knitting in today's la times kids section

There's a little editorial today in the LA times, page E14, about boys knitting .

Second Sock Syndrome

So a couple of months ago I got on a knitting socks kick, proclaiming that socks were going to be the only thing I knit from now on. About three weeks ago I decided to knit a pair of socks for me (all mine), then ... the second sock syndrome hit. On Wedenesday I finally start the second sock, lets hope they don't look entirely different.

It's been long enough (over a month) since the whole knitting olympics tragedy, so I've started knitting my linen shirt again. I spent a very long time looking for the perfect lace pattern, but couldn't find it, so I made one up (or rather, reinvented, since most every stitch has probably been done before).

Happy Cheeseball Day

Hiya, I hope you had a great Easter. Happy National Cheeseball Day.

Here's the finished sock. I kinda got socked out, so I have to do another project before I can make it's mate. You can't really see the pattern on the leg, but it has large diamonds. I'm pleased with it.




I've decided to restart that linen shirt I had begun for the knitting olympics. I'm still experiementing with crap yarn, but I think I've decided to go with the ostrich stitch for the bottom half, still not sure what I'll be doing for the top half.

Noah made his first hat the other day. For some reason I'm the only one it looks half-way decent on, and lots of hats don't look very good on me. It also has a matching scarf.

Socks

I was seriously considering titling this post "Sock it to me," in an attempt to try and fit into the blog community by using a snappy title. But I just couldn't bring myself to write it. Fortunately, I quickly realized there's a great big embarrassing line between wit and "Sock it to me." Granted the title "Socks" is underwhelming ...





ok, enough ranting.
I finished the sockotta sock, I had made this sock one and a half-other times. I'll probably rip it out again since it's just for a store sample. I'm also making myself some socks from Argyle. It's actually looking rather tweedy, which is surprising.

mini basket

My latest foray into felting was this mini easter basket. I used Suri Merino and for some reason it came out fuzzy. I made the i-cord a little too long (I fixed it for the picture), but i would actually have been concerned if it came out perfectly (well, not so much concerned, but paranoid for a week that I was in another dimention).


Here's what it looked like beforehand (it's chillin with dad's hyperbolic plane, which I also felted).

Look ma, no sticks

So, on Wednesday we had our 3rd Music to Knit to event. The drumming was not what I expected, but it was interesting.
Noah didn't have any needles to knit with, so he hand-knit:

Looks pretty good, I think. Maybe he can teach a class - stickless knitting.

So, our Vernal Equinox was fun. Some kids came over and made string eggs, Karen brought some cute flowers (star sun), and I ate too many jelly beans and deviled eggs. But highlight of the day was this ...

How cool is that, an egg with no yoke.

We also started our community blanket, which anyone can knit a row, or two, or more, of. I assure you, it's not as blurry in real life.

Nipples anyone?

RECLAIM THE NIPPLE!
Open submission for hand crafted nipples

March 2006 ? Send the The Nipple Project a hand-made artistic
interpretation of your nipple or of someone's nipple you love! We are creating a community based art installation consisting of 3-dimensional craft media such as knitting, crocheting, beading, sewing, felting, gourds, leather, metal, wood and other creative materials. The final piece will feature all nipple submissions sewn, wired or stitched together to create a large wall installation and will be displayed in October, 2006 to coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

We weren't around to burn our bras and free our breasts from the constraints of enclosure, but we applaud you if you did! This is our way of celebrating our anatomy and embracing the perky tips of our breasts; the part that today still seems to be such a distraction and causes such a commotion! Let's face it, it's okay to have our breast spilling out over our neckline, but we've got to cover up our THOs*. That's why certain lingerie companies have developed high tech bras for "maximum nipple coverage."
It's time to RECLAIM THE NIPPLE! Yes, we do have a few of those high tech bras, and we do have days when we ponder wearing no bra, the comfy little unlined cotton bra or the super bullet proof nipple eradicating bra. We just couldn't bring ourselves to burning our bras. At $40 bucks a pop, who can afford it! So we decided on an art project?how "pc" of us.

Make this a project for your knitting group, or that crafty group of friends you brag about.
We can't wait to see what your crazy little minds and crafty little hands dream up. Now go get crafting!
For specific dimensions, submission guidelines and free patterns,
click here. Deadline for submissions is July 31st 2006.

Contact: Andrea M. Dominguez at andrea@hightheory.net.


The Nipple Project
www.thenippleproject.com

snow ... ouch?

I looked outside right now. And what do I see, a dramatic black sky and Colorado Plaza lit up as if it's the last refuge on earth.
















Then, then, thirty seconds later, it hailed! One little kid said "hey, it's snowing ... ouch."

Long ago, when I was a wee lass, I had heard strange noises outside. I looked out the door, and saw it was hailing. I stuck out my hand from behind the porch. My hand was stinging, but I kept my arms outstretched, clutching the little clumps of ice as if they had fallen just for me.

I was maybe 14 when I first saw snow falling, and at that time I was in the car with my mom who was freaking out. I didn't actually stand in falling snow until my sophmore year of college when me and some friends went to tahoe for the weekend. One of the friends was a Floridian. And I thought I was a deprived person from having lived in the desert my whole life, but that friend had not only never seen falling snow, but was horrified by it. And I don't mean just "oh, how weird," she was actually petrified by the snow, and wanted to get indoors as soon as possible.

Men's night - a success?

So we had men's night on Wednesday, and two guys showed up. It was one more than I was expecting. We didn't advertise it very much, so noone's dissapointed.
One of the guys was very a very good (crocheter?), and according to dad he showed off a really cool jacket he had made.

Except for Max being home for winter break, nothing much has happened lately.... well, at least nothing we want to brag about.

Men's Night

We'll be starting a men's knitting and crochet night in March, second Wednesdays of the month I believe. Think it will work? I think I fixed it so that anyone can post a comment, so please, comment away.

Who's counting?

