I Dream of Sweaters

I'm dreaming of a sweater. Again.

I've dreamed of sweaters before. Remember Decimal? Never happened. I actually swatched Candy, but no luck. (Officially, it's still a WIP.) So I'm not sure how far I'll get with this idea, but I'm hopeful.

I have a *lot* of yarn, but I don't have much in the way of sweater amounts of yarn. But I'm not really feeling most of the sweater amounts of yarn I have.

Like the bright turquoise Jo-Ann Sensations Angel Hair I bought for a sweater a long time ago. Now I don't think I have the guts to wear an entire sweater that color. I think I'd look like a Muppet.

Also, I still have a ton of recycled sari silk left over from this thing, but you see how well that worked out.

And I barely have enough of two colors of Debbie Bliss Angora Cotton for a sweater, but I'm not too keen on the sea green color anymore. It was on clearance at the time, so my color options were limited.

However, I *am* feeling the Jo Sharp Classic DK Wool pictured above. The color is "Viola." The problem is I only have about 1,070 yards, and for a long sleeve sweater in my size, that's not even half of what I need. But it's a decent amount.

So my solution is to make an outrageous stash diving sweater with stripes.

I started getting yarn out of the storage unit Thursday. The process was fun, but it still made me miss my apartment. Dad went with me since I'm too weak to lift all those tubs. I used a spreadsheet printed out with my stash from Ravelry. I'd highlighted some stuff ahead of time to help narrow everything down. I've only looked in three of my numbered tubs so far. I didn't want to spend forever searching through tubs outside the storage unit, and Dad had to go to work after we finished. Dad was very patient with the whole process. On the way home, I explained that we had just been "stash diving."

I considered just using a bunch of single skeins, but I figured I needed something to tie the yarns together. I also considered find a unifying color theme, like all blues and purples, all brights or all warm colors, but I thought I might run out of yarns to use between the color restrictions and the gauge restrictions.

Instead, I decided to use the Jo Sharp yarn is sort of a "base." From there I'm selecting DK weight yarns from my stash that don't clash too much with the shade of purple.*

I have a long road ahead of me. Not only do I need to swatch the Jo Sharp, I'll also have to swatch the other colors and make sure the gauge matches. I'm not going to adjust my stitch count with each yarn change.

And not just any DK weight yarn will work. There may be official Yarn Standards that most yarn manufacturers follow, but there is a lot of wiggle room in those standards. I'm also going to be considering worsted, sport and fingering weight yarns for this sweater as well.

I've just begun to think about the pattern. I wanted to do an Elizabeth Zimmerman seamless construction, but I want a cardigan and all the "patterns" I've found so far are for pullovers. I can use the Elizabeth Percentage System to do more of my own design work, or I could do some steeking. I need to do more research.

Parting Shot
I'm going to leave you with a picture the Multnomah shawl I've been working on. I bound off on Wednesday. It still needs to be blocked, so I'm not calling it done yet.



* - Or is it blue?

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.

Blog Bits Saturday

It's Saturday, and I'm writing this ahead of time because I'll be busy. Enjoy your blog bits, and I'll be back.

On Rose-Kim Knits - Sushi Cupcakes!

Sarahspins has a pattern for a Knitted cover for your insulin.

Wendy of Knit and Tonic talks about the importance of knitting a gauge swatch.

Wendy Knits is putting out a free pattern for her Rivulets socks. Check out the Craig Ferguson video while you're there.

Empty Nest Knitters recently announced Franklin's next trip to The Knitting Nest. They also had a visit from Leslie recently.

The Mochimochi blog has a new pattern for Pile-able Pups.

Yarn Pirate got an awesome Pocket Wheel.

Check out the Bottle Cap Hot Pads over at the Hot Pads! and Potholders Swap.

Knit Buzz tells you how to win tickets to the reception with the Yarn Harlot.

