Dog: Venti
Yarn: Socks That Rock
Archive for Knitting
A Good Day
Yesterday, Brigitte asked: “How did you like working with the STR?”
I love it. I love this yarn, I love their colorways. I would like to knit up a sweater from one of their almost-solid colorways. I haven’t yet knitted with Koigu but I think I would still prefer STR over just about any of the other similar yarns. To be fair, I have only knitted socks from Socks That Rock, Cherry Tree Hill and Trekking.
I recently found a CD on which I had photos taken at a surprise party I threw for M’s 50th birthday. It was a very good day. Below is one of my favorite pictures. Our friend decided to open his beer with a crow bar.
Another friend giving Camus the poodle lovin’.
Socks for M
A finished object(s) that I should have posted long ago. M is wearing these today and I can’t stop looking at his feet. That sounds dirty.
Object: socks for M
Yarn: Socks That Rock in Lagoon
Pattern: Father and Son Socks from Interweave Knits, Fall 2006
Ravelry
Have you heard about it? Of course you have. OMG. I’ve been on the site for a week or so and I’m just plain freaking out about the possibilities. If you haven’t already, go. Seriously. Go.
Bad Blogger. No cookie.
Sorry about the sporadic blogging of late. I find myself a little fatigued these last few days and what with the tape famine and all, I just didn’t have time to blog yesterday.
Alright. So there wasn’t a tape famine. M found some tape for me yesterday and all my lovely packages were sent out today. Yay, winners!
I feel the need to stop for a moment and point out that the Mariners kicked some serious Angels ass tonight. OMG what was wrong with those guys? There were like 1987459 errors in one inning. Couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Of course, because I happen to be making fun of them right now, they will likely come back all pissed off and kick our asses so hard tomorrow that it’s not funny. Go Ichi!
I wanted to mention a book today. Poems of Color, Knitting in the Bohus Tradition. You may remember that the Yarn Harlot recently completed a Bohus sweater. I was taken by the sweater immediately, watching it take shape on her needles. But, upon attending the local knitter’s retreat, I had the chance to see Poems of Color and immediately fell in love. I wanted this book very badly but was trying to behave. I found it this past weekend; the only copy in a small store about an hour away from home. I’m in love. I must knit it all.
Both Janel and Francesca posted wonderful blog entries on the subject as they recently attended a workshop on the subject. Please take a moment to go over and drool at their pictures. Don’t forget to read the posts.
Prizes, prizes, prizes!!!
OK. Here’s the deal. No one guessed my pendant animal. Not really. But y’all were killing me because you had the BEST guesses!
Here’s my pendant. Sea turtles are an awesome site. I saw one for the first time on Mom’s island.
Dave technically guessed frog. But since he mentioned a turtle and no one else did, he wins a prize. Silk caps for dyeing! Somewhere between 4 and 6 oz.
Here’s where things get sketchy. Stephieface and Fyberduck are extremely lucky guessers. They both guessed dragon. Having been born in 1976, I am a dragon by the Chinese calendar. (Who the hell would have known that?) While a turtle has no significance in my life, the dragon certainly does. In fact, it’s rather a big driving force in my life. So I think they both deserve prizes.
For Stephieface who is in a family way, 6 skeins of Bernat Cottontots.
For Fyberduck who is a very accomplished spinner, 8 oz. of golden mohair top.
Now for part duex of the contest. You guys made me LMAO. I snorted a lot and the people around me were really curious about my issues. I suppose they’ll learn in time. 
So, everyone’s lyrics tickled me for different reasons but I find them equally amusing.
Stephieface, dooood… What the hell am I going to do with you? Seriously… in an office with 3 other women and not one of us knew who Gerard Butler was but there was much squealing after a quick image search. Rrrreeeoooowwrr! For you, there will be stitch markers.
Laurie Ann, what the hell am I going to do with YOU? OMG. So, for everyone else, Laurie Ann has a bit of an advantage as we were SnB buddies and she therefore knows far too much about me. Her lyrics allude to something that I do not feel comfortable discussing on the internets because it would just be rude. But I might be persueded to tell the story in private. Maybe.
For you, also stitch markers!
Ann Marie in PA, you’re such a cutie! Your lack of creativity had its own creativity involved. Your gooey brains win you 4 skeins of SandnesGarn Kitten, a mohair blend.
Chris, your two silly lines count for something around here *snort*. Because seriously… who can turn down a spinning compliment? For you, there will be a skein of Cascade Sierra Quatro.
Everyone must drop me their mailing address except for Chris (unless you’ve moved recently) and Laurie Ann. Send it to me here: sachi at sachi’s purls d0t c0m (without the apostrophe, of course). I will likely not get these all in the mail before the weekend but somehow, I think you won’t mind.
If there are any allergy problems with any of the fiber, please let me know. I’m totally up for swapping stuff out.
Congrats everyone and thanks for making my birthday so fun!
