good-natured ribbing

Ok, I guess that’s a can of worms we don’t even want to open, but maybe we can just start with “Why can’t Dharma blog consistently???” Sorry it has been a while. I’ve been all wrapped up in summer and it just seems like there is never enough time to do it all. I got my socks from my sockapalooza pal! They’re awesome! I love the color and they feel great on my feet. In addition my pal sent some other goodies. How sweet is it to get gifts from strangers?! Thanks Pal!

Bringin’ socksey back. ha. ha. ha. Sorry, I had to use the bad knitting word play.

This whole experience has actually made me like knitting socks. This is terrible, but I’m only just today finishing my spoilee’s socks. I’m sure she’s wondering if they’re coming. They are! I will post ‘em before I ship ‘em.

My Ashford Traveller was delivered on Monday. I ordered it unfinished and unassembled and I’d estimate that I spent 6-8 hours over the course of three days getting it all ready to go. I put two coats of tung oil finish on it…I had to wait 24 hours between each coat. Of course, being lazy, I initially thought about leaving it unstained. I’m really glad that I didn’t, because it looks a lot better and is much more protected from temperature and humidity fluctuations, which seems important in Michigan. Last night everything was dried so I got to work on putting all the pieces together. It was frustrating at times, but overall, I felt really satisfied at the end of it all to do that myself. Now, if I just knew what to do with it….I’ll post pictures later.

I had a long day today…left the house at 7:45am and didn’t get home until 9:15 this evening. All that drudgery was forgotten though when I found a package sitting on my doorstep from my SP10 Pal! She’s got very good taste—-the alpaca yarn is soooo soft and perfect colors. She also included the new Interweave Knits, yummy treats, and neatest of all, a cute, little measuring tape. Love it. Thank you so much for the inspired package…I’m going to eat a cookie right now.

I did it, I finally purchased a spinning wheel– the Ashford Traveller, to be precise. And how did I manage to finally afford this little luxury??? Cashout of vacation days! Now I’ll just have to figure out how to use the darn thing.

This has been an ongoing problem for me–having neat ribbing on the sides where knit meets purl. I knit continental, and can never seem to get this to look good. I’ve tried playing with my tension, but to no avail. Anybody know any tricks? Oh, and this is for socks so it’s in the round.

Well as I mentioned before, I am plugging away on my stole. It’s slow going and it’s taking all my will to keep at it instead of switching to something else. I’m about halfway done. I’m looking forward to doing the border and then blocking this, because it’s going to look so much different. Check it out:

And so I am:

I fell in love with Eunny Jang‘s Print O’ The Wave Stole at first site. In fact, all of her stuff is really somethin’ else! I’ve been searching for a nice, lace wrap pattern for something I would actually wear, meaning it didn’t look granny. Man, I can’t wait until I’m old and then I can just knit shawls without shame ;)
Right now, sad to say, I am most definitely knitting from my stash. I just don’t have the funds to buy yarn right now. Or, rather, I have the funds but they are being diverted to a million other things right now!
I picked up a new skill already on starting this project—invisible cast-on. I used the figure-8 method, which was incredibly easy, which appropriately enough Eunny taught me.

My Crafter’s Choice membership was getting to the point where I had to actually spend some money and get some books or get charged 40 bucks for nothing. So….the pickings were slim. You’ll all be shocked that I ordered:

Yes, socks. I’ve said it a million times that I hate knitting them and am not interested in wearing them either. However, certain people on this blog are slowly changing my mind. I’ll give it another chance.

On May 31st, Ann Arbor Alpacas will be shearing their alpacas. They’ll be selling the fleece and yarn. I’m actually reconsidering this whole spinning thing. By the way-did you know the alpaca is in the same family as the llama? Oh, and you can buy one for yourself from these folks for a mere 18K! Why don’t we all chip in and get one to share?! They’re so cute!

I just found out who will be the receiver of my gifts over the coming months for the knitting exchange. She seems pretty cool—Alpaca is her favorite yarn too. And she loves true crime books! Yes, I think this will work out very fine indeed. She’s a sock knitting maniac, which most of you know, I can’t relate to. Now I must plot the goodies she’ll receive. What do you think—a Ted Bundy in intarsia purse???? ;)

You know, that woman that does Wee Wonderfuls makes such cute stuff I could cry. Check this out. I would be content with half her creativity!

