Knitter's Weekend Part I: Pride Columbus Meetup and Yarn Crawl

It's been a few days, so I'm mostly recovered now from a very busy weekend. It was so much fun though--I seldom go out, let alone with people (because REASONS, mostly involving the fact that I'm a broke hermit). But on Saturday I got to meet a whole slew of Ravelers at Columbus Pride.

We started off at the Columbus Pride Parade, which was just all kinds of fun. Here are a few highlights:

I think this should be my next car. What do you think?

There were some really funny signs in the parade, but I couldn't snap a picture of my favorite: "If we've learned anything from Harry Potter, it's that you can't live in a closet."

These guys just made my day. There was also a Sebastian and an Ursula.

 We had perfect weather for the parade. It was sunny and bright without a cloud in the sky. Even though it was 90+ degrees, High Street had a great breeze going so it felt much cooler and wasn't at all unbearable.

After the parade, we headed up to one of the local yarnshops, where I bought the two center cakes of yarn pictured below. The rest came from our after dinner stop of Michael's.

Back row (L-R): Red Heart Unforgettable in "Parrot" and "Dragonfly."
Middle: Cascade Ultra Pima #9778 and #9781.
Front: Loops and Threads Elegance in "Ocean" and "Smoky Plum."

You can't tell at all that I have a favorite color pallet, can you?

 The Ultra Pima is 100% cotton, but I think it's much nicer to work with than most other cottons. I think it's a little easier on the hands.

I almost swapped this one out for another variegated purple or aqua, but decided that I needed to mix it up a little. Besides, I love the sherbet-like colors in it.

Unfortunately, the others are all 100% acrylic, but they're so pretty that I think it makes up for it. Anyway, I'm not above using acrylic. Unforgettable looks slightly Noro-like in the ball, and since I can't use Noro because of my allergies (and the fact that it feels like a kitchen scrubber to me) I think this is a decent substitute.


We ended the day with Mexican food and margaritas (well, they had margaritas. I had iced tea, because I am not so fond of the alcohol and suspect that drinking would end very badly for me (also for REASONS).

It was a fabulous day, and also completely exhausting. I can't wait to see everyone again next time!

You've Got Mail

About a month ago, I signed up for a swap on Ravelry. Not just any swap, but one through my True Blood group.

For those unfamiliar with the idea, a swap works like this: You put your name on a list, fill out a quick profile (favorite color, any allergies, etc), and the moderator pairs you up with a partner. Each swap has a different set of rules. For this one, we had to spend at least $25 on yarn, and the theme was True Blood. Other than that, the sky is the limit. Meanwhile, someone else will get your name, and put together a package for you.

My package arrive last night, and I was so excited that I completely forgot to take pictures of the packaging. That's a shame since my swap partner went way above and beyond.

Let's take a closer look, shall we?

Since this was a TV/book themed swap, some of the questions in the profile regarded favorite characters and such. My favorite character in TB is Sam, owner of Merlot's Bar and generally just the nicest, most loyal guy you ever wanted to meet (he's also a shapeshifter, but that's another story). My partner put together this cute letter from Sam, about how all the goodies came from various characters in the books:

As you might have gathered, there were smaller packages inside the box. Package #1 contained this:

An anatomical knitted heart, "staked" by a pair of KnitPicks circular needles.

Package number two contained this cute little travel knit kit:

In the first picture, you can see that the cover has a picture of Sam on it, while the back is the "Welcome to Bon Temps" sign.

Inside was a mini crochet hook for fixing mistakes, a stitch holder, a yarn needle, and a collection of stitch markers bearing the character's faces.

In the last mini-package was this, a "faery charm" to ward of vampires:

This is the box the necklace came in:

Of course, there was also yarn, and a few other goodies as well:

Lipstick and matching lip pencil, in a vampy red I haven't tried out yet.

...Not to mention a couple bags of my favorite candies: Reese's miniatures and Sour Patch.

I think I'm set for quite a while! The only problem? I only got yarn and tea for the person who got my package. :( I feel like a lame partner now (though she was very appreciative and seemed to really like what I sent her. Even if I had a "duh" moment and forgot to include a letter. Yes, the typewriter fan forgot to include a letter. The irony is not lost on me).

Thanks, Phantasmagoria!

Thanks.

