(Nope, no new photos...all my photo mojo went to eBay last night.)
I'm now a full repeat past the original body chart on the Forest Canopy. With a couple of hands from Sharron at SnB tonight, I determined that the blocked wingspan would be approximately 40". Only 25" to go! (My personal wingspan is about 68", and I figure a couple of inches less is OK.)
So tonight, mad props go out to:
- Sharron, for the aforementioned handiness;
- Laura, for showing me in short, unpanicked, profanity-free fashion how to fix my profanity-laden eff-up (I'd missed a YO...it was the easiest fix ever);
- And Amy, temporarily to be re-nicknamed Panic Disabler Amy, for talking me down from a near panic attack incurred when I was - no exaggeration - nearly hit head-on by a Suburban on my way home from SnB.
No, I'm not kidding...yes, I'm mostly OK (if still a bit shaky even an hour later). I think I may have cashed in a couple of karma chips on this one. (If anybody can tell me how I earned them in the first place, please do, because I think this was pretty close to All In and I might need to restock.)
Anyway, thanks, y'all. Is it any wonder that I live for Thursdays? (Oh, jeez, no pun intended.)
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
What a time to be low on cash
So I stopped by Blue Moon, that I might continue to stalk look out for Sock Candy (cotton sock yarn). I still did not achieve a non-kit Sock Candy sighting...
...but I did find this.
Be still, my lace-shawl-knitting heart. It would seem that I need to step up the pace on creating the Plum Texan colorway.
Enjoy the holiday, y'all!
...but I did find this.
Be still, my lace-shawl-knitting heart. It would seem that I need to step up the pace on creating the Plum Texan colorway.
Enjoy the holiday, y'all!
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Yarn pr0n and shameless promotion
It took me a while to catch on to the Sea Silk craze. I started out as a blanket knitter and got used to thinking of sportweight as "ridiculously thin" yarn. Sure, I quickly tired of Boye circulars and moved on to Addi Turbos...and then to KnitPicks Options, but at one point you would have had to pry my Lion Brand Homespun from my cold, dead fingers.
I still believe that Homespun (not to mention Sugar 'n' Cream) has its place. But at some point in my three-ish-year career of knitting large, flat objects – when I'd decided that maybe my skills *were* enough to manage it, and was in desperate want of a garment that I could actually wear in Houston – I decided I wanted to try lace knitting.
So after several false starts, including purchasing Folk Shawls, failing at the Knitting Olympics, and developing a serious infatuation with Sea Silk at Yarntopia, I thoroughly mined all of HandMaiden's online stockists and settled on Knitty-Noddy.com. It's a clean, easy-on-the-eyes site with great navigation, not to mention specials and information everywhere. Owner Evelyn has an impressive list of brands from mid-range to luxury, and impressive stock to boot. Best of all, she takes fantastic product shots and makes thumbnails of every colorway; click, and you get a much larger picture; double-click, and a new window with a *still larger* picture opens.
Amy the Yarn Enabler was over at my place New Year's Eve, and helped me choose (after a loooooong decision process) the Amethyst colorway (as seen in the previous post for the IP Forest Canopy). This was just before midnight on December 31...and by 10 am on January 1, Evelyn had personally e-mailed me to let me know she'd send it out the next day. And lo, on January 5, I came home to the trifecta of Excellent Online Retailing:
- A lovely, sturdy package, neither too large or too small for the...
- Perfectly packed purchase, wrapped gently in plastic and nestled in tissue paper, and...
- Shipped by inexpensive, efficient Priority Mail.
Even more, there was a personal, handwritten note from Evelyn, a touch that will put any purchase over the top for me. I e-mailed my thanks and undying loyalty, and she replied warmly. An unbelievably great experience all around...no small thing when you're spending more than $30 a skein on *any* yarn.
I soon discovered that the expense was more than worth it. Just one repeat of the Forest Canopy, and I was head over heels in love – both with lace and with the Sea Silk. I acquired the two skeins of Berry at the lovely Yarntopia, but even this left me wanting more.
Then, on April 1, Evelyn announced HandMaiden's happy error of the 150g skeins (previously mentioned here). I wondered if it was an April Fool's joke, but she kindly disabused me of the notion. This made it impossible to resist, so I didn't: that's when the Ocean, Vintage, and Sea Storm (below) found new homes (i.e. mine). Evelyn showed incredible patience with my selection process, and gave me the same lovely, speedy service she had before.
