little bit of weaving, in my life

silk scarf
Originally uploaded by The Prolific Knitter.

Yesterday I picked up my loom from Pam. It's a Schacht 45" floor loom, and it is beeyootiful. Many of its necessary dressin's are still off though, so you get no picutre for the time being!

I will give you a picture of my very first weaving. Isn't it pretty? I wove (weaved?) it on one of those Ashford knitter looms while at work a previous Saturday. The warp is Lorna's Laces Shepherd sock in Gray's Corner, the weft (the bit that goes back and forth) is a combination of Tilli Tomas silk in Atmosphere, Posh Yarns' silk boucle in Berrylicious, and Alchemy Haiku in Hush. It is so pretty, so unabashedly girly, and it has a luscious, silky smell. Plus, just imagine the feel. Like water over smooth river stones.

Out with the old, in with the new

Regia Silk (Morokko)
Originally uploaded by The Prolific Knitter.

I finished these yesterday during downtime between lessons. They are so soft, comfy (no itchy red rash here, a good sign) and the stripes are so cheery I could feel people smiling at me as they peaked out from under my pant legs as I strolled through the park! If only Regia's other colors weren't so unbearably dull (except Tansania, that one's pretty good.) Where are the aquas, the limes, the pinks, the golden yellows, the violets? If only they were all this bright. *sigh*

I have to admit something. I have been very good with the stashing-along; I've been happily choosing yarn out of my stash, and while I looked at new colors online, nothing really screamed at me (yay!). That all changed on Valentine's, when my mom gifted me with a e-bay certificate. (I love these things, and get them every holiday. Thanks mom!) It started with a little Interlacements... some Sea silk... and my gc was used up, and I was happy with what it bought me. But now I had the new yarn bug again!

I found myself poking around, looking at new colors. I discovered SweetGeorgia was taking a possibly-permanent hiatus, and while her yarns are all wool, all the time, I love her colors. Like, love in a not-friendly way. It's a little weird. Since they're so woolly, I had none in the stash. But this news spurred me to action! So now I am expecting a (smallish) box from Pickup Sticks in Canada. I may have also really liked that YP Merino Tencel I bought earlier, and surfed on over to the Loopy Ewe and seen new colorways. Specifically, a silvery gray called Quicksilver. I have no gray in my stash. None! So into the cart it went, along with new needles I legitimately needed (Crystal Palace size 0 6", you are the only ones for me. So why do your brethren keep leaving me, so that I have 2-3 useless needles?) and heck, I was somewhat close to the $50/free shipping. I had staring at Claudia Handpaints Begonia (also woolly, are you sensing my heartbreak here?). It has pink speckles! Like sprinkles! Speckles on sock yarn is like, my favorite kind of speckles! Anyway, it came with me, but I justified by thinking that a) I now save $4.05 by not paying shipping, and b) I am that much closer to a $25 credit at The Loopy Ewe.

I forgot to tell you that last time. When you spend $250, you get $25 back. $250 seems like a lot, I know, but when you think of the fact that she sells SOAK, Crystal Palace bamboo DPNS, and enough sock yarn to smother a grown man, with more companies and colors added almost daily, it doesn't seem so criminal, now does it?

ANYWAY, I'm not telling you what new things she's expecting soon, out of fear that you will beat me to it. But I know exactly what I want, and it will not be a willy-nilly stuffing-as-much-yarn-as-I-can free for all like I've been dreaming of afraid of. It will be controlled spending.

By the way, isn't a windfall evil? You know you should put it into savings or pay off bills (I did both) but then you have the leftover. And it just freakin' burns a hole in your pocket!

Come back tomorrow for a finished sweater. I hope. (P.S. - I don't work the loopy ewe. I'm just drunk from their good service and all the pretty colors. And the cookie recipes...)

Knitty Secret Pal package (#1)

Knitty Secret Pal package (#1)
Originally uploaded by The Prolific Knitter.

Okay, this is going to be quick. For various reasons, this week has been overloaded completely. So I apologize in advance to my pal for the lack of length in this entry. =)

On Valentine's Day, I got a mysterious package in the mail. I checked the label - "Secret Pal"! YAY! I tore it open (leaving the bills and cards :P) and this is what was carefully packed inside! A box of white raspberry tea (already drunk some, and I like the white tea!); a bar of Green & Black's organic dark 70%, which went into the chocolate cake I baked that day; a box of pink chocolate-covered sunflower seeds (also delicious!); a bag of soft, gray alpaca roving to try; a sunny-colored soap sack that she handknit with a wonderful-smelling bar of soap (I use this everyday. TMI?); and not one, but TWO lightweight spindles! Thank you SO much, pal. I can tell you put a lot of thought into what I would like. I can only hope I do so well by my downstream!

Gotta run to work (no new job yet, but I've gotten a fire under me lately and have been applying a lot!), hopefully I'll have a chance to DO something crafty soon.

Violets are blue (and purple).

Yarn for February
Originally uploaded by The Prolific Knitter.

