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, June 30, 2006
Order status Onion-eyed
I'm stealing titles from my spam email. Sometimes they are just too funny.
I know I keep saying I'm going to have something good to post and then I don't. The houe has come down achy. No Sniffles. No coughs. But we are down and out with aches, chills and fevers. All my energy is going into packing and shipping so the blogging is going to have to wait. Especially since I need to take pictures to tell my story of the noil love.
I promise next week there will be something good, or at least something with photos. Unless of course the muscle aches make my arms completely useless sticks that flop at the sides of my body.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Shop Update - Summer Sales start!
This update is so big. I was going to talk about making batts but I just don't want to overload the page so that will have to wait until tomorrow.
New spindles from Kundert:
Not to mention that I have a full stocking of all the other spindle companies as well.
New Batts and Sock sets HERE :
SUMMER SALES ARE STARTING!!
For now until the next update on July 12th....
You can get in stock Handpainted Sport weight yarn for $10 per skein.
You can also get in stock Merino Handpainted 4 ounce bundles for $8.50 per bundle. HERE:
I have 2 of these bad boys in stock HERE:
$440 each including shipping.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Needles again
There were a few questions asked that I answered in emails but thought that maybe more of you wanted to know.
1. The cables are very very flexible and will work great for magic loop.
Obviously what I'm working on isn't set up to do magic loop since it's more than 200 stitches on a 32" circular. But I did this to show that they do flex well but I would need a much longer one to make it work.
2. The points are fabulous!
You can enlarge it by clicking on it.
See how nice and sharp these are. All of them are US size 5. The Susan Bates are just like the Inox Express but I can't find mine right now. I may jsut have too many needles if I ever got together all the UFO's and missing needles.
I don't have an Addi to show you the difference between them and all the rest. I had a couple at one time but I hated them enough to give them away. If you check out the Knitter's Review postings on this, Clara posted a picture. I think it was on page 3 of the comments.
3. The join is smooth.
I like to think of myself as a fast knitter. I don't have a lot of time to sit and just knit so when I do, I like to speed. I don't like sticky cables and stitches that get stuck or don't move freely. So when I say the joins are good, I mean it. I can fly with these needles. If I couldn't go fast, I'd be complaining.
I have no problem complaning about tools that I can't work with. Many have heard me complain about Denise and Addi's. I just don't like them. I'm glad they work well for the rest of you. I've tried to like them, but I can't. If you want to hear my complaints, I'll make another post at some point. Since this one is about Knitpick's Options Needles, my only complaint is that the sizes are not stamped on the needle.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Monday Clean up
Under the fridge huh? Karen had to qualify her answer and it involved nudity. Possibly a good reason to clean under the fridge a little more often than once every 8 years.
The one time mine was cleaned was when it was being repaired. There was no fuzz to catch fire because I do clean that little front part that collects that stuff. There was however compacted dust. Nothing gross really, it came right up quite easily.
The pants of mine last week (just mine front and back if you didn't notice that) spurred a new question. It is probably going to be hypothetical for some, for me it's happened a few times, although not quicksand before. I used to play in mud (pottery) for a living. Extremely dirty clothing is a fact of life for me.
The new Knitpicks Options Needles.
Heard of them? Knitpiscks version of the interchangeable needle. They sold out within the first few days. Luckily I was reading a forum that announced it and I ordered a set on the first day there were out. I'm not thrilled with my Denise needle set. My favorite set of interchangeables which used to be my Grams, is no longer made and it's getting old. I lose parts too. I'm a ding dong like that.
This is how they arrived:
All ready to assemble by myself.
The binder to hold it all is a little like a day planner. In my world that's not an attractive thing but it is prettier than any other covered interchangeable on the market. Still, I do have plans to jazz it up:
Inside has a decent amount of room and pockets, even a zippered pocket:
The roominess and the orginization of it all is probably why I'll keep this and just modify it from being a day timer. I have a habit of not keeping anything in it's original case or seriously modifying it. I think the original case on this one has great organization so I'll just have to modify the look.
Each of the packs of cords comes with 2 cords, 4 ending caps and 1 tightening thingy tool (I'm so technical it hurts)
I've currently got the 4's set up with over 200 live stitches on it and I would have taken a photo if it weren't crazy dark in here today. In fact I took a picture but it wasn't worth posting or trying again.
The cords are felxible, the join of needle and cord is seemless, and it's a very smooth knit. Overall I think it's a decent set. My one pet peeve is that the sizes are not stamped on the needles. I know, lazy girl needs to get out her gauge, boohoo. It's a small detail but it's one that will bug me for a while anyway.
