Tour de SPAKAL

On the podcast, we are doing a SPAKAL (pronounced like spackle)- a SPin-A-Long-Knit-A-Long . I declared that we would ALL be spinning for a sweater between March and September.

Rambouillet X from a ram named "Carbon"

Spinning for a sweater isn't something unusual for me- I usually spin for 2 or 3 sweaters every year. You know, that I actually knit. (Andrew: this has ZERO bearing on how many fleeces I buy - or should be buying - every year.)

Awwww yeeeeeeah.

A lot of the podcast listeners have asked questions about spinning for sweaters. My mother is a big proponent of learning through doing. We were all going to do this project together, and learn from it, and we would like it if it KILLS US. (Or something like that.)

24 oz of singles

My initial Tour de Fleece goal was to spin the last half of my singles- 12 oz. I hadn't had a chance to spin much before and I really, truly thought that spinning 12 oz would be a stretch.

I knocked that goal out of the park. Currently, those lovely singles are waiting to be swatched.

Next stop: plying. Those singles all have lofty goals, the main one being to grow up into this sweater.

Eadon by Susanna IC

Vive le Tour!

What I do for love

I have completely lost my mind. We announced the SPAKAL (SPin-Along-Knit-A-Long, pronounced "spackle") on the podcast, and I declared that I would not *only* spin a sweater on my spinning wheel and knit the chosen sweater, but I would ALSO spin for a sweater using a drop spindle.

It's a KCL modular spindle, and that's orange Targhee X I'm spinning on it.

Yes, drop spindle is technically slower than wheel spinning. But, it happens to delight one certain DangerMouse, and I am a slave to her moods. Especially the good ones. Also, you really can't beat the fact that it keeps her actively engaged and entertained for 45 minutes at a time. (This is further proof that she really and truly is my daughter. You know, if you ever doubted it.)

I mean, wouldn't you spin for this face?

"The most interesting baby in the world" (captioned by Kidbrother Sam)

That's what I thought.

Forty-two Squares

I've been spending a lot of my time taking pictures of Genevieve. About a month ago, I took pictures of her on the Love Blanket _TM that a few of our podcast listeners made for her.
 

Diaper cover by Zookies.com. No affiliation, just a happy customer.

I know that a month is FOREVER in baby time (Genevieve has filled out considerably since this shoot), but these are some of my favorite pictures of her. Every time we use this blanket, I think of all the well-wishes, anticipation, and love that was knit into it.

I love her duckling hairdo.

It's the perfect size for snuggling under on the couch or the glider, and because it's superwash wool, I don't have to worry about handwashing it. You know, because Things happen. And knitters plan for these sorts of Things.

The square her feet are on is a square with BABY FOOTPRINTS!

It has directionality, and because I'm me, I insist that we show off the pretty side, and right side up. (There's even a Star Trek square. This is how well our listeners know us.)

DangerMouse: 1 month, 8 days old

It's so cheerful, that it brightens up whichever room we're using it in. (Usually the living room.) Until the past couple of days, it hasn't really been cold enough to take it out of the house and show it off. Given that the high the last couple of days has been in the low 50's, that is changing. Oh boy, is it changing.

Both the blanket and the baby are super-snuggly.

Despite the fact that I only managed to finish a hat for her before she was born, Genevieve has made off with a HUGE haul of knitterly loot. Every time she wears a hat or sweater that one of her knitting aunties has made for her, I make sure to tell her how well-loved she is, and how excited we all were to have her join us.

This goes even more so for the Love Blanket _TM. I tell her that people who *have never met her* were SO excited that she was going to be born that they surprised us with a blanket - just for her. Thankfully for me, Genevieve is good about sharing it.

 For now.

The Finger

I know you're all chomping at the bit to hear about my adventures in St. Louis, and you will my preciousssssssses. (Actually, if you really are, you can hear the recap here.) But first I must tell you about my Magic Finger.

I was leaving yoga, and I was planning to hit the Farmer's Market. I usually hit the one by my house, but I was in the mood for some variety, so I called Andrew up to see if he wanted to join me for a trip out to the Mountain View Farmer's Market. It's twice the size of ours and has loads of good stuff. (I used to go to that one when I was doing yoga in Mountain View.)