Finally, on Unraveled they introduced the new Ravelry staff member, onestitchshort, (aka Sarah.) I wish her well, even though I didn't get the job.

A Few More Odds and Ends

I didn't get to post this picture from Gauge on Saturday before, and I wanted to share it. They had a bunch of marked down yarns set up back there. I want my apartment to look like this. (Yarn included.)

I also forgot to mention that I officially found out that I didn't get the Ravelry job. Considering that 1,500 people applied, I'm not letting myself get down over it.


Finally, I had to show everyone my P-Mates that I won from Norma. I haven't used them yet, since I'm saving them for swimming or some other activity where they'll came in handy. It turns out I had it wrong before. I didn't win three P-Mates, I won one package of five P-Mates. (Three people won.)

(You can buy P-Mates here.)

Thanks Norma!

yarn pr0n: Picks from the Knitting Nest

Last Saturday they had a sale at The Knitting Nest, and I forgot my camera.

D'oh!

Fortunately, I didn't forget to buy yarn.


This is Cascade Alpaca Lace in Garnet.

If you're really on the ball, you may have noticed that I bought almost 3,500 yards of lace weight, enough for 2 or 3 shawls. That's a lot of yarn, especially for someone who usually dabbles in single skeins.

I took a big risk here. I was flipping through Maggie Righetti's Sweater Design in Plain English this evening, and I happened to turn to the page where she recommends buying a single skein before investing in a sweater's worth of anything. It was almost as if she knew. But she didn't say anything about Easter Eggs promising big savings. (My Easter Egg gave me 15% off.)

I have big audacious plans for this yarn. Big, audacious, secret plans. But perhaps I've already said too much...


I also came home with our good friend Malabrigo. The top skein is "Cuarenta" and the bottom skein is "Strawberry Fields." I like these colors because they go together without being too "matchy matchy."

I have design plans for the Malabrigo as well, but they are not-so-secret and not-so-audacious.

I also hung out with Emily, Ana, Ceci and Gigi while I was there. Emily said someone saw the picture of her combs that I had posted online, and purchased them from her. Whoever you are, mystery purchaser, I'm glad I could help.

I also talked about formats for patterns. I realized publishing patterns on Ravelry was a lot easier than I was making it seem. So thanks to them, I posted this on my blog and on Ravelry this week. The pattern brought record traffic to my blog from the Ravelry page.

Yay for Ravelry!

Tuesday Tens: Ten Reasons why Ravelry Should Hire Me

In case you missed it, Ravelry is hiring! It's a part-time community support position, and I think I'd be perfect for it.

Candidates must answer three questions:

1.Why do you want to work for Ravelry?
2.What qualities, technical experience (computer and crafty!) and skills could you bring to our little team?
3. If you were a yarn-producing fiber, what would you be and why?

According to the website:

"You don’t need to write a formal cover letter… heck, you can make a video, upload it to the internet somewhere, and send us the link. :) Whatever works!"

So I decided to use a blog entry for the "cover letter." Here are ten reasons why Ravelry should hire me for their community support position.

1. I want to be part of "the industry." I want to make the fiber arts a career, and I've been searching for a way into the industry. I want a career like Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Amy Singer or Norah Gaughn. I want people to come to me and ask me to design, write or speak. And I can't think of a better place to get in the door than Ravelry, the collective brain of all the knitters and crocheters on the Internet. Best of all, this position would let me get my foot in the door without leaving the financial security of my 8-5, Monday through Friday job.

2. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone. I love the idea of meeting knitters, crocheters, spinners, designers, yarnies and everyone else I'll meet. I know it will be a blast, and I'll see all sorts of new yarns and patterns.


3. Have I mentioned that I love yarn? I love discovering and learning about different yarns. I think working for Ravelry will allow me even more opportunities to get to know yarn.

(Here is a picture from when I first discovered Brooks Farm Yarn at Kid 'n Ewe 2007.