Since the last posting I had taken apart, rethought, and restarted my shirt four times (but who's counting?). By Thursday I had changed to size 5 needles and ditched the working in the round for the conventional back/front/sew seems construction of the shirt. Everything was going fine, I had completed about a good three or four inches of my shirt ... then came Saturday. On Friday we had had some girl scouts come over to the yarn store at seven o'clock for beginning knitting lessons. There were 8 or so girls, around ten years old?, and two mothers. Surpisingly all of them were able to get it, but that left the four of us extremely tired by the end of the evening. Ok, to be honest I was too tired to really pay attention to the emotional and physical state of everyone else. On Saturday I had a short interview for a script reader job, wasn't going to pay much, but it's more than the O that I'm getting from the store right now. Of course none of my pants fit, they all make me look like a clown as Jessamy so kindly pointed out, so on Saturday morning I had to go over to Target and Robinson's May and look for pants, by the time I got home I had 10 minutes to get myself ready for the interview, drove to hollywood, did the interview, got back home, ate something, went to the store, did this and that, said hi to Evelyn, taught a beginning knitting class, talked to customers, and by 6 was catatonic. Seeing as I only have one knitting project going at a time, and I'm associating the shirt with a deadline I can not make, I was too stressed to knit. too stressed to knit?! Yup, pretty sad. So I figured, when I got back home I would wind down by making some socks with the sample Louet linen/wool mix. As you probably guessed, I wasn't able to make the socks, largely due to the fact that I have no such linen/wool mix at home. Details, details. It's now Monday afternoon and I've just started on a sample sock with the Sockotta, the first knitting I've done for a couple of days. The shirt was looking nice, I'll post a picture of it, but I think I'll at least have to wait until the deadline has passed until I can tackle it again.

Why am I writing this? Not sure, but notice that even though I have grave doubts on whether any one, including me, actually gives a damn tomorrow is another day I have not deleted this post. I think I'll just rename this blog "Thea's Woe Is Me Blog." Not really catchy, but it serves its purpose.

Knot the knitting olympics!

So, after hours of unknitting, which in moderation can be soothing, I'm ready to scream. I'm most of the way through the knot, and have been forced to knit whatever I've entangled in an effort to remain calm.

A neighbor of ours came in today and said she never really liked doing crochet. Whenever she would try crocheting something it would turn out to be too stressful and she'd immediately turn to knitting to calm herself down.

Back to the knot ... Despite my guage swatching and careful mathematics (which is out of the ordinary for me) my shirt was turning out way too big, and yes, I did consider the fact that it would shrink slightly in the waching machine. So I ripped it out then tried again, ripped that out then decided to go with a size six needles, did some more math, tried again, ripped it apart, and got a lovely knot to show for it.

What you see right now is my current attempt, still a little too big, but I can deal. I've gotten six rows into and I'm going to decrease a couple of stitches on each side and have a slightly tapered look (or sloppy look, depending on how I pull it off).

Ok, back to knitting...

Torch is lit

Hiya. So I did finish my gauge yesterday:
















I decided it was a bit too busy to do half knit half crochet, but I will incorporate the little shells into a border.

Now that the torch is lit, it's time to get busy. Here's my project so far:















Ok, so I'm the only person who thinks an empty knitting needle is funny. But you have to admit, it has a lot of potential.

I live in ProcrastiNation

I was intending on opening this blog with a glowing description of how lovely it is to work with linen - it looks so pretty knit up, it must be great to knit with.
But no, the linen feels like dental floss wax. But this olympics thing is about sacrifice (it's also about liking the end project, and the linen does look pretty when it's washed).

The official knitting olympics torch is going to be lit tomorrow, and I haven't finished my guage swatch yet. I've finished my knitted half, but have yet to do the crochet half. I also have to wash it, supposedly that changes things (or something) ...

And this is why I'm not an olympic athlete (other than the fact that I would prefer to move as little as possible).

Knitting olympics

So, I've signed up for the knitting olympics (well, I sent an email asking to be signed up). It's taken me several days to find the right yarn and stitches, but I think I've figured it out.

The mission of the knitting olympics is to find a project which is challenging, and push yourself to finish it in two weeks.

What is my project? A lacy vest. All the shirts I've attempted to make have been failures, but I've decided to have another go at it. And why do my shirts mess up because? Little things, like I don't count my rows, and because I make up my own pattern.

So what will make this project different than all the others? I'll be making it out of linen.

Actually, I've decided to make it in the round, in theory that will fix part of the counting rows problem (never one to actually solve the problem in the most logical way), until of course I get to the armpit. It'll be interesting to see if I ever learn my lesson. Speaking of not learning lessons, I'll be making up the pattern for the vest.

Here's the game plan. As of today, I'll be making the top half in a simple lace pattern (I couldn't find any challenging ones which I'd like to wear). To make up for the easy (yes, I'm saying easy now but in two weeks...) lace pattern I'll be crocheting the bottom. I'm not a very good crochet, so this will give me some good practise.

The olympic flame is going to be ignited on February 10, so I'll be making the guage swatch in the next day or two, and posting the results, and if I'm ambitious I might even have written the pattern by then, in which case I'll post that too.

http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/olympics2006.html

TO OUR ONE BLOG READER:

Hi Regan!

Lily's Haikus

i am a monkey.
are you one too?
we share monkeyness.
so lets have a party now.
-lily

i like fishy heads.
they are polite
one day i met one
and it was indeed polite
-lily

one day i ate cheese
it had green spots
it made me say BLEH
but then i found it was good
-lily

hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wsa today?
THATS 1DERFUL! yea man ok tootles

-lily

Earnest

Jessamy and I saw the Importance of Being Earnest at the Ahmonson yesterday. I had seen the play one other time at the Mills College drama department (which, sadly, the administration killed... "Hmmm, we don't have enough money at our college, should we cut back on expenses, perhaps paying back the money the college spent on my Lexus? No, lets get rid of a department, preferably one of the staples of a liberal arts education." "What about the drama department? There isn't any tenured professers in the drama department, they all quit out of frustration and anger." "Brilliant! we have enough drama in our life anyway." That has been a dramatic reinactment of the sh*t that happened my senior year at Mills).

My favorite quote from the play:
"To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness."

All the acting was superb, particularly Robert Petkoff who played an adorable Algy (but only got 6th billing! the nerve). Petkoff reminded me a little of Eddie Izzard (one of the funniest people on the planet, and now "available" on iTunes).

