Shoe Alert! Shoe Alert!

Lovely Lois has sent along info about a new pair of clogs she found. And yes, for knitters everywhere who are also Sensible Shoe Fanatics, they are from Dansko.

Dansko Photo Real Patent, which look like a photo of knitting!

If I took every penny I might make at this year’s Guild sale, I would be able to buy these. And they just might be worth it. I mean, look how pretty and just darn Knitty they are.

Thanks for the head’s up, Lois!

Another audiobook on deck:
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, because I didn’t get around to it last time I had it checked out.

“A reliable way of making people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth.” ― Daniel Kahneman

Thrift Store Finds

$10, 14 pairs of knitting needles. Yes, metal, but useful to have around for sizes I don’t already have in bamboo.

Needle Treasure!

Another find from the thrift store this weekend; a plastic Weave-It Hand Loom. Something to do tiny samples on, or just a random piece to collect? Hopefully I’ll make use of it.

Weave-It

For more info on using these little gems, see the eLoomaNation site.

Current Audiobook: Having given up on the annoying Sister Grimm series, I’m moving back to adult books. Currently listening to 12.21: A Novel by Dustin Thomason

On Deck: Just picked up The Elgin Affair: The Abduction of Antiquity’s Greatest Treasures and the Passions it Aroused by Theodore Vrettos

“Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.” – Oscar Wilde

Give You One Guess

I’ll give you one guess. Starts with the letter “C” and involves two patterns from HeadHuggers. Cash Vero DK, size 7 needles.

Yes, another one

Recent Audiobooks: Unbelievably annoyed by the Sisters Grimm series. The characters are at turns completely ignorant or ridiculously knowledgeable. Are these supposed to make young readers feel better, that they can guess the answers long before the characters can? Or do they get as annoyed as I do and talk back to the audiobook about whether the editor slept through the editing process? Major knock off of the brilliant Fables series by Bill Willingham.

Other recent audiobooks: Starting the Stoneheart series by Charlie Fletcher, only because it is performed by Jim Dale of Harry Potter audiobook fame.

“There is no darkness but ignorance.” – William Shakespeare

Bright Scarf No. 3

The last challenging bright scarf. Wandered around Shuttles trying to find something aqua, teal, or bright green – the recipient’s favorite colors. Found Plymouth Yarns Kudo (color #42, blue green), which seemed like a good base. Trouble is, the yarn is kind of crunchy, for lack of a better word. I needed something to soften it up and make it more appealing as a scarf.

After too much searching, decided on two hand-dyed merino wool and silk blends as additional warp, Malabrigo Silky Merino Yarn (412 Teal Feather from My Sister Knits) and Louisa Harding Grace Hand-Dyed from my stash (#16 Melon, purchased last year from sale bin at Tuesday Morning). Wrapped around the ruler, the Kudo was 11 epi, the others were 11-12. Set at 13.5 in a 6 dent reed, slightly tighter because of weaving a twill.

Weft = Cascade Yarns Heritage Silk sock yarn color #5633

Again, it is not necessarily recommended that you use Kudo as warp. It can pull apart, so it needs to be babied like Manos. Don’t pull it too tightly in the warp, choose a simple pattern, use a big dent reed (6), and add in additional yarn as warp. I also put a few threads of solid Cash Vero on the edges, to make stronger edges and match the solid warp to a solid (not variegated) edge thread. Conceals more errors that way!

Kudo plus silk wool warp

Washed and Dried

The pictures don’t show that this really is more teal and aqua than anything else, but the silk in the warp, plus the sock yarn weft, has given it a nice hand. Not too crunchy for a scarf now.

Recent Audiobooks: Starting the Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley. Enjoyable, but clearly written for the adults instead of children. How many modern children actually read real Grimm’s tales? Will they understand these references? Or do they just think Jack the Giant Killer is a hero, and not understand the wealth of Jack tales indicating that he is a trickster (plot hint)?

“I like the challenge of trying different things and wondering whether it’s going to work or whether I’m going to fall flat on my face.” – Johnny Depp

Two Down, One to Go

Dug dug dug out the loom, at least temporarily. Two of the three scarves are done. Okay, all three were actually woven this weekend, but one of them turned out so badly I cannot give it as a gift. Talk about sleazy weaving! Between the cotton warp and bamboo weft, something went very wrong. Nothing shrank and tightened up as I thought it should, and the thing is just too fragile to consider wearing. Certainly not going to give such a failure as a gift.

The two that did work:

Very bright and stripey

I warned you that they were bright.

Pink and Black: Weft = bamboo knitting yarn. Warp = pink bamboo/cotton knitting yarn, black SugarRush sugarcane sock yarn.

Red and Orange: Weft = Manos wool/silk blend in red. Warp = Random 100 percent wool in solid orange (very similar to Manos, sorry already threw away the tag) and Manos del Uruguay Maxima 100 percent wool.

Apparently, some folks do not recommend weaving with Manos as the warp. As I am not a good weaver, it is not a problem for me. I have to weave the entire scarf in one day in order to get the beat to match. This means the warp is only under tension for 3-4 hours total, which the 100 percent wool Manos can handle if treated gently.

Recent audiobook: More About Paddington by Michael Bond, performed by Stephen Fry

Current audiobook: Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers, performed by Sophie Thompson from the films Emma and Four Weddings and a Funeral.

