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.
Monday, January 31, 2005
Stomp factor
It's all about the stomp factor. Without it there is no way you will win. Really, it is all about the stomp factor.
What is the stomp factor?
Hell if I know!
When I was working over the weekend I only had one station that was coming in. **Mental note to self, buy a new radio that gets more than one station**. The winter X games were going on and they announcers kept repeating "stomp factor" over and over. She has the stomp. He's put down the stomp. Without the stomp factor she won't win. He really needs to lay down the stomp. And on, and on, and on.
I want stomp factor!
I need stomp factor!
I'm thinking it could be a new term used for a "hot" knit.
Man that sweater is stompin'!
That scarf totally stomps!
oooh, those socks really have the stomp factor.
If I don't lay down the stomp I won't be able to finish that sleeve in time.....
Over the weekend I raised my stomp factor and am just a few inches away from casting off of "Barely Banff".
How's your Stomp factor?
Friday, January 28, 2005
The third ply
I took a little detour on the way to get my clay.
It was actually a long detour.
Have I mentioned how much I love Halcyon?
They just have so much stuff and everyone is so nice.
That's momma 1-2 ply ball and baby 3 ply ball.
Don't you just love my classy "spinning basket"?
Nothing but the best around here!
I didn't have Bubba with me so I got to spend time and look around. No yarns followed me home though. Just the wool, a couple of back copies of Spin off, and 2 fabulous sock patterns:
Pretty colors get me everytime.
Face me with pretty colors and I'm like a deer in the headlights. Stopped dead in my tracks waiting for the semi to run me down. I swear if I was walking across the street and saw a gorgeous fair isle, I'd be dead right now. Road pizza.
I'm not spinning on the Inishyarn yet but I have started pre-drafting. We'll see if I can hold out and not spin it, it's becoming increasingly hard waiting for my sample yarn from WA state. Dicksie is very sweet to send it to me. I had to put the 2 balls in the closet in the other room. Sometimes out of sight is out of mind but in this case it just seems to be out of sight is out of sight and I really want to spin it.
Of course I'm still spinning other things.
Pink Lemonade
and
More pie please
both are heading over to the website.
Have a good weekend.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Fisherman Sweater Party!
I set up the group. I had to. I even had a request to make it for all the sweaters in Fisherman's Sweaters. Since I have the yarn for Baltic and Kinsale as well as working on Inishmore and I want to do Faroe too. I think it's a fabulous idea. So there you go. Fishermen's Sweaters knit along. No blog required. Come on, you know you wanna!
Start when you want. Start now, start in the fall. Or if you enjoy being dead wood, just join for the hell of it.
OK.That's all I have time for now. I need to go pick up a load of clay. Maybe I can stop at Halcyon on the way home.
Happy knitting, stay warm!
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Spin diddly spin
It's done oodly done.
iddly diddly
In my excitement I think I'm channeling Ned Flan-diddly-anders
I finished spinning for the Retro Prep.
Just a good spa and 1100-1200 yards will be all ready to go visit Anj for a while.
Why just a visit?
I'm glad you asked.
We both like handknit gifts. We both wanted to knit a retro prep. Are you following along here? It was Anj's kick ass idea. We are going to trade yarns and make a retro prep and then give each other the sweater we made. Nifty idea huh? I'm excited and this will probably get cast on soon after the trade. I'm just giddy with excitement. I haven't been gifted a hand knit sweater since I was a kid.
What's next you ask?
My, you are just full of questions today.
I will be working up a couple of skeins of sock yarn and for my big spinning project...I will be turning this:
(A kilogram (2.2 lb) ball of Domestic wool in natural sheeps grey)
Into a nice 3 ply yarn for this:
Inishmore from Fishermen's Sweaters of Alice Starmore.
I've been asking all over the place what people think I'll need for yardage and I'm getting all kinds of different numbers and opinions. I did get someone to offer to send me a couple yards of the original yarn specified for this so I can spin more accurately. How sweet is that!
