a heart-felt post

Well, the stall on Sunday was quite a joy to behold.
Sadly, my camera's batteries ran out rather early on, so i only really got a few shots before the markets technically opened (I say technically, because as anyone who has ever run a garage sale knows, there are always the overly keen who show up at 7am).
We had a variety of my yarns, wristwarmers care of Taph's Mum, pears, pods and pendants care of Olivia, beautiful bags from the Shopping Sherpa and of course Jejune's gorgeous knitting art cards. Everyone's offerings received many lovely compliments and new friends were met. I don't think i speak for myself alone when i say there may very well be another stall in our future.

I would also like to take this moment to thank everyone for saying such lovely things about my seashell shrug :D While i know i would love it if it fit like a potato sack, it's heartening to have such great feedback for something i cherish so dearly. so, thankyou!
Olivia said: Looks like more than a shrug to me...did you add to it?
No, this is one of the few times I knit exactly to specs (except for the yarn substitution). Although I would describe it as a wrap jacket, it is still technically a shrug i think, because the construction (as discussed here) is about knitting off a central sleeve-shrug bit. Definitely not a 'little shrug' type thing though!
Tinkingbell said: why aren't you modelling it!
Err... because. The pics I took where while it was still wet... and I'm having one of those weeks (seasons?) or feeling slightly podgy and pimpley. Keep at me to model and I'm sure I'll feel up to it sooner or later. Another lady who made this pattern has blanked her face in the pics on rav, maybe i should consider that option?
Kate said: Did the ribbing drive you compeltely nuts?
Yes, yes it did. Which is probably why it took me six months. By the end though it became kind of subconscious and therapeutic. I think this is down to having such a nice yarn to work with and of course nice shiny addi turbos - if it had been 8ply acrylic on plastic ponys I may have been a little less zen towards the end.

As usually occurs with me, finishing the shrug left me with the what-to-knit-blues. I have several socks on the go, but i the shrug left such a big gap in my knitting basket. And i really felt the need for something... new.
I finally settled on a pair of felted clogs. I've been putting off making them, partly because the pattern is printed on green cardboard and i hate reading off dark coloured backgrounds (is this just me or does it seem a little stupid to print instructions that need to be followed carefully in black ink on a bottle green background?) and partly, i think, because Brenda Dayne has mentioned several times how much trouble she has with the pattern and i didn't really want to be made to feel stupid. I was also always a little torn as to what yarn to use - it seemed silly to buy yarn for this pattern.. but now i have such a big stash of woolbale, the stash is my oyster!
Put it down to my OCD but i didnt actually have any trouble with them! They knit up quickly, with enough chops and changes to keep you awake. They are so big pre-felting! The final 'buffer' bit on the sole was the only thing that was weird... and really that was just because it looks a bit obscene. If you've made a pair you'll know what i mean, I'm not about to corrupt any innocents by explaining myself.
Right now one of them is spinning around in the dryer. I did try them in the washing machine but because it's a front loader I'm never game to put them in for longer than the 30 min cycle because i cant fish them out before they shrink too much.So this evening I had a go at Olivia's method with the plunger and it was a) very fun and messy and b) quite effective. It got them going enough that i think i can finish them off in the dryer. Of course, one is more shrunk than the other (which is why there is only one in the dryer right now) but i find this happens often... whenever Monkey shrinks a pair of socks, they are never identical!


Before i go to wrestle with more felting, I will leave you with this thought. If you market a product as "New! Completely Reformulated!" what does it suggest to you about the old one? Especially when they also add this:For the record, it's still pretty gross (and I am not the caffeine fiend in this house. But on such a lofty promise, i had to test to save my gentle readers. Stear clear... it's like raspberry cough syrup mixed in with a melted down zooper-dooper icy pole thing... only worse. The old ones tasted like stale rum and coke that someone had accidentally put a cigar out in, so i dont know if i would call it an improvement. )

Happy Monday!
Peace out,
Ms Spider xo

PS. Yarn left over from the market is being slowly added to my trade/sell page on ravelry, for those who are so inclined.

