3 posts tagged “shopping”

In the past twelve days, I’ve had a lot going on in my little knitting world. I’ve been to my knitting group twice, and enjoyed myself a lot: There’s also been a lost stash enhancement package along the way, though I’m hoping it’s less ‘lost’ and more ‘merely delayed’ -- after all, Robyn of the Robyn’s Nest says she has yet to have lost a package, and I would really, really hate to ruin a perfect record. Also, Ravelry has started eating my brain, in parts.

So, to start with Ravelry: I’m becoming more active as of late, writing up what I’m actually knitting -- and what the hell am I thinking anyway, casting on with no less than four projects at once? -- and getting some camera practice in while I’m at it. I’ve joined a Harry Potter group, specifically the House Cup competition, and I’m largely lurking around until the sorting in May. (Well, not entirely true -- I’m trying to come up with a cheer for the Quidditch Cup thread for no particular reason, but mostly lurking.)  
I’ve also joined a knitted kitty swap group, because some of the little stuffies coming out of that group are ADORABLE. (Also, I think I just want the excuse to give the ‘standard’ knitted kitty swap pattern a trial run.)

The rest, well, I think I’ll have to break it down by project.

The Kromski: Three weeks ago, I took my spinning wheel apart for the express purpose of putting a finish on it.  It’s been slow going as unfortunately, it’s not a project that can be properly completed in a single afternoon -- but the good is, it’s coming along nicely. There was a bit of ugly when I went to use the golden oak stain that my father suggested: Luckily, I only stained the matching niddy-noddy before discovering that I don’t really care for the color. (The natural wood itself is SO pretty, really!)  All that’s left on that project is 1) buying my polyurethane and 2) applying it, this coming weekend’s weather allowing.

The Husband’s Sweater: I’ve finally cast on for his long-awaited sweater -- A modified version of Jesse Loehsburg’s Retrofit,  adjusted to include Aija Goto’s Space Invader charts across the back.
And the bad is: Figuring out the vertical placement of said space invaders is driving me BONKERS. I’ve momentarily put the whole idea down to come back to again, although I’ve definitely decided that losing the bunkers on the Space Invaders ‘screen’ is going to take a lot of the crazy off my plate.

The Tilted Duster: In the past five weeks, I’ve cast on for the tilted duster twice. Why? Well...
The Ugly:  My completed Tilted Duster was made of Main Line in Ink, a green-based black yarn. It looked really good, it had a fabulous hand to it, and I loved wearing that sweater.  Matter of fact, I wore that sweater non-stop. Which was enough time to realize that the main line was shedding like mad -- all over my shirts, my pants, my arms, my car, my purses and knitting bags... My cats didn’t shed that badly, so something had to be done.
The yarn is billed as machine washable, so surprise! I machine washed it. (And I put it in on gentle / slow cycle and cold, but still -- machine washed.)  
And then it turned into a fur coat.
The shedding magnified, the sweater burst into a giant puffball, and eight times of re-washing has not yet convinced the yarn to stop with the damned shedding already.  I’m honestly about to give up on the thing, which is heartbreaking since it took me 3.5 weeks to complete -- but I’m intending to go find a soft-bristled brush and try that on the duster before I give it up entirely.

Honestly. So mad.
Which is probably why I cast on again, this time in a full wool. (I had about 10 skeins, and only need about 6 of them.)

Other than that, I’ve been a spinning fool: Apparently, I only need to take apart my spinning wheel to rile up the urge for it. Thankfully, I have a spindle collection, so I’ve been using those instead. And it’s probably about time I learned how to ply without a spinning wheel, anyway...

Awww. Swap's over for me. ;)

Juni: Thank you! The Summer Linen you sent over arrived safely yesterday, and I'm quietly going mad trying to decide what to do with it -- since, as you know, I've never used linen yarn before (and I was curious about it).
I'm also endlessly amused at the term 'muggle blog' -- I'm going to have to steal that one from you.
Thank you for all your work as my upstream pal -- It's been a really fun experience for my first skein swap. (And also, one more thank you for the birthday wishes -- It's been a blast so far.)

