Whew!

I just ordered some coins from Pillaged Village. They even look kind of middle eastern, so I'm kind of exicted about that. I just hope they're the right size. I think they're 3/4 of an inch in diameter. That might be a bit small, but we'll see.

I'm just about done with the opera gloves. I have to finalize the pattern and send it to the author. I just faxed the release on monday. I still have to send in the real thing. The physical gloves were nearly completed at Stitch 'n Bitch tonight - I just have to sew on the buttons and make a crochet chain to go around them to fasten them. Thanks to that special person who taught me those crochet stitches and how I can use them.

Well, that's all I've got for tonight. I'm too lazy to take pictures of the huge amounts of sierra that I'm not touching yet (I told myself not until the gloves are finished!). I need to start swatching, there's only ten days before the knitting olympics!!!

Maybe in that time I should find out what I really have left in my stash. I should catalog it here along with what I bought it for, and what I currently intend to do with it. It's about time for my hands to start moving as fast as my mind!

The Hip Scarf will happen!

Alright, so I'm almost finished with the Opera Gloves. I have to name them (O Gloves?), finish up writing the pattern, and there are just a few more rows before I add the finishing touches.

What this means is that I'm looking ahead. I went to M&J Trimmings on Saturday to check out what they had. I was feeling inspired from the Belly Dancing class that made me sore for three days after. I found some metal coin things - but they only had one package of 100 pieces. I called them yesterday to see if they were getting any more anytime soon. The verdict is no. They won't be getting any soon. Thing is, these janglies were $4.99 for 100 pieces. I did some looking around on Saturday, and I found one place that had 144 for $95 and another place that would give me 144 pieces for about $18. Now, I'm thinking that I could use anywhere between 200 and 300 pieces, so I'm a little less excited about spending $18 for 144 pieces. I'm at my wits end. Does anyone have any suggestions? I might call my mom and see if she can stop off at a Michaels or a AC Moore or something on her way home from work and mail something like that to me. I'm getting frantic.

For a backup interim project, I decided that I'd start a pair of those socks from the Winter 05/06 Interweave Knits. I posted a picture of them before. The ones with the leaves. I don't really want to do anything on tiny needles anymore, but I could use another pair of socks, and these ones are so pretty!

In knitting Olympic news: My Sierra came in today from Knit Picks! I have it here at work and I need to wind it all and start swatching and all that. I need to really look at the pattern. My yarn isn't going to stretch as much as the Rowan Cotton Tape they used for the original. I also have to really seriously look at the pattern to see how to make it fit. The fact that it doesn't stretch as much might mean a problem. Overall, I thought the Sierra was going to be a bit softer than it actually is. I'll post pictures of it when I get it home.

Also, in web news, my friend showed me a bit of how to take an image in photoshop and turn it into a web layout. I think I'm going to read more about that, but perhaps the look of PassionKNITly will be changing....

Mr. Bo Jangles

Well...good thing I checked my bank account before heading out into the world today. I think the janglies are going to have to wait until I get paid. :(

In this issue....

I'm new to the whole podcast world. I didn't really understand why people were listening to them at first. What's the point in listeningn to the music that some random person puts together? Then someone told me of a knitting podcast, and someone's blog was mentioning it, and there's that article in the new Vogue Knitting about knitting podcasts as well. My interest was finally piqued after all these attempts, and my mouse pointer wandered over towards iTunes. My fingers felt themselves grabbing the words to spell out "knitting" and lo and behold several knitting podcasts loaded onto my screen. After a few initial troubles, I finally managed to download an episode of Knit Cast and a few episodes of Cast-On. I got a chance to listen to a show of each while I was finishing up on some stuff at work.

I listened to the interview with Debbie Bliss on KnitCast. this is the only episode I downloaded because I love the feel of the Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk and the person who could create such a covetable yarn must be awesome. It was, in fact, a really interesting podcast. The content was really interesting even if I wasn't fond of Ms Irshad's interviewing techniques (it sounded more like a barrage questions than a fluid conversation) and there was background noise (there was a chair specifically that scraped and I found distracting). Overall, her podcast sounds more professional than what I was really expecting.

Cast On is a much longer and more elaborate podcast. It sounds like what would happen if I were to put together a radio show on knitting. There's songs interspersed with with knitting news and anecdotes, reviews of podcasts and the sweater of the day. It sounds amazingly professional.