What's more, we exchanged several e-mails, which included some discussion of my fiber sensitivities and, ergo, why Sea Silk was practically the perfect product for me. Evelyn mentioned that she'd requested a second shipment, which finally came through in mid-May.
Once again, I failed to resist the Sea Siren...hence, the Sangria. A special-edition Storm Water Stole, reworked from the original scarf pattern, came along for only $1.50. And yet a third time, Evelyn came through with the best service around. What more could you ask for? (Aside from more cash for more yarn, of course.)
Here's what, for all you HandMaiden/Fleece Artist fans and sheep-free types like me. In addition to the Sea Silk, there's the new Flaxen, plus Silken, Lace Silk, and much more. Colorways you don't see just everywhere. The ability to special order *any* HM/FA yarn in nearly *any* colorway on the cards.
For the sheepless and sheep-full, Knitty-Noddy.com also carries woolly Fleece Artist stuff, Claudia Handpaints, Lantern Moon, Fiber Trends, Interweave, and tons of other yarn, accessories, and patterns...all this, plus the distinct advantage of personal service from a small business owner who really knows her stuff - and her customers.
In short, stop by Knitty-Noddy.com the next time you want handpainted yarn wonderment. Evelyn – who completely deserves your business – is an absolute yarn wonder her darned self. And when you're buying even a single skein this fancy, you deserve a wondrous experience.
I still believe that Homespun (not to mention Sugar 'n' Cream) has its place. But at some point in my three-ish-year career of knitting large, flat objects – when I'd decided that maybe my skills *were* enough to manage it, and was in desperate want of a garment that I could actually wear in Houston – I decided I wanted to try lace knitting.
So after several false starts, including purchasing Folk Shawls, failing at the Knitting Olympics, and developing a serious infatuation with Sea Silk at Yarntopia, I thoroughly mined all of HandMaiden's online stockists and settled on Knitty-Noddy.com. It's a clean, easy-on-the-eyes site with great navigation, not to mention specials and information everywhere. Owner Evelyn has an impressive list of brands from mid-range to luxury, and impressive stock to boot. Best of all, she takes fantastic product shots and makes thumbnails of every colorway; click, and you get a much larger picture; double-click, and a new window with a *still larger* picture opens.
Amy the Yarn Enabler was over at my place New Year's Eve, and helped me choose (after a loooooong decision process) the Amethyst colorway (as seen in the previous post for the IP Forest Canopy). This was just before midnight on December 31...and by 10 am on January 1, Evelyn had personally e-mailed me to let me know she'd send it out the next day. And lo, on January 5, I came home to the trifecta of Excellent Online Retailing:
- A lovely, sturdy package, neither too large or too small for the...
- Perfectly packed purchase, wrapped gently in plastic and nestled in tissue paper, and...
- Shipped by inexpensive, efficient Priority Mail.
Even more, there was a personal, handwritten note from Evelyn, a touch that will put any purchase over the top for me. I e-mailed my thanks and undying loyalty, and she replied warmly. An unbelievably great experience all around...no small thing when you're spending more than $30 a skein on *any* yarn.
I soon discovered that the expense was more than worth it. Just one repeat of the Forest Canopy, and I was head over heels in love – both with lace and with the Sea Silk. I acquired the two skeins of Berry at the lovely Yarntopia, but even this left me wanting more.
Then, on April 1, Evelyn announced HandMaiden's happy error of the 150g skeins (previously mentioned here). I wondered if it was an April Fool's joke, but she kindly disabused me of the notion. This made it impossible to resist, so I didn't: that's when the Ocean, Vintage, and Sea Storm (below) found new homes (i.e. mine). Evelyn showed incredible patience with my selection process, and gave me the same lovely, speedy service she had before.
What's more, we exchanged several e-mails, which included some discussion of my fiber sensitivities and, ergo, why Sea Silk was practically the perfect product for me. Evelyn mentioned that she'd requested a second shipment, which finally came through in mid-May.
Once again, I failed to resist the Sea Siren...hence, the Sangria. A special-edition Storm Water Stole, reworked from the original scarf pattern, came along for only $1.50. And yet a third time, Evelyn came through with the best service around. What more could you ask for? (Aside from more cash for more yarn, of course.)
Here's what, for all you HandMaiden/Fleece Artist fans and sheep-free types like me. In addition to the Sea Silk, there's the new Flaxen, plus Silken, Lace Silk, and much more. Colorways you don't see just everywhere. The ability to special order *any* HM/FA yarn in nearly *any* colorway on the cards.
