Cartoon Clubhouse 2 (Pitch's Revenge)

I promise this isn't about to become a blog where I post pics of my cats all of the time...just some of the time.

Inspired by Girlzilla, the husband presented me with one of his trademark Cartoon Clubhouse cappuccinos this morning:

Pitchzilla! I don't usually ascribe thought to my cats' expressions (at least not publicly), though I am fairly certain Pitch is thinking, "Does this latte make my butt look big?"

In case you are interested, here is another link about the Puppet Bike. It's a great little piece done for a show on WBEZ, the local public radio station.

The boys and I are about to head out to the balcony for some serious sock knitting.

Girlzilla and The Puppet Bike

I had my camera with me all day. Did I take any photos at the Midwest Fiber and Folk Fair? Nope. I forgot it was in my purse. It's kind of tricky anyway, since some of these types of events restrict photography, but most would-be photogs aren't up to any fiber-y espionage; they just want to spread the yarn-y goodness around.

The fair seemed smaller this year--about 1/3 smaller by my (non-scientific, could be completely wrong about this) estimate. Last year there were vendors lining the hallways (the event is in a community college classroom building), as well as in tents outside and in the gymnasium, but this year there were few hallway spots. I missed Miss Babs and Jennie the Potter, but I expect I'll see them both at Summit. Two of my favorites, Brooks Farm and Briar Rose, were there. I can't seem to resist either of them. I become weak in their presence, and usually end up double-dipping, going back for seconds (and sometimes thirds!) before I will myself to stop.

I have a couple of book recommendations for you. I've got an Audible.com subscription, and I finally finished listening to Son of a Witch, the follow-up to Wicked. It was good, but Wicked was such a great read, and I was not nearly as enamoured of the sequel. I might feel differently if I had read it as opposed to listening to it, and I started to think that maybe audiobooks were leaving me a little cold. Then I downloaded The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. It's a Swedish book that has been translated into English, and I am loving it. It's got some great hooks: a 40-year-old unsolved crime, corporate wrongdoing, vengeance, and a bit of sex, though some of it is unsavory, to say the least. (It's not gratuitous, however. It works in the context of the storyline.) The Swedish names take some getting used to (and some sound somewhat similar, which wouldn't be an issue if I saw them written out), but I am enjoying the narration. It's making my Sock Museum socks go more quickly.

I also started reading The Help. Just this week I got a Kindle and it was the first book I downloaded to it. I have stacks of actual paper books to read, and instead I am reading an electronic one, but there is a good reason. I thought it would be easier to "turn" pages with the press of the button when I was on the treadmill. With a paper book, I'd have to take it out of the rack each time I wanted to flip pages, which makes keeping a steady pace kind of tricky. And, hey, if it means I use the treadmill more, that's good, right? Anyhoo...I've only read chapter one, but I love it already. The characters are well-crafted, and feels like it is going somewhere important.

I had my camera with me tonight when the husband and I walked up to Clark Street for some sushi. The little girls next door have been busy little sidewalk artists again this summer. This one looks like Girlzilla about to decimate a village:

On the way home, one of our favorite neighborhood oddities, the Puppet Bike, was open for business. (The Wikipedia entry about it is very interesting. There is also a YouTube video here (actually, there are lots of them if you do a search) but keep in mind that it isn't as charming on video as it is in person.)

It is what it sounds like, a puppet stage mounted on a trike. The first time I saw it was downtown, but it has since take up residence here in Andersonville, and we love it. The "show" consists of Steiff handpuppets bopping around to recorded music.

It's often older, fun stuff from the 40s and 50s (Louis Prima and the like), and the "staging" is quite simple. Whenever the curtain is up, you can count on a crowd of 15-20 people, young and old, watching it. There is a tip box, and hilarity ensues when cash is deposited, especially if it's a bill bigger than a dollar. (The puppets can reach into the tip box from the back and sometimes a tug-of-war breaks out.)

Yes, our corner of the urban jungle is populated with stuffed tigers, alligators, and bunnies.

More of the same, only different

Since last post, I've been inspired to do more gardening. We have two small plots directly in front of the house, one which has a yew that I despise and a sad, unshapely Japanese Red Maple. All of the bulbs I planted a few years back have been pilfered by squirrels, so it's really quite barren. The other plot had nothing. Getting rid of the yew and the maple will be more work than I'm personally up to, so for now, they are staying. On the other side, I added some hydrangeas at the side of the house, some of the same plants that went into the parkway garden (hosta, huechera, astilbe), and the specimen plant at the center of it all is a Contorted Filbert. It's a little sparse at the moment, and I think I need to add a few things with chartreuse leaves to spice it up before I call it done.

In knitting news, the Sock Summiteers are compiling a Sock Museum that will be on display at the Summit and will hopefully have a life beyond. They were taking suggestions for more patterns (in addition to the ones they had chosen), and I wrote in requesting that they include Spring Forward, written by Sock Camp friend, Linda Welch. When I didn't hear back, it slipped my mind. Turns out that they had some kind of glitch in their response system, and they were writing to me and thinking I was being unresponsive, and I wasn't getting their emails, so I thought they weren't interested. It's all straightened out, but now I have less time to complete them. It's not a hard pattern, but a false start delayed my progress. My first attempt resulted in some pooling that was decidedly not "museum quality", so I ripped and restarted with a different colorway. The second try is going much better, and I should have them completed by the weekend, figuring in other things I have scheduled over the next few days.

After a long, cold, wet spring, in late June, we launched into summer with a vengeance. Fortunately, we had just one week of high temps, and the last few weeks have been in the 70s to mid 80s. It has made for a magnificent season so far. I've been inspired to be out and about more, enjoying the balcony with the cats as much as possible, and taking in the neighborhood offerings more frequently.

(That's Pitch enjoying the balcony. He never really looks like he's enjoying anything (he has a stern countenance), but--trust me--he is having a great time.)

