Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Christmas...er, contests?

As if the pressure of finishing handknitted Christmas presents wasn't enough, if you haven't seen these yet and are interested, hurry up and get in on The Knitting Curmudgeon's "Christmas Crap-Along" and Waltzing Knitilda's "Ugliest Christmas Sweater 2005" contests. Some Luscious Yarn is being given away as prizes in both cases.

(As if you need a reminder about how prickly some knitters get at this time of year, go read "Holiday Stress and Knit Nonsense" over on my Knit Natterings page.)

Saturday, December 03, 2005

So Quiet You Could Hear a Size #00000 Knitting Needle Drop

As you can see, things are pretty quiet around here. We're either so busy working on projects that we don't have the time to write about it or not working on projects at all, so don't have anything to write about.

For myself, I'm finally getting around to knitting the pair of plain old, ribbed socks that my son in the Navy asked me for (gulp) nearly a year ago. If I don't hurry up and get them done, he'll be discharged before he's had a chance to wear them! With European size 44 feet (US size 10), that is a bit of knitting to do.

The weather here certainly hasn't been an inspiration to knit. With the exception of a couple of cold days and a rainy day, we've had nothing but warm, sometimes hot, and dry weather. That's one of the upsides of living here on the coast, but it certainly doesn't give you that same urge to knit like my old home state of Minnesota's sub-zero temperatures.

Pictures to come.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Unabashed Self-Promotion

Those exclusive Yarnaholic Confessions gifts aren't going to be around forever and with Cafepress offering Free Shipping through Dec. 6 on orders of US$50 or more, you can't afford to wait!

Go, go, go!

Support This Site

(Remember, prices are never more than a dollar or two above Cafepress's base product price.)

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Halloween 2005

Knitting gone wrong, so very wrong. (hat tip Boing Boing)

I could be dead wrong, but I thought those were actually kinda cute.

Here are more links to keep you busy between doorbell rings:

  • Superstitions.com - everything from stepping on a crack and breaking your mother's back to black cats.

  • Ben & Jerry's - a trip to the Flavor Graveyard is a must! Scream Savers too!

  • Anita's Origami - All her origami is amazing, and the Halloween ones are unique. (The paper! The paper! The paper!)

  • Halloween Stuff from HP - everything from trick-or-treat bags to T-shirts. Lots of cute ideas.

  • The Toy Maker - Vintage style paper crafts.

  • Carve a Virtual Pumpkin (Flash Plug-in required), but alas, no pumpkin seeds to roast. (My mouth just started to water. Israeli "white seeds" just don't cut it.)



Happy Haunting! (Yes, I know I'm posting this a bit early. I figure if anyone actually wants to make their own Halloween crafts, a few days head start couldn't hurt.)

Sunday, October 09, 2005

so, what's everyone knitting?

On The Needles
one (1) fingerless glove
one (1) Trendsetter Dune scarf

Oh, did I mention David's sweater?
That's becoming a joke around here, isn't it?

Actually, unfortunately, for the first time, my hands ache when I knit. And since I earn my living using my hands (playing the violin) and I have an important recital in less than a week, I've put my knitting on hold for awhile.

At least I finished this before the pains set in...
for jenna
...knit with my favorite, Noro Kureyon.

I'll have to knit vicariously through you!

So, what're you knitting?

Friday, September 09, 2005

target: knitting

It seems that knitting and yarn are every where. I was in Target yesterday, and granted, this is an enormous Target, the kind with everything including a Starbucks, but they had yarn, needles, project books and knitting journals! And every item was $1. I wasn't tempted, though. I have so many unfinished projects, so many un-begun projects, so many patterns and books, and so many solitary skeins in my stash that I just can't add to the mayhem. I'm going to have to organize my knitting. *faint* ;)

I have had a hankering to knit lately. It isn't the nip in the air; there is none. The weather is only slightly cooler here in the desert. Autumn doesn't really begin around here until late November. It could be the plethora of knitting catalogs delivered daily. I spied quite a few delicious projects thumbing through them and quite a few yarns seem very yummy. I'm going to be strong, though. I must, I must, I must finish David's sweater. (how many years has it been, Jen?)

