Its all true, the boogie girl is real, and you've found her. She knits, sews, spins, does pottery and writes it all down in this blog.
Friday, October 29, 2004
Show and tell
Tina has requested to see my spinning projects. I should try and make a point to show some of that off at least once a week. I spin a lot. Possibly more than I knit.
Mostly I'm cleaning up projects in anticipation of doing Carissa's sweater. Go look, she's getting hooked on spinning too. Bwaaahaahahaa.
I'm trying to finish up this coopworth for my sweater. It's about the same spin as Lopi but its a single aran weight. It's also softer and with really nice shine.
Dirty Denim. This is some 2 ply DK/worsted sock yarn. I had the blue all dyed but it seemed to bright for men's socks so I plied it with brown. Yes, its thick but my Dad is working outside this winter and has requested thicker socks.
I had a couple of bunches of roving left over from Mandy's sweater that weren't quite right. The colors were a little off of what I needed for her sweater so I set them aside and this was one of them.
This is from a new bunch of yarn I'm working on (it hasn't been set and relaxed in this pic, I was too anxious). Or rather a new style. It is the same weight and spin as Noro but its softer and in my colorways. Each of these skeins is enough to make one hat from the patterns I recently posted. I also spun a bunch of merino with the same spin but in the Fruity stripes colorway. It's wet so you'll have to wait for that. It will be a hat for the littlest crazy one.
In case yesterday's post was just too crazy for you and you missed the mitten FO's... here they are. Click for bigness.
Thank you SP3 for the great e-cards! I especially love the screaming banshee one, I've had one of those haunting around here lately too. Must be the Halloween spirit.
Have a scary boo-tiful weekend everyone.
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Thursday, October 28, 2004
U.P.B.
United Projects of Boogie that is. We're a small part of the US but not forgotten.
Amy brought up some very scary issues in Tuesday's comments. I'm not sure The UPB can handle all that. We are hoping for a smooth election with very little fan fare. The lawyers are looking into some of the issues. The rest I can answer easily. November 2nd (12midnight PST)is your last day to vote and enter into the contest. The results will be announced the following morning of November 3rd.
If you haven't cast your vote and entered the contest, you can email here. Don't worry you have a few days left. As for the party and who is invited, that will be left up to the winners. If there are parties the UPB will not responsible for any damages, singed wool, lost stitches, etc.
You probably want to know what the prizes are too if you are entering the contest. All names that are sent to that email and only that email (that way I know you want to enter the contest) will be put into a hat and a grand prize winner will be drawn. They will get their choice of handspun yarn or roving and a sheepy mug.
Now that all the details are out of the way, do you want to see what your candidates are up to? Sure you do.
Glove/Mitten Party is warming hands across America. They are driving around waving and spreading the message. I don't know where their secret service detail went to, but do you see the second mitten in the back of the car. It's a little further along then that since the photo was taken yesterday afternoon. Well, actually they're done. These 2 candidates are not only handsome but are full of personality. Their language can get a little colorful and there is some rumor going around started by these two being seen holding hands quite a bit. They do seem to be awful close.
Kissing babies and pandering to the patriots. Your candidates for a warmer America are doing their stumping pushing a very clear traditional American message. Warmth for everyone. I think they mean it too. I think they truly mean to help keep us warmer. Too bad they were marred by FB's drinking and acrylic tendencies. This is still being brought out to try and smear the good names of Manly and Harvest. It's true that one bad apple can ruin the whole bushel. We'll just have to wait and see if they can overcome this to come out on top.
Working out on the farm. They are spreading their message of keeping traditions alive by helping farmer Brown out with his animals. You can see CW carrying buckets of grain to fill the trough and Scolf is in there mucking out the cow barn. I think farmer Brown was clearly in it for the help and The shawl party is being accused of posing for pictures. I mean, who wears lace out in the barn? They are being accused of never stepping foot in a barn before and completely staging this for the publicity. CW defends herself by stating that her in-laws have a farm and she helps out there often. I'll let the people decide.
