Wierdest place you have knit?

So, I was having a discussion with a friend yesterday (a non-knitter) and I was telling her my recent "wierdest place I have knit" story. That got me to thinking, and I would love to hear your stories.

To make it interesting, I will make a contest out of it (limited to US) and the winner will be the one that makes me laugh/cry whatever the most.

To get the ball rolling, here is my most recent story:

So, the other day I was at the dentist's office. The ladies all know me as "the knitter," several of them are even knitters/crocheters themselves. They are super sweet, and always ask me what my current project is when I go in. Now, I usually knit in the dentist chair while I am actually waiting for the dentist (it can take a little while for him to finish up with the last person, etc), but this time I knit through the entire visit (chair reclined and everything). It was great because the gals in the office kept coming by and whispering, "is she knitting?" or things to that effect. In my defense, knitting is actually more soothing than having someone's hands in one's mouth...so.

Also, spinning on the streets of London is probably pretty high up there.

Leave your weird/funny stories in the comments with your ravelry ID, I will pick a winner, and then whoever that may I will contact on ravelry (if it is local, I can just give it to them....). I will pick the prize, but I will leave it as a surprise. 'cause I like surprises. If you are not on ravelry, leave some way of contacting you in the comment, so I can make sure you get a pretty.

And put something in before the 30th of June (that will be the day with the popcorn and laugh track).

Secret, what secret?

The voices have told me that I should blog. And this time, I agree with them. Partly because I can actually talk about things. For the 6 months I have been working on a secret project which has consumed a good portion of my life. That makes it hard to blog. Also, I am horrible at keeping secrets, so it was just better for me to avoid my blog.

I have been working for the wonderful Janel Laidman for the past year as an assistant. Then, about 6 months ago, she said, we should make something big! So came The Sock Report.

And, the big news, I have a pattern in it. I am so excited! And proud of my baby. This pattern is called Suki (I wanted it to be "Jar of Sunflowers," after the Van Gogh painting or "For Amy," from the Van Gogh episode of Dr Who, but I was outvoted).

Suki by Miriam Pike
Yarn: Caricia from Textiles a Mano, fingering weight in "Mostly Moss" and "Sage Leaf"
Main Color - 300 (400) yards
Contrast Color - 200 (250) yards

There are two sizes, the larger size yardage is in parenthesis.

Its fun, starts from a garter tab at the neck and ends with the lace edging and a picot bind-off.

So, yes, the past 6 months have been busy.

Note to self: blogging is good!

I have actually had a little time to myself this week. I ended up working from home for 2 days (boss sick/me sick too). It is amazing what I can accomplish if I have multiple days when I am home when the sun is out.

Today was a wonderful mother's day. I took Mom to the Eugene Concert Choir Madrigal Dinner last night, and it was lots of fun (although really, I didn't pay for tickets, but its the thought, right?). Which was fabulous! The food was good, the singing better, and the fight seen, marvelous!

We went to Hendrick's Park today, and it was positively mobbed. It took us several minutes to even park. But it was worth it, the flowers are in bloom, and the sun was out. Its nice to remember that there is sun out there.

So, not many photos to post. I realized I need to take some photos of non-secret stuff. I have several shawls that I have finished lately, but I haven't got pictures of yet. We all know how that happens.

Maybe I'll just post a photo of a pretty dress!

I can haz shiny!

Swap of wonderfullness

It has been awhile, but for the last 6 months, I have been working on secret projects. Suuuuper Sekrit things. So secret, I can't tell you about them till the end of the month (and then you wont stop hearing about them, I promise).

But, I have something non secret I can blog about. I participated in a wonderful swap on Ravelry with some friends. Our theme was "Toys and Trinkets," and it was lots of fun. If you are unfamiliar with crafting swaps, here is how they work.

You sign up on a list and are given a swap partner, this is sometimes public, sometimes secret. Sometimes the person you send to sends back, in this case you send to someone, they send to someone else, etc.