Here are a few shots from the small-but-lovely farmers' market which is a new addition to our little bit of Chicago.

ETA: Sorry about the weird paragraph spacing. I seem to have chronic spacing issues here on Blogger. Ugh.

The Rundown

It's been a fun-filled week, and it's only Thursday.

I finished the Green Gable. She is washed, blocked and ready for action. I started and am about 70% finished with a fourth Chickami. I used some variegated Elann Sonata Print from Ye Olde Stashe that had been partially knit and frogged. It's doing much better as a Chickami than it was in its previous incarnation. I've started Samro's A Little Something. I'm not far along at all, however, because this week has been jam-packed with other activities.

I am Tour de Fleece-ing. I'm not on a team or anything, but I have committed to spinning every day, even if I don't get home until 11:40 and only have 20 minutes. That was last night after seeing a show at The Goodman Theater, and the Journey Wheel and I were not getting along at all. I just could not get the tension adjusted properly. Things were better today. I'm currently spinning some Romeldale with silk noil and tussah silk mixed in. It may actually turn into real yarn that I can use.

Tuesday and Wednesday were largely taken up by the joint gardening project my next-door neighbor, Diane, and I took on. There is a 10' swath of parkway that runs between the street and the sidewalks in front of our houses, and it was in sad, sad shape. She had straggly grass on her part, and I had nothin' but dirt on mine. (I had a landscaper put in vinca a few years ago and it all died. All of it. Since then, nothing grew, not even weeds.) We have a few challenges that make it tough to grow things. It is mostly shady (big trees and shadows from the buildings block a lot of the sun, and big trees have big roots), and our neighborhood is chock full of dogs that just gotta go. Still, we were determined. After studying the sun's movement throughout the day and having a landscaper turn and amened the soil, Diane and I went to work. We purchased a variety of plants that featured interesting leaf shapes and colors, made two trips to a stone supplier for limestone and granite rocks, stopped at Home Depot, Lowe's, and a local garden center more times than I can remember, and we got dirty. We went for an informal, woodland vibe, and I think we did pretty well.

Many of the plants will eventually have blooms or the leaves will change colors with the seasons, so we're excited to see how it goes. Hard to believe, but there is a half-ton (seriously...1000 pounds) of stone in there that we hand-picked, loaded onto wagons, pulled to the scale, loaded into her car, unloaded from the car, and placed and replaced in the garden. And now we are tired. And sore. And happy that we did it.

Ooooh, and look at the "skull" rock that I found. I'm sending this pic to Skull-a-Day.

The husband and I also got a surprise invite to a Cubs game this week. We're not big sports fans (that's an understatement), but it was great people watching which made for a fun evening.

Wherein I Ask for Bad Picture Forgiveness

I thought I'd post while I'm sitting here waiting for my Starbucks delivery. (What?! Your Starbucks doesn't offer delivery? Mine doesn't either, actually, but the husband will be bringing my Venti Decaf Nonfat Extra Dry Cappuccino with Three Splendas shortly, I expect.)

In the fine tradition of poorly lit, badly focused mirror pics, I present Chickami #1 and Chickami #3. (You've already seen Chickami #2, the Chococami.)

I love this pattern because of its wearability. (It's a vest! It's a camisole! It's a dessert topping! The Chickam-o-matic!) The rows and rows of stockinette can drive one to distraction (especially when you have to knit entire sections over again), but the end product is worth it.

As mentioned in a previous post, there were a few stitches making me cranky.

They just were off, and no amount of fiddling was helping, so I ran lifelines with the intent of cutting out the offending section and grafting the halves together. It occurred to me that the grafted row might end up bugging me, too, and that's a lot of kitchenering for what could be a not-great result. I bit the bullet and ended up cutting and re knitting from the top lifeline down. Stitches look the same no matter what direction they're knit in, so it didn't matter that I was knitting down on a garment originally knit up. In the end, I think it was the better--though more time consuming--choice.

So, the inventory is:

#1 (Purple) Skinny strap, fitted version

#2 (Brown, aka Chococami) Wide strap, no shaping, pucker stitch from the Chocolate pattern on the cover of the current Verena

#3 (Sedona Red, aka CSI: Chickami (my last post explains the name)) Wide strap, no shaping, eyelet pattern from ChicKnits Sitcom Chic

I don't think I'm done yet, but I'm not sure what the variation will be for the next one. I've got loads and loads of Cotton Fleece, and I also have some Elann Sonata Print that would be nice for a variegated version. Plus, I am within an hour or so of finishing the Green Gable, and a few hours more to finish my Cardigan with Leaf Ties. (I come out of the gate fast, but I am not good in the home stretch.)

In other domestic news, this week I received an order of heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo.

Sorry about the pic being sideways. It is correctly oriented in my computer, but every time I upload it to Blogger, it rotates and I just can't fix it. Just tilt your head to the right and please forgive me. Aren't they pretty, though? Those Vaqueros look just like little cows! They are more expensive than grocery store beans, to be sure, but the varieties are so cool. Two days ago I made a crockpot of Flageolets with sauteed bacon, onion, green pepper, bay leaves, red pepper flakes and rosemary. YUM. Yesterday I did Yellow Eye Beans (they look just like Black-Eyed Peas, only gold) with sauteed bulk hot Italian Sausage from our local farmers' market, onions, bay leaves, red pepper, basil, thyme and parsley. Today I have Cranberry Beans in the crockpot with some onions, garlic, and bay leaves. When they are cooked to the right point, I intend to use them to make baked beans. I'm on a big legume kick right now. Earlier in the week I made red lentils with onion, garlic, rosemary, a cup or so of leftover Pinot Noir, and vegetable broth. I served them over brown rice. I loved them (the red wine and rosemary tasted so...French), but the husband didn't like the texture of the lentils. C'est dommage.