In June the Ahmonson will be showing Black Rider, which I saw in San Francisco. It was written by someone who's name I should remember, and music my Tom Waits. Very cool. I buying my sister tickets for her birthday, I suggest you see it.

TNNA

Jessamy, and Frannie, and I just got back from The National NeedleArts Association trade show. We learned a lot, have a bunch of ideas about how to make our store better, and met a lot of great yarn manufacturers. Highlights of the show included a funny fashion show (not intentionally funny) and getting to say hi to all our wonderful reps.

The fashion show was sad but funny. The majority of the clothes looked prety bad, they obviously spent more time writing their "descriptions" (ads) of the garments than they did making the garments. The presenters were literally yelling at the models because they were leaving the stage too soon. The camera man also did a pretty sad job, and often was taking pictures (which were projected next to the stage) of the wrong garment.

We took a few business classes and some technical classes. I took Knitting Andean Style, Jessamy took tapestry beaded crochet, and Frannie took a button class.

We said hi to most of our reps, all of which were very nice. We also said hi to some of the people who run the yarn companies that we currently purchase from. The Fibre Company, Rio de la Plata, Louet, Sweater Kits, and Skacel were all great people and great companies.

We also have a list of yarns we want to carry, these include:
Southwest Trading Co.
Bag Smith
Misti Alpaca
Brown Sheep
Knit One, Crochet Too
ChiaoGoo Needles

That all for now.

Here's the sock I made for my mom's birthday. The lozenge pattern is from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks.

And this is an arm warmer I started about two years ago. It will probably be another year until I finish the other one.

habag

Here's the pics of me with my habag (it can't make up it's mind whether it's a bag or a hat... identity crisis)

Felt!

So I made my first foray into felting this week.
Here's the before and after pictures:



Tomorrow I'll post pictures of me wearing my creation. I was really worried when I put it into the washing machine, kind of an "it's out of my hands now" worried, cuz I'm that sort of person... And it did turn out shorter than I wanted, despite the fact that I had prevously done a swatch, but oh well, I still think it's nice.
Angie came in last week and gave us felting swatches. The one on the left is Mohair, The one on the right is Suri Merino. We had read that Mohair often felted funky, but the Outback Mohair turned of well.

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!
Everyone here at That Yarn Store had a wonderful holiday season (despite relatives calling a certain someone effite).
The shop got into the Christmas season with a few homemade yarn-ball ornaments and this lovely little tree



We also had this not so unobtrusive window display. It was taken off
our window Friday, much to the delight of a certain family member.





I actually knitted only one Christmas present this year, a pair of
socks. Or rather I made only one sock because I wanted to make sure
that it fit my mother before I went to the trouble to make another one.
I did get a surprising number of people asking whether mom had more
than 3 limbs. When both socks are finished I'll post the pics (our
camera is up and running now, but we lost our Music to Knit to
pictures, boo).

Memory Error

I actually have had time to post the pictures, but unfortunately there was a memory card error. Now, normally when I make a comment like that I'm alluding the fact that it will take me several moments of contemplation to remember anything other than my name. And in Kindergarten I was actually marked down for my recollection of my name (we were to spell The, I automatically put an A on the end). But in this case, there actually was a memory card error, and I thought the pictures of Music to Knit to were lost, but this morning david was able to transfer the pictures onto the computer. The memory card is nolonger usable, but fortunately had another memory card lying around the house. Such is not the case for my brain, but such is life.

I've been so busy I've entirely forgotten we have a blog. Yay crappy memory.

We had our second Music to Knit to last night. The local Eagle Rock band REC played and a singer/songwriter Drew Gasparini. They were both really good. I had booked them both without first hearing their music (true to the That Yarn Store style).

I'll post pictures when I get home, or when I get the time I never have tiiiimmmeee.

Today is super busy. We've had a slow couple of weeks and we actually got to the point where we weren't sure of the fate of That Yarn Store, but today has made me optimistic about our little venture.

Playing today ...

Playing today at That Yarn Store is Agustin Lara, Nostalgia.

Word of the day 9/25/05

gor·mand·ize
v. gor·mand·ized, gor·mand·iz·ing, gor·mand·iz·es
v. intr.

To eat gluttonously; gorge.

Word of the day 11/19/05

paucity \PO-si-tee\, noun:
1. Fewness; smallness of number; scarcity.

Dancing hat

Here's the front and back of the teddy bear sweater.

And the karma hat. Jessamy's going to put bunny ears on
it soon.

I think every dancing hamster needs a hat, especially this
guy. He's danced to Kung Foo Fighter so many times an arm has fallen
off.

Accidental Yamaka

During my shrug class last week I was asked what I like to knit. Hats. Why? Because they are easy, fast, you can actually wear them, and I happened to be working on one at that second. After casting on and knitting a row or two I naturally put my project aside and decided to make a teddy bear sweater. Well, I "finished" the hat last night, and you can tell I had recently been bragging. Yup, I love to make hats so much I purposely don't use a pattern so that I end up making them an inch too short.

omphaloskeptic

One who obssesively stares at his or her navel.

word of the day 11/15

triskaidekaphobia: fear of the number 13

Word of the Day 11/10/05

comestible \kuh-MES-tuh-buhl\, adjective:
Suitable to be eaten; eatable; esculent -- noun: Something suitable to be eaten; -- usually in the plural.

Getting better all the time

Business has picked up in the last week. Especially weekdays, which have been as busy as weekends. We're thinking it might be the weather? What's really odd is that this past Saturday we didn't have any beginnging classes, something that hasn't happened in a while. And of course, now that I write that today has been very slow.

I decided to start a small short-sleeved shrug in a nice light blue with the Breeze to sell at the holiday fair one of our customers is organizing. Unfortunately I forgot to bring the needles. At home all I had was a size four and size eight and one size 7. If you ever start a yarn store with your family don't share your needles. Anyway, the eights would have been way to big, so I started on the fours. Four hours and six inches later I realized that it would take over 10 hours to make this small shrug.
Now we get to sell a nice blue purse.

avuncular
adj.

