The Decorator Crab

Starting from the beginning

A while back, I signed up for a "learn to spin" class at the Craft Center of my university (aside: how awesome is it that my university has a craft center?!  They have sewing machines, weaving looms, spinning wheels, glass fusing, pottery wheels, photography, a wood shop, and much more - it is too cool). I already knew the basics of spinning before signing up for the class. What I was really after was learning fiber prep - picking raw fleece and carding. We spent the entire first day hand-picking VM out of some borderline janky raw fleece, and then cutting our knuckles on ancient hand carders. No disrespect to hand carder fans, but I was really holding out for the drum carder, which she promised to bring the next day.

The following day (it was a Sat/Sun class), we had two drum carders available for the five of us students. We worked together to card a bit of fiber for everyone, and then the new spinners moved over to the wheels. I however, remained at the drum carder for the remaining three hours of the class! I fell madly in love with carding. Immediately. I created six fluffy batts of some unknown, rustic, amazingly scratchy wool. And I loved it!!

It has some little brown hairs in it - maybe guard hairs of some kind? I am new at this.

I started spinning my lovely scratchy batts immediately, but due to interruptions from other commitments (see previous post), it took a while to finish all of it and get it plied up. Here is how it turned out:

More pics on Ravelry, for those with access.  It is rough, scratchy, and definitely rustic - I love it! I love that it is local, and that I used something that would have otherwise been thrown away (it was fiber from sheep for eating, not sheep for shearing). It was a nice contrast to the merino that I had been spinning right before it, and as a new spinner I am eagerly gobbling up as many kinds of fiber as I can.

I have started a project with the handspun, but I already fear that I will run out before finishing. I wanted to make something simple that would let the natural texture of the wool shine through, so garter stitch was an obvious choice. Without much yarn to work with, and since it is very itchy (no good for a hat), I thought that a pillow ought to fit the bill perfectly. Here is what I have so far.

The plan is simple: four garter squares sewn together. Two will be knit on the bias (diagonal) and two in the "regular" fashion. I am using size 4US needles, which I picked randomly because I haven't done any diagnostics on the yarn like WPI or weight/yardage. There are some thick/thin aspects of the yarn, but I think that it adds to the rustic nature of the yarn. The squares ought to block into nice, even edges. I can't wait to see how it works out!

So, there you have it - my first project that starts from the beginning (raw fleece). Yeah!

In other news, I will be using gifts from my Mom and my Mother in Law to purchase my very own drum carder and some raw fleeces (thanks Moms!!)!  OMFG - there are no words for how excited I am!  And, in some freakish happenstance of cosmic timing, the exact drum carder that I want suddenly became available second-hand, and is in great shape. How amazing and wonderful is that?! *Happy dance!* Since I promised to spend my graduation gifts on fun, indulgent things only (Nothing practical for this gal! Not this time!), I am going buy as much raw fleece as my money will allow me. I will be missing the Black Sheep Gathering because I am in Chile right now (moment of silence, please), but there are many wool-producing farms around here that I can stalk visit. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment! I may also be brave enough to order fleece online, but that feels like cheating somehow. I should use this as a reason to get out and meet my local fiber farmers, yes?

Okay - signing off from Chile. More when I return stateside!

Cutest. Bag. Ever!

OMFG.  I must make it - now!  I get an email every day from Interweave's Knitting Daily (link), and this bag was featured yesterday.  The pattern is by Pam Allen from Interweave's Bag Style, but is available as a free download if you are a subscriber to Knitting Daily.  The project is up on Ravelry, but it looks like no one is working on it yet.  Time to dig through the stash to see if I have anything that will work!

On the move

Observe how sad my stash looks, all squished into two plastic bins.  It deserves better, but this is the price it pays for safe transport to a new home. That's right - Chez Crabby is on the move!  It's not happening immediately, but I am trying to get non-essentials packed up before I leave for the cruise. [Note: I realize that yarn IS an essential, but even the most yarnophilic among us should agree that we don't need all of it out all of the time. Yarn for certain upcoming projects was left out, each pile gloriously displayed on its own shelf.] Anyway.

So, the move.  It's kind of a long story, so let me give you the relevant details in brief. My husband and I met in graduate school at Oregon State University.  OSU is located in a quiet little town in the Willamette Valley, in between Portland (to the north) and Eugene (to the south).  We both enjoyed living in Corvallis very much. But, as often happens, my then-boyfriend finished school and left Corvallis for a really good job in Seattle.  As soon as I finished classes and could work remotely, I moved up to Seattle and we "got serious" (i.e. we bought a house and got married). I am still in school, and am working on writing my dissertation from home.