Now, if you'll excuse me while I knit . . .

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Katrina Knitters

Christine, over at Big Pink Cookie and who lives in Houston, is collecting knitted items for the victims of Hurricane Katrina who have been relocated to her area. Head on over to her blog and drop her a note in one of her Katrina Knitters posts so she'll let you know where to send your items.

Thanks, Christine!

Friday, September 02, 2005

In the Aftermath of Katrina

Please donate whatever you can to the American Red Cross or any charitable organization. Also check out The Blog For Relief Weekend.

(Newer posts appear below. This post will remain at the top of the page through September 5.)

Monday, August 08, 2005

We're on Vacation



See you in September.
Stay cool.
(And Godspeed to the crew of Discovery.)

Thursday, July 21, 2005

summer un-knitting...

It's hot. Summer is hot everywhere, and like everyone else, I'm too hot to knit. Even my hubby noticed, "You haven't lost interest in knitting, have you?" My eye sweeps the corner where I have huge piles of bags of unknit yarn and my bookshelves housing a plethora of patterns, books and magazines, my minds eye sweeps the dark depths of all the closets that hold my huge unknit stashes (notice the plural), and I assure him that I haven't.

I have taken stock of my WIP's and I'm bound and determined to complete them all before I start another project, AND before I buy more yarn. Oops! too late for that! I couldn't resist trying some of the new yarns offered by Knit Picks. Who can resist that dropped stitch shawl for only $21.26? Well, actually I did, but I did plunk down a bit of small plastic for some of their sock yarns, and I'm waiting for that package as I type.

Back to the WIP's, I'm determined to complete David's Once Again Sweater and the Ballet Top (Teva Durham design from UK Summer 2004), then I'll frog the rest. There! That makes completing my WIP's a bit easier and I can cross them off the list I keep on my blog (it's getting a bit embarrassing since the list hasn't changed at all in a year).

In the meantime, I'm not going to read any books or magazines, peruse any catalogs, or visit my LYS or online stores - I WON'T be tempted, and I AM going to complete my WIP's . . . just as soon as it's cool enough to knit again.

note: I just used the blogger spellcheck and it seems that I've misspelled '21.26' and, get this, 'blog.' The suggested spelling is 'bloc.' Go figure!

Saturday, July 16, 2005

Linky Love

As I commented in one of my earlier posts, it's now officially too hot to knit. At 85 degrees F and 85 percent humidity, it's so hot and moist that just the thought of wool makes me sweat. (But then, just sitting makes me sweat!) On the other hand, at work the A/C is cranked up so high that I'm getting a lot of use out of my old and very well-worn shawl.

So what does one do when it's too hot to knit? Surf the Web, naturally!

If all you can do is shake your head at some of the knitting designs offered over the past couple of years, check out, "You Knit What??" Presented by punk rock knitter and knitty kitty, YKW?? aptly points out, as my 23 year-old daughter says, the YUK in HYUK. (via the comments on The Knitting Curmudgeon)

When an old knitting friend showed up from the States for a few day's visit last month, she brought with her a garter stitch, corner-to-corner washcloth made out of a yarn that is new to me; South West Trading Company's Bamboo. Oh dear, this is the first time in a long time that I've had yarn lust, even at USD13 a skein. The hemp yarn looked interesting too. (OK-Step.slowly.away.from.the.credit.card!)

Then this week a friend from my old knitting guild, Oasis, sent me a note saying that she'd just knit her first ever knitting pattern in Hebrew. She received this pattern from her local yarn shop owner.

This is interesting in a couple of ways: one-that she has a local yarn shop owner (after all, we do live in the Yarn Deprivation Zone) and second, the pattern is in Hebrew. To the best of my knowledge, knitting patterns in Hebrew stopped being published about the same time that the local spinneries stopped producing yarn. That was probably about 12-15 years ago. Besides Polgat (a major garment producer here), there was also Vitalgo and Stork Wool. All gone, except in my yarn stash. The Teddy Wool that is being distributed in the shops here now is made elsewhere, lots of cotton from Turkey and wool from Italy, but the local distributor gets to put his own label on, which generally doesn't include little, unimportant things like, oh, recommended needle size or yardage.