Okay, so I didn't quite make it to the September 1 mark, but I just had to say: People are awesome. The FU scarf kind of went viral at the Ravelry level within the first 24 hours, and spent more than a day as the #1 viewed pattern on the site (out of 309,000+) before dropping down to #2. And since I love my stats, here are a few:

Comments: 100
Queues: 265
Projects: 16
Favorites: 657
Downloads: 1013
Knit-a-longs: 3

I also wanted to give a big, huge, massive thank you to Zephyrama on Ravelry, who has been instrumental in helping me fix some of my counting errors, and to everyone else who alerted me to my mistakes. I'm really sorry about that, and I hope to have it all smoothed out here in the next couple of days at the latest. Keep checking the pattern page for updates.

I really was not expecting this many people to like the pattern. I figured ten people might download it on the first day, and that it would slack off from there, but it's still going strong, holding on to the #2 position.

Unsurprisingly, some people have been upset about this pattern. I've been told that I am uncreative, produce trash, and that I should be ashamed of myself. I even had one person say that they are considering quitting ravelry because of the pattern.

Seriously? You would eschew one of the greatest knitting and crochet resources on the web based on a single pattern?

There are 309, 046 other patterns on the site the last time I looked. If it bothers you so much, go knit something else.

Also, this is what the pattern page looks like:

My pattern is a link and an itty bitty thumbnail in the corner. Both the title and the thumbnail are censored. The pattern is flagged as adult content. If you find the censored title of F**k You! offensive, then I suggest you don't click on it. It's that simple. That Mariposa looks lovely, why don't you try it instead?

But I digress. I'm not getting into a flame war. I've got over 1,000 knitters who love it. I'm not going to get upset by three or four people with delicate sensibilities and no common sense, and this is the only time I'm even going to waste my breath mentioning it. Because really, all I have to say is this:

Thank you.

If you would like to download the pattern while it is still free, you can do so here: download now

Back in Black

Sometimes, it's hard for me to blog. Sometimes it's because I can't order my thoughts, or because there's something going on in my life that doesn't leave me time for the internet. Sometimes I'm just feeling low and don't want to spread the negative vibes, and other times there's just nothing going on in my life worth sharing. Sometimes, I'm anxiously waiting on news and don't trust myself not to post obsessively about it, so I have to avoid mentioning it altogether.

That last one is actually why there haven't been many posts for the last month and a half. I found an opening for what sounded like a dream job, applied, interviewed, and then had to sit on my hands for five weeks while I waited for a reply. I didn't get the job (I wasn't really expecting to, but I really, really wanted it and I think I'd be good at it), but that means I'm now free to resume my life prior to the last month, which I spent obsessively babysitting my email and cell phone, waiting for a response. Life in general was pretty much put on hold, since the job would entail moving out of state, and I didn't want to make plans.

That wait left me with a lot of time to knit, and the attention span of a sugar-addled squirrel, so I have a lot of projects in progress but none of them are finished. The two I'm focusing on at the moment are for Nerd Wars, which has started up again on Ravelry.

The first one is my Dissertation. It's a shell I'm knitting out of Knit Picks Comfy Fingering on size US2 needles. It might not look like much now, but I promise that's about 3-4 hours of knitting there (almost 400 stitches per round on tiny needles...why did I pick this project again?). The pattern is of my own design and inspired by one of my novels--which has a new title as of this week! I finally decided that Threadbare would do the trick, after flip flopping between several other (horrible) options. (This would be for the book previously known as Fortune's Fight.)

The other project I've been working on is another of my own designs, which has been sitting in my queue since I joined Ravelry. It's a hat based on the Quebec flag, intended to be work with my Oh, Canada! scarf. It's coming along pretty quickly on size 7 needles. I wasn't intending to use anything special for it, but I just couldn't say no to the glitz in the blue Caron Simply Soft Party.

I have to get back to all of those things I've been ignoring lately (like cleaning...and edits...), but I'll try to be more regular with my posting again.

Northman Pattern Now Available

Currently Reading: A Good Yarn
Currently Watching: White Collar

The pattern for both variants on the Northman beanie are now available in the Ravelry pattern shop as a free download.

I tried a slightly different style of pattern writing this time; rather than the standard CO 100 sts, work k1p1 rib for 6 rows, etc I wrote it out in more paragraph style, a la Elizabeth Zimmerman. Do you like the change? Let me know what you think.

Something not so different

So the theme for today is "something different." The idea is to blog about the regular content in a different fashion. Quite frankly though, I don't have the energy to come up with a "different fashion" at the moment. It's been a weird couple of days at work with everyone grumpy or sick/suffering from allergies, on top of the cold, gloomy weather we've been getting. So you just get the regular content.

The winners of the Japan Relief Drawing were Clasina and NewbieKnitter84 (Ravelry names; comments 5 and 27). Congrats, ladies, and I'll be sending your packages out sometime this week.