1. Of or having to do with an uncle.

Word of the day 11/04/05

acumen

quickness of perception or discernment.

Word of the Day 11/03/05

moil \MOIL\, intransitive verb:
1. To work with painful effort; to labor; to toil; to drudge.
2. To churn or swirl about continuously.

shrug

Today someone came into the store and asked if my shrug was machine knit, saying that the stitches were really even. When I said I had hand-knit it, and that I can notice all the uneven stitches in it she replied that she doesn't keep anything that she knits, since she can always see her mistakes. Is this unusual, or are we all just a walking mass of self-criticism?

Word of the day 10/29/05

Nomenclature
A system of names used in an art or science: the nomenclature of mineralogy.

10-25-05

gallimaufry \gal-uh-MAW-free\, noun:
A medley; a hodgepodge.

afganhs for afghans email

We're making afghans (mittens, hats, socks, sweaters, and vests, too)
... for
Afghans! Join us!

afghans for Afghans is a humanitarian and educational people-to-people
project that sends hand-knit and crocheted blankets and garments to the
beleaguered
people of Afghanistan.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hello Knitters and Crocheters for Afghanistan,

We are happy and grateful to report that we made goal on our campaign
to
clothe 5,000 Afghan boys and girls for this winter.

Thank you so much for contributing to this collection of hand-knit and
crocheted blankets and wool garments for the children. Thanks to those
who spread
the word among fiber friends. We received gorgeous, lovingly made
gifts. Makes
our hearts pound with joy and hope to see the personal generosity
extended to
people on the other side of the world.

The incoming flow of donations was very slow over the summer. Making
our goal
did not seem likely. However, about a week to 10 days before the
extended campaign due
date, the gifts started to arrive much, much faster -- we received
probably
half of the collection in the final week. Folks truly rallied to clothe
the
kids in time for the winter.

We delivered around 5,860 hand-knit and crocheted blankets and wool or
wool-blend sweaters, vests, hats, mittens, and socks for shipment to
Afghanistan. Of
this total, hats numbered 3,625. Close to 500 pairs of mittens. Close
to 500
pairs of socks. Almost 700 sweaters. Blankets numbered 570.

(We do receive inappropriate gifts that are not on our list of
requested items and used items that we cannot send. We always make sure the
useable items are sent to worthy local domestic charities where they
will be
appreciated.)

Our volunteer sorters and packers here in the San Francisco Bay Area
were awesome. We had to hustle like never before to get the incoming
packages
sorted and reboxed for the container. The last two days were
overwhelmingly busy
(dark chocolate is our official fuel of choice). The end product was
103
obsessively sealed large cartons labeled and ready to travel overseas
to Central
Asia. We rented a 14-foot U-Haul truck to get the cartons to the
staging area.
(Ann drove, and no one got hurt.) We are fortunate to have attracted a
capable, action-oriented, and fun local group that ensures that your
donations get handled properly -- we get energized by seeing the
fabulous,
first-class incoming hand-knit and crochet work.

In addition to volunteer knitters and crocheters, our local sorting and
packing crew, grassroots group and ad hoc organizers, flyer
distributors, elann.com for their Canadian mailing service, our
web talent (Marcy and Inga!), and many other voices that get the word
out and cheer us on, we thank
the San Francisco office of the American Friends Service Committee for
partnering with us on the intake of thousands of packages and sharing
space to work.

This current collection of hand-knit and crocheted blankets and
garments will
be distributed to orphanages, clinics, and children's centers in Herat,
Jalalabad, and Kabul. We'll report back when we have a better sense of
an arrival
date and information about how our gifts were received. Transport and
getting
through customs and other often labyrinth steps will take a couple
months. For
this current load, we are working with International Orphan Care and
state
orphanages and other relief agency partners for transport and
distribution.

Meanwhile, we hope that the image of thousands of Afghan children
wearing our
handmade, beautiful, warm gifts this winter warms you now. We may get
photos eventually to share, but that would be icing on the cake.

Please note, for those who wish a written acknowledgment or
confirmation, we
do ask that you email us at the time you send your gift, or include a
SASE
postcard or envelope that we can mail back, or use the confirmation
services of
whichever postal service you use. We don't have the people-power and
resources
to mail out personalized, written notes, and appreciate your
understanding. We
rely on the efficiency and power of email and the Internet -- could not
have
developed and maintained this program (so relatively cheaply and fast)
without
it!

We often wish we could travel together to Afghanistan to distribute the
blankets and garments firsthand and to throw a big blow-out happy party
for the
kids, but that takes a lot of funding and organizing. We do what we can
from here and leave the other steps to the
specialists who work in the field. Maybe one day we'll see peace and
security
prevail in Afghanistan ... and we can visit as tourists to a
functioning, rebuilt
country.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Next due date?

We're not yet sure of the exact next due date, but probably during the
first
quarter of 2006. We'll post the information on our website when we can
confirm. Meanwhile, we continue to welcome your donations of blankets
and wool
garments. Additional details will always be on our website for
reference.

For program details and mailing addresses, see our Guidelines page --
http://www.afghansforAfghans.org/blanket.html

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Again, a heartfelt thanks to all who joined in on this campaign to
clothe
5,000 Afghan children for the winter.

The world's needs seem especially endless right now. We'll be keeping
our
focus as long as Afghanistan needs our caring and as long as
generous American and Canadians continue to respond with their own
hands. Thank you
for extending your compassion, your time, and your talent. Thank you
for
remembering the Afghan people.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Our best,
Ann and colleagues at afghansforAfghans.org

Word of the day 10/21/05

Perezosa (spanish)
Someone who is slugish , slothful, idle, lazy

Word of the day 10/20/05

nostrum: a medicine whose effectiveness is unproved; a questionable remedy.

Word of the day 10/17/05

rondure, n., something circular or gracefully rounded.(from the American Heritage dictionary).

Word of the day 10/16/05

oubliette

noun

A dungeon with an opening at the top.

Word of the day 10/08/05

Obstreperous
Noisy and difficult to control

Word of the day 10/01/05

indefatigable
adj.

Incapable or seemingly incapable of being fatigued; tireless

Thanks Judy Gregory for suggesting this word of the day!