I'm a big fan of using the crockpot in summer. Even though many recipes have a distinctly fall/winter feel about them, the crockpot doesn't heat up the kitchen. (Of course, after sweltering last week, we are now in the low 70s, so heat in the kitchen isn't really an issue. I'm sure it will get hot again just and my neighbor and I are scheduling our joint gardening project in front of our two houses.)

Some of my weakling tomato plants are slowly coming around. About half bit the dust after transplanting. Worm castings from the worm bin would have helped, but my little flock (herd? gaggle? troupe? team?) of worms had just arrived, and they hadn't yet started producing. I filled in with some heirloom varieties from garden centers and the farmers' market, so I should still get some decent ones. I hope they don't all get ripe when I am in Portland for Sock Summit.

The Fixer

So Saturday night, the husband and I were out to dinner when all of a sudden I see these little dots of light across the room. Turns out that one of the patrons had on a pair of glasses not unlike these to read the menu. I don't know about you, but I have been knitting in bed quite a bit lately, and the lighting in our bedroom is not good at all. The bedside lamps are both to dim and too short to help much. I do have an LED book light, but there is nowhere to clip it when I knit. One of the SWAG items for Sock Summit is a different kind of clip-on light which, for $6.00 is cheap enough to give a try. My friend Liz has an over-the-ear version not unlike this one. When camping at fiber festivals, I sometimes knit in my tent wearing my headlamp, but then I end up with a big strap-mark on my forehead. (Since I camp alone, no one will see it, so I'm not sure why I care.) I suppose instead of gadget hunting, I should just buy taller, bright bedside lamps and dispense with the problem once and for all, right?

It seems like the knitting I've been doing for the past two days is all about fixing, so I'm not really getting ahead of the game.

I decided I could not live with the funky stitches on the Chickami, so I ran lifelines. After picking and ripping, I determined that grafting was not necessarily going to make me happy, either, since the single row of grafted stitches was likely to be at a slightly different gauge, and when you are working in a solid color mostly cotton yarn, it's pretty visible. So, I've decided to put it back on the needles and knit down from the upper lifeline using the yarn from the bottom section. Let's hope that works.

Yesterday, when picking up my nearly finished Green Gable, I noticed one wonky little stitch just under the lace panel. Since I'd already bound off the bottom, I had to undo the edge and ladder back to fix the splitty stitch. (I'd missed two plies of the Cotton Fleece, and the stitch was all scrawny as a result. It bugged me to no end.) That bit of surgery was actually a pretty quick fix, and all I have left is the second sleeve cap.

Yesterday I also cast on for Orion's Sock. This was a case of "I should have listened to myself." The pattern is toe-up, and calls for a cast-on of 28 stitches, 14 on each needle. I thought to myself, "Hmmm...when working cuff-down, I usually decrease to 16 or 20 stitches, 8 or 10 on each needle. This seems like a shallow, wide toe." Guess what...it was. Since I'd only knit one pair toe up before, I didn't question the pattern, at least not enough to change things from the outset. I was in denial for a few inches of toe and foot, then took an inevitable trip to the frog pond. I think I'm going to cast on again tonight and follow my own plan until I get to the correct number of stitches around.

The question of whether one is a process or product knitter comes up a lot. I've come to realize that for me, I can't have a product I'm happy with unless I complete the process to my own satisfaction. Which reminds me, there was something about the bind off on the Green Gable that was a little off...

Crime Scene Cleanup

So, I'm on a roll with these Chickamis. I just finished number three, and she's a-blockin'. (There may be some emergency surgery later, however. I'm not happy with a few stitches on the front. Depending on how it looks, I may run two lifelines, surgically remove the offending rows and graft the sucker back together. Otherwise, my obsessive mind will never let me forget that those stitches don't look quite right to me.) Pics of all stages will follow if that happens. I finished last night and decided that a thorough soaking might help to even things out, so I put the tank in for a good soak with some Kookaburra Wool Wash (love that smell!), and went to bed. This morning, it looked like my top had been used for major crime scene cleanup. I saved a glassful of the soaking water to show you. There is so much dye that you cannot see through the glass--it is practically opaque. You can't tell here, but it is exactly the deep red color of blood:

The label on a skein of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece warns of color migration, but this is color exodus. I won't know until it dries, but the color of the garment seems not to be significantly different. I've noticed runoff with my other Cotton Fleece projects, but this was beyond the pale. It's a warning to not use Cotton Fleece for multi-colored projects, to be sure. (I'd thought about a striped tank using leftover bits and skeins, but that is officially off the table after this!) It also means that if I do perform surgery, I will pre-wash the yarn I use for it so that it exhausts some of its color, too. (FYI, the colorway is Sedona Red, which is a rusty red.)

I was down in the Craft Dungeon on Friday playing with more yarn and dye. I almost always listen to NPR, and they had some of the more interesting commentary about Michael Jackson. Since we are so close to Gary, IN, the local news has been out of control. Actually, all the news has been. I watched CBS Friday night, and Katie Couric paused for--no joking--maybe 4 minutes to report on something other than the death of Michael Jackson. As someone who came of age in the 70s and 80s, he was ever-present. I loved the Jackson 5 cartoon when I was a kid. I remember watching the Motown 25th Anniversary special and being amazed. My senior year, I was in something called AV Homeroom; it meant that we "produced" our morning TV show, but more importantly, we got to go to the AV room during study hall and watch MTV. Seriously. 1983-84-era MTV in instead of actual study hall? Clearly, a first-rate education was had. I knew every video in MTV's rotation by heart, including his. I must say, however, that the bizarre behavior, the disfiguring plastic surgery, and the legal issues turned me off to him. I do still love some of the old Jackson 5 hits (especially The Love You Save and ABC), although it's sad to think that whatever was happening to him then caused much of the strangeness in his later life.