I'm going spin it because I want to (my favorite reason of all) and if I can't get the yardage out of it then I'll just turn it into some other sweater with less cables or something. Yarn never goes to waste around here. Then I'll just have to get lots more grey wool and spin a new batch with more yardage.
Of course the smart thing might be to get another pound and use it as the 3rd ply to blend it in. Sometimes it takes a while for my brain to work and I guess it just kicked on for the year, let's see when it shuts down again.
It looks like a lot of people are starting or thinking of starting this sweater. Anyone want a knit along? Maybe I should wait until Fall since I don't think this sweater is one of those "quickie" kinds. What say you?
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
RED
From Margene I found a link to the creator of this icon, The Scottish Lamb. Then from there I found the reason for the link, Lisa and Jacob and the The Red scarf project
"All people who are destined to meet are bound by an invisible red thread"
Make a red scarf or buy a red scarf. All for a good cause.
It started out like this:
By the end of the night it looked better than this:
I based it on a lion's brand pattern. A sort of faux mobius with garter rows seperated by stockinette. You can't see any of that because of the lovely flash but it's there.
My scarf contribution isn't as fabulous as Margene's Opera scarf but it is warm fluffy and cozy.
Monday, January 24, 2005
No excuses.
I know the broken needle was an excuse I was hoping to use.
I'm not going to do that.
One project at a time.
Barely Banff is that one project.
The needles were interchangeables.
That means I can just change the cables.
Duh.
You knew that, I knew that, we all knew that.
I do appreciate that no one reminded me of that and you let me have my excuse for a while.
Excuses aside, I changed the cable and kept plugging away.
I worked all weekend, though. So, plugging away didn't bring me very far.
You might notice that it already looks different. For one it's being done as a bottom up raglan. I've changed the ribbing to 22 rows instead of 42. The sleeves are cast on as 52 instead of 66 and I didn't do the decreases. This is why I've named my sweater Barely Banff.
And how 'bout them Pats? Super bowl again. Woohoo!
Friday, January 21, 2005
Slow Down
.........signed, The Knitting Gods.With so much on my plate lately I've been going non stop and according to the husbeast when I sit and knit, it's no different. He hypothesized that my needle broke because of the speedy click clacking going on.
The needles are an old set of interchangeables that I got from my gram. This is the second join to break. the company that made these needles no longer makes interchangeables so once these are gone, they are gone.
This sweater was supposed to be a Banff that I translated into a raglan but I've already changed it so now it's only loosely based on Banff. Melissa had hers on at the Seadog knitting and it looked really good. She said it was like a big comfy sweatshirt. Sold. As soon as I finished my secret project I picked this up. Now I'm wondering if I should take the break as a sign and start the next project I wanted to do.
That would be Baltic from Fishermen's Sweaters by Alice Starmore. I know, I know. The rules. Finish one knit at a time. But if the knitting gods are breaking your needles because they want you to knit something else, then there has to be an exception made for that. Right?
In the meantime I'll be working on this:
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Hopkin
Him name is Hopkin.
PS I'll find my frog.
Hopkin?
No this doesn't have a thing to do with knitting.
Yes, it will be a waste of your day. Come on, you know you wanna do it.
Keep clicking on the pictures. It goes on for a while but just when you think you can't take anymore Hopkin the next click is too cool and you're glad you didn't miss it.
You didn't want to be working, did you?
This is my attempt at a magic trick.
Look shiny things in the left hand and we aren't seeing that there isn't a real post in the right hand. Unfortunately when things get overly busy, the blog is the thing that gets dropped. Come back tomorrow. I'll be blathering on about knitting again.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
ALL the rules
I never explained to you all the rules that I set up for myself. Normally I just love to break rules. I just can't help myself. This time I've set up small loopholes in my list of "rules" for myself so that I should have a large enough "out" if I need to.
The rule you all know about is that I'm going to knit on one large item and one small item until completion. I'm also going to try and finish my UFO's.
