Work space cleared. We aim to be productive.

A few weeks ago my sister came to town and took it upon herself to organize my craft room. Well, she offered and I took her up on it before she could change her mind. Here’s where I’d show you the evidence of the horrible, horrible mess at the beginning of the project in order for you to be amazed by the progress and the prettiness at the end. But those pictures have gone walk about (or maybe I burned them). So, instead I’m going to ask you to imagine a yarn/costume/fiber/bead/paper store had been attacked by terrible, terrible space monkeys*. 

Central to the problem of my craft room is storage. My great aunt gave me this fabulous wardrobe (sadly it does not lead to Narnia, but does have lots of yarn in it so a different sort of wonderland), but I couldn’t actually see where anything was. I also had clear plastic bins, clear plastic stackable drawers, and a wire frame elfa island – all of which were ugly and none of which were being used effectively. 

There's a lot of yarn here, but I can't find anything.  I should buy more yarn for my next project... wait.

My method up until now was pull all the bags out, pull all the yarn out of the bags, find that one ball I was looking for, then put all the yarn back in all the bags. This was also how I organized my art supplies, only they were in plastic bins. I didn’t always remember to put all the yarn, or paper, or pencils back… you see where the space monkeys come in. 

So after taking quite a few measurements of the wardrobe and a quick trip to the Container Store** we pulled everything out of the wardrobe and I started sorting.

 

Should I sort by fiber, color or thickness? Key question.

I decided that fiber/use was the way to organize. For example I’ve my hand-spun (for special TBD projects) in one place, the nice acrylics in a basket, the cotton of various colors and thicknesses in another, and wool in yet another. The blue denim yarn (too nice to toss, but what to do with 12 skeins?) goes in the basket on the top shelf, with the other random blue cotton I’ve acquired. When I find the project I need it for I’ll know where it is, but until then it won’t be in the way. 

Yarn organized so I can find what I'm looking for?! Brilliant!

Look, floor!

Look, more floor! And clothes on hangers, how novel!
My sister organized the closet, so I can't take credit for how awesome this looks.

For now, my craft room is done. There are still a few pieces that need cleaned up. My sister found a box full of paper and mementos not touched in probably five years. I want to finish organizing the closet so everything I regularly use is accessible. I'd like to get another bookcase. And I’ve still got a bag of yarn that’s ugly, scratchy acrylic that I’m having a hard time throwing away. 

I might need it. 

I mean, I don’t want to have to go out and BUY more construction-cone orange, dingy green, or eye-searing aqua. That would just be silly. Anyone need me to crochet a miniature life-preserver for them? Anyone? organization 

Next time: Steel and Steam, and Wildflowers. 

*Yes, I still miss Firefly. Just the other day I thought, “I’d love to see the second season of that… oh wait.” 

** After spending 6 hours online trying to figure out what would fit, the time spent at the Container Store was whittled down to a mere 3 hours.

Baby Shower and Drawings... not at the same time.

This past weekend I helped host a baby shower. The mommy to be was beautiful and glowing, the guests were lovely, and we had more than enough food. Party success! My co-hostess has already written an eloquent post, and you should read it there. She gave me way more credit than I deserve. And doesn’t mention all the reconnaissance she ran, finding a bunch of different possible venues, and dealing with the one we picked. She made sure we had tables, chairs, the linens, finding just the right plates (twice), made all the invitations… The girl is amazing. And she’s selling her stuff, you should check it out.

Other than party planning, I’ve been mostly just sketching. My knitting has taken a back seat, partly because it's so hot, and partly because I'd forgotten how much I love to draw and have thrown myself into it.

I took an Intro to Fashion Illustration class two weekends ago, and loved it! We worked on croquis (pronounced cro-key). It’s French for sketch, but used in English to mean the elongated figures that are used to show off clothing design.

The croquis are so different from how I’m used to sketching. They are elongated; a human being is about eight times the height of their head tall – croquis are at least nine. Also, croquis are drawn from point to point with straight lines (that you then go over and round out). I’m used to connecting circular shapes when drawing figures. Bottom line, my issue with croquis is that I am only drawing what is in my head, and I don’t have a real life model to look at if I get stuck. I know I’ll get better with practice, but I don’t want to spend time on the basics, I want to design now.