I'm getting very excited about Sock Summit. I just picked my colors for the Orion Sock. I'm going to use Oregon Red Clover Honey and Crabby McHappyPants. I think the ORCH--which I love, love, love for its subtle shading and sophistication--will be a good foil for the brightymcbrightington-ness off CMcHP. Don't know if I'll get them done for SS, what with the four bazillion Chickamis and other warm-weather tops I still plan to make this summer. (I know some folks are taking things quite seriously and concocting sock-y costumes of sorts for the Sock Hop. I'm not likely to be one of them.) I need to get cracking on my homework for Meg Swansen's class, too. Plus, I'm looking forward to some quality time in Portland with the husband, who has been working way too much lately.

Because I know that the second-best way to show off your knits is to take blurry, not well-lit, pictures of yourself in a mirror, here is a Chococami action shot:

We are in the midst of another thunder and lightning storm--best time to be on a computer, right? Clearly my plans to go to Home Depot to shop for perennials are going to be scrapped in favor of building an ark, it is raining that hard. (Tough to build that ark without going to Home Depot, first, though, not coming from survivalist background.) It's also hailing big, bouncy pieces of ice which I always find a bit freaky. There are police and fire sirens all around (not uncommon when you live in the city, even if it is a generally calm neighborhood), which adds to the apocalyptic vibe. Oddly, the Weather Pixie down there on the left of the screen is wearing a sundress that shows a lot of leg and is calmly holding her umbrella, seemingly enjoying the deluge. Any Weather Pixie in her right mind would have taken cover, as her little black cat companion has already done. (I worry about the Weather Pixie; I think she has been behaving a little strangely of late.)

There is a good chance I may finish my Green Gable today. Yesterday I had an all-out panic because I had reached the end of a skein and couldn't find the rest of the yarn. I knew I had bought enough, but it was nowhere to be found. I literally had one inch to go on the body, then a short stretch on each arm to finish. After looking everywhere, I got myself worked into a state that necessitated that I either have to find more yarn or rip the whole thing out. I went online to check the eBay seller I got it from, and it turns out she had a 50% off sale on Cotton Fleece--and Cascade 220, too. She didn't have the color I needed, but, um, well, she had a few others. Whoops. (Her shipping is reasonable, too, just USPS Priority Mail with no extra fees.) Finally, last night around midnight, I went down to the Craft Dungeon to look again. After rifling through bins I had--ahem--carefully organized last week, I found it sitting on my work table, in plain sight. (Well, it was in a grocery bag, so it wasn't that obvious.)

Speaking of which I need to go check the Craft Dungeon. We have not had water issues in this house (at least not any that weren't directly linked to a failing pipe or faucet or toilet), but we did have a backup in the basement of our former condo, which is just a block away. I hope I never have to go through that again. Knock wood, cross fingers, turn around three times and spit, etc.

My Feet Have Wings

I am an admitted enthusiast. I get on a kick with something and I just can't stop. (Some might call it compulsivity.) Lately (for a few years, actually), I've been quite enthusiastic about Fluevog shoes. I suppose I'm a collector, of sorts. Some other knitbloggers are, too (hello Marisol!), which is confirmed by the presence of a Fluevog group on Ravelry. (Okay, there are groups for almost everything on Ravelry, so it's really no wonder.) On Sunday I was swinging through the listings on eBay and happened upon a pair that called to me. (I know, used shoes--eeeew---but this pair could not have been worn more than once or twice given the condition they are in, and they were a sweet deal.) I think they look pretty fun with a pair of Monkeys:

I must note that these got to me from Kissimmee, FL in one day, USPS Priority Mail. And, my mailman--who has been hailed here as the nicest mailman ever--thanked me for getting a package! The guy really seems to like his job, even if things are not so great at the Postal Service these days. Mail volume is down (which, from an environmental standpoint is a good thing), and they reported a huge loss last quarter. They're talking about cutting Saturday delivery, and I think a lot of people are concerned about their jobs. (Some of the people who work at my local post office don't seemed to be concerned about their jobs--or much of anything for that matter, but that's another story. I try to avoid the actual post office as much as I can.) All-in-all, when the mail works, it's a pretty great deal.

Anyway, I digress...they are from the same Angel "family" of shoes as these boots that I wore last night when I was slogging around in the rain downtown:

My other 'Vogs are mostly of the 3" heel variety, but I'm kinda feeling the London-y, Punk-era vibe of these right now. Plus, it's still cold here in Chicago, so closed shoes with socks feel pretty good.

Because I know that bathtub drying racks are the BEST, most flattering places to photograph knits, here are some pics of the Chococami:

It was not getting dry on the blocking mat (what with all the moisture in the air and no airflow through the mat), so onto the rack it went. The patterned stitches are starting to "pooch" more as the water evaporates, so maybe it will be okay after all.

Yesterday's Craft Dungeon experiment was pretty cool. I have a veritable smorgasbord of yarn samples, and I wanted to see how they each took color. I took my mini skeins, "labeled" them with a semi-elaborate system of cotton ties, each with a different number of knots corresponding to my list of samples, weighed them, and calculated the depth of shade I was going for. Then they all went into the hot tub together. It was so interesting to see how the characteristics of each yarn changed (undyed yarn looks very different than dyed yarn which "blooms"), and how each fiber took up the color differently. Here are just a few of the mini-skeins strewn across my desk:

If only high school chemistry had been this much fun!

The Hurrier I Go The Behinder I Get

The title is one of those Pennsylvania Dutch phrases that you see on kitschy trivets in tourist traps in PA Dutch/Amish Country (Lancaster, PA, and surrounding areas.) It's not something I've ever heard any of my Dutch relatives say, but it seemed to apply because projects are being completed, but photos are lagging seriously behind. For example, here is a (kind of blurry) pic of the cowl described in the last post:

Today I wove in ends and soaked my Chococami. It is a mash up of a Chickami and the Chocolate pattern on the cover of the latest Verena that I worked up in Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Truffle. All seemed to go well until I dunked it, and then the lovely puckery part (the element that attracted me to the design in the first place) kind of...deflated. It flattened right out. I'll have to see what happens when it's dry. It might still be fine, just different than originally intended.