As we pulled in to park, I saw the mayhem in the first aisle. Cars were stopped, bumper-to-bumper, hoping to get into a spot. The next aisle was as clear as a summer's day, and so, I calmly turned there.

CHAOS!!!

At that moment, a car overheated, so I calmly stepped on my brakes. What happened - in nanoseconds- took my idyllic aisle and turned it into what felt like a major intersection in the Middle East. People were driving on the wrong side of the road, doing three point turns at Warp 9, and OH! the road rage.

I kept my cool, and saw a guy walking up by my car, to get into a car next to me. I hit my turn signal like it was an adrenaline shot to the heart and patiently waited for him to pull out of the parking spot. As soon as my near and dear friend had cleared out, I slowly scooted up to calmly turn into my spot.

At that very moment, an Opportunist squealed around the corner with the express purpose of nabbing my spot. Mind you, my signal had been on and I had been waiting patiently. It was precisely that scene from Fried Green Tomatoes, and I was Kathy Bates. I *might* have felt a Towanda moment coming on.

As I saw it happening, I stepped on my brakes, shook my index finger at them and yelled "NO! NO! NO!" as if they were a small child and I was their sweet-but-strict British nanny. (In my imagination, sometimes I'm British.)

They stopped cold.

I couldn't believe it. That had worked! My finger had a superpower!

While Andrew laughed himself silly, repeating, "I can't believe that worked!" I calmly pulled into the spot and parked.

... and also *might* have - with the windows rolled up - yelled "TOWANDA!" triumphantly. Just maybe.

To my Momsicle

Happy birthday, Mom! I'm so glad you made it.

Let's be honest, things were a little touch-and-go before your last birthday, and I'm not the only one who was worried. But we are *so* past that.

Thank you for teaching me. You've taught me all sorts of things, from how to fold an egg (which I think is still a misleading term), read, knit. You taught me how to be fabulous, by your fabulous example:

 

You taught me to have fun, and not take myself too seriously, and to make a face when someone points a camera at me, because our faces *won't* stick that way:

By example, again.

You taught me to always try new things:

Costello's, Sock Summit 2009

From kiwi to micro-brew, we always try three bites (or sips) of everything, and we never summarily dismiss anything as gross before really giving it a try. Especially if it's the "weird stuff". You also taught me that sometimes a recipe can't be salvaged, and getting pizza is always an option.

Mostly, you taught me to have confidence in myself. Not the "Check out these groovy hotpants!" confidence, where I automatically assume that all of my ideas are the best, but the confidence to think things through, then say, "This is what I'm going to do. Get on board or get out of my way."

You're my biggest supporter, and my favorite co-pilot on a road trip. Nobody can peel the wrapper off a burger like you can, or make the best of a gross situation.

You always go along with my crazy ideas, like when I called you in the middle of the night to tell you that we should do a podcast, and you said, "Ok... What's a podcast?"

You're the heart and the brains of the podcast. You tell everyone that you're "just the co-host", but that's totally not true. You're the talent, I just run the equipment and fill the empty spaces.

I always tell people that I have the best mom, and it's true. There are so many people who couldn't imagine living so close to their families, and I couldn't imagine living anywhere but. I'm so lucky to have a mom who loves me, and likes me as a person. I'm glad that we're friends now that I'm an adult, and that you still pull rank when I need a little motherly direction.

Happy birthday, Mom. I hope that there are whole bunch more that we can share.

An afterthought

I've been knitting socks for a million years. However, as with all things, doing something for a long time doesn't necessarily make you an expert. I've basically knit the same pair of socks over and over again (with minor variations) about a million times.

My go-to vanilla pattern has a flap heel, though in college I did some experimentation and went through a period where all of my socks had garter stitch short-rowed heels. (Isn't that what college is about? Experimentation?) In any case, after college (like so many other girls) I went back to my standard flap heel.