The loopholes:
1. If I'm designing something new then I can knit that instead of one of the UFO's.
Sorry, this is all I can show you at this time. If I showed you more, I'd have to have you exterminated.
2. The one project at a time doesn't include spinning projects. I can have several of those going at once. (See yesterday's post)
3. Swatches don't count as a project. I can knit as many swatches as I want.
4. screw UFO's I'm gonna knit what I want but I will finish it before I start something new.
There is one other rule that I made for myself. It's interesting. Well, to me it's interesting. It may be the hardest one to adhere to. If I'm 'designing' a new project than I will use commercial yarn. If I'm knitting someone else's design then I need to use my handspun.
This is an interesting challenge. I need to come up with yarns in the gauge needed for these projects or change the pattern to suit my gauge. I had to change the pattern slightly with the hugs and kisses socks. My gauge was way off. Way, way, way, off. I had to reduce the stitch count to 48 and change the charted pattern.
Of course this rule has exceptions/loopholes.
1.Socks. Socks are the exception to all rules. Or they should be, if they aren't already. I have a ton of sock yarn and I can use that whenever I want with whatever pattern I want.
2.If I can't possibly wait until I have the yarn spun then I have to at least use a stash yarn. Or tell you it's from my stash. You won't know the difference.
Monday, January 17, 2005
Spin, Spin, Spinny
I spent a good part of the weekend working. I'll have a brand new bag style to show off soon. I'll also have some new pottery. I'm pretty pleased with all the new stuff I was working on. One of the pottery things might just be a bank. As requested months ago by a certain someone, I finally think I've got the shape and style I want.
I did spin alot too. Spinning is the perfect activity to so while watching football. The knits that I'm working on need a bit of attention with color changes and keeping with the pattern but spinning I can look away from my hands a good part of the time.
Let's take a gander at the skeins (I love naming these things).
Baghdad Nights 2 ply.
Teal Dawn Lace singles
Strawberry Fields Lace Singles
Another skein of this stuff for a Retro Prep Sweater. I have 2 more bobbins that I could ply but I finished predrafting the roving and noticed that the last 6 ounces or so where a little off in color. I'll ply this with the darker bobbins I already have done so it won't be as stripey when it's knit up.
Go have a good day, I need to go shovel snow.
Friday, January 14, 2005
Hugs and Welts
Welts add so much to an item. Especially the Hugs and Kisses Sock pattern. They look fabulous on this sock. Here is an easy trick to doing them. I'm sure most of you know this already but there are bright shiny pictures anyway.
In a welt you will need to pick up stitches from previous rows and knit them together with current row. A fast way to knit this is to pick up the previous row's stitches with one needle and work it together. Click the above picture to enlarge.
Stop.
Click it again.
Notice anything odd about the needles?
See this:
Looks like a crochet hook right?
Why the hell am I knitting with a crochet hook?
It's not a crochet hook.
Confused?
These things were a St.Swivens gift from Betsy. They are Portuguese knitting needles. One end is a knitting point and the other is a crochet hook. It makes Continental knitting fly. I love it. Thank you again Betsy. You rock!
I haven't touched these socks since knitting group Monday night. But I absolutely love this pattern and I hope I get to finish one sock this weekend.
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Haircuts
Normally in the morning I avoid the mirror like the plague. Well, because in the morning it looks like I have th plague. The other day I accidentally did look in the mirror. Damn! My hair looked good. Why have I been avoiding the mirror all these years.
The next morning I take a look in the mirror expecting to see fab hair. Nope. The plague. It wouldn't be so bad if the good hair wasn't so fleeting. I have no power over my hair.
If my hair were predictable then I could at least come up with some plan of attack. One day it's flat and lifeless. The next day it's all over the place and curly. The day after that, there's some obnoxious wave in it. And let's not even mention the less than actractive cow lick. What a fitting term for such a horrendous thing to happen to hair. Cow lick. I have one in front and one in back. The cow got me coming and going.
Why is this pertinent to a knitting blog?
It's probably not pertinent but...