(Woah! I just got back from a trip down Memory Lane after hunting up my old Hebrew knitting mags and meeting lots of dust bunnies on the way. Most of the designs look like fodder for "You Knit What??," but to be forgiving, they are the products of the 90's and look like they're trying much too hard to be trendy. Hm, see first paragraph...)

Ever since the London terrorist attacks, I've been thinking about going to London again. Even after visiting there four times, there's still so much I haven't yet seen and done. October/November is my favorite time to visit, especially during The Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace (make sure to check out the picture gallery from last year), followed up with a Rowan Workshop at Liberty of London or John Lewis. (You think I might miss my knitting guild? Nah!)

Lastly, this has nothing to do with knitting (other than there's a knitting basket on the floor and Granny's bun looks just like a skein with needles in it), make sure you have Apple's Quicktime installed on your computer and then go watch Le Building.

OK-time to go have an iced coffee and a lie-down. Only 2 or so more months of this heat to get through...

Sunday, June 26, 2005

Summer of Lace Redux

Well, at this point I'm having second thoughts about knitting my "Knit 'Til You Quit"; Shawl. I finally tracked down the three hanks of Jaggerspun in my yarn stash and it turns out that I misremembered the source. The yarn was actually purchased from Moonrise, Sandy Terp's website and the Jaggerspun is prescoured. That is a good thing, but it also means that the yarn has "bloomed" as a result of the prewashing and is now closer in gauge to a worsted weight yarn than a sport weight. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to recall that Jaggerspun, like the Harrisville I knit the original KTYQ with, is actually meant for weaving, so there's a bit of sizing left on the yarn surface that needs to be washed out before using it as a knitting yarn.) The bottom line is that the yarn is pretty heavy stuff for knitting the KTYQ, which is a very open and light lace pattern.

Swatch1 for the Knit-Til-You-Quit Shawl

So I'm flipping through my books and my magazine stash to see if I can find some potential pattern candidates. So far, the list is:

  • the Garter and Lace Shawl that appears in Knitter's "Shawls and Scarves" is my first choice (and I have a vague recollection of having knit this once).

  • the Wool Peddler's Shawl in Cheryl Oberle's "Folk Shawls." I also like the Stora Dimun Shawl, but it's a bit larger than what I want. (Provided the eyelet lace pattern along the edging has the right stitch repeat, I could probably leave out one of the garter sections between the eyelet rows, right?)

  • the Paisley Lace Shawl in the Spring 2005 issue of IK.

  • the Flower Basket Shawl in the Fall 2004 issue of IK. Both are by Evelyn Clark (Is there anyone left out there besides me who hasn't knit these shawls?)


If I don't make my choice soon, it'll already be too hot to knit!

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Summer of Lace

June in Israel thus far has been atypical, i.e. it's still cool enough to knit.

I just finished knitting again Jackie Erickson-Shweitzer's wonderful lace Oak Leaf as a bookmark for a friend who is sending us the newest Harry Potter when it comes out in July. This little lace pattern is really a marvel. Jackie has the leaf charted out with distinct landmarks along each row and you can easily tell if you've gone astray. The end result is something "a little off the beaten path". (And, as if you couldn't tell, I'm as thrilled with the results this time as I was the first two times.)

While I was surfing around this past week, I came across "Wendy Knits," Wendy Johnson's site. She's started a Knitalong, Summer of Lace, on Yahoo Groups. Knitting lace really appeals to me right now, since I need something I can throw over my shoulders at work when the airconditioning drops to sub-zero temperatures (I sit in the lowest level of our 3-level office and cold air sinks).

My current philosophy to get myself back into regular knitting is to allow myself to only start projects that have a reasonable chance of being finished. So the lace project I want to work on is another "Knit 'til You Quit"; Shawl from three hanks of Jaggerspun that are relatively recent stash residents, only 8 years or so, since having been ordered from Herrschners after we came back to Israel.

For a while, I toyed with the idea of knitting Jackie's Cascading Hearts Shawl, still one of my favorites, but probably demanding more attention than I can muster right now.