I have participated in this in the past, and this time was wonderful fun. So, without further ado, I give you my lovelies sent by AnnMarie:

I am the proud new owner of the Ornette Sock Pattern by Cookie A and Malabrigo Sock in Ravelry Red (best red evar).

 A zippered notions bag, cloth covered measuring tape, and....

 ...and cute, bitty, wee kitties! I have already used them, and they are amazing!

A birthday shawl

It's only been since July.... Well, posting in the summer is hard. Your taking trips, going to events, trying to stay as cool as you can in your house, and no the afghan is not the perfect project.

In any case, this past month, I joined my first ever mystery knit a long (KAL). There was a Stephen West KAL coming up on Ravelry (and I already had one finished Stephen West pattern, and two more on the way), so I decided to join in.

The way it works, for those in the audience wondering, you sign up, and then you get clues a week apart. These clues are successive sections of the pattern to knit, in this case a shawl. You only know what came before, not what comes next. There were guidelines.

We were told to pick three colors (yardages were recommended for different shawls sizes). I went to sock summit and had fun in the "Verb for Keeping Warm" booth. I got several colors to choose from for my shawl. I ended up using the yellow on the left, the color in the middle, and a skein of pico accuardi in the color "Gwendolyn," not pictured.

Then the first clue came out (I waited until the third one before I started really, as I wasn't thrilled with how the first and second looked). For those interested, I modified the pattern and did a bi-color garter tab for the cast on, rather than in color A. I didn't like the look of the little nugget at the top of a different color.

The next week, clue two came out.

And then three (which basically repeated, so pretty easy to do)

And by then, I was basically done. Mom and Angharad helped me get some good photos for the next part of the KAL, which was to post your photos of your completed object for a prize drawing (and it was on my birthday too). So here it is: my Indigo Garden, pattern Earth and Sky, by Stephen West.

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Happily enough, my shawl one a random drawing. Sometime soon, I am going to get a skein of beautiful yarn in the mail. I can't wait! Well, I guess I can, but it will be a wonderful late b-day present when it comes.

The joys of procrastination

There are many other things I should be doing now. I know this, yet here I am in the library, sipping coffee.

Part of the reason being a good friend from forever is in town. All the way from NY, and I haven't seen her in ages. Last night a large group of us locals got together with her and played pictionary, Duel Style! It was brilliant.

For those who have never played this version, we made it up. But the rules are fairly simple, and easy to remember even after several drinks. Split up into teams (we did girls vs boys) and alternate who draws. We had an enormous white board to use bigger than me. You have one minute to draw what is on your pictionary card (the category being detirmined by rolling dice or some such). Then both teams guess, and whoever guesses first gets the point. If there is question, the two people who guessed at the same time then get to have a duel!

Girls won of course. Although the boys won all but one of the duels.

Rays of Sun

I just finished a new shoulder shawl. I am in love with small shawls that just warm your shoulders.

The shawl is the Lakedale Shawl by Stephen West, from Malabrigo Book 3.

Yarn: The blue is Jitterbug from Colinette. I don't have the label, so I don't know the color way. The yellow is Socks that Rock lightweight. These colors were in my stash (Jitterbug from A, and Socks that Rock from J) and I couldn't resist the combination. Nice and bright. The blue makes me think of Starry Night and also what has come to be known as the Duc du Berry blue (from a medieval manuscript that reaaaaally liked that color).

I knitted this lovely shawl in three weeks. It kept me interested and enthused the whole way. I will say the bind-off was a pain (1000 stitches ish), but well worth it! I love this pattern. Here is the finished piece blocking:

I had a few modifications. Jitterbug has slightly less yardage than what the pattern called for, so I did fewer repeats of the center blue (I went to 211 instead of 231). The pattern is really easy to make larger or smaller because the edge repeat is two stitches. At the very end of the shawl, I didn't have enough of the blue to do the bind-off, so I bound off in the yellow. I think it looks quite nice that way, if I do say so myself. It reminds me of a few things, Van Gogh's Sunflowers, a sun against an azure sky among them. Here is a ravelry link, if anyone is interested.

And now, eye candy!

And I will leave you with the flowers in bloom! What do flowers need? Rays of sun!