If you listen to the podcast, you've heard my mom rave about how addictive afterthought heels are. If you're me, you hear it even more frequently. Like so many other things, her suggestion worked its way into my brain, and I succumbed to peer pressure. I started a pair of beautiful socks (out of Abstract Fiber's Temptation in "Snapdragon") with the express intention of finding out what all the hubbub around afterthought heels was about.

We were watching TV (The Good Guys, my current favorite show), and I decided to take pictures with my phone and tweet my progress.

This is my sock, with the waste yarn placed where the heel should go, 7 inches in. Dog sleeping in background is not necessarily necessary to execute an afterthought heel, but is a snuggly option. If allergic, feel free to substitute with a cat. Or goldfish.

To get to the afterthought heel, I knit my sock to my total foot length, minus the length of two sets of toe decreases. If my foot is a total of 9 1/4", and my usual toe decreases are 1 3/4" long, that would be:

9.25 - 2(1.75)  = 5.75 (<- total length of the foot in inches, pre-toe)

(Do you get as excited about order of operations as I do? I'm going to assume so.)

Next, it's time to pick up stitches:

Next step: Pick up stitches on either side of the waste yarn- or in this case, crochet cotton.

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT pull out the waste yarn in a moment of excited enthusiasm. Mom (whose hand is featured in the photo above) was very clear about that when I got feverishly excited about intentionally making holes in my knitting. Pick up your stitches FIRST.

Like that. See? Two needles, stitches are all safe and accounted for.

Now comes the fun part. Mom says that if the waste yarn is slick enough, you can just slide it out. (I'm using mystery crochet cotton, since I'm pretty sure that Herself walked off with my sweet skein of beautiful, slick crochet cotton. She'll deny it, but I have my suspicions.)

Next step: Unpick/slide out your waste yarn. Bonus points if you pretend you're a surgeon, since removing stitches is pretty much the same regardless of your subject.

I don't think anything could have made me happier than seeing my stitches, all tidy and heel-ready blossom open as I undid the waste yarn.

Try it on. Look, it worked!

From here, knit a toe the way you normally would. Use your best kitchener stitching skills on those final remaining stitches, and voilà!

Heel!

So, there is a teeny-tiny hole at the side, but you'll notice the conveniently located tail, which I'll be using to close the hole before I weave it in.


And on that note, I'm going to go and start the second sock while the spirit moves me.

Double-double top secret

Towards the end of Mom's stay in Club Med (which is how I'm referring to the time she spent becoming Bionic, btw), I cast on the Mondo Cable Cardi for a Knit(more)-A-Long. I know it's not really knitting along if I work ahead, but KALs give me wicked ennui, especially if I'm leading one.

However, like an illicit love affair, Secret Sweaters are full of joy. Partly due to the secrecy, and partly because the sweater is awesome. Susan from Abstract Fiber wanted me to test drive her new worsted weight yarn (Miro, get it while it's hot!), so she sent me a sweater's worth. Combine it with Bonne Marie Burns' genius, cutting edge fashion sense, and keen ability to capture my heart with a cardigan, and we have a winner.

You can see why I kept it a beautiful, glorious secret:

It's really not finished-finished, you see. I haven't pulled out Steamy to do the last little bit before I add the buttons. Pulling it off of the blocking board would deprive me of admiring my sweater when I'm going to the fridge, feeding the dogs, or making my coffee. Would you deprive me of this view?

I didn't think so. However, the idea of wearing the sweater is also appealing, since it's so gorgeous. Maybe I could convince myself to get it done as a public service. You know, since this sweater will bring joy to the masses, solve the Middle East crisis, and halt global warming in its tracks.

Or just be really, really pretty.

Sock Summit Synopsis!

So, I'm back from the Sock Summit, and I'm sicker than two dogs. In the event that you didn't know, we did daily Sock Summit Field Updates over at the shownotes blog. Portland is great, and wow, do I have stories to tell.

But not right this second.

For now, I'm going to go and try to get better- there's no rest for the wicked, and I need to be in fighting shape for Sunday's wool auction!

Extra, extra! Read all about US!