For the sheepless and sheep-full, Knitty-Noddy.com also carries woolly Fleece Artist stuff, Claudia Handpaints, Lantern Moon, Fiber Trends, Interweave, and tons of other yarn, accessories, and patterns...all this, plus the distinct advantage of personal service from a small business owner who really knows her stuff - and her customers.
In short, stop by Knitty-Noddy.com the next time you want handpainted yarn wonderment. Evelyn – who completely deserves your business – is an absolute yarn wonder her darned self. And when you're buying even a single skein this fancy, you deserve a wondrous experience.
*****
Further to the Forest Canopy shawl, I have completed yet another repeat, plus two rows. This brings me within 4 rows of the original body pattern. Much as I'd love to tack on the edging and call it a day, the shawl is still a bit wee. In the next couple of days, I'm going to pin it out for measuring and determine how much further I want/need to go. And still my enthusiasm has not waned!
Three posts in seven days...has the world gone mad?!
Three posts in seven days...has the world gone mad?!
Monday, June 25, 2007
You wanted photos?
You got 'em: The in-progress Forest Canopy...
...and the in-progress Red Shawl Dammit.
It's amazing what feats Ravelry will inspire. If you're "in" over there, my profile (plumtexan, of course) has tons more old FOs for your enjoyment.
Up next: yarn pr0n. No promises on when, of course. :)
...and the in-progress Red Shawl Dammit.
It's amazing what feats Ravelry will inspire. If you're "in" over there, my profile (plumtexan, of course) has tons more old FOs for your enjoyment.
Up next: yarn pr0n. No promises on when, of course. :)
tomato puree, vinegar, and sugar...
...also known as "ketchup." Yep - I'm back, I'm punny, and I still don't have any new pictures to add. I figure three months is about long enough for you to wait for newness, however disorganized.
There's been a lot going on - some of it good, some of it not. Good: I still love my job, I'm really happy with the knitting I'm doing right now, and I'm getting my, ahem, *stuff* together slowly but surely.
Bad: I was sick three times in four months, sometimes work is way too busy, and my husband has Crohn's disease all the time. (He's fine now, but Bryan had a bad flare-up over the last few weeks and it took a while to get him back to [ab]normal.)
I've been away for both the good and bad. More specifically, the not-so-good has taken up a lot of time in the last month; when it hasn't, I've mostly been spending time on the good. I'm still working on the Red Shawl Dammit, and have been really getting somewhere on the Forest Canopy. Plus, I'm starting to plan ahead for rather a wide variety of things.
Since those things include knitting, I was pretty jazzed to finally get my Ravelry invite! There's not much I could say that everybody else hasn't said already, so I'll just add to the chorus of love. And another testimony that the system works: I found someone else (in Canada!) who had done the Forest Canopy in Sea Silk on US4s, which is exactly what I'm doing. She really helped give me a clue as to how many repeats I'll want to add to get it to the size I want.
Speaking of Sea Silk, I've bought a whole lot of it since I've been away. As an update to the Yarntopia outing I mentioned back in March, my total haul was two skeins of the stuff in Berry. Of course, I thought that was enough.
This was before lovely Evelyn at Knitty-Noddy.com announced she'd received (as did several other stockists) a whole bunch of 150g skeins of Sea Silk. "Like white on rice" doesn't even begin to describe how on that I was. So now, in addition to the IP Amethyst and the two skeins of Berry, I am the proud owner of 600m each of Ocean, Sea Storm, Vintage, and Sangria.
At least it's the only yarn I've bought lately, right?
Almost as stunning as the Sea Silk (and believe me, it's stunning) is the fact that I've only been working on two projects for a couple of months now. I reclaimed a few random UFOs recently, one of which I started working into a quick desk coaster for work (Sugar 'n' Cream, of course) yesterday...but otherwise, it's the Forest Canopy when I can focus, the Red Shawl Dammit when I'm mindless.
All my creative mojo must be going to the shawls, though, because it's certainly not coming out in my cooking. I've been doing more of it, but it hasn't all been great. To some point, it's "only" weeknight dinner stuff and is therefore almost acceptable...but I like cooking mediocre food even less than I like eating it...and that's saying a lot, which you know if you've met me in person.