paving the way

I am sitting here at my desk, looking at the tail end of my fourth day of school holidays. What have I been doing, I hear you cry?
Saturday was swallowed with bunny fun and oh-my-god-i'm-at-home-zzzzzzzz type seizures. By which i mean I keep falling asleep by accident.
Sunday contained minor seizure action and birthday celebrations for young Othlon.
Monday... I'm trying to remember. We've had the dog since Sunday evening so there's been dog involvement.. but really, I think i've spent the last two days knitting my seashell shrug.
I finished the sleevey bit on... (quick check on rav) the 29th of June. And then I counted backwards and discovered it took me 6 months. (everyone out there who just told their computer monitor that that is a normal and rational amount of time to spend on a bit of a sweater... I know. But we are talking about the Queen of OCD here and that is a loooong time for me to leave something I havent decided to frog. Perhpas one is maturing?).
the sleeve bit looks rather like this (realises one didnt snap actual piece and makes swift diagram).
That's the shape of the sleeve thing (except all in 2x2 rib, ech) and then the arrows show where you sew up the sleeves... where the sleeves are decreased in the middle you dont sew them up, but instead pick up and knit in the round, increasing where the little dotty dashy things are.
Things are moving more swiftly now (as predicted) if only because i have shaping to look forward to every so often.
Also, this Sunday is the second Holy Day of Obligation (AKA Fibre Day at OBDM) and again I shall be present with yarns and friends to freeze my butt off in the nicest way imagineable. So of course, I want something lovely and warm... but also obviously a hand-knit. I'll put it down to my Hungarian belief that skinny chef's can't be trusted - people selling yarn should be able to do things with it themselves... beyond pom-poms.

My calculations suggest that I have about 24 rounds to go before it is finished. I should add that it grows by about 16 stitches every 4th round and I'm currently on about 570. So it's starting to get pretty old.
But it is close.
Being so close to finishing has put me in mind of Thing To Do While On Holiday. I realise, of course, that listing things here is a really good way to ensure I dont do them, but I am at heart a great big silly fool and no amount of self-knowledge stops the inevitable.
Therefore:

• This week there will be dyeing. I have heaps for the stall on Sunday but it never hurts to have back up. plus the colour is therapeutic.
• Read all my Elizabeth Zimmerman books (again). Have already re-read Knitting Workshop and Knitters Almanac and Knitting Without Tears awaits me. Having already knocked this one over most of the way I am quietly confident.
• Get hair cut. Is disgraceful shaggy mess and does not help the older members of staff to differentiate me from students. Maybe should try for a more grown-up cut (nearly said 'sleeker' but then I remembered who I am. There are tarpaulins that are sleeker than I am).
• Get eyelashes tinted. Am forever rubbing mascara into and around my eyes and this does not help me maintain a professional image. Figure it's worth a try before i throw it all away and just invest in a nice brown paper bag.
• Possibly (indication that i realise this is madness) stick post-its to various bags of stash to indicate intentions. Very unlikely to change my practices but may generate appearance of productivity and then Monkey cant complain if i buy more yarn. ssssh.
• Clip bunny toe-nails (perhaps after investing in head-to-toe chain-mail suit with matching gloves and gauntlets).
  
• get a blood test so new doctor can get her bearings.

Sheesh.
Now i can tell you right off the bat that the eyelashes, bunny nails and blood test are the least likely to happen. Eyelashes - have to admit vanity to another person and run risk of looking like kewpie doll. Nails - bunnies object strongly and make their feelings known. Blood test - Am so bad with needles that I will lose a whole day to head-spins and nausea and that sounds un-fun.


But the seashell shrug might happen yet.


Peace out,
Ms Spider xo

resolution is relief

So a few of you may remember my dramas last year with the tooth from hell? Well, my appointment to have it out wasnt til June and it's flared up again. So I've been a bit crippled, drinking tea on one side of my head and still getting the explosive pain that is an infected root.. ugh.

anyway, managed to (finally) see my dentist who freaked a little, showered me with scripts for antibiotics and got me an appointment with a different (and way more efficient) oral surgeon today... who managed to fit me in for Saturday! (i love efficient people... who just say "let me check now" not "here's 12 numbers to choose from, maybe call one?" because when I'm in pain I don't follow directions well)
I'm actually kind of.. excited. I know that sounds weird but the pain is excruciating and i want it to GO AWAY. I am having the tooth out because my mouth is crowded anyway and it's at the end of the line. I won't be allowed back to work til Thursday next week and Monkey gets a carers cert to look after me for 2 days. and i kind of need a mental health day anyway so I'm sure more than just my mouth can heal in that time :) so after the initial 2 or 3 days of feeling shitty I'm hoping I'll get some knitting time :)

In more interesting news, the market of yarn whoredom was on Sunday and our stall rocked! we had so many lovely people come and chat, old friends and new and we all had the bestest time. I totally want to do it again - Fibre day anyone?