I have to take a moment, and brag- just a little. The Knitmore Girls- the podcast I co-host - was mentioned in a piece in the Herald Tribune. I saw it and let out a squeal of delight so high-pitched that the dogs got all excited, too. Then, I may have done my Sally Field impression. Just maybe.

[Andrew was less excited, since he was asleep. Sorry! He was appropriately enthusiastic when he was more awake.]

You can read the article here.

Stage 13 - Tour de Fleece

Team Spinmore, stage 13.

As your fearless Yellow Jersey spinner, I feel it is only fair to give an update. (You know, since radios were banned. The ban has been lifted, as of yesterday. That's what I'm blaming the blog silence on. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.) Can you hear me now?

So, my progress: I have finished Leg 1 and Leg 2 of my Tour de Fleece goals. The Mango has been plied and skeined, the Albatross has been plied and is waiting for Andrew to skein it. (His socks, he skeins. Totally fair.)

But, I have wandered off of the path, taken a side route, if you will, had a picnic under a tree, took a nap, smelled some roses, and am slowly wandering back towards the race. Lance Armstrong, I am not.

Part of my diversion from the challenge - which I planned into my goals, by the way - is that I am spinning some STUNNING tussah silk from A Verb for Keeping Warm (in Vermillion II). I am spinning it fine, and if yardage yields, it will grow up to be an Aeolian.

I know that I have limited time to meet my goal, but by pacing myself, I know I'll finish and not burn out, pull a hamstring, or cause a peloton pileup. Of spinners. Metaphorically speaking.

Until then, spinners, back to our wheels! Remember, safety first- take regular stretch breaks, ice if necessary, and most of all, stay hydrated.

...with liberty and libations for all!

Today kicked off the Tour de Fleece. After careful consideration, and much debate, I found my goal. I'm going to ply up all the projects that have been sitting, resting indefinitely, which include:

- 25 oz of Tallulah, to be knit into a Mariah:

- 4 oz of Redfish Dyeworks 80% merino/ 20% tussah silk, in the Mango colorway, spun for lace knitting.

- 4 oz of Crown Mountain Superwash merino in "Albatross". Spun for socks for Andrew. (Side note: Crown Mountain had a sale last week, and I totally resisted the urge to purchase.)

But alas, as the race kicked off, guess who got a flat tire? Yours truly. I start plying up the mango colored laceweight, and my Woolee Winder refuses to draw in. So I oil everything (because that's the first step in fixing any spinning issue. Yes, the bobbin is new, so it needs to be broken in. But alas, my Woolee Winder needs to be cleaned and tightened. My pit crew (Andrew) has been informed.

Lest you think I spun alone today, I was joined by some of my closest friends, and their families. What started as a casual day of sitting around, watching movies and spinning turned into a full-out pot-luck style barbeque. I haven't had this much fun on a Fourth of July in ages!

When we served dinner, we packed a dozen people into our living room, tossed in 1776 - which might be the best movie EVER, second only to Xanadu - and watched William Daniels declare independency for the United States. Sure, it was a tight fit, but we still had a great time.

So, I close with some self-evident truths:

- Where there is a fire pit and s'more components, fun will be had.
- Getting into a hammock can be a challenge, but well worth it.
- Friends come to party, real friends help with the cleanup. Mine are the best!

Fancy schmancy

I am currently uploading Episode 35, and living up to Jasmin 2009. I'm eating a leftover eclair off of my Wedgewood china and drinking milk out of the Good Crystal.

Some things are just too glamorous to keep to myself.

A little less whining, a little more action

Ok- for those of you who worried, I have definitely damaged the muscles between my ribs (in the under-boobage area). We're waiting on the results of yesterday's x-ray, but until then, I'm on bedrest and delicious painkillers.

However. I have been finishing stuff at an alarming clip, and given Jasmin 2009's objectives, I'll actually have some knitting content (with pictures!) for the blog- which is purportedly about knitting. I present you with the Black and Gold batt I spun for Mom:

(That's my favorite shot of this yarn.)

I talked about this on the podcast, and I absolutely loved spinning it. I bought it from Crystal Creek Fibers, and I couldn't be happier. In person, the yarn looks like ore. I love it! (Mom is pretty keen on it, too.) I have more of her batts, which I'll be spinning in the near future.