While Chococami was soaking, I cast on for the Classic Elite Sprout Center Detail Tank. (Is that not the longest name for a tank top ever?!) I'm using some Araucania Nature Cotton picked up on the cheap from Webs. (I found out that an old friend that I recently reconnected with is moving to Northampton. Sounds like a Webs pilgrimage--I mean a visit with my friend--may be in my future!) It's going quickly which is good because bulky cotton is not the most fun to knit with, though it is producing a nice fabric. I'm also planning to make the Sprout Tee in the same yarn before this summer top mania I seem to be in passes.

I've got two other projects on needles right now, both in Cotton Fleece. I'm making my second Green Gable, this time in a bright blue. I made my first one during the time of the original Green Gable zeitgeist, and it was always too big. I tried to shrink it a bit in the wash, and from that point on it fuzzed like a milkweed pod. Eventually, it got thrifted. I'm experimenting with sizing on this one, and I hope I get it right. I'm also making the Leaf Tie Cardigan by Stephanie Japel.

WWKIP Day was damp, but there was a good turnout anyway. It was originally slated for Millennium Park, but it moved to the Cultural Center because of the rain. (If you are ever in Chicago and haven't already done so, you must visit Preston Bradley Hall in the Cultural Center to see the Tiffany Dome, and then pop over to Macy's (formerly Marshall Field's) to see the Tiffany Dome there, too. Gorgeous.) Hop over to Lynnette's post for the touching story about the pianist bound for Iraq who gave an impromptu mini-concert for a room full of knitters.

Cowl Weather

It is cold here. I'm actually contemplating firing up the boiler again, it's that cold. And damp. And gray. Bleh. It's so cold that I put down my (clearly anticipatory) warm weather knitting and made a cowl yesterday. Chicago weather, however, is a cruel, cruel mistress, and she will be cranking up the heat at some point, and you can bet that I'll complain about that, too!


Speaking of the cowl, the Chickadee is one I've wanted to make for some time. I used some of the Malabrigo that I dyed recently, and it is so delish. The pattern is a keeper and has started wheels turning for new ways to use linen stitch. It is a bit time consuming, and because the fabric doesn't have a ton of stretch, it has limitations. However, I love how it can make a yarn, especially one that might have a tendency to pool, do something really fabulous.

On Friday, I posted that I'd decided (somewhat reluctantly) to go to my 25th high school reunion. One of the people I looked forward to seeing was my friend, Bill. We were close all through high school. We hung out, talked on the phone, confided in one another about our respective relationships, took a memorable trip to the Jersey Shore, and kept in touch for a while after graduation. I saw him at our 10-year reunion where we caught up and agreed we should stay in contact, although we didn't because he was in PA and I was in IL, and that's how things often go. This week, I found out that on Friday, the same day I decided to go to the reunion, Bill passed away. I'm going to miss seeing him, giving him a hug, and saying, "We really should stay in touch," even if we weren't actually going to do it.

Knot Again

With time quickly running out, I set aside last night to knit my Barn Raising Square for the blankets that will be raffled/sold at Sock Summit to benefit Knitters Without Borders. I've got a big bag full of fingering weight odds and ends, so I found a small ball that I liked and started knitting. Not long into the process, I hit a knot. Taking it as an opportunity, I changed colors. Then I hit a knot in that yarn, so I went back to the original color. Then, I hit another knot, so for the heck of it, I changed color again. This little square had more ends to weave in than a fair isle sweater! FYI, the blue/gray color is Piece of Beauty BFL in "Glacier" (love, love, love her colorways and base yarn), the pink/light green/baby blue is My Small Wonders in "Olivia's Favorite" (bought to make my niece, Olivia, a pair of socks), and the dark gray with neon flecks is some yarn I dyed in a class at Michigan Fiber Festival a few years back. (The knots, by the way, may have been my doing, not the yarn makers'. I think I combined multiple bits and bobs at one point. Why I did that, I'll never know.)

Here's another goody from the Craft Dungeon. It reminds me of Day Lilies and Oriental Lilies, so I'm calling it Lily Smashup. (Sorry the pic is fuzzy. After owning my camera for years, I finally found the macro settings and then took a cruddy pic anyway.)The color combo is kinda weird, but I like it. It's a pretty thin fingering weight, and there is a lot of it--more than 1300 yds.--so I may make some kind of shawl-y, wrap-y thing with it.

So, after a year of saying I wasn't going to my *significant number* high school reunion, today I found out that an old friend is coming all the way from Estonia to attend. Until a few weeks ago, it had been more than a decade since we'd been in touch. (Ah, the magic of Faceb00k.) We had managed to stay in contact for about 10 years after high school, which is kind of amazing since he was back at home in Sweden (he was a foreign exchange student), and we'd had one of those nasty high school breakups near the end of the year. (I broke up with him (with good reason), returned my prom dress, bought a different dress and then went to the prom with a different guy.) Despite bad feelings on both sides, we managed to patch together a pretty decent friendship before he left the country. (Even thinking about high school feels so, um, high school.) So anyway, I think I'd better suck it up (and suck it in) and go to the reunion. I told my husband that I would eat only iceberg lettuce from now until August 21. I've seen recent pics of some girls from my class, and they look good, some even better than they did back then. The guys...not so much. The whole thing gives me anxiety. High School Reunion, brought to you by the letter X, because without it, you couldn't have Xanax or Spanx, and you're going to need both.