And it's only going to get hotter.

Thursday, June 02, 2005

my kippah

Thanks for organizing this project, Jen. With the temps up to 112°, I haven't felt like knitting much, but this was a welcome project.

melissa models the kippah I knit
The yarn is Sock it to Me! Collection: Puzzle (from Elann.com) and I used US 2 needles. I took the easy way out, using variegated yarn and the long tail cast on. At first I thought that it might be too small, but Jen showcased three different kippahs in her flickr gallery and it appears to be an okay size. I'm going to give this kippah to Melissa's and Molly's friend Willie, and I think that I'm going to knit at least two more, maybe three. I was inspired by the mosaic knitting that Jen used, so I'm going to try my hand at it on the next kippah.

Thanks for a great pattern, a great project and a fun time, Jen!

Friday, May 20, 2005

The Dog ate my homework

After my webhost's server ate my DNS settings, I now have a small family matter that needs attending to before I can continue with the kippalong. Sorry for the slight delay and I should be back with a post on Sunday.

Meantime, your yarn's vital stats please. I'm finding that many people are wishing to use finer yarn than what the current pattern calls for and if that is the case, I will write up an addendum to the pattern.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Discovering a "New" Knitter

Even before Knitty's "Flash Your Stash" day, the School for Wayward Skeins had a mini-outing with my bestest friend. She and I have known each other for, oh, 20 years or so and she's just recently started knitting after being inspired by her 14 year-old daughter's efforts. Suddenly knitting is the hip thing for Israeli teens to do. (Pardon me while I collect my jaw from the floor!)

When we sat down to go through my yarn stash (we only got about a quarter of the way through it because we were looking through magazines and books too), it really hit me that, er, my stash is kinda sizable. It's not that I didn't know this before (what with taking up a third of my son's 2.50m closet, top to bottom, with two additional large Tupperware bins at the end of the hallway), but this is the first time I've ever done serious stash diving with someone else present in the room. All I can say is thank God she's a really good friend!

The punchline is that my best friend is knitting a.g.a.i.n. That's right. We've known each other for 20 years and she's never mentioned even once that she used to knit, even when she's come over and seen me knitting on something. (She's one tight-lipped Brit! Though being British I should have probably guessed...) So now I have another local cohort in fiber and even more importantly, someone I can share my yarn stash with!

Friday, April 15, 2005

Stash and more stash

Now that I've had to face my stash I find that I have some yarns that I really want to knit. I just have no idea what to knit with them. The yarns are Idena Flamenco (which I bought five years ago) and Rowan Cashsoft DK in Sweet (I adore this color). Flamenco is a boucle in a beautiful sunset colorway, deep purples, vivid oranges and reds.

So, now I must face my pattern stash. I have books here and there, with various slips of paper marking patterns that I like; I have some printed patterns in clear sleeves that I'm put in random order in a notebook; there are purchased pattern pdf files in one folder on my computer, but not organized; and the biggest mess of all are my bookmarks of favorite patterns on the internet.

Is there a simple solution? For now, mine is to put them back in the stash. And start a new project with summer cotton yarns. Hey! the temps are already in the 90's here. Which means that I can buy more yarn, right? Because I don't have any cotton in my stash.

heh heh!

What are you knitting this Spring/Summer?

Friday, April 01, 2005

Jen, I accept and meet your challenge!



(Another Flash Your Stash Entry below this one.)


TA DA!
Presenting my stash!

It's not that impressive, I guess, but it sure takes up more space than I wish that it did. All told, there's enough yarn there for about 10 projects and at least 1,000 scarves. That's not a typo. I have a bad habit of buying single balls of yarn just so I can see how it knits up.

BUSTED!

:)
pearl

April 1-Flash Your Stash Day!




Yes, thanks to the good folks at Knitty, today is "Flash Your Stash!" Day. While my stash really hasn't grown a lot over the past 5 years, it's still kinda on the large size because: a.) I hardly knit a thing over the past two years (knitting slump) and b.) I'm the world's slowest knitter.

If you think you're up to looking at all the class pictures of Ms. Yarnaholic's School for Wayward Skeins, just click on the thumbnail below to go to my Flickr photoset.

