yarn porn

the wollmeise

the poison

petit poison light,red hot chili med, red hot chili light, rhubaber med, mitternacht dark

whoa

i just spent the entire day, like 7 good hours, getting this done.

whoa. i was determined. i can' say i am really pleased with how it turned out. but it's good enough. i just hope i try again and make another. better! faster! stronger!

i know it's a learning process but being able to sew a straight line - i thought that was enough! an accomplishment, a major river i crossed. i didn't realize it would continue (the frustration. ) i didn't take progress pics. lord knows how that would have delayed me. for the next one i will.

wollmeise calling...

the Wollmeise.

i first heard of her on the podcast knitters uncensored. they are in Deutschland! Claudia was on in an interview.

i was intrigued by the whole scenario. one of the many discussions they had was over the names of the colorways. in hearing about the Poison #5 i was distinctly reminded of that movie with sandra bullock that comes on TBS every now and again. a funny little number and of course the signature song--- love potion #9. relation? i dunno. misinterpretation? maybe...

through ravelry i slowly learned about the phenomenon. this gentle hand painter of yarns was indeed highly revered and her product obsessively sought after. skeins on ebay selling for 3- 5 times the original price. madness. over sock yarn.

i can be drawn in to these epidemics. things that are limited edition, nearly impossible to get your hands on. those things push my button and set me on a frenzy.

i was proud that i resisted the wollmeise. it was pretty easy since everything in her shop (online) is always sold out. the madness hadn't infected me. i chose to be indifferent. having never seen the yarn in-the-fiber, it wasn't that difficult. i even had the opportunity to get a skein in a ravelry destash and just clicked right by it. (i may have added my name to some sort of WM swap list at some point but i wasn't expecting to get that yarn anytime soon. especially since the WM announced that she was no longer going to announce her shop updates ahead of time. now it was officially impossible to get this yarn. i'll by some BMFA instead).

and last night i couldn't sleep. i lay there staring at the ceiling and i remember hearing somewhere the best thing to do when you can't sleep is just get outta the bed. do something. so i figured i would try to cast on my shetland triangle. queued for months, if not longer. yarn sitting in stash. brand new addi clicks waiting to be used....

"but first i must ravel a bit... then i work on that cast on..."

"hmmm. it's the middle of the night. isn't this the time when the wollmeise would update her shop... it doesn't hurt to look. "

"what!?! what is this... . what is this little green light i have never seen here before...stuff is in stock? impossible!"

the madness. took me over. i couldn't believe i was experiencing a wollmeise update. and i clicked fast. and i clicked to win. and i ordered that yarn.

was the wollmeise calling to me in my insomnia? does karma really exist? is it just a fortunate coincidence? pure luck? i guess we'll never know....

elf chum

i'd heard about the workshop from mochimochiland. why not? i says. and i was lucky, LUCKY! enough to have the day off. i sent invites to Agnes and Jess but they declined. i went ala carte. an unusual thing for me to do folks. it was gloomy december and i needed to do something a bit frivolous you see.

Jenny Harada led the worshop and kindly shared her fabric stash and a pattern for her cute Elf Chum design. we cut the small pieces out and hand-sewed them and stuff the lively creatures. we were scheduled to be done by four and ran-over the time till 'bout six. well, most of the group anyhow.

here is my chum in stages.

i must get an FO pic and add it to the post....

if i can learn to work my machine i can make some a bunch of elf chum (ornaments, toy gifts, decoration...) next holiday.

i had an absolute blast. i hope to attnd more workshops at gallery hanahou branch out my crafty demons further.

you can view pics of the event, participants and their chums

here on the flickr set luv-able hug-able

the first official sewing project

it all started with the harlot! i sat behind this lady person at the reading. she was knittin' on a sock or some similar small project and her project bag was super cute. i asked her where she got it and stuff. the ones i saw in the shop she mentioned were cute but note quite what i was hankering for. having seen all the luscious fabrics at purl patchwork i decided i would make one my-very-own-self. never mind that i have no idea really how to sew or don't have a machine. well, i have one but it doesn't work. or so i thought!

the original plan was to go to yoga with jess. i of course altered that plan because i wanted to get crafty. we were to head to the point and stitch it up. the point is a hop and skip away from purl soho so we would just pop in, grab a yard or two and head to her place to sew or not sew.

then i got the sick. sometimes you eat things that have aliens in them and the aliens take over your body and don't let you leave the house. even if for the first time ever you were not only on time but early to meet your buddy ol'pal that you haven't seen in like a long time and had a crafty day planned.