In other news, I now have a Ravelry Pattern page! I've got two up right now (well, technically three, but one is a repeat because I had a technology fail and I don't know how to remove it), and another will be going up this week. Right now the patterns are all free, but I'll be adding some for pay later. (Also, can I just say how awesome everyone is who faved the latest pattern? 17 faves before it was even up 24 hours!)

At the moment, that's all I've got. I'm going to go put my feet up and not do anything resembling work for the next 24 hours and just enjoy my day off.

2KCBW--DAY 2

In the DVD Player: Firefly
Currently Reading: Torchwood: Consequences


I had to work this morning, and almost didn't get a blog post in at all. I thought about just putting it off until tomorrow, but Alice and I and some friends are going to an early movie, and I still have to do the Nerd Wars blog tomorrow, which is going to take a while because the dozens of submissions turned in for our little Tribble takeover.

The day two prompt for Knitting and Crochet Blog Week is as follows:

Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year. Have you learned any new skills or forms of knitting/crochet (can you crochet cable stitches now where you didn’t even know such things existed last year? Have you recently put a foot in the tiled world of entrelac? Had you even picked up a pair of needles or crochet hook this time last year?

Let's see, according to my Ravelry, I've completed 14 projects (roughly) in the last twelve months, if you count a handful of hats that I donated as a single project and a trouble of tribbles as a single object (the Nerdwarsians decided that "trouble" was the proper term for a gathering of tribbles. I think it's perfect).

Last year, I was just starting to learn how to knit socks. I'd made a few very basic ones, but that was about it.

Last year, I'd done very little cabling. I've done quite a lot with cables now (mostly in the London Calling sweater, which needs and updated photo), and taught myself how to drop down to fix an incorrectly twisted cable (my tutorial on it can be found here).

I am now more adept at reading patterns. I also have learned the way NOT to make a beret, and how to make one properly.

I also took a great step in conquering lace, which is something I've always found elusive, when I made my feather and fan jazzpunk shawl. Oh, and I learned how to put a pocket into a sweater.

All of that, before you even get into the textile stuff and the historical stuff I learned for my thesis. Wow. That seems like a lot for a year! I want to learn more this year--I want to try another lace pattern. I want to challenge my design skills and start incorporating more techniques into the things I design myself, and increase my skill base.

I have two other goals, too: I want to knit through at least 3/4 of my stash, to get rid of the budget (i.e. Redheart) yarn that I got as a broke college student, and start using nicer yarns whenever possible. I still want to observe my budget, but I want to operate 90% stash free, meaning that I don't just go out and buy yarn because I want it. Purchased yarn must have a purpose, though I'm going to keep my handspun and still have some really basic yarns on hand--you know the kind, the ones that are so terribly useful that you're always going to them. Since this requires a shift of budget and of thinking, I'm going to count this as a new skill to learn in 2011.

What goals do you have?

Cloudy with a Chance of Tribbles

I have come to the conclusion that I either need a professional in-house photographer, or daylight needs to last until at least 12 am. Of course, it would help if we had sunshine out here once in a while, since it's been cloudy and icky for the last few days.

In the mean time, I'm making do with a compact fluorescent in "Daylight" Although I'm beginning to suspect there's a problem with my new camera. I just bought it at Christmas, but it never seems to record colors accurately. I really don't want to break down and get a fancier camera, especially so soon after getting this one. I might even be forced to get a non-Fuji next time, which is sad since I love their cameras.

I managed to get a halfway decent (but boring) shot of my latest Nerd Wars submission. Tribbles have invaded Team Enterprise, and Maison du KM is no different.

I've also been going through some of the older projects I'd made patterns for, back when I first started the knitted journey. As much as I love these arm warmers (very steampunk!) I think I'm going to have to alter the pattern and retire the prototypes. What do you do with a failed prototype? Store it? How? Frog it? Donate it? I think for the remake I'm going to move to a thinner yarn (and something that isn't acrylic, at least not that breed of acrylic), and instead of crocheting all the way around I'll just to the scallops and knit the sides, working in eyelets for the ribbon. I'll add that to the ever-growing list of stuff I want to knit.

Currently Watching: What a Girl Wants
Currently Reading: Consequences (Torchwood novel)

New Hair

I got a couple of gift certificates to the local beauty school for Christmas, but I haven't had time to make use of them until recently. I knew that I wanted to do something a bit different with my hair, but I wasn't sure what. Then I got sick of my hair (which tends to get rather triangular looking when it's about shoulder length) looking like a Lady Gaga wig and decided that Now. Was. The. Time.