Fortunately Stephanie, who taught the class, handed out examples to use as bases, so we can create designs while we are still working on our own style. Her blog has examples of her work. I love her style of super elongated croquis, it makes the clothing pop. I’m looking forward to taking the second class in the series. It focuses on the skills needed to design knitwear. Right up my ally.

More like guidelines, really.

I’ve given up on writing the pattern (in the traditional sense) for the baby blanket that I designed. Instead, I've got some guidelines:
NOTE: What follows are the guidelines for how I made THIS blanket. Underneath I've written other guidelines should I do it again. You might want to check those before you cast on.

Cast on 102 stitches using the provisional method. (Even though the pattern calls for multiples of 4, plus 1. I added an extra stitch so that I could slip one on each side to make it easier to picking up stitches along the edge later.)
Knit using the center pattern Heatherbee's Honeycomb pattern for a lot of rows (probably 200).
Pick up stitches around the blanket such that you end up with 101 stitches on each side.
Knit 40 rounds, at the edges yo, knit, yo.
Ending with 181 stitches on each side. Don’t end at a corner. I ended 72 stitches in from the corner.

Cast on 17 stitches using the provisional method on a different needle. Knit the edging perpendicular to the blanket. For every one stitch on the blanket edge knit two rows of the edging.

WARNING THE FOLLOWING HAS NOT BEEN TESTED SINCE I WROTE IT OUT SO PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK

The edging (based on No. 3. For Grace McGregor):
1 :yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k2, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k 5, yo, k, yo, k
2 :sl 1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
3 :yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k3, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k 5, yo, k, yo, k 2
4 :sl 1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
5 :yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k4, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k 5, yo, k, yo, k 3
6 :sl 1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
7 :yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k 5, yo, k, yo, k 4
8 :bind off 4, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
9 :yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k6, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k 5, yo, k, yo, k
10:sl 1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
11:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k3, yo, ssk, k2, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, ssk, yo, yo, k2tog, k, yo, k, yo, k2
12:sl 1, p7, k, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
13:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k2, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k2, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k5, yo, k, yo, k 3
14:sl 1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
15:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k2, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k 5, yo, k, yo, k 4
16:bind off 4, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
17:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k2, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k4, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k 5, yo, k, yo, k
18:sl 1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
19:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k3, yo, ssk, k6, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k 5, yo, k, yo, k 2
20:sl 1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
21:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k 12, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, ssk, yo, yo, k2tog, k, yo, k, yo, k3
22:sl1, p8, k, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
23:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k 13, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k 5, yo, k, yo, k4
24:bind off 4, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
25:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k 14, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k 5, yo, k, yo, k
26:sl1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
27:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k 11, yo, ssk, k2, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k 5, yo, k, yo, k2
28:sl1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
29:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k 10, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k2, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k 5, yo, k, yo, k3
30:sl1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
31:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k 9, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k2, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, ssk, yo, yo, k2tog, k, yo, k, yo, k4
32:bind off 4, p 6, k, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
33:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k8, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k2, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k 5, yo, k, yo, k
34:sl1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
35:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k7, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k2, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k 5, yo, k, yo, k2
36:sl1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
37:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k 8, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k3
38:sl1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
39:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k 9, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k, ssk, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k2tog, yo, yo, ssk, k, yo, ssk, yo, k4
40:bind off 4, p 6, k, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
41:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k 10, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k1
42:sl1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
43:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k 11, yo, ssk, k, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
44:sl1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
45:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k13, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k3
46:sl1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
47:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k12, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k3
48:bind off 4, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
49:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k11, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, ssk, yo, yo, k2tog, k, yo, k2tog, yo, k
50:sl1, p6, k, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
51:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k3, yo, ssk, k5, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
52:sl1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
53:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k2, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k3, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k3
54:sl1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
55:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k4
56:bind off 4, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
57:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k2, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k
58:sl1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
59:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k3, yo, ssk, k, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, ssk, yo, yo, k2tog, k, yo, k2to,yo, k2
60:sl1, p7, k, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
61:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k 5, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k3
62:sl1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
63:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k 4, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k4
64:bind off 4, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
65:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k3, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k
66:sl1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
67:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k2, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
68:sl1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
69:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k3
70:sl1, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket
71:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, ssk, yo, yo, k2tog, k, yo, k2tog, yo, k4
72:bind off 4, p6,k, p to last 3 sts, yo, k2tog tbl, purl to blanket

Except for the corners. I created a corner pattern to fit in with the edging.