“Why do you always complicate things that are really quite simple?” – Mary Poppins

Many Scarves Owed

Three co-workers have left in the past month. I swear, it isn’t me. One retired, and two got great new jobs elsewhere. It means that three Goodbye scarves are owed, and two of the three have to be blindingly bright because those are the colors they like.

Seriously, only one of them likes black (but she likes it with hot pink). Due to home reno, the loom is currently unreachable, so the most I can do is select warp and weft, wind things out, and wait. And wait. And start digging out around the loom.

Recent Audiobook: Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (performed by Ralph Cosham)

Recent Reads: Distrust That Particular Flavor by William Gibson (excellent); The Body Project by Dr. Joan Blumberg (incredibly depressing); Living Dolls : The Return of Sexism (incredibly depressing)

“I do not wish them to have power over men, but over themselves.” – Mary Wollstonecraft

Ring, Ring, Can I Make a Ring

Well I can kind of make a ring now, sort of. Not without a great deal of help from the teacher. We two sisters headed out to a solid 16 hours of introduction to silversmithing classes. Very interesting (and I mean that in many ways) teacher from whom we learned lots of tips and tricks. My ring ended up slightly too big, but today when my hands were warmer it fits. So I guess this gets to be a summer ring?

Made by Hand by Me!

Currently Reading: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Up next: The Ambassadors : from ancient Greece to Renaissance Europe, the men who introduced the world to itself

Current DVD: The First Grader is in the queue. Will definitely need tissues at hand.

“We have to learn from our past because we must not forget, and because we must be better.” – Kimani N’gan’ga Maruge

Spring Restlessness

I am still looking at the yarn and baby hat pattern I set aside weeks ago. Somehow, I am just not motivated to attempt the redesign, or knitting it the way the directions state. Nor am I aching to unfold the loom for any great projects, because then it would be in the way of all things.

I think spring restlessness is setting in, about a week early. The cleaning has begun. I dumped a box of books at the used bookstore (they refused the other full box so that will be donated somewhere). I have another pile of papers to send through the shredder. I’m sure a bag of clothes will head to Goodwill soon.

And yet I seem to keep acquiring yarn, with no plan how to use it. Okay, I’m sure none of you ever do that. Buy yarn you might not use, purchase books you might never read. And I’ve discovered that Tuesday Morning is both 1) a yarn store and 2) a book store. Things I should not know, if I want to keep the clutter to a minimum and the yarn stash from exploding.

Current Book: Just started Then Again by Diane Keaton. This might end up being too deep and thought-provoking for me right now. No, I’m serious. It is an autobiography, but also a biography of her mother and all of her lost dreams, recorded in collaged journals over decades. Keaton Sr. even continued making these journals through her 15 years of Alzheimer’s, when some days all she could do was write one word or just a string of random numbers.

I need to plan to read something very very very funny right after I finish that book.

Current DVD: Big Bang Theory, Season Three, picked up today at the library; Some Kind of Wonderful, because I haven’t seen it in a very long time; Adventures of Mark Twain (claymation) because it contains a short version of Diary of Adam and Eve’s Diary, which are two of my favorite Twain stories.

“Restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress.” – Thomas Alva Edison

Yarn-Over Sale at Recycled Lamb Today!

Recycled Lamb Moving Sale Today!

Recycled Lamb in Lakewood is moving across the street tomorrow. 25 years in one place, and their big move is across the street? Well, it makes sense to the lovely ladies who run the shop, so why not?

Ordinarily RL is one of the few local fiber shops open on Sundays, but they are closed tomorrow for the Big Move/Great Yarn-Over. Today they are having sales to limit the amount of hauling they have to do. Sales on weaving yarn, as well as discontinued yarns and some pattern books are 30% . I know where I’m headed later today.

I was just there last weekend, seeking out Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in lavender and gray for a baby hat. I’m going to attempt a version of the “Sweet Hex Child’s Hood” by Lisa Shroyer.

This pattern involves something called a steek, where you cut apart your knitting. What? Of course I am terrified of the idea of cutting apart my knitting, so I am attempting to redesign the hat so I can knit it flat with no cutting. And I’m changing out the design, so I can use something from the fabulous Icelandic Book instead. As opposed to just following the pattern As Written by the person who actually knows what they are doing.

Current Audiobook: The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Currently Reading: Anyone want to explain to me why I felt compelled to purchase a paperback copy of Conversational Japanese at the thrift store this morning? In my dreams someday I’d like to visit the Miho Museum, but seriously have no plans to make that happen. So why purchase the book? There’s probably an interesting psychological study in that; what do the books we purchase say about us?

“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb

Hat for a Troop

Completed another cap, once again to the sounds of club mix and Tallis. This one is technically a Cap for the Troops, even though that program has been disbanded. A colleague’s son tried in vain to find a job, and when he couldn’t, he ended up joining the military. She is proud but terrified, so I poured lots of good thoughts into the hat as I knit it. Rustic Wool, Queensland Collection.

Be Safe, Be Safe

Spent four hours yesterday reading You Need Help Charlie Brown. In french (Ca Ne Va Pas, Charlie Brown). Because I’m feeling the need to try to actually learn something useful, like another language. Not sure how useful it is that I now know the Great Pumpkin is la Grande Citrouille in french. Struggling to read through those, I was reminded of how much deep though Charles Schultz put into those “simple” cartoons. Don’t believe me? Re-read some of them for yourself.

“You cannot open a book without learning something.” – Confucius