... But, I still have one more package coming for each of my downstream pals.
I've picked up the dye needed for Pal 1's massive skein of raw silk, and now I just need to un- and rewind the hank into sections a little longer than 4' around. (I'm going with the dip-dye method and depending on how pleased I am with the results, may over-dye the whole thing with a lighter color... but if I'm going dip-dye, I think a little more length in the skein keeps things interesting.)
Pal 2's last package is just waiting on some non-wool roving I picked out for her to show up on my doorstep: She's a spinner, I asked if she wanted non-wool roving, and I am also including some yarn, so. She's getting lots o' love through the mail in the next week or two.

I've discovered that I apparently spoil my downstream pals. Another of my knitty friends once told me she's guilty of the same thing: I laughed at her at the time, but I think I know where she's coming from. I tend to overbuy and grab more than one thing for my pals as I want to make sure they've got the thing they want -- I suppose I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to giving gifts. ;)

I'm really glad to have gotten to know a few individuals in this swap... And perhaps that was the point? :)

What a day.
I'm a wee bit tired, but I've been sleeping weirdly lately -- my dreams have been too odd and vivid, and I've been waking up intermittently through the night with feelings of off and discontent: If only I could remember what I'm dreaming, perhaps I could pick it apart and resolve it. C'est la vie.

Picked up a cheapie digital camera that was actually 2 whole megapixels, mostly so I can take pictures of friends, cats, and finished knitting projects. (And I'm going to mock Fry's Electronics a little here: 2 MP camera for what you were charging for a Spider Man licensed digicam with 'VGA Resolution' -- which I forget, but I think was something like 720 x 480. Or less. Hmm...) After all, isn't the whole point of having a blog mentioning knitting and food to share pictures with the world? :)

I'm so pleased that I finished that simple shrug yesterday -- It's done, it's over, woo hoo!
I have a rather guilty love for Caron's yarns, but I've decided their patterns (albeit their free ones) leave much to be desired. And alternately, I love Lionbrands' free patterns for ideas and picking apart, but I'm none too pleased with their yarn these days. There's no winning, is there?
Current project: Twinkletoes in Cascade Fixation, color: black. I couldn't give up that project for long; I'm clearly either stubborn, a glutton for punishment, or both -- but the stretchy cotton is proving so much more satisfying to knit than cotton-ease.

The fiancé asked me two days ago what I wanted for my birthday, and I had a lot of ideas: I was eyeing the dark blue dreadnought acoustic in the Guitar Adoption Center's window, but since my best friend is already responsible for me getting my paws on a tiger striped acoustic from the same place, it might be a little overkill on the guitar front.
I suggested some plastic containers from the local JoAnn's for yarn storage, and he gave me a look for asking for something practical -- I about died on the spot laughing, since there have been times in the past that he's accused me of eschewing practical gifts in favor of frivolous things. (Rightly, perhaps, but hey. Gifts are meant to be fun.)

And then it occurred to me. Rockler's.
I want to make a spinning wheel: A few months ago, I bought Richard Schneider's No-Lathe Saxony-Style Spinning Wheel Construction Manual with the intention of making a spinning wheel, though life conspired to keep me from getting into the project. And, we have a Rockler's Hardware locally, which is honestly the best source in our area for non-pine woods. Red oak. Maple. Exotic woods.
So this weekend, I've talked him into setting foot in the Rockler's with me and figure out what it's going to cost to pick up the materials for making my spinning wheel. If it's more than half the cost of a Kromski Prelude, he's agreed to go halvsies with me on the Prelude itself.
I'll be over here, doing a happy little dance over getting a spinning wheel one way or another and mentally running the benefits of finished vs. unfinished.

Guess this means I have to figure out the best way to make him a space invaders sweater for his birthday. ;)