I have a new hat made by the fabulous Anj will cover it all up. I got that and many other fabulous gifts. Husbeast and freinds like Anj and Sue really outdid themselves this year. Thank you guys.
Thank you all for the wonderful comments on the Husbeast sweater.Adrian asked what I'm going to do with all this spare time.
Hmmmm, let's see.
First I took care of a sick child, who is much much better, thank you.
Second, our furnace died late on Tuesday night. Luckily we have a very nice heating guru that came out at 11 pm and stayed past 12:30 am to get us some heat. Very nice man. Of course we don't have the bill yet either. But still, he's a very nice man for getting out of his warm bed and coming over to tinker with our furnace.
Thirdly, Momster decides to shovel her driveway and falls, winning her a trip to the ER. After a couple of hours we learn that she has, ow!, dislocated her elbow. It's amazing how many people get hurt shoveling snow. Let that be a lesson to you all. Don't shovel, it will melt in April.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Please excuse.....
If you can't read the note it says:
Please excuse the Boogie from yesterday and today's Blog post. Little Miss M is ill and Boogie is chasing down spent tissues, fetching juice and changing out movies in the DVD player. She'll return on Thursday.
And then it was signed by my mom.
Forged?
Who said that?
Me, forge a note? Come on, look at it, it has the crease and the perfect cursive handwriting of my mother. Pretty good, huh? Perfect notes from mom since 19 something or other.
I may be covered in kid snot but I'm cashing in on the cuddles and getting caught up on School House Rock and Dinosaur Documentaries. School House Rock was cool until it got the song about taxes and then I remembered what time of year it is and how long it takes to get these business taxes done. That song was way cooler when I was a kid. I think the movies are what really takes care of kid's colds. Another strong dose tomorrow and she'll be good as new.
Knit a few stitches for me and I'll make a real post tomorrow.
Monday, January 10, 2005
The traveler.
Once upon a time there was a nice little family that lived in a quaint but cold house in the middle of Maine. Very cold. So cold that woolen socks and sweaters were much appreciated.
On one of the many cold and blustery snowing days, a weary traveler came knocking at their door. This traveler was in need of lodging and warmth. The Maine snow and wind was whipping him around quite a bit. Being proper Mainers, the traveler was invited inside and given a warm cup of coffee and blueberry crumb cake.
Travelers had come byt his little house before, but this particular traveler was unlike any other. This traveler happened to be a sweater. Quite a large sweater in fact. The snow and winds continued day and night. Therefore sweater was invited to stay the weekend until the plows came and the roads were cleared.
Before this manly type of sweater stepped back out into the cold Maine winter wind,though, a proposition was put forth. This sweater had heard such propositions many times before. Many times these propositions were turned down. You see, the sweater felt that it needed to "fit" it's host and it never had done so before. The kind sweater agreed to be tried for fit.
First the child tried the sweater.
Nope, not even close.
Then the mother tried the sweater.
Again, not a good fit.
Finally it was the father's turn to try on our manly sweater.
!!!!!!!!
Perfect fit!
You can find the sweater lounging about atop the husbeast. Happy, warm and with a fitting family at last.
The End.
The travelling sweater may be traveling with me tonight to visit the knitting group at SeaDog's in Topsham. It was a long weekend so Mr. Manly may choose to stay home and rest. In any case I have Hugs and Kisses Socks to work on.
My SALE started this morning.
Friday, January 07, 2005
Hugs and Kisses
I put off buying the Hugs and Kisses pattern until yesterday. I'm suppose to finish one project before I start another. I'm a good girl, following my rule and all. Although more projects may be hitting the UFO pile. Really, lace work is impossible to do with a 4 year old that talks constantly. I'm not over exagerating. This child is always talking, always. Yes, even in her sleep she mumbles. Can you tell what she's doing right now as I type this? On the good side, she has an amazing imagination. Some of the stories are so incredible that it's had not to listen at times.