I’m participating in the Secret Pal 10 exchange. I’m supposed to answer a bunch of questions for my secret pal to get to know me better. Here goes:

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
My favorites are natural fibers, and in particular alpaca wool. I freakin hate acrylic and novelty yarns, especially eyelash. ick.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
Well, everywhere pretty much! I have a Denise set so that has its own case. I keep straight needles in a glass jar and all the rest are in my knitting tote bag.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I have been knitting for almost 5 years and learned by going to one class at a knitting store. The rest I taught myself by books, etc. I think at this point I’m advanced, which is to say that I can follow pretty much any pattern and execute it so it’s not a disaster ;) .

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I do….wish list

5. What’s your favorite scent?
That’s a tough one, I guess it depends on the context. I like the smell of campfires and vanilla (but not necessarily together).

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Not really. I love dark chocolate.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
Knitting is pretty much it for crafts.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I’m pretty picky when it comes to music (kind of a music snob), I will just warn you now. You can check out my last.fm list for a good idea.

9. What’s your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can’t stand?
I like dark red, olivey green, deep blue.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I’m married with no kids. We have a really annoying siamese cat named Josephine.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I’m very anti-poncho ;). I love hats scarves and mittens though.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
You know, I’m kind of going back to the scarf. I hated them for so long because that’s like the first thing you knit and it can get boring. But when you start realizing all the possibilities for such a simple garment…well it’s much more interesting then non-stop garter.

13. What are you knitting right now?
A twisty scarf for my mother-in-law

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
I do as long as they’re in good taste. The eyelash scarf my aunt gives me every year? No.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I like both straight and circular. Bamboo is the best, followed by plastic. I can’t stand aluminum.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Nope, I have a system involving a wooden chair.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
I don’t know what this means.

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas….I like the coziness of it.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Cool vintage salt and pepper shakers.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Ooh, would love a subscription to Interweave. I’ve got plenty of needles. I would love some fair isle patterns and how-to’s. Haven’t learned that skill yet.

21. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn?
Hmmm, that’s a good question. I’d like to learn how to make ribbing look better. I constantly struggle with the tightness of the edges. And Fair Isle knitting.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I hate knitting socks and must admit that I don’t much care for wearing them either.

23. When is your birthday?
September 2.

Well, I figured maybe I should contribute to this blog every now and again, since my name is on it. This scarf took me about 3 months to make just because the 24-row lace repeat got tedious. But it was all well worth the tedium. Here it is, falling leaves:

And here I am after being attacked by the scarf!

Wee Wonderfuls is a site featuring the cutest most adorablest softie doll designs by Hillary Lang, who I imagine just as cute as her designs. Anyway, she has some free patterns available for download from her site. I recently made her Pointy Kitty for a lucky friend. Here is mine

Alright, so I think I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that I’m not a good blogger so I’ve pretty much given up on Oopsie Boopsie. And the same thing happened to me this year as happens every year—I come to a point where I get a little burnt out on knitting, completely stop for about 2-3 months and then come back to it. I think my slump is ending. Last night I ordered 10 skeins of light green alpaca yarn on, where else, but ebay. This is the first time I’ve purchased yarn through ebay, but I couldn’t pass up 17 dollars for this much alpaca!!! No plans for it yet–it says that it should be knit on size 3 needles, so I imagine socks??? Maybe some lace scarves?

Anyway, I would recommend checking out this seller, because they have a lot of really nice alpaca for cheap!

I can’t believe this—for a good 2 years at least, I’ve been doing yarn overs backwards. I discovered this the other day when I was attempting an open-work scarf pattern online. It really explains why my yarn overs were so hard. Anyway, I’m making this Lace Leaf Scarf from knitty. Now, I know I was just moaning about lace, but now that I’m doing my yo’s correctly I’m finding it oh-so-much-easier.

Also, the yarn I’m using is spun from a friend’s alpaca sheep. She sends it away to get spun and it is incredibly soft! I dyed it with black cherry kool-aid. Here it is so far:

After redoing the collar and making some minor fixes in the armpit and decrease areas the sweater is done! I love it—-though it is a little tight putting it over my head. I figure that will stretch with time. Since my hubby is gone for the day I had to take these pictures myself, so please excuse the closeups.

I’m almost done. I hate to say it, but adding the sleeves is a real b@!ch. You can read more about my “fun” with this section in my blog.

Alright—just a quick post here. I finished my last sleeve last night! Tonight I begin stitching the sleeves to the body…

Yeah, the colors are a bit over-saturated. I think it was a mistake to use the black background. Also, I tried to match the sleeves, but lo and behold the skeins I used didn’t pattern all the colors in the same order!!!

Yeah, so I started the sweater like a month before everyone else…what can I say, the yarn was too beautiful to just sit in that bag waiting. Here is the body so far:

And I don’t care what the rest of you say-I like the intarsia rectangle :)