We have enjoyed Seattle very much, but we can not afford to live in any of the really fun neighborhoods where you can walk to pubs and parks and all of that good Seattle stuff. So, we live in suburbia and we sit in traffic any time we want to go anywhere. We think lovingly back on the days when we lived in Corvallis, when we didn't have to get on the freeway to visit friends or go out to eat. At this point, the best thing about Seattle is the group of friends that we've made since we've been here.

So, we've come up with a way to get back to Corvallis. It's more a matter of things falling into place, really. The group that my husband works for has an office in Newport, Oregon, which is a straight shot out to the coast from Corvallis. His bosses have agreed to let him transfer down, which is so amazing and wonderful because I know that hubbo likes his job and the people that he works with. I still have to finish school, but that will be much easier to do in town rather than trying to handle logistics from Seattle. And, when I do finish, I have a post doctoral position ready and waiting for me at OSU.  YES!  YESYESYES!  Now we can move back down to Pleasantville!!  And we'll both have jobs! 

It's an amazing stroke of luck, really, but I have been secretly scheming for ways to get back down to Oregon for over a year now.  I grew up in a big city (sort of), and at first I hated Corvallis. But the place grew on me and I look forward to getting back to the local co-op, local shops, that local feeling, and the ability to ride my bike or walk almost everywhere.  I am so sick of getting in my car!  Well, I digress now, but you get the gist of it.  The inhabitants of Chez Crabby - me, hubbo, Johnny dog, kitties Maverick and Goose, eleventeen million plants, and the yarn stash are packing up and heading south.  I am thrilled! 

Blue Moon Rocks My Socks

Hello lovelies,

There has been a lot going on, so this post is going to wander a bit.  Hope you can make it through to the end...

Thing 1. I am leaving for another research cruise in a couple of weeks, and I am trying to plan ahead for what yarn I will need and for which projects. This is quite a departure from my last cruise, when I was literally shoving yarn in my bag as the taxi pulled up in the driveway.  Well not this time, suckas!  Anyway, I decided that stripes are very necessary in the mitered square blanket, so then I faced the challenge of locating some STR before I go.  I stopped into the only yarn shop in the Seattle area that carries STR (viva Churchmouse!), and looked for some heavyweight shaded solids that would match the Carbon Dating colorway.  We all know how that worked out, right?  Bupkis! 

I want to pick three more colorways to create the stripes: Jasper (purple-ish), the blue color that I boxed on the left, and another one that I haven't decided about quite yet (Obsidian? Blue Moonstone? Something more taupe-y like the color to the right of the band??  HELP?!). Anyway, I emailed Blue Moon for help and what do you know - the lady herself, Tina, wrote me back!!  I didn't even know what color I wanted, just "that bluish one in the photo," and she kindly informed of its name (Spinel), and gave me the blessing to special order it.  I shouldn't be surprised - everyone has been raving about Blue Moon since forever, but I was really impressed with how well they treated me!  So I happily forked over the cash and will have my rockin' stash before I go.  You can see both of the colors, BTW, on Cara's blog here.  If you have an opinion on the third color I should choose, do not hold back.  I know which way I am leaning, but I knit in a vacuum and appreciate feedback on this here blog.

Thing 2.  Two weeks ago I was wearing my Short Row Hat in Home Depot (Grumperina is not the only one who shops there), and a woman approached me about it. 

Her: Where did you find that hat?!
Me: <proudly> I made it. </proudly>
Her: Does it come in blue? 
Me: pause... Uh, I could find blue yarn, I suppose. 
Her: How much would it cost for you to make me one? 
Me: I don't know - I've never made a hat for hire before. 
Her: Well, if you ever make one, contact me and I will buy it. <Hands me a business card>

How about that?!  It turns out that I don't knit for charity, but I sure as shit will whore out my services for a few bucks!**  I sent her a photo of the colorways that AmiAmi's Faith comes in, and she loved one of the blue ones. I ordered the yarn, it arrived yesterday (isn't it gorgeous?), and I'll start on the hat soon.  I think I said yes both because I was flattered at the idea of it, and because it was a really fun pattern to knit the first time around. I am looking forward to knitting it again.  I'm toying around with the idea of trying to turn it into a scarf because I have a bunch of yarn leftover from making my hat. Could be pretty simple, actually.

Thing the Last: I swatched for Central Park Hoodie instead of Camellia. I've been putting off making a whole sweater, but I'm not sure why. I decided that it was time to bite the bullet and do it.  So I got out some KnitPicks Swish and went to it. I got stitch gauge after blocking, but I am one row off on row gauge. I was going to have to adjust the pattern for my Amazonian arms anyway, so making changes on the number of rows is no big deal. The Swish both softened and fluffed up after blocking, and I think it's going to make a nice sweater. I went with 'Red Pepper,' and it sure is RED! This is not very apparent in this photo, but you will see. I wanted to spice up the wardrobe a bit, and we all know that I'm not afraid to wear a little color. NOTE: I didn't machine wash the swatch b/c I don't plan on machine washing the sweater, but I've heard that the row gauge does change quite a bit if you put it in the dryer - be warned! 