Word of the day 9/30/05

veritable
adjective:
Agreeable to truth or to fact; actual; real; true; genuine.

Knitting projects

Wondering what our knitting projects are?
Sarah's working on a lacy pattern using snuggly bubbly:


Thea's working on a shrug using Suri Merino:



Frannie's working on a Joey Ramone doll and a purse:


And David's working on a sweater:

Word of the day 9/27/05

argot
n.

A specialized vocabulary or set of idioms used by a particular group: thieves' argot. Synonyms - dialect.

Shawl

Hi, I just realized I haven't posted my most recent big project (ok, I finished it a couple of weeks ago), it's a shawl, taken from the poncho page from interweave press (ostrich patern). It's not quite big enough to be a poncho, so I'm calling it a shawl and one of these days I'll crocheting a little flower to keep it in place.

Since finishing it I've knitted a few cell phone cozies, a matching scarf and cell phone cozy for my brother's birthday (one strand argyle, black/red, and suri merino, black, held together), and sock, and a cristmas stocking.

Word of the day 09/25/05

peregrinate
v.

To journey or travel from place to place, especially on foot.

definition taken from Dictionary.com

Word of the day 9/24/05

salubrious
adj.

Conducive or favorable to health or well-being.

Definition taken from dictionary.com

LA County Fair

So I went to the county fair yesterday. They were having a speed knitting and speed crocheting competition. Very exciting. Ok, not really. I only watched for a couple of minutes then got a little bored. Most of the knitted or crocheted items on display weren't very interesting either. But in the same room there were a few woodcarvers and a tatter. I had never seen anyone tat before, and it was pretty cool. I asked her how she new what to do and she said it's like playing the piano, you just know what to do, but if you look at your hands you'll mess up. The woodcarving seemed equally as interesting. I actually tried woodcarving when I was around 12, but something happened and I lost interest. At 6:30 I went over to the tapestry room for the knitting party but unfortunately there were only 3 people there, so I got a little shy and left. The knitting parties are from 6-10 Wednesday and Thursday.

Word of the Day 9/22/05

amicable
adj.


Characterized by or exhibiting friendliness or goodwill; friendly

Bunny!

Guess what I'm doing next time I find myself in Italy.
Not sure what it's made out of but it sure is cool.





http://www.gelitin.net

9/20/05

afflatus \uh-FLAY-tuhs\, noun:
A divine imparting of knowledge; inspiration.

Definition taken from dictionary.com

knitting party at the fair

This just in ...

There's a knitting party at the la county fair! Wednesdays and Thursdays from 6-10.
They also have knitting and crochet demonstrations throughout the week.
http://www.lacountyfair.com/2005/homepage.asp

Word of the Day 09/17/05

portent
n.

1. An indication of something important or calamitous about to occur; an omen.

Definiton taken from Dictionary.com

Word of the day 9/15/05

aplomb, noun:
Assurance of manner or of action; self-possession; confidence; coolness.

Definition taken from dictionary.com

word of the day 9/14/05

Circumlocution

The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language.

Definiton taken from Dictionary.com

afghans for Afghans

afghans for Afghans is a cool organization, here's what they posted on their yahoo email. That Yarn Store has a collection basket for afghans for Afghans if you're interested in donating.


We're making afghans (mittens, hats, socks, sweaters, and vests, too) ... for
Afghans! Join us!

afghans for Afghans is a humanitarian and educational people-to-people
project that sends hand-knit and crocheted blankets and garments to the
beleaguered
people of Afghanistan.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hello Knitters and Crocheters for Afghanistan,

** 5,000 Kids Campaign's Final Stretch! **

Many of you have already contributed beautiful, handmade blankets and wool
garments for our special campaign to clothe 5,000 Afghan girls and boys this
winter. Thank you very much for being generous and involved.

This is one last appeal as we enter the final stretch before our due date of
September 26.

Last week we did a rough count of the incoming contributions -- we are half-way
toward reaching the 5,000 mark. We thought we would be closer at this point. It
is unlikely that we will make the goal before we have to pack the container for
shipping overseas to Afghanistan.

What we are sending is all lovingly made, warm, and much needed in
Afghanistan. We can all feel good about that. Thank you for making this happen.

Might we get closer to our 5,000 goal? Possibly. Here are some steps you can
take today:

1. Knit or crochet a quick child's garment this week. Perhaps a hat or
mittens in a chunky wool yarn. So easy to mail one small item in an envelope to
us.

Our friend elann.com has rallied by putting this free pattern for a
worsted-weight Moriarty Hat on their website to encourage last-minute knitting
for
Afghanistan:
http://secure.elann.com/ShowFreePattern.asp?Id=88024
You probably have your own favorite patterns that can be whipped up fast.

2. Ask a friend or a few friends to knit or crochet one wool garment for an
Afghan girl or boy. Tell them that their gift will mean one more warmer child
this winter. Perhaps give your friend a ball of wool to use. Offer to gather
the completed items and mail together in a flat-rate USPS Priority postage box.
Print out our flyer to show them:
http://www.afghansforafghans.org/afghansforAfghansflyer.pdf

3. Spread the word today through your blog, email lists and network, online
communities/bulletin boards, local yarn shop and guilds (their email lists if
they have one), house of worship, etc. If we each either directly ask one person

or publicize the opportunity to many using the power of the Internet in
particular -- we should be able to reach 1,000 *new* volunteers to make one
small
wool garment by September 26.

4. Forward this email message in its entirety to knitters and crocheters.

You probably have your own good ideas for this last-minute push. We are
grateful for your taking the initiative now. Many children in Afghanistan this
winter will be the beneficiaries of your efforts.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Our next collection due date won't be until 2006. If you've been thinking
about participating, now is the time.

Blankets and garments received by September 26 will arrive in Afghanistan in
time for the harsh winter months.

We have about two more weeks to collect more wool hats, socks, mittens,
sweaters, and vests, as well as blankets, for children at orphanages, children's

centers, and clinics in Herat, Jalalabad, and Kabul.

