Knitting again.

Last night I went over to the Dark Side, and went to a Meetup Stitch n Bitch. I realized as I (re-)introduced myself that I hadn't been to this group in 5 (!) years. They met a bit too early for my schedule (6:30p) and I really liked the Ann Arbor Knit In group I was part of for 3 years or more (which would go until 10p or later). That group has fallen apart in the last year, as graduate students graduate and new ones don't come along to fill in and members start spinning instead of knitting (it happens...and there are different meeting groups for THAT obsession!)

The Meetup group is moderated by someone who used to annoy me; perhaps I've become more Zen in the last few years, because she sat right next to me last night and I just knit away, silently enjoying myself & the conversation around me. It was sooo relaxing to finish up an old project (well, except for the stuffing and sewing, but that's easy enough) without a toddler pulling at me.

Went into Cynthia's Fine Yarns in Mackinaw City on Monday before we left, and Tess found a knitting loom she wanted to try, so I am finishing up the baby seal toy I started for her 3 or 4 years ago, so that she's inspired to keep at it. She's done pretty well with the looping and "knitting," but it's a slow process. I'll try getting her to do some actual knitting -- on needles -- again sometime soon.

I'm thinking I need to use Mandi's kit for a knitting project album; the handmade wood album covers she made for the kit are warm and natural and would be a perfect beginning to keeping a record of my (finished) projects. The papers she created are inspired by vintage clothing, some even have a hint of a knit pattern in the background that will also be perfect for a knit project album. She has some kits left and the price was reasonable, check it out:
I'm looking forward to playing with this kit soon...

Fleece Fair

Despite winter storm warnings, I HAD to head out of the house this morning for Spinner Flock's February Fleece Fair. Mmm, warm wooly goodness:

Row upon row of handspun, mostly local fibers. I had some beautiful purple wool in my hand, but found some gorgeous, true-black alpaca, yum, and bought that instead. "Grown" and spun right here in A2! I haven't decided if they will be a pair of cabled mittens, or socks. I'm too busy stroking my new skein. As far as I can tell, it's not going to be itchy, so I'm leaning toward mittens. The last pair I knit from local yarn came out waaaay too scratchy, and I'm still trying to figure out a lining for them that will let me wear them.

I have not yet learned to spin (I don't need another expensive hobby), so these rovings look like nothing more than alien blobs landed on Earth, but I can still imagine how fun they would be spun and knit into something that looks a little less like a Tribble, and more like a hat:

Finally, all kinds of fibers from all kinds of animals are featured. There was even "Kitta Bear," which is a much nicer name than "dog hair from an Akita." It smelled strangely good, and yes, I sniffed it. There was silk, cotton, and buffalo to be spun, amongst others:

Now I'm off to take care of my whiny daughter, who wants me to finish with the seal I started knitting her 3 years ago, before I start ANYTHING else. So sorry if this entry is scattered, I just sent her away because the whining was grating on my nerves. I think I need to go stroke my new yarn some more and calm down.

Crafty grrls in the house

I have been the Queen of Super-Crazy-Busy scrapbook layouts lately. I'm inspired by so many LOs in the SIStv gallery, but I can't quite pull them off. Ah, well, I'm having fun with lines like Tinkering Ink and the latest from Luxe. Patterned paper doesn't cost much (at most, $1 a sheet) and I typically pick out about 3 to use. Then I raid my stash to see what matches -- cardstock, ribbon, bling, chipboard accents, paint, etc.

I just cleaned out my PSB (Paper Sticker Binder, for those of you who are lost already) and gave Tess a shoebox full of old stuff I know I'm not going to use. She sat with me and created six 2-page "spreads" like "Florida" (with a dimensional Cropper Hopper sticker she labeled "luggage") and "Spring" (with every old Mrs. Grossman's floral sticker I've held on to for the last 7 years). She's got style, that kid.

And yes, I'm still knitting. I recently started this chevron scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Ever the Queen of Blended Yarns, I'm mixing a silk thread I got in a 2005 swap (from an angel in Japan; my swap partner had bailed on me) with the alpaca sock yarn I picked up in Chicago in April. The watery light in my kitchen does not do the purple justice; trust, me, it's pretty. And oh so soft. I think alpaca is my new favorite fiber. I love that I found it in sock yarn. I've got to find some more of that!

I even taught Tess to knit. She eagerly looks forward to going "into the woods, around the tree," to see "up pops the rabbit" who "slips away" (my horrid paraphrasing of a knitting chant I heard someone teaching kids to knit to). She only lasts about one row (20 stitches) and I have to be sitting rightnext to her; I think it is more about "cuddling with mom"-time than learning to knit. Hey, whatever turns her on to the craft!