It hit a nerve. Not that I'll be starting my own podcast anytime soon, but the seed has been planted. It's not that different from the radio show I had in college. In fact, I realized that this whole podcast thing is more like community radio than anything else. It's great, and amazingly inspiring!

On another front, I've finished one of the opera gloves. It came out beautifully, and I'm sure it will make a great addition to my friend's book. I've written a first draft of the pattern. To be honest, I didn't think that pattern writing would be this difficult. I think the biggest issue I'm having with actually committing the pattern to paper is wrestling with the style of wording.

It seems to me that there are multiple ways of writing patterns. The pretntious wasy, and the real people/readable and workable ways. I desperately want my pattern to be readable and pragmatic. I have a chart (and a key that has a wrong symbol definition in it - I'll have to fix that). I noticed that my first attempt at writing the pattern was pretentious. Not only does it have a lot of steps (nothing can really change that unfortunately), but it makes notes of what row you should be on. I don't know why I did that, there's only one part of the pattern that you actally need to pay attention to rows. I've started to revise it so that I tell people how many repeats it should be worked against. Also, I need to count out how many stitches I have at the end of each section of decreases. I'm hoping that I can put my email address somewhere so I can answer questions on the pattern.

But enough of my teasing. i think I've found a project for the time between I finish the other glove and when the Knitting Olympics start. Your prize for readig this far is a picture of the yarn I'm going to be using for said interim project:

Blue Heron Yarns' Rayon/Metallic Blend
in Colorway: Old Gold

This is going to turn into a beautiful hipscarf for my belly dancing escapades. I need to find some jangly thingeys for it. The goal is to get up relatively early for a Saturday and head to M&J trimmings to see if they (or any of those similar types of stores around them) have janglies. The idea is that I want to hear it when I move my hips. I'm thinking of a row at the top of janglies, thena few more a bit farther down (2-4 rows?) and then maybe another row of janglies. Depending on my mood, I might trim teh whole thing with fringe or jangles. So another pattern to make up! But it shouldn't be too intense. It's just a miniature triangle shawl. I'm planning on using rather large needles so it'll be pretty airy. OSmthing like a size 10 or 11 should do the trick. Maybe I'll pay for webhosting or something and put the pattern up on the site.

I was talking to a few people today while I was at The Point and we decided it's kinda like Cheers. We know nomatter when we come in that we'll always know someone there. Either one of the staff or a random knitter hanging out. This lead to a discussion on how unifying knitting is. How it's the only hobby you can take out and about with you and how people don't stare at you with apathetic eyes when you exclaim "Oh! I'm a knitter too!" Perhaps this unity is why knitting is getting so increasingly popular. Because people like to be a part of things that are bigger than themselves, and because all this technology, the blogging, the emailing everything is encouraging people to remain isolated in their own homes.

OH! I'm just so inspired by everything right now! Actually, I noticed that there's a severe lack of icons and buttons for the Knitting Olympics Sweater Knitting Team. I might try to be uber artsy tonight. Or later this weekend. Or next week....

But I felt the need to share this link and photo a non-knitter posted to his livejournal this afternoon:

I've been tagged!

Nope, the book project isn't over yet. Nope, I don't have pictures, but yes! I've been tagged by Crafty Girl's Life for a meme.

4 jobs I've had in my life.

Mass Merchandise Sales Assistant - DK Publishing
Consultant - JPMorgan Chase
Waitress - Charlie O's of Narragansett
Tennis shop clerk - Point Judith Country Club

4 Movies you watch over and over.

The Big Lebowski
Easy Rider
any James Bond flick
Monty Python and the Holy Grail


4 Places you've lived.

Attleboro, Massachusetts
South Kingstown, Rhode Island
Orleans, France
New York, NY

4 TV shows you love to watch (I don't watch TV really, but what will make me watch tv:)

The Simpsons
Family Guy
The Numbers
New England Sports

4 Places you've been on vaccation

Madrid
London
Cape Cod
Portland, Maine


4 Websites you visit daily

the company intranet
Livejournal
My blog
Yarn Harlot

4 Favourite foods

Indian
Italian
American (burgers and such)
Thai

4 Places you'd rather be right now

Rhode Island
France
a knitting cafe
in whichever one of my neighbors is cooking that amazing smelling whatever apartment

4 bloggers I'm tagging

eh...i'll add to this later...i'm lazy right now.

