FO: Diagonal Magic Ball Scarf

Last week while I was sorting my yarn for freezing and microwaving, I stumbled upon the Bluebonnet Magic Ball that I got a yarn swap way back in 2008. Since the Epic Adult Surprise Jacket has been in the finishing phase, I've been craving a quick and easy knit. So I decided it was time to use the Magic Ball.


The label on the magic ball came with two patterns. The first one was for a "Basic Garter Stitch Scarf." I chose the second pattern, which was for a "Diagonal Garter Stitch Scarf." I considered just making a lengthwise scarf. But that would have required calculating the gauge to make sure it wasn't too short, and I just wanted to start knitting.

The pattern says to cast on 13 stitches, but I decided to only cast on 12 stitches because I wanted the scarf to be nice and long.

Both patterns call for US Size 13 needles. Because my gauge is so loose, I used US Size 9 needles.


In knitting and crochet, the term "magic ball" can mean two different things. It can be a ball of yarn that is wound with little gifts and toys in it. These are usually given away in swaps. There's a Flickr pool with pictures of Magic Balls here.

Then there are magic balls like the Bluebonnet Magic Ball I used for this scarf. They are made by tying together lengths of different yarns into one ball. Be Sweet sells its own Magic Ball. Jimmy Bean's Wool has a tutorial showing how to make your own magic ball. There are other magic ball tutorials here and here.

Since I received this yarn in a swap, I don't know much about its origins. I know it came from Bluebonnet Yarn Shoppe, which closed more than a year ago, but I don't remember them actually being sold at Bluebonnet.

According to her blog, Amy made her own magic ball scarf back in 2006. She won the yarn from Bluebonnet. However, her scarf looks much different than mine. The stripes are longer, the yarns in the ball are very different and the whole thing is bigger. Her scarf is the only evidence I've seen that another Bluebonnet Magic Ball ever existed.


Aaron was nice enough to model the scarf for me. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. I don't think the color scheme suits me. I may donate it or give it as a gift.

The gauge stayed somewhat steady between the different yarns. The overall width of the scarf varies somewhat. One yarn in particular doesn't want to line up with the other stripes. It's almost like the diagonal line is at a different angle than the rest, and it makes it hard to get the scarf to lie flat.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this quick knit. It makes me want to make my own Magic Ball. And it makes me miss Bluebonnet Yarn Shoppe.

Tuesday Tens: Ten Things My Readers Should Know About the Last Ten Months (more or less)

It's been a while, and I'm not quite sure what to say. So I decided to say it in a list. A Tuesday Tens list.

1. I haven't gone anywhere, I just haven't been myself for a while. Last summer was tough. I was starting to get back in the blogging habit in October, then I got the the Swine Flu and everything came to a grinding halt. (Yes, this right before the vaccines became available to the general public.) Between that and all the other things I'm about to talk about, I just fell out of circulation. It's not just the blogging. It's the knitting, crochet, spinning, yarn sales, knitting groups, local yarn shops, Ravelry and everything else that goes with it. Some of my knitting friends probably think I fell off the face of the earth. I feel so embarrassed. I didn't know that Bluebonnet Yarn Shoppe closed, and I'm only vaguely aware that The Knitting Nest moved. I'm not sure what happened. Maybe I just needed a break. Maybe I'll be back even bigger and better than before.

So if you've messaged me on Ravelry, left a comment, e-mailed me, etc and I haven't responded, I'm sorry. But now I'm back. Feel free to contact me again. You'll probably get an answer.

2. Jules and I are no longer together. We haven't been since last October. I'm not going in to details except to say we didn't get along while we were living together. He moved into his own place in October, and then back to California in January. We still talk on the phone every now and then.

3. I'm unemployed again. Not many people can say they've been laid off by the same employer twice. But this time there was no rehire. It happened February 12, and it was the exact opposite of the other lay off. I didn't see it coming, and I was the only one (on that particular morning) that was let go.

I was having a good Friday morning when it happened. Mid-morning my pen ran out of ink and I needed a new notepad. I was finishing up entering stuff into the computer, and I was going to find the office manager to get more supplies when they called me in. They cleaned out my desk for me, and I tried to get to my car as quickly as possible before I saw anyone I know.

But don't feel sorry for me. Between collecting unemployment and a little help from The Bank of Mom and Dad, I'm doing fine and looking forward to a fresh start.


