Randomly, it's not Wednesday

Ok, I admit I left the Wednesday Randomness post till last night, and then fully and completely got too swept up in a dramalicious Ravelry thread to do it. I didn't even knit (hangs head in shame). So here's the Wednesday post, on Thursday.

1. When walking over to work this morning, I saw there was a pile of bedding/sheets in our dumpster enclosure. People who don't work here dump stuff all the time (though they're not supposed to), so I didn't think much of it--except they do usually put it in the bin, and this was on the ground. I went over to investigate, and discovered I watch too much CSI: I left without looking too closely because the pile appeared to be human shaped, and I didn't want to find a dead body that early in the morning. Yes, it was in fact a homeless guy (which is sort of unusual around here, so I'm not entirely crazy).

2. I finished knitting the scarf of doom. I plan to cut the fringes and block the scarf tonight, and then apply the fringe (and return all the extra yarn) when it's dry.

3. Upon the advice of a lovely woman, I have been having veggie sandwiches for lunch every day this week. Well, except the day I remembered the veggies and forgot the bread. Anyway, it's wheat toast, one side spread with mashed avocado and the other with a little veggie cream cheese, and then stacked with cucumber, raw spinach, tomatoes, and red bell pepper slices. It's super-tasty, only about 360 calories (as far as I can figure), and keeps me full till 5 or so.

4. Remember the lamb-camb? It's finally up! Be forewarned, there are no lambs this time of year. But come spring, there will be loads of them! Also, you need Java to run it.

5. I've seen photos of the ugly weather those of you in the middle and eastern United States are having. If I know you in real life, and you want to get away, feel free to come out and see me. We have a guest bedroom--but know that if you do come, you can't be allergic to either cats (as it's sort of her room usually) or wool (as it's crammed full of the stuff).

6. I promise more pictures this weekend, though not necessarily of fibery stuff, as I also have to do my sales tax return. Ugh.

Whew!

Well, here it is Sunday night again. How does that always happen so darn fast?!? However, at least I have something to show for this weekend! (hinthint, that means pictures)

First, our beach walk today. It didn't happen. This was not our fault. We tried valiantly to get to the beach after eating our bagels, but there was a marathon being run up the 101, which runs parallel to the beach--you can see the ocean for most of it. Therefore, no cars were allowed on or over the road, and foot traffic seemed highly discouraged too. We would've been run over:

The beach is literally one block to the right of the photo.

So, we watched the crazy people running for a bit, and entertained ourselves by watching this little guy.

He was SO. CUTE.

He really seemed happy to be there. Plus, he had pantaloons. Completely painfully adorable.

On the fiber front, I got loads done. Ok, it was almost all on the same project, and some of this yarn is from last weekend. But that's beside the point!

I've been calling this the Scarf of Doom. I'm making it for an old friend to go with an anime character costume (I think it's anime...). It's not so bad, except that it's 8 feet of seed stitch, because I wanted it to be easy and reversible.

doooooooooooooom!

As you can see, I'm nearly done. Well, relatively nearly done. It still needs 10" fringes on either end once I finish the knitting. I sped up the knitting ever so slightly by knitting into the back loop for every knit stitch because that doesn't require me to change the position of my needle from purling. The yarn is Knitpicks Palette (fingering weight) held triple on US9s so I could do the fades required to match the character's scarf. I think they came out pretty well, though I do wish I had the ability/space/know-how/equipment to have dyed it.

Remember this yarn from last week?

still no measurements because I still haven't set the twist!

Though the fuzzy yarn I spun the black merino with has been discontinued, I found a store in NJ with relatively good stock, and bought them out of this color and also got some in HOT pinks and lovely leafy greens. I think they'll look marvelous!

I also spun this yarn last weekend, as I figured why not do both of the black merino singles at the same time?

the commercial yarn for this one was MUCH longer, hence the size disparity

I don't know how I feel about the bright colors, but Big Man loves this one. If it sells, maybe I'll get some more of this yarn. I haven't set the twist on this one either (surprised?), so no specs right now.

After knitting on the Scarf of Doom till 6PM last night, I decided I'd do some spinning. Of course I didn't do any of the spinning I need to do. But I still spun!

Despite the terrible photo, the colors are quite true.

Please excuse the crappiness of the photo. The sun came out for a single shot today, and it was the Scarf of Doom that felt its rays. The roving was BFL in colorway Artemis from Ginny over at Fat Cat Knits. It was spun thin and Navajo plied to about 9-11 wraps per inch. I believe that's aran-ish weight?
This was the first time I've spun with BFL, and man was I surprised at the staple length! It's probably twice that of the merino I usually use, and while I definitely enjoyed it, it gave me fits till I got used to it! I have some more of Ginny's BFL in Patina and I'm definitely looking forward to spinning it!

