On and Off the Needles

Well, that Amy Anderson is a total genius. If your LYS doesn't carry her patterns yet, you should probably run right down there and tell them they should. Not only is she a genius, she's also a friend mine. But really, she's also a design genius.



This scarf is one of her patterns; its beauty and simplicity is just amazing. You need one skein of handpainted yarn, and one skein of some neutral color that co-ordinates with the handpaint, and then the magic happens. So...not quite believing in the magic, I had a skein I dyed that was just leaving me totally cold. I was so unimpressed with it that I really had no idea what to do with it. I swatched it for a sweater, and just hated it. So...I dyed another skein a color that would go with every color in the unloved skein, and....

Voila! The magic happened. I'm so stunned by the colors that came up in this scarf, I can hardly find words to tell you, not to mention that now I can't imagine how I could have hated this yarn. But...I swear!! I had no idea these colors were in there! Melon, blue, lavendar, dusty purple, pumpkin...they're all in there. Ok, yeah, I did do the dye job. But somehow it just all looked like red-brown mud before I made The Scarf. I can't recommend this scarf pattern enough. Its fun to knit, mindless, and gorgeous.

And here it is. Look Ma, No Purling, designed by Amy E. Anderson. Magic, I tell you.

Ok...enough about the scarf. Here's the update on the Boobalicious Tank Top, which I really wish they had named something thats less embarrasing to type on my blog. But so be it, I didn't name it.

Its not done...but its way over half done. Yes, you're right, its nearly fall and I won't be wearing it much this year, but considering I didn't think I'd even finish the spinning this year, I'm pretty happy about it. And the fabric is very soft and drapey. However, I'm not absolutely positive it won't pill. That would be too bad, but...we'll just have to see.
And last but not least, I couldn't resist using up the rest of my unmatched leftover singles on a couple more cat toys. These have fleece with catnip stuffed inside, and the kitties love them.

Well, this is a little embarrassing, but...remember I spun and dyed some nice merino for the Koigu Keepsake Shawl? Well. I liked the dyed skeins and I was excited about the project, even though my yarn turned out a little plumper than Koigu. I cast on. I knit. I looked at my shawl-in-progress, and...I just couldn't bond with it. It was bright. It was intense. It was just not soothing, nurturing, quiet.

So I gathered my knitterly advisors around and asked for advice, or maybe it was more like asking for permission...to begin again with new yarn. Permission was granted, so I ripped it. All. The. Way. Out. Ouch.

Now I have four 175 yd. skeins of lovely fingering weight merino in four distinctly different and not necessarily compatible colorways I need to figure out what to do with.....any ideas? I'm a little bit stuck about this.

However, I shook myself off and moved on. I had some more merino ready to ply, this time finer. I plied. I skeined. Its beautiful; a little finer than Koigu this time, and I'm very excited about it. I thought and thought about what colors I would love to wrap around myself, and after some waffling, finally decided on many many shades of pale pink with some other colors thrown in for good measure. I dyed.

Then, with a sink full of tag ends of dye, I called my friend K who wanted to learn to dye, and she came over and had her maiden dye voyage.
It was so exciting; she took to it like a duck to water, and made lots of gorgeous handpainted yarn. I'm pretty sure she's a convert now.


Here she is showing you her first dye projects; so pretty even though the yarn is all bunched up and wet in a bowl. Probably its time for K to start a blog, and post pictures of all that pretty yarn, and what she does with it next!



Oh, and by the way, its K's knitting gauge I love, and she got it from Knitpicks. Good to know.





And in other news, the cat toy binge continues! Here we have Ben inspecting a new batch of felty balls, soaked in catnip tea, and a small crocheted mouse with oven dryed nip and roving stuffing.

Extra Question Contest

My secret pal hostess is having a little contest, and asked us all to answer a few more questions, so here I go:

1. What is the one knitting accessory you could not live without?
Well, first of course, although my knitting is more like an accessory to it, is my spinning wheel, without which there would be no knitting! But also, I love tiny stitch markers, and often find I need several colors for one project. Oh, and my friend has a knitting gauge ruler that has a little magnifying part in the middle so you can count your stitches without putting on extra light or reading glasses...I’m starting to think maybe I can’t live without that since I really loved borrowing hers!

2. If you're heading on vacation, do you take knitting with you? If so, how much and what type of project?
Absolutely. I like to take three projects for a long trip; something small I can knit on the plane without poking my neighbor with needles, something long and mindless I can knit while visiting, and something else for backup in case the long and mindless one gets finished. The backup one can be something that needs attention now and then, like a sweater that’s gotten to a fussy part but will be mindless again after that. If its a short trip, I might be able to get by with just one project, if I know what kind of knitting I need (mindless, detailed, etc) for the events of the trip.

3. Where have you travelled to that you'd consider your favorite spot?
We just took a trip to Oregon and had such a great time at the coast, in the mountains, and in the desert that we’re actually considering moving there! But not too soon...enough has changed in my life in the last couple years without me adding more quite yet. I especially loved the cabin on the coast; that was heaven!

4. What is your favorite knitting book at the moment? Do you own it?
Hm...this is a hard one. There are lots of knitting books in the world! I’d say I really love Big Girl Knits, and I do own it. There are some nice patterns in there, and that's great, but the fitting section just can't be beat as reference material, its so excellent. I also really like the Barbara Walker stitch dictionaries but don’t own them; I get those from the library.

5. Do you listen to podcasts? Which is your favorite(s)?
Not yet. Its on my to do list, but so far, I’m behind the times.

The general atmosphere around my house this week is...catty. The kitten (Mattie) is adjusting well, and our big red tabby Ben is even starting to play with her a little bit now that a week has gone by. Its amazing how many toys one tiny kitten can use!