Another Day in the Dungeon

Day two of stash reorganization. I'm almost done, though there a few odds and ends on the first floor that need to migrate back toward their friends downstairs. While I was arranging things, a few more skeins cooked up in the dyepot and are now dripping away, awaiting their turn to be re skeined.

So, here are a few pics of yarns dyed earlier in the week. I'm calling this one Greens n Roses:

Here are the three that were together in the dyepot hot tub:

I find it fascinating how different they all are. The worsted weight (middle pic) took up the most color and displayed more blended colors, especially greens. The fingering weight (top) came out pretty much as I'd hoped it would. And the Malabrigo (bottom) is the least intense. It's almost Martha Stewart-y in its shading.

Yesterday I was concentrating on blues and greens and blues, fuchsias, and purples. They're still drying. Today, I experimented with green, purple, blue, and orange. I'm pretty pleased with the results, though they are not colors I'd normally put together. Pics to come.

I'm about to run out to the farmers' market that is supposed to be set up in my neighborhood. Last week it wasn't, so we'll have to see. When I get back home I may do some handpainting now that my work table is cleared off.

Notes from The Craft Dungeon

I started out the day with a plan to reorganize the sock yarn stash. (Well, the part of the sock yarn stash that isn't BMFA, because that's all set, kept in its own special bins.) It got overwhelming very quickly, which is an indication that perhaps I have...wait for it...too much sock yarn. Eventually the feeling passed, and I actually decided to tackle the whole stash. It's a good idea to go through it now and again, not only to check on its health and well-being, but to decide if perhaps I have grown apart from some of it. Because I catalog on Ravelry, I rarely have those "I had no idea I had that" moments. I did, however, have some "I'm not sure I love you anymore" moments, so look for some bargains coming soon to my stash page.

While stash tossing, I also simultaneously continued to experiment with kettle dyeing. Kettle dyeing is much less predictable than handpainting, I've discovered, especially when you use more than three dye solutions or solutions with unpredictable blending results. But mama, that's where the fun is. (Sorry, I may have just planted an earworm.) One experiment was to put three different yarn bases in the same batch. It was amazing to see how the dye take-up was different for each base. Pictures coming soon!

The other night I decided to finally do some sewing, and I started playing around with a bunch of(intentionally) felted sweaters. I got this crazy idea to make a sock shaped bag using the felted material. (Yeah, I own that I had Sock Summit Fever.) So, it's late, and the husband comes down to the craft dungeon to find out what I'm doing. I show him the sock bag and he tells me that I "officially have too much time on my hands."

Sadly, I must report that it is not going to be a good year for the tomatoes. Many of my starts did not do well when they were transplanted to the garden. The weather has been weird here, with big, booming thunderstorms and cold fronts assaulting them. They were all heirloom seedlings, and I just think that some of them aren't as hale and hearty as the more common varieties. Some may hang on, but I'm going to have to buy some replacement plants (horrors!)

Deadline Approaching

For those who have read about the contest being hosted here on this very blog, one of the projects I mentioned is closing in on its deadline. Squares for the Barn Raising Quilt are due June 9. I need to get mine done! (Remember, the prizes will be good!!! I know for sure that some STR will be involved.) I'll be highlighting some additional charity knitting opportunities in upcoming posts.

I'm getting some fun knitting done, but pics are scarce. I am currently wearing my Chickami, but since winter doesn't always leave these parts until June, I might be better off wearing my Bzzz Queen of Bees Hat. It's chilly here. (Sometimes I get a kick out of what the Weather Pixie is wearing down there in the lower left corner of the blog. I love that she changes her clothes with changes in temps--and that she sometimes is accompanied by a black cat--but one of her outfits looks like full-on S&M gear. Weird and funny.)

I am currently listening to the audiobook Son of a Witch, the follow-up to Wicked, one of my favorite books. I love the Wizard of Oz to the point of distraction, and the backstory that Gregory Maguire created is brilliant. (Definitely not a read for the kiddos, though. The musical left a lot of the adult content out.) There have been a number of references to spinning, and I am always amused by that.

Speaking of spinning, we did have a few warm days recently, just perfect for me and the cats to spend the afternoon on the balcony with the spinning wheel. (I have a workshop in a month that requires sharper skills than I currently have, so I am on a bit of a mission.) Occasionally, keeping my older cat, Pitch, away from the pre-drafted roving becomes a battle of wills, but we usually work it out. I think he likes the smell of alpaca because he once appropriated an alpaca shawl. The cat survived, but the shawl suffered permanent injury.

Off to knit a Barn Raising square!

A Lesson in Dyeing

I just got home from a tour of the Lorna's Laces studio which is just a few minutes from my house. (Yes, there were bargain basement-priced acquisitions!) It was very interesting to learn a little bit about Beth's approach and technique in comparison to what I learned from Tina at Sock Camp. There were a lot of differences, actually. Vinegar or no vinegar. Dish soap or no dish soap. Pre-soak or not.

The more I learn about dyeing from what I've been reading, seeing, and through first-hand experimentation, the more I realize that, aside from a few important details like making sure the dye is set by heating to a proper temperature for an appropriate amount of time, the rest is open to interpretation. Different things are going to work for different dyers and different yarn bases. There is a bit of magic involved, however. (Some may call it chemistry, but I prefer magic.)

I've been dyeing down in the craft dungeon for a while, and some good things have come out of the dyepot. There was the recent success I had by overdyeing Blue Moon Twisted in Falcon's Eye using various blues, greens, gray, and purple:

The other day, I decided I wanted to make the Bzzz Hat for Queen of Bees. After searching for the right colorway, I decided to make my own using some natural Malabrigo-like yarn I had stashed. I used two different golden-y yellow dye solutions to get this result, which I have named Honey Butter:

I'm on a bit of a tear at the moment, and I have a wildly unrealistic list of projects I'd like to accomplish. There are a bunch of warm weather items that I'd like to make before the snows set in again. This week I cast on my friend Bonne Marie's Chickami pattern. It would be finished if I hadn't done something so entirely stupid, not once, but twice. I missed a paragraph and leaped ahead in the pattern. Each time I made a different error because I skipped a different paragraph. Ugh. I'm using Cotton Fleece (which I had planned to use for a number of summer projects), and I am realizing that it is contributing to some pain in my right elbow and hand. Looks like I am going to have to alternate projects with some bouncier fibers. It's a good thing that my list of service projects, most of which will be wool, is as long as my list of personal projects, so I'll be able to switch back and forth.