I think my favorite thing about this colorway is how much it reminds me of Niki's fur. It has two shades of gold (a reddish-gold, and a white-ish gold) and black. I was snuggling with Niki, and I caught a glimpse of his fur at at an angle, and the colors were identical. Add that to the fact that his guard hairs have black tips. Granted, this yarn is more bling that bow-wow, but I think the batt was inspired by the gal's German shepherd.

Speaking of being inspiration, I have also finished knitting my sample for a submission to Knitty- now, I just need to find props and a way to maximize the brilliance of this piece. I have a feeling that when I'm feeling better, I will wrangle Andrew into helping with this. Bwa ha ha!

Why yes, Grace IS my middle name!

Last Monday, I cracked a rib coughing. I'm pretty sure I cracked a rib, I'm going in to the doctor confirm this today. Why has it taken me a week to go in to the doctor? I didn't want to be the person who goes in with MINDNUMBING pain in her side only to find out that it's a strained muscle.

While I am entirely aware that I am not a doctor, and can not be expected to tell the difference between a cracked rib and a strained muscle, I know that a strained muscle will stop hurting in a few days, where a cracked rib will not. I also know that they don't do much for a cracked rib (a "rib belt" and painkillers).

So, enough of that. But know, before you start lecturing, that I'm on it. Really, really.

Last night we recorded episode 34, which is a great one, but looooong. The company that hosts our sound files has been having some upload issues, which meant I spent WAY too much time in the futile attempt to get the show live, on time. After attempt #3, I clicked on the "support" link, and wouldn't you know it, my problem isn't unique. They solved it before 7 AM today.

Aside from the company we had recording (Chloe and Tika), Colleen came over with Hana, the amazing Akita puppy. Colleen and I suspected that Hana could use some time with other dogs, and the vet cheerfully informed me that I am a responsible enough dog parent that it is perfectly safe for Hana and our dogs to play, now.

Niki did great with her; Elphie is still a little hesitant, but doing well. When the dogs were done out in the yard, Hana went and crashed in her crate, with Niki sleeping a few feet away, facing her. It was so cute. Until Niki stole the hippo toy out from under Hana's SLEEPING HEAD.

(This is when I get twitchy as Niki's mom. I assure you that my dogs have more than enough toys and do not need to be stealing toys from sleeping puppies.)

In any case, it's nice to know that there's no hostility between the dogs, which means more playdates!

Given the excessive uploading last night, I finished my pair of Day-Glo socks:

(That's sock #1)


(That's sock #2.)

Why aren't they photographed together in that second picture? Because I couldn't find sock #1, but decided not to let that slow me down. You'll also notice that the socks are fraternal. The fraternity of the socks doesn't bother me, but the knots in the skein do.

Given that I haven't hit a knot in a skein of Opal before, I can forgive this one. Just this once.

Foiled by my own hubris (or is that ooobreee?)

After announcing to Andrew that I absolutely, positively, WOULD NOT be sick during my time off work this year (because it's a miserable waste of paid vacation time), you guessed it. Hubris punched me in the face, metaphorically speaking.

I got sick. So, Monday, when I felt it the worst, I stayed in bed (or on the couch, in my case, because I can't sleep in bed when I'm sick). I drank fluids, I took cold meds, I slept like an Olympic champion. (The implication there is that if sleeping were an Olympic event, I would place gold.)

Tuesday, I felt MUCH better. I got up, had some breakfast, got dressed, picked up Andrew from his errand, and we stopped TWO places before I announced that I was tired, and would need a nap. (I know, when one is kicking a nasty virus in the ass, it is important to nap when you feel the need.) I also coughed up something EPIC while I was driving, to Andrew's great disgust.

[This is where I point out the necessity of the "in sickness and in health" bit of the wedding vows. Apparently, we needed a "you are disgusting" clause. Because, while I laughed uproariously over how gross it was, Andrew was literally almost sick to his stomach. Phlegm is not for the weak of stomach. I may have made jokes to that end effect. My bad.]