Finally, I used the BFL as a sort of practice to see how even I could spin. The answer is not as even as I'd like. I want to spin these rovings

from Fat Cat Knits, merino, L to R:
Janine, Sept monthly club, Blueberry Pie, Sept monthly club, and Janine
solid roving is commercially dyed merino, color lilac

into yarn for this shawl (sorry for the huge picture)

picture borrowed from Flickr, cause I'm too lazy to go get my copy of Spin-Off to scan

I don't know yet how the yarns will be arranged. I thought I would do them in random rows, but I really like the striping in the example shawl. Each of the individual rovings shown in the photo are 4oz, and I have 16oz of the lilac. I plan to spin each 4oz roving all at once because I seem to have bad luck with loss of sproinginess (technical term: energy, I think) when I let singles sit for any length of time (even just a week). I did the 4oz BFL last night in just a couple of hours, and I hope the merino will be as quick. Of course, I won't necessarily be getting to this project anytime in the next month! But I'll keep you posted as I do work on it.

Not as exciting, but just before writing this entry I sorted alllllllll my receipts and sales for last year (they were just in a box or on Etsy!), and am ready for the accountant. Aren't you proud of me, my accountant Seester? That said, I've been at this doggone computer for approximately 10 hours now, and I'm going to go knit!

Wednesday Randomness

It's baaaa-aaaack. I tried to get a proper photo for you, but had to make do with a scanner. You'll see.

1. Folks who have left comments: I've tried responding through the email I get about them. However, unlike my friend Becky's blog host, mine is not cool enough to allow me to do that. So, I apologize. Anyone know if this is something I can change?

2. My awesome brother (technically stepbrother, but we've been in the same family for something like 14 years, so...) is a lance corporal in the Marines, and is currently stationed in Iraq on a base the soldiers call "Camp Cupcake". If you have suggestions on good stuff I can send him, I'd love to hear them. I assembled a pretty good list from scanning Ravelry forums, but I could always use more ideas!

3. Here's the "photo" I was talking about. This poor neckwarmer scarf languished as a work in progress for AGES. I can't even remember when I started it, though I recall working on it. Again, please excuse the quality of the scan.


The pattern is the Double Cable Scarf from One Skein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit or Crochet. I used almost a full skein of Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton, a wonderfully soft bulky cotton. I don't like knitting with cotton, but this was a pleasure. I have one more skein of this, and a skein each of their Dyed Cotton in Caribbean and Pickle. I have to figure out what to make with them--probably something for me!

4. If I have your email address, I probably asked you to help vote for a friend in an Intel contest a while back. The friend was Susan Gibbs of Martha's Vineyard and Hudson Valley Fiber Farms, and she won! Part of the prize was setting up a lamb-camb for all of us to be able to enjoy the babies cavorting and romping. It should be operational very soon, and can be found here, so bookmark it now for future fun!

ok, ok, these are baby Angora goats. That's beside the point.

In the meantime, Susan is giving away some awesome prizes on her new blog. Sorry, the LGCD handspun yarn was already given away, but today you can enter to win some of her luscious millspun Cormo--it's worsted weight, in sweater quantity, and is SOFT, believe me! See, here it is:



5. If you're on LSG on Ravelry, you've already seen this. But most of you aren't, so here are my answers to some "Inside the Actor's Studio" style questions.

1. What is your favorite word? slender–it just sounds so pretty

2. What is your least favorite word? a certain anti-gay slur

3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? color

4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally? being exhausted

5. What sound or noise do you love? the birds chirping outside (especially the ones I “know”, like the little black phoebe who comes for mealworms every day)

6. What sound or noise do you hate? skateboards. The children in my apartment complex skateboard constantly.

7. What is your favorite curse word? PG version--fer pete's sake!

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? naturalist

9. What profession would you not like to do? anything involving a slaughterhouse

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? You sure took your sweet time getting here.

Yes, We Did.

It took us a long time to make this mess, and it's going to take a long time to clean it up.

But I think we've made a damn good start.

It's been a good day.

First, another picture of my Seester and her Starsky.

A hat made of St. Louis Cathedral's steeple

Today was quite lovely. We went for breakfast at Sun Flour Bagel in La Costa. It was most excellent. The owners are Japanese, and make truly wonderful bagels. However, their daughter has also trained at a baking school in Tokyo, and makes authentic Japanese confections three times weekly. They sell out quickly, and people come from as far away as Orange County and near the Mexican border for her goodies. She's currently in Japan, so we won't get to try the deliciousness till some time in February. If you click here, you can read an excellent review from a local foodie.