Ok, so now its up to you to decide. I hope you plan to vote before or on November 2nd.
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Tuesday, October 26, 2004
I'm gifted!
And I'm not talking about my gift for insanity.
I received my final Secret Pal2 gift.
Thank you Gwen! You've been a great secret pal!
The gloves in a bottle are really handy throughout the winter when I'm working. I've been wanting one of those silly little sheep for some time now. I've even tried to lose my plain ole pink tape measure time and time again. But somehow it or another green one kept turning up. I just couldn't shake them and while I have one I couldn't justify getting a new one for myself. I suppose I'll lose them all now, especially if the littlest pack rat of the house sees how cute the sheepy is, I've kept it successfully hidden from her so far.
I was also gifted a certificate to Knitability. I've been there and now I just can't decide what to get. Oh the agonizing decision.
I've been spending my "free" time this week spinning. I'm trying to finish up all my little projects before I start on Carissa's yarn. It will be a kind of contest for me to see how quickly (while still turning out nice yarn) I can spin a sweaters worth of yarn. Just in case you've been watching and waiting, I overloaded the new crockpot today. It takes almost 2 lbs before its overloaded.
Thank you for all the great comments on the glove. I think Momster will like them. Now, to cast on for the second one.
Blogger is so slow right now and actually I hadn't been ableto log on until just now. Hopefully this will post and not disappear. Have a great humpday all!
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Lawyers!
I can't believe I never thought lawyers would need to be involved. How naive of me!
A couple of days ago Ann reminded me that lawyers might become necessary. So I sat down to prepare for the inevitable recount of the election and the lawyers. The lawfirm of Hat, Hat, and NotYetStartedHat has decided to step forward and handle the problem should one arise. Two of the three members of that firm are available at this time.
and Noro hat is a brand new as of this weekend.
If the race gets too nasty we may need to ask for help from Carissa's hat to be an intermediary.
How are the "cadidates" doing?
They all wanted their own bumper stickers. After last weeks incident with the tea party I was inclined to tell them to go take a hike but I do so love my knitting projects. I couldn't help but fulfill their request.
Manly sweater is at the red stripe. I didn't take a new picture because if you've seen one red stripe you've seen it all. If you want you can take a look at a photo I took of the back when I was in the same place.
The glove party has seen some work too.
The poor shawl hasn't seen much work. I've been to busy to spend time concentrating on not dropping stitches.
I can see the fight is going to be heating up in the last week.
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Monday, October 25, 2004
Husbeast Serenade
Shaven hair and ruby lips
Fibres fly from her finger tips
Echoed voices in the night
She's a restless spirit on an endless flight
Wooo hooo wiggy woman, see how
High she flies
Woo hoo wiggy woman she got
The wool in her eye
She held me spellbound in the night
Dodging dogs and messy sites
Crazy laughter in another
Room and she drove herself to madness
With a silver loom
Woo hoo wiggy woman see how high she flies
Woo hoo wiggy woman she got the wool in her eye
Well I know you want a knitter,
Let me tell you sister, she's been knitting
In the devil's bed.
And there's some rumors going round
Someone's underground
She can rock you in the nighttime
'til your skin turns red
Woo hoo wiggy woman
See how high she flies
Woo hoo wiggy woman
She got the wool in her eye
------A lovely song by Husbeast.
Sing these lyrics to the tune of "Witchy Woman" recorded by the Eagles.
If you want to hear part of the track so you can sing along, click here and choose the Witchy woman track.
It makes me wonder what I'm like when I'm spinning.
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Friday, October 22, 2004
Dye My Love
I do a ton of dying and a lot of it is in my handy little crock pot that I got for a dollar at a Yard Sale.
She is a pretty avacado overstained with my dye that has overflown.
Overflow?
How, you ask, does dye over flow?
It overflows when you cram a pound of fiber in a pot that can't handle more than 8-10 ounces comfortably. I did this not once, not twice, but three times.