For program details and mailing addresses, see our Guidelines page --
http://www.afghansforAfghans.org/blanket.html

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

** Help Sort and Pack in San Francisco **

If you are in the Bay Area and would like to help sort and pack at our AFSC
Collection Center, please email us as soon as possible. We can always use more
energy and good company. More hands are needed to prepare this collection for
shipping at the end of the month. We are also looking for a donated volunteer
truck and driver to take the cartons to Burlingame for consolidating on to the
container.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Thank you for all that you are doing. Thank you for taking action with your
own hands and heart to express your caring and friendship for the Afghan people.

Our best,
Ann and team at afghansforAfghans.org

PS: We love seeing the stories in your local papers ... here are a couple
recent articles for you to enjoy ...
From Sunnyvale, California --
http://www.sunnyvalesun.com/sv-news1.shtml
And, from Sun Valley, Idaho --
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?issue_date=08-26-2005&ID=2005104919

Word of the Day 9/10/05

Recondite

Not easily understood; abstruse.

Definition taken from Dictionary.com.

Smokey Miles at Carlotta's Passion

This just in ...

Smokey Miles will perform bluegrass and other traditional American music at Carlotta's Passion Fine Art on Saturday, 9/10 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm. Smokey's performance occurs during the opening reception of "A Century of American Quilting: Traditional and Contemporary Fiber Arts", which runs from 4:00 - 8:00 pm. Both the reception and Smokey's performance are free of charge to the public.



Smokey Miles has worn many hats in the entertainment industry. He plays many instruments, sings, composes, acts, and hosts shows. After graduating from Princeton University, Smokey hitchhiked around the country playing wherever he could. He wrote many songs about his experiences. He ultimately settled in Greenwich Village and headlined at numerous venues the New York area. He was the music director and a performer in Rip Torn's Sanctuary Theater and The Cottage Marionette Theater in Manhattan.

Word of the day 9/9/05

Truculent

Disposed to fight; pugnacious.

Definition from dictionary.com

Word of the Day 9/08/05

nectareous

Of, pertaining to, containing, or resembling nectar; delicious; nectarean.

Definition taken from dictionary.com

Crochet thread

I am pleased to announce That Yarn Store now stocks crochet thread! Woohooo.

Word of the day 9/7/05

bailiwick
noun:
1. A person's specific area of knowledge, authority, interest, skill, or work.
2. The office or district of a bailiff.

Definition taken from dictionary.com

Word of the day 8/6/05

Abstruse
ab·struse
adj.

Difficult to understand; recondite

Definition taken from dictionary.com

Word of the Day 9/4/05

Ribald

rib·ald
adj.

Characterized by or indulging in vulgar, lewd humor.

Definition taken from dictionary.com

Word of the day 9/3

Eschew
es·chew
tr.v.

To avoid; shun.

Definition taken from dictionary.com

Word of the day 9/2/05

Justaposition

jux·ta·po·si·tion (jkst-p-zshn)
n.

The state of being placed or situated side by side.


Taken from dictionary.com

Knitzilla's String Scrubbie Project

The lovely Knitzilla's String Scrubbies that are hanging in our front window are for sale, with all the proceeds going to hurricane relief or tsinami relief. Just come in and write a check out to American Red Cross or UNICEFUSA and bring home a lovely scrubbie.

Stitches from the Heart Part 2

Got another email about the hurricane relief:

Stitches from the Heart in Santa Monica is collecting their usual
items to help babies in the hurricane aftermath area, as well as some
hurricane-specific items, which will be distributed via a church in
the Gulf region:

--NEW clothing for children, babies or anyone -- many people had to
escape in a hurry in their P.J's or just could use a fresh change of
clothes. Please note they are not collecting used or gently used
clothing, just new and unused. Underwear probably is a good idea too,
hey?

--Soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, travel hairbrush --
especially travel sized or free-from-the-hotel size or stuff from the
dollar store. Personal hygiene items that would help a displaced
person who has NOTHING. Especially soaps, they said. (We'll throw in
a few handknit washcloths!!)

--CASH -- Stitches spends more than $2,000 per month shipping hand
knit baby items to hospitals across the country. This month will
bring a hefty postage bill with the additional shipping, and with
shipping much heavier items (like soap). Even if you can't knit, you
can still help knitters helping others with a tax-deductible cash
donation to Stitches.

--Baby hats - they always need. Lots of babies are still in hospitals
with chilly A/C.

--Baby blankets - they appear to have a slight shortage now.
Hopefully Knitzilla's scrubbie blanket initiative will help a little.

--Baby sweaters - yes, it's like a million degrees in New Orleans,
but Stitches still needs sweaters for babies, newborns and toddlers.
Even if they don't, these sweaters will go to a child who needs one
somewhere in the country.

We will be collecting these items at Knitzilla Monday meetings (and
our special Tuesday-after-Labor-Day bonus meeting) -- but if you
can't make it to those, please send/drop off directly to:

Stitches From the Heart
3306 Pico Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90405
Email: stitchfromheart@aol.com
Phone: (310)452-5151

Word of the day

ob·fus·cate

1. To make so confused or opaque as to be difficult to perceive or understand: “A great effort was made... to obscure or obfuscate the truth” (Robert Conquest).
2. To render indistinct or dim; darken: The fog obfuscated the shore.

taken from dictionary.com

Hurricane relief

Got this email today:

A VERY KIND LADY FROM THE CGOA is willling to collect and distribute
crocheted and knitted items in New Orleans. They are desperate. If
you have any items ready for the babies and especially toddler sizes
we are already shippng items to them. Our first three boxes are
leaving today via UPS. Bring them in to the Stitches From The Heart
Store, 3306 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405 (just east of Trader
Joe's), or send them to us as quickly as possible. We will take care
of the cost of sending items to New Orleans. Also, please tell all
your friends - quilters, knitters and crocheters.

Kathy Silverton, Founder
Stitches From the Heart

Knit on TV

There's a TV show called Knitty Gritty which is on the DIY network (nope, haven't heard of it either). They are looking for "fun and charismatic knitters to appear on the show."

For more info:

http://www.knittygritty.com/beonshow.htm

free yarn

bernat is giving away free yarn:
http://www.bernat.com/getdown/

Moby Dick?

