Sunday, April 29, 2007

I have nothing real exciting to say today. I finished my pants and a pair of sock, then spun a whole bag of that nasty scratchy stuff I mentioned in a previous post and now I am just tired. It has to be the weather. This is the first Fat Tire Festival weekend that it hasn't rained in I don't know how many years, at least 6 years that I am sure of. Instead it has been in the 80's!!! It isn't supposed to get into the 80 degree range until late May. It is TOO HOT!!!! I like cool weather, it allows for knitting. When it gets hot and the cooler isn't hooked up yet it is too difficult to think about wool socks, wool sweaters, etc. for me anyway.

It's time to break out the silk, hemp, cotton, linen!!! It's time to knit and crochet bikini's, lacey shawls, tiny t-shirts, etc. YEA!!!! A whole new set of fun! By the way for those of you who are fans of the "White Lies" lingerie there will be a book out in June full of her designs. I already pre-ordered my copy.

Happy Knitting

Saturday, April 21, 2007

THE PANTS ARE COMPLETE!!!


LOOK! LOOK! LOOK!, My pants are done. Aren't they wonderful? Aren't they great? Yes, yes they are soft, warm, comfy, and amazing all in one. I feel to use the words of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, "Knitting is a magic trick.... Look! Look at this! It's yarn! This...is what I have now...nothing like yarn! You can't wear YARN!" From her newest book Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off--The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting page 17. I love knitting. It is magic! And now I have some wonderful lounge wear to knit in.


This is not a complicated pattern and I would recommend it for any knitter that is looking for something beyond scarves but not as complicated as a sweater.

Well, I am off to go curl up with a new project and knit (make some magic). Isn't knitting wonderful?

Happy knitting!

Friday, April 13, 2007

YEAH! IT'S FRIDAY

I am so glad it's Friday. I don't know why though. It's not like I work and have the weekend off or have any special plans. It must be because I know that none of us have to get up and get ready to go anywhere tomorrow. No school, no lunches to make, no kids to run hither and yon, no alarm clocks going off. Everyone will sleep in and then spend a lazy morning watching cartoons (Hubby is a faithful "Jane and the Dragon" watcher--I know, kind of weird). Sometime around 9 or 10 I will make something yummy for breakfast/brunch and then we will slowly begin to shower, dress, etc. Yes, that is why I am glad it is Friday--I love Saturday. And Sunday is even better. No house cleaning, no laundry, no shopping, just relaxation. AHHHHH.... I love the weekends.

No, I don't have the pants finished yet. However, they are close enough that they will be finished before the weekend is over. There will be a picture posted I promise.

If you get the chance, check out Stacey's socks for April on http://samkal3.blogspot.com. Most of the comments have been "WOW!" Few commenters have been able to find adequate words to describe their feelings about these socks. They are really something!!!! I feel so inspired by them, yet I promised myself NO NEW PROJECTS!!! until I had a few current ones finished. After all, just the pants project is taking up a lot of space on my desk (this is where all of my immediate projects sit so that I can't ignore them). I certainly don't have any extra room right now for another project. I am not joking. There is a half-finished sweater on my printer, two pairs of socks, a capelet, and another 1/2 to 3/4 finished sweater sitting to my right, along with various pattern books, bills that need to be paid, my book I read while I knit, several tape measures, calculators, misc. books.......bet you wonder if I can even see the top of my desk.

Anyway, I will post the picture of the pants next time and try to get in a new pattern for the month. So check it out next week!!!

Until then....
Happy knitting!

Friday, April 06, 2007

Monthly Book/Magazine Reviews

I just picked up the Spring 2007 copy of Interweave Knits and WOW what a great spring issue. Spring and summer issues of knitting magazines are a gamble. Sometimes they are great and sometimes they are so-so. Whereas the Fall and Winter issues (especially any holiday issues) are pretty consistantly great.

Anyway, there are a nice, fun, exciting variety of patterns from socks to skirts and pillows to purses. Not to mention some great summer "sweaters". I especially LOVED the Entrelac Socks by Eunny Jang. I am a sock knitter first and formost and have made several pairs of entrelac socks in my illustrious career but none of them were as exciting as this pair from Eunny! You know I will be making them as soon as I find some suitable yarn from the stash. Or maybe, I should order some special just for this project and leave the stash alone. Yeah! that sounds like even more fun. After all new yarns, fresh from my favorite stores are always more exciting and the stash usually doesn't like to be bothered with a bunch of my rummaging around. I wonder what fun yarn KnitPicks has that would work? OH! I have some Gloss that I recently ordered from KnitPicks that would be perfect! I am sure the stash wouldn't mind. After all the Gloss hasn't quite made it into a permanent Stash container yet so it's not officially part of the stash yet. For those of you who aren't familiar with Gloss it is a fingering weight yarn that is fairly new to the KnitPicks line. It's fiber content is 70% merino and 30% silk (one of my favorite fiber combinations). I had originally purchased the yarn for some socks for my husband, but since he doesn't know I purchased it he will never know the difference.

With that decided, the next exciting thing that I discovered in this issue was an article on Joan McGowan-Michael. If you are not familiar with this name how about her designs? She is the designer of the White Lies lingerie and other extremely beautiful knitted items. I consider the woman to be an absolute genius designer. She can design things to knit that most people wouldn't be able to create with fabric. I look at her work and think WOW!!! WOW!!! who knew you could knit that!!! Anyway, the most exciting part of the article was the announcement that she has a book of patterns coming out THIS SPRING!!! The title is Knitting Lingerie Style (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) and I can't wait. I've already began haunting the stores looking for it. There will definately be a critique posted here when I get it.

My No-Sweat Pants are 3/4 of the way done. What a fun, but basic project they have been. I will post a picture of me wearing them when I finish. So watch for that in my next post. Until then...........

HAPPY KNITTING!

Sunday, April 01, 2007

SOME FIBER SHOULD NOT BE SPUN

I have been working on spinning some yarn for a customer that should never be made into anything wearable. She has a "pet" sheep (I am sure she has told me the beloved animals name several times but I just can't remember it--I call it Steel Wool or Chore Boy and several other names) that produces the scratchiest fiber I have ever spun, touched, etc. She has had this pet's fleece processed by our local fiber mill and then she brings the bags (and bags and bags and bags) to me to spin into various types and colors of yarn. Now, not exaggerating, this fiber is so scratchy that my hands are completely exfolliated each time I spin a bobbin of yarn from it. If I sit down and spin up most of a bag in one sitting I can expect my hands to be a little raw in several places.

So what is she doing with the more than 5,000 (+ or - a few) yards of this awful yarn you ask. Well, she has brought by a finished men's cardigan, a vest, and several woven scarves. All of these items are EXTREMELY beautiful, the workmanship is exquisite and perfect, BUT definately things you would wear next to your skin. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if it was scratchy even with a heavy T-shirt underneath. I have to admit though that the items are very, very nice. I still don't think that fiber of that quality should be spun. It would be perfect for carpet though.

All fiber does have a purpose, just not all of it is worthy of clothing.

Happy Knitting!!