The last time I was dying some merino because I have this great desire to knit Klaralund.
I have so many projects going now, why the hell am I thinking I need another sweater? I want all you knit bloggers that have completed this project to know that you are to blame. I thought I could resist this sweater but it looks so damn good on you all and its an interesting pattern, I have to have it.
So after the last over flow I bought myself this little baby that's twice the size:
Now I'll have to cram 2 pounds of wool in there to make it overflow. Think I won't do it? Don't bet on it.
You will be happy to know that I won't be starting another project until after the election and after Carissa gets her yarn. Ok? Feel better? Your candidates are getting the attention they deserve. And if you haven't voted yet you still can until November 2nd. I started getting spam there so the address is boogiecontest(at)gmail(dot)com. Show your candidate your support.
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Thursday, October 21, 2004
Tea Party
Click to see it bigger. If you look at the picture in the large you will be able to see all the dog scratches and an artistic crayon statement from Miss M.
I decided to host a political tea party with all the "presidential candidates" in attendance. Do you notice my new hot water pot from husbeast. Nice huh? Anyway, the idea behind the tea party was to get everyone together and have a nice chat. It started out very calmly and sweetly talking about the virtues of different types of wool.
I'm not sure when it turned ugly, all I know is that it did. Drinking problems and cheating with acrylics were brought up and then the name calling started. How quickly things can turn. Manly sweater got angry at it all (remember his former VP Fluted Banister was caught in a scandal) and the sweater broke his sheep mug in his reach to clamped CW with the tea strainer. Not to be left out Star glove started to stab Manly sweater.
Oh what a scene it was. Click to see the carnage large.
With the help of VP candidate Harvest on my feet, I was able to untangle them all and clean up the mess. I've now made sure the "candidates" were sent to different parts of the living room.
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Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Spin Spin Spin
The WIP election seems to be trying to take over but the spinning wheels are fighting back. Marylin and Bettie are tough. I wouldn't mess with them if I were you. Bettie even has a brand new drive band made of Sonata yarn. She's tough now so the "candidates" better not give her any sass.
This is what has come off of the 2 girls recently.
Navajo plied Fruit stripes
Tigers
Spumoni
Autumn Girls
I'm trying to clean up some of my smaller projects because I'm spinning some yarn for miss Needle Maniac. Go check out her blog, she just put up a bunch of really nice FO's.
I also think I've figured out the dye and wool for the next husbeast sweater. I haven't spun and plied it yet so no pictures. Right now its just a mildly atractive lump of green wool.
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Tuesday, October 19, 2004
HAT!
Hat pattern.
Actually there are 3 patterns, all very similar, just slightly different to fit all in the family.
Here's the first in the series.
If you want the pattern to all 3 hats go HERE
I'll get you pictures as soon as I stop procrastinating or stop working on the other "candidates".
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Monday, October 18, 2004
Political Woolens
I need to report that the Fluted Banisters have been diagnosed with a heart condition. Well, that's the official word. I've heard from such rags as the "Wooly Enquirer" that the fluted Banisters have a heavy drinking problem. FB was found underneath a half dressed intern. Both were passed out from too much drinking. To save the party they came up with the heart condition story and slid in the Harvest socks. I'm sure you will see FB later on maybe working in a dark corner of the campaign but it certainly looks like your candidates in the sweater party is the Manly Sweater and Harvest socks.
This picture was taken when the Harvest socks got home from campaigning at the first home AHL hockey game of the year. The home team won and Harvest felt that there was a lot of support for their party. You can see how relaxed Harvest is resting on the foot stool knowing they are far ahead and will surely be completed first. But will the Manly sweater be able to pull ahead and make it a winning sweep?
Nothing to report about the mitt and glove party. They are planning a rally but haven't really gotten their campaing off the ground. Being one of the major parties I'm a little disappointed to not have seen anything from them yet. The sweater party has started to throw accusations of the mitt party being lazy and out of touch. We hope that they make a formal showing soon or they just won't have a chance at the presidential project seat.