4. This position has the flexibility I want in my dream job. Someday I want to work from home on my own schedule. I'm hoping this position will allow me the flexibility to decide exactly how I want to organize my responsibilities, when I do certain tasks and what time of day I work. And I could work in a coffee shop with wifi or in my pajamas with the television in the background.



5. I've been knitting and crocheting for a while now. My Mom showed me how to crochet a chain when I was four. Knitting finally "stuck" when I was in the third grade. Serious crochet came not long after that.

I'm including this picture of the Floppy Horse Family as an example of something I knit in the third or fourth grade. It's not the best craftsmanship in the world, but I've come a long way since then. The slippers were crocheted when I was in the sixth grade. I think it's fair to say that I know my stuff in both knitting and crochet. And I'm learning to spin.

6. I speak the language of knitters (and crocheters.) I love talking with other knitters. I can strike up a conversation with strangers in a yarn shop. Or I find myself helping people pick out yarn. (Occasionally they think I work there.) In a more literal sense, I know knitting, crochet, spinning, fiber and the slang terms associated with them.

7. I have a bachelor's in Mass Communication and I have call center experience and retail experience. I've been around long enough to realize the diploma alone doesn't mean much. And it may seem weird to mention my current call center job and the retail work I did in college. But between being a newspaper reporter, dealing with inbound calls and helping people look for the right size, I know something about communicating with strangers. (Often angry strangers, although I doubt there will be much of that on with Ravelry users.)

8. What I lack in knowledge, I make up for with an ability to learn quickly. I know my way around Ravelry pretty well, and I know a little basic html. But I think my biggest asset is that I can often figure things out for myself by playing around with things. In the ninth grade my Science and Technology teacher told us that "you can't blow up Toledo." If you've ever tried to help someone who was afraid to touch a computer, you know how important this is.


9. If I were a yarn-producing fiber, I'd be hemp. (And not because I'm a stoner.)

According to Amy Singer in No Sheep for You:

"...the charm of hemp comes in the washing-wearing-washing-wearing cycle of a garment. Hemp is strong so washing doesn't hurt it; each cycle just makes it softer...Would you be surprised if I told you that fabric from knitted hemp has "sproing?" It does. Knit a big swatch and give it a tug. It doesn't just surrender to your touch..."

I fell in love with hemp when Amy Singer came to Hill Country Weavers a couple of years ago to promote "No Sheep For You." Hemp is a misunderstood and underrated fiber, and I think people underestimate me. Hemp is tough, flexible and it can be surprisingly soft, similar to the way I am both tough and caring.

Most of all, washing hemp makes it better, and I think I get better with experience.

(FYI - The washcloth in the picture above was knit with allhemp6.)




10. We'd make a great team. Don't you agree?

Social Media and Me

As tired as I've been, I still have nights where I don't really sleep. Like tonight. And instead of setting off the smoke alarm, I think this is a good time to blog.

It's been a while since I worked on the Blog Improvement Project, and I'm just going to jump in where everyone else is. The current topic is blogging and social media.

I use social media sparingly for blogging. I have a twitter account that I don't update much, except to post when I have a new blog entry. My MySpace page doesn't see very much action at all.

My Facebook profile has been seeing a lot of of action. I use it not so much for the blog (although I do post almost all my blog entries on my wall), but for my actual friends. (*Gasp*) When I joined, I used the feature that goes through the e-mail addresses in your address book and looks for people on Facebook. I realized I knew a lot of people in real life who wereon Facebook. In fact, the best part about using Facebook is that it's made me closer to my sister.

Kim focuses on Delicious, the social bookmarking site, on her entry. My Delicious account is all over the place. I don't do much networking, but I bookmark like crazy. And my tagging scheme leaves a lot to be desired. (You may have noticed similar insane tagging on my blog entries.) Someday I'll clean it up.

I actually don't tag a lot of knitting entries on Delicious. Most of that is done on Ravelry.

