Tuesday, November 27, 2007

I especially like the whimpering at the end...

Friday, November 23, 2007

Stupid Cascade 220!

Well, I bought a bunch of cascade 220 for the Olive Branch Yoga Hoodie (link to the right) in a really pretty grey with just a touch of purple. I cast on the hood, knit a couple inches, and started to become suspicious... despite using the needles the yarn called for-8's, the fabric was quite see through. And the gauge? 22 stitches in 4 inches. A faaaaaaar cry from the 18/4 inches I needed. Maybe I was remembering the yarn gauge wrong...no, a trip to the cascade web site confirmed that I should be getting 4.5 stitches in 1 inch.

What the hell?

I am not a loose knitter, and now I have a bunch of yarn in the perfect color for a great hoodie and I HAVE TO DO MATH!!!! After having to do math, I kind-of-know that if I make the "46 size on size 7 needles, it will most likely fit me. But now I have to buy more yarn. This sucks.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

And this week's wheel is...

The Ashford Traveler! I spun just a bit on it, and it was definitely the smoothest and so far my favorite. The slow spinning was much better than the Kiwi, and it's just so pretty! The fiber on it isn't mine, I'll post pics later this week/weekend of what I make! Yeay!!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

I Have a Secret...

I've been cheating on my needles. I'm taking a spinning class.
Two weeks ago, I spun on this. Louet S15 I believe. And notice, I'm in my own living room. Yes, I can take a wheel home each week to practice. I did not realize this when I signed up for the class, and when I found out, any reservations I had about spending that much on a class went out the window.
This week, I took this home, an Ashford Kiwi. It's here now. I spun a bunch last night.
And I made this...spun the first week and plied the second. It's an actual skein, not a mini skein.
See?
Super duper close up!!!!!
I'm loving the spinning, and already may have accidentally bought some dyed merino top with the intention of spinning it then knitting it into a something for Christmas. I loved the Louet, it spun very well, but for $375, I want something that is less...ummm...plywood-ey. I also like the Kiwi, but I don't like the tensioner and it's not as smooth at lower speeds, so it's really hard to slooooow down without just stopping. We'll see what I get to bring home this coming week!

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Shoalwater Shawl

Shoalwater Shawl, a birthday gift for my mom, is finished, ends (4) woven, steamed blocked, photo'ed, and delivered! This was a looong but fun knit with an easy to memorize repeat. The Boku has the colors I love without the itchiness of Noro. It is quite big, easily reaching fingertip to fingertip without stretching. And it was only a month-ish late! The pics are in front of my parents house, the weird plank thing in the second pic is actually the old support for a dock that washed away in the 38 or 54 hurricane. Yarn: Plymouth Boku, color 1
Needles: Options 10.5
Started in the end of August, I think?
Finished beginning of November

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Blogstalking 5 addition...I had to share

There is very little to be said about this statue, in Bennington, VT. After all, what's more presidential than Lincoln with a topless woman on her knees and his hand on a naked boy's head? Really, I think the picture says more than enough.

Week 5, a wee bit late...

So after continually forgetting my camera while heading into town, I gave in and snagged a pic off the internet...
I present the oddest statue in Portland. It's in front of our little baseball stadium, and it's supposed to be of a typical Portland family heading off for a day of fun at the ball game. However, 1. this family is white, not very representative of the extremely diverse population that we have. and 2. they do not look like they are having any fun at all. Dad is hailing a taxi cause he had to park his Escelade in "the ghetto" but can't remember the street name, little johnny is beginning a snit because mom said no, you can not have another foot long hotdog, little suzy is not wearing any shoes (they probably fell off during the fourth bathroom visit) and mom is 2.3 seconds from smacking johnny with suzy's teddybear and leaving them all with dad so she can go back in the stadium and have a $6 bud light.
On second thought, this is actually a perfect representation of going with the fam to a ball game.

It makes me feel happy that the city art committee said NO WAY to putting it up, but the city counsel overruled them. At least someone knows blatant public advertising when they see it.