The shawl party is announcing a small change. Charlotte will be shorter than the pattern specifies. CW will be similar in size to the Flower Basket Shawl. CW has little chance of being used as a full shawl. It will have a better life after politics if its a large kerchief/small shawl, so it can be worn with a coat.
Here you see that 4.5 repeats have been completed with .5 ounces of yarn. There is 1.5 ounces of yarn left which will fill in the remainder of the shawl. Mountain scolf is supporting the changes and looks forward to a good race. The Shawl party feels their chances are good.
Sea Dog knitters meet tonight. I'll be bringing a representative from each party and see if I can garner support for one and all.
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Friday, October 15, 2004
Sock it to me!
I mentioned earlier this week that I had bought more pesky sock yarn.
It was brought to my attention that it might seem funny that I bought more because I already said that I had a ton of it. I wasn't sure I had a lot but I was prompted to catalog my stash yarn and I do in fact have quite a bit of sock yarn. So why didn't I buy some other type of yarn instead if I felt that I had to have something.
I love sock yarn. Face me up with a wall of sock yarn and the wall of yarn will win. I can't help it. Sock yarn makes me weak in the ankles. I just melt when I see a pretty ball of sock yarn and I can't help it, I have to bring it home.
Could you say 'no' to that yarn?
My clothing tends to be mostly black. I throw in a bit of burgundy red and green but still its mostly black. My socks on the other hand are wild and almost never match my outfit. I get tired of knitting my version of the normal colors. When I want fun, I pick up some wild socks. The brighter the better. Socks make feet happy.
Don't these look like happy feet?
But in my defense, some of this sock yarn is meant to be used for gloves and mitts. Case in point, the ones I'm working on right now:
It might seem even more funny for the sock yarn watchers that earlier in the week I received a package with sock yarn and then today I received another package of sock yarn.
This time the sock yarn was a lovely gift from Emma. So many socks, I can't wait to get knitting. Right, so why I am still blathering on? I have knitting to do!
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Thursday, October 14, 2004
The race is heating up.
Harvest socks are contesting the primary election of the fluted banisters to be the vice project. Here they are having their first debate.
You can see they both come from such different backgrounds. Harvest is a toe up sock with background in bright wool while the Fluted Banisters are a cuff down sock with a background in dark cotton. As the Harvest sock began its protest the other night Husbeast's comment was "not another project! Didn't the fluted banisters already get elected?" It's a hard decision folks.
Let's talk about this election. I can't promise you I won't draft your yarn into service. In fact I promise that by watching other peoples projects move along you too will be prompted to start them. I promise that if I finish a project it will get photographed and be featured in this blog. I will flip flop and switch from one project to another. All my yarn will have a good no paying job. In fact much of my yarn will be put to work as socks making no wages on stinky feet. I promise I will not lie to my projects. I promise I will not frog stripey glove until at least after the election.
How this election/contest will work: On November 3rd as I'm celebrating or crying over the real presidential elections, I'll add all your names to the contest hat and pick one name and you get a prize. No discriminating, even if you vote for the losing project. Really, does any project lose? All projects listed are at the top of the list to get completed. What will you get for all your effort? A sheepy mug? Some handspun yarn? Some roving? I'll give you a choice when the time comes. So just send an EMAIL, if you are undecided, it's ok in my little project election.
I'm adding the shawl party back to the ballet because they are drawing some support and I just want them to stop their protest rallies.
Here are your candidates.
The sweater/sock party
The mitt/glove party
The shawl party
You have a part in this. Each and every one of you is important to the campaigns of these projects. You must sit there and vote. Even if you are undecided. Send me an EMAIL. Now I know you may not think its important, but it is. The projects feel your support. They can feel the love. I'm making an attempt to work on each one equally (or which ever one I feel like working on at the time).