Yarn Disaster

I recently was given some yarn. This yarn was given to me with the promise that if I untangled it, it would be mine (or whomsoever had the patience). It was hand dyed by Janel Laidman. I felt up to the task, so I took the bag o' yarn home. When I got it home I spread it out on my living room floor and stared in wonder (more like abject horror):

But, I am a patient woman. I got out my ball winder and began to turn the mess into a skein of yarn:

At which point I began to discover that there was stuff inside this ball. Christmas ornaments. Peacock feathers. Rafia. Sticks.

But, I have now wound two skeins, and I still have a mess. I think there are at least two more skeins of yarn to be found. I have my work cut out for me!

Of Sheep and Rainbows

Occasionally a pattern comes along that you just want to make again and again. Sometimes you get sick of it, but you come back to it a year later enthused and wanting to make it all over again.

For me that pattern is a Felt Flock, from Fiber Trends. This year I decided to make a rainbow of sheep. Who wouldn't? I can make about one of these cuties a week if I put my mind to it.

And here I am at the Egil's Skaligrimson Memorial Tournement this year with them in all their cute glory.

Laure

I recently (and by recently, I mean a few months ago), I cam across a beautiful Nora Gaughn pattern from Berroco's website called "Laure." Now this was a beautiful pattern with curves and angles, so I decided I needed to make it. I had 4 skeins of an Alpaca I bought on the internet in college that are about the same weight as Ultra Alpaca, so I went for it.

This thing was a pain. You make all the little hexagons seperately (okay, I'll give you that), and then you go and pick up stitches all along the edges of the hexagons (and here: when they say the k1 edge, they mean the selvedge edge rather than the outside of the hexagons. That was my first sign that all was not well. And, up to this point, I had been trusting that the pattern knew what it was doing. Because, honestly, I had a pile of blobs that were supposed to morph into my new scarf (I was skeptical).

Once I had that edging done (and this is the point that all the hexagons were connected) I still had to pick up and knit a ruffle edging around each and every single *@%#in one of them! And to make matters worse, I ran out of yarn close to the very end. Thankfully I was able to find a yarn with a close color match (Ultra Alpaca) and finish it.

And it still looked like nothing I would wish to inflict upon even my worst enemy. It looked like a mass from outer space that had latched itself to my neck and was searching to leach every last bit of life from me.

But then I blocked it. And it magically turned into something I would wear. Often even. My friend K graciously agreed to a photo shoot. I managed to get photos of several things that I have made recently but have no photos of (isn't it hard to get photos of yourself in a hat?)...no decent photos I should say. The photo above being the perfect example. So again, thank you Kelly!

Pattern Laure (Ravelry Link)

Yarn: Filatura Lanaroto Puno and Ultra Alpaca

In other news, I have been making a rainbow of sheep. They are all felted, and I feel a photo shoot coming on. Rainbow sheep and....skittles!

Shawls in Review

I have been bad about taking pictures of finished objects. Recently I bothered my new house mate enough that she agreed to help me photograph some of my projects. I don't think I blogged the Aeolian Shawl when I finished it last year, so I need to fix that.

Project: Aeolian Shawl

Materials: 2 skeins Malabrigo Lace in shade Lettuce, US 5s (I love the Addi Lace needles by the way). And lots and lots of beads. Ravelry Link

The other lace shawl I made last summer was Haruni. This was a lovely shawl. I am super happy with it. I made a smaller version with beads to get a light summer shawl.

Project: Haruni

Materials: A random cone, possibly linen/silk. Ravelry Link

Thoughts of Spring

Spring is here! And, no, its not time for assassinating pigeons.

No, it is, in fact, time to make a bajillion little felted sheep. I am using the pattern A Felt Flock from Fiber Trends. I quite like this pattern. I usually end up making a felt sheep or two for

people a year. This year I decided I needed a rainbow flock to tempt people at the Norse Trade Blanket at the Egil's Skaligrimsson Memorial Tournament.

So far I have red all felted and stuffed. I have orange, yellow and green ready to be felted, and blue on the way.