This being the case, the urge to make cat toys hasn't let up. This week I bought those round cage-like plastic toys with a bell inside, and dug through my hand spun stash for colorful and feltable leftovers. Crochet seemed simplest for making fiber globes encasing plastic toys.




Here are four plastic toys enclosed in their crocheted jackets, ready for felting in the washer.

And here is Zoe, our standard poodle, demonstrating that even dogs like these toys a lot. Sadly, this is the only post-felting picture I could get due to how fast the toys were moving, and the unpredictable delay on the digital camera. Suffice it to say that this method yields an excellent cat (and maybe dog) toy.

I plan to soak them in strong catnip tea once I retrieve them from under the couch, behind the piano, in the closet, at the bottom of the basement stairs, bured in the sofa cushions...

Secret Pal 11 Here I come!

Ah, the secret pal phenomenon. I have been too pre-occupied in the last couple years to participate in any of these, other than a small, one skein a month one a year or so ago, which was a blast (Hi Gabrielle!). The timing seems right for the secret pal exchange starting now, so I've decided to jump in...here I go! Just skip over this questionnaire if you don't want to know just about everything about me and yarn, and a few other things besides!

SP11 Questionnaire:

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I like them all, as long as they’re not synthetic. A little additive here and there is no big deal, but that acrylic crunch is icky. I’m also not crazy about eylash and other over-the-top novelty yarns.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
An old cardboard box for the straights and a round metal cookie tin for the circulars. Probably not ideal, huh?

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I learned to knit as a child, from my mother and my grandmother, and eventually 4H. But I mostly didn’t knit anything but small projects until a few years ago. I think I’m somewhere between intermediate and advanced.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
No

5. What's your favorite scent?
Rose, or lemon. I can’t be around anything that smells of peppermint, tea tree oil, eucalyptus, menthol, or camphor because I use homeopathic remedies.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Oooh, yeah, chocolate! Classy chocolate, either dark or milk, the classier the better. But again, nothing with peppemint.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I’ve spun since I was a teenager. I also crochet when it seems like the right way to approach a project. I do lots of artsy things, and am a glass artist/fuser/blower for a living. You can see my work at www.marthakauppi.com and www.glass-gem.com .

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I like many/most kinds of music, with the exception of mainstream mega pop stars, generally. Some favorites are Tracy Chapman, Sarah McLachlan, Sting, The Judds (yes really), Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams, Dayna Kurtz, Leonard Cohen... Right now I’m totally in need of some peppy, got to move to it, workout music. I can play MP3's no problem.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I like ‘em all, really. I wear lots of dark blue, teal, light pink, melon, and spring or olive green. Don’t care so much for beige, taupe, ecru...by any name, nor for white, really. For some things I like that natural linen color, though.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I have a partner of 12 years, and a number of pets: a standard poodle named Zoe, a big red tabby cat named Ben, a new kitten named Mattie, and an elderly guinea pig named Teddy. Also, in the back yard, we have 4 hens. We have sort of an urban farm here on our city lot with a large garden as well.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Yes for all but ponchos.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I’m on a sweater jag right now, but I knit whatever...socks, mittens, hats, sweaters, scarves, even trying my hand at a shawl.

13. What are you knitting right now? The Boobalicious tank top from Big Girl Knits with handspun cotton/silk, The Braids cardigan with commercial merino/alpaca yarn, the Koigu Heirloom shawl with handspun merino, a wimple from Knit in America (I forget its name) with commercial alpaca blend yarn, and a pair of scandinavian mittens with handspun alpaca. Oh, and some washcloths to swatch lace patterns in a commercial cotton/linen.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Of course! I love the feeling that someone is thinking about me, figuring out what I would like. If they make something with their own hands and time, that is even better.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Not plastic. I have Knitpicks Options and like them a lot, but also really like bamboo and other wood. I make glass needles and knit with those too. I knit with dpn’s, circulars and straights...just depends on what’s called for.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
I have a yarn winder and use it all the time, but no swift.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
Hm. Probably a year. Ok, maybe three years now that I think of the Weekend Getaway Satchel thats all felted and needs to be put together.

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas or my birthday; I like the fall-into-winter season festivities.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Not really.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Money is tight here in my corner of the woods, so I rarely buy books for myself; knitting books and magazines are the ultimate luxury! I'm dying to get my hands on Cat Bordhi’s new book New Pathways for Sock Knitters, and the new Twisted Sisters Knit Sweaters book. I subscribe to Interweave Knits and Spin Off, but also really want Knitters Universe and/or Vogue knitting.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
One day I’ll get up my nerve and steek.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I knit socks, yes. My foot: 9 1/4 inches from toe to heel, 9 inches around the widest part of the ball of my foot, and I prefer loose cuffs to tight ones.

23. When is your birthday?
October 10; I’ll be 46.

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?
I’m still on the waiting list for Ravelry.

New Arrival

We have been on vacation; a lovely, fabulous, restful, blissful vacation to Oregon, where we visited the coast (staying in a cabin right on the water!) and the mountains (so many of them!) and the desert (incredibly beautiful!) and spent time with friends who recently moved there. Somewhere in the excitement, one of us (who shall remain nameless) mentioned getting a kitten. Mattie, as it turns out.

Mattie's arrival (and our older cat, Ben's dismay) led quickly to the need for more cat toys. We have now constructed a large and elaborate play structure out of cardboard boxes and a grocery bag tunnel, with holes and openings everywhere, and then I took a look at those bobbins Mattie was sitting next to.
You can't make one mouse when you have two cats, one of whom is consumed with jealousy.

Remember that three ply grey yarn from a few months ago? This is my idea of a great thing to do with sturdy energized singles leftover after plying.

The mice are kitten approved.