What can I say about Ravelry that hasn't already been said. It's like the collective consciousness of all of the Internet's knitters and crocheters. (If you don't know what Ravelry is, read this. It's where all the cool fiber artists hang out.)

Social networking is awesome. Except for the whole cancer thing. (Edited to fix link.)

Ravelry Weekend Awesomeness

Valentine's Day is tough when your significant other is in another state. So I was lucky that I had something to distract me. On Saturday, The Knitting Nest hosted the Ravelry crew, and people came in from all over to celebrate.


Here I am with Jess (left) and Casey (right). They were pretty cool. You can read the story about how they started Ravelry here.


And here I am with Mary-Heather, who is the third member of the Ravelry team, and Jess.


Former Austinite Caro of splityarn came back into town for the event.


The guests of honor (and Jess and Casey's dog, Bob) had Valentine's Day Stockings filled with goodies...


...a banner that everyone signed...


...and official status as Honorary Texans. (Sorry for the blurry picture.)


One group (from out of town, I think) brought special gifts for the guests of honor. A scarf for Casey and pasties for the ladies. This was the best shot I got of all four of them. They were surrounded by people taking pictures. (There's a better picture of Casey's scarf here.)


Of course, there was plenty of stuff for the customers. They gave out door prizes every 15 minutes, and I won the very first one! I got a Cascade beanie bear, a set of US size 8 needles in a very nice wood, and a skein of Cascade Lana D' Oro.


This was my first trip to The Knitting Nest since right before I went to the hospital, so I saw all sorts of new yarn that I hadn't seen there before. The Malabrigo Sock Yarn was the most popular by far. They had it right at the entrance, so everyone saw it when they came in. Some of the other highlights included Cascade Alpaca Lace, Queensland Collection Haze and Cascade Soft Spun.


They also had lots of Malabrigo Worsted in "Ravelry Red."


I finally got my mojo back with Double Knitting. I got going on my Tapestry Cowl again while I was hanging out.


Here's the yarn I bought. Jess helped me pick out the Cascade 128 on top. I'm considering it for the Montera coat. I had a hard time deciding which color. I had it down to the purple and an apple green. I asked several people, and Jess said she thought the purple was better.

I also got some Malabrigo Sock in "Impressionist Sky" and a skein of yarn to finish Jules' Gloves.

It was an awesome day.

You can see all of my pictures from the day here. Also, everybody's pictures from the event are on Flickr with the tag "ravelryweekend."

Ravelry Wrap Up

Casey works the room
Originally uploaded by frecklegirl

Thanks to Flickr's "blog this" feature, I'm doing a short entry before bed.

I spent all evening uploading tons of photos from the Ravelry Party at The Knitting Nest on Saturday. We met Ravelry founders Casey and Jess. I'll have full details later, but tonight I'm posting a photo by Jess herself. I'm wearing my Entrelac Scarf in this one, and Casey is talking with me and some of the other knitters. Casey is the one in the red shirt talking to all of us.

The Knitting Nest is asking everyone to upload their pictures of the even to Flickr with the tag "ravelryweekend." So you can see my pics and everyone else's here.

Tuesday Tens: Ten Travel Tips for Taking Your Knitting and Crochet With You

In a couple of weeks I'm going to California to see Jules again. I did some research before my last trip because I hadn't flown in a long time, and I wanted to see how the TSA rules had changed. Now that I'm preparing for another trip, I think this is a good time to share some tips for traveling with knitting and crochet projects.

1. Two projects seems to be a good amount to bring. Take one project that takes a lot of your attention, for delays when you need to kill time. The other project should take very little mental effort, for times when you're going to start and stop a lot, can't comfortably read instructions or just need a mental break. Having more than one project gives you an "out" if you hit a wall. And unless you're going on some sort of intensive knitting retreat, are you really going to work on more than two?

2. Choose portable projects. This probably goes without saying. This isn't the time for the intarsia project with 20 colors of yarn or a giant ripple afghan.