4. I'm cleaning my apartment. Seriously. After lots of false starts over the past few years, I'm really, honestly, truly making progress. The picture above is my "Wall O' Yarn." (It's all cataloged on Ravelry, except for a couple of specific categories.) You can see more pictures of my apartment on Flickr. Maybe someday I'll be brave enough to post the "before" pictures.

5. I have contacts now, but the headaches are back. Last summer I talked about my new glasses hurting. It was awful. The pain around my nose traveled to the back of my head and down my neck. It went on for months, until I finally gave in and got contacts for my birthday in December. For a while, all the pain went away. But then in March I developed a headache in the left side of my forehead (the same side as the pain from the glasses.) The pain also started traveling down my neck, so I know they must be related to the pain I had with the glasses. It's been a problem since March. I'll probably blog more about it later, but there are medications, doctors and a chiropractor involved now.

(The good news is that my contacts are awesome!)

6. I may blog about non-yarn things more often. I've had the urge to write more about other topics than what will fit in a Facebook status update. So you'll probably see more non-knitting stuff here.

7. I have all sorts of unfinished business to blog about. There's an FO that's never been seen on this blog, a follow up to the Potholder Swap and all kinds of pictures to post.


8. This is my most recent WIP. I'm calling it the "Back in the Saddle Scarf," for obvious reasons. It's the Easy Drop Stitch Scarf, only wider. I'm planning to add some fringe as well. I'm using Noro Lily from Bluebonnet Yarn Shoppe.

9. I feel incredibly guilty about crapping out on the Gauge Scarf Circle. I really owe a big apology to Gauge and all it's customers, especially those in my scarf circle. I never finished the scarves, and a couple have been lingering in my house. I was late, then I was ashamed, so I avoided going, and that made me later and more ashamed and guilty, and then I really avoided dropping them off, and it went on and on like that for months. I'm probably the reason the scarves in my circle weren't finished. And now that I've blogged it, I'm think I'm brave enough to return the scarves in my possession.

10. Guilt has been a huge factor in my absence. It's irrational, but every time something knitting, blogging or fiber related came up in the past few months, I couldn't enjoy it because I felt guilty. Guilty for not keeping up, for being out of the loop, for having big plans and not following up and, in a few areas, guilty for not following through on my promises. So I avoided it. I know this doesn't make sense, so I'm going to push myself back into it until it feels right again.

Hill Country Yarn Crawl 2008

After some debate I decided to go on the Hill Country Yarn Crawl and take the bus that left from Hill Country Weavers. I couldn't make it today, when most of the people went and the bus went to the shops out of town. But I did have fun going to all my local shops and getting to see a new one.

You can see all the pictures I took on the yarn crawl here.


I got to Hill Country Weavers nice and early, where I picked up my passport and my tote bag for all my goodies.


Hill Country Weavers gave out skeins of Plymouth Ocean Side Organic cotton yarn and a booklet with patterns for these dishcloths.


Trish of Tanglewood Fiber Creations was there, with all her beautiful, luscious handspun yarn.


Pam got a skein of Tanglewood yarn. It was 50% silk, 50% cashmere, with beads. It was so soft that she decided to wear it as a necklace.

There were only eight people who went on Saturday, so they reserved a 15 passenger van. The van was late. Way late. So more than an hour after we were supposed to leave, this is what showed up to pick us up:


Yep, there wasn't even enough room for eight, much less 15. They had confirmed the time and the size of the van the day before. We weren't thrilled.

So we waited for another van to come.


Finally, a second van arrived. This one was bigger, but there still weren't enough seats. We ended up taking both.

As we talked to our driver in the second van, we discovered that she wasn't a driver, and she didn't have a fleet van. Apparently she works for the owner of the business, but not as a driver. She was driving her own personal van. Her boss had called her up and asked her to come let us use her van. When we needed two vehicles, she got roped into driving us all around town.

The driver was very nice despite the situation. She enjoyed the shops, and she may try knitting. (She already sews.) We had a good time talking. She said she had a great time, and I told her not to tell her boss that.

So that was the main hitch in the plan. We still made it to all the shops, but we didn't have as much time to spend. But we didn't let it ruin our day.


Our first stop was The Knitting Nest, where they gave us kits for spider headbands, just in time for Halloween. In addition to the new notion holders, they had several new yarns including Cascade Greenland (the same stuff I got from Wildfire), Laines Du Nord Calipso, Cascade Cotton Rich and Knit One Crochet Too Ty-Dy Socks. And they had this...