SAME WARNING AS ABOVE.

The Corner pattern (based on No. 3. For Grace McGregor):
1 :yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k2, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k5, yo, k, yo, k
2 :sl 1, p 13, w/t, (you should have 3 sts on the right needle)
3 :sl 1, k3, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k5, yo, k, yo, k2
4 :sl1, p 15, w/t, (4 sts left on needle)
5 :sl 1, k 3, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k5, yo, k, yo, k3
6 :sl 1, p 16, w/t
7 :sl 1, k 3, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k5, yo, k, yo, k4
8 :bind off 4, k 14, w/t
9 :sl 1, p 3, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k5, yo, k, yo, k
10:sl1, p 13, w/t
11:sl 1, k 3, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k5, yo, k, yo, k2
12:sl 1, p 15, w/t
13:sl 1, k 3, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k5, yo, k, yo, k3
14:sl 1, p 16, w/t
15:sl 1, k 3, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k2tog, yo, yo, ssk, yo, k, yo, k4
16:bind off 4, p 6, k, p 6 w/t
17:sl 1, k3, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k5, yo, k, yo, k
18:sl1, p 13, w/t
19:sl1, k2, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k5, yo, k, yo, k2
20:sl1, p 16, pick up wrap and knit,
21:k, k2tog, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k3
22:sl 1, p 16, pick up and knit,
23:k, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, ssk, yo, yo, k2tog, k, yo, k2tog, yo, k4
24:bind off 4, p 6, k, p 6, pick up and knit,
25:k, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k,
26:sl1, p 13, pickup and k,
27:k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
28:sl1, p 15, pick up and knit,
29:k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k3
30:sl1, p 16, pickup and knit
31:k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k4
32:bind off 4, p 13, pick up and knit
33:k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k1
34:sl1, p 14, pick up and knit
35:k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
36:sl1, p 15, pick up and knit,
37:yo, k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k3
38:sl1, p 17, yo, k2tog, k into blanket edge stitch,
39:yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, ssk, yo, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo,k4
40:bind off 4, p 5, k, p 7, yo, k2tog, purl into blanket

When I got back to where I started on the edging, I grafted the two ends together.

Then wash,

I like to use Soak, but any no rinse wool-wash will do.

block,

I got to use my blocking wires!

and take an artistic picture BEFORE you give it away. (It's really easy to forget the last part.)

I remembered to take this picture 15 minutes before I was supposed to give it away.

If I were to make this blanket again, I’d make the center square smaller and the stockinette part larger. I’d cast on 82 (20 repeats, plus 1, with an extra so that you can slip a stitch on each edge).
Knit the heatherbee’s honeycomb pattern for 160 rows.
Pick up 81 stitches per side, (a total of 324).
Increase using yo, k, yo on each corner until I got 181, 50 rounds, and do the edging pattern again.

I may eventually come up with charts. I've got them written out, but I haven't found the right charting program yet. If/when I should do so, then I'll think of a name for the pattern. For now it will just be "The baby blanket I designed."

I have decided to call the style: Modern Vintage. It is a style I'm interested in pursuing.

Instead...

I was going to finish writing up the bits of blanket pattern that I've talked about... But I went to this instead:

The Intergalactic Nemesis Book 2: Robot Planet Rising

I could do a poor job explaining it, or you could click on the link above where they'll explain it very well. It was playing at The Long Center, and the first book has toured at least 30 cities. It was fabulous, and if it comes to a town near you, you should jump at the chance to see it.

Extra pictures I took during intermission:

Sound effects table, and giant screen.

 

Microphone stands, where the voice actors would be.

  

Why I learned to watermark and blur.

If you are solely interested in knitting and yoga, you might want to skip today's post. Don't worry I'll be back to spinning fiber or blocking baby blankets next time.

We live in a time of Pinterest. I use it to create idea boards so I can find that one website that had that pattern that I'll never find again without keeping a ton of tabs open. This is a fabulous thing. I also use it to gather ideas from the aether: blanket ideas, baby knits, shawls, wonderful crocheted Doctor Who toys, and how others have stashed their yarn so that you can see what's there. Good stuff, people.