All in all, there's just a whole lot of getting my groove back. On the one hand, it was good to discover that I'm more prepared for a random crisis than I realized...and on the other, random crises SUCK ASS. As does seeing your husband ill and knowing there's not a whole hell of a lot you can do until the flare-up passes. We both think he'll be fine - all things considered, his form of Crohn's is still the (ha) mild one - but he has to get the right medication and the right doctor, and we both have to learn how to help him maintain. That's all right with me, even if I wish we didn't have to.
So it's not altogether a cohesive post, but it's a start. Back on the planning note, I'm trying to pick back up on being Plum Texan and telling you lovely folks (if any of you are still out there :) ) all about it. My blogiversary comes around on July 30, which gives me about 5 weeks to Bring It (Back). Ideas are in the works...there may be polls, if I can figure out how to use them...and I could very much use some assistance with CSS, if anyone local is interested. (I pay cash and/or yarn shop gift certificates. Seriously.)
P.S. No photos now, but I'm working on getting my Flickr together and taking more shots. I make no promises, but there's a chance that your patience will be rewarded this week.
There's been a lot going on - some of it good, some of it not. Good: I still love my job, I'm really happy with the knitting I'm doing right now, and I'm getting my, ahem, *stuff* together slowly but surely.
Bad: I was sick three times in four months, sometimes work is way too busy, and my husband has Crohn's disease all the time. (He's fine now, but Bryan had a bad flare-up over the last few weeks and it took a while to get him back to [ab]normal.)
I've been away for both the good and bad. More specifically, the not-so-good has taken up a lot of time in the last month; when it hasn't, I've mostly been spending time on the good. I'm still working on the Red Shawl Dammit, and have been really getting somewhere on the Forest Canopy. Plus, I'm starting to plan ahead for rather a wide variety of things.
Since those things include knitting, I was pretty jazzed to finally get my Ravelry invite! There's not much I could say that everybody else hasn't said already, so I'll just add to the chorus of love. And another testimony that the system works: I found someone else (in Canada!) who had done the Forest Canopy in Sea Silk on US4s, which is exactly what I'm doing. She really helped give me a clue as to how many repeats I'll want to add to get it to the size I want.
Speaking of Sea Silk, I've bought a whole lot of it since I've been away. As an update to the Yarntopia outing I mentioned back in March, my total haul was two skeins of the stuff in Berry. Of course, I thought that was enough.
This was before lovely Evelyn at Knitty-Noddy.com announced she'd received (as did several other stockists) a whole bunch of 150g skeins of Sea Silk. "Like white on rice" doesn't even begin to describe how on that I was. So now, in addition to the IP Amethyst and the two skeins of Berry, I am the proud owner of 600m each of Ocean, Sea Storm, Vintage, and Sangria.
At least it's the only yarn I've bought lately, right?
Almost as stunning as the Sea Silk (and believe me, it's stunning) is the fact that I've only been working on two projects for a couple of months now. I reclaimed a few random UFOs recently, one of which I started working into a quick desk coaster for work (Sugar 'n' Cream, of course) yesterday...but otherwise, it's the Forest Canopy when I can focus, the Red Shawl Dammit when I'm mindless.
All my creative mojo must be going to the shawls, though, because it's certainly not coming out in my cooking. I've been doing more of it, but it hasn't all been great. To some point, it's "only" weeknight dinner stuff and is therefore almost acceptable...but I like cooking mediocre food even less than I like eating it...and that's saying a lot, which you know if you've met me in person.
All in all, there's just a whole lot of getting my groove back. On the one hand, it was good to discover that I'm more prepared for a random crisis than I realized...and on the other, random crises SUCK ASS. As does seeing your husband ill and knowing there's not a whole hell of a lot you can do until the flare-up passes. We both think he'll be fine - all things considered, his form of Crohn's is still the (ha) mild one - but he has to get the right medication and the right doctor, and we both have to learn how to help him maintain. That's all right with me, even if I wish we didn't have to.
So it's not altogether a cohesive post, but it's a start. Back on the planning note, I'm trying to pick back up on being Plum Texan and telling you lovely folks (if any of you are still out there :) ) all about it. My blogiversary comes around on July 30, which gives me about 5 weeks to Bring It (Back). Ideas are in the works...there may be polls, if I can figure out how to use them...and I could very much use some assistance with CSS, if anyone local is interested. (I pay cash and/or yarn shop gift certificates. Seriously.)
P.S. No photos now, but I'm working on getting my Flickr together and taking more shots. I make no promises, but there's a chance that your patience will be rewarded this week.
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