This is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in Amy's Vintage Office, the limited edition color I've been drooling over. Stacy said they ran out of the sock weight already, and these three skeins in Shepherd Worsted were all that was left. I bought one of them.

Speaking of Stacy, there's a story behind this picture:


Stacy is a trooper. She cut her hand when she broke the vase her anniversary roses came in. Since then, she's had surgery on her hand. (She showed me her stitches.) This was less than a week ago, yet she was at the store, on lots of painkillers.

She agreed to let me take a picture, and I said I wouldn't put it up if I didn't get a good shot. She joked that I could edit her face out.

Well, I got a bad shot, and Picnik had some effects that matched the Halloween decor. So I went for it.


The next stop was Yarnorama in Paige, where we had lunch. I'll have a full entry on them later, but I wanted to show off the hand dyed silk hankies. We each got one with a little kit that had instructions for knitting a little pouch. Susan, the owner, showed us how to stretch the silk into roving that we could knit.


I bought a pound and a half of fiber. But that doesn't compare to Clara, who bought a spinning wheel. (It's in the box she's holding.)

After Yarnorama, we went to Bluebonnet Yarn Shoppe. We didn't have much time because they closed at five. But we did have time to look around. Everything was 10% off for yarn crawlers. (Even the clearance yarns were 60% off, instead of the usual 50% off.)


Everyone got a kit for these little pouches and a pattern for both knit and crochet versions. They were in paper bags, so we didn't know exactly what we got until we opened them.


The final stop was Gauge, where they gave out vouchers for free classes, and their yarns were also 10% off for yarn crawlers. They still had a good selection of Handmaiden Sea Silk and Double Sea Silk. I snagged a skein of the Double Sea Silk in the "Vintage" colorway.


Cheva was there sporting her latest creation. (Also, Carly was sporting some cool felted bangles.)

I was happy to find that Gauge has some roving for sale. Now I can get my fiber fix closer to home.

I was exhausted when we returned to HCW, and my arms were full. Here is what I got on the crawl.


There are more details about the yarn here and the fiber here.

And here's all the freebies.


The bus ride is over, but there's one day left to buy your passports, get you free gifts and enter the drawing. They're at all the participating shops.

New Avatar?

Sally and Yarn
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Suna took this picture of me a while back at Bluebonnet. I think it would make a good avatar. (Especially with the yarn in the background.)

FO: Strangling Vine

Finally.

After many stops and stops, a lot of procrastinating and even more T-Pins, I finally blocked and finished my Strangling Vine scarf. I unpinned it before Chicks with Sticks at Bluebonnet tonight, so I could take it in for a proper FO photo shoot.

I used US size 2 aluminum circular needles from my Boye Needlemaster and less than one skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk in "Capri." I used more than half the skein, but I still have enough left for a small project.

If you look closely, you can see little irregularities around the edges from the T-pins, but it's not very noticeable. In fact, it looks like I did it on purpose to add some sort of semi-picot edging.

The pattern is free, but the designer asks that you perform a Random Act of Kindness in exchange for using it. For my RAOK, I donated a small amount to the Night of Too Many Stars telethon to benefit the New York Center for Autism. It's a good cause. (And Comedy Central has Jerry Lewis beat when it comes to telethons.)

I hope it stays this well blocked. It stayed pinned down longer than it had to, because I was procrastinating on taking out all those pins.

I got plenty of compliments at Bluebonnet, and Suna even took some pictures for herself.

I can't wait until it gets cold again, so I can actually wear it.

WIP Wednesday and Falling off the Wagon

So I fell off the wagon. Just a little. I went over my yarn budget, but there won't be any bounced checks, overdrafts or charges to my credit card.

There is a sale going on at Bluebonnet Yarn Shoppe from now through Saturday. All the yarn is 25% off.

I have good reasons for all of them. The SWTC A-MAIZing yarn in the bottom left is for swatching. (Number 77 on my list.) The Berroco Ultra Alpaca and Noro Silk Garden are for Christmas gifts. (The Fake Isle Hat and one of the Three Tams.) And the skein of Cascade Venezia in the upper left corner matches my eyes. (You can take a closer look at them here.)

Here's a better look at the Noro and the Ultra Alpaca. I think this color of Ultra Alpaca works well with both shades of Silk Garden. Picking out a single shade of Noro is hard enough. Picking a single shade and a coordinating solid is even harder.

