Nap interrupted.
What I'm looking forward to this weekend:
1. No office equipment emergencies.
2. A nice tandem ride.
3. Perhaps getting 10 minutes of sun on my back deck. Body, not face.
4. Wearing some of my new summer clothes.
I hope you are looking forward to something fine this weekend too!
Posted by claudia on April 30, 2010 10:01 AMOne of the four pansies I planted in the front flowerbed this year (click for bigger).
Usually about now, I would be announcing the start of another MS Ride fundraiser.
However this year, my friends, that is not happening. I could say that I don't have time, but that is a cop-out. Could I make time by stealing it from work, family time and my extra-curricular activities? Sure. The issue is that I just can't make myself do that.
As gratifying and uplifting as it was to have my knitter-friends pitch in prizes and donations for this worthy cause, the truth is that the fun has really gone out of this project for me. My first MS Ride and fundraiser was in June 2005. I am just not up for it for the fifth year in a row.
I wish it were different, but its not.
There will be still be opportunities to support research to rid the world of MS. Right around Father's Day, look for Anne to run her wildly successful fundraiser featuring a specially designed limited-edition pattern. And, if anyone out there in knitter-land is riding their own MS Ride or fundraising for this charity in another way, please let me know in the comments so that I can support your efforts.
Posted by claudia on May 3, 2010 10:02 AMI have no idea what happened to Wednesday. Gone in a poof of smoke.
1. There was, however, a mountain tandem bike ride, and here is the proof. Shot over the head of the front of the bike.
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After a weekend of running around, wet rainy errands, and assembling a Mother's Day brunch, I find that Monday morning is here much too soon. I am wholly unprepared for it.
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Things I've Learned This Week.
1. Although the first few bites of KFC extra-crispy fried chicken are delicious, whatever they put in there to make it so (fat and salt perhaps?) is just not worth it. I can wait 10 more years before having it again.
2. Red face blotches can appear from out of nowhere. Awesome.
3. Buying a 10x magnification makeup mirror may have been a mistake. See #2.
4. I plan on being her when I am 73 years old.
5. It is possible to make progress on a knitting project a few rows at a time. I am closing in on the armholes on the Urban Aran fronts. I know this project is ancient history around here, but this is nominally a knitting blog so I thought I'd mention it.
Posted by claudia on May 14, 2010 08:22 AMI love graffiti, especially the contrast of a heart and barbed wire.
And, there were long-put-off chores that got accomplished. A few weeks ago I went to my local J.Crew (which I never shop at) and bought a tee shirt for the stupid price of $29.50. Now, in some ways I'm kind of a cheap bastard and I wouldn't usually pay that much for a tee shirt. But it was my favorite cinnamon color (the actual color was called "Moroccan Spice" which you can see here). When I see that color -- and it is rarely -- I will almost always buy the item. So, I bought it and threw it in the wash hoping the long tee would shrink up some in length.
Well, instead what happened is that the lower front hem completely unraveled. So not only did I spend a stupid amount of money on this tee-shirt, but it was now defective. Awesome.
Had it been any other color, I would have taken it back. But I really wanted it, so out I dragged my trusty Bernina sewing machine and the matching thread that I fortuitously had in my sewing basket. The tee didn't shrink in length, so I figured while I was at it, I might as well shorten the whole thing. I carefully measured, then chopped off about an inch and a half. Then finished the cut edge with a honeycomb stitch (recommended by Silvia and worked great). Folded up an inch hem, topstitched it down and called it good.
It is sure nice every once in awhile to have the right skillz and equipment to get a job done.
Posted by claudia on May 17, 2010 09:41 AMKeep in mind that I don't live in the middle of the woods, but in the middle of a suburb. Hi Mr. Coyote, how YOUUU doin'?
This past week I won a case in grand fashion. This generally happens more times than a coyote comes to visit, but is still a noteworthy event. Coyote
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It had some busted up bits, so I dispatched it to Dave at Merlin Tree, who fixed it up. Its been ready to pickup for awhile, but frankly I totally forgot about it at last Rhinebeck. However, this weekend is Massachusetts Sheep and Wool. I'm able to go on one of the days (undecided yet as to which) and Dave can bring my wheel, so this project will finally be completed.
I can't even remember the last time I spun anything, but I always enjoy it when I do. Perhaps a new wheel will entice me to sit and spin awhile.
Posted by claudia on May 26, 2010 01:02 PMHow about that...actually having on Wednesday?
1. I had a lovely drive-by-sheep-festival experience this weekend while picking up my wheel at Cummington a/k/a the Massachusetts Sheep and Wool Festival. In an hour (tops) I saw lots of friends, rescued my wheel from potential wheel thieves (you know who you are....Marcy), and had lunch with Lucia and Erica.
