Books, Hooks & Sticks: May 2010

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Curious and Buggaing Out

I loved knitting Eidos and I am knitting socks with Bugga right now. I wanted to try some of the other Sanguine Gryphon yarns so I ordered some Kypria, Sappho II, Traveller and Little Traveller, and more Eidos and Bugga. Love the colors and I believe I will enjoy knitting with them as well. I am thinking about making a sweater in the blues and greens, maybe Jared Flood's Cobblestone. Something simple that will let the yarn colors be the focal point.

I bought a cute little notions box to go with my new Namaste bag.

My first yarn - the Gum Ball was all spun on the Schacht. The Purple Merino Tencel was spun on the Schact and the Spindle I got with my Kniddy Knoddy from an Etsy seller. I don't have any idea what to do next. I ordered the Start Spinning book from Barnes & Noble. I will try to read it today.

I finished my Vogue #28 Wrap, it is lovely. I still need to sew the rectangles together.

I am on Section 4, the decrease section of my Clapotis. I intend to finish it today. I am going to oil up Miss Kitty and give her a spin. I will either get back on the felted clogs or my toe up socks next. I need to finish Chart A (at least) of Mystic Desire. I have not even cast on the Norwegian Rose socks yet. But I am spinning and knitting and adding yarn and fiber to my collection so all is good.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Spinning Right Along

This lovely box of bits and pieces arrived on Friday. This is the cute little Ashford Kiwi Spinning Wheel I ordered from the Woolery. They had their distributor Foxglove FiberArt in Bainbridge Island, WA ship it because they were closer. I got it in 4 days - amazing. It came with a Lazy Kate, 3 bobbins, and the Hi-Speed adapter kit.

There was an announcement taped on the outside of the box. What a coincidence, this is the very spinning event I am going to in June. My sister has agreed to join me. I am looking forward to it. I am going to take my Spindle, they will have wheels there for us newbies to try.

I bought the Schacht Hi-Lo Spindle from the Loopy Ewe. I am going to give it a spin as soon as I finish posting this.

Here she is all put together. I have named her after my Grandmother whose nickname was Kitty. Miss Kitty fits perfectly under my craft table right next to me. She is unfinished but I plan to paint her.

I bought a bit of fiber for practicing with.
This is Black Blue Faced Leicester from Gale's Art in the colorway Gumball 4 ozs

This is Tencel/Merino 30/70 from Ashland Bay 4 ozs

This is Superwash Merino from the Dyeing Arts. It is a Dazzling Duo in the colorway Goblin Seas 4 ozs.

I mentioned that Webs was having an Anniversary Sale - this is what I nabbed for the collection. Details and individual pictures can be seen in Flickr - there is a link in the sidebar, or even more details in my Ravelry stash list. None of these were sale items by the way, just the usual excellent 25% discount.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Fantastic

I had a wonderful time at the SF Ravelry Meetup. Other attendees started getting on the BART train a few stops after me, Walnut Creek or thereabouts. We were in the center of the train car, mostly knitting socks. But I was working on my Clapotis, which I put away because there were too many interesting shawls being discussed, and we had a batch of door prizes with us that were pretty exciting.

The turn out was impressive. We were greeted with name tags, 2010 Meetup pins and samples of Soak. We each received a raffle ticket. The door prizes were stunning and plentiful. There was a potluck and there was a variety of edibles on the mezzanine. There were demonstrations and massages - you heard me right massages. There was a knitting machine demo/learning station. The CompassionKnit drop off and information table. The hand and arm massage station. A needle felting demonstration/learning station. There was a table with free knitting magazines, and one with meetup group info and yarn store coupons. The door prizes were on display on three long tables. In the center of the room were the spinning wheel and drop spindle demonstrations/learning spots. Then there were chairs in meandering circles with knitters of all variety. I have to give a nod to the guys though, their group were sporting some gorgeous shawls, scarves and sweaters - you go boys.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I spotted a childhood friend who I have not seen for 40 years. Her family moved away when I was 10 - OMG she's a knitter, and she's on RAVELRY. Another amazing Ravelry story eh?!?

And the thrills and chills did not end there, I was sitting there waiting for the line to die down at the wall where the door prize lists were. They did it really neat - they posted lists of prizes with the winning raffle ticket stapled to the prize won. AND I WON THIS

The Prize Donated by Uncommon Threads the softest red leather Namaste Satchel and 10 balls of Plymouth Brushed Alpaca yarn. WOW, I never win anything. I am so excited.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Last Hat Done

Last hat done for CompassionKnit and my bag is packed for tomorrow's meet-up. Yay! I charged my Flip Video so hopefully I will catch some good pics of Bay Area Ravelers.

It's Better to Give and Receive

I am pleased with what I came up with for my CompassionKnit finished object donation. I raided my Christmas Gift Stash and chose two hats, to add to the two hats I knit yesterday and today. With the cowl and mitts that is a total of six objects I will be able to give. The Luscious Silk yarn that I knit the cowl in apparently went in the yarn donation I gave Compassion Knit - I could not find it anywhere. I pulled out some Valley Yarn I knit a sweater out of. I had two balls left. It is still on the needles, but I only have 20 rows left. I knit the Noro hat last night.

Not really a reward or anything, but really good timing - my Signature needles and new Swift came.

32 inch circulars with 6 inch Stiletto tips, Red = US 7/4.5 mm; Green = US 6/4.0 mm; and Blue = US 5/3.75 mm

Friday, May 14, 2010

SF Ravelry Meet Up

Sunday is going to be so much fun. I have a couple of new online knitting friends to seek out. I hope we find each other!!! I also hope I nab one of the fabulous door prizes, not the one I contributed to though. Tonight I am going to do my usual Sunday chores, I will probably pull an all nighter - until my roomies tell me to go to bed and quit making so much noise. I want to try to make a couple of my 2 hour hats and key hole scarves tomorrow. Although I contributed a metric b*tt load of yarn, needles and other tools to CompassionKnit, I still want to make a few items too. They came up terribly short in finished items. I could actually part with the Noro fingerless mitts I just knit, I still have 10 or 15 skeins of that yarn. I also still have the STR Atomic #6 Cowl, I ended up not giving it as a Christmas gift.

Yep a plan is forming. I have enough Atomic #6 and Noro yarn to knit my quickie short row hats to go with the cowl and mitts. I feel better already, I will be able to give a couple of homeless teens a little warmth next winter. Or, next week, since another rain storm is due in on Monday.

For you shopaholics, and what real knitter isn't one, there are a couple of sweet treats available. The Signature Needle Arts circular needles are back in stock and The Sanguine Gryphon has yarn up pretty much constantly in every type now that she is in her new studio. Knit Picks is having another big book sale. Webs is having a big Anniversary Sale. Oh and Herrschners has some very interesting sock yarns now - they are offering 3 or 4 sock yarns with aloe or lanolin in them. I ordered the Red Heart, Heart and Sole 75 % wool 25 % nylon with aloe in Black, Navy and Ivory for the Norwegian Rose Sock KAL. Okay, I ordered some needles and Bugga too. But I did not buy any new books. I bought a couple of new patterns instead 8~}