According to Andrew, I was out for two hours, sleeping through a couple of phone calls. This includes a call from Patient Zero, who concluded that I must have gotten it from her on Friday, along with some wicked awesome Christmas cheer. S'ok. What's a transmissible virus between friends, anyway?

I finally got Episode 32 live, after having it sit on the computer for two days, which made me feel good. Not physically, since I've been coughing so much it feels like my ribs have run a marathon. (To my knowledge, they have not, but if they have, I hope it was for a good cause.)

What have I learned from all this? I love 70's music. We've been watching Swingtown on the Roku box, and the soundtrack is AWESOME. I'm seeing a new CD in my future.

Tika has also beaten me (pre-flu-ey thing) into committing to a Jasmin 2009 theme. I'll be blogging about that soon.

For now, it's back to the couch with a cup of tea and contemplating my own bad taste in television.

Getting a grip

Sorry for the relative radio silence. I started a project (for the podcast), that was an EPIC endeavor, not realizing that it was going to be so incredibly epic. Yesterday afternoon, I decided that stressing myself out was neither conducive to creativity, nor good for Jasmin's Christmas Spirit(tm).

I conferred with my co-host/mother, and she agreed that the Awesome Christmas Special would be better for next year, giving me a full year to do it the way I want to. EPIC. This year's special will be fun, just different. This is me getting a grip on reality.

I am looking forward to writing more, actually taking pictures of my projects, and doing a bit of knitting and spinning while I'm home.

Doing some good, company style.

This year, our Christmas gift from work is $50 to our favorite charity. I'm torn between Doctors Without Borders and amFAR.

Since Stephanie has done SO MUCH for DWB, as have many of our podcast listeners, I'm leaning a bit towards amFAR. But, like I said, I'm torn.





Could you lend a girl a hand? I'd like to donate on 1/5/09. Help me choose!

To interrupt our normal programming...

You can hear how I came to spinning in the most recent episode of Cast-On!

(Upcoming posts will include our AWESOME Halloween shindig. And some knitting.)

Enjoy!

Chatting with Cat Bordhi

I'll post about her class tomorrow, but for now, listen to our chat with her on the podcast.

Shocking progress

So, it turns out that I'm not as slow a knitter as I thought. I have made some real progress since casting on Friday night.

See, I decided to knit both fronts and the back in one piece up to the armholes to save me some seaming time later on in the game. The key to competition is being able to look ahead: I'm not going to seam more than absolutely necessary. This makes every row pretty long, but it assures that the pieces will be the same length.

Sunday morning, I took the Olympic Ribbi Cardi along to see The Dark Knight. Before we went into the movie, it was 11" worth of body, see:

Please forgive the terrible color quality of the photo. It turns out that coffee houses aren't known for their spectacular lighting. Who knew?

(Side note: As I was about to take the picture, the guy next to me had his glass mug of coffee spontaneously explode. Maybe that Maine waitress was right about me having an unusual super-power...)

During the movie, I hit the necessary 14" on the body. At this point, I can't move on because I'm trying to be a courteous movie patron and NOT use my cell phone as a light to read the next steps on the pattern. So, I sat (relatively) still and watched the movie.

I thought it was fantastic. I didn't like a few subtle changes to the classic story, but I loved the casting choices. Also, I love the cleft in Aaron Eckhart's chin. (I kind of want to lick it. Is that weird?) Give me a glass of wine and a copy of that DVD, and I'll deconstruct for HOURS.

The Social Pressure experiment is going well; I'm noticing that sometimes, I want to buy yarn because I'm in the mood to buy yarn. The thing is this: I've been organizing my office (using the awesome new shelving that Andrew and I built), and it's made me very aware of how much yarn and roving I actually have. Very, very aware.

I've been alternating the Olympic Knitting with organizing my office and spinning up some Pigeonroof Studios Superwash Merino (in "Mushroom Caps"), I've been making sure to reduce repetitive stresses by changing activity regularly.

Oh, and as of tonight, I'm done with the body of my sweater. All that's left are the sleeves, collar, and zipper edging.