A bit of knit
I’ve been working (slowly) on the Lucy Top from Wendy’s book among other things. I’ve got the back done so I thought it is high time you get a glimpse of the product. Just so you know, there’s some serious camera-angle-distortion going on in that pic. I’m using a decadant Italian yarn of some kind that is a merino/silk blend. Pardon me that I don’t get up and grab the ball band right this second.
Even though I don’t seem to mind purling, this piece gave me a bit of a hand cramp. I’ve come to the conclusion that it is likely because I’m not used to using full sized straight needles. All that weight hanging off the end of the needle is a bit hard on my hands. It’s too late to switch now for fear of serious gauge consequences so I’m taking the front very slowly. The color is a scrumptious brown with a hint of burgandy in the right light. I’m really excited to be able to wear this. Although I’m certain it won’t be done in time to wear it in any cool sort of weather. I don’t care. I love it. So far. We always love it until we try it on, no?
Here’s something to sate your kitty yen. Sweet Halley.
Pod casts
I’ve been listening to a handful of knitting pod casts for the last few months and I thought it might be fun to start doing little reviews. One that I would like to talk about is one you’ve likely heard of. It’s called “It’s a Purl, Man” by a guy named Guido.
I’d heard of this pod cast a long time before I’d heard of any of the others out there. To be fair, I only heard of pod casting less than a year ago. I listened to about half an episode a while back and it bored me to tears. Maybe because I didn’t yet understand the knitting “community” thing. But I decided to download all his shows and catch up a few weeks back and I’m happy to report that I’m addicted.
I couldn’t even figure out why I’d been bored in the first place. Guido’s show is like sitting down with a friend and catching up on life. I like the fact that he doesn’t go through and edit stuff out. He has a wonderful sense of humor and his laugh always gets me smiling. He’s had a number of exciting episodes wherein he has a co-host for the day and he’s started reviewing books. The book reviews are always great and hearing about his latest projects is fun but I have to say that I enjoy his show mainly because he shares a little bit of himself with you.
Perhaps that’s the most important part. I try to make my blog a little bit of everything in my life. Although I have been knitting and spinning like crazy lately, I haven’t really been sharing much of that with you this last month or so but I don’t feel terribly guilty about it because this blog is about my entire life.
Sometimes Guido will talk about an aspect of his life that makes me feel, as a listener, as if he’s a guy I hang out with once a month. His emotions and thoughts are tangible and it’s like you’re going along on a trip with him. He shares his family with his listeners too and that’s a touching twist. It’s been exciting listening to him work on learning to spin and I feel like I’m reliving the experience myself. Likewise, I love hearing about how his wedding planning is going.
Guido is a normal guy with a normal life. It just so happens that, between all those other things in life, we find fiber in common.
Husband’s home…
Can’t post. Too busy necking.
OK. Not really.
I grabbed M from the airport late on Wednesday night and then we had to drive to Portland (about 3 1/2 hours from home) on Thursday morning to attend the memorial service for my FIL. We got into town a little early so I dragged M off to Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks. M asked me to knit a soft hat for Ritchie so I made him swear that it would be OK to break the yarn diet for the sake of a friend in need.
Oh yeah… I didn’t mention the yarn diet, did I? I’ll have to get to that later.
So, I picked up some black Cascade Fixation because it’s super stretchy and, since Ritchie has a really small noggin and he’s not here for me to measure, I’ll have a bit of leeway when I make this thing. Now I just need to come up with a design. I’m thinking lacy skull-cap. Something that’s not too hot in the summer (if he doesn’t stand in the direct sun) but will keep his head warm when he’s in the hospital for chemotherapy.
I know my readers are a little tired of all the drama that’s been on my blog lately. Sorry about that. I know you’re here for the fiber (most of you, anyhow) but this blog will never be JUST fiber. It’s very representative of my life; mostly fiber but not entirely fiber. The only big thing in my life that I don’t talk about much here is my M. I’ll have to do an entry just about M some day.
OK… back to fiber stuff.
While at Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks, I picked up a kit called “The Reds”. (Not THOSE reds… damned hippies.) It’s a natural dyeing kit with all the natural reds. Pretty cool. I’ll be sure to post all about my little dyeing adventures.
So, memorial went well. Not sure if I want to talk about it but it went well. I left M at his mom’s house until tomorrow at which time I will retrieve my husband and actually spend some time with him for once.
Happy Friday to you all!
Stash update
A couple weeks ago, after coming home from my third trip to a closing LYS with serious discounts (you know… the one I didn’t want to tell my friends about for fear they’d get all the yarn), I told my husband that I was now on a yarn diet. He was shocked when I told him it would last 6 months. He was border-line horrified… until he saw my stash appear in the hammock.
That’s about 3/4ths my total yarn stash. This doesn’t include spinning fiber. Eek.
Here are some shots of the underside for your daily fiber fix. I think I have a sock yarn problem. But then, who doesn’t?