So that's all of my "things."

**ETA: Since the pattern of this hat is copyrighted by Interweave Press, and since it would technically be illegal (thanks Margaret!) to sell the hat, I am going to make the hat and give it away as a gift. As far as I can tell, this is not illegal (otherwise - cancel Christmas!).

Odds and Ends

I've been knitting more than blogging lately, but even the knitting has been sparse. I've been traveling for work/school, and now I've come down with a head cold. I don't trust myself to knit while I've got mucous on the brain. Before falling ill to demon, non-resident bacteria, I finished another miter block for the Mitered Square Blanket ('miter' as in a block of four corners knit seamlessly). I've verified that I can get two miters  out of one hank of STR, with a little left over. Good to know. At this rate a finished blanket, sized according to the pattern, will cost over $200.  A-hem.  Well.  Gulp!  Maybe I can fudge a smaller one! You may remember from my conceptual drawing that I did plan on having fewer squares than the pattern, but maybe I should think even *smaller*. (BTW: That's STR heavyweight in colorway Carbon Dating, not Carbon, which is a different color combo).

Another issue: I don't know if I'm all that wild about the blocks.  Seriously.  I love the yarn, don't get me wrong, but I don't know if I am crazy about the blocks. I think I would like them better if I could mix in a coordinating semi-solid, instead of having the whole block in one colorway.  I have to buy more yarn to finish the blanket anyway, so maybe it's not a big deal to rip back a couple of blocks for the better of the project as a whole. Any thoughts on that? This has been a lingering concern since I bought the yarn - the shop didn't have any semi-solids in stock at the time, and I was fiending for some STR.  You can't blame a girl for that, am I right?! 

So, the MSB is in a holding pattern until I can get over to the yarn shop and look over my options.  I've knit up a couple of small hats in the mean time, but failed to get any photos, of course. I've also been working on a super cool scarf pattern that Sky found, but it's kind of slow-going.  A free pattern for the Woven Cables Scarf can be found at Knitty Gritty Thoughts. I'm using some spare Knit Picks Elegance that I had in the stash, and this will be one soft, fluffy scarf when it's done.  Who knows when that will be?!

I've been in a sort of knitters Purgatory for the past week or so. You know, in between projects, not quite sure how to proceed.  Inspiration struck in the form of an instant message from Sky about Camellia, one of Glampyre's newer patterns.  I haven't seen it on the web much, but it's unusual and I have some yarn that will work for it in the stash (didn't you notice my "Knit from your stash '07" button?!). There is a knitalong on Craftster for the pattern, but there hasn't been very much action on the thread, yet. Mostly trying to figure out which yarn to use and what the hell the schematics mean (I wondered the same until I read the pattern). I was a little confused by the sizing, so I am taking it on faith that she sized the pattern by bust size, as usual. 

This has the potential to come out like a granny sweater, but if I get the sizing right it could be really cute. I'm going to swatch with Knit Picks Sierra tonight (during Survivor and Grey's!) - it should work.  Stay tuned...

Hat fought the dog...

...and the dog won.  Here we have a simple case of German Shepherd versus Cabled Newsboy Cap, and you can see who lost the fight. You may recall from last year that I knit hats for my nieces and nephew on my husband's side of the family. When they were out here for our wedding I had made a deal with them: if they picked out some yarn and Kool-Aid colors, I would dye the yarn and knit them hats. It was a done deal by last Christmas, and the hats were well received. Everyone was happy.

Then the in-laws came for a visit from Chicago a couple of weeks ago (they live near the hat-recipients), and the remains of one hat and (thankfully) some of the left-over yarn arrived back in Seattle. Apparently knit hats are the new "It" chew-toy this year, and hand knits are vastly more tasty than store-bought, to be sure. Maybe it was the Kool-Aid?

This was my first opportunity to repair something that I had knit, and despite the sadness at seeing my hand-knit in shreds, I was pleased as punch. It is unfortunate that the hat was chewed up (moment of silence, please), but the fact that the hat was in use and not tucked in the back of some closet somewhere was very gratifying.  So, I was happy to fix it and get it back home and on someone's head.