The feel of the needles is most like Addi's or Inox Express. With one great difference, they have sharp sharp points. I hate Addi's. I used a set for lace and ended up buying something else to finish it and kicking myself for spending a gob on the Addi's. I liked the fast smooth needles but the tips were so blunt it was sad. The Knitpicks ones are sharp. Almost dangerous sharp. I like dangerous needles.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Saturday Sky
I know it's Sunday.
Let's just pretend I'm not behind and didn't clue into this a day late. Actually it's amazing I'm only 1 day late. I'm so far behind in reading my favorite blogs.
Anyway.
For Sandy, it's a thunderstorm moving in. This was a few days ago. I think we might be getting some blue sky today.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Something Else Entirely
I had planned on talking about the fiber club today. I'm not a purple/violet person but the colorway I really like the colorway that I came up with. Some of you might already have your selections. In case you are completely into the surprise factor and don't have your selection yet... I'm going to hide the picture
HERE
Don't click if you don't want to ruin your surprise. The one in front is the yarn club while the back yarn is a quicky that I did from the fiber. It's a thick and thin single but I coudln't stop there. I'm working on a 2 ply right now. I just had to have a little more. I'll show you the "little more" next week hopefully.
I also wanted to talk about these:
And the pattern I wrote up for you. You can find it HERE. The trick with the socks is the heel and the ribbing. The stretchy garter heel helps to keep them stretched tight on the foot and less easy to wiggle out of them. The ribbing makes them close fitting and harder for little fingers to grab. Baby Boogie eventually did get out of them but she's a persistent little stinker and it took her a lot longer to get out of them then the regular old cotton socks from the store. I can keep these on her for the duration of a grocery shopping trip.
I skeined up some of the odd length skeins and put them up HERE. The little 100 yard skeins work good for the baby socks. 1 skein to make a pair like I did or 2 skeins for larger ones. Since the tiny skeins are "potluck" I'm selling them as a sort of grab bag where you don't know exactly what you're getting.
I had planned on talking about all of that but then these arrived:
Jenkins Turkish Spindles
And so I changed my mind. I wanted to talk about spindles. But then I haven't had much time to play with them yet so I couldn't write a whole post on spindle joys. I know many spinners joy is in tossing the spindle aside and getting a wheel. I was there but now I'm back again.
I love my spindles. I want one of each. But it's not just the collecting, I love to spindle. It's slower and a bit more zen (for me anyway) then the speed of the wheel. I've wanted a Turkish spindle for a long long time. Finally I found the perfect ones. I'll probably be spending my weekend messing around with one of these. But which one. Time to get out "eanie, meanie, mynie, and mo".
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Baby Socks
BabyBoogie has a few pairs of socks but she can take them all off in seconds flat. 5,4,3,2,1 - socks are off. I had to make a pair to see if I could do any better. The socks are finished and the ends are woven in.
They're on and quick as lighting hands are trying to remove them.
Hmph. That didn't work. Wiggle the toes...
Ok, so the socks are on. Attack the sock maker!
Spunky Superwash Merino Sock yarn
80-100 yards
US2 Needles
Pattern: Boogie - free pattern coming soon. I promise.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Monday Clean up
Do I clean the top of my fridge? I used to believe in the notion; "If you cover every inch of it then there is nothing to clean". But the junkiness started to get to me and now I need to clean it.
You might remember that husbeast is 6 foot 8 inches. I try to get him to remind me when it looks bad because there is no way I can see it. Unfortunately the way he got laundry duty was suggesting I could do a better job folding and be more prompt. He rarely ever mentions anything needs to be cleaned now.
So I suppose while I try to forget that it's there I try to clean it when I think of it.
For this weeks poll it was something that several people mentioned to me last week.
While we're on the subject of cleaning.....
As I read blogs last week I kept seeing a trend. It was a crappy week. Maybe not giant life altering crap, but just enough to make someone want to hide out until Sunday at 12:01am.
I had one of those crappy weeks along with you. If looking at the whole it was an ok week. But there were several little crappy things that made it hard to see the positive and when it all piled up, that
I forgot at some point that the week didn't end on Friday night. I forgot that I had to still make it through Saturday. I forgot until Saturday's little mishap hit. I took the kids to go look at frogs in my parents frog pond. Seems harmless. Harmless until you step onto quicksand.
The shock/panic of it got the first leg out fast and the second leg firmly planted up to my thigh. I was mud up to my shoulders trying to dig my way out of the shifting and moving sand and getting a rock stuck on my leg so big that I couldn't move it. I think the whole incident was 15-20 minutes long but it felt like hours. In case you wondered, the Girlbeast continued to throw rocks into the pond and run around like a crazy child completely oblivious to me.
I spent the rest of the day hiding out and knitting. Angora will make it better...