My Second Favorite Man From New Jersey* **

*post not knitting related at all
** I married a man from NJ

I am WAY to young to have a bucket list (*ahem*), but when I do have a bucket list, I will be able to cross off that I have seen Springsteen do Jungleland live. Everything else from here on out is gravy. (I was at the concert at the United Center last night. I was the one in front of the four drunk girls who paid over $100 a ticket (plus a bazillion $8 beers) to scream to each other and take pics of themselves with cellphones through the whole show. They. never. stopped. yelling. Does the fact that I just complained about screaming girls mean that I am old enough for a bucket list? Nah...)

I just went back through old set lists from shows I have been to (I love you, Internet, where things live on forever!) and have started an Excel spreadsheet of the songs I have heard at which concerts. It's the fangirl version of stashing on Ravelry, I guess. (Looked, I slipped in some knitting content!)

Do-Gooder (There will be prizes.)

My first words when I woke this morning were, "Today is Maryland Sheep and Wool, and I wish I were there." I hope those of you who are there are having or had (if you're reading this later) a wonderful time. I'm only the tiniest bit jealous!

To piggyback on my post about the square I did for Afghans for Afghans, I have decided what my next charity projects will be. Knitters for Obama (Ravelry Group) currently has two service projects in motion. The first is to provide hats, gloves, scarves, etc. for LGBT youth living on the streets, and the second is providing stuffed toys for children in foster care in Chicago and throughout Illinois. In addition, Melanie Falick has a post on her blog about Barn Raising Quilt Squares (from Larissa Brown's Knitalong book) that will be assembled into blankets to be auctioned or raffled at Sock Summit. So, it looks like I have some knitting to do!

Okay, remember when I said that there would be challenges that entailed prizes? Well, here is the first one...I challenge you to a knit/crochet service project-off. (Think of it as a calorie-free bake-off with yarn.)

• The charity is of your choosing, but it must be a charitable organization or cause. Sorry, gift knitting doesn't count for this challenge.
• The project must be new, not one you have already completed or that you currently have on the needles/hook. My intention is to get more projects going.
• Multiple items will be counted separately. So, for each hat, toy, blanket square, etc., you make, your name will go into the drawing. (Baby/kids socks/booties count as one item; adult socks will count as two. Baby blankets and sleeved garments will also count as two.)
• You have until July 4 to make your item(s). (It's an easy date to remember.)
• Email me with your name, Rav name (if you have one), the name of the charity, description(s)the item(s) you made, and links to any pics you post on Ravelry or your own blog. (Please do not attach any picture files to your email.) You can email me at PurlsBeforeWine(at)gmail(dot)c(0)m or PM me on Ravelry at PurlsBeforeWine. No need to wait until July; go ahead and send me the info as you finish your project(s). Please title your message "Do-Gooder" so I don't miss it!
• I promise that the prizes will be really, really good. Really. One prize will be drawn at random, and another will be awarded for an entry that moves me, makes me laugh, that I really, really love, or some other subjective criteria. (There will be some objectivity--it won't just be because I know you. I might know you, but that won't be why.)

I know my readership isn't huge, but I would love for you to help spread the word, not for my sake, but for the purpose of generating some positive movement. Most of us are so very fortunate to live in the circumstances we do, to have the time and funds to knit/crochet (even if it isn't always with the luxury fibers we'd desire), to have roofs over our heads (even if they sometimes leak when it rains alot), to sleep in clean beds (when the cats don't have hairball issues in the middle of the night--there's an ugly little snapshot into my world right now), to have a warm meal (when we don't forget to turn the crockpot on *headsmack*), and so on. No one's life is perfect (actually, I think Hugh Jackman's wife's life looks pretty close to perfect from where I sit, but maybe he leaves the toilet seat up or snacks on raw garlic something equally annoying), but a lot of us have it pretty good. Let's do something to make someone else's day a bit better. Are you in?

Lucky...Squared

I am pretty lucky. I have lots of time to knit, more yarn than I could knit in my lifetime, and I get to take lots of wonderful fiber-related classes and go on fun, fabulous fiber-y trips. Life--as related to my favorite pastime/hobby/addiction--is pretty great. In recognition of that, I have been making a concerted effort to direct some of my energy into projects for the benefit of others. So, when a thread on Ravelry popped up to make squares for an Afghans for Afghans project in memory of Kay's husband (she of Mason-Dixon fame), I threw my hat in the ring, so to speak. One evening of podcasts (some knitting-related and various NPR offerings) plus a skein of stashed Kureyon and I have my 10"x10" square. I hope it brings comfort to the family receiving the blanket and Kay's family, as well.

I'm curious...what are your favorite knitting charities? And stay tuned for a couple of knitting challenges; there will be prizes.

And...Jazz Hands

Next year, Sock Camp is going to be awash in Shawl That Jazz(es).

Earth Day

Tomatoes grown organically in my backyard last summer.

This year I am commemorating Earth Day by:

• walking to the pet store to buy natural cat food--taking my own shopping bag, of course.
• waiting eagerly for my new worm bin to arrive.
• anticipating the day I can safely transfer my vegetable seed starts into my garden.
• having taken part in a park clean-up on Saturday.
• making a donation to the America's Wetland Foundation.