I had to pull out just less than the top half of the hat.  Once that was done I spit-joined the end of the hat yarn with the working yarn, figured out where in the cable repeat I was, and re-knit the hat.  Simple!   I soaked the hat in warm water with a bit of wool-wash, and then blocked it over a partially inflated balloon sitting in a bowl. I was happy to see that my dyeing was spastic enough that the old yarn and new yarn joined seamlessly (no long stretches of color to match), and the blocking helped bring back some loft to the left-over yarn that had been wound pretty tightly for the past year.  The hat is now back in the hands of it's rightful owner, and the order of the [hand knit] world has been restored.

Other small projects continue, and I'll post about them shortly. There have been successes and not-so-successes, but all is fair in love and knitting.  Also - happy Solstice! It's only getting lighter and brighter now, baby!

Another Jaywalker WIP Photo

I know.  How many of photos of partially finished Jaywalkers has everybody seen by now?  As Laurie would say, about eleventeen million. But, this is my first pair, and you must bear with my virgin enthusiasm. The stripe sequence keeps me going round after round, especially when I get to a color change and I can tell whether or not the length of the dyed section is correct. Four rows brown, two rows turquoise, three rows white, etc. This is endlessly satisfying.

(The lengths of sections have not changed since I first started the sock. I know this. I dyed the yarn, and I planned it this way. Nevertheless, the fact that it is still working out seven inches into the sock still amazes me. I have no explanation for this.)

I am working on the slip-stitch heel (only a few rows in), and hope to be done with the sock by the end of the week. This brings me to my next point. How do people (you know who you are) finish a pair of socks in one week? I am not a slow knitter. I'm not the FloJo of the knitting world either, but I can make respectable progress. And yet, here I've been working on this sock for a week, have had a long weekend to get some extra hours in, have not had to do any major ripping (knock on wood), and haven't even turned the heel. What gives? Do people have more time in the evenings or something? Should I be sneaking in rows at red lights? Okay, probably not.  But still - this goes back to my post from a couple of weeks ago - there simply isn't enough time to get as much knitting done as I would like. My fingers are slower than my brain, and it is frustrating. Ah well, I guess it's a character building exercise for improved patience and focus. I *may* have to cheat with another project while working on the second sock, though. I have this idea for felted bowls that involves Fair Isle...

So. In. Love!

Love the yarn - so soft. Love the stripes, which are coming out as planned (thanks, Eunny!). Love the pattern - easy, fun!  Loving that I'm loving knitting a sock. I hoped that it would happen eventually.  The whole thing was sort of lost on me, but now I get it. I guess I chose poorly on projects and yarn for previous sock attempts.  No longer!  This is the start of a beautiful relationship...

No picture but...

...trust me - the stripes are working!  The math worked and my Jaywalkers are self-stripey and wonderful. I don't know why I thought that the pattern would be hard. It's so easy! Can't wait to share photos (Camera? Check. Transfer cable? Doh!).  Tomorrow I promise, 'kay?

Great Idea, Poor Execution

Poor execution by me, that is. I finished my first Pedicure Sock last night, and the thing is a total failure. If I were Wendy, I would file this one under "The Losers." I had worried going into the project that a sock on size 7US needles was going to be loose and, dare I say it, ugly. I should have listened to myself and tried out a smaller needle. The stitches are way too loose, and the sock itself is loose on my wee chicken legs.  (Note - yes, my skin is woefully under moisturized. After eleven games of volleyball in 80+ degree weather and one cold shower, I could not be motivated to moisturize. Mea culpa. Also, yes, that is a blister on the left side of my big toe. Eleven games, or about six too many.)

Random thought: I haven't seen very many pictures of toes on blogs - are people grossed out by this?  Would polish have helped?

Anyway. This sock is a great idea, and a project that I will revisit. But, not with worsted weight yarn, not with two strands (cool, but kind of a pain), and with more ribbing...somewhere. Everywhere? So, sadly, now I have two finished socks, both singletons, neither of which could be worn together - that would have taken tremendous luck. Poo. I'll chalk it up to a learning experience and move on.  Move on to some Jaywalkers with my....

...newly dyed yarn!  I have many photos of the process, and will share in a later post. I used Eunny's tutorial to figure out a stripe pattern for the brown/turquoise/white, and flew by the seat of my pants for the red/pink/green. My inspiration for the hank on the left was watermelons, which I have been eating with gusto for a couple of weeks now. On the right, random idea. I have always liked the brown/white/pink combo, but wanted to try something different. The brown, which I redyed to try to get it darker, didn't come out as chocolatey as I had hoped, and the turquoise is a bit too green to my eye. Nevertheless, I am pleased with the outcome and can't wait to start up the sock.  I'll post pictures of the stripe sequence as soon as I can. 

I'm off to Oregon for the week, but I'll try to check in from there. Good luck with your Monday!