And if everyone pinned ethically, making sure the pin leads to the creator of the content, then there would be no reason for this post. But people, especially those who don't have an online presence, tend to get lazy. It's so easy to see something cool and repin without checking to make sure that the pin actually leads to the right place. (I've been known to fall into this trap myself.)

What's the right place? Well it breaks down like this: if a pin from a blog goes viral it can cause a spike in traffic. That's nice since the more people reading what you are typing away into the internet void the less it seems like a void. Also if you are blogging for a living, and need people to read your content in order to make any money off of ads, you want a lot of traffic. The problem is the middle man, and people pinning from aggregators (sites that pull a lot of information into one place but add no content of their own). In the internet world traffic is currency, so if you pull from a site that doesn't create the content, you haven't given any currency to the creator of the content.


The way to ensure that people know who took that cool picture, or where to find the best icing recipe on the planet, is to watermark your photos. Like so:

See there's the name of the website at the bottom. Kinda cool, huh?

I've been using photobucket as my online storage space and photo editing spot. I'd like to get something fancier in the future*, but this works for now. This watermarking thing isn't rocket science, there's an "add text" button. I'd just never played with it before, and now you know why I did.

I've also learned how to blur photos. This is great to know if you want to create teaser photos to get people interested in the reveal of your latest project that you are planning on posting about next time.

Blurry on purpose. Rare, I know.

Next time: Pictures of that blanket I was going on about a while ago.

*I'm looking at you Adobe Photoshop that I can't quite justify buying.

The Age of Brass and Steam

I love this pattern.

 There are different kinds of knitters. There those are who knit to meditate, those who knit for the end product, and those who knit to learn a new process. There may be other types out there, but these are enough for our purposes. I'm a process knitter. I look at some knitting pattern and think “I want to make that.” The product knitters think “I want to have that.” I want to learn a new trick or technique with each new project. But I have found a pattern that I'm willing to make more than once. It’s The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief.

I was going on a trip and needed something simple to knit while talking to people. I ran across this pattern and thought it would suit my hand painted yarn. Trip knitting found. I cast on while on the flight there and bound off a few days later. It was as close to instant gratification as you get with knitting, not counting baby booties. So when, on a Tuesday, I realized I didn’t have a Mother’s day gift for that Sunday I bought pretty green skein of yarn and cast on. It was done and blocked by Saturday, but I’d blocked it crooked. So I reblocked it, and still had it done in time for Mother’s day.

It's fast, easy, but not boring. Perfect!

I’ve not blocked the hand painted one, yet. I’ve a while before I’ll see the friend for whom it’s intended. But, once I’ve given it away, I’ll be sure to post pictures.

I may end up knitting a bunch more of these. I’m so confused; I never want to make the same thing twice. Heck, I'm no stranger to the dreaded second sock syndrome (takes a week to make the first sock, takes a year to make the second, or maybe it never gets made). And now I’ve made two of these shawlettes and want to cast on another.

I think I have a bronze or silver colored yarn that would really bring out the steam punk inherent in the design. To the stash!

My true enemies revealed.

I got skin tested for allergies today. They scratched my back, and then shot allergens into my arms. I willingly underwent this procedure. My allergies have gotten that bad.  Worse, I had to be off allergy medicine for the past three days.
I've been spinning, and I've got pictures of a shawl to show you. I made it for my mom for Mother's Day. But not this week. This week I'm going to eat ice cream while cursing dander, dust mites, and mold. Excuse me, I've got to go shake my fist at the air some more.

stream of consciousness: cleaning and coffee

I spent two hours Thursday, and two hours tonight, cleaning the craft room. I've found that 1 cup of coffee = two hours motivation. It's almost ten o'clock at night, and I'm contemplating having another cup. It is Saturday.

I'm happy to be staying in on a Saturday night to clean. Is that grown-up, sad, or just OCD?

I've been to three graduations in three weeks. None of them were in Austin. One weekend also included a bridal shower and a wedding. I'm happy and proud for my family and friends, but now I've got to repay the cleaning debt created while playing out of town. I've a room, with all my cool arts and crafts stuff in it, and I've been avoiding it because there's been no floor. I'd really like to use it.

My mom's mother's day gift is pinned out on my blocking board, and it's sitting on the floor of the living room. If I found floor in the craft room, it could go there. I could turn the fan on, leave it there to dry, and not have to worry about tripping over it.