All the while very aware that the pointy sticks could possibly cause me harm.
Friday, June 16, 2006
But wait...
There's more....
If you click on the pictures they get bigger. I wish I had gotten a better picture of some of Adrian's yarns. Especially that handspun. Oh my, she's a master. If you have some of it, then you already know.
Our booth was so alluring that a neighbor HAD to have some of our stuff. We walked in on Sunday to seeing her spinning up a bunch of our fibers. She paid of course and asked if we minded. I love it when the fiber is too much to resist. Must. Have. More. Fiber.
In fact it was too much for me too. Adrian and I did a little swap.
I'm spinning it as a striping sport weight single. I think this would knit nicely into a lacy multi-directional scarf. This stuff is Merino silk and it's so very nice.
I did get one other thing at the Frolic. Dan had a Kromski harp (32 inch size of course) that he didn't want anymore. So he brought it in for me to buy. How sweet is that? Tuesday I did my first warp by myself and set it up. I figured I'd just use some scrap acrylic and play until the yarn I ordered arrived.
Once the safety orange acrylic hit that loom, GirlBeast couldn't resist it. It was like some siren call to her. She hovered and pestered until I had it all set to go. By the time it was all loaded, I wanted nothing more to do with this stuff.
There she is in all her glory, fully enjoying the weaving of safety orange and hot nasty pink. Such a retina searing combination. Perfect for a scarf for her, if she finishes it before I cut it off so I can work on something less eye damaging.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Of Updates and Visits
If you're on my mailing list then you know that I've updated the webshop.
Yarns:
Fibers:
I have had a request for some blends and batts. Those will be done for the next update. I promise.
I am amazed that I got so much done yesterday but I didn't have time to finish the spindles page. I have Kokovoco, Greensleeves, Cascade and 2 Tracy Eichman spindles left. In fact I ordered a ton of spindles so I wouldn't run out.
Adrian and I spent a good part of the weekend with our spindles. We taught anyone that walked by and still we spun spun spun.
Adrian was a fantastic houseguest. She was so sweet that she brought a giftee for M and the puppy. Oh yes, she brought a giant Spanish leather chew toy for the puppy....
Yeah, well. The dog is alive but I still feel awful that she did that. Horrified might be the right word. She is a very very naughty puppy. She tried suckering Adrian with her sad little piggy dog face. Too bad we all know it's attached to a very very naughty girl.
This was the face I got yesterday when she had wrapped her lead up around the swingset and wanted someone to untangle her. Cute but she's still a naughty beast.
I could go on an on and on about the weekend. Despite the mishaps it was good. We worked our butts off as in any show weekend, still it was fun. Adrian worked her tail off. I wanted to keep her. Alas she is home and I think is updating soon.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Monday Cleanup
Laundry. I rarely do laundry these days and it's usually something I need to wear or it's shop towels. I still remember what it was like when I did do laundry and it depended on the floor. I lived in one place where the washer and dryer was in an often flooded dirt floor basement. Yuck. There was no way if anything dropped on that floor would it still be clean. In fact it would most often be covered in mud. Back to the wash. These day's the floor is clean except for lint dust or what not. It is still in the basement but it's a clean finished off area. That stuff doesn't need to be re-washed for me to be comfortable with it.
This comment about laundry almost made me spit coffee, so I need to share it with you. Laundry was invented by the devil. It is the devil's work. It is the task of Satan. If you re-wash things just because they touch the floor, the terrorists win. And it makes the baby Jesus cry. Thank you Amie
This week. Let's talk about the top of your fridge.
The frolic was fantastic as any fiber festival is. It was made better by having the amazing Adrian here. The Fiber Frolic could have totally sucked but would have been made better by the fantastic company. We needed to rename our booth the giggle bitches. Now I need to get to work and I'll blabber more about the weekend later.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Spiders spin silk, right?
Oh yes, and they spin it fine, fast and long.
That's what's really important.
I'll be spinning with my spider in my booth at the Fiber Frolic this weekend. I'll be picking up Adrian sometime today. It seems the bus was oversold. Who knew that many people wanted to go to Maine. So everyone keep your fingers crossed that she'll make on the next afternoon bus.
It will be a fun fiber weekend. If you can make it, the website I linked to above has directions and it's worth a trip for a relazing fibery time. It's not the total overload of Maryland. You can do Maine easily within a day and still find lots of goodies. Or make a weekend out of it, stalk the fiber sale, the used items, take some classes and hang out.
I have some packing to finish....
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Moving on up
This winter I'll be moving.
I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but it is a big move. Big even though it's not far. Something like 200 yards. My business will be moving into a bigger and better space. Oh yeah, no more basement and keeping everything in boxes and containers. I'll have shelves and displays!
