in once she got her shit down stairs. When she was finally done Mom joked that she now needs to pay me in yarn b/c I was such and excellent door lady. She then proceeded to ask me if I like cool or warm colors and handed me a kid socks size piece of Flat Feet.

Turns out she was a yarn company rep and was there to show Sheila (Stix owner) new Fiesta and Flat Feet (really stunning new Fiesta!). I don't ever do shit expecting things back or b/c I'm thinking of the 3 fold law, although I do believe doing good always brings you good in return simply by just feeling good. I just do whatever little shit I do for others b/c that's what every one should do. And really, holding the door? That's just a little bullshit thing. That was really nice that she gave me yarn and I was touched.

In non knitting news...I'm silly often and one silly thing I do every year is watch the tv show Big Brother. This season I've chosen to cheer for Kevin Campell to win.

He was smart to lay low most of the game and although I guess his house mates would disagree he was as loyal as he could be to his allies while still taking part in the game play and not forgetting that he's playing for money. I think this loyalty mixed with reasonable self preservation will come to be the argument for him to win a freakin buttload of cash if he makes it to the end. Go Kevin!!

And don't forget...PROJECT RUNWAY IS BACK!!!!!! More on that next post.

If you gotta label people...

I was reading one of my favorite blogs Knit and Tonic and read this post about some knitters labeling others a "Muggles" (from Harry Potter, you know)and then she goes into this whole thing about how she doesn't really like it because she was once in that position and would have been named that, as was anyone else who's ever learned to knit. I guess that's what I would be. Anyway, read it, 'cause it's a good post. She also talks about feeling uncomfortable when she walked into her LYS (local yarn store) and people were sitting at the table knitting and kinda looked sideways at her. If you've ever been in that position (and who hasn't - 'cause there's always that one person in there who gives you a disgusted look) it feels good to see that even someone who comes up with amazing designs has had to deal with that. The Yarn Harlot uses the term, but kinda makes it sound like an almost endearing teasing sort of thing.

Since I've been only knitting for a year and a month, but crochetting for 16 years I usually see that many knitters look down on crochet. I don't understand the logic of that either. 2 is better than 1? Kinda knowing both now (because I do think I'm a better knitter than crocheter) I can say for sure that they're similar in many ways, and each is vital this or that task. I doubt anyone who does that "I'm better than you are" gaze would ever read this, but if you do...cut it out. You just look obnoxious.

Got together with people from work...Septembers coming.

Baby Surprise Jacket

I finally finished...well, sort of. I still need to finish seaming the shoulders. Now the three of us need to go button shopping.

Click for larger view


Mom's Jacket Atacama Alpaca yarn by Araucania




Pepper's JacketAll Seasons Cotton (I believe) yarn by Rowan




My Jacket Amore yarn by TLC




Pepper's working on an adult sized Surprise Jacket, my Mom is still working on the crochet jacket and has started a new surprise baby sweater. I'm working on a cabled cardigan with the Schaefer.
Maggie, Pepper's dog (see section at right for cute pics) went in to the vet today for some stuff, and that was kinda stressful for everyone, but Maggie is a trooper. In addition we live in the part of Jersey where the water got screwed up, so ick. A small blip of a problem when I think about the bridge collapse. I can't even begin to imagine ... I don't know ... just, un-frickin-believable.

Pepper @ Otakon, Zimmermann Madness, Rainbow Sweater, & Crochet Baby Blanket

I am very sad...once again Pepper has left the Garden State. This time she went to Otakon in Maryland. It's an anime con. I don't know very much about anime...I really loved Full Metal Alchemist, and I've enjoyed some other animes. People get dressed up and go all out, so just looking at the costumes is interesting.

Pepper tells me that she's see some people dressed as the characters from Labyrinth, which has me incredibly intrigued. No one can look as skinny-guy-hot in that outfit as David Bowie. So we'll see when she comes back with pics. I assume anyone who'd read this has seen the movie, but if not, you are missing out. The soundtrack rocks also. Nothing beats As the World Falls Down; Bowie's voice in awesome and I must say quite hot:)

I finished the "Puzzle Sweater", but the puzzle piece theme didn't really work so I'm calling it my "Rainbow Sweater" now. I still need the crochet edging and buttons...massive, huge buttons.





I had this really nice but very difficult to work with yarn: Sirdar Confetti. I'm going to just do a simple crochet blanket of rows of half doubles. The yarn is so funny to work with...I was originally going to do chevrons but chickened out.





Last, but not least, Mom and I have gone EZ crazy. It was very strange the way it all came about. We're pretty much new to knitting and didn't know about her, but all of a sudden it seemed her name was everywhere we turned, and now I'm just in awe of what an incredible person and artist she was...so we've gotten these two books and a DVD of her PBS specials so far. We're both going to do the Surprise Baby Jacket, like everyone else in the free world.