I have also made a few that aren't rainbow. The natural one was made for a friend, who I am waiting for to come and collect it. The pink is going to Egil's, but for now, it is on sale at Heartwood Naturals, an Artist Co-op at 6th and Olive in Eugene.

That is the project that has been taking up a good portion of my time lately. Instead of madly knitting away for me, or working on clothes for Egil's, I have been working on stuff to put up for sale at the co-op. This is an experiment. I am not hoping for a huge income. Rather, I am hoping for "Pizza Money" as my Latin professor used to put it. So, if you know any one looking for cool handmade stuff for mother's day...

Powering Through

Today has been a day of fail. I have been horribly mopey and grumpy, and wanting to make skeletons for my closet. I am not going to be terribly specific (since an internet post on Ravelry is the reason I am crabby), but suffice it to say someone said something on a public forum that really upset me about my work. So, the solution? Cry a little in the morning, then clean the kitchen. I may have even unearthed part of my desk (not in the kitchen, but part of my afternoon madness nonetheless)!

The other part of this be productive so I don't wallow kick is to blog about new projects. Monday night at knitting I finished another pair of fingerless mitts using my Willow pattern.

This is my 4th pair of this pattern. It is super quick to knit up, I knit the pair above in two days. They took:

1/2 a skein of Noro Silk Garden Sock (40% lambswool, 25% silk, 25% nylon, 10% kid mohair | 328 yards | 100 grams) and US 5 needles

I decided to stripe these as I had some leftover Silk Garden Sock in my stash. I striped them by alternating 2 rows from the center, and two rows from the outside of the skein. I also decided not to do the picot bind off as the mitts are already busy enough without the picots. I am super happy with how these turned out, so I am making another pair for the shop in another color.

If all goes well, I will be trying to sell some hand-made items, including these at an Artist's co-op at 6th and Olive. Wish me luck!

Question?

So, a question to the masses:

What do you knit in spring and summer?

And then the second part is: What handknit things do you wear during the spring/summer?

I ask this as I have had the conversation recently with several people about the "seasonality" of knitting.

In other news, the local Barony held their annual A&S championship. This means.....I am done! With that hat in any case. I am still the Arts and Sciences Minister for Adiantum. A job I love, no really.

But seriously, congratulations to Bastian Eisengart for two beautiful entries on medieval food! He is the new A&S champion.

I was delighted by the number of entrants this year. Especially as I was in charge of organizing said championship. But I am glad that it is over. The picture is me, being done (and being thanked too)!

Now I get to think about classes for Egil's. Hmm, I should go work on that. Cheers!

Finished Project

2 Weeks ago, I finished a new sweater. I am really happy with this one. It also broke the sweater block I've had lately. I don't think I've made a sweater in over a year. I have started (and stopped) several in the interim...just never finished them. Needless to say, this one makes me happy.

The yarn is something I have had in my stash for quite awhile (sorry, no pre-op photos). It was a worsted weight, worsted spun yarn from the Norlands, a living history museum near Livermore Falls, ME. If you are in that area of Maine for any reason, it is quite wonderful. They have tours of the enormous estate that includes: The main house, the stables, a Universalist Church, the library, and a one room school house. But I digress.

I bought 5 skeins of yarn milled from the wool of their sheep (as it is a living history museum) at abt 4 oz each. With the help of Fyber Duck, I dyed the yarn, three black, and two in a variegated pink with One Shot dyes. The black turned out grey...but I was still happy with it. This is probably 4 years ago, by the way.

In February (when it snowed, remember?) I took this yarn out of my stash and swatched. Since I didn't have a pattern in mind, I went for it. My goal was a striped, yolk sweater. Sort of like the garter yolk cardigan, but my own design. I did end up using the Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd for my numbers.

I did find that I had to do my decreases faster on the yolk (every 1.5" instead of every 2") and I went down to a smaller size on the yolk. The yolk is a little big in back (as I am so small across my shoulders) but it is not enough to tear out, and it is supposed to be a big, wear over other things sweater anyways.

In any case, tada!