I'll actually be in a space where I can have people stop in and try out the wheels, test the spindles, play with looms, fondle the yarns, touch the fibers and sit with me to knit or spin.
That's right.
I'm going to be moving into an actual retail location.
My Mom has decided that her shop would be better served for something else since it's closed up all but one day of the week. She's going to take over my pottery shop for her retail space and I'm moving into her large retail space.
First and foremost I need to clear out some of the pottery. None of the sheep pottery will be cleared out, I don't have much of that in stock anyway. But I'm talking all the other patterns and they'll be cheap. I'll set up a page soon to clear all that out. I'm not giving up pottery entirely. I just have stock that I need to moveout and make space. I'm over stocked at the moment.
We're shooting for a February opening but I'm secretly hoping that I can get it done all before that. Here's a progress page. Yeah, there is a ton to do. I work best with short deadlines and piles of work. Or so you'd think by the way life is.
Other than work stuff (the Frolic is this weekend) I've been spin spin spinning. You can click both photos to make them bigger although I'm not sure it will help. In typical Boogie fashion, I waited to take photos this morning. Never mind that yesterday we had sun and today we have clouds and showers.
I test the club offerings before I make the final decision. This is the last one:
I thought it sounded like an odd combo when my mind gave it up, but once I spun it up, I knew I loved it. I hope everyone else does too.
I know many people have a hate for silk noil. In certain applications it can be nice. I wanted to make a yarn that I'd be happy to use that had noils. This is a 2 ply dk weight yarn. It is thick and thin but that's ok, it's going to be socks. For one ply I carded up 2 ounces of wool with nylon and silk noil. The other ply is Salvia from my almost solids.
I like the resulting yarn. Now I want to try and add more silk noils. I htink there could have been a lot more in there. Actually I have a ton of blends in mind. I'm not sure if I'll bring them to the Frolic to work on but right now I want to drop everything and go play with my carder.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Monday Cleanup
How often do I clean my cabinets... All the way to the back?
I'm a combination of several of the answer choices. I have one cabinet that I know is the portal to somewhere else. I would have tried to cram myself in there long ago if I thought it was somewhere good, but it isn't. I swear my arm was grabbed once by something bumpy and slimy feeling when I put it back there. The cabinet has not been cleaned since. Any items that might fall to the back part of that cabinet are gone for ever.
The rest of them get cleaned when I need something badly enough. Luriking evil makes me ignore the cabinet entirely. I probably should nail that other one shut so the thing doesn't get out. It used to be that I'd clean only when moving but since I haven't moved in 8 years, I thought it might be time to clean. I've been amazed at the stuff I've found and the knitting time I've wasted. 6 more cabinets to go (that includes the grabby one, I'm saving that for last).
This week's poll is all about laundry.
I forgot to post this for Sandy last week. It's my Dianthus enjoying the blue skies.
I spent my weekend indoors, captured there by the rain and my whimpy-ness. I say whimpiness because on Saturday as we were heading out of town I saw 3 people in their fisherman style rain slickers working on their gardens. Oh, the hardiness of Mainers.
Friday, June 02, 2006
Garden
The last post was long and this one has a ton of pictures. This past weekend I planted and I planted and I planted. I planted so much and I have so many pictures that I didn't take photos of it all.
That's the new patio. I had to show you that since I made a big deal out of moving all those stones around. I filled in the holes with sweet Dianthus. Pretty and it smells sweet when you move past them.
To see the rest of the garden, and I know most probably don't care one whit, you can look HERE. Really it seemed like way too much information and blah blah blah especially if you don't care about gardens. Not to mention the pictures are pretty brown right now. I'll add to them as the things (other than weeds) start to grow.
One thing I planted last year has finally started to fruit:
That's right. It's a yarn tree. I've worked really hard on that. It's one of the secret projects I've been working on over here at Casa de Boogie. I had to keep it secret or Slugworth might have stolen the secret formula. Now I just need to work at propigating them efficiently. I'll let you know how it works out.
Really there are a ton of secrets over here in the house. If I told you, I'd have to shoot you. Ok, so I only own a water pistol and it would hardly be a punishment but I suppose the secrets aren't all that secrety anyway. Those balls up there represent 2 more secrets that are really part of the one secret that I'm keeping. Well, it's not a secret but then I can't really share alot of info either because everyone likes suprises and I know you really want to be surpirsed don't you? Yes.
Confused? Yes? me too.
All you need to know is that ball of angora up there, I have several more that go with them. I'll be knitting angora in this wretched heat. I'm hooking up my butch and putting in the A/C this week. Then I'm going to plant a chair right in front of it and blissfully play with angora.