After I got home I looked at the FOs for Three Tams on Ravelry. How do you wear a tam anyway? I saw some pictures that made it look like a regular cap. One person blocked theirs on a pie pan. What am I going for, really?

WIP Wednesday

It's Wednesday and lots of other bloggers do WIP Wednesday. Why shouldn't I?

Let's start with spinning. I borrowed my Mom's ginormous Navajo Spindle, but plying the merino singles I spun isn't getting easier. The spinning on my leg technique was hard and my own attempt to spin it like a top didn't work very well either. (And all this yarn won't fit on my drop spindle.)

Meanwhile, I'm actually making negative progress on my Wickerware Socks. I've made a lot of progress since the last time you saw them, but look where I was during my break at work today.

I screwed up the stitch pattern bad enough to bother me, and frogging everything above the red needles was the easiest way to fix it.

Finally, here's my precious Malabrigo Silky Merino, all wound up making it obvious that one skein is much lighter than the other. I'm debating my next move. I can either alternate skeins, hold two strands together and use bigger needles or just hope for the best.

I think some swatching is in order first.

WIP: Clapotis

Cross posted at Sally Comes Unraveled and Second Wave Clapotis KAL.

I was all excited about sleeping in on my day off, but then I woke up at 7:15 and couldn't go back to sleep. (However, I will be napping after this post.) I think I'm excited because today is the first day of my 1,001 Days.

I've been meaning to post more WIP pictures of Clapotis. I love to see the progress as I go along.

I took this picture earlier this week in the break room during work. The white couch makes a good background. I think I was near the end of section three here.

This picture was taken Wednesday at Chicks with Sticks Wednesday night at Bluebonnet. I think I was officially at the end of section three.

Here it is as of yesterday, at the North Central meetup. I've done some significant work on section 4 at this point.

With any luck, there will be an FO post tomorrow.

Do you have the time to listen to me whine?

About nothing and everything all at once.

I know I've seen this music video before, but this song hits even closer to home now that I've seen it again.



I haven't had much time to knit and spin recently. Here is what I have been working on.

Last weekend I spent the second Saturday in a row going through the stuff in my storage unit. It was hard because I basically had to relive the last ten years. I recycled a lot of paper. When I quit my first job out of college in 2005 (this is two jobs ago, basically) I cleaned out my desk and put everything in a storage bin, and didn't open it again until Saturday. I found food in there (including a tuna kit like this one.) I also found 50 or so used dictation tapes that I dumped in the trash. I know it's not environmentally sound, but it was a freeing experience.

Monday was my company's first day in a new building. The move went smoothly, and made me realize that my happiness at a job tends to be inversely proportional to the amount stuff at my desk. Besides my phone and computer, everything in my desk fit in one small box with room to spare.

I had a bit of a Milton style "I believe you have my stapler" crisis because I couldn't find my chair. Apparently, it ended up in the dumpster. I think they thought they were doing me a favor by getting rid of my old chair and giving me a newer one. However, my new chair was broken. After my coworker attempted to help me fix it, a poached an unclaimed chair.

Of course, I had all this time to deal with my chair because the system was down until almost 12:30. Ironically, my computer was working just fine until they tried to "fix" the network because some people weren't up and running. I had forgotten my knitting bag at my parents' house, but fortunately I brought some yarn for swatching while I waited. (I'll post that later.)

Overall, the move went pretty smoothly. The new building is nice, and we toasted it Monday morning with some Mimosas.

Bluebonnet is having a Mystery Knitting (or Crocheting) Night in a couple of weeks. From what I understand, $30 gets you yarn, a pattern and dinner. You bring your own needles and/or hooks. Whether or not I attend will depend on my budget.

Finally, I feel compelled to share some links to horror stories about Austin businesses from the The Consumerist. Here is one from a local Walmart and one from Caliber Collision Center.

Closed for "Blogcation"

I will be picking up Jules from the airport in less than four hours, which means I'll be taking a "blogcation" while he is here. (Hey, if you can have a blogiversary, I say you can have a blogcation.) I'll probably be back Monday, March 24.

I'll leave you with two things. First, there is a sale at Bluebonnet this weekend.

Second, here is some amazing footage of Mr. Rogers defending public television before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications in 1969. It's especially amazing when you consider the fact that in 1969, Mr. Rogers wasn't the icon he is today.


You tell 'em, Fred.

Don't forget that March 20 is Sweater Day.

Have a good week. I know I will!