I finished Harry Potter yesterday. The ending was a bit contrived, but I liked the rest of the book. Sarah asked me if I was reading Moby Dick. um... no, just Harry Potter. I also started on my poncho, one of the ones in the interweave magazine. You can download the pattern online http://interweave.com/knit/. It's the Lace Poncho by Susan Sternlieb. I'm using Plymouth's Suri Merino. It was looking nice during the four rows I managed to knit, but the gauge wasn't right so I need to start over again.

Poncho?

It seems like I don't have time much for knitting anymore, it might be because the store has been keeping busy, or maybe it's just because I've been trying to keep up with the Harry Potter books. Nearly finished the 5th one. I feel a little silly though, a grown up reading Harry Potter in a knitting store, but oh well, I've gone this far. I think I'll make something before going on to the sixth book. I'm thinking a poncho for my aunt's birthday. She seems to really want one. There was a cute one in the latest interweave knits magazine. The hard part though is trying to pick a yarn. Hmmm, maybe I'll be inspired when reading about one of Harry Potter's hyjinks.

V shawl

Seeing as the majority of the people stopping by the store are
crocheters I've decided to try my hand at crocheting again. When I was
12 I picked up a crochet hook and decided to teach myself how to
crochet. A few weeks later we had lots of crocheted objects
around the house. The problem was, I knew nothing about foundation
chains, so all I managed to do was make a bunch of circles. Now
the time has come to once again teach myself the art of one-stick-with
hook-in-end. I'm pretty sure I've figured out the difference
between single, double, and triple crochet, but my biggest problem is
what to do at the edges. Lots of them seem to grow shorter as I
continue to crochet, but not all of them are mysteriously shrinking. I
don't know ... it's a whole different world, this crochet thing.
Despite my confusedness I've managed to follow the pattern for Tia
Jose's V Shawl (the original was made by Tia Jose then
reverse-engineered by Jessamy). I've made a couple of mistakes,
but overall it looks allright, I probably should have gone with the
worsted instead of the chunky but I liked the light blue color.
You can kind of see the V shape at the corner of the
picture.






Boy, I should really take a photography lesson.

Hyperbolic Planes

Yesterday I went to the talk by Diana Taimina about how to crochet hyperbolic planes. The gallery was in a not so great neighborhood in Echo Park, and I almost didn't go because it was hard to find parking, but I did, and I'm glad I went. The crowd was an interesting mixture of mathematicians (or people who knew big math words) and crocheters. I don't know much about math myself, and unfortunately didn't pay much attention in Physics (though I wish I did), so the only concept which was not new to me was the explanation of parallel lines.

A hyperbolic plane, or at least the way I understood it, is pretty much the opposite of a sphere. If you were to draw a line around a balloon the line would curve into itself and then it would create a ring. With hyperbolic space the line curves out, and instead of creating a circle the line continues to grow infinitely. For a long time there wasn't a very good tangible representation of hyperbolic space, and the few that existed were very fragile so you couldn't really maneuver it. Taimina, who learned to knit when she was a child and new how to crochet, one day realized that you could manipulate yarn, using a crochet hook, to make something with the same features as a hyperbolic plane. Essentially all it is is increasing at an exponential rate. The outcome, depending on how fast you increase sometimes looks like a brain, which Taimina thought wasn’t a coincidence. This same wavy shape occurs elsewhere in nature, including some in some sea creatures. There is a short description of how to make hyperbolic planes at: http://www.math.cornell.edu/~dwh/books/eg00/supplements/AHPmodel/index.html . You can read more about it on http://www.theiff.org/lectures/05a.html .

Actually, the most interesting thing I heard in this lecture wasn't related to crocheting or even really about the concept of hyperbolic planes, but is a simple fact that stares you in the face every day, the fact that we live in three dimensions but can see in only two dimensions. An apple, although it exists in three dimension (up/down, left/right, forward/backwards), can only be seen in two dimensions (up/down, left/right). You cannot actually see the other side of an apple. And the only way for us to see something in three dimensions is to exist and live in four dimensions. But seriously, how could I have not known this? It's not actually that hard of a concept, and I feel like this is one of those mind-expanding things I should have learned in sixth grade. Was I just not paying attention?

Machine Project

I don't know if you're in the Los Angeles area, but if you are, there's a cool
gallery called Machine Project, http://www.machineproject.com, and tomorrow they will be having a talk by Diana Taimina, a Cornell University Mathematician who crochets Hyperbolic planes. It sounds pretty cool.

Knitting Guild

I went to a knitting guild meeting yesterday, the Jewel City Knitters. They were all very nice, and most of what they do is for philanthropy.
If you're interested, the website is http://evelynarts.com/jck/. They meet the First Wednesday of every month.

Dalmatian bag

Why, hello. Gilroy was hot. Very hot. And they charged two
dollers for a bottle of water. How annoying. Besides the garlic
ice-cream (vanilla and pistacio), one of the few good things about the
trip was that I made a bag from two of our new yarns. I used
Cotton 8 and Lucci's Pom-Pom, held together. I was originally thinking
of making it a cow bag, even brought some black yarn to occasionally
work in, but the black and white pattern on the Pom Pom changed too
quickly. So now it's a dalmatian bag, which works too.

Open II

So, yesterday dad put up a neon OPEN sign. A customer came in at 7:00 and commented that they had been waiting for us to open. Seems that you can't be officially open if you don't have an open sign on you're window. Interesting. Thruth be told,jessamy and I were planning on needlepointing the open and closed sign but have only gotten as far as the "ed".

nothing much is going on

It's been very slow at the shop lately. We're hoping it's the heat.

We've got some new yarn in a couple of days ago, there's a black and white bumpy one from Lucci (I'm not sure what the term is for it, but I'm calling it Pom Pom) that I'm thinking of useing with a white encore to make a cow colored purse.

Jessamy is working on a sock puppet dog pattern that we just got in from JudyKits, Judy hand-delivered it herself. It's looking pretty cool so far.