I'm a little spaced out (tooth pain make me stoopid) so i cant think if i have any other interesting news or pics...

ooh! i bought a drum carder from Mandie! She is awesome and helpful and didnt tease me when i said i felt like i was propositioning her :D more about it when it arrives. But if you need help with Ashford or Louet you MUST contact her. Most helpful and idiot-proof (believe me!).

off to take my antibiotics (damn those biotics, who invited them anyway?)

Peace out
Ms Spider

sleep: the elusive wench

I'm sure i've mentioned this previously, but i suffer from insomnia. it was a lot worse in my early teens, but basically i have had trouble sleeping since birth (yes, this may be a factor in my mother's insanity. Never say i'm not fair).
I've pretty much learnt to cope with it - you either do or you lose your mind... although thinking about it, if i had lost my mind... would i know? This may also answer a few questions in regards to how quickly i sometimes finish projects. Knitting is my therapy and sometimes i really need it. Like, most times i'm breathing.

So, my Monkey (Sherpa just doesnt seem right anymore) is a somewhat vigorous sleeper. Now don't get ideas! I mean he talks, he laughs, he sings, he hums, he kicks, he shakes me awake and asks me a jibberish question then falls asleep again. he swings his arms around and i get woken about three nights a week by an elbow flying into my ribs. Strangley enough though, i have become a deeper sleeper since moving in. i guess it was just a matter of my body's needs overiding my overactive brain, but i dont tend to wake when a moth hits the wall anymore.

However. Last night i had toothache. Well, more of a gum-ache really.. you know that feeling when you eat steak and get an unfortunately big and painful piece stuck between your molars? and you cant floss for ages and when you finally get to the whole thing is inflamed and you (of course) end up cutting the gum between your teeth? Ok, i had that (and still do) top and bottom jaw on the right side of my mouth. When i was awoken by the tri-weekly slap at 2am i had to take painkillers... and i woke up exactly 4 1/2 hours later when they wore off. I lay awake waiting for Monkey's alarm (he's doing the morning shift) and then got up to take more. But i cant go back to sleep now.


Anyway. I am off to the fibre day at the bus depot markets today. I guess i'll walk up in an hour or so if it isnt raining too heavily. The painkillers have kicked in again but i'm feeling uninspired. Am trawling through various websites (such as you give me the knits) to get my proverbial juices flowing.

Last night i spun the last bag of fibre from the celebration of wool, so i am desperately in need of some more. This was some imported English Blue-Faced Leicester, and while its not as soft as some of the merino i've been spinning, it is very lusterous. It's a little more purple than it appears here. It's funny, but it seems the more dyeing i do, the more colours i feel comfortable with. I also seem more and more obsessed with other people's dyeing as well. i always just assumed that i would eventually be satisfied that whatever i wanted i could dye. But it's just so individual and i love seeing other people's work and spinning it. I tell Monkey it's market research... but i dont think i've ever even thought about trying to copy a dye-job i see. I just love being part of this hand-dye community and being able to support other people like me while feeding my addiction.

The Turtle Walk sock pattern is finished, but i think i might jigger it a little (totally a technical term). I'm going to write a second option for the cuff, allowing for leg shaping should the knitter desire a longer leg... and something else. I wont give any more away until i've made it work. And in response to the people who have asked if it will be available outside of the class, my answer is i dont know yet. I may offer it for sale as a pdf file from my blog for a few dollars, just to keep the wolves at bay.
I've really enjoyed knitting with my own sock yarn again! It's like painting with yarn... so lovely and it comes out so soft after you wash it. mmmm. i really oughtn't knit the second one until i've knit the second version... but they are so pretty! If you like this one, i have a very similar dye-lot up on eBay at the moment. (eew, now i feel dirty... a girl's got to eat you know!)

You know what, i think i may have rediscovered blogging. Or maybe it's just that i'm enjoying the sound of my own voice, as it were.

erk, its looking very rainy out there. I'm off to have a shower and then debate with myself : is it better to walk in the rain for 40 minutes or catch a cab and run the risk of being $5 short for the fibre i want?