2. Then it was off to ride the tandem in the beautiful hill towns near the fair. You can see part of the ride here.
3. Odd things by the side of the road.
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Something has to feed the coyotes! ;)
Actually there's been a resurgence in the wild turkey population all over the northeast. We've got 'em in droves here in Pittsburgh. There used to be a small flock that would hang out in the woods behind my building. I was really upset to learn that the city poisoned them over the summer because they believed they were becoming a nusance. (It is true that mama turkeys can be pretty fierce--I had one jump out at me on a trail once when I passed too close--in her judgment--on my bike.)
Posted by: KristenI am by nature not a collector. The having of stuff does nothing for me. Its the using and enjoying of stuff that floats my boat. My fiber hobby time is limited these days, so I can enjoy relatively few of the things I have. This kind of drives me crazy.
So, when I go into the Fiber Room and clumsily knock over a bowl of beads, the first thing that I think of (after cleaning up the mess) is "why am I keeping these beads if I haven't touched them in years?"
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Thanks to everyone willing to give a good home to my small bead stash. The random number generator smiled upon Stephannie of Sunset Cat, and the beads are on their way to her.
In years past, I have been lucky enough to have a robin's nest right outside my window. This year, there is a nest but its hard to spot and difficult to photograph. Today, though, I went out with my camera and got screamed at by momma/daddy robin.
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Two nights ago we awoke at 3:30 AM to loud thrashing about on the roof. Honestly, it sounded like two big animals were having a chase-'n-fight right above our heads. Eventually hearing no more, I drifted back to sleep. The next morning, muddy paw prints left by one of the perpetrators as he/she clambered up the siding to the roof was evidence that I hadn't dreamed it. I am thinking raccoon perhaps? These prints are about 3-4 inches long.
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For those of you who are shoe-interested, they are these. I find them comfortable to wear and to walk in for several hours at a time. I might not want to spend an 8 hour day in them if alot of walking was involved. However, I think these are perfect for a dinner out, running errands around town, etc.
Here in a nutshell is my shoe philosophy. I will not buy shoes that hurt in the store. I will not buy shoes unless immediately after putting them on, they feel good. No "they'll stretch out" or whatnot. Shoes get one chance to make a good impression on me.
However, I also will not buy ugly shoes. There was a bit of time a few years back when, after turning forty, I threw out every shoe in my closet that hurt me to wear. For a few years afterwards, I compromised on cuteness and went rather practical. I do not wear those shoes anymore. Now, I put the shopping time in to find cute shoes that are comfortable to wear for long periods of time. Yes, they exist. But its time and attention to find them, my friends.
Life is much too short for ugly shoes.
Posted by claudia on June 18, 2010 12:01 PMBad luck about the jobs – love the – have fun until the next thing comes along
For knitters in the Toronto area inclined to:
a) knit in public in a group
b) travel to a bunch of yarn shops
c) experience what essentially amounts to day camp for grownups
The TTC Knitalong is back in action this year on Saturday, July 10th, and registration is now open. I’ll be tagging along as a helper/captain once again, though I don’t yet know which team.
I have been spending a bit of time finally writing up my neat and tidy little instructions for my go-to nice comfy ribbed sock pattern (I had thought it was too basic to put into a “real” pattern format, but then people started asking me about the pattern, and so now I am writing it into a pattern), but it’s not quite there yet so I’ll have to post about that later this week. In the mean time, though, something popped into my head that I keep wanting to do a quick note about, because even if it is just basic common sense I think it still bears repeating.
Every so often, I receive a blog comment or an email from a kindly reader/lurker/random human who happened to come upon my blog while traipsing across the internet, with a question or a question veiled as a comment, like, “I’m looking for a pattern for a ribbed hat. Can you help me plz thanks!” And sometimes I will respond with a few patient suggestions, sometimes I will be busy enough not to respond at all, and some times I will respond with some subset of the suggestions I will list below. It’s my guess that 90% of you are savvy enough to have thought of these things on your own, but if you are in the other 10% of human beings, allow me to offer these small tidbits of advice.
If you are trying to find a ribbed hat pattern/an easy child’s mitten/that sweater pattern your aunt knitted that one time a while back/some knitted wall hanging I’ve never heard of before, try one or more of the following routes:
1. Use an online search engine. Google is Your Friend. (Or, as the kids on the internets say, JFGI, dude). If you’re not familiar with using search engines, or if you’re not familiar with how to use them well, there are even tips guides on how to do this. The main thing to remember is to keep your keywords as useful as possible. You are not searching for “ribbed hat.” You are searching for “knitting pattern hat ribbing” or “knitting pattern ribbed hat” or “knit hat pattern free” or possibly “knitting hat free ribbed Aran child”, or however refined you want to make it.