3. Take projects that don't take up a lot of room, but will take a lot of time. A chunky hat won't take up much yarn, but you may need to bring supplies for 10 of them to keep yourself occupied. That's why socks are considered such a good travel project.

4. Take projects without a lot of starts, stops and finishing. It will be a pain to get out scissors and tapestry needles over and over again to sew together those granny squares.

5. If you fly, print this out and take it with you. TSA isn't exactly known for consistency. A physical print out of the rules should help if there are any problems.

6. Be prepared in case they take your needles (or anything else) at the airport. Bring a self-addressed stamped envelope so you can mail back your supplies. Also, take some scrap yarn and a (preferably) plastic tapestry or yarn needle. That way you can put your stitches on the scrap yarn if you lose your needles.

7. Clean out, stock and organize your knitting bag. Take out the projects you aren't taking, leftover yarn and whatever else has accumulated. Make sure you have all your notions, even ones you don't think you'll need. Depending on where you going, picking up a tapestry needle may not be possible. Empty medicine bottles are good for notions and plastic Ziploc bags are good for organizing projects and extra yarn.

8. Get a row counter that fits around your neck. I think this one comes with a cord, or at least a place to thread a cord. This is actually one tip I don't follow, but I probably should. I'm thinking about putting a Barrel Counter on a cord. (This probably isn't necessary if you can fit the counter on your needles.)

9. Use point protectors. Some people do this all the time. Sometimes I use point protectors, sometimes I don't, but I make a point of using them when I travel. You want your stitches to stay on when security is messing with your knitting bag. This goes double for dpns. Use something like these tubes or this. Or make your own. If you're crocheting, it's not as critical, but I would use a bobby pin or a stitch marker like this or this.

10. Visit the Ravelry Plane Knitters group. - There's good stuff there, even if you're not flying. You can also read about knitters' experiences in specific airports. (If you're not part of Ravelry, go join. It's free.)

Ravelympics Closing Ceremony

I feel like an idiot. I realized too late that I didn't have until this evening to finish my Ravelympic projects. The Olympics ended this morning in Beijing while I was still asleep. Everything was timed on Beijing time. Otherwise I'd have at least one or two more FOs.


I'm down to the last toe on my Wickerware Socks. Believe it or not, I did a lot of knitting while watching "The Dark Knight" last night. My friends and I went on a whim, so I didn't bring good theater knitting. But I borrowed a mini flashlight from Lyndsey to periodically double check where I was. I stopped when I got to the toe, because I needed to do more counting. I think I did about 40 rounds.

I also gave this hat as a birthday gift, along with some other goodies wrapped in fabric. (The recipient is a seamstress.) I knew the right occasion would come along, and lime green suits her. The fit was a little big, but the slouchy look worked pretty well. I wish I'd remembered my camera.


I've passed the halfway point on the Spiraling Stripes Hat (aka Soy Wool Spiral.) I suspect that I will have to add more "wedges" to make it fit my ginormous head.

Despite my stupid mistake, I'm proud to have finished four projects, taken home seven medals for Team Austin. (Team Austin had 21 members and won 20 medals.)


I am about to go delete all the Ravelympic projects that were never started, with the exception of Odessa. I bought beads to match the yarn yesterday, and I plan to get started on it in the next day or so.

WIP: Soy Wool Spiral

Last night I wound my yarn and got ready to cast on.


This was how I had gotten when I went to bed.

I'm working on one of Lee Meredith's Spiraling Stripes Hats. There are several variations you can try. I'm doing the straight brim with the counterclockwise spiral. I've dubbed the hat "Soy Wool Spiral" because I'm using my handspun soy/wool blend.


Here's where I am as of now. I'm pleased that the striping is going so well. The pattern was originally written as part of a kit that came with striping yarn. I'm glad my color repeats are long enough.

With any luck, I'll be done by Sunday night.