Have an awesome day, hope to see some of you there. And if you're in the blogosphere, drop by and wish Othlon a very happy birthday!

Ciao for now
Ms Spider xo

no great surprise

Of course, it has previously been well established that i am, in a word, hopeless. It is not even remotely the same day i said i would put up pictures.
Well, no matter.

I have been busy.
I finished these:
I started these.It's Lorna's Laces in Bittersweet that has been marinating in my stash for over a year! It's the falling leaves sock pattern from a back issue of Creative Knitting (the Aus one)... well i jiggered it a little (a fair bit) but it's the same lace pattern. These are for me me me.
I have been spinning a fair bit also. after the bout of fine 2ply wool i pulled out my stash of silk handkerchiefs and caps... and here is the resulting yarn.From left to right - 37g/200m laceweight silk, 35g/300m laceweight silk, 25g 4ply (approx) silk, 75g/80m 12ply merino/optim/silk tweed (hand-carded).
It is so beautiful it would make you cry... and just to really get you tearing up, i'll have it up for sale at the Knit1Blog1 exhibit. I figured... it's a one off thing and it will leave me room in my fibre-stash for more silk and wool... i may cave in and hang on the them... but i want to sell them too.
Oh and the next fibre day is in a week and i am fairly broke which is most unfortunate... i'm dying to go wild again since i've nearly spun everything i bought last time. i guess i'm kind of rationalising spending more money by selling what i bought last time... sound logical?

Also, my sock workshop will be on the 22nd of July from 11.30-1.30pm and is called 'the Heels and Toes of Socks'. I am trying to have a sock at every relevant stage so i can show hands-on. Participants will also receive a workshop package including patterns, tips, where to buy sock yarn, sock yarn reviews and anything else i can think of. If you're considering coming along and theres something you think needs to be included let me know. I will also be providing my entire sock book library for previewing as well as numerous examples of socks of varying difficulty levels. There will also be HappySpider Sock yarn for sale during the class, but you're most welcome to bring you own :)

I think that's it for now (except that i'm filling out my temporary intern employment package thingy and its a pain... particularly as i cant get next semester's enrollment finalised.)
Hope to see you all on thursday at SnB, i feel like i havent been in a year and i MISS IT!

ciao,
Ms Spider

spoils of war

ok, well... yesterday there was much fibre-whoredom. and just because i have a reputation to uphold i thought i'd better show you all my goodies.. also i caved in to certain demands despite my own determination to not display my complete lack of self-control around markets (i tell a lie, i spent exactly what i wanted to and got everything i wanted and have no buyers remorse whatsoever... i just feel like more of a wench when i say it like that. so lets just pretend im guilty and be done with it).

and all photos of fibre are within the bags and dont show up very well.. im saving the proper perve for when they are spun ;)

firstly, 220 g carded greasy grey merino. mmmm.100g polwarth tops in 'Island Storm'.50g polwarth tops with 10% silk (no colourway mentioned but its YUM)50g silky merino. no colourway but PRETTY.50g merino wool, "pot luck".29g tussah silk tops... yummmmmmmm100g handspun (yes i could prolly spin it myself but its such nice colours and we have to support locals!)ladybird colourway of Opal (wanted this last time but was restrained.. and then regretted it big time. could probably dye it myself but i cant get a really good black like this.)some Gaywool purple dyes for furtherment of my financial gains on eBay.Ashford maintenance kit, which was a very good investment considering my drive band snapped yesterday :p look at my shiny new hooks! also bought a spare bobbin.. cos i could and you always need another bobbin...this is a scarf i started last night.. needed the joy of new yarn to recover from loss of sherpa.. its a pretty stitch pattern i've been meaning to try and remembered about when taph and i saw some scarves at the fibre-fest. I am using Katia Mexico and its lovely. i think it looks a bit like waves on the ocean or something..let me know if you guys want my pattern (im too lazy to write it out now but if someone actually wants it i might be inspired).oh and i'm up to the first 'r' in the sherp/pirate scarf. its gorgeous :) and will of course say 'Yarrr!' with another skull and crossbone to follow.ok, i think i might be done for now :p yarn-porn this week was brough to you by the letter 'Mmmm' and the number 'lots-of-money'.

knit on!
the naughty
Ms Spider xo

PS i hope you're happy now kylie...