After having Normal Hair for about a year, I decided it was time to go back to something funky and picked out a layered style that will still grow out easily (since that is the ultimate goal) and decided I wanted it to be two-toned in some way. Red. Bright, firey red. So when I talked to the girl (a lovely senior from not to far from where I live) we settled on this:

I'm quite pleased with it, though it takes some getting used to. It also means I have to re-evaluate my wardrobe a little, since it clashes with most of the dark red, all of the pinks, and about half of the purples in my closet. So it looks like I'm going to be wearing mostly black and blue for the foreseeable future (gah, black and blue and red on top? I'm going to look like a scraped knee. But a very fashionable scraped knee).

I can't post any pictures of my knitting right now, because it's part of a Top Secret Mission for Nerd Wars, and the hem of the sweater I'm working on isn't all that fascinating (yay, 2 1/2 inches of 2x1 ribbing. Joy). I did manage to have a spinning mishap that resulted in the loss of about 1/4 ounce of tussah silk. I still weep for it.

I've been accomplishing very little in the world of writing this week, but I hope to rectify that tomorrow or possibly later tonight, depending on how long it takes me to finish up stuff online. I have been hampered slightly in my productivity by the rain, which has flooded both our internet and phone lines meaning that I don't have access half the time to the numbers I need to call and the other half I simply can't call them (because if I'm going to be on hold for an hour, there's no way I'm using my cell). So since I don't have any other concrete accomplishments to show you, I will distract you with another shiney picture of me and my new 'do:



Also, don't forget about the Japan Relief Drawing, which is still open to anyone who donates to any organization providing aide over there. I'm going to keep blogging as usual, but remember that you can still enter by leaving a comment on that post. There's also a helpful little link in the upper left hand corner of this page, right next to the post title.

Bibliophile Crack

Many knitters know that Ravelry is the number one time sucker out there you can find everything on Ravelry, and it all comes from knitters.

While surfing the groups, I came across this group, which encourages members to read 52 books in the 52 weeks of 2009.

I love to read. I read all the time in grade school. I'd go through the entire library during the summer, and I often considered books to be better friends then people (don't ask. I was not popular in middle/high school. I'm sure by now you've all figured out why). Since starting college, I haven't had time to read. I've been working, doing homework, and honestly, I spend so much time sitting at a desk or in front of a computer that I just don't want to sit down and read sometimes. I've thought about audio books, but I just don't pay attention to them. They're just background noise. I love the smell of paper and ink, and that feeling you get when you're so into a book, and you hear yourself blink and then you realize that all that music, the chatter, the noise you've been hearing for the past hour isn't your roommate or the cat, it's coming from the book, because you're so into it, you're right there and you can smell the exhaust of the main character's car and feel the engine rattle, and hear that sexy southern accent her boyfriend has, and you're all shocked when you realize there is no rumbling engine or AC/DC on the radio or southern accent or exhaust.

So when I saw that group, I was like, "Yes, I want to read more. 52 books isn't a lot. I used to read that much in a single summer!"

In the group, I noticed a thread labeled "Shelfari and Good Reads." I ignored it, because I used to have a LibraryThing.com account (well, still do, technically), but it is dusty and has never been used since I only got it to link my knitting books to Ravelry and then couldn't get the link to work.

Maybe it's the little virtual shelf. Maybe it's the author pages, the groups, I don't know. But Shelfari is now my new time sucker. I've actually spent more time on there in the last two days than I have on Ravelry.

Of course, I can't remember every book I've ever read. But in two days I've gotten up to about 95 read, and roughly 50 plan to read books.

So. 52 books. Wish me luck. And if I accomplish my other New Years Resolutions, maybe sometime in the near future you lot will be adding my books to your book shelves!

Birthday Swag

I turn 21 tomorrow, but we celebrated yesterday by inviting family and neighbors over. Mostly, I got cash (just the way I like it), so today I went out to spend it.

I got three old French primers from my great-great aunt who recently passed away (I only met her once and we never spoke; mostly I knew her son and his wife. They found the books while cleaning out her house a few weeks ago). I collect old books, and I love French, so they passed them on to my willing hands. I picked up some thread (I have lots of colors but no white thread? How did this happen?), some sour patch because I am addicted acid--citric acid, that is. Can't get enough sour candy, and these were on sale at CVS. Lastly, I went to one of my favorite DVD stops (Walmart. Got to love the $7.50 DVDs). I love digging through the sale bins at Blockbuster and Walmart for movies. There's lots of crap to laugh at, but every once in a while you'll find some gems. This week that have patriotic DVDs on sale for $8, so I picked up The Great Escape (*sigh* Can I go back to 1963 and get me some young David McCallum?), as well as a double feature disk of The Secret Garden and A Little Princess, which were two of my favorite books/movies growing up. Hey, two movies for $7.50? I'll take that!