After the bagels (I had cranberry with plain cream cheese), we came home for a bit. We didn't know the baker was out of town yet, and returned to the bakery at 11 (when they begin selling the Japanese treats, normally). Since there were no melon rolls or cream buns to be had, we drove to the beach. If you're having terrible weather where you are, stop reading now so you don't reach through the computer to smack me.

We had an absolutely marvelous walk (yes Mom, with plenty of SPF 70 sunblock!). I think we walked about 3.6 miles total, though we stopped to peer at anemones, skip stones, and watch dogs playing fetch. My feet and ankles are pretty tired--you use entirely different muscles walking in the sand than on pavement! I have no pictures of my own--that's what happen when you forget the camera. We're going to try to do this weekly as long as the weather holds, so I'll take the camera next time. In the meantime, here is a shot from a fine Flickr photographer to give you an idea of where we were.

again, not my photo, but taken from precisely where we began walking today

Then we got some food. Big Man opted for a Burrito Bowl from his second home, Chipotle, and I, still full from breakfast, chose absolutely delicious chocolates from Chuao Chocolatier. They're a small local chocolate company, and I would love to be able to eat their bonbons every day. In case you're wondering, I very highly recommend the following flavors: Honey Truffle, Grignottine White, Romero, Pina Colada, Gianduja, Le Citron, Cambur, Musiu, and Melao. Strangely, that would just fill up their smallest box, should you wish to send some my way (though, it's probably easier for me to just go to the store than for you to send them!). We also tried their seasonal flavor today, Candy Cane. It was dark chocolate filled with a peppermint infused caramel. I thought it was good, but Big Man said it was the best chocolate he'd ever eaten.

When we were home before the second bakery trip, I spun this little number quite quickly. Sadly, the commercial novelty yarn I chose to do this with appears to be discontinued, but I intend to dig up some more because it was so wonderful and easy! This shot is on my niddy noddy, as it's always more fun to spin the yarn than wind it or set the twist.

acrylic/polyester commercial novelty yarn plied with commercially dyed black merino--silky soft!

I also spun some handdyed bamboo this past week. It's a lovely colorway I intend to call Mother of Pearl, for fairly obvious reasons. I have about 8 other colorways (a pound each!) I've never spun before, so I need to get cracking on those too!

8oz handdyed bamboo from Fiber Lady; no yardage yet as I haven't set the twist

I haven't spun bamboo in ages, and found myself getting it very fine unintentionally. The twist also isn't quite what I wanted. Additionally, while I don't mind the fuzzy rustic look, I'd love to know how to do a silky-smooth finish. I'm spinning from combed top--any suggestions?

And, because I know what you actually want are more shots of the Little Grey Cat herself, here you go. She was really having a stressful morning, as you can tell.

note the stretched paw and the tail tip peeking out right in the middle of the photo

Random Weds Photos

Figured you were tired of text. Besides, you deserve some photos for once, right?

1. Seester in the aforementioned Starsky at the River Walk on the Mississippi River in New Orleans.

2. My Christmas tree, cause why not? It was much jewelier-toned than is shown.


3. The previously described cowl neck prototype for the custom T-Shrug (prototype only!)


4. The view from our room when we went to Vegas recently for Big Man's 30th birthday. It was sweet (especially since he won at the poker tables).


5. The gorgeous superwash merino wool my darling friend Ginny dyed and gave to me for Christmas. She's a doll.

She's still alive

Though you wouldn't know it from the blog, eh? No momentous comeback, no all-encompassing post. Just some shots of a cowl neck sweater I'm working on. I'm using Sublime Kid Mohair Blend, which is a gorgeous mohair/nylon/extrafine merino that is (apparently) a worsted weight, though I would say perhaps sport if you include the halo. I made gauge for the sweater on US9s, and hope to finish it in time for Stitches West (which I'm going to, by the way. See you there?).




Also, I hope it's going to be a cowl neck sweater. I don't think this is the sweater I got this yarn for, and I'm not sure I'm going to have enough. I'm knitting it in the round instead of front and back flat, so hopefully that plus the fact that my rows are slightly taller than the pattern's will let me make the whole thing!


The pattern calls for doing a WS knit row in an otherwise stockinette sweater to give you a place to fold the hem up. I decided to to *(k2tog, yo) instead, which will give a nice picot-type edge when I fold up the hem, as vaguely demonstrated in the photo.




I'll keep you posted. Also forthcoming--pictures of my Seester in her Starsky from New Orleans, possibly pictures of a custom cowl neck T-Shrug I'm designing, perhaps some yarns I spun a while back and never photographed, and maybe some new bamboo yarns. I still have to spin those, though.