How can one do lacework when you are trying to pay attention to the mermaid that is so strong even though she is only 4 and she is very brave too because there is a curse that was put on her family by the tiny man that lives in the mountain, so she trudges up the mountain to vanquish the evil man using all her powers and saves the village to come home and be greeted by her love Derek (large Shrek doll), and they kiss but then they are tripped and fall because there are so many evil little sea horses swimming around them, so the little mermaid has to help Derek and then save all her little brothers and sisters...... There was no punctuation because the child tells stories like one huge run on sentence. Therefore, Charlotte may be put on the back burner until I have a few days of quiet time.
Oh, what was I talking about?
Ahh, yes, Hugs and Kisses Socks created by Susan and all proceeds given to Oxfam. So if you don't have yours yet, go get it and then join me for the knit along.
I waited to buy the pattern until I hit the sleeve cap of Manly which was 2 days ago. Then I told myself I had to spin the yarn to give me more time to finish Manly.
Manly isn't quite finished. Those are the sleeves, no they aren't on needles. Woohoo!
The yarn is done though.
I need to finish up Manly tonight because the sock yarn will be dry and I can cast on over the weekend.
If you want to help out great organizations, there are many ways:
There are great things happening in Harlotteville. Go check out this week's postings if you haven't already. Who wouldn't want a pair of mitts knit by Stephanie herself?
Susan's Hugs and Kisses Socks that I just talked about.
Eyelet Rib Wristers This is another pattern that will give proceeds to charity. The knit along for this is the same as the hugs and kisses socks one.
Many good Businesses will be giving a portion of profits to charity. Including me. A portion of all sales from either website will be given to charity. This doesn't count ebay sales, just from Spunky Eclectic or The King's Pottery. Husbeast made a donation already and I hope to be able to make another one after the sale is over. This is the best idea I could come up with. It's really heartwarming to see how many people are stepping up to help. I like to try and help even if there isn't a world wide disaster. Maybe this will bring to light all the people that need our help everywhere.
There, that's it. I know you may be sick of hearing about charitable stuff but I don't put it on here as often as I could. The charities are there for a reason. We are really lucky.
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Old Wheels
Old wheels like old cars, like old houses, like old people....
They have aches and pains and something is always breaking.
Poor Marilyn.
As shapely and pretty as she might be. She has them old girl aches and pains. She's constantly got a screw loose. Kind of like me.
Her treadle has fallen off a bit. Her screw popped out of its original hole. A couple of weeks ago I drilled a new hole to put the screw in. That popped out too.
A couple of nights ago I lifted her skirt and removed the treadle to fix it. Well, I removed it for the purpose of tracing it and having another one made. I couldn't possibly not spin or her until that's done so I glued the heck out of her. I would have used duct tape but I couldn't find it. Duct tape, the good old Mainah' fix all. Duct tape, is there anything you can't do?
I didn't glue the hinge on, there is a thin piece of wood and I glued that on and added some glue into the screw hole. Screwed her in and let her sit for the night resting after the operation.
I didn't want to do anything that was going to damage her. She is an old wheel and I wanted to keep her integrity. Which is another reason to build a new treadle. Now I'm wondering how many new parts am I going to end up building for her during her stay with me.
The manly sweater is just 11 rows from completing the sleeves.
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
FO and SP4
IMHO I just love SP's. AFAIK it should be fun. I want to do it ASAP. When I got the Email I thought NFW! It's time already. IAE I did sign up. The last 2 SP's I gave to fell off the earth. I'm trying to T+ that SP4 won't disappear. Oh, BTW I have a FO to show. It's not for my MIL, SIL, or DD but for Mom. I just want to say TIA.
Are you ROTFLAO? Or have you had enough of the abbreviations. Sometimes I feel bombarded with abbreviations when I read posts in certain forums. Using that many abbreviations doesn't come naturally to me. I looked up a set of them Here. I bookmarked it so I'd have some clue as to what people are talking about. Of course, I'm sure you don't need that guide. I'm sure you are all much younger and hipper than me.
FO:
Remember the vest I promised a modeled shot?