The truth: Voting really is meaningless, its all just for fun and because I'm a total loon. The contest is real though. Have a fruity day everyone!
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Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Harvest
Can I even really call it a Harvest? The garden this year was sad indeed. The final harvest consisted of one eggplant, 2 zuchinni, and some tomatoes. Hardly a harvest but it makes a pretty good casserole.
Harvest Casserole:
Cube the Eggplant and salt, set aside (this takes out the bitterness).
Saute onions and garlic add to oven safe casserole dish.
Rinse and drain the Eggplant then add to the casserole dish.
Cube the zuchinni and add to the casserole.
Cube ripe tomatoes
Add Oregano, more garlic, Basil, red pepper flakes (all to taste)
Mix, cover and bake at 300-350 degrees until it all cooks down 1-2 hours.
Stir then sprinkle mozarella and parmesan over the top, cover and bake until the cheese has browned (about 30-45 minutes)
We ate it with rolls and Husbeast had his with rice.
The roll recipe:
1/4 margarine (melted)
1.5 cups of wheat flour
3 Tablespoons of oatbran
1 Tablespoon of Baking powder
Mix it all up
Add milk (I don't work with measurements much so I just add milk until its all wet but still managleable.)
Add one handfull or 2 of cheddar cheese. Mix
Plop large spoonfulls onto a baking sheet
Bake 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees
While all that is baking you have time to play with fibers and to knit.
This is a very sweet gift from my friend Terri.
How appropriate is that sock yarn for my "harvest"? I love it and I would so be working on that if I didn't have the fixation socks already started and set in as vice project. Hmmm, I wonder if the fluted banisters will drop out of the race and be replaced with some harvest socks.
I spun up some Autumn Splendor yarn the other day. This yarn is headed out but I have 2 ounces left in this colorway so if I work it up with another 2 ounces of something else I'll have more Autumn socks. Not that I have any chance of getting all finished before the leaves fall and we are hit with winter here in Maine.
Finally I've been dying like crazy. Well, I dye wool all the time I just don't always talk about it. I died up a whole bunch of autumn/harvest inspired stuff. But its all still wet and not very pretty so I'll show you the fruity stuff with a harvest mini pumpkin.
I want to get better at Navajo Plying so I'm hoping this will work well and I'll have some pretty stripey yarn. Go visit Emily who is working on a fair isle sweater in just those fruity colors.
There were some fun comments from yesterday's post. Go take a look. Then vote. I know some of you have voted already. Thanks for the giggles. I've decided this is an opportunity for a contest. Email me here and I'll enter you into the contest. After the real elections then I'll announce the winner. Unlike the real presidential elections, you have a chance at winning no matter which knitting project wins or who you vote for. More about prizes and such tomorrow. This entry is already hideously long, isn't it?
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Tuesday, October 12, 2004
WIP Elections
My knitting basket is a democracy and the projects wanted to hold an election to see who got moved to the top of the list and finished first.
The participating
The sweater party
Which are represented by The Manly Sweater, The Olive Poop cables, and the Pink Intarsia hell. The Manly Sweater seems to be the winner of the primaries for this party.
The sock party
The handspun man socks have dropped out of the race. They have been completed and are looking for some R and R out in vacation land.
They are being replaced by the Flutted Banisters. However they have decided that they would rather be absorbed into the sweater party and will be running as the "vice project". Here's a picture of these candidates hugging and showing their support for one another to be finished.
The mitts and gloves party
The striped glove is now on the "enangered to be frogged list" so he's sitting this one out lest he gets more attention and really is frogged. That left M's fair isle mitts and the blue star gloves. Through a hotly contested race the blue star will represent their party with M's mitts being the vice project. Here they are shaking hands in a show of mutual respect for one another to be finished on time and ahead of anything else.
The shawl party
Charlotte's web beat out the Highland triangle for this party's nomination but unfortunately they were not able to get enough signatures to make it onto the ballet. The rest of the alternative parties have befallen the same fate and will soon throw their support behind the project of their choice and cheer them on.