Remember that Google is not clairvoyant. Google is also not secretly holding away the knitting pattern webpage you are looking for in a locked room somewhere. Google does not care about the hat pattern you are looking for. Google is waiting for you to give it instructions, and it will follow them. Google also does not respond to screaming and yelling, but I’m sure that’s not news to you, either.
Also, keep in mind that Google favours popular searches. The most popularly visited webpages related to your search string will likely be the first ones listed. The webpage you are looking for may not be the most popular one. Be prepared to sift through a page or two of results before you give up and try another set of keywords.
2. Visit Ravelry, and either
a) conduct a search in the pattern archive (which BTW was one of the original functions of Ravelry), making great use of the constantly-improving pattern search features, or
b) ask around in the forums (which BTW was not one of the original functions of Ravelry, it came later because the users wanted it), in a group relevant to the kind of pattern you are looking for. I.e. if your pattern involves lace, the lace knitting groups might know. If your pattern is a cute Spiderman-themed hat for kids, there is probably a Spiderman-themed group out there you could ask. You will never know until you start looking.
I know that not all knitters in the universe are Raverly users. I know that there are even people in the knitting biz who don’t take Ravelry seriously as part of the “market” (whatever that is), and I know that there are knitters out there who either actively resist being joiners on the Internet or who may not even know that the knitting internets exist. I get that.
Keep in mind that Ravelry is there to support you as a knitter. It is an enormous archive of information, and it has a lot of users that also know a lot of knitting information. It is free, and if all you do is sign up in order to have access to the pattern search function, you are still totally allowed to do that.
3. Ask a human. Find the knitters closest to you – a yarn shop, a knitting circle, the women you see knitting at that coffee shop every other Friday. You never know – it might be that someone else knitted that exact same pattern, and can tell you exactly where to find it. It may be that your Local Yarn Shop owner had someone come in just the other day asking about that exact same pattern, and can tell you where to find it. It may also be the case that they have never heard of it. But, knitters like to help other people find ways to knit things, and they might help you find something similar that achieves the same purpose as the thing you were looking for originally.
Technically, this step doesn’t involve you using the internet, but it does involve you talking to people who may also use the internet, and the goal is to access more knitting pattern knowledge any way you can. This is all of the good.
All 3 of these steps are guaranteed to put you in contact with a lot of knitting patterns, and possibly a lot of other knitters, which are also both good things. You might get to the end of your search and find that you have totally forgotten about that stupid ribbed hat pattern and are now completely committed to cabled berets. Totally fine.
Have you ever had to track down a super obscure/random knitting pattern and had success? Leave other suggestions in the comments!
Happy knitting, and catch you again next time with a simple, free pattern.
Posted in UncategorizedHi, have we met? I like knitting socks. I have stopped remembering a time when I was not knitting socks. In fact, I don’t currently have an active sock project going and it’s making me feel a little weird. Luckily I am about a zillion years behind on starting a pair of socks for my grandfather’s birthday this weekend (he’s turning 95. I have the appropriate-sized self-induced guilt trip for not having started them yet, believe me). I’ve knitted a lot of stockinette socks in my time as a sock knitter and I still do occasionally, but if I’m left to my own devices and I just want the socks and don’t really want to have to actually devote a lot of brain cells to said pair of socks, I knit me those socks in 3×1 ribbing. (Knit 3, purl 1).
I like the ribbing because they are an idge more snug than plain stockinette, and also provide a just-enough level of attention that I don’t get as bored with them. I’ve done a few pairs as gifts as well, and have used a few different kinds of yarn to do so, but it turns out the only ones lingering in my own sock drawer are the ones I’ve made with Socks That Rock lightweight. I appear to hoard all the STR socks for myself.
Hi, my name is Glenna, and last night I nearly died of self-inflicted embarrassment in front of Anne Hanson. True story.
So, as we covered last time, I am in recovery from learning that I have been working my yarnovers (YO, also alternately indicated as “yarn forward” or “yf” – remember that, it’ll come in handy later) incorrectly, and dudes, it is a long damned time since I learned a knitted thing that changed my perception of what I was doing so distinctly. You can never have so much experience you can’t still occasionally feel like a beginner. Since my Yarnover Epiphany I have also since learned I am not the only one who has had this experience, something which eases my embarrassment like crazy.
Anyhoo, yarnovers. Let’s do this with some photos and you can figure out for yourself if a) you’ve been doing it right all along and can now sit a little bit taller in your chair knowing this, or b) you’ve been doing it wrong too and can come comiserate me with a stiff drink, or c) you have no idea what yarnovers are and are just here for some online procrastination. No matter.
Yarnovers are pretty much the cornerstone of lace in knitted form, I’d hazard to say. Heck, as Steph’s recent poll so soundly indicated, you make lace by putting holes in your knitting on purpose. Said holes generally get accomplished by combining YOs with decreases in various combinations. And it looks super pretty.