The two hours on Thursday I cleaned out the closet. I can now walk into the walk-in closet, and do so with out fear of being taken out by a stray wooden sword.

The second two hours I dealt with paper. I have acquired SO much paper. For our purposes "paper" is defined as tickets (from trips and concerts), correspondence (Christmas cards, invitations to weddings/showers/birthdays), and miscellaneous (patterns printed from online, receipts, magazine pictures, pretty postcards). I like to have firm proof that I went to this or that movie/wedding/country and when, and so I keep these bits and pieces. I have a terrible memory, so I feel if I hang on to this stuff I'll have a greater chance of remembering it. I'd also like to someday do some scrap-booking. I think.

It makes me think of Labyrinth, where the pack rat Muppet carries around a bunch of garbage on her back. I should get rid of most of it, but it's a bit like going through your old toys. I pick up a random piece of paper, remember that shower/birthday/concert and how much fun it was, and then put it back into the pile.

I am going to have that cup of coffee. The room doesn't have to be spotless, but I want to have the gift blocking in the middle of the floor by the time I go to bed. That's not going to happen without another cup of motivation.

Denver!

This past weekend DH and I went to Denver, Colorado to visit a friend who was graduating. It was a blast! We saw the midnight showing of Avengers, got mani/pedis, ate like there was no tomorrow, survived a completely unexpected hail storm, saw Avengers, again, and we were generally rather silly. We also made it to a LYS by the name of Lamb Shoppe. Here are the pictures to prove it.

Upon entering the shop:

Left

 

Center

 

Right

 They had lots of cool stuff as you ventured deeper into the store:

Buttons, lots of them!

Wall of needles.

They also stashed needles on the end caps. Tricky.

I love that they have a ladder on rails to reach yarn.

One of my great aunts used to make dresses like these.
I’m not sure if I love or hate them but they make my hands cramp in sympathy.

Coffee, Tea, and Yarn! I've found heaven.

They were out of caramel so, instead of the caramel sheep, I had a regular mocha. Super tasty!

A hedgehog blanket and matching sweater! I’m in love.

I wish I'd gotten the name of this pattern.

It's reversible. How cool is that?

There was a tucked away staircase. It didn't go far.

But it was a place where kids could draw on the walls while you yarn shop.

While I’m not sure about the altitude, as a knitter, I could survive in Denver. They have a yarn store with COFFEE and TEA in it! And it’s good, too. If you are ever that way, you should stop by.

Daydream, meet Reality.

I wrote about the designing class I took a few weeks ago, but the result didn’t feel right so I didn’t post it. I’ve thought it over since, so I’ve taken another stab at it.

I had high hopes for the Designing for Beginners class. I’d just taken the dyeing class and I felt I was moving forward in my quest for fiber mastery. One of the many things I’ve daydreamed* about being is a knitwear designer. It blends my love of creating with my love of yarn – and I'd get paid for it. Best of all possible worlds, right? So, when I saw that there was a beginning designer class, I jumped at the chance to take it. And then I hit the wall formed when daydream meets the real world.

I thought I was going to a technical class. I’d thought I’d be learning about how to choose a collar on a sweater or recommendations for stitch patterns that are the most flattering for pear shaped women. I thought it would be about helping me on my way to figuring out designs that worked. Perhaps we’d get suggestions to keep us from accidentally designing a sack with sleeves and calling it a sweater. That was not the class I took.

The class I attended was much more business focused. We covered the importance of technical editors. We talked about creating and submitting proposals to yarn companies. We learned a whole bunch about the online world of publishing and tips and tricks to get our designs noticed. All these things are important to know. And I am certain the knowledge and guidance that Elizabeth, from Dark Matter Knits, imparted will be invaluable. But I’ve got one crochet accessory pattern and part of a blanket pattern worked out. I’m not there yet.

I don’t want to leave you with the impression that I didn’t enjoy the class. I did. The cross pollination of ideas was inspiring, and the look behind the scenes was informative. But I feel like there’s this chasm between where I am now and being a professional designer. I’m working on building a bridge to cross it; I’m taking classes, learning more about fiber and the fabric it creates, and collecting ideas for patterns. The class pointed out how far I’ve got to go. I’m not as far along as I thought I was.