Lisa from the comments is so right. It takes a while to get back to feeling safe again. For a day or two, whenever I rode in a car, I felt as though every second I was going to see those headlights coming right at my car. I have to admit, when I drove to work yesterday (my mom has the exact same car, in a different color. We like Toyota in this family.) It did freak me out. A lot. As long as I kept the radio on, I was all right on the interstate. But once I got into town, every single turn I had to make was stressful. Was this person going to hit me? What about this one? You know, logically, it's unlikely. But now that it's happened onced, and you're feeling especially unlucky, what's stop it from happening again? So the fear comes, and then subsides, and you feel like you ran a marathon when you get out of the car, finally. It doesn't help that I've lost two brothers in vehicular accidents. I can't tell you the feeling I got today when a police car pulled up in front of my house (though it ended up he just needed to turn around.) Several times we've had the police show up, and let's face it, they don't come to sing you happy birthday. I actually remember my mom, sitting in the kitchen of my granddad's house (we lived there while our house was being built) and I had been woken up by the noise and talking in the very early hours. I stood in the doorway (it had one of those half-doors, where you could just open the top and serve food out to the dining room without leaving. Funny the things you remember!) and she just said "It's Robbie (my brother)." She couldn't say anything else, but even as a kid I knew what that meant. It ended up that he had flipped his jeep into a ditch, and the "oh shit" bar (not the real name, obviously) had failed to perform it's function and he was killed. Thus, never drive a Jeep. They are extremely unsafe.

Wow, I didn't mean to go into all that with you guys. I guess it's just been on my mind. Now you're in a real cheery mood, right? Let's talk about something good, shall we? How about some yarn?

Obviously I am not feeling the Valentine's love over here, hehe. This is all yarn I picked up in the last two weeks; normally I'm not a purple girl but one of my art students LOVES all things purple, so I guess she got me to give it a second chance. And she's right! Is there anything more decadent than a rich purple velvet, or a tart-sweet smear of blackberry jam? What about those fragile little violets you see, cowering under the grass at the start of spring? My mom's bearded irises in full bloom, with purple specks all over their creamy petals (and of course, that fluffy golden beard peeking from inside.) No, I had been giving purple a bad rep, and I apologize!

Clockwise from the far left: two skeins of Silk Garden in 247 for my mom (Little Knits), Five skeins of Patagonia Nature Cotton in 206, a blend of coffee and purple with dark rose blips (Knaughty Knitter), Fleece Artist Merino sock in Mermaid (even prettier in person, also from little knits), Yarn Pirate merino/tencel in aqua/coffee (my only non-purple yarn!) and Apple Laine Apple Pie sock yarn in "Pretty in Purple" (both from The Loopy Ewe.) They make a nice little purple family, don't they? Some of this MAY be for my secret pal. I won't say which, lest I further incriminate myself. ;)

Oh, and The Loopy Ewe? Completely, utterly awesome. While I've gotten some great service from yarn stores before, Sheri has topped them all. We held a whole conversation over email (and notice I did not spend tons of money. So that wasn't it!), she emails you if you comment on her blog, even! Which is also fun and interesting. I like reading about her family business, and how everyone chips in! (I'm especially fond of Starbucks-barista-knitting-daughter, because she reminds me of me a few years ago. My mom had/has an booming ebay business, so I'd work and then come home and pack dolls for a while. Yarn is SO much more interesting though...!) Anyway, pop over to her site. In the interest of full disclosure, apparently she has a thing where she tracks how many people click over and sign up for accounts with her (not buy, just get an account.). I'm really just recommending her and the store because they're fun and really friendly, but I'm also curious how many "clicks" show up. So click over, and maybe if I reach a good number I'll give something away. Something good. (Just sayin'.)

Also, I still do not have a rental, and my car hasn't even moved to the dealership to be fixed. Ugh.

public service announcement

Hey all, I just wanted to let you know I was in a car accident a few days ago and will probably continue to be offline til I get my mind back into balance. Something about being broadsided at 40 mph (no injuries, except to my poor car) freaks me out. Not to mention it hasn't been a great week to begin with. I'll be hiding under the covers, knitting, sniffling, and feeling sorry for myself for a bit. ;) You know how that is, right?

Socks That Rock knee socks in Saratoga

Socks That Rock knee socks in Saratoga
Originally uploaded by The Prolific Knitter.

I knit these socks for my aunt, who requested knee socks in "fun colors." While I wouldn't consider brown "fun," it does have buttery yellow toes & heels, as well as shots of aqua and lavender. I really prefer the mediumweight... I can feel immediately that it will hold up better, even though it's still 100% wool. I used all but 1.2 ounces of the STR for a size 9 foot and they go over the widest part of my calves. So even if you do regular heels and toes, you should have enough in one skein unless you have really big feet or want patterning or have extra-long legs.

Not that my preference in STR matters, because I'm freakin' allergic to wool. After a visit to Vanderbilt yesterday, I sat in the car, sort of depressed and a little bit excited. No more animal fiber (alpaca, etc. included) because it aggravates the pee-hoss out of my skin. Not just itchy... but causes rashes. Gross, huh? Anyways, the excitement came from the fact that I've generally steered away from cotton, linen, etc. Now I have the chance to explore all of them! And of course, silk. I think I would REALLY cry if I were allergic to silk, but I don't even know if that's possible.

As one last hurrah, I'll finish my Charm jacket (not that it's close, or anything.) and one more pair of Lorna's socks for my mom. ANd that will be it, for at least 3 months, at which point I go back in to see if it helped.