I spent this past weekend on a family trip to Edmonton, for the occasion of my grandfather’s 95th birthday. There was much visiting, and of course a party with several relatives – most of my relatives from my father’s side of the family still live in that area. It was a pretty good time, and Grandpa is doing very well as a 95-year-old. Let’s all try to be so lucky, no?
Glenna -
This is beyond awesome…it’s truly a work of art! I admire your perserverance! Although I’m very late to the party, I’m knitting Sally Melville’s Einstein coat and love it! I just had an opportunity to try a completed one on for size and it was amazingly heavy and warm (wool and mohair held together). Perfect for New England autumns and springs…and possibly for some milder winter days when I’m just running from my car to wherever! Life’s too short to not absolutely love what I’m knitting!
Can’t wait to see you modeling your masterpiece!
Since last Thursday I’ve been sidelined with an icky sinus infection, which I get every May like clockwork because of my allergies (I love my city, but we’re the #1 worst place for spring allergies… go us!) I sing with a number of groups that have concerts in May, so it’s always a struggle to be well for them. I have a concert Sunday that I have to be well for… luckily, after days of mainlining zinc, sudafed, and throat coat tea, I am feeling better, and I do have some hope that I will be reasonably well by Sunday.
I’m staying out of the craft room, because something up there is aggravating my allergies (old house dust? I don’t know, but after an hour I get all y.) I did cut out my Jenny skirt pattern (I don’t think the taping together is as bad as everyone says,) and I can at least get the pieces cut out for that by bringing the cutting table downstairs, but sewing? Not so much. And I’m waiting on my new knitting book, so no knitting either.
You all know about my obsession with planning and organizing. I’ve mentioned my folder of inspiration garments that I keep on my computer. Lately I’ve started creating little subfolders in that folder where I match patterns, fabric, and inspiration. I want to make some idea boards, but I’m not totally sure the best way to do that in digital form. Suggestions are welcome!
The largest directory is currently “faux-two piece dresses,” which consists of my favorite current trend: the dress that looks like a blouse and skirt combo. Seriously, this is my idea of a great trend – one that makes it easier, rather than harder, to look pulled together. I love skirts and blouses, but it drives me crazy how hard it is to keep a blouse tucked in the way I would like. In addition, I have to have pieces that go together, which often I do not. Making a dress forces me to fix this! Here are some shots from my inspirations photos. Most are from Anthropologie and modcloth, because I stalk those sites the most often.
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Pattern: Jenny from Burdastyle
Size made: 36
Fabric: 1.5 yds of cotton print jacquard from Joann’s, beige bemberg rayon to line.
Notes: This is the first time I’ve used a Burdastyle pattern, and it was a bit of a mixed bag – great skirt, lousy instructions! Let’s start with the good: this pattern fit very well in a 36, which is the size I am instructed to make by the size chart (I’m a 36 below and a 34 on top.) On the final skirt I did take smaller size seams on the hips, as this fabric doesn’t stretch even a little, and I was worried it might be snug. I think that was probably a good choice. The waistband fits fine, though my waist is not quite as small as the size 36 calls for. I did cut the waistband on the bias, as the pattern asked.
I hope you all had a great holiday weekend – We’ve had a very eventful time! First of all, we’ve been painting and tiling in our laundry closet, preparing for a new washer and dryer on Wednesday. I’ve been suffering with a truly awful model from the 70s, so I am very excited!
I did manage to make it out to the memorial day sales and Joann and Hancock’s. I picked up a few Simplicity and Vogue patterns that I’ve been waiting to go on sale, and I got this pretty charmeuse fabric to make a blouse. I think it will go nicely with my yellow Beignet skirt.
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Thank you for the kind comments on my cocktail dress – you have inspired me to throw a cocktail party! My husband is excited about the idea, and I know our friends will be into it – maybe we can start a new trend?
Now that the cocktail dress is done, I’m considering what to make next. I was wanting to make Vogue 9668, but I have not yet been able to find a fabric that I like. I want a print, and I will just have to wait until something nice comes along! I find fabric shopping frustrating, since I am unable to buy much locally… when I see something I like I usually just buy it, and figure inspiration will strike.
Speaking of that… here are my upcoming project plans (subject to change as always, but I usually do pretty well making it through at least a few!)
I’m going to hopefully pick up some muslin tonight at Joann’s (I have a recording session near there tonight… I think I can get there a little early!) and start making a muslin of Vogue 1137.
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Are you all tired of seeing this part of my house yet? I’ve been looking for a tripod at yard sales this summer, but so far no luck… I’d rather have someplace else to take photos than the least attractive part of the house!
I made a muslin of Vogue 1137, and the fit is much better than I expected.
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