I suck so bad at taking photos of me. So you get a picture of Siouxsie wearing it. I wore it all day on New Year's Eve, until I was too hot in it. I love this new vest.
STATS:
My design
Sirdar discontinued yarn
US 9 needles.
The gloves.
Stick 'em up!
They are now happily on the hands of my Momster. I love how the palms came out. I made great modifications to the pattern in the book, but they came out pretty close to their picture anyway. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to do Fair Isle mitts and gloves. It was a fairly quit knit when I actually worked on it.
STATS:
Knitting Fair Isle Gloves and Mittens
Whalsay Vertical Star
Cervinia sock yarn
2.75mm needles.
SP4:
I was afraid to sign up for another Secret Pal. The women that gifted me in the last 2 were awesome. I'm afraid for the people that I gift. All you out there better hope that you don't get me. I gift nicely and I really like to give, that's not the problem. Bad things happen to my SP's. SP2 disappeared at the beginning of the program and only resurfaced at the end. Through a series of unfortunate events, she was unavailable. I have talked to her since and she is ok. As for SP3, I know she got her first package and then she disappeared and I still haven't heard from her. I can only guess the earth had a hiccup and she fell off. Their blogs go without updates, emails were unanswered, and e-cards not picked up.
I'm afraid for my next SP. I like to gift things so I figured I'd give it one last try. If this SP disappears, I promise I'll quit signing up for these. If SP4 starts and bad joojoo comes your way, I bet you have me for your SP. Let me just applogize right now.
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
On the Mattress
No jumping on the mattress!
We like the mattress.
No sleeping on it either.
It's exciting and fun. It's sure to keep you awake.
Maybe calling it fun is taking it a bit far.
But really, I love doing the mattress.
Have you caught on yet?
Zoom in
Zoom again
Look ma! No seams showing!
The slow side to side all the way up the sweater. I admit that it starts out as a bit tedious. But after the first few inches it becomes almost meditative. Back and forth, the needle goes in and out. Then tighten up the stitches. Back and forth again and again. Maybe I've lost it. Maybe I'm gleeful that I actually am at the point of seaming this sweater.
Here's the body, with neck DONE, seamed, and ends woven in. It's patiently awaiting its sleeves.
6 rows and I can start the sleeve cap. Sounds painfully slow, doesn't it? Or is it just me?
Monday, January 03, 2005
In Margene's post she mentioned that whatever you do on the first day of the New Year is representative of what you will do year round. Let's see what I'll be doing all year:
Knitting
Designing new sweaters
Dying wool
Spinning
Loving my family
Talking to friends
Window shopping for yarn
Reading
Chasing my naked daughter around trying to get her to put clothes on.
Relaxing
Working on the website
Hammering out the details of the SALE
Trying to finish projects
I did take the weekend off from Pottery because the heater ran out of gas. No heat and Boogie isn't going to be playing in the water and clay. I also took the weekend off from sewing so I could be with my family more (and knit more). I'm sure in the upcoming year I'll be doing pottery and sewing plenty.
Did you check out the SALE Preview? I've decided to give some of the profits (5%) to UNICEF. The sale starts on the 10th. I should be pretty busy this week getting some stock and making the web pages.
I did quite a bit of spinning.
Someone had requested this yarn. I also did a large skein in my colorway for Retro Prep.
Click for bigness. That skein should be a sleeves worth of yarn.
And for knitting, I worked on Manly until I ran out of yarn. I now have more and will show you tomorrow because there is actual visible progress. There is even better progress on another late Christmas Present. The star fair isle gloves are done.
Not so pretty huh? Well, they were just laid down to have their after bath rest. They look lopsided but I assure you, they are blocking comfortably and are the same size. I'll get better pictures if I can remember.
Thank you for all the comments of your....
ummm.....
confidence? in my plan.
It might work and it might not.
I just know I'll enjoy knitting.
Thank you everyone for the New Year wishes. I hope you all have a fabulous fiber-filled year.