Amoeba knitting

I noticed today, as I put YET ANOTHER new knitting project into a leftover gift bag (this time a Hello Kitty from Tess' birthday), that my knitting bags seem to be splitting and multiplying. I haven't touched what's in my ACTUAL knitting bag for about 3 months (the red tank top from IWK I started last Fourth of July...and it's nearly done, too...) While I swore I wouldn't get stash, I do have an overabundance of actual projects.

I went to Chicago the week before last (spring break...my folks did not go to Florida, and E wasn't budging, so I said I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE, and I did, to visit my sister), where I stopped in at Loopy Yarns. As I walked in, the gal behind the counter said "everything in the bins on the floor is a dollar a skein, because we're sick of looking at it," so I snagged a very pretty blue ribbon yarn (Berroco's Glace) and some Elsbeth Lavold alpaca...not enough to make a sweater, of course, but I've got a pattern for a decent vest (and I have a vest phobia, so that is something!) that might work.

On another note, Tess has the first (!) of her cavity fillings tomorrow. I am so depressed about this I can't even think. *I'm* the one who brushes her teeth for her (most of the time), and she still got cavities. At our Friday night crop, Kelly and I were praising the flouride in Livonia water (where we grew up), she never had cavities and I have only 3 after all these years.

Tess has FOUR cavities, three filling appointments coming up. It's making me physically ill to think of it. I just hope I can hold it together for her tomorrow.

The gals who mistook their bag for a hat.

Felting Fun
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile

Been a while since you've seen any knitting activity over here, eh? Yeah, check out the name of my blog now. So of course it's time for some knitting content, right?!

This was from One Skein. Tess saw me trying it on as a hat when I was about halfway through knitting it; naturally she had to give it a try. It fit her better once I felted it. Works out well except for those handles/holes over her ears.

Just as I predicted, it's looking like a Dead Raccoon bag (I used a skein left over from a sweater for Ben), so I've purchase some bright pink Lamb's Pride Bulky to try again. Not that I'm a Hot Pink kinda gal, but I'm more that than a Dead Raccoon kinda gal.

Yarn Harlot appearance

Knitters Unite
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile.

Having heard from Kim of her experience at this event last time (overflow room, faulty A/V equipment, etc.) I had suggest to Karen D that we get there as early as noon for Stephanie's 2:00 p.m. appearance.

When we (I'll include Amanda here too -- she of the almost-closed eyes -- she had knitting with her as well, you just can't see it on her lap) got to the Ann Arbor District Library just after noon, the room was already half full. Whew, I thought Karen and Amanda would think I was nuts wanting to get there so early. Who knew what an incredibly loooong day we were in for?!

Not as long as Stephanie's, though. Hers started at 3:00 a.m., almost landed her in Detroit on time, re-routed her (thanks to our fog) to Chicago, then didn't get her back to Detroit until after 3:00 p.m. I hope she got that -- make that MANY -- frosty adult beverages to make up for her travel day from hell.

I was due home at 5:00 p.m. so that E could get to his folks and help his mom out (my FIL is in home hospice care now, and she needs help moving him) before heading to the Sunday night tennis league he runs. Karen suggested that E bring the kids out (she wanted to meet Ben) and E actually managed it -- with only one frantic phone conversation about how he was "feeding Ben and getting Tess ready and trying. to. get. out. the. door."

Welcome to my world! Of course, I couldn't say that, 'cos it would have been bye-bye, Yarn Harlot, bye-bye, AADL, hello Dexter. After we made the exchange in the parking lot (cars and kids), Ben slept in his stroller for the next half-hour and woke only slightly confused and grumpy. After a several hugs and kisses from me and sis, and a bit of looking around while in Karen's and Amanda's arms, he was his usual sunny, flirty self. We'll see if Steph's photos show me holding him up with his bright-red hat on...

Jackal
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile.

Stephanie further made my afternoon by allowing those of us with babies -- outside or inside of our bodies -- to go first. I only feel bad that Karen didn't take advantage of our front-of-the-line status (Amanda had some plane woes of her own and Steph offered move-ahead privileges to anyone else with special concerns, so she came with me) and get her book signed. Perhaps we can right that somehow.

Loooong day, and such a busy weekend. I'm sure you're all falling over from my multiple posts. I'm working on that.

One mitten down...

MagKnits mitten
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile.

...one to go. Note the strange angle from pinky to freakishly long middle finger. And I'm not sure why the ribbing is bigger than the mitten; except that the homespun I'm working with was spun unevenly. That's my story and I'm stickin to it.

Pattern here.

Benjamin, making himself useful.

Thanks Jen!
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile.

...with a lovely package of gifties from Jen. Thanks!! I wish I had some duplicate needles to send you to help replace your lost stash.