Who is going to win? Who will be done in time for the election?
The sad part of this is, I don't know who will win. I am an undecided voter and will continue to plug along on each of them as equally as I can.
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Monday, October 11, 2004
Like a kid in a candy store
Halcyon had their yearly sale over the weekend.
Do I need to say more?
Demonstrations, things to play with, people to talk to and fiber everywhere.
My main need to go was to get a set of combs. The ones I chose are Valkyrie double rows. Not exactly cheap but I like them. I've been playing with them off and on all weekend so I'm starting to get the hang of them and I have very few neps. I haven't started to spin the fiber yet but soon.
I grabbed a couple skeins of sock yarn and then headed into the room of demonstrations. Its the room where they hold classes. Firstly I looked at the looms and got to play with a floor loom. I think I'm going to like weaving if I ever get a loom. I think I want a Kromski Rigid Heddle loom.
As I was playing with the loom I was getting hypnotized by Michael working on Kumihimo rope braiding. It really was hypnotic. I'm not sure its something I want to do especially since I really want to weave and hook rugs but I loved watching it. It's a beautiful artform.
Then as I was looking at all the sale yarns I ran into Melissa of Loose Ends. It was nice to finally meet her and we ended up talking for a long time and eventually got into natural dying. I have played a little with mushrooms and bark but nothing exciting and nothing recently. I'm looking forward to working with the indigo that Ann gave me. While talking about that we drew the attention of Penelope who had some gorgeous indigo dyed fleece and some yarn that she spun from madder root. Let me just say that I am now planning my gardens to include lots of plants for dying.
I grabbed a couple more skeins of sock yarn. Then as I was trying to leave for the checkout, I was faced with the needle felting table. I can't help it, I want to do it. So I grabbed a starter set of needles and chatted with Marianne who teaches felting at Halcyon. I'm thinking of taking her class in felted Xmas ornaments. In the meantime I wanted to try and make those silly little pumpkins from the last Spin off.
It's small but I did it. I didn't have much orange wool so I've now dyed more and as soon as its dry I will be sitting here poking the hell out of
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Friday, October 08, 2004
One hand clapping
That would be because one hand has a glove or mitten and you can't hear it. The other hand is cold and in need of some love. Love or a damn mitten or glove!
That's what I've become the one glove wonder.
Remember these? Sure you do. I've shown their picture a million times here. Do they have a mate? Noooooo. Will they ever have a mate? Maybe, maybe not. I don't like them. I don't know why. I just don't. I've even thought of showing you a picture from a different angle and claiming that I did the other one just so I won't have to do it. The avoidance is bad with this one.
So I wanted to start a different pretty pair in fair isle. Then the blue yarn revolted. You see I'm setting this up for you to see that none of this is my fault. Its the cosmos stopping me from doing things.
While I was waiting for a new shipment of blue yarn that hasn't been offended, I started mittens for my daughter. I finished the first mitten on Tuesday.
So I immediately cast on for the other mitten, right?
Nooooooooo.
I would lose my title then wouldn't I?
You see the happy blue yarn came in while I was working on M's mitten. I really wanted to do the blue gloves.
I just can't seem to help myself. I keep saying that once I finish one of these I'll go back and do the other mitten.
It could happen.
If I do several different gloves but wear them as a pair anyway that could still be considered a FO couldn't it?
And just in case you have some old money (or new money or just in the middle money) laying around and want some rovings I just put some onto ebay. I don't want them to languish around here without getting spun and well, tomorrow is a sale at Halcyon and I know I'm needing to make way for the future.
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Thursday, October 07, 2004
Gone pickin'
If you want to do your own pickin' while you're still at work, go HERE
Just so this post isn't without any knitting...
I finished the tedious 8 inches of 2x2 leg ribbing during the VP debates. Debate knitting is almost as productive as Olympic knitting. Too bad its not quite as entertaining.
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