I also got my "adult" driver's license today--the horizontal one with the yellow bar at the top. I don't care about drinking (I could do that in Canada and in Italy, and I didn't enjoy it that much, so what's it matter here), but the new card is nice and shiney, and I won't have people asking me where the expiration date is anymore (well, to be honest, that hasn't happened since I was 17, just after they implemented the whole under-age vertical license thing, but still).

And I have to say thanks to YarnHead over on Ravelry. I was asking questions about silk hankies in the Beginner Spinning group, and she PMed me to say she had a few "just lying around," and would I like them. Hello? Free silk? Yes please! Those arrived today, about half a dozen I think, so thanks so much to her.

Oh, and the rest of the cash? I bought 8 oz of undyed alpaca online this morning. I'm in fiber heaven. I made a resolution to not buy new yarn until I'd used up everything in my stash, but it doesn't count if I just by fiber, because that's not yarn, see? And I have to spin it all up before I can order something new, which mean it takes me longer to work through it all.

I can rationalize anything. Especially birthday purchases.

Let There be Peace on Earth (and Let it Begin with Me)

A few weeks ago, I was on Ravelry in the Knitting our Way to Peace group. In this thread, I brought up a project I would like to do for my senior thesis show this fall. The other Ravelrers were enthusiastic, and now that things have temporarily settled down a little, I'd like to get started with it.

The idea is this: a flag for every nation of the world, sewn together to make a large quilt. At the center would be the words "Let there be Peace on Earth." I think it would be much more meaningful if it was a group project, rather than an individual one.

So, here we are. I would like a little help with this, but of course, there are guidelines. If you would like to participate, PLEASE READ ALL OF THE RULES CAREFULLY BEFORE BEGINNING!

General Information:
1) Please sign up for a country before you begin to prevent repeats. This link will provide you with a list of available countries. To claim one, simply leave a comment on that post.

2) Some countries and territories are in the middle of political upheaval, and have more than one flag. I leave it to you to decide which flag you do, or even both. All I ask is that you please select a flag from the list; Due to time constraints, I am no longer open to other flags (Maybe. If you can make a good case for it...)

3) There are occasional buyers who attend these senior thesis shows. If the piece sells, I would like to donate the money to Doctors Without Borders, which helps every nation regardless of politics or religion.

4) The show will be held sometime in early 2009, probably January. Dates are TBA. Please check back with the blog or with the Ravelry group for the most up-to-date information.

5) Sign ups are open until November 8, 2008.

Construction and shipping:
1) The height of each flag should be 20 cm, or 8 inches. The width should be 16 inches, or about 40 cm. IF YOU DO NOT MATCH THE PROPORTIONS EXACTLY, DO NOT FROG YOUR WORK. Please send it to me as is (preferably blocked, but I'm not picky). As long as it is reasonably close to the specified dimensions, I'll put it in (i.e, only off by 1" or so in each direction.)

2) The materials are open, but keep in mind that each flag will be hand-sewn together. Knitting, crocheting, weaving, felting, quilting, embroidery, tatting–I don’t care, but it must be fiber. You could even paint on canvas, but I ask that if you do, please remember the dimensions, remove the stretcher before shipping, and please leave enough blank canvas around the edges for me to sew, as I don’t want to damage the painting.

3) I would like to receive all the flags no later than December 13, 2008.

4) You can ship your flags to:
Sheena Pennell
P.O. Box 781
London, OH 43140
USA

5) Feel free to send your personal messages with your flags. I would love to display them at the show. I’m thinking about binding them into a handmade book to give with the finished product. If you would NOT like your messages displayed, just include a little PS and I'll leave it out.

6) I want to give credit where credit is due. Please include your name (real name or screen name, doesn’t matter), along with the name of the country your flag represents.

Please continue to check the blog, as I'll be posting regular updates and reminders.
You can also find the latest information in our Ravelry Group. You can watch the progress of the project through our Flickr group.

Edit: I had to move the list of countries because this post was over eight pages long and Blogger decided to rebel. You can find it here now. Please leave your sign-up comments on that page from now on, just so everything is nice and tidy and in one place. Thanks for your understanding! ^^