We LOVE Click Clack Moo as Baba collects cows. Now we have our own copy. And the sweater fits Ben fine; not having buttons helps.

Working on the decreases for my first-ever mitten. It looks like it will fit fine, although I had to frog it twice--once when I put the extra gap stitches for the thumb on the stitch holder (corrected thanks to some fine folks here) and again when I realized the decrease in the pattern was going to make the mitten too short.

Then again, I have freakishly long hands (especially my middle finger), so it's been helpful to do my own thang on the decreases. It might end up looking weird, but at least it will fit right.

So Doc, you're saying I just need more...

Fiber Fair
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile.

...fiber? Well, okey-dokey Smokey!

I was on my way to crop yesterday (yes, on a SATURDAY, don't fall over) when I drove past signs for the Spinners Flock fiber fair. This only happens twice a year, in February and September, and I was late (it was almost 2 o'clock), but it was very relaxing to look around and mmm...feel some fiber, baby.

I picked up some cheap homespun and--nasty anti-gauge-swatch-knitter that I am--started right up on my first pair of mittens. Which may need to be felted to fit.

Hey, it was cheap homespun.

Behind the homespun is a bag of roving, different appropriate hair-colored roving, to make more fairy dolls. Of course, I could make a couple thousand fairy dolls with all that roving, but then again, maybe I will be forced to learn how to spin. Never say never, right?!

Here's the latest fairy I made (this past fall, I think). She's my favorite, so far. I found the best flowers for her dress. Unfortunately, after months of heavy playing with Tess, she's gone slightly bald (she was a kind of greenish-blonde, the only roving I had). Maybe I'll need all that roving after all, for repairs.

The Bad Cold has hit me now (naturally). I could handle it better if I weren't--OH THE HORROR--out of coffee. Strangers bearing fresh-ground hazelnut coffee to my house anytime soon will have their feet washed. Or, better yet, be given a pair of hand-knit socks.

Another gift hat

Girly Hat
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile.

This is for the family that just had twins, what? last year? So now they have 4 kids under the age of 5. Yikes. The newest's name is Zara, so I tried a little fair isle and threw in a "Z" with some leftover yarn. Looks more like a "2," dammit. Oh well. At least it won't get mixed up with the hats I made for her older brother & sister.

I'm almost out of this yarn and Adrafil no longer makes it. Boo. It's a pretty basic weight, though--worsted--but it was such a nice mix of wool, acrylic, and elastic that it was super-soft and "bouncy." The red was my absolute favorite shade of yarn, ever. Nice and bluesy, not at all orange-red. Yum.

Just like a cobbler's son, Ben does not have his Adrafil Jumping hat yet. I started that next. In red! Then that's truly the last of my stash for this yarn.

He has been wearing the Last Minute Knitted Gifts "Shaker" baby hat I knit for him before he was born; that will be my next gift hat for future babies. Really covers his ears & the back of his head nicely in this extra-brisk weather we're having. I bought some pink Rowan Kid Classic to have on hand for the next little one to come along. Oh, yeah, thanks (snort) Lynne, for alerting me to Flying Sheep's yarn sale last week. Damn you! (I kid because I love).

Below is a shot of the top of this hat, which I just love, even though I screwed this one up a bit. I finished it at knitting last night but (!) we did not get the "comfy" chairs at Sweetwaters and had to sit in a draft near the entrance to their back room. There was a guy hogging one, ONE of the three comfy chairs all evening...my suggestion to go sit next to him and knit and talk about menstruation to scare him off wouldn't have worked; he had earplugs in.

I didn't stay long; I had to haul home to work the next 25 pages of my current copyediting job. This one's 300 pages long and I'm busting through it. The last one was so full of mistakes that even at 200 pages it took me nearly as long (13.5 hours, if you must know) as the first manuscript I corrected--and that one was 300 pages (FYI, it took 15 hours). I figure if I get in 25 pages a night, I'll have this next one finished on time.

I love the non-fiction titles I'm working on--interesting topics and, working at home, no office politics. It's been nice keeping my feet wet in the publishing world. Oh, and the checks have been comforting, too.

Bad knits--bad!

Bad knits--bad!
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile.

This is not, by far, the worst photo from an old knitting magazine I picked up at a holiday bazzar recently, but it is (in context with my life) the funniest.

So, in honor of (finally!) getting back to knitting last week, I wanted to scan this and put up a caption contest. I have a few (!) in mind myself, but I wanted to see if anyone else could be as bad as me.

Bonus points for guessing the year this mag came out (oops). Sorry, I don't really have any prizes (except for finding out who followed me over to my new site...and that's just a prize for me, I guess).