Quick Post before Belly Dancing Class

I started taking a belly dancing class, it's really really cool! Sometime soon I think my friend from SNB who takes the class with me, and I are going to have to make a nifty little shawl/scarf thing with jingles on it to tie around our hips.

Anyway, I finished one of the opera gloves! I just need to finish writing out the pattern and try to see if I can follow it. If it's in English etc. I'm uber excited about it. The glove came out gorgeously, and both Jill and Jill tried it on (their arms are much different than my own) and the glove fit them! Not only did it fit them, but it looked fabulous on both of them! I've been trying to write the pattern for a week now, and I really just need to sit down and do it. I also need to cast on and try it, but I've been itching to try that sock pattern as well - which makes me want to speed knit the second glove.

But speed knitting requires knitting on the subway, and I really want to finish the book I'm currently reading because it's taking so long to finish it. I like the book, but it's a really really slow plot - which is something I'm not used to. Next up on my reading list is Maggie Sefton's Needled to Death.

In other almost knitting related news, I started a live journal community for knitting Olympians. I started it last night around midnight, and already there's a bunch of people that have signed up. I'm really excited. I wanted to see like WIP shots and stuff. Partially to make sure that I keep myself on track, and partially because that kind of stuff is so damned interesting. I'm excited about starting the challenge and I can't wait to get my Sierra so I can start swatching!!! :)

Can I Placate you with Photos of my Swift?

So, the opera gloves are coming right along! I'm at the hand right now, trying to figure out how many stitches need to be there, when to decrease for the princess seam, how to make the ring part of it (I think I'm going to end up casting on more stitches, but I should probably try to make a ring out of this stuff first to really figure out how many stitches need to be there etc.

To take a break from the mental torture, however, last night I decided that I was going to wind a few balls of yarn. I started with the Artyarns Ultramerino 4. This is the yarn that my mom made me buy when what I really wanted was the Koigu. Unfortunately, it's not Koigu. I want to use it on the socks from the new Interweave: Embossed Leaves Socks



The big question I have if anyone reading this has used Ultramerino 4 is whether or not I can toss it in the washer and dryer or not. I'm getting varying responses to this question from the various people and livejournal community members I've asked so far. The idea of getting Koigu was that it is, in fact, washable. While the instructions on the Ultramerino 4 labels say that it should be hand washed - so does Koigu's. Any opinions?

That being said, into the pictures!!! I haven't posted any pictures of my swift/ball winder, so I'm pretty excited. I did this all last night. Here's the setup I've got going:



That's an Ikea table that turns into a triangle from a square. I think it's the best table I've ever seen in my entire life. It worked quite well with the ball winder and swift. They held onto the table surprisingly well.

I also have before and after shots of the Mohair in Motion mohair I got at Rhinebeck:

Before....


and after winding!

This is from Mohair in Motion. The woman that was at their booth at Rhinebeck was really nice. She even held my yarn for me while I went to the ATM which was on the other side of the fair. I definitely shouldn't have bought the yarn then, I totally didn't have the money for it, but I told myself that I would do something good with it. It's 78% Mohair, 13% wool, and the color is Jewel. It's a deep tealy green that has wisps of a red in it. You have to look real close for the red. I bought 1,000 yards of it and I think I'm going to try to make a sweater out of it. Something simple, probably the London Calling sweater from SNBN without the intarsia. I like the shape of that sweater, and I think I can probably get about the same gauge or something.

Anyone reading the Yarn Harlot probably knows about the Olympic Challenge that's underway. I've come up with a project, and I think I'll end up buying the yarn before the week's end. This is the perfect excuse to knit my brain off for a sweater because I might be able to complete it in time, and also because if I finish the project in two weeks there will still be enough winter left for me to actually wear said sweater. A long time ago I found a pattern in one of Crafty Girl Knits' Rowan books that I fell in love with. I decided upon seeing it that it must be done. I've never knitted a sweater before so I'm a bit tense about the deadline there, but I think it will ultimately be for the best. Maybe I'll even get to see some of the Olympics. Sometimes I really wish I had a bigger space so I could invite my knitting friends over for some chips, wine, cheese, knitting and TV. It would be such a nifty event to have a knitting party to watch the beginning of the Olympics while casting on for the Olympic project. The Rules for the Olympic challenge can be found on the Yarn Harlot's blog (but that's a direct link to the original post - I noticed that there's more on it in a later post). The fun starts 2pm February 10th.