01-Ms. Yarnaholic's School for Wayward Skeins

And you can find a complete list of all the participants in today's "Flash Your Stash!" here.

(P.S. Hahaha...I'm laughing now. I thought I'd managed to flash all my stash. Five minutes ago I found a canvas bag in the living room with three more projects in it!)

Sunday, March 13, 2005

knitting conditions

With a daughter home on Spring Break, a sick cat, tons of rehearsals and concerts, not to mention temperatures in the mid-80°'s, there's not much knitting going on around here. I still have about 4 or 5 projects on the needles and yarn for at least 10 others, but no knitting time.

I must finish a pair of tip-less gloves, though. I knit quite a few fingerless versions (at least 10 pairs) this winter because they became quite the 'rage' with Molly's friends, and I still owe a pair to Arthur who wants tip-less gloves. I knit the fingerless gloves with two needles because I really wanted the stripes to match up, but I think it'd be best to knit the tip-less in the round. (I'm using the pattern from Ann Budd's the knitter's handy book of Patterns. I did a google search for jogless stripes in the round and came up with a few solutions, none of which really do it for me. Do any of you have tips for this?

With our weather conditions here in the desert I'm glad that I'm not knitting anything larger than gloves. ;)

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Current projects

I am just now finishing a project that is kind of a sad story. My friends daughter went into the hospital to have a bone marrow transplant and asked me to get some yarn for he so she could work on a sweater for her sister-in-law, who was expecting a baby. Unfortunately, she became so sick and was unable to make the blanket. She asked me to do it for her. So I am about to finish the baby blanket and unfortunately Dawn will never see it. She passed away on the 5th of January. So working on the blanket had a very special meaning for me as well.

Monday, February 21, 2005

News to me

This is probably old news for anyone currently on the knitting lists, but since I'm not, it was news to me.

Political protest turns to the radical art of knitting

(via Dave Barry's blog. Honest! and DRAT! If I'd known about this, I'd probably have postponed my trip to London to March...maybe.)

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Little knitting re-visited

I've injured my left hand. Possibly from knitting, but more than likely from playing the violin. Unfortunately, for a professional violinist, this is not a good thing. In any case, knitting is suspended for while, as I MUST continue to play.

Until this occurance, I've only been able to knit in the car while David drives us to rehearsals and performances, and therefore, I can only knit little projects that don't require much space. Considering all this, in the past few weeks I've knitted several scarves, hats and fingerless gloves, but now, I'm anxious to finish David's sweater (yup, four years on the needles) and I have yarn for at least 5 or 6 projects (most of which will never be knitted).

I have been knitting chemo caps - sadly, quite a few of my friends are going through chemo - and have found that Crystal Palace Merino Frappe knits up into the softest cloud. I order it from Fuzzy Galore. The last chemo cap I made was inspired by the Kittyville hat. Sorry for the terrible picture - the hat is actually a lot cuter in real life. ;)


I've also been working through these short row tutorials, which I've enjoyed and hope to complete. Now, if only my hand would heal so I can resume my happy knitting.

Monday, February 07, 2005

Knitting for Baby


Thanks to inspiration from Linh and the fact that my niece just made me a great aunt, I picked up my knitting needles to start a baby project: the Triangle-Edged Cardigan and Booties from Debbie Bliss' Quick Baby Knits.

It's a good thing I have a handle on the location of all my stash yarn, though I had somewhat of a short-lived panic until I figured out where this particular yarn was located. (In the potential trade bin!!) I'm using the only 6 skeins of Phildar Coton D'Egypte Sport that I have and it's working up at about pattern gauge, 25 stitches to 4". I'm making the largest size, 9-12 months. I figure larger is better, given the fact that babies tend to grow quickly and by the time they're about 1 or so they don't get a whole lot bigger around, just longer in the body. (Not to mention that I'm such a slow knitter, there's no point in making anything smaller!)

The pink is a little brighter than what I probably would have chosen, more of a candy floss pink than pastel pink. But what the heck! When you're working from your yarn stash (and determined not to buy more yarn), that's the way it is!