I finished a Dropped Stitch Ribbon shell yesterday, got the pattern from Teen Knitting (no, I'm not a teen, it's just one of the books we're selling). The end stitches are a little funky, but other than that it looks all right. I'll try to take the camera to the store tomorrow. If not, no picture for the blog for a couple of days because me, jessamy and max are going to be going to Gilroy for the Garlic Festival. Yay. I'm looking forward to some Garlic Ice-Cream. I've actually had some before at Stinking Rose. It's amazing - the flavor is subtle but unmistakably Garlicy.

Projects

Here are my last couple of projects:

A devil hat, based on the Stitch 'n Bitch, but only using one ball. Apperantly I wasn't really focusing on the hat when I took this picture.




The hat and scarf my mom requested, the scarf has a hole so that it stay wrapped:



The socks I'm working on:

By the way, I figured out the gusset. I was trying to make it much more complicated than it really is. Unfortunately I have about 10 stitches too many so I'm going to work on a baby one first, then rip this one out and start over again.

Birthday

For my birthday yesterday we went out to eat at a churrascaria in Glendale called Gauchos Village. They had a little buffet type layout where you get your side dishes like potato salad or fruit, then you sit down at your table and guys with skewers of meat come around and ask you if you want any. If you say yes they cut off a piece and put it on your plate. Fortunately I had no idea this was a meat restaurant so I had filled up my plate with the side dishes. I ended up eating 4 pieces of meat anyway. I really should stop thinking of myself as a quasi-vegetarian.

Opening Day Pictures

Ok, so I'm a week late, but here's some pictures from opening day.

Ribbon cutting with oversized scissors:








Knitting lessons:




The cool band:




And despite the fact that it is blury, my favorite picture of opening weekend:

socks and presents

A couple of days ago I tried to make my first sock. Everything went fine until it came time to make the gusset, then I got confused. Fortunately my mother requested a scarf and hat for an early birthday present (she's going to Alaska for a few days) so I have another half a day for my brain to subconsciously decode the pattern. It probably would have been smarter for me to do a small baby sock instead of throwing myself into the size 2 needles Sockotta pattern, but oh well, that's just how I do things. Most of the time it turns out right in the end.

We've got the hook up

I'm on the internet at the store! Finally!

More people came into the store today than expected. We originally guessed that Mondays were going to be a slow day and that we'd eventually close on Mondays. It's time to revisit that guess. Maybe we'll just stay open every day - no days off for us, but that's easy for me to say since Jessamy has been doing all the work lately. But at least it she's enjoying it.

And can I just take the time to mention that I love the PowerBook G4 keyboard much better than the computer we have at home, I'm actually typing at a half way decent speed right now.

We saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Friday, right after we saw the orignial at the store. It was very entertaining but not perfect, and it didn't seem like Tim Burton was trying to make a perfect film. The special effects were a bit lame as well. Johnny Depp was brilliant, as he always is and always will be, which is why we have made July the Johnny Depp movie month at That Yarn Store.

Back to the store .... we've moved around a few things this weekend so now the store doesn't look as desolate but we still haven't had anyone come hang out and knit yet, which is a little dissapointing.

As for my knitting projects, on Friday Mom is going to Alaska with her sister so she requested, for an early birthday present, a hat and a muffler. I'm assuming she ment a muffler for neck, not for her car ... I'm also making a pair of socks for myself, so maybe I can get my parents' camera so I can take a picture of my projects.

Events

Today we finished our schedule of events for July. There was much negotiation and the talk of buying a TV specially for the store's Movie Nights - which some of us objected to, and others were in favor of, but I won't name names because feelings will get hurt, but then of course by the mere mention of the disagreement I've probably hurt someone's feelings. Sigh, family dynamics.

Yesterday (and if everything works out we'll be getting DSL in the store very soon, so hopefully much of my posts won't start off with "yesterday") a woman, I believe her name was Candid, came in and asked "Habla Espanol?," we answered "Un poquito" because Noah and I have taken four years of Spanish in high school, Jessamy has taken a semester of conversational Spanish, and Alex (our cousin who was visiting for the week and just went home today) knows a little Spanish. It took us what felt like five minutes to understand her first question, which we eventually understood as - do just sell yarn or do you also teach lessons? It was Ensenar, to teach, which none of us could understand. It was funny, but mostly in that sad sort of way, because she asked us a few more questions and it was a group effort to come up with a translation and an answer, but she kept asking questions, one of which was on the conversational side, so I guess our answers were decent. Jessamy, who had the least amount of Mexican blood in the room did the most communicating. We're all proud of her. Ohhhh, I just had an idea, we could have an "I wish I could speak better Spanish" knitting group, where we could sit around and knit and practice our Spanish.

The second day

We had two repeat customers! It was very exciting. Angie, who learned how to crochet on Saturday, came back again yesterday. Another woman, whose name I can't remember right now and who also learned how to knit on Saturday, came in with a garter stitch scarf made with green Bigga. It was already a full length but she wanted to make it bigger so she came in and bought more yarn. We were all very excited and actually took a picture of her and her project.

Open

Yesterday went well. Ribbon was cut, yarn was bought, music was played.

The morning was quite frantic, with preparations still going on at 11:00. We took some pictures of the opening, including some of the ribbon cutting so I'll post that as soon as we get it on the computer. It seemed like lots of the customers (who were not family friends) lived only a few blocks from the store, so that was very cool (it's going to be a struggle to learn all of your names). There was three women (a daughter, mother, and grandmother) who stayed at the store for around three hours. Jessamy taught the mother how to crochet and it was amazing how quickly she got into it. The daughter knit (I think) and the grandmother wanted nothing to do with the yarn, much like my grandmother. Several people told us we needed more shelves (we only have three, but right now all our merchandise fits perfectly into those three shelves). The band was amazing. None of us new what to expect, so we were all pleasantly surprised.

And now I'm off to eat Dim Sum. Yum.

Deep breath before the plunge

The past two weeks have been frantic. All of us have been putting things off, coming up with new things to buy, getting mad at each other, and had a brief panic attack about the shelves. Surprisingly, today is turning out to be very mellow - the deep breath before the plunge. We still have shelve problems, some yarn still doesn't have their info sheet made, and we haven't put any yarn on the shelves yet, but it all seems manageable. But the real test is tomorrow, and I promise to post the results.