*I’ve also daydreamed about becoming a professional model, or actress. I know better than to think too hard about making those a reality. Being the height I am, never mind my weight, makes the first idea an impossibility, and the second highly unlikely.

Dying to Dye

Instead of dyeing Easter eggs this year I thought I'd give yarn a try. I know, you're shocked. It was at Gauge, and taught by Doug from White Bear Fibers. I was rather excited about the class - there had been other yarn dyeing opportunities, but the timing had never worked out. I had taken the indigo class, but I hadn’t gotten to play with other colors. And so, when I learned I could bring my own yarn, I took time out of the baby blanket making (pictures coming) to spin up some white superwash merino. As with any crafting project that requires wearing rubber gloves, I was a bit sketchy on taking pictures.

The yarn has to be soaked in an acid bath* before you dye it.

What's in the buckets?

Spaghetti yarn!

The dyes are made up of very small particles that turn your lungs all sorts of different colors, and do nothing good for your health. So, Doug had an apprentice making up all the dyes for the class in a back room.

Dyerista?  No, no let's not call anybody that.

I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to make the dyes ourselves, but can’t argue much with safety. Not mixing the dyes meant that we could focus on color combinations and the different possible dyeing techniques.

The table before the dyeing.

Before the class I’d taken some pictures of the wildflowers as reference for a combination of colors for a skein.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any really good shots of the bluebells mixed in.

Hand painting was one of the techniques I wanted to try; I thought it would work best for the wildflower skein.

Almost finished. I added blue for the bluebonnets, even though they weren't in my photo.

If you are hand painting yarn, and using complimentary colors, you want to wrap up your yarn like a sausage. If the complementary colors mix, you get an icky brown - wrapping the yarn keeps the colors from touching.

Not the best lighting; the yarn is actually purple.

If your yarn colors aren't going to make an icky brown mess, then you don't need to wrap it.

Hand spun, hand dyed. Yeah, it's awesome.

Then you stick your bowl, or yarn sausage, in the microwave to set the dye. Use caution, people! According to Doug hot yarn is like hot noodles**, only worse.

Isn't this the coolest rack? When you are done you can slide the sticks back in for easy storage. The yarn is pretty cool too.

The yarns I dyed. Not that I'm proud of them at all. No sir, not me.

I love my wild flower yarn, especially after I reskeined it. It is not like anything I’d usually buy, but I can’t wait to knit it up. I’m dying to see how the color changes work together. I didn’t put as much planning into the other skeins. I dyed one in the dye and highlight technique. The other I dyed the dye and hand paint technique. Those turned out fine. I haven’t reskeined them, but I’m sure I’ll like them more once I do.

Of the three techniques, I preferred hand painting best. It took longer, and I had to remember to flip the skein, but I had more control.

Now the big question – what am I going to knit?

*No, Mr. Yarn, I expect you to dye.
**DH thinks Hot Noodles sounds like a J-pop band. I think of this NPR piece that has scared me away from ever eating instant cup o' noodles again.

The Knitting Nest (in Nevada)

We recently went skiing at Heavenly (a resort next to Lake Tahoe). 

It was well named.

While there, we just happened across* a cute little yarn store. There’s a Ravelry iPhone app called yarnphone; it’s been very helpful in discovering the nearest LYS. I do recommend calling the yarn stores first, as I don’t think the app is updated if a store closes down.

The store was a bit out of our way, on the Nevada side of the mountain.

It’s tucked in downstairs of a small, event venue. DH said the rest of the place was nice, I didn't make it that far.

The Knitting Nest, not to be confused with the one in Austin.

It was a two room little shop, but stuffed to the gills with all sorts of lovely yarn.

The view from the entrance.

The lady in the picture above is Lauren. She was sweet and helpful, even though we showed up 5 minutes before the shop was closing, in ski gear. 

I did not buy this book, because it was heavy and I didn’t want to weigh down my carry on. But, I will own it soon!

They had the required wall of needles. It included an afghan crochet hook that I snapped up.

There was a little book nook.

A spot to pick out patterns.

Look, shiny yarn. I love the cabled top.

Lauren had bought fiber for when she thought she was going to be spinning. She has been more focused on knitting, so was willing to sell me some.

I think this will spin up nicely. I had a hard time getting the right color.

Next time: Who needs eggs when you can dye yarn? 

*Read: I searched out and dragged DH and non-knitting friend with me.