i got dressed. i packed a bag. i went outside. i walked a block. i walked that block again on my way back into my apt. and there i stayed folks! i was totally disappointed. cause who knows when i would have had another day off and jess would have a day off too and we both weren't busy and sad face. i pouted in my apt. every time i thought i could try to sneak past the aliens and go out- i was proven wrong.

at a point i finally accepted i couldn't leave but would not accept the fact that i couldn't sew.

but i have no fabric!-

well, there was the half yard left from the lining i hand stitched into kristy's pouchy i crocheted her for our bday...(we have the same bday)

yea but i have no machine!

well, you do have the machine your grandma gave you that you never could figure out how to work in the deep deep bottom of the closet...

yea but! i have no manual! how will i get that thing to work?

well, you do have that endless resource of information on the ravelry forums...

(way more efficient that the www btw)

fine! i'll try it. i will make an absolute mess and hurt myself getting the thing outta the closet and it won't work. ravelers will tell me my machine is broke and i dunno how to sew and give up and just buy the bag it's waaaay less trouble.

i got the machine out with minimal damage to myself and the apartment.

a raveler answered my plea quite promptly and it turns out i just had the machine threaded wrong.

and so , the sewing machine was in proper functioning order. and from my attempt at starting a scrapbook i already had a rotary cutter and self-healing mat...

i found a super simple project on kathryn ivy's blog and decided to practice. and only 2 hours and much cursing and a few pin pricks later...

after that exercise i became an expert on that particular method of construction and altered the measurements to stitch up my very own iphone cozy

exhausting.

Stitches East - the first

this weekend past was stitches east in baltimore, md. my first attendance to this great gathering i had heard so much-ehem, read so much about.

We (being me and the not-yet-husband) drove out thursday night to hit up the market floor first thing friday morning. i was hoping to snag an addi click if they were magically available there. or at least get a peak at a sample. the Skacel guy said the release date was being pushed for quality control. it's okay, i'll wait. i rather they get the design right than release them with a bunch of defects. i have experienced a full plethora of issues with my Knitpicks Harmony Options. time to upgrade.

i was warned to be careful. make a budget, bring a list and walk the entire floor quickly before making any major purchases. i armed myself with a print out of my rav queue and stash so i don't get stuff i already have similar and i could focus on projects in mind and not just buy random amounts of yarn aimlessly.

surprisingly enough i didn't go crazy with he yarn shopping. i have a modest stash and a modest budget and i guess i was too realistic about how much i could knit ever. i was like, overwhelmed. there was so much yarn! of some many kinds. i knew of some of the hot items that i should probably snag. but i didn't really have a use for them like Malabrigo sock, or lisa souza yarns ... there were bags of noro half off and i have been pondering the noro striped scarf (one of the original viral knits i think. i know i found out about it from brooklyntweed and yarnharlot) but i just left that bag there. another issue is space. where would i keep this all in my tiny NYC apt?

i regret not grabbing a Knitter's Block though. if for nothing else than to save on shipping it to myself later. i just didn't have an immediate use for it so i figured i would wait. it's just something i need eventually to complete my knitter's arsenal of supplies.

i made up in quality what i didn't grab in quantity. i took my sweet ass time picking out some Quivik from windy valley musk ox. i had first seen them at rhinebeck and didn't take pen! (long story) so i was determined this time around.

i hardly took any pictures. just snapped a couple baby sweaters because they were too adorable not to.

new york sheep and wool festival 2008

the festival was sat and sunday and Robert assured me it was not that far and would be a fun day trip. with his convincing we went on our merry way in the not too early morning hours and had a fabulous time. there were sheep, of course and goats of the cashmere variety and llamas and alpacas of which i do not think i can tell the difference...isn't it pretty!

i am so glad we went. i didn't end up spending too much money. i was glad there was not bags and skeins and wheels and things that i was dying to go broke for. with stitches coming up it is best that this was more a less just a day out. especially since i have been feeling like crap lately and work life was leaking all over my personal life it was nice to be reminded that my stupid job is not everything. i expected the food to be icky carnival food but it was surprisingly like the best thing i had eaten all month. we ate chicken sandwiches at the cajun hole in the wall and it was not greasy, nicely seasoned and fresh. that was a pleasant surprise. i would drive up there now to get one of those. but i can't drive.

and how cool is this guy!? he totally posed for this one!

i took alots of pics you can see them in my picasa

i bought:

a set of felting needles

a needle gauge pendant
heal my hands salve
a gnome kit from off the beaded path
and i couldn’t resist getting a drop spindle and some roving to try my hand at spinning.

my SO even started his very own stash…