I would love to make some grand gestures like putting solar panels on my roof, installing an on-demand hot water system, or planting a roof garden, but those things may be impractical, at least for now. In the meantime, I try to do what I can to preserve our resources by recycling, installing fluorescent bulbs where it makes sense to do so, and using a front-loading washing machine. I think this will be the year we finally replace our drafty, dirty, inefficient windows with more energy-saving versions, so by the time winter rolls back around (though I'm not entirely sure it has actually left as the weather people were calling for snow last night), we might save a bit on heating.

I was planning to go see Earth which was opening in theaters today, but I heard the directors on Fresh Air this morning, and I got weepy just hearing them describe one poor little elephant's fate. That one may have to wait.

Channeling My Inner Pioneer Woman

There was more fleece picking today. I felt like Laura Ingalls Wilder with an iPod and SPF 45. Between the VM* and the BM**, sheep are dirty little devils. I also attempted washing some of the picked locks. After researching various methods, I decided to try cleaning the wool by laying it into the colander part of a salad spinner. (In case you're ever over for dinner, this is a spinner just for fiber-y pursuits, so no worries about wool in the watercress.) I filled the bowl with very hot tap water (ours is turned up pretty high) and dish soap, and then gently lowered the colander of locks into the water. After just a few minutes, it was remarkable just how much lanolin and other muck dissolved. (The first dunking also produced an odor that is not how you want your kitchen to smell--ever.) I would then lift out the colander, dump the water into a bucket (lanolin + other ick + my home's 100-year-old plumbing = a potential plumber visit, so the back yard is now fragranced with eau de Bridget), and repeat until the water rinsed clear and the wool smelled more like wet yarn and less like wet barnyard. The locks are currently drying on a sweater rack in the bathroom downstairs. I can't wait to see what they look like when they're dry.

Tomorrow morning, I'll be cleaning up a city park in celebration of Earth Day and our President. (Why is it that I will do that, but I can't stand dusting my own living room?) Hopefully I'll also have both a few hours of good sun and the energy to continue working on the fleece in the afternoon.

In other matters, as if Ravelry wasn't enough, I have fallen victim to the timesuck that is Faceb00k. My downfall comes as a result of an impending high school reunion, and a significant one at that. (That doesn't mean that I'm actually going.) One thing led to another, and all of a sudden, hours are flying by looking at who has friended whom. Halfpint never had these kind of distractions. (OMG. I just G00gled "Laura Ingalls Wilder half pint" out of curiosity and discovered that she Tw1tters. Srsly. WTF.)

*vegetative matter
**Yes, that BM. No, I'm not going to spell it out.

Supercrafty

It was perfectly lovely here in Chicago, so I took advantage of the warm temps and lack of a breeze to set up a table in the backyard so that I could skirt and pick the fleece I received from my sheep. Bridget is a Coopworth that two of my friends adopted for me for Christmas last year, and she was recently shorn and her fleece was shipped to me. The somewhat smelly box had been languishing for a couple of weeks while I decided what to do with it. After some initial research, it looked like the best course of action was for me to attempt the first steps of processing myself, and then send it out to be finished. I have never had a raw fleece before, so this is an adventure--a dirty, stinky adventure. I'm not even halfway through picking it, and I was at it for over 2 hours. (Not knowing what I am doing has a good deal to do with that.) I am fairly certain that I am either discarding too much or too little.

(I took this picture after about 15 minutes of picking; rest assured I did have more finished than that little pile in the corner!)

After I got tired of picking poo and other icky things out of greasy wool, I decided to dye some yarn for Samro's Shawl That Jazz. (Sam was a fellow Sock Camper, and her pattern just skyrocketed to fame because a certain well-known knitter from Toronto just made one and blogged about it.) I bought the BMFA Falcon's Eye Twisted from a Raveler's stash at a pretty good price with the plan that I would alter the color once it arrived. Here it is in its original form:

and here it is after I finished with it:

Anyone interested in gardening out there? My friend is going to be on Martha Stewart tomorrow! Jerry (who is married to one of my dearest friends, Amy) is a landscaper with a really great sense of aesthetics. It's no wonder that he's getting this terrific opportunity--he's incredibly talented. The segments were filmed earlier in the week (Amy says taping went really well), and they will be on tomorrow (Friday.)

Camp Condensed

Triple Eagle

By now, many of you have read others' accounts of BMFA's Sock Camp, and what you have read is true: it was a really, really good time. All of the changes that were made since last year (new venue, less people, more free time to knit, spin, walk, relax, etc., yoga classes taught by Nathania Apple) all added to the experience. The hotel staff was great, the food was really wonderful, and the rooms came complete with giant jacuzzi tubs and gas fireplaces. It was heaven with yarn and pointy sticks.

Port Ludlow Resort

All of the classes were fab. JC Briar offered a cast off class, Stephanie, aka The Yarn Harlot, taught a class that used production knitting techniques to improve speed, Cat Bordhi introduced a brand new, super-secret sock architecture which will be in her upcoming book, and Tina Newton taught a dyeing class. Yep, that's right, dyeing with Tina Newton, The Depraved Dyer. (Tina also gave a "behind the scenes" slide show of BMFA as well as Oregon Coast pics she uses as inspiration to create colorways. It was truly a highlight of the week for me.)

My Three Skeins from Dyeing Class

This year's camp homework was to make a sea creature, with bonus points given for crabs, since this year's mascot was a crab. I made these Peekytoe Pedicure/Yoga Socks:

One of my favorite parts of camp was that I felt like I'd had a chance to meet and have at least a brief conversation with almost everyone. A slide show featuring everyone's pictures, complete with knitting secrets that we "confessed" on paper the first night, was a fitting, funny, bittersweet closure for the event. My secret:

"I would knit a hell of a lot faster if I didn't stop to admire my work at the end of every single row. I am a vain knitter."