So, my Olympic project is going to be:


Rowan's Angie Sweater

I love the drop stitching, and the fit of it looks really comfortable. I need to translate what their grams of Cotton tape end up being yardage wise so I can grab some knitpicks something or other to knit it with. I'm thinking Sierra. It's a bit cheaper than what I was going to use (Decadence), and has more color options. I'm tossing it up right now between Grape, Wild Rose, and Lettuce - but I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with Grape (purple is, afterall, supposed to be the color of the year). Thanks to a really special friend, I have a gift certificate to Knit Picks, so it might not be ridiculously expensive (which is good considering that I lost my metrocard yesterday and have to get a whole new monthly pass). This is also good because it will go well with my New Year's Resolution.

I think I'd like to gather cheerleaders to cheer me on as I undertake this insane endeavor. Any volunteers?

Membership!

YAY! I was just accepted to the Knitting Blogs and NYC Knitters blogrings!!!

Odd thing is that I haven't really been knitting a lot this week. I joined the McBurney YMCA on 14th between 7th and 6th avenues. I've been really active this week because of it I think. More than usual. Jill and I did get together and knit a bit on Thursday, but I was somewhat distracted from my knitting by a cute boy.

I'm still working on the opera gloves, but I'm hoping to finish them this weekend. I want to move on to cool socks. I might have to actually get some more yarn for them though...i have the artyarns stuff I bought at A Stitch Above, but I'd really like to use Koigu for once. This might mean I have to go to Purl because they're the only people I know in the city that has it. But to be honest, I really don't like them. I'd rather go to Downtown Yarns but I'm not sure if they carry Koigu. I have all the time this weekend with a long weekend that it would be nice to try somewhere else as well.

Any suggestions?

New Years Knitting Resolutions

A few days and perhaps a couple dollars short, but for what it's worth, I do have a few knitting resolutions up my sleeves. My non-knitting resolutions involved becoming more financially fit and more physically fit, so one of those is going to impact the stash and the knitting (hopefully not by too much).

I have a ton of yarn in my stash. I should use that before I buy more yarn (gift certificates to places like Knit Picks non-withstanding).

Knowing that I'm going to fail in my first resolution (it's not fatalist attitude, I just know myself), I'm going to try to significantly scale back the amount of money that I put into buying yarn. Perhaps the fact that I will hopefully be spending 2 nights a week at the Y will be helpful in slowing down my knitting so I won't have to buy as much yarn.

Knit a sweater. Or maybe a couple. I have a ton of yarn in enough quantites for sweaters. Teal mohair, hot pink mohair, heather grey alpaca....

Those are my top three. Of course, I want to learn a few new techniques that I don't know yet, and I think a lot of that will come into play when I start the sweaters. The grey alpaca is going to be a hoodie, so I assume I'll be learning a three needle bind off at some point. I love learning new techniques!!!

I'm back!!

Oh man, I've been gone for far too long. Part of it is because while I was home I didn't really get that much knitting done. Part of it is also because I'm working more intensely on these opera gloves so I can finish them for the book. Because they're in the book though, I don't really want to take pictures of them because I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to give the copyright up to the book or something. So that's why I haven't posted about those.

I haven't posted pictures of my first swift experience because I honestly haven't had the time to get it out.

But, I have been having ideas after ideas after ideas!!
One involves heavily modifying the pattern to the right. Changes from top down: I want to make the neck a high turtleneck in stockinette with a bit of a roll to it at the top. Then I'd change the place where the sides meet. I'd make it more off center towards the left shoulder (when you're wearing it, not when you're looking at it on the model). The arms wouldn't be tapered either, and I might crop it just a bit. I think it should hit like top or mid waist, not hip.

I have no idea how to change the pattern so dramatically. I really want to use the 500 yards of Brook's farm yarn I got at Rhinebeck (the first of any of my Rhinebeck yarn to be used!), but I'm not sure if I'll be able to do what I want with only 500 yards. I've been trying to find a pattern for this yarn. I love it. I needs to be a shawl or a mini sweater. But I don't really wear shrugs, so the combination of the two I don't think would work. That and I have significantly more than one skein. Anyone have any ideas? I've added a picture of the beauty at the bottom here. Feast your eyes on some scantily clad YARN!!!


Sorry it's a bit blurry. I couldn't hold the camera still